Chapter I

 Chapter I

 

            "Ella! Come help me put on this dress." Charlotte sneered.

            "Yes miss." A petite seventeen year old girl came rushing over from across the room, her reddish- brown hair was tied into a tight bun. She was wearing an ugly yellow colored apron, insisted upon by Charlotte's father, a symbol that she was only a servant girl.

            "Be careful!" Screeched the rich diva she was dressing. "This dress costs more than everything you own combined!" Charlotte waltzed over to her dressing table and said "This dress really dose show off my hair. Speaking of which I want it upright, contained. Ella. Ella!"

            "Oh sorry Mistress." Ella awoke from her daydreams and began on the Snob's hair. She couldn’t hope feeling that today might be the day that she would be free. Free of being only a servant. But she dismissed the feeling as fantasy. The only way for her to be free is if this day went correctly, and Charlotte finally took an interest in one of her suitors. "what do you think Miss?' She spins Charlotte in her chair to face the dressing table and the mirror.

            "Ah! Fabulous! I love it." Her golden blond hair had been curled and was now up in a high turned over ponytail, exposing her slender neck. "Father shall be pleased." She turned back to Ella who immediately looked away, remembering the last time she stared down Charlotte; she still remembers the sting of her cheek after being slapped.

            "Come." Says Charlotte, "they have arrived." She floated out the door and down the hall to the stairwell with Ella fumbling behind. Finally she steered towards the front door and outside, the bright sun blasted Ella's face as well as the heat of Southern Kenyata's summer as they walked across the threshold and over the lawn to where the guests were deep in conversation. There was a short chubby man who was known as Charlotte father, or Big Daddy.  He was seeking with another man who was tall and skinny and dressed in a suite. Off to the side was a boy around the same age as Charlotte and Ella. He had long curly dark hair that cut off at the bottom of his ear, and striking green eyes that sparkled in the bright sunlight. Those eyes landed promptly on Ella, distracting her, making her feel like a pool of chocolate melting in the summer's heat.

            "Ah! Here she is! My Charlotte. “Big Daddy placed his arm around her and pulled her close, and then he spotted Ella standing a short distance from her mistress.”You brought the slave here!" He whispered fiercely into Charlotte's ear.

            "I'm sorry father! I..."

            Big Daddy cut her off and said to Ella with a sharp tone, "Go! Take the rest of the day off. We don’t need you here."

            "Yes sir." Said Ella submissively, and as she walked off she heard behind her,

            "I am so sorry you had to see her!" said Big Daddy.

            And Ella felt green eyes follow her as the boy said with a deep voice, "I don't mind."

            She checked to make sure that nobody was following her calm for she had a terrible secret, she was a witch. Around the mansion and past the backyard was her home, the trees. The fuzziness left in her head from the boy instantly cleared as she walked on the familiar trail to the largest tree in the forest. But she wasn't heading there now, no; she was going to the lakeside grove. Once or twice she thought she heard a twig snap behind her but when she spun around the oath was clear. Finally she reached the lake. There was a large stone next to a fallen tree that Ella managed to carve into a bench. It was surrounded by weeping willows, with a view of the water reflecting the sky back like pure crystal.

            This is when once again she heard a snap of a twig, but farther down the path. She sat down on the bench relaxing, it is only a deer, and no one from the mansion would go in the woods. They are too scared. She thinks to herself.

            "Time to work the magic," she says again to herself as she rubs her hands together and stands up, moving to the center of the grove. She closes her eyes and then opens her hands. She imagines branches intertwining together, twisting, morphing into a two person seated swing. Ella didn't have to look but she knew he hands were glowing green, releasing sparkles into the air like they do every time she uses him magic. She released her captive hair and it fell to her waist in cascading waves of brown, then she ripped the ugly apron off, throwing it to the ground.

            Ella laughs with joy and spins around joining the dancing sparkles of her light. Here she was free, here she was home.

            The rustling of branches made her stop, someone had followed Ella here, and if she was discovered, she would be hanged. But not if they don’t find me. She thought, and crept into the brush willing it to hide her. Footsteps sounded down the path and stopped right in front of her bush. She waited then slowly pulled the bush back to see who it was, whoever is, they were standing too close for her to go and see, but she could tell it was a man. He had black shoes that glittered in the sunlight, and Ella took a mental picture and memorized their every detail, promising to find the owner later. They stood for quite a while then walked back down the path, the soft pat pat of their feet echoed along the tree trunks, and then they were gone...

Author's Note

Hello! I originally wrote this story as a short story with the character Ella. This is a fantasy world so if you don't recognize the names, you wouldn't it comes from my head. Any way, the original plot was that Ella was a slave, sold to this mansion by her stepmother, and Charlotte gave her the nick name Cinder, and thus my attempt at making a Cinderella story. But it didn't flow well, and I need to add more depth to my characters, so then added the coven... Which come later in the story. Alright well there is an attempt at explaining what I wrote, have any questions comment, or send me a message. Ps. If I need to fix anything grammar wise just say so!