CinderEmma

CinderEmma~Chapter 1

Here is chapter 1! An edit of this will be coming eventually

Chapter 1

The bright sunlight streaming in through the broken, old attic shutters woke me up as it did every morning. I frowned to myself thinking of all the chores I would need to do today in preparation for the party Sir Richardson was throwing for Sadie and Hadley. I didn’t even know what the party was for this time. It seemed like Sir Richardson was getting desperate to find his “only daughters” suitors before they got too old. The thought made me pity the poor soul that would get tricked into marrying one of them. I heard people shuffling around downstairs and knew Sadie and Hadley would be up soon and would be ready to make my life torture if I wasn’t up in time to have their breakfast prepared for them the second they came down the stairs. I pulled myself out of my bed reluctantly, if the blanket filled with straw could even be considered a bed. I got dressed in one of my typical outfits, simple gray long-sleeved dress with an apron over the top. I quickly pulled my hair into a frenchbraid, yanking and tugging on it to get the long dark waves to cooperate with me. Tumbling down to the small of my back my hair flew out in all directions making the braid even more challenging. Finally I finished the braid and bent down to lace up my worn out boots as I was walking out of my room I turned back, looking over my shoulder, to make sure my room was tidy. There wasn’t much to keep tidy in my room though, just a makeshift bed, a small mirror on top of a desk in the corner, and on the other side of the room was a sheet hanging that I could change behind and where I kept my meager amount of clothing.

It was starting to get noisier down stairs and I knew that if I didn’t hurry Sadie and Hadley would be up before I could prepare breakfast and then as well as doing tons of chores I would have to deal with their antagonizing and irksome ways as they tried to punish me for not being on time. With a sigh I left my room and hurried down the servant’s staircase, ignoring the spider webs and claustrophobic heat. The servants corridors tend to be in bad repair because after working hard and cleaning up after others all day the last thing we servants want to do is clean even more.

I reached the bottom of the staircase and silently slid the door open leading into the kitchen. Cook was already there. Thankfully he was almost done with Sadie, Hadley, and Sir Richardson’s breakfasts. All I would have to do was put them on a plate and make them look presentable.

Cook finally noticed I was in the room and he said, “Hey there sweet pea. How has your morning been?”

Cook’s real name was John and my mother and father hired him 17 years ago, right after I had been born. He became my adopted dad after my real father died when I was five. He was the only one, besides the Calderons, that knew that Sir Richardson killed my mother, and he would have left a long time ago but didn’t want to leave me with him.

“I’m good Cook. Just four more months before I can be free from these people and can get the estate back.” My 18th birthday was quickly approaching and Cook and I had plans that I would move in with him and his wife and the three of us would open a restaurant until Sir Richardson died and I got my family’s estate back as well as becoming the Duchess of Evergreen, as I was born to be.

Cook laughed at my enthusiasm to escape, a deep hearty laugh that filled the whole room and made me feel loved.

“There is some bread and leftover tomato soup you can heat up in the pantry that you can eat for breakfast,” Cook told me as he gestured toward the giant walk-in pantry behind me. I nodded and hurriedly prepared my food and devoured it before Sadie, Hadley, and Sir Richardson’s meals were finished. I placed my plate in the washbasin in the corner and patiently waited for the devil and his spawn’s meals to be done.

I heard them before I saw them. Sadie and Hadley were fighting over something that I was sure was extremely petty as they walked down the stairs in their lavish dresses. I desperately gestured toward Cook to hurry up with the meals as I plated them and walked out to the dinning room right as the monsters entered the room. I bowed my head in respect that they didn’t deserve and scurried to the corner of the room. Sir Richardson walked in next and looked at me with a sneer on his stupid face.