Falling
Another Cinderella Story, set in modern day. Cinderella's stepmother is hard on her because she wants the best for her. Please Read and Review!
"What is the meaning of this?" Lady Tremaine asked her stepdaughter. She waved her report card under her nose. Her straight A stepdaughter had a C in French. This upset her more than she would admit. Ella had the brains that her own daughters did not and she was not going to let her slack off.
Ella looked up from her math. "French is hard," she said weakly.
Her stepmother glared at her. "But I am a French teacher! Why didn't you ask for help?"
Ella stared at her in surprise. She didn't think her stepmother would be willing to help her. She shrugged.
"I'm going to check your homework every day," her stepmother informed her. "This C is going to be an A next quarter. Got it?"
Ella nodded meekly.
Her stepmother didn't check her homework the next day, because Ella was sick. It started with a low grade fever and a cough. Her stepmother gave her the night off from dishes. Ella ended up sleeping nearly 18 hours.
In the middle of the night a nightmare woke her up. Someone was stealing her pillow, making her madder and madder. She woke up gasping. She had stopped breathing.
Normally she wouldn't have dared wake up her stepmother in the middle of the night but this was an emergency. Cautiously she opened the door to her stepmother's room. The door creaked. A lump in the bed stirred slightly.
"Stepmother?" Ella croaked. "Wake up."
Her stepmother mumbled something unintelligible.
Cinderella shook her gently. She hacked again and began to gasp.
"Ella?" her stepmother asked sleepily. She turned on the light. Ella gasped more.
"Can't-breathe," she gasped out.
"Come on," her stepmother said. She threw on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt and helped her stepdaughter down the stairs. She woke up her own daughters to tell them she was taking Ella to the hospital. She held Ella up as she helped her out to the car. Normally she would have told her to breathe in some steam to help loosen the gunk and not bothered with the hospital but this was obviously an emergency. Ella could barely breathe.
"Stay with me," her stepmother said as she sped at about 80 miles an hour to the hospital. Ella was gasping harder and harder with each passing mile. Her stepmother held her hand all the way to the hospital.
She was on the verge of collapsing when they reached the hospital. Her stepmother half carried her into the emergency room. "Help!" she bellowed. "My daughter can't breathe!"
This was the first time in ten years she called Ella her daughter. If Ella was able to breathe, she would have been very touched. However, she was struggling to stay conscious.
The nurse on duty quickly took her information and put her on a nebulizer. Her stepmother held her hand the whole time. Ella had never seen her like this. Her stepmother was usually so poised, so arrogant and controlled. Terror and fear lit up her blue eyes in a way Ella had never seen before, not even when her father died.
"Breathe, sweetheart," she said as she rubbed her thumb up and down the back of her hand. Ella's blood pressure was elevated as her heart raced to keep her alive. Her stepmother talked to the doctor, demanding medicine or a shot be given to Ella, before they left. They gave her a shot of prednisone and told her stepmother to schedule a doctor appointment.
Lady Tremaine held her stepdaughter's hand on the way out to the car. "Stepmother-" Ella whispered. Due to the cough and losing the ability to breathe, she could barely speak.
"Don't talk, Ella," her stepmother said. "I have never been so scared in my life."
Ella was stunned. She thought her stepmother hated her. Well maybe not quite hate but just barely tolerated her. An unwelcome reminder of her late husband but the price to pay for his inheritance. She didn't think her stepmother would mind if she was dead.
"Come on," her stepmother said when they got home. She helped Ella into the house. Ella automatically turned left at the top of the stairs but was stopped when a hand grabbed her arm.
"I want you to sleep in here with me," her stepmother informed her. "I want to keep an eye on you."
Ella was thankful it was dark, because she was sure she was blushing furiously. Her stepmother steered her into her room and into bed. "Turn over," she said. Ella obeyed. A moment later her shirt was lifted and long fingers began rubbing Vicks Vapor Rub onto her back.
Ella began to tremble. She had never been so close to her stepmother, unless she was being smacked.
"Are you all right?" her stepmother asked, more gently than she had in years. "You're shaking. Are you too cold?"
Ella shook her head.
"You're little heart is racing," her stepmother commented, almost as an accusation. Ella didn't say anything.
"Turn over," her stepmother said and began massaging the vapor rub into her chest.
Ella dared to glance up at her stepmother. Her dark eyes looked into her stepmother's blue ones. Her mouth trembled and tears welled in her eyes as she tried to speak.
"Something wrong, child?" her stepmother asked.
Ella choked back on her tears, which caused a coughing fit. Her stepmother rubbed her back.
"Thank you," Ella whispered when she calmed down.
"For what, child?"
"For saving my life. I thought you hated me and would like to see me dead, but now…" Ella couldn't finish. She was crying too hard. Then she started gasping and hacking.
"Calm down," Lady Tremaine said as she rubbed her back. "I don't hate you, Ella. How could I? Could anyone hate you?"
Tears streamed down Ella's deathly white face. She didn't trust herself to speak. She looked everywhere but at the sapphire eyes of her stepmother. She couldn't handle them burning into her soul.
"Shhh," her stepmother said gently. "It's ok. " Cinderella tried to stop crying but couldn't. Lady Tremaine stroked her hair until she finally calmed down.
"Go to sleep, sweetheart," she said as she turned off the light.
Ella lay in the darkness for quite a while, unable to sleep. Finally, she turned over and rested her head on her stepmother's shoulder. "I love you," she whispered. She had never said that to her stepmother and probably wouldn't have if the circumstances were different.
Two arms slipped around her and pulled her close. Ella jumped. She thought her stepmother was asleep. She looked up at her stepmother's face, which was illuminated by the moonlight. She looked ethereal.
"I love you too, sweet girl," her stepmother said.
Ella smiled weakly and tightened her grip around her stepmother's waist. Lady Tremaine lowered her face into Ella's hair and kissed her softly. Between the medicine and her stepmother's gentle caresses, she finally drifted off to sleep.
