"And then, the prince placed the glass slipper on Cinderella's foot and it fit, they were married and lived happily ever after." Norma closed the book, and kissed her seven year-old daughter's forehead.
"Aww, I missed story time?" groaned Once-ler in was always busy biggering his factory, and hardly ever had time for Norma or Cindy anymore.
"Daddy!" yelled Cindy happily, a big grin on her face, daddy was almost always in his office.
Whenever she tried to see him, her great-aunt Grizelda, or grandma would always tell her to "Go away" or that "Your daddy, is too busy to spend time with you", or her personal favorite, "Daddy will play with you later, he's got more important things to worry about."
So it was rare that she got to see her daddy.
"Goodnight sweetie," said Norma kissing her daughter's forehead."Goodnight, mommy." said Cindy kissing her mommy's cheek, Norma then turned to her husband and said.
"Not too late, please."
"Wouldn't dream of it." said Oncie, smiling at his wife and kissing her cheek, she smiled and kissed him back, before heading out the door.
Norma closed the door behind her, and came face to face with her mother-in-law.
"Hello Clarabelle, what brings you here?" she asked politely.
Norma had never really liked her in-laws, and she had a feeling that it was mutual where Grizelda and Clarabelle were concerned.
"Where's Oncie?" she asked in that fake sweet voice of hers.
"He's with his daughter at the moment, he'll be with you when he's done." retorted Norma, trying to keep a level head.
Onceler hardly ever spent time with his family, couldn't the monster-in-law give him a break for five minutes at least?
"Right, listen Norma right? Asked Clarabelle, making Norma lift an eyebrow in suspicion.
None of her in-laws ever bothered to say her name correctly, so why was Clarabelle making an effort all of a sudden?
"Oncie's a business owner now, and I'd appreciate it if you and Cindy left him alone." Clarabelle knew what it was like to have such trivial things like spouses, and children keep one from reaching their true potential.
She wasn't going to let some tree hugger and her brat ruin her chances at fame.
Oncie would thank her in the long run, he'd understand that she was just doing this for his own good.
"Are you insinuating, that my child is doing something wrong, by wanting her father to spend a little time with her?" asked Norma, trying to keep herself as calm and cool as she could.
'Well if the shoe fits." said Clarabelle smugly, earning her a slap across the face from Norma.
"You can say whatever you want about me, but don't you ever insinuate there is something wrong with my child!" she yelled maternal instincts flaring.
"Woah! What's going on here?" asked Onceler, opening the door and going to see what the commotion was all about.
When he saw his mother, holding her red cheek and Norma staring at her hand in disbelief.
"She hit me Oncie!" cried his mother, pointing to Norma crocodile tears falling down her cheeks.
"What?" said Onceler in disbelief, that couldn't be true he thought.
Norma would never hurt anyone, she was a firm believer in keeping her hands to herself, and was against violence.
Why would she hurt his mother?
Norma didn't say anything, she knew that Clarabelle would just manipulate Onceler no matter what she did, so she fled.
"Norma!" yelled Onceler, he wanted to run after her, but he had to take care of his mother too.
Cindy quietly stood at the door way, watching as her daddy tried to comfort her grandma who was crying hysterically.
She knew grandma and mommy never got along, but she never thought her mother would hurt grandma.
"Listen, just stay calm, I'll bring Norma here and we can talk it out." said her daddy in his calm, soothing voice he used when he tried to get her to stop crying.
As soon as he left, grandma's tears left too.
'Mommy didn't hit you did she?" asked Cindy, if the tears had been a lie then what else was?
"Why pumpkin, what're you doin' up?" asked her grandmother smiling sweetly.
Cindy just pouted and narrowed her eyes, mommy and daddy always told her that liars were bad people.
Seeing her grandma, Cindy couldn't help but think there was some truth to that.
"Norma, what happened?" asked Once-ler when he reached his and Norma's bedroom, where his wife was currently packing.
"Wait, why're you packing?" he asked.
"I'm leaving." she replied, the lump in her throat made it hard to talk but this had to be said.
The Once-ler stood bewildered, she was leaving? Why?
"If its about whatever happened between you and my mom, then we can talk about it." he pleaded.
He loved Norma and Cindy, but he also loved his mother and he didn't want to choose between them.
"That's exactly why." she replied, keeping her back faced towards him.
"You know I'd never hurt anyone, but she made me so angry…..that I snapped…and it scares me."Said Norma, looking down at her hand, all her life she'd made it a point to never hurt anyone.
Sure she'd been tempted to, especially where her in-laws were concerned, but she resisted.
"And I realize that no matter what I say, your mother will twist my words and make me out to be the bad guy."
Once-ler went over and gently placed a green gloved hand on her shoulder.
"Norma, this isn't a contest between you and my mother, I love both of you." said the Once-ler sincerely.
She then looked up at him with tears in her brown eyes.
"So if I told you to stop cutting down trees would you listen to me?" she asked, the lump in her throat returned as she waited for him to reply.
"The man I fell in love with wouldn't have thought about it." she said, brushing past him and going to collect her daughter.
It pained her to do this, but Once-ler was under his mother's thrall, he wouldn't listen to her.
She couldn't keep playing tug-of-war with his mother over him, did she try to give her mother-in-law the benefit of the doubt? Sometimes
Did she mean to hurt her mother-in-law? No
She'd done it to defend her daughter, but her mother-in-law would make herself seem innocent, and Onceler would believer her.
Like he always did.
"Oh hello Norma." said Clarabelle, Norma just brushed past her and walked into Cindy's room.
Ignoring Once-ler who was trying to talk her out of it.
"Mommy what's going on?" asked a frightened Cindy, she didn't understand why her mother was in her room putting her things in her backpack, her father telling her not to leave.
"Just say good bye,." was all mommy said before walking out the door.
"Daddy?" said Cindy, taking her daddy's hand, he looked down and smiled at her.
He knelt down to her eyelevel and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Sweetie, you and mommy are going on a small vacation." said the Once-ler, trying his hardest not to cry.
"I want you to know, that I love you a lot, and that I'll always be here for you."
"Daddy, why're you saying that stuff?" she asked, feeling the burning sensation in her eyes, her daddy was starting to scare her with the way he was talking.
Once-ler could see the confusion and fear in his little girl's eyes, she didn't understand anything about what was going on.
So, the Once-ler just wrapped his arms around her and hugged her, gently patting her hair as she cried.
Clarabelle watched the scene, did she feel bad about making her granddaughter cry?
A little, but Norma was doing the right thing in leaving and taking the child with her.
In the long run, Oncie would thank her.
It was hard to go anywhere in life when you had ties like a spouse and children holding you down, a lesson she learned the hard way.
He'd understand that she was just protecting him.
"Cindy sweetie, it's time." said her mother.
Cindy looked up at her father who smiled at her and gently kissed her forehead.
"I love you." he said, with a kind smile.
" I love you too daddy." said the little girl, giving him one last hug before going to her mother.
Cindy laid in her bed staring out her window at the moon.
It had been a week, since she and her mother left to go live with her maternal grandparents.
The little girl loved her grandparents, and she loved her mother…..but she missed her daddy.
She missed his warm hugs
She missed his smile
She missed his laugh
She missed everything abouthim
Sniffling, the little girl buried her face in her arms and cried.
The Once-ler looked out at the desolate wasteland, the last tree had been cut down.
He'd lost everything, his friends, family, everything.
Norma was right, if he'd listened to her instead of his mother, none of this would've happened.
Why hadn't he listened to her?
Why hadn't he gone after her?
"Because she and Cindy deserved better than you" said, a little voice in his head.
What scared him the most, was that the voice sounded like his mother