Fairy Tales Turned Grim: Cinderella Edition

Chapter Two: Hope

As Ella quickly went through the motions of making breakfast (setting aside a small portion of her own) alongside a few of the early-rising manor servants, she resumed wondering about what her family would be doing that evening. Most of her father's wealth was more than likely gone, Ella knew; Lady Tremaine had frivolous and expensive spending habits, and upon the death of her husband had inherited everything he owned. Slowly, a year after her father's funeral, expensive items such as paintings and jewelry had begun disappearing to pay off debts. Ella wondered why Lady Tremaine hadn't started searching for a new husband yet, and if she planned to bleed their finances dry before she would.

At first Ella had thought that Lady Tremaine had sincerely loved her father, because of how devastated she seemed after he was no longer with them; Ella was quickly assured that that was not the case, and that she was simply a good actress. Shortly after her father's death, Lady Tremaine's true colors had been revealed when she began to treat her cruelly, moving her from her childhood room to the attic and forcing her to be a servant in her own home, among other things.

The part that had truly hurt Ella, more even than the cruel behavior on its own, had been the moment that she realized Lady Tremaine did not see her as her own daughter, as she had said and led her to believe. The last two years of horrible treatment were starkly contrasted by the first short year before her father's death where Lady Tremaine had simply been Lindra. Warm, comforting Lindra, who had been kind and treated Ella as another daughter. Now, there was only Lady Tremaine: cold, cruel, and forever full of hatred for her.

Ella was certain that Lady Tremaine knew she disliked her; there was no way she could've known that Ella had been there that fateful night, listening at her bedroom door, as she revealed to her daughters what had truly happened to Ella's father. Ella had struggled to be silent on the other side of the cracked door, grappling with disbelief and white hot rage. After gathering herself, she had crept away and back to her room, the last night she would spend in it. By the next morning, Lindra had become Lady Tremaine, and she had Ella moved to the attic and began giving her chores. That had been the turning point in their relationship.

Now, at eighteen, the hatred she felt for Lady Tremaine was matched only by the hatred Lady Tremaine felt for her. Ella dreamed of one day being able to become Lady of the manor, and make sure justice was delivered unto Lady Tremaine. For now, though, she had no way to do that; who would believe her over her family? She would be jailed quicker than if she had been discovered as a witch, and Ella knew it.

"Ella, dear, I can finish with the eggs. Can you get the plates so we can begin serving Lady Tremaine and the girls?" Reina, the manor's cook, smiled at Ella as she asked.

Reina was a plump, older woman with rosy cheeks and a ready smile. Her hair was a curly, dark brown that was tied into a tight knot atop her head, and her eyes were the color of honey in sunlight. It reminded Ella of her mother, although they didn't look alike. Reina had the same joy in life that her mother had had. She never failed to make Ella laugh, and they had had a close relationship from the time she was a child. Ella viewed her almost as a second mother, for all the times she had taken care of her when she needed it. Reina was also the one that had showed Ella the chest of her mother's things in the attic. Her father had put them there after she had died.

Ella smiled back at her and replied, "Yes ma'am."

She moved to a cupboard and removed three plates and three cups, along with silverware. While Reina loaded up the plates, Ella filled the cups with cold water. When they were done, Ella placed the silverware, bundled in napkins, in the pocket of her apron, and balanced the plates on her arms. She walked through a door at the rear of the kitchen and entered the dining room where Lady Tremaine and her daughters, Anastasia and Drizella, sat waiting at the table.