Dan looked at his reflection in the shining tile floor of the kitchen. He had only just started cleaning, and still had a long time ahead of him.
Dan could hear the snickering of his step brothers, Chris and PJ, outside the door. He couldn't quite make out what was being said, but could swear he heard the words, "prince" and "future" a few times. Of course they were talking about the prince. His step brothers never shut up about him. Price Philip was of course extremely attractive and Dan had the same dreams as any other guy in the kingdom. We all knew he needed to get married soon. We were all just hoping that he chose us. Dan's step father, Felix, crashed through the door. "Daniel!", he said. "Me and your brothers are going out for a few hours. Here are some more things I need done before I get back. They all better be done, or you can forget about dinner! And that floor better be spotless!" Felix's loud voice echoed across the house. Dan still jumped a little when he heard it. Chris and PJ didn't. They've gotten used to it by now. Felix chucked a folded piece of paper at Dan's head. Dan looked down toward the paper, picked it up, and unfolded it. To his shock, Dan saw a list of chores as long as his arm staring back at him. Dan was used to work like this. He would stay up all night, just to figure out how to clean the chimney. Nothing new. "We'll be back by 8:00. Have dinner ready!" Felix yelled. "Yes step father," said Dan. Chris and PJ both walked out of the living room and towards their father. "We're ready to go father!" PJ said with happiness in his voice. He continued to talk to Felix as Chris turned around and gave Dan the stink eye. He then knelt down and spit, right where Dan had just cleaned. "Missed a spot," Chris said. Chris and PJ were dicks. They pushed him to his breaking point and never stopped. It didn't matter what it was, or how it happened, Dan always cleaned. Day, after day, after day, just the same old thing. If only the prince would choose him. They would dance, and talk, and laugh. The rest of his life would be so much better. Without Chris and PJ and Felix continuously mocking him for everything he does. Everything would be perfect.
Dan quickly finished cooking, cleaning, all of the other household chores. He put down the last set of cutlery, and walked over to the counter where his list sat. Taking the pencil in his left hand, Dan crossed off the second-to-last thing on the list, "cook dinner". He then scanned the paper a little, only to realize that he had missed a chore, "clean the fire place". Dan quickly set down the paper and rushed to the fire place to clean it. Getting on his knees, he started scrubbing it. He cleaned for many hours until he felt he had done good enough, and decided to light another fire. Dan's eyelids started growing heavy, as he laid the firewood and lit a match. The fire started crackling. The sound was so soothing, Dan couldn't help but grow more tired as the night went on. Laying down next to the fire, Dan fell asleep, swiftly and soundly, feeling the warmth of the fire on his cheek.
Dan woke up with the blinding sun, shining through the curtains. He quickly sat up and wiped the sleep out of his eyes. Still sleepy, Dan turned his head to the fire, only to discover one dying flame. He stood up and proceeded to put the small fire to sleep. He slowly made his way over to the clock, discovering it was 8:36. Dan gasped and ran to the kitchen to make breakfast. On the way to the kitchen, Dan caught a glimpse of his appearance in the hallway mirror. Globs of ash were spread across his face in the most unflattering way possible. Touching his face, he knew these marks wouldn't go down without a fight. There was no time now. Chris, PJ and Felix must be getting dressed, as Dan could here faint voices up the stairs. Dan hadn't even started making breakfast yet let alone fix his appearance. In a flash, Dan was able to cook everything and set the table in a half an hour. He finished as Felix and the boys came down the stairs. "Let's be honest here. We all know I'm going to be the one to marry Prince Philip." PJ said with a smirk on his face. "What makes you say that? Prince Philip doesn't like ramen hair." Chris shot back. PJ gasped and took a step back, only to rebound with another insult. "Well how do you know he doesn't like bowl cuts, hm?!" Chris also gasped and shot back with an insult lost in translation through the kitchen walls. "Boys! Prince Philip will choose whichever hair he wants. And we all know that my hair is the best in the kingdom, but I'm not interested." Felix said. He and the boys then headed to the kitchen were Dan was finished with making breakfast. "Good morning everyone. I hope you slept well." Chris put his hands together and brought them to his chest in with a big grin on his face. "I had a wonderful dream about the prince. We were in the palace bedroom and...did things." Chris continued grinning as Dan turned his head and looked at the ground. Oh how he longed for the prince. But he knew it would never come. Felix snapped Chris out of his trance and both sat down. PJ was about to sit down when he noticed the cinders spread across Dan's face. PJ walked over to him and grabbed his jaw to examine is face. Scanning it intensely, the others started to take notice. Chris broke the awkward silence. "What happened to your face?" He said quite abruptly. "Yes, explain yourself!" Said Felix. "Well," Dan said. "When I finished cleaning the fire place last night, I was so tired, I just fell asleep next to it."
"And you couldn't take two minutes to go up to your room?" Felix said, with a judgmental tone. Dan turned his to look down at the floor, whispering something under his breath, "You mean the attic." Felix's ears were strong enough to hear it. "What did you just say?! Be happy that I even give you a place to sleep, you ungrateful wretch!" Dan looked up at Felix, innocence in his eyes. "I'm sorry step father. I won't complain again." Dan walked out of the room, only to hear the boys talking about him as soon as he left the room. Dan hid behind the door to hear what was being said. PJ spoke up first. "With that face we need to give him a nickname or something." Chris laughed and started talking. "What about something like, Cinder-Daniel?"
"No. It's to cheesy." Said PJ. They waited a few minutes, until Chris gasped, startling everyone else. "I have the perfect one." He pause, then spoke. "Danisnotonfire."