Unhappily Ever After

Unhappily Ever After: An alternate ending to the Cinderella story
By: Natascha Myers


“He’s here, he’s here!”, exclaimed the anxious Cinderella bounding down the stairs two at a time.
“Not so fast! I believe you have chores to do.”
Cinderella dreaded her evil, malevolent, no-good, malicious, low.... I better stop thinking such horrifying thoughts, Cinderella thought to herself. It isn’t doing anybody any good, even though it does feel nice to get it out of my system. .....saying that. Her stepmother was like a ravenous shark looking for its” fish fillet” dinner. And in this case Cinderella was the “fish fillet”.
But this time, Cinderella was not so easily defeated.
“They’re done”, Cinderella replied defiantly.
“What?!”, the stepmother screeched furiously. This was definitely a rare occurrence. But the stepmother quickly thought of an escape plan. “Wonderful! But there is one thing you simply must do before the duke arrives. Go up to your room and brush that scraggly hair of yours. Then you may come down.”
Cinderella was astonished. The stepmother was never this nice. But Cinderella had to prove that she had danced with the prince that dazzling night before. So she headed up the long flight of stairs to where her room was. Unfortunately, Cinderella did not notice the stepmother following a short distance behind.
When Cinderella finally reached the top, she grabbed her antique brush. I must hurry before he leaves, Cinderella thought impatiently. Out of the corner of her eye, Cinderella saw a glimpse of something, but was too excited to pay it any mind. And then, it was made final. With a click of the lock, Cinderella’s future was ruined. That is what she thought anyway.
“No! Don’t!”, cried Cinderella. But it was too late. The door had closed and the lock had clicked.
Cinderella was devastated. Would she ever marry Prince Charming, her one true love? Well, not in an attic, I can’t, she thought.
Watching this whole fiasco, her little mouse friends were horrified. Cinderell-y’s dreams were shattered. But the mice were not so easily shot down. Cinderell-y was their friend- they had to help her.
So they set out to find the duplicate key in the stepmother’s bedroom. She would be much too busy greeting the duke and his butler to pay attention to some little mice. But they must hurry or all would be lost.
When the mice reached their destination, they came across an obstacle- Lucifer, the clever cat. Or so you’d think. I mean, come on! Everybody knows mice and cats do not make a good pair. But this particular time could change your mind.
Previously, Lucifer had had some “run-ins” with the mice and he was obliged to move aside. What sort of “run-ins”? Well...... The head-smashed-into-a-wall, stuck-in-the-spider-filled-basement, bit-by-a-dog (to be specific; named Bruno) sort of “run-ins”. Getting a clear enough picture?
After Lucifer had moved to the corner of the room where he could avoid “run-ins”., the mice hurried past and grabbed the key. Now as you know, two mice (Jacques and Gus) could not carry a key twice their size up a marathon-like flight of stairs. But fortunately for Cinderella right now, this story is different than your original, every day Cinderella. This time there were six mice and they made it up the stairs quite quickly (for mice), if you ask me.
When they reached the top, they slid the key underneath Cinderella’s door with ease. In one swift movement, Cinderella unlocked the door and rushed down the stairs.
“ I’m here! Don’t leave!”, Cinderella shouted, skipping down the stairs as fast as she could.
For some reason, there was no quick jolt or icy glare or flash of the the eyes when the stepmother realized Cinderella was out of her room.
“I am afraid you are stuck in quite a quagmire. The glass slipper fits Drizella.”, the stepmother calmly said with a smug expression on her face. Off to one side, Drizella was admiring the glass slipper on her foot that would lead to her “always desired” future with Prince Charming. On the other side of the room, Anastasia was pouting. Probably because it isn’t her that gets to marry the prince, Cinderella sadly thought. Stop it! You should be marrying the prince, she thought again.
“No! That slipper fits me! I danced with the Prince last night. Not her!” Cinderella shot Drizella a spiteful look.
“Just let me try it on, please! I was the one that danced with Prince Charming last night. If you would only let me prove it to you!” Cinderella pleaded.
“Cinderella! It fits Drizella! Listen to my words...... Give..... it..... up.....!” The stepmother said.
“I suppose she may try the glass slipper on. Our orders are to let every eligible maiden in the kingdom try it on.”, the duke butted in.
“But--!”
“Ma’am! Those are our orders and we will stick to them.”, the duke insisted.
Cinderella could not have been more pleased. “Thank you! You won’t be sorry!”
Cinderella tried it on and..... (well, you all know what happens. Cinderella’s foot fits and she marries the Prince and they live happily ever after. Right?) ....... her foot did not fit.
This cannot be happening. How can my foot not fit?, thought Cinderella. What did I do? I can’t temember bumping my foot to make it swollen. And then Cinderella knew.
Oh no! I was complaining of my blisters from working yesterday to myself and when the stepmother overheard, she got me some cream to help cure it. She must have had it all planned!
“But, I did! I did dance with the prince. If only you would listen!” Cinderella insisted.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Looks like somebody is taking to the bad habit of LYING!” the stepmother responded. Turning to the duke she said, “ We must head to the palace at once. The prince is most definitely waiting for his bride!”
“Yes, yes! You are most certainly right!”, the duke replied reluctantly.
And to Cinderella’s dismay, they headed off to the palace to present Drizella to Prince Charming. Cinderella accompanied them to see if she could make the Prince recognize her.
When they arrived, Prince Charming was pacing at the gate. “Have you found her?”, he anxiously probed.
“Yes, Your Highness!”, the duke hesitantly replied.
Drizella stepped gracefully out of the carriage (if you could call it that considering Drizella was everything but graceful) with Cinderella close behind.
When Prince Charming saw Drizella, Cinderella thought she saw the faintest glimpse of regret and surprise in his eyes. But no matter how hard she tried to get him to remember her, he did not seem to recognize her fully. He did seem to give off a hint of recognition, but went on to lead Drizella to the palace.
With dreams shattered, Cinderella headed off to... well...... who knows where at this point in time? She simply could not go back to the stepmother’s mansion. She would only taunt and tease and make Cinderella work harder than ever. If she went back, the stepmother would surely make up for Drizella being gone by pushing Cinderella to the limit of work. Cinderella was last seen passing through a village far, far away. Some say she married a baker and had many children. Some say she went to another kingdom and married a prince there. Still others say she is a poor single woman on the streets, singing to pay her way at the inn where she stays AND works. Nobody really knows for sure, but what is for sure is that Cinderella was never again as happy as the night she danced with her true love, Prince Charming.