The (fictional) True Crime Story of Cinderella - Part 10

The third night of the ball was more crowded than ever. This was going to be the most spectacular night with fireworks and everything. Even people who weren't hoping to woo and marry a millionaire attended. The gowns and suits were exquisite. Furs and feathers. Silks and satins. Deep blues and greens and red and purples. Even black and gold and silver. It was specular.

All night Emmerett wondered where Cinny was and why she hadn't shown up. He worried whether it was because one of her glass slippers had fallen off during their romantic encounter. Surely she had other pairs of shoes she could wear.

He marinated on the memories of her lips on his. The curves of her body. He liked that she was so sweet and soft spoken, but could be aggressively passionate, too. He inhaled deeply at just the recollection of the smell of her hair. 

He decided that she must not have returned that night because she was afraid they wouldn't be able to contain their lust for each other. He could tell she was a good girl, mostly likely with a curfew. She probably wanted to wait until she was married before being with a man. 

"Hello Rhett." An intentionally sultry voice said. He was pulled out of his cloud of memory. 

"Amber, you're here."

"Anastasia. You naughty boy." She said teasingly and tugged on his tie. "You'll need to remember my name and not just how well I kiss if you want to make any special announcements later."

"Ah-hah, yes." He smoothed his tie. "I'll make a point of it. Please, do excuse me-" he hurried away.

Later that night he did make an announcement. At exactly 11:30 PM he stood at the top of the stairs in the ballroom.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased and honored you have chosen to favor me with your presence. You have helped me celebrate my birthday in a most marvelous way! As promised, I have chosen my bride, and I am ready to announce who my heart has chosen.

A hush fell over the crowd followed by high-pitched, giddy squeals of hope and excitement. Emmerett pulled the glass slipper from his pocket and held it up.

While it was a pleasure meeting each of you lovely young ladies, the owner of this glass slipper is my chosen bride. 

At the very moment he made this announcement Anastasia vomited and collapsed, knocking over the elderly woman next to her. Madam hurried to her. Daniel Stewart came to her aid as well, and carried her to the car where Drisella was already waiting. She, too was pale and sick. 

The (fictional) True Crime Story of Cinderella - Part 9

Cinderella's plan was to change her life forever. 

First she would go to the ball. Eat, dance, and have the time of her life. Then she would return home to prepare for the next morning when the evil Madam and her two ugly-hearted daughters would be ravenous for breakfast where they would simultaneously devour whatever Cinderella served them and gossip about how charming their night was. She had planned to stock the eggs with peppers and onions and the oatmeal with brown sugar and cinnamon - oh, and a healthy helping of rat poison. For they were the true vermin and pests that needed to be taken care of.

Cinderella had planned to change her life forever. 

 At first light, when she usually arose, Cinderella had only just drifted off to sleep. So of course she was late getting up. Which means she was late getting breakfast ready. Which means she didn't have time to follow through with her plan. It also meant that she got enough lashings to cover her back with red hot welts, some of which broke the skin.

She had almost decided that she could escape these awful people in a different way, but their hateful and malicious behavior that morning convinced her to proceed with her plan. She knew she could not let them survive after everything they had done to her and how badly they treated everyone around them. Besides that, she knew she couldn't go back to the ball that night. She had only had time to prepare one outfit so she would have nothing to wear. She wished she could go to the ball again, but deep down she knew that with these people in her life she would always be trapped here.

The ladies of the house left early in hopes to corner the young heir before other young ladies could scoop him up like the night prior. As soon as they were out of the front door Cinderella was out the back, running, almost skipping to the shed where the poison was. When she got there she noticed something was different about her mothers grave. Too far to tell what was different she took a step closer and the sapphire amulet glinted. She made her way over to it slowly but the closer she got the quicker she walked.

To her incredible surprise she saw there was a gorgeous dress, finer than the ones she had picked up for the mistresses. And a fantastical necklace that took her breath away. She looked around and realized this must have been her mother granting her wish to return to the ball. She knelt on the ground and pressed her forehead into the large stone and breathed, "I love you, Momma." Then she scooped up the dress and the necklace found the glass slippers and headed inside the house to bathe and get ready for the ball.

She worked extra hard on her hair this time. She was excited to go back and see Emmerett again. She wanted to be even more beautiful than the night before. When she arrived many eyes were upon her. She walked slowly through the ball room, being stopped several times by handsome, and not-so-handsome young men. They asked her to dance and offered to get her a glass of punch. She smiled sweetly and obliged. Even after 45 minutes of being there, and looking for him, she had not seen Emmerett. She excused herself to the restroom and went to search other areas for him. She found him in the same spot she had left him the night before. But this time it was with Anastasia, of all people.

She spied on them through the glass doors and saw Anastasia's fingers play with her neckline. She watched as Anastasia bit her lip and dropped her gaze from his eyes to his lips. And then she watched as Anastasia's hand moved to his lapel and his lips moved to her lips.

Enraged and betrayed, Cinderella turned and darted from the scene. When she returned to the ballroom, she heard a woman's voice sternly call for James Milton. She recognized this name and looked to see who he was. She saw a very tall young man stuffing his face with two eclairs. His mother was scolding him and told him to act more gentlemanly in public. Once he was able to swallow he apologized and kissed her hand. Cinderella thought to herself, "Is that just something you do out of politeness?" 

Embarrassment overwhelmed her and everything went dark.

When she opened her eyes she saw dozens of faces looking down on her. Most people looked concerned. Others? Amused. One face was familiar to her: Madam. Somehow there was no recognition in her face. Then Cinderella felt something behind her head. It was James Milton's hand. He was beside her helping her sit up. She was impressed with how gentlemanly he was. 

"Miss, are you okay?" James asked and handed her a glass of water.

Cinderella stared into his eyes. "I am now, thank you." She took the water and sipped it.

He held her elbow as she stood, then escorted her to a bench to sit. He sat with her for 10 minutes to make sure she was okay. He made her laugh and then asked her to dance. His dancing was awkward. He was too tall and his hand barely hovered over her back. He didn't know how to lead. Not that Cinderella knew anything about it, except for the fact that it was different from the way she had danced the previous night. When the song was over he bowed to her and she saw Emmerett enter the room. 

Emmerett's eyes scanned the room and found her. A smile grew across his face and he began to walk toward her. She clenched her jaw and raised her chin. She thanked James for the dance and asked him if there were any cookies. He led her to the dessert table which was in the opposite direction from Emmerett. She spent most of the night avoiding him. She stayed until midnight figuring the others would be staying for another three or four hours like the night before, so she wasn't worried about being caught. As she exited the oversized front doors to the massive porch Emmerett appeared from the other side of one of the pillars.

"Leaving already? I haven't even had a chance to talk to you tonight. Haven't you missed me?" He had a hunch that she would try to leave again at midnight, so he was waiting for her.

He sounded pompous and arrogant this night. She narrowed her eyes at him, scrutinizing him. She didn't think him to be genuine. He approached her slowly and stroked her arm from her shoulder down to her wrist, "I missed you." He whispered with hot breath.

She finally met his eyes and asked, "Did you really?"

"Cinny, I haven't stopped thinking about you." She had told him her name was Cinny because she didn't want anyone to know who she really was, a dirty slave. "You are the most beautiful girl I've ever met. You're funny and sweet, too." He smelled the hair that caressed her neck which gave her goosebumps all over her body. Her head turned toward him, touching her cheek to his. His skin was warm and soft, but also scratchy. She couldn't tell if she liked it or not. 

He turned his face and kissed her. It wasn't the kiss she had dreamt about the night before. This one was forceful and tasted bitter like alcohol. She tried pushing him away but he still held her wrist and pulled it behind him. He held her close with both hands, lifting her slightly off the ground. She kicked, but lost a shoe in her struggle of which he seemed to be oblivious. He easily overpowered her small body, no matter how strong she had grown throughout all the years of hard work and heavy labor. He forced her against the pillar kissing and groping her. Her back screamed with pain from the pressure on her raw back. Her heart cried with panicked anxiety. Finally she was able to knee him in the groin, which directed his attention elsewhere.

She ran for her horse and heard him call after her, "Cinny, wait! You don't have to go. You can stay here tonight. Don't leave me!" For some reason this did not encourage her to stay. 

Cinderella planned to go straight home and never trust anyone again. She was scared, and she blamed Anastasia. That horrid girl ruined everything Cinderella had ever loved. The adrenaline pumping through her veins energized her. When she got home she destroyed the dress and buried it by her mothers grave. On the way back to the house she stopped by the shed and grabbed two boxes of rat poison. One didn't seem like enough anymore.

The (fictional) True Crime Story of Cinderella - Part 8

When Cinderella arrived at the ball all the guests wondered who is this beautiful young girl. She was determined to act the part of a lady and flirt with whomever would pay her any attention. She knew that if Madam spotted her she would never get another chance to leave the house again, so she had to make this night count! She was surprised by how many eyes were on her. Her initial reaction was to cower, but she pushed through and acted like this was normal for her. 

She observed others at the ball. Everyone appeared to be on their best behavior. She spotted Drisella eating off the serving table and then demanding an elderly woman give up her chair for her. Too far to hear, she knew what she said, Move twit, there's not space enough for old people here. She hid from Madam in the crowd and stumbled into Emmerett, the man of honor, himself.

He was absolutely enchanted by her! He couldn't take his eyes off her. They danced and talked, and giggled all night. They ended up sitting out on a bench on a balcony that overlooked the garden. She traced the lines on his hands and he wondered how such a beautiful and elegant young lady could have such calloused and strong and tiny hands. 

"I've always wanted to dance the night away. You made my dreams come true." She blushed.

"Well, I've always dreamed of meeting a girl like you. So honest and genuine. So beautiful and gentle, but also deep..." he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it, "...and hard working..." He turned her hand over and kissed the palm of it, then gazed into her eyes, "and exquisite." Their faces drew closer to each other and they rested they foreheads on one another, just breathing each other in.

She was having such a wonderful evening with him that she completely lost track of time. Suddenly the clock struck midnight, and the sound of it struck her out of the romantic moment she was in and pushed her into reality. She needed to get home before the other ladies or it would be disastrous.

 

"Sorry," she said, as she stood, "I have to go!" and she hurried away.

"Wait, come back!" he cried and ran after her, but before he could get through the crowd he was bombarded with other eligible ladies thirsty for attention. Desperate to not lose this interesting girl who he knew had more to her than met the eye, he ordered his servant, Elwood Cadmotter, to follow her.

Cinderella raced home as fast as her horse would carry her, leaving a trail of chicken feathers behind her. 

When she got home she hid all of the glorious things that helped to transform her into the belle of he ball by her mothers grave. Despite being freezing, she changed from her warm cloak to her dirty old smock and hurried inside. She needed to get the fires going to warm up, but more importantly, before the ladies of the house got home. First she plunged her hands deep into the ashes and rubbed the soot on her face and through her hair. Then she lit the fires and went to bed.

Too exhausted to remember the rest of her plan she had schemed for the night, but too excited to sleep, Cinderella lay in her bed reliving the best night of her life. She had almost kissed the sweetest man who'd ever lived. He did kiss her, on her hand at least. Holding her hand to her own lips she thought to herself that she was quite in love with him already. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Cadmotter didn't find Cinderella, but he did follow the feathers as far as he could. They ended at a very large tree and there he saw pile of clothing in a wad. He figured the girl was trying to evade him, so he set a plan of his own. 

His wife, Faye, owned a dress shop in town, and he thought there may be a chance that if they left a special dress for her in this spot she would wear it the following night. This would make it easier for them to recognize her at the ball. He hurried home and discussed it with his wife  and she had just the dress in mind. They returned to the tree that same night and left a beautiful gown draped across a large stone that sat under the tree and topped it with a gold necklace with a sapphire amulet.

Then they left hoping it would work.

The (fictional) True Crime Story of Cinderella - Part 7

The excitement was tangible with anticipation through the entire town. Madam had purchased an extensive list of items for Anastasia and Drisella to wear to the ball and expected Cinderella to go around town collecting it all. Every detail was thought of from new shoes, dresses, broaches, necklaces, and gloves, to perfume and makeup. She also picked up another bag of rat poison Madam had ordered. Cinderella was always ordered to sprinkle this around the house and property, but never did! While she no longer had much time to socialize with the mice and rats, she still loved them and valued them over anyone else in the world.

Everywhere Cinderella went was buzzing with giddy girls and elated ladies looking forward to the gorgeous gala they would soon get to go to. As her to-do list grew smaller, her jealously grew larger. She didn't even want all the fluff and gaudy accessories, but to know she was not even welcome burned a hole in her heart that would never be mended. 

Cinderella had stolen away time from the glass shop each day to prepare herself for the ball. She'd had enough of taking orders from the wicked woman who refused to love her. She had decided to go to the ball and not tell anyone! 

Instead she went to her mothers grave and knitted a cloak. She had loved knitting with her mother as a child and kept up the practice throughout the years. She also incorporated feathers that she had saved from all the chickens she had to prepare for dinner. She kept bags full of feathers in the shed next to the full bags of rat poison. There was one blouse left of her mothers, so she used that and embellished an old skirt with feathers as well.  

The  first night of the ball arrived quickly. Once she had gotten the mistresses all dolled up Madam looked down at Cinderella and laughed, "Why, you're filthy Cinderella. It's a good thing you're not going to the ball. Everyone would laugh at you and turn you away."

"Yes, I'm glad that wont happen. I have far too much work to do here anyway. You ladies enjoy your night." Cinderella replied almost smugly. Then the ladies left and she got to work. First she bathed herself - inside for once. Then she used the make up and perfume that she had just picked up for the mistresses. Finally she ran out to her mothers grave where everything was waiting for her. She dressed and donned the glass slippers that Mr. O'Leary had given her. 

They had one horse and no carriage, so she was able to take him to the ball.