Cinderella with a twist

Cinderella recounted her past experiences with tears of somewhat mixed feelings flowing down her chin while sitting close her husband. Deep in thoughts,Cinderella pictured certain moments of her life;from the time when she lost her parents, to when she was treated unfairly by her stepmother and stepsisters and finally,to how she got to her present destination which was her life as a married woman.

Cinderella was a beautiful young girl whose mother died immediately she (Cinderella) was given birth to. Cinderella's father took care of Cinderella alone from when she was a baby till when she was ten years of age. when Cinderella clocked ten,her father married another woman;this woman had two twin daughters, Anastasia and Drizella from her previous marriage, Cinderella was fifteen years of age at that time.

Cinderella's stepmother treated her like her own daughter but as soon as her (Cinderella's) father died, everything changed completely. Cinderella's stepmother not only told Cinderella to move out of the main house,she also starved her of food; sometimes, Cinderella was only allocated to one meal per day and like wise,her stepsisters did same as their mother by treating her more less of a human. Cinderella cried her eyes out all day wishing that her.parents were alive.

Cinderella stopped schooling at the age of sixteen. After her secondary education, her stepmother refused to further her education but furthered that of her stepsisters. Subsequently,Cinderella's stepmother stopped giving her food;Because of this,she only ate leftovers as food when washing the dishes. Her stepmother bought clothes for Anastasia and Drizella almost every week but never both any for Cinderella whose clothes happened to be all worn out and some were even torn.

The king in the province was preparing a large feast for the return of his son who had been away from the kingdom for a very long time, the prince was coming in two days time and he wanted to use the means to make his son choose a wife from among the maidens in the province; therefore he sent out words of invitation to the maidens in the kingdom telling them that they were invited to the palace in two days' time for a dinner with the prince.On hearing this, the maidens understood what the king meant.

The invitation card got to Cinderella's home; Cinderella was the first to know about it in her household because she was the one who went out to check who had rung the doorbell and after reading it, she gave the invitation card to her stepmother. Her stepmother told her daughters about the news which made them highly excited that they went out for shopping immediately that day.

Cinderella was also happy about the news but she didn't have any good clothes to put on to the dinner ball. As she was going through her wardrobe and that of her father's, she saw a beautiful pink dress (it was her mother's); when she put it on,she looked so beautiful in it just like her mother. Cinderella asked her mother if she could come for the ball and she said yes which made her (Cinderella) even more excited.

On the day of the ball, Cinderella was already set and was waiting for her stepmother and stepsisters in the sitting room when her stepmother came downstairs. She asked her if she had done all the house chores which Cinderella said yes to and instead of leaving Cinderella alone, she went to inspect the work. When Cinderella's stepmother came back, she told Cinderella to redo all the chores telling her that they weren't clean enough and as she was going upstairs to do as she was told, one of her stepsisters stepped on her dress until it got torn and the other dragged the remaining part of the dress until everything was shattered.

Cinderella ran outside in tears and cried so loud that her heart almost came out of her chest. While Cinderella was still crying, a voice spoke to her and when she raised her head and looked towards the direction of the voice with her teary eyes, she saw a woman standing in front of her. The woman told her that she was her fairy godmother and further said that she had come to prepare her for the ball taking place that evening. Cinderella on hearing this, rebuked the fairy godmother and sent her away saying that she wasn't going to go because she had to do all the chores or else, her stepmother would kill her. Hearing that, although the fairy godmother said she was going to help her with her chores, Cinderella still insisted on not going to the ball and thereafter, The fairy godmother left Cinderella and disappeared.

It was already midnight when Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters came back and as at that time, Cinderella was still awake doing all the chores she was told to do. As she was busy cleaning, she overheard them talking about the ball saying that the Prince refused to dance with any of the maidens that had come to the palace because he didn't like any of them and both girls were regretting why they had attended the ball.

Two days later, Cinderella's stepmother sent her to the market to purchase some things. On her way to the market, she saw a man who looked very weak lying on the ground putting on tattered clothes; many people saw him but because they taught he was mentally ill, they left him there and went away but as soon as Cinderella saw him, she had pity on him and took him to the nearest hospital. When she got there, she paid for his balls and left; the money she used in paying for his bills was the one given to her to buy foodstuffs from the market. Having no money on her, Cinderella went home.

When Cinderella got home, she saw her stepmother sitting in the sitting room waiting for her return. Seeing Cinderella with nothing, her stepmother asked her where the things she had is sent her to buy were and when she narrated her ordeal to her stepmother, she (her stepmother) gave her a resounding slap and beat the hell out of Cinderella almost to death.

Cinderella was badly injured and laid on the floor almost lifeless crying bitterly; she thought of running away but she couldn't because she had nobody and nowhere to run to. Cinderella became sick after that day's beating and even when her stepmother knew that she was sick, she still made her do all the house chores.

One week later, some Royal officials came to Cinderella's home (Cinderella wasn't around during this period). Cinderella's stepmother ushered them in and entertained them with food and drink. After all the entertainment, they told her why they had come; they said that the Prince had disguised himself as an helpless man some time ago and a maiden from that household helped him up and took him to the hospital. They further said that other people had passed where he was but when the maiden passed,she had pity on him. They said that some guards who were on the watch quietly followed the maiden home from behind.

Cinderella's stepmother hearing all that, said that both of her daughters went to the market that day but,it was one of them that helped the Prince. Hearing this, they asked her to call her daughters; Cinderella's stepmother quickly got up and went to her daughters' room and informed them about what had transpired and while they were inside having their discussions, the prince came into the house and sat in the sitting room with the Royal officials while waiting their arrival. Immediately the Prince saw Anastasia and Drizella, he said none of them was the one who helped him and as he wanted to leave the house out of disappointment, Drizella saw Cinderella from a far through the window coming home and she quickly and quietly alerted her mother and her twin sister. Cinderella's stepmother quickly excused herself and went outside to stop Cinderella from coming inside. When she got to where Cinderella was, she gave her a jar to go and fetch water from a far off and told her not to come back till it clocked one hour; therefore, Cinderella turned her back and left; as she was leaving, the Prince was coming out of the house. Happy that Cinderella wasn't seen by the Prince, her stepmother satisfyingly went into the house.

As Cinderella was going, she discovered that she wasn't having any money with which she was supposed to use to buy the water she was sent to buy; because of this, she went back. As the Prince was going in the Royal cart in company of the Royal officials,he saw a maiden who looked like the one who helped him that day. The Prince ordered the cart to be stopped and told Cinderella to wait; seeing him, Cinderella couldn't recognize him as the man she helped but could only recognize him as the prince. Narrating what had happened that day, Cinderella was so surprised that the person she actually helped was a prince.The Prince took Cinderella with him to the palace and showed her to the king,his father on that same day.

The Prince and Cinderella became very good friends and in no time, the Prince proposed to her. A marriage ceremony was conducted in the King's place a week after the Prince's marriage proposal. Now looking at their wedding photo, Cinderella smiled and gave her husband, the Prince a warm hug.