Sinderella 9

ELLA

That night I couldn't sleep. My heart was shattered. I had finally realized why none of my father's friends came to visit me a few months after my father's death. My stepmother told them I was dead!

"Why?" I cried into my pillow. Why did she have to be so cruel?

I didn't even want the Prince, all I wanted was to be free from her clutches!

I had prayed every night for one of my father's friends to come to take me away. And now I understood why none of them ever came back for me. My stepmother had lied to them. She had lied to the entire kingdom about me.

Everyone thought I was dead!

As I cried into my pillow, I felt Ricky's feathers behind my neck as it tried to console me. I took sniffed and raised my head and it flew in front of me chirping in a beautiful melody I recognized as one of my mother's songs. The song was about determination and not giving up in the face of trouble.

"Oh, Ricky, you are so thoughtful, " I exclaimed wiping my tears with the back of my sleeves. There wa