Cinderella
Cinderella
From Cinderella (1950)
Cinderella
You’re as lovely as your name
Cinderella, you’re a sunset in a frame
Though your dressed in rags you wear an air of queenly grace
Anyone can see a throne would be your proper place
Cinderella
If you give your heart a chance
It will lead you to the kingdom of romance
There you’ll see your dreams unfold
Cinderella, Cinderella
In the sweetest story ever told.
“CINDERELLA! YOU HAVE WORK TO DO!”
The harsh, razor sharp voice of Lilly Tremaine shred through the hotel lobby, a room of glass walls, white carpet, future-esque furniture. On the other side of the room, a girl with caramel colored hair and a statuesque frame was leaning against a section of the wall that needed to be wiped down. She and was humming a soft tune, her mind not the work that she was responsible for as janitor of the Kingdom Court Hotel.
Instead, what Cinderella saw was a vast dreamland of soft clouds. The sky was a dark, vivid blue, and the sky was filled with thousands of shining, diamond-like stars. Cinderella was alone, but she was waiting for someone. Her true love, the one boyfriend of her dreams. She looked different too; her teal janitor uniform exchanged for a stunning ball gown. And she stood there, waiting for the man she knew would come.
“CINDERELLA!”
Cinderella jolted awake, sighing sadly as she realized where she was. It was only a dream. But a wonderful one at that she thought, taking her rag and dipping it in the cleaner.
However, Lilly did not look satisfied. She stared at Cinderella, waiting for an apology.
“I’m sorry, Stepmother,” replied Cinderella, not looking up. If there was one thing that Cinderella hated more than her actual job, it was the fact that her boss was her stepmother. Cinderella’s real parents had been dead for a long time.
Cinderella sighed, knowing that she’d have to make use of the time she had. It was six in the morning; hotel employees would bring out stuff like doughnuts and cereal for the hotel guests. Cinderella would be forced to serve breakfast to Anna and Diane, whom Cinderella disliked as much as Lilly. Cinderella knew that her waking up Anna and Diane was practically an Olympic sport; the two were both incredibly lazy.
Cinderella continued cleaning the wall, humming Sing Sweet Nightingale, a song she had heard on the radio the other day.
•
At seven-fifteen, Anna, Diane, and their mother came through the revolving hotel doors. Cinderella was still working furiously. She saw that Anna and Diane both overdone it on the makeup again; they looked like clowns. Cinderella tried not to laugh as she waved, set down her mop and sat at the chairs in the breakfast area.
“Good morning,” she bid the two. “Did you sleep well?” She added, noticing the two yawning.
“As if you care,” retorted Anna. “Get us some breakfast. I want extra doughnuts.”
“Alright than. What would you like, Diane?”
“Some Lucky Charms, please,” she replied.
“And you, Stepmother?”
“Just some coffee, thank you.”
Cinderella nodded, making a mental note of that in her head as she went over to the area where breakfast was laid out. It was a quiet morning, and there was no one else there.
As she was gathering the plates, a fat, chestnut-colored mouse crawled up Anna’s plate, beginning to eat away at the doughnut, although Cinderella didn’t know this. In fact, Cinderella actually knew the mouse; he was one of her many pets. As clean as The Kingdom Court Hotel was made out to be, all buildings attracted their fair share of pests. Cinderella, feeling sorry for them, had kept them and named them. This specific mouse was named Gus.
Cinderella grabbed a piece of toast for herself and gave the three their breakfasts. However, it wasn’t long before she heard Anna’s shrill scream.
“There’s a mouse! Eating my doughnut!”
Cinderella’s mouth dropped open. Diane and Lilly looked, where they saw the mouse in the doughnut hole, quivering and scared.
“You put this mouse in here!” Anna screeched.
“No,” replied Cinderella calmly.
“Girls,” Lilly said, sighing. “Let me talk to Cinderella privately.”
Anna and Diane nodded, moving to place where they couldn’t be seen, even though they still tried to listen.
“To much time on your hands . . .” began Lilly.
“Listen, I didn’t know that it-”
“Shut up, Cinderella. We’re going home after this, as usual. But instead of you just going off on your computer or whatever you do, I have a few chores that I need you to complete.”
Cinderella’s mouth fell open. “Alright, Stepmother . . .” She said quietly.
•
The Tremaines lived in a large home on the outskirts of town. It had belonged to Cinderella’s father when he was alive, but since Lilly was his wife and Cinderella was underage at the time, the ownership of the estate had passed to Lilly when he died.
The fortune had slowly been eaten away by Cinderella’s stepsisters, while Cinderella hardly got any money at all.
Her room was small, consisting of a dresser, chair, TV and bed. Cinderella had gotten out of her janitor uniform and changed into an orange t-shirt and gray sweatpants. She had a little bit of time before she would have to begin any chores - when they had gotten home, Lilly, Diane and Anna had all gone back to bed - so she turned on TV, flipping through the channels.
There was nothing on, so she stopped at the news channel. The screen showed a picture of a handsome young man with deep brown eyes and clean-cut hair as black as the void. Under that, there was a caption that read: MAYOR’S SON TO HOST PARTY. Cinderella sat up in her chair, interested.
“All single young women of the town are encouraged to attend for a chance to meet the Mayor’s son, and a chance to become his girlfriend. Please tell everyone you know.”
Cinderella’s eyes widened in delight. It was too good to be true. She’d have to go, it was the perfect opportunity to have her dreams come true.
·
“You?” Anna was laughing hysterically along with Diane. “You’re a janitor! The mayor’s son does not a janitor for a girlfriend!” It was in the afternoon, as Diane and Anna had just returned home from flute lessons. They were all gathered in the living room.
“I see no reason why you cannot go,” Interjected Lilly. “If you finish your chores, and can find a good dress to wear.”
“I will,” Cinderella promised. With that, she darted up to her room to look at some magazines. She found one of a designer store and began to skim through it. The dresses were okay, but then she found one that she absolutely loved: it was a floor-length, pink halter, and the neck was adorned with white lace. Cinderella saw a big stamp in the corner of the page that said ULTIMATE SWEEPSTAKES. BE ONE OF THE FIRST 10,000 TO CALL IN!YOU’LL GET IT FREE! Cinderella smiled. It was too good to be true. As she was reaching for her phone, however, she heard a familiar voice . . .
“CINDERELLA!”
Cinderella groaned, slamming her foot against the ground. It turned out that Cinderella had more and more chores to do. I’ll never get to order my dress.
Meanwhile, back in Cinderella’s room, the mice were in their cage. Jacques, one of Cinderella’s first mice, was looking at the magazine page (still open) and the phone right next to it. “She’ll never have the time to get her dress ordered,” he said sadly.
“Why don’t we order it for her?” suggested another mouse.
“Great idea!” Said Jacques, crawling out of his cage. On the phone, the manager of the store had no idea he was a mouse. The other mice were smiling happy.
“Cinderelly will love it,” said Gus. All of the other mice agreed, as they couldn’t wait to see the look on Cinderella’s face when she saw her beautiful new dress.
I guess it really would depend on what kind of wall it was. Maybe a marble wall? But still, people don't usually clean walls. XD
(forgot the space between "in!" and "you'll")
