I think I was more tired than I thought I had been. I was making small mistakes as I was supposed to be cleaning the family home. I was messing up little things that I usually had no problem with. I burnt the breakfast that I was making for the Illy group. That was what I thought of them as now. Milly, Tilly, Jilly, and Gilly, such an unfortunate set of names. So unfortunate really, that it made me ill thinking about it.
"What the hell do you think that you are doing!?" Milly snapped at me the moment that she saw her burnt pancakes and sausage. "You expect me to eat this garbage?"
"I am sorry, Stepmother, but I didn't mean to burn it." I turned away from her, intending to go back into the kitchen, but I was stopped almost immediately.
"Where do you think that you are going?" Gilly had grabbed the back of my dress and halted my movements. "My mother is talking to you."
"She asked me a question and I answered her. The conversation was over." I shook myself out of his grasp and started to walk again. This time, Milly was the one to step in front of me.
"The conversation is over when I say it is." She snapped at me. There was anger in her eyes and I could feel a heat radiating off of her. "You have been exceedingly bad at your chores for weeks. You have been acting like you don't even know what to be doing. Do you want me to punish you? Don't think that I won't. Your father can't stop me. Even if he was here, he wouldn't be able to stop me from punishing you." At the moment, the Stepmother was being exceedingly bitchy toward me. Was it because she was worried that the prince would not accept one of her horrible children as his future wife? Probably. I mean, a mother's love could only take you so far. And sooner or later she was going to have to realize how fucking ugly those girls were and how little chance that they had to be chosen for this opportunity.
Not to mention, this was the Cinderella story. And I was the Cinderella that the story spoke about. That meant that I was the one that the prince was going to pick. He was going to be looking for me and only me. However, even though I knew that I couldn't say anything about it. I couldn't tell her that she and her daughters were wasting their time.
On top of having advanced knowledge of the story that I couldn't tell them about, I couldn't let these people know that I even knew about the ball. If they knew that I knew, and that I was going to be going, then they would try to stop me. Isn't that what the evil stepmother did in the original story? Or at least the story that I had read. Yeah, they couldn't know that I knew.
"I am sorry that my chores have suffered, Stepmother." I practically hurled the words at her with an angry sigh. "But there is nothing that I can do about it. I am doing my best at the moment. I guess I am just not the same person that I used to be." That was as close as I was going to get in telling them that I was not the Ashenella that they knew and hated so much.
"Well, you better figure it all out soon. I don't want you ruining my girls' big day." Milly got right up into my face and spat the words at me. I had to physically restrain myself from wiping my face as her spittle flecked my face.
"Their big day?" I said in mock surprise. "Have they received marriage proposals? I was not aware." I smirked at Milly. I knew that wasn't the case, but I was still feigning innocence about the ball.
"W..w..w..well, not y..y..yet." She spluttered out in nervousness. "But there is a very promising young gentleman that has taken interest in them. In fact, it is the prince of our wonderful country. He will be making his choice between them soon. So, you would do well to treat us all with respect. When one of my girls marries into royalty, I will have even more authority. You and that peasant of a man that you call father, will be squashed beneath me if you do not do exactly as I say." She really thought that she would gain power if her daughter was a princess. Seriously? Was she an idiot?
Actually, no one needed to answer that for me. I already knew that she was. I couldn't help but sigh at what she was saying. I was just so exasperated.
"Hahh. Whatever. I don't really care who they marry. I plan to live my own life. They can do as they please as well. Now, excuse me."
I started to walk away again, but Milly was not going to have that. She screamed in frustration and yelled at her son.
"RRRAAHHH! GILLY GRAB HER! LOCK HER IN HER ROOM! I CANNOT LET HER RUIN THINGS FOR US!"
Just as Gilly grabbed onto my arms, clamping them to my sides, I began fighting against him.
"I am not going to be locked away." I told her, angry that she would even suggest something like that. "Clearly, you see me as a threat. Why is that, Milly? Is it because you haven't told your daughters how ugly they are? Is it because you know that you're lying to them and yourself? What is it you think that I am going to do? Huh? What do you think that I am going to do to stop them from meeting the prince? I am not going to do anything." I was kicking my legs out while trying to break Gilly's grip around me. He may be a lot younger than me, but he was a man and that meant that he was stronger than me. Dammit. If only I wasn't a weak little woman in this world. I felt like a lot of my strength hadn't transferred over to this place when I was sucked into the story. Dammit.
I was unable to get free, but Gilly was having trouble holding me in place as well. If I kept fighting, I just might be able to break free. Eventually, he would get tired of holding onto me. Well, at least that was what I was thinking would happen. I did not expect what happened next.
All of a sudden, the fucking twins, Jilly and Tilly, grabbed onto my feet and held them up off of the ground.
"Stop being a brat." One of them called out to me.
"That's fucking rich coming from you. You're not just a fucking brat, Tilly, you're a raging bitch like your mother."
"Take her to that pathetic hole that she calls her room. And barricade the stairs. I don't want her to get out of there at all. She is not going to ruin tomorrow for us at all." Milly was pointing toward the hall, in the direction of the stairs.
"But, Mommy, who will get us ready for the ball."
"Don't mention that to her." Milly snapped at Jilly as she whined. "And I will get you ready. I will make sure that there is no chance that you or your sister isn't chosen for the prince's new wife."
"Ha. Don't get their hopes up. He wouldn't pick one of them even if his life depended on it." I was laughing the whole way as the three of them carried me out of the room. I was trying to hide my frustration and anger that I was feeling toward these people. I couldn't let them know that they were getting to me. I couldn't let them know that I was scared that I might not make it to the ball and therefore wouldn't make it out of this story.
I didn't stop insulting them or laughing all the way up the stairs to my room. I was going to keep up the performance until I was completely alone. I would not let them see me go to pieces, not at all.
The entire time that the Stepmother's children were carrying me up the stairs, she was stomping up behind them. She was intent on seeing me locked away. And once I was thrown on the bed, I heard the kids run out of the room and then the pounding of what sounded like a hammer. When I rushed to the stairs to look, Milly was hammering boards over the bottom of the stairs.
"You can come out in two days, after the prince has chosen one of my daughters as his bride." There was a maniacal look in her eyes. She really was crazy. And a bitch.
"Fuck you!" I snapped at her as she placed another board over the opening, blocking my view of her.
The pounding went on for a little while longer. They were adding board after board, making sure that I was going to be trapped up here. I honestly didn't think that they were ever going to let me out. They would leave me here to die.