Alternate Cinderella

For school, we had an assignment to write an alternate fairytale. So I wrote mine about Cinderella, enjoy!

Alternate Cinderella

Cinderella was so bored. She had PTSD from her stepmother poisoning her dad… she just knew it, and her stepsisters are just too annoying. They’d steal her Zoloft and it was really over the top.

Anyways I was at my house. I hated doing chores. They would make me do everything. I was really good at sewing. My dad and I would make pillows every Saturday. He didn’t care about “masculinity”, He was so soft and kind, and when my stepmother married him for the money I was so upset. She was the nurse at the hospital and heard he had a terminal illness. She knew that he had inherited a lot of money from our flower farm. We grew roses. Organically of course.

So she swooped in and pretended to know all about roses, and stole his heart. I was astonished, but he was sick and needed someone to lean on. She slowly used our flower food to poison him and speed up his death. Her daughters were THE WORST. They knew that we ate vegan and they'd try and sneak meat into my food. To spite me they would spray pesticides on our beautiful babies. And I could do nothing because my stepmom ran the house. When my father died I was so depressed and I retreated into my room. I stayed there, bawling until I grew a tree right from my tears.

We had green thumbs. It was genetic. That is why we were so good at growing roses. From this tree sprouted a head. It spoke to me. Yeah, I can speak to trees, don’t judge….how do you think that I got such nibble feet. Climbing.

I am so done with all of this patriarchal specialist bullshit. As you know I can talk to animals. No big woop. All it takes is daily meditation-like what my dad taught me. And all of those pillows we made together would be the bed that my darling animals would sleep on. They deserved all the goodness. We had already taken away most of their home. The big developments downtown just destroyed the natural ecosystem.

Because we lived in a pseudo-democracy with a numbnut figurehead, there was a big ball on Saturday. I am a top student at my school, so they had me plan this party. So silly, I’d rather be raising money to fund my animal sanctuary I will start when I finally move away to vet school. But alas, I tried my best to change it from the inside and buy all organic and have it be a zero waste event. I try, ya gotta in these times. My sisters loved to tell me how they called all of the suppliers and told them to bring in balloons filled with CO2 to release into the atmosphere. How considerate.

The party was starting and I was just about to leave. My sisters decided to spill all of my lentils on my floor and spray hairspray into the air. I coughed and had to scoop up all of my lentils. They are my main sustenance...did you know lentils contain more protein than beef. Yup. After I finished that I tried to hop on my bike but my stepmom had popped my tires. How sweet of her. Only 3 more months until I can move.

I started my walk when I heard a squirrel tell me something. A sweetie, Mrs. Petunia was the matriarch of the squirrel community. She ran up my leg and told me that the squirrels would love to help me get to the ball. That was very kind but humans had already taken so much of her land and killed her family for so long. I decided to try and compensate for my species’ wrongdoings and declined her offer. She was like a godmother to me.  

It was only a half a mile walk anyways. When I arrived I saw my sister's Hummer parked in the yard. They had driven over my native plants. Damn them.

With fire in my eyes, I walked in to make sure that all of the waste was in the proper receptacles. I was not going to have my sisters make any more of a mess. I checked the premises and opened up the gender-neutral bathroom that took 3 months of petitioning. My dad always taught me to respect yourself and others. So important I just don’t understand why anyone would do otherwise. Speaking of respect (or lack thereof); I noticed the prince come in. He was literally twelve.

I saw my sisters come up and play with his gelled hair. Who even is this kid….I knew that my friends and I were planning to go up and slip socialist ideas into his head. We had made piles of literature we were going to leave everywhere on the dance floor for him to find. A flyer on representative democracy, yup we made it. An equal pay bill already was written and ready to sign just lying conveniently next to the punch.

Slowly people started trickling in and I gave out leaflets. These kids are the future. I waved to my friends, and as the dancing began I sat in the corner and painted the scene. Posterity. Art is what keeps me sane. I always added a rose as a signature.

Some rats scurried up to me and told me to stand up. I love my rat friends but they should be living in the fields. Our school is so low funded that these babies need to live here because there are no natural environments for them. My next project is to protect open space and make sure that my rodent friends get a good home so the silly humans don’t try to harm them.

Anyways, I stood up and leaned in closer to hear what the rats were saying. They told me to look across the gym. All I saw were girls 2 feet taller than our prince fondling his suit and telling him how handsome he was. Then I looked closer. Another person was sitting there in a green dress, drawing. I was astonished. I pulled up my gold pants and adjusted my skirt and walked over. My heart was in my throat.

Who were they? This ethereal creature? They saw me. I blushed. I am never scared like this unless I am at the picket lines protesting yet another lumber farm. I looked through the bag to find the rose I always carry. I said hi. They looked up, astonished, and I think I saw their eyes glitter. My blood started to shake. I think I know. I think I know something. They got up. Took my hand, and said, “yes, me too.” I smiled, and we ran out of the dance. I told my rats to make sure that everyone composted. I gave the prince the bird, and thanked my birds for help with cleanup and skipped away.

I asked their name and they told me the most beautiful word. I asked them where they came from and they said they’d been there the whole night. We took off our shoes and decided to run to the lake. I set up my hammock and asked them to tell me about their life. The lights twinkled off the water as I listened to their thoughts swirl around in my mind. I think I had found love. I think I had found them.

The next morning we awoke in each other's arms. Gender and all of its inhibitions had dripped away like sweet syrup. I checked the bins and nothing was in the landfill. My new inspiration and I kissed and parted.

As I walked home I could hear shouting from my house. My sisters had absorbed society’s need for unattainable perfection and cut off their heels to try to fit in my shoes. They liked my shoes because my crow friend had made them nice and soft with moss for me. I wonder where they found my shoes...oh right, I left them outside the gym. I turned around and saw the teenage prince on his knees, proposing. All because I had slipped back on my shoes. Astonished, I held his hand and told him to get up. He rose and looked at me. I told him to listen to his heart and not take his feelings for granted.

I packed up my stuff and grabbed my tent and left. I was done. I had slowly built a treehouse a mile away...I knew that my love would meet me there this morning. We had agreed to make art. I hoped that the prince knew that college and healthcare should be free and accessible to everyone.

In my own treehouse, I would create more policy and deliver it to the prince. We had exchanged numbers and were on good terms. He didn’t want to marry and decided to leave his parents house and start his own kingdom. A flower kingdom. The rats would be the guards. They are so smart! And clean! I wish more people knew that.

And that is where we are today. Me in my tree, typing this letter on my computer fueled by hydroelectric power. After I think I will paint pure joy as I stare at the beautiful being I sang to at the river only a while ago.