A NEW CINDERELLA STORY

Scream

My life has always been straight up reality, never fairytale, this is a dream come true. Now I guess I know what "too good to be true" means, because this is too good to be true. I am here talking to my long lost sister, Stella. Her favorite color is a light, but bright, green. Her favorite animal is a snow leopard. Her spirit animal is a dolphin. Her favorite hobby is climbing, and she's good. She was the smartest person in the prison camp. Her biggest crush is the Darel guy. Her favorite meal is mashed potatoes.

"Okay, my turn to ask questions!" Stella exclaims, "What's your house?"

"My what?" I implore completely confused.

"Your house. Haven't you ever read 'Harry Potter'?"

"My kind of life doesn't really leave time for reading," I sigh, laughing.

"Oh, well then, what's your spirit animal?" She asks.

"A Bangled Tiger," I say smiling, she looks like she's considering another question.

"What's your favorite color?"

"Sea-green."

"Food?"

"I don't know," I pause to think, "Pizza, it's the best food I've ever had."

"Okay, what about'' Stella stops mid-sentence and turns around.

"What is it?" I ask her quietly.

"I don't know, I just thought I'd heard something, it must just be the wind" She says slowly.

"Oh, um, okay," I can see it in her eyes, she does not think that it was the wind, or even close to the wind. I don't know what she thinks it was, but whatever she heard was not the wind. "C'mon let's get going, we have to get to a town, or something, before it gets dark."

"Yeah," she replies with uncertainty, she still looks back as we start walking. We walk in silence for the next little while. Stella's jumpier than a mouse surrounded by cats, and I don't know for sure but I think I know why.

"How do you like the woods? I mean away from the camp," I ask.

"It's okay, but, and I never thought I'd say this, but I miss the camp, I mean, it was my home for nine years. You know?" Stella says, stumbling through her words, she seems very nervous.

"Yeah, I know." We walk in silence for another half an hour, she takes hesitant steps.

"I'm going to go get a better view, up in a tree. Maybe a bird's eye view will give us better sense of length until the town," Stella announces, looking up at the darkening sky.

"Great idea," I complement, though, I half think she just wants to be alone. She's gone for about two minutes when I hear her yell,

"I think it's about a mile away, we could rea" I hear her scream and I hear branches breaking.

"STELLA!" I scream, running in to the woods.

"HELP! ISABELLE! PLEASE! HELP ME!" I can hear her screaming and she's getting louder.

"I'M COMING STELLA!" if something happens to her, I'll never forgive myself. I find her lying on the ground, her leg bent backwards at the knee, and a huge branch on her thighs. "Omygosh," I rush to drag the branch off of her, and after a few pulls I get it off of her. "We have got to get you to town, now. I think I can carry you." I start to pick her up, and she screams.

"It hurts, it hurts so much, don't move it, please. It hurts too much."

"I have to, we have got to get you to a doctor, now," I know I'm being demanding but she has to get to a doctor. I start to pick her up again, when I feel pain shooting through my arm. I know it's a bullet, I know what that pain feels like. I take quick deep breaths, and Stella screams for help.