Ashes

part one

I collided with the ground with a hard thud and was pinned down unable to move. Eustace sat on my back pressing my face into the grass. It wasn't long before footsteps could be heard coming towards us, but I knew they were not coming to my rescue. My head was yanked back roughly causing me to grit my teeth. It was Fitch my other stepbrother holding a pair of scissors staring down at me with a devilish grin.

Snip That's all I heard before seeing strands of my dirty brown hair fall to the ground in front of my face. My head was slammed into the ground and spots danced across my vision as a weight was lifted off my back. Footsteps sounded out going in the direction of the house mixed with sounds of laughter ringing out. Laughter once again directed at me.

It was nothing new, one unfair "punishment" after another. Always at the wrong end of their cruel jokes. It was the life I grew up with, the only one I ever knew.

My mom died when I was three, my dad remarried the following year to the young widow Valencia. She moved into my house bringing along her twin sons better known as my stepbrothers. I'm two years older and could overtake them easily, but when I was five my father also passed leaving my stepmother twice widowed with a son who wasn't her own.

She had never liked me and always thought me useless until she found out I could be a personal slave. Me doing everything fueled a fire turning the twins into a pair of brats. If I tried to do anything I was punished twice over.

So I took the punishments and never complained or cried I would never give them that satisfaction.

I was once again on my feet brushing off the dust and burrying the memories. There are chores to be done and Valencia would yell at me for the "delay". I began were I left off folding the laundry on the clothes line.

That's what they complained about, apparently I wrinkled their shirts last time as if they could do a better job. They couldn't fold anything if their life depended on it. It made me chuckle, the thought of them franticly trying to fold a sheet.

It was time to face her, the she devil. I gathered my courage and the laundry setting a course for the house. The backdoor was wide open allowing a cool breeze to blow into the laundry room. "Ashe"!

There it is, here comes the rant. She walked in with her eyes bright muttering to herself. "You! You have to go into town today and set and appointment for three with the best seamstress!" She announced.

"We can't afford that"!

"Then sell milk from the cow, sell some crops, do whatever jobs you can find I don't care"!

"Why"?

"You don't need a reason why you ungrateful brat!" Valencia said almost breaking out into hysterics. "But if you must know Princess Aveline has come of age and a ball is being thrown for her to choose a suitor!"

"Three? You mean I get to go?"

"Hahaha" she burst out laughing. "Hardly. The third is for me! Honestly you can't really think I'd let some scruffy servant embaress us would you?" She burst into another fit of laughter letting out an unlady like snort. "Now go do what your told!" she yelled over her shoulder as she left.

I grabbed a pail and set to work milking the cow. They don't know how to do anything without me it's pathetic. The whole place would have fallen to ruin. Not once have I heard a thank you. I need to go to that ball! It could change my whole life. Maybe not the princess but just maybe someone could help me.

I got Arlo out of the barn. He's my horse, but more than that he's my best friend. He neighed with excitement because I didnt get to ride with him often. He stood patiently while I hooked him up to his cart and loaded it up.