Author's Note: This story contains both views of Cinderella and Prince Charming. Each paragraph switches off between both of them, except for the first two, which are Cinderella's thoughts. Sorry for any confusion! If you guys like it, I might think of more ideas for further chapters to this story.

My life was becoming worse each and every day. Everyday, I felt more and more like a prisoner, like a caged up bird. The walls were closing in on me, and I couldn't do anything to stop it. The marks on my skin made me look like a tiger, although I was not nearly as tough as one. I would never wish my pain and the melancholy feeling I felt upon anybody else, not even my worse enemy. And now, my child was being taken away from me. The only person who hasn't abandoned me, the only person I have left in this world. My evil step mother was incarcerated and sentenced life in prison after having killed her daughters for not being able to become the prince's wife. In the end, I was the one that lost. My little boy is getting taken away from me for something that I have no control over. It isn't my fault that his father decided to put his hands on me.

I was in the living room of the castle, glancing outside to see the world I could barely go out in. A blanket of never ending dreariness flooded the skies, and it seemed to make the weather match my feelings: gloomy, sad, pessimistic. It was days like these that made me regret marrying Prince Charming so soon. But, I was so young, foolish, and full of illusions. I seemed to always look at the pictures we had hanging on the castle walls, reminiscing the memories I had when life was peaceful. My eyes seemed to automatically maneuver to Prince Charming and mines wedding picture. Boy, did we look so happy, it seemed like our lives together would be the best, and that's what everyone else predicted. "And they lived happily ever after" is how all fairy tales are supposed to end. Sadly, it's not the truth. Reality soon kicked in after only a couple months of marriage. I never thought life would turn out to be something that one could dread, but I was living proof of that. The only reason I ever got up in the morning was because of my beautiful 2 year old son, Aidan. My gaze went over to him, he was playing with his yellow toy truck that he loved the most on our fur rug that was sprawled on the cold wood floors. His blonde hair was messy, but he was still perfection. I looked into his big blue glistening eyes, and all I saw was innocence. He didn't deserve to witness all this violence, to cry and yell the way he did. My eyes began to tear up, and all of a sudden, Aidan stopped playing with his yellow toy truck and looked at me. It seemed like he could feel what I was feeling. My eyes were becoming a flooded lake just thinking of all the things his beautiful eyes had seen, all the tears they have shed, and all this at such a young age. He is the only reason I was still here, alive. He is my everyday strength and he is the one that turns my grey and dark world into a beautiful and colorful one. As I was deep into thought, a roaring truck engine came closer and closer and parked in the driveway. My heart started to race. It was him.

I could see my wife and son in the living room, but I didn't want to go in. I just pretended that I saw something wrong with the bricks on the outside of the castle. I was embarrassed to walk into the house, I always was. Every time I would see Cinderella, she had puffy eyes, and I could just see her traumatized look whenever I walked into the house after work. She has shed more tears than the number of raindrops that have fallen from the sky. I never went a day without thinking about the pain I had caused to the two people I most loved, and how ridiculous I was whenever I tried to curl up in bed with Cinderella and apologize. I would always promise that I would never hurt her again, and it was always one more promise broken. Every time I look in her eyes, I see the broken pieces of her shattered heart. I can't even imagine what Aidan must be going through. The yells and screams that come out of his mouth when I am hurting his mom break my heart into a million pieces, yet I don't stop. I looked at my reflection in the window. An average person would see me as being a tall, slim, dark-haired man who seemed like an ordinary prince. All I see is something inhumane. I am lower than a human being, I am lower than dirt. I am a failure, a disgrace to humanity, a destructive soul. These evil demons haunt me everyday. Trying to spare more time before I am forced to enter the castle, I check the mail. I scan through it and see the usual, advertisements and bills. Then I see a peculiar envelope, it was from Social Services.

I saw my husband speed walk to the house, and I could feel myself tense up. He looked angry, but at the same time, a perturbed look seemed to take over his face. That's when I knew something wasn't right.

"They want to take Aidan away from us!" He said, trying to withhold the fear he was feeling.

"What do you mean?!" I replied with an aghast tone to my voice.

"Look!"

I nearly ripped the envelope from his hands, and saw the mailing addresses and it was from Social Services, just as he had said. It had our names written in ink. My heart dropped. The letter was explaining that Social Services was planning to take Aidan away from us because we are unfit parents due to the domestic violence. Afterwards, it mentioned that we had a court date, and Prince Charming was going to be arrested and kept in custody until the court date. I looked at him, and I could feel my face heating up. I had never hated him this much. I wanted to hurt him, just like he hurt me, or maybe even worse. I couldn't live without my son! All I could do at that moment was try to calm down so I didn't make this situation worse, but I just wanted to attack Prince with all the anger that had been stored in me for years.

I was sitting on the armrest of the couch, staring at the floor. I could feel her stare burning a hole on the side of my head. I looked at her eyes, and it seemed as if there were flames amongst them. I knew all she could feel towards me was outrage, and she had every right to. I ruined her life. I tried so hard not to cry, but it seemed impossible. A waterfall of tears rolled down my cheek and I couldn't bare the pain nor the resentment I had caused Cinderella with our marriage. I knew that soon I was going to be in jail, and I deserved it. But, I wouldn't be able to handle having my son being taken away from his mother. He didn't have to suffer through this! He is just a 2 year old boy, he hadn't yet experienced the beautiful things in life. All he has experienced were the horrific things I had caused with my anger. I knew that he would be devastated, he loves his mom. I didn't want him to have to go to another family full of strangers. There was only one place he belongs and that place is in his mother's arms.

It was finally the court date, and it had been two months since I had seen Prince. I was with Aidan walking into the courthouse. This was it. This was the day the destiny of me and my child was going to be determined by strangers. When we finally approached the courtroom, I could feel my breath start to shorten and dismay take over my whole body. I didn't want to walk in. All I wanted to do was turn right around and flee with Aidan, but I couldn't. I slowly entered the room, trying not to let the fact the I was shaking notable, and there was Prince, in an orange suit looking like he had been in prison for ten years. He finally knows how I have felt for the last 2 years of my life, I admitted to myself. I did feel a little sad for him, but then I remembered that the only reason we were going through this was because of him. I tried so hard not to look into his eyes, but the urge got to me. We shared eye contact for a split second, but I quickly looked away and went to find a seat. In that split second, I saw all the pain in his eyes, and it made me tear up. At that point, I was clueless of how to feel about him and what was going to happen to us after all of this. All I was focusing on is what I was going to do to get my baby back.

It was time for our case, and I couldn't help but to feel incredibly nervous. The surroundings around me didn't make me feel better. The room was cold and dull, and I could just feel the negativity around me. I saw my wife go up to the witness stand, the lawyer wanting her to say things that can help them prove I am guilty. I don't know what was about to happen, all I know was that the questioning from the lawyer was about to commence.

"Mrs. Cinderella Charming, are you aware that the reason you are here is that you have been reported to Social Services as being an unfit mother and there is a huge possibility you will lose all custody of you son?"

"Yes..."

"Okay, next question. How long has the domestic violence been going on?", the lawyer asked Cinderella, and she looked down, as if she were ashamed of what she had gone through.

"Shortly after our son was born.", she replied nervously. Her gaze was volatile.

"Why didn't you just decide to divorce your husband?"

"I didn't want my son suffering through that. I wanted him to grow up with both his parents."

"Well, haven't you thought that allowing your son to witness the violence between you two would have hurt and damaged him more than you and your husband getting a divorce?"

Cinderella maintained quiet, as if uncertain how to respond to the question. She fidgeted, and I could see that she was skittish about answering the question.

"Answer the question please.", the lawyer grew impatient.

"No. I didn't think that the fighting would get to that stage every single time we fought..."

"So every time you two fought, the fighting would turn physical?"

"Almost."

"And doesn't it hurt you knowing that the man you love would be the one who ended up hurting you the most?"

"Not as much as losing my son," Cinderella said with a crack in her voice, as if she was about to break down and cry. I have never seen her like this, "My son is the most important thing to me! And you think that I am going to sit here and waste time answering stupid questions! My son is about to be taken away from me and all you're trying you do is make me look like an awful mother and prove my husband is guilty. I nurture my baby, I treat him like if he was my treasure. He is my treasure! He is the only thing I have and I can't help but to think that you're trying to make me feel bad because I was trying to work out my and his father's relationship. How is it my fault that his father decided to put his hands on me whenever something bad would happen to him? How is it my fault that my husband didn't stop when he heard his own child crying for help and trying to pronounce the words, 'Stop hurting mommy!'? You act as if I am responsible for what my son had to go through! Why do I have to suffer the consequences of my husband's actions," She stood up and began banging on the desk with her right hand and crying, "I have treated and loved my son more than I do myself and any other person in this world. You have no right to tell me that I am a bad mom, because I am a damn good mom!"

The courtroom grew silent, and all you could hear was the clock ticking. I looked at Cinderella, and I saw that her last amount of strength she had was slowing breaking down. I glanced at the judge, and realized that a tear rolled down his cheek, just like everybody else. Cinderella eventually lost the last bit of strength and broke down and cried, The makeup that her tears had washed away revealed the marks and bruises I had left on her face, but nothing was more noticeable than her pain. She had gone through so much, and all those things she had gone through were my fault. The judge was left speechless, stuttering and rambling his words. I heard Aidan's footsteps from behind me, and he ran up to his mom and whispered, "I love you mommy." There was not a single person who disagreed with Cinderella.

"I believe you should keep custody of your child, and I wish you and your son the absolute best," the judge said very loudly and clearly, with an affectionate tone, looking Cinderella straight in the eye, "as for you Prince Charming," he turned to me, with a stern look and tone, "you are guilty of domestic violence and are sentenced to 5 years in prison. Case closed." Bang, bang.

I couldn't believe the words that came out of the judge's mouth. I didn't know how to express how thankful and appreciative I was. The bright and shining sun was finally going to return to my days, and the beautiful twinkling stars to my nights. I was just overfilled with joy, but I took a second and I looked over at Prince Charming, who was staring at me as they were taking him away. I saw him mouth the words, "I'm so sorry." He had said that to me many times before, but this time, there was something different about the look in his eyes. He was being sincere. I just smiled and then he disappeared. I didn't feel the need to hang on to grudges nor seek revenge because nobody is perfect. Although he had caused the most pain I had ever experienced, he gave me the best gift in the world, my son. I always believed that Prince knew he had problems, but was afraid to seek help. He is a good person, but he decided to make the wrong decisions when it came to certain things. I looked at my son Aidan, comforted by the fact that I knew that he was still in my custody. He looked back at me, laughing and I was finally able to feel true happiness again. When we walked outside, there was a beautiful sight that greeted us. The sun was setting, and there were various colors of pink and yellow spread out in the clouds. The flowers had bloomed, and the grass was the greenest it had ever been. I guess one could call this a perfect ending, although the way I see it, it's a new beginning to a better life.