Crash!
"Oops." my voice rang out loud and clear in the silence. The giggling and chatter of the party had stopped. The door swung open and in she stepped. I looked up with burning red
cheeks. She was the only thing alive I was scared of. I could deal with snakes, the dark, piercings. I was pretty sure if I ever saw a horror movie it wouldn't cause a dent on my outer wall. But her? I gulped and stood up dusting off my dress with my hands. This couldn't be good.
"How could you let the platter of cakes drop?" she shrieked grabbing my shaggy brown hair. I always knew my father had married her because of her looks. She had long blonde hair and big brown eyes. She had a body sculpted to every man's desire, and when she wasn't around me she was fake and sweet. "You know today is a special day for my daughters!" she cried. I yanked my head away.
"You may not like it, but I'm your daughter too!" I spat. I may be scared of her, but it didn't stop my big mouth from running. I hadn't ever learned to control it, nor did I care to. It was the only thing that kept me sane. She stared me dead in the eye.
"I may be married to your father, but you have no drop of my blood. You are no daughter of mine." she gripped me by my elbow and yanked me out of the kitchen.
She pulled me along trying to humiliate me in front of everyone, but I could care less. I never cared about what people thought of me. Everybody turns on you eventually, even your own father. He falls in love and becomes oblivious to everything around him.
She pushed me through a door then slammed it behind me. I pressed my ear to the door and listened to her say the maid had dropped the cakes and was to be fired soon. The people murmured in agreement and she said she would fix one right up. I gritted my teeth and took a step onto the stairs.
"I'm no maid or servant," I spat, but I knew it was true. My step-mother had hated me the first day she lay eyes on me. She put me to work caring for their every needs since she declared I had no purpose. To her I was ugly, untalented, and klutzy. And no matter how strong I was inside, there was nothing I could do about it. For if I was too rebellious, I was sure she would sneak into my room one day and kill me.
I counted the last step in my head and ran my hands over the door and felt for the knob. When my hands touched its cold surface, I yanked the door open and closed it behind me. The dim lights of the candles swayed and my bed lay in the corner.
My shoes echoed against the hard wooden floors, and I sat down in my sewing chair and stared out the window. I had clothes to fix, but at the moment I didn't care. I looked longingly at the palace.
I heard a chirp next me and saw a red robin.
"Hello," I murmured stroking the feathers on her head. I took out a few seeds from my pocket and laid them on the sill and watched her peck at it. I turned my attention back to the palace.
"It must be amazing to live there," I sighed out loud. I learned that the animals were the only ones that had taken a liking to me, so I ended up talking to them. They were the only ones that listened. "I'm sure being a maid or servant there isn't half as bad as being one here." I turned my chair to see the little kitten crawl out from beneath my bed. She looked up at me with big blue eyes and meowed. The bird flew into the air and she jumped up on my lap and purred. I smiled.
"If I lived in the palace, I'd be able to give you better food." I pulled a few pieces of meat from my pocket and the kitten chewed on it hungrily. I picked her up and set her on the bed and I curled up and tried to get comfortable.
"But that's never going to happen," I said pulling the covers up to my chin. "So there's no reason to wonder what it would be like. I'm stuck here, whether I like it or not."