Cinderella (Camren)

Once Upon a Time...

Once upon a time in a faraway land, there was a tiny kingdom. It was very peaceful and prosperous, and rich in romance and tradition. Here in a stately chateau, there lived a windowed gentleman and his daughter, Camila. Although he was a kind and devoted father, and gave his child every luxury and comfort he could, he still felt she needed a mother's care. Deciding to marry again, he chose for a second wife a family of good fortune and two daughters just around Camila's age. They went by the names of Lucy and Keana.

It was upon the untimely death of this good man, however, that the stepmother's true nature was revealed. Cold. Cruel. And bitterly jealous of Camila's charm, wit, and beauty. She was determined to forward the interest of her two uncommon, very spoiled daughters. She was going to make sure that nothing stood in her way.

Thus as time went by, the chateau fell into disrepair. The family fortune was squandered for the selfish reasons of the stepsisters. The stepmother allowed her children to do as they pleased and made sure that Camila's life was miserable. Through all this Camila was abused, humiliated, put down, and eventually forced to become a servant in her own home. And yet, despite all of that, Camila managed to remain gentle and kind, even willing to stand up for herself in the darkest hours. For with each new dawn she found hope that someday her dreams would come true.

-

The sun slowly rose into the morning sky, the shadows beginning to disappear from the chateau's tower. A pair of bluebirds made their way up to the tower, flapping their wings until they were able to rest on the windowsill. A pair of slightly torn curtains rested in the window, barely allowing any light into the tower. The birds each took a side of the curtains and slowly pulled them back, allowing the early sunlight to pour into the room. It was quite small and looked about in as much disrepair as the rest of the chateau. Not much appeared to be in there aside from a bed, the window, a dresser, desk, chair, and a divider. In the bed there appeared to be a sleeping person, though it was hard to tell because the patched up blanket was covering the majority of the furniture. The birds flew in one the curtains were pulled back all the way and sat down on the headboard of the bed, looking at the supposed sleeping figure. But of course, the birds had been in there numerous times before; they each had on a vest and a little hat as if they were small blue people. It was obvious that they were more than welcome there. But it didn't look like anyone was there to greet them this morning. The birds exchanged glances before looking back at the figure. They tweeted slightly, as if they were trying to wake the person up.

There was little response. The figure under the blankets moved and the pillow became half folded, as though it were covering a face.

The birds flew over. One lightly pulled on some brown locks while the other tried its best to pull off the blankets, with little success. A yawn then escaped the person and the birds nearly jumped up as the person shifted in their sleep. They were now lying on their stomach, the pillow covering their head with only a small opening for the birds to crawl under and get their attention. One of the birds landed on the pillow and noticed this, tweeting to the second bird and pointing to the pillow.

The second bird shrugged its shoulders and tweeted back, with the assumption that the idea wasn't so good.

The first bird rolled its eyes and shook its head, which easily caused its hat to fall off and reveal the messy feathers on its head.

Giving in, the second bird sighed and flew over to the pillow. Tweeting slightly, it poked its head under the pillow and started crawling under, only to be answered by a giggle. The bird gasped and jumped out, quickly ducking behind the headboard and only slightly poking its head out.

The first bird tried a different approach. Turning around and leaning forward, like it was looking for a back way to get in, it poked its head behind the pillow. As it did that, a tan hand crept over and playfully flicked its tail. The bird gasped, grabbing its tail and flew back to the other bird, nearly banging into it and knocking it off of the headboard. They turned their heads around to see a laughing young lady slowly rise from under the blankets. Her chocolate wavy locks fell down to her waist, and her brown eyes complimented her skin tone very well. Though it was hard to see her figure underneath the blankets, it was easy to tell the young lady was around her teens. One could assume she had a very nice figure, and even as sleepily as she was, she had an amazing smile. That, of course, was none other than Camila.