Cinderella was very small for her age and her hands and feet were under-developed. She was born with a condition called Acrodysostosis, which is a rare genetic disorder that causes skeletal malformations in the hands and feet. Overall, her feet we very tiny, except the big toe on her left foot. This toe was almost twice as big as the one on her right foot. Because of all this she didn't learn to walk until she was almost three. But as she grew through her toddler years, she learned that she loved to walk the paths around their home. She would watch the birds in the trees and in the bird bath, and dig in the dirt to find worms and snails and mice.
She had a wonderful imagination that kept her entertained with her newly unearthed friends for hours. She would name the birds and mice and bring them to her mother to share in the excitement and adoration. While Estella loved birds and nature as much as anyone, she didn't want dirty bugs or mice inside of her home. The birds she would allow. She enjoyed their cheerful songs and curious tilts of their heads when they watched her knit or cook. Cinderella would mimic her mother while she did these favorite activities. Even at a young age she learned the basics of how to cook and knit. She looked up to her gentle and loving mother and admired the way she treated everyone from, neighbors to birds to Cinderella herself. The two were all but inseparable.
For Christmas the year Cinderella turned four, her mother gave her a pair of boots that would help to stabilize her as she walked. She struggled with balancing because of her extremely small feet. She had never had a pair of sturdy and supportive boots before because she was so small and had only been walking on her own for about seven months.
Jack took his wife out to the New Year's Eve party in New York City's Times Square. It was the one of the first years people began gathering there for this celebration. Needless to say, they had a spectacular time!
Within a week after they had arrived home Estella developed a fever and chills. The rest of the week she held her body every time she coughed because the movement amplified her muscle aches. She stayed in her dark room with an cold compress on her head in attempts to soothe a migraine. The next week wasn't any better. Breathing had become so labored that she had severe chest pain. Her throat was raw and tender and not just from vomiting, although that didn't help, it only added insult to injury. By the end of the second week she was coughing up blood and knew she wouldn't survive much longer. She called for Cinderella.
"My dear girl." She swallowed hard and caressed her daughter's face, "Oh how much I love you. I'm going away for a bit, but I want you to stay true to who you are. I'll look down on you and always be near you." Her gaze lingered as her hand fell limp. Her breath expelled slowly and steadily until it stopped forever.
Cinderella, at only 4 years old, didn't fully understand what was happening. She pressed her forehead into her mother's.
"Love you too, Momma."
They buried her mother under her favorite tree and Cinderella spent most of her time watering the grave with her tears. She sang with the birds and brought mice to visit.
By the time Cinderella was five her father was already remarried to a woman that he had known before he married Estella. Her name was Teresa Mayne and she came with two daughters. The elder one, Anastasia, was just older than Cinderella. She was pretty with dark mysterious eyes. The younger one, interestingly enough, was named Drisella. She was a hard-to-please, chubby three-year-old with high expectations.
In Cinderella's attempts to befriend her new sisters she filled a basket with her favorite things. Flowers and cookies and a mouse named Gus! Drisella screamed, tearing from the room. Anastasia was appalled. She didn't find anything welcoming in such a gift and threw the basket against the wall, stunning the poor little creature.
Confused, Cinderella lifted her furry friend's limp body. Her heart felt very much the way it did just a few months prior. She thought Gus had died. She carefully took him out to her favorite tree and buried him alongside her mother. Sealing this grave with her tears as well.
On the way back to the house her new sisters met her outside. She had stopped to watch the birds play and bathe in the fountain. The two girls crept up behind her.
"She plays with such vile and dirty creatures." Anastasia said and pushed Cinderella into the fountain. Both girls laughed.
"She could use a bath, right Anastasia?" Drisella threw a rock in the fountain to scare the birds away and the two ignorant girls with cruel hearts left Cinderella sitting in the fountain alone.
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