Glass Slippers [1st Draft]

10. James

They had all grown so much in two years. Harriet was thirteen and very nearly a young woman, although Harriet would deny it, Amelia was eight, and James was six, and all of them each had their own quirk to go with their growing personalities.

Amelia was shy until she was around Tom, who always teased her, and then she was a spitfire. This always made Clara laugh because she knew Tom did it on purpose.

James had developed a habit of taking in animals and trying to take care of them, even if they were mice. Needless to say, Clara did her best not to scream at every new edition to the "family" that he always insisted on showing her.

And then there was Harriet. Harriet was by far the most complicated of Clara's siblings. After she had discovered the wonder of trousers, Clara was hard put to get Harriet out of them and into dresses.

This was not helped by the fact that Harriet had taken it upon herself to try and teach herself sword-fighting with sticks. This was what really worried Clara, as she hadn't had the heart to tell Harriet that women just weren't knights. She was afraid that if she told her, Harriet might do something just to spite her. Like for instance try to join the knights by pretending to be a boy, but hopefully, it would never come to that.

Her siblings were all playing in the forest, running around the trees, completely barefoot. Clara stopped by the forest edge, not wanting to interrupt their game immediately. She watched them play a little before she spoke.

"Harriet, James, Amelia." All three stopped in their tracks and turned to look at her. "I have just finished getting Estella and Edina ready so I will be in the garden weeding, alright?" They nodded, before getting back to their game.

Clara made her way to the garden, not minding that they were electing to play instead of helping her. She knew that if she'd asked they would've, with minimal complaining for the most part. Anyway, Clara had kind of hoped to have a moment to herself.

The past two weeks had been hectic. It seemed that her stepfamily was constantly going to parties, and as such more and more chores kept on building up as Clara had to shirk her other duties to help them get ready. She missed the days where she had Mrs. Landon to help her.

She was still lost in her thoughts when suddenly there was a loud shriek from behind her. Whirling around she saw Amelia running towards her, looking scared.

"Clara! James is hurt! He's fallen!" Clara quickly leaped to her feet, not bothering to brush off her gown before following Amelia back to the woods her heart pounding in her chest.

"Where is he? What happened?"

"We were playing and then he just-" Amelia gave a little sob. "He fell through the ground."

"Clara!" Harriet called, and Clara rushed over to her. Standing where she was, she saw what Amelia meant. It looked as if it was an old well that had been covered up years ago, and desperately trying to keep afloat in the middle of it was James.

"James! Hold on, I'll get you out! Don't worry!"

Clara looked around frantically for something she could hold onto. She had to do something quickly, James hardly knew how to swim, and even then, he couldn't tread water for long. Looking down at her dress, she was struck with an idea. Not paying any mind to propriety, she ripped the threadbare material off her dress, starting at the bottom and working her way up to the middle.

The amount she got would have to be enough. It wasn't strong enough to get James out of the well, but if she held onto it, maybe she could get him without falling in herself. She quickly tied one end to a sturdy tree branch, and the other end she wrapped around one of her hands. Having done that, she threw herself onto her stomach and reached into the well as far as she could, feeling Harriet and Amelia take hold of the back of her legs as well.

"James! Hold out your hand!" She cried, but her brother was panicking, struggling to keep afloat. She reached down farther. "Come on, James, just one hand. I promise I'll get you."

James was staring up at Clara, fear swimming in his eyes, as he tried to bring his hand up. However, he had already been treading water for too long. Clara had a feeling that he didn't have much strength left. Clara reached her arm down even further, ignoring the strain in her own arms.

James tried to bring an arm up, but as he did, he sunk lower, getting a mouthful of water. Clara's eyes widened as his head went under the water and didn't come back up. Stretching even more, she got her hand into the water and reached as far as she possibly could. Finally, she found his wrist and pulled up with all of her might.

She could feel Amelia and Harriet trying to help her, and her arms felt like they were going to come out of their sockets, but eventually, James and Clara were out of the well.

But Clara was just starting to panic. James wasn't breathing.

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I'm sorry. Not sorry enough to tell you what happens, but still sorry. Do you think James will live? Tell me in the comments! Also, the picture is of James.

P.S. I have planted a hint to a sequel within this chapter, another fairy-tale retelling. There will be a shout-out to whoever guesses what and who it will be about first.