Lady Jane Tremaine

Marcus Tremaine was mine. I was so in love with him. And I thought he loved me. Or at least I thought he did. And then I saw him walking with little miss Rose. That little witch. She could get with any guy she wanted, and she knew it. But she didn’t care. She wanted mine. She had hated me since we were both children. Little girls. Because I competed with her for everything. She was rich, but so was I. She was smart, but so was I. She was pretty, and guess what? So was I. Everyone at school loved me. But they loved Rose too. Every guy was asking for my hand, unless they were asking for Rose’s. 

“Hi Jane!” She looked at me with pure sweetness. Batting her eyelashes at me. Clinging onto Marcus. Oh god, my mother was already terminally ill, I didn’t need another problem. I had tried to get over Marcus, but I felt as hurt as the day he left me every time I saw him and Rose together. But I wouldn’t show her. “Hi Rose! Where are you headed?” She giggled into Marcus’s chest. “We’re going to the royal ball. I’m assuming you aren’t.” She turns to Marcus, expecting something from him. “Not dressed like that, hopefully.” Markus remarks.” Suddenly, the beautiful light blue gown with diamonds and pearls felt embarrassing. Like a simple maid’s dress. “Oh, don’t worry. You’ll be sure to see me there. With Lord Finship.” Marcus’s eyes widen, and Rose’s smile drops a bit. “You? And Lord Finship?” I smile. “Yes. He’s going to ask my father for my hand. And I love him very much.” Marcus looks sick. And I feel satisfied with myself and walk away. 

I had been to many royal balls, but never with a date. I didn’t lie to Rose and Marcus. I really was supposed to marry Lord Finship. But I didn’t really love him. I still loved Marcus. It didn’t matter. Marcus wasn’t mine anymore. He was Rose’s. The ballroom was beautiful. FIlled with gold and marble pillars and the most beautiful stone floors. Shiny and colorful ball gowns swished across the dance floor. I feel right at home. 

Until I see Rose. She’s accompanied by her posse. “I see you decided to wear the ugly gown!“ Her whiny voice pierces through my head. “Rose, go back to whatever gutter you crawled out of. I would like to enjoy my evening. And I can't do that if you are whining my ear off.“ Marcus and his friends approach us. “I don't care about Marcus anymore. You can have him, but just know that he always loved me more than he can ever love you.“ Around me, people have gathered and they erupt in cheers. A man behind her throws his hands up and spills his wine on Rose. Bright red wine. Rose turns bright red and I can't help but smile. “You'll regret this, Jane. I promise you.“ She stormed off, and I enjoyed the rest of my evening. I didn't care much about her threat. I was so stupid. So naive. To think that Rose wouldn't do what she did to me. But I forgot one thing about Rose. Every single one of her traits were traits that I had. Except for one. One she developed long before I did. Evil. 

I walked up the grand staircase to the powder room. Marcus and his friends followed me the whole evening. Probably drunk, but Rose didn't care. She saw me taking something that belonged to her. And she didn't like it. Not one bit. I excused myself from the boys to go to the powder room. But Rose was waiting for me. I had barely stepped into the room, when the door shut behind me and I was grabbed by my hair. “You witch!“ Rose screamed in my face. “I see you trying to get Marcus back!” She barks in my face. Her face is contorted in anger. The girl grabbing my hair pushes me to the ground, but holds my head up by my blonde bun. “You tell everybody that you are so over Marcus, but I see the way you look at him! HE IS MINE, NOT YOURS!” Tears of rage stream down her cheeks. She sniffles. “I will make your life a living hell.” She smiles at me. And it's like I don’t even recognize her. This isn't Rose, I think to myself. This isn’t the Rose that wants to maintain her social status. This isn’t the Rose that cares about her reputation. This is the Rose that wants to kill you. The Rose that will kill you. I have to get out of here. I spit at her face, and elbow the girl holding my hair. As I run out the door of the powder room, they all screech and I am pulled back by my necklace. I could have escaped them, but the heavy blue ball gown cursed me. And sealed my fate. “Little witch. Thought you could get away that easily?“ They haul me out of the powder room and through the halls of the castle. I try to scream and cry for help. But Rose stuffs my white gloves into my mouth. She drags me down the hall as her friends kick me and tear at my dress. We found a staircase in the back of the castle. She quickly hustles me down the stairs, and out the large iron door leading to the garden. “No!” my scream was muffled as I gagged on my own gloves. A carriage was waiting for us at the end of the flower beds. “Up you go!“ Rose shoved me into the carriage as her and her four friends climbed in after me. I passed out as soon as my head hit the side of the carriage. 

I woke up to cold water splashing on my face. “Good morning, Jane.“ Rose was standing over me. My blue dress was gone and I was in servant clothing. “Get away from me! Where am I?“ I asked, remembering the events of the night before. “In my cellar. Nice, isn't it?“ The floor of the cellar was made of shiny stone, and the walls were bright red bricks. “What are you going to do to me, you witch?!“ Rose pulls a chain that I wasn't aware was on my neck. “That's no way to talk to your host, is it?“ Rose's sister, Mary, walks towards me from a dark corner of the cellar. Her heels click with every menacing step. “Looks like you'll have to be taught a lesson.“ I try to back away from them, but Rose is still holding me by the chain. They haul me over to a chair with leather straps and strap me in. Rose pours more cold water as Mary stands behind the chair. I try to fight them, and break the straps, but I can't. Rose and Mary step back from the chair, and Rose lets go of the chain. A sharp pain shoots through my body as I am electrocuted by the chair. I don't know how many times they shocked me. I went in and out of consciousness, but when I finally came to again, they'd moved on to something else. “Marcus told me that this was your favorite whiskey.“ She holds up a dark brown bottle. “He was drunk one night.“ Rose turned away as her eyes turned glassy. “He cried out your name. Holding the damn bottle like a child.“ My eyes widened in surprise. And in hope. Maybe Marcus still loved me too. “I'd like to see if he cries the same way at your funeral.“ Rose put the bottle on the ground as she and Mary pulled knives from their dresses. “Hold still now, dearest Jane.“ They carved into my skin with their knives. Leaving deep cuts. I screamed in agony. “Stop! Please, I'm begging you!“ I wriggled in the chair, but Rose didn't lift her knife. Moving only made her knife go deeper. “I told you not to move.“ She said without emotion. She pulled down the top of my garment ever so slightly to reveal my collarbone. She began to carve on it in shapes and lines. Mary put a Mirror in front of my face. I looked at my collarbone. Mary dropped the mirror to the floor and walked up the cellar stairs. An iron door shut behind her. In bloody jagged letters, Rose had carved her full name onto me. But it wasn't her last name. “Tremaine?!“ I screamed. “He asked me to marry him.“ She said fidgeting with the cap of the whiskey bottle. “Our wedding is next weekend. Safe to say you will not be there.“ Fat tears fell from my eyes. Marcus Tremaine officially belonged to Rose. Rose finally unscrewed the whiskey and took a large swig. “Why are you doing this then? He's finally yours. Forever.“ I ask her. She walks towards me. “But I needed to teach you a lesson. Not just for me. For all the women out there. So you will never again even look at something that doesn't belong to you!“ She poured the whiskey onto the cuts and laughed as my skin swells and bled around the cuts. I screamed and screamed, but she didn't stop until the bottle was empty. When she finished she unstrapped me from the chair and let me fall to the ground. She dragged me by the chain and attached it to the wall. “You are my pet now, Jane. You belong to me. Act like it.“ She marched up the stairs and I heard the same iron door. My mother. I didn’t know if I would get to say goodbye to her.  

Weeks passed, and Rose came to show me her wedding ring. When I spit on it, she made me drink from the horse trough. She and Mary took turns torturing me. She poured hot candle wax on me, beat me, tortured me, starved me. At one point, her friends started coming down with her. To watch, or to participate. 

After months passed, she started wearing large heavy dresses. Not her usual tiny corset dresses. Until one day she finally showed me. My eyes were almost completely swollen shut from a beating I had gotten from her the night before. But it was plain as day. A disgustingly swollen bump in the middle of her abdomen. It was a child. “No. No. Is it-” I stared at it in shock. “Marcus’s?” She smiled. “It is. Oh and I forgot to mention.” She looked up at me. “Your mother died last week. And your father is well on his way!” She and she laughed. The evil woman laughed. She rubbed her bump as she left me. I couldn’t believe her. She took away my only chance to say goodbye. To my mother, and probably my father. 

The child was born, and she came down less. But she sent Marie in her place. Until she came back down again. She never brought the child down. But she would tell me about her. I thought being a mother would soften her. But it made her hate me more. “Her name is Mary Beth Ella Gertrude Tremaine.” She said as she tied a cord around my neck. “Pretty, isn’t it? She’s so odd. Maybe she’s your daughter. She likes playing in ashes and cinders. Dirty little thing like you. My little Cinderella.” She tugged at the cord. My vision started blurring. This time should have been no different from any other time. “Maybe in another life, she really is your daughter, and you are the one that Marcus truly loves.” She giggled as she pulled tighter and tighter. “But this is the only life you’ll live. And it’s going to end very soon.” I was about to pass out. “Cinderella’s getting older. One day she’ll come down here and find your body, and I’ll have to get rid of her too. But I quite like her. So I’m getting rid of you.” Something snapped in me. I slipped my fingers under the cord and pulled it away from my neck. She was surprised and loosened the cord. Enough for me to get out of it. “No.” I grabbed the chord and Rose swung at me. “Let go, Jane. You won’t win!” But I dodged her hit. And I grabbed her by the hair. Just like she grabbed me the first day. She screamed, “Marcus!” But I covered her mouth. I sat on top of her and stayed heavy. “You won’t hurt me any longer.” I wrapped the cord around her neck. Once, twice, and I pulled. “Marcus and Cinderella are mine!” I shouted in her face. She looked at me, in shock. “That’s why y-you’re killing m-me? To have Marcus back?!” I shook my head and pulled tighter. “Not quite Rose.” Tighter and tighter, she was turning bright red. “You ruined my life.” She tried to plead for her life one last time, but the only thing that escaped her lips was a gurgle. “So I’m going to ruin theirs.” She was practically purple when she stopped struggling. When her chest stopped rising and falling. She was dead. I grabbed her keys from her dress and ran up the stairs. Checking through the keyhole to make sure it was safe, I opened the door and I ran. A maid saw me. But I was practically unrecognizable. I didn’t care. I only ran. Through the mansion, through the garden, through the gates. And I ran until I found a horse. I hadn’t forgotten the way home from Marcus’s house, even after all those years. I cut through the forest, avoiding having to run into anyone. The fresh air blew on my face and I felt freedom for the first time in five years. But I didn’t feel happy. I wasn’t grateful. I was angry. I wanted revenge. I got to my mother’s house. It was empty. Abandoned. Rose was right. My mother and father had died. The house was mine. I took a bath, and I changed my clothes. And I didn’t look at myself in the mirror until I had done my face with my mothers makeup and brushed my hair. I could still recognize myself. I looked older. Tired. But there were only two cuts on my face. Nobody had to know what happened. All this time, I wasn’t in Rose’s cellar. I was living in Spain. I had run away from home. But I came back. Yes. They would believe it. 

It was almost too perfect what happened next, My parents mailbox received an invitation to Rose’s funeral. Probably by mistake, but if that wasn’t a sign, I didn’t know what was. Murdered, the invitation said. Gone too soon. But she was really gone ten years too late. I put on my best black dress. I did my hair the same way I did it on the day of the royal ball. I paid for a carriage to take me. And when I walked in through the cemetery gates, every head at the funeral turned. Some people hugged me, and others just cried. For me and for Rose. But when Marcus saw me, everything fell into place. “Jane! It’s been so long.” I smiled at him. “I’m so terribly sorry for your loss. I was in another country, you should have sent me a letter. I would have helped you plan the funeral.” I said. “I thought you were dead Jane.” He said, tearing up. He looked back at his wife’s casket and then back at me. “I don’t think I’ve introduced you to my daughter, have I?” He pulls a little arm from behind him, and a little girl appears from behind him. She had the most perfect eyes and lips. She was beautiful. Her long shiny blonde hair flowed past her waist. Disgusting. She resembled Rose. “What’s her name?” I forced a smile. “Mary,” He replied. “But we used to call her Cinderella. Because she would-” I cut him off, “Because she used to play in cinders and ashes.” He looked at me in surprise. “Yes. How did you know that?” I ignored his question and crouched down to Cinderella’s level. “I’m so sorry about your mommy. You look just like her.” Cinderella looked at me for a split second, and went back to hiding behind Marcus. “It was so good seeing you Jane. Almost as if God sent you as a blessing after taking Rose.” I nodded, “We will see each other very soon, Jane.” He started to walk away from Cinderella. She stared at me as Marcus picked her up and walked away. Never looking away. But Marcus wasn’t looking anymore. So I let my smile drop. I glared at her. I don’t know what will happen next, I thought to myself, But One thing is for sure. 

I will make Cinderella suffer.