The whole castle was starting to decorate for the ball. The maids were out mopping the hard wooden floors and waxing it until it reached its ultimate shine. The windows were washed and the sun pore through but was hidden behind rose colored curtains. I breathed in deeply and smelt lavender. My suit was being made and my father was rumbling back and forth picking out the finest decor for the party.
I snuck out through the back and made my way to the stables. There, I picked out a brilliantly colored stallion. He had patches of black and brown splattered across his white body. There was a splatter over his right eye and when he saw me he snorted in happiness. I had been his favorite from day one. I picked him out when I was only eight years old. I hopped on his bare back and we took a ride through the castle's acres.
I felt pressured. I had caught my father injecting himself with medication only a few hours ago and his face had been shriveled up in pain. It scared me to think my father wasn't invincible. After you lose one parent, you think you'll always have the other one to lean on, they will be there forever. And if I didn't pick a wife, he'd try anything in his power to find me one. I jerked my horse to a stop and peered over the grassy hill. Below was our kingdom, each house standing proud and tall against each other. The sun shone in the brilliant blue sky and everything looked at peace. I buried my face into my horse's mane.
I knew I had to pick a girl to marry at the ball. It would save my father some grief, and when the matter was over I could do everything in my power to keep him alive. I looked at the village. I knew the kind of girl I had wanted from day one, but I wasn't sure she actually existed. I sighed and turned my horse back down the hill.
"Come on Maximus, time to go home."
The laundry piled higher in my arms; I knew it was going to overflow like a volcano
soon.
"Throw away the pink necklace on the black shirt," Anastasia shivered. "It only looks cute on the hanger." I climbed the steps down to the hot basement and hummed to myself as I sorted the clothes. When I came to the shirt, I stopped and examined it. I pulled the pink beads from the necklace and stuck them in my pocket. I examined the area and found an old pair of scissors. I cut into the shirt and cut out all of the lace and stuck it in my pocket as well.
"This isn't that bad of an idea," I muttered to myself. I raced back up the steps and snuck into my step-mother's room. The only thing inside was her black kitten with a little white mark on its nose. It meowed and started to rub against my legs. I smiled and picked it up and petted it while I searched for my book. It began to purr in my arms. All of my step family's pets dislike them, but they love me. Probably because I'm the one who takes care of them and cleans up after them so they don't get in trouble.
When I spotted the book, I put the kitten down and reached for it. It was a book on how to make cheap dresses on limited material. I looked around and tucked it into my dress before racing up the steps to my bedroom. I closed the door softy behind myself then sat down cross-legged and flipped through the pages. My eyes stopped on a specific dress.
"That's the one," I whispered. I ripped the page out carefully so it didn't look like a page was missing. I put it back into my step mother's room then muttered to myself.
"They are all so spoiled they won't even notice some of their stuff is gone," I smirked. "I know half of their clothes sit in heaps in their bedrooms that they never use."
"Who are you talking to loser?" Drizella sniggered, but I was too enveloped in the thought of my dress to care.
