DING! DING! DING!

The clock struck midnight. Ella had only mere seconds before she would transform back into her true identity. But what would her Prince say once he saw her? He had just waltzed with a girl of natural beauty and grace. When really his eyes were deceived by a magic spell which tried to make a desperate girl’s dream come true.

It didn’t matter now, Ella had to run. Her carriage that gleamed under the moonlit sky was awaiting her. As were her carriage guards for the knew as well that in a matter of seconds their true form would take shape.

So with one last lovingly look into her Prince’s eyes, she ran. Down the red velvet carpeted stairs and into her carriage. Within a blink of an eye, they were gone. The carriage zipped past the palace gates and through the sleeping city. The cold air began to crawl against Ella’s skin and she realized her beautiful ball gown was turning back into her dirty rags. She was turning back into the girl who she so badly wanted to part ways with. She was becoming Cinderella again, a name her stepsisters gave her.

When they pulled up to the front of the house, everything remained as it did just before Cinderella’s fairy godmother arrived. As she stepped out of the carriage, which was a pumpkin again, she felt an immense bit of weight pulling her feet down. To her surprise, she was blinded by the sight of her glass slippers. But why were they here? Was it so she could hold onto hope that her Prince would come and find her? Or was it so she could be taunted by the fact that she will never get her happy ending?

It was too good to be true. Cinderella took both glass slippers off her ice cold feet and shattered them across the concrete ground. This beacon of hope was now laying in a million different pieces. Each piece strong enough to shatter another person’s dream.

Poor Cinderella had to go back to a life of house maid chores. While her Prince would have to find a new girl. One with true, natural beauty and grace.

And so, Cinderella walked barefoot back into the house. After all, she was running late anyway. It was past midnight.