Cinderella's Tears

Cinderella's Tears ~ Chapter 4

My feet squashed the grass beneath my feet. How graceful, l I thought. I kept staring at my feet. They were mostly covered by dirt and grass. My legs were bare. They exposed all the bruises and cuts. Looking at the ground behind me, making sure I was going to sit on anything gross, I carefully sat down. The ground was cold and wet. My feet were already numb. I ran my arm down my legs, brushing off dirt.

 I was walking home with the baby sparrow when I realized, I didn’t need to go home. I didn't want to go home. I felt kind of peaceful here. There wasn't much to do except taking out dirt from under my finger nails. Next to my hip I still had the small live sparrow. I couldn't help but feel protective of it. Sighing, I knew I had to go home. It was my only chance to save the sparrow.

It was suspiciously quiet when I returned home. I checked the hallway, making sure no one was there. Careful so that I didn’t leave any evidence, I ran upstairs.

I was no doctor, let me start with that. I was facing a difficult decision. How the hell am I suppose to save the bird? I was running around the room, worried. With no clue what to do, I examined the bird. I managed to clean the sparrow and bandage its wing. I’ve been trying to fix its leg by straightening it and propping it up with a small twig. But it was difficult. Earlier, I had snuck into the kitchen and brought a piece of meat and piece of pastry. Also, I took a bowl of water. I glared at anyone looking at me.

After the baby sparrow was fed, I tried to fix the leg. Occasionally, it would shriek. I shushed it before anyone in the house would hear it. Finally I straightened the leg and attached it to the twig. Then, I got the bird to shut up and go to sleep. With some stuffing, which I got out of my covers, I made a bed for the bird.

Sighing, I realized I still had chores to do. Cursing under my breath, I slowly made my journey downstairs.

As soon as I laid my eyes on her, I knew it. Trouble. She was sitting there, making an ugly fit, sobbing over her fake hair. Father, Rachel and Liza crowded her, trying to comfort her. All of them turned to me in unison, when they heard me enter the room. I took a step back in surprise. I could see father was trying hard to be serious. He motioned for me to come closer. Putting on an innocent, curious face, I took three steps closer.

"Yes father?" I asked with wide eyes. I stared at him, making him uncomfortable.

He looked away, " What is the meaning of this?!"

Taking my eyes of him and turning my attention toward Zoey, I tilted my head and batted my eye lashes. I could feel Rachel staring at me.

"Well," I said softly and slowly. I faced Rachel and Father and told them flatly, “It’s obvious, she's faking it." Zoey stopped sobbing and looked at me in disbelief. Father look insulted. Rachel's face turned three shades darker. Lisa looked at me strongly. I looked at all of them, expecting them to blow. 

I stopped smiling and faced them with a serious face. "I don't make excuses." I left the room. Before I closed the door, I could hear a slam, as though someone slammed their hand against the table.

 I spent the rest of the day cleaning the house endlessly. I avoided eye contact with anyone, especially Zoey, even though she kept glaring at me. She kept doing everything in her power to mess me up of annoy me. And every time I would just smile slightly and resume to my work, which only got her madder. I considered whistling but I thought better of it. When I could, I would sneak to the attic to feed the baby bird.

The sparrow hasn’t really chirped since it entered the house. This was strange, considering baby birds always make some sort of noise, indicating that they are hungry. I sadly watched the bird eat crumbles of the cake. Would the baby bird be scarred for life? Just as I was, when I saw my own mother die. It must have seen it brothers and sisters die. Or did it miss it all in confusion? Perhaps it didn’t remember. This would have been best. Leaving it where it was I fell asleep as soon as my head touched the ground.

I woke up late as usual. I nearly sat up, but stopped when I felt on my chest. The baby sparrow had curled up on top of my breasts and was slightly underneath the cover. I couldn’t help but smile. It looked so innocent in the light. I sure hope you are a girl. I placed her back on her bed fluff, next to the food and water.

Downstairs, Zoey and Lisa were waiting for me. The house was already awake and working. I’m just always late. Servants hurried from one place to another. Father was drinking his coffee while reading the newspaper with Rachel. Zoey looked annoyed. Lisa on the other hand, stood behind her sister. Frequently, she glanced at me.

“Look who appeared. We were waiting for you,” Zoey placed her hands on her hip. Lisa looked at Zoey and then back at me and nodded.

“I’m honored,” I slightly smiled at them, trying to get around them.

Zoey took my shoulder and pushed me back. “Now that you are here, go out and weed the garden,” she motioned for Lisa to come. Lisa came from behind. I could see now that she had a bucket with her. She started to hand tit to me, but I snatched it from her.  I glared at them, and stomped out of the room.

“Have fun!” Zoey called after me.

“Witch,” I snarled underneath my breath.

Outside, behind the house, we had a huge garden. Mostly filled with squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, corn, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, and more. Weeding it would be a pain. Around me, servants already were busy with their gardening, to even notice me.

I sighed and bent down. The ground was wet and cold. Groaning, I wrap my hands around a weed and pulled.

The cold wind soon picked up and started to whip my hair around. I spit the hair out of my mouth and continued to work even though it was impossible since I could see anything. What did mom do with this hair? I move the hair out of my face and behind my ear, leaving a trace of mud in my hair.

I heard a soft crunch behind me. it was probably  just another servant. I was going to tell them, that I had this place covered. Turning, I open my mouth and start to say, "Its o-"

A piece of cloth came out of nowhere and covered my mouth. Then the person pulled me back, so my head was turned away from them. Then with another rag blocks my view and was tightly tied around my head.

Seriously? There are around twenty other people out here and no one notices a thing?

I reach behind me, hoping to get a hold of my kidnapper. Unfourtunaltly, he grabbed my hands and also tied them together. Damn it, that was stupid. Now I have my hands behind my back. I tried to break free, but it was no use. Then he took my arms and pulled me on to his shoulder, like a sack of potatoes. My legs, being the only thing not tied together, became my best weapon. Furiously, I kicked my kidnapper as hard as I could in the back. He only chuckled in response. I was thankful that no one could hear me through the rag, because the language that was coming out of my mouth would make ladies shake their heads in disgrace