A Messed Up Fairytale

Cinderella, Almost everyone knows her name. She was a kind and sweet girl who caught Prince Charming’s attention and became his Queen and they lived happily ever after. But wait! Why am I telling you about Cinderella when she isn’t even a character in this book? Just forget it...

Our Story takes place in a time when the world is divided into many kingdoms, and kingdoms into four major classes. The first and the highest rank is Royalty that includes the King, Queen, Prince, Princesses, the Dukes, and the duchess.

The second is the privileged class or the Gentry. The people who are just next to the royalty, and own major businesses with tons of money. The third ones are the Middle class or the Yeoman, The people who own a little land or a fair amount of property. And then comes the fourth class, the lower class, or the commoners.

There is a constant fight between all the last two classes as they want to crawl up the ladder of this class system and often fall badly.

Annabella, a bright girl with round wonder-filled eyes, belonged to a commoner’s family, but she had a dream. She wanted to become a well-known designer and earn herself a name even though she was just a commoner.

The door of her crooked red house swung open. She hopped out while gripping around her bag tightly. Her short brown hair flew around in the air. The sky was clear today, making her smile ear to ear.

“Mr. Sun!! Shine brightly on me today!!” She hopped cheerfully and waved her hand towards the sun.

“Bells! What are you doing here? Aren’t you late for work?” Someone spoke to her. She looked around and saw a car stopped beside the road, it was her neighbor who was a taxi driver.

“I am, WHy?” She asked.

“Because you missed the last bus!” He replied.

“What? No way!” She looked down at her wristwatch with a frown. “Shoot! I am late!!” She bit her lip.

“Hop on! I will take you.” The old man started the engine as he spoke.

“Thank you, Uncle Steve!” Said Bells and hurriedly entered the car.

The morning was especially busy at CinderWood. It was one of the largest cities of the Kingdom, it was also a business center and generated a ton of income per year. One could say it was the backbone...no it was one of the vertebrae of the Kingdom. Bells worked as a minor designer at a leading company named “Bronze”. Though the branch she worked at was smaller as compared to the other branches in the bigger cities, it still had huge importance because this was the place where the business was established.

Bells looked around at the towering skyscrapers with determination. She knew many commoners who had made their way up the social ladder and had changed their lifestyles.

While her head was filled with the thoughts of her bright future she suddenly noticed the car slow down. She looked to the other side and noticed a roadblock. She started sweating, it was already late. She lowered her head and peeked through the windscreen. Amongst the tall buildings, there was one that stood out the most. It was her office. She could see it from the other side of the road from a traffic blockage.

“Uncle! I think I should run…or I am going to be very late.” She grabbed her bag and ran out of the car. With all her might she ran on the pavement. The sun that she was praising a while ago suddenly started to melt her with its heat.

Her chest started hurting because she was exerting too much force on her lungs while running. The building started to come closer. The road was completely jammed for as far as her eyes allowed her to see.

Finally, she pushed the glass door open and stepped into the building. She tried to normalize her breath. She then hurriedly made her way to the elevator that was packed, Bells pressed the button and waited for the doors to close. In a few minutes she was in the office but the manager who treated her like an eyesore was waiting for her at the door with a wicked smile.

“Annabella! You are late!” The manager had rolled a bunch of reports into a cylinder and bashed her head with it. “You know what that means?...” He grinned.

“I promise this won’t happen again.” She begged him.

“YOu will get a pay cut!” He said and smiled at her once more before leaving.

Anna’s expression became sour and she gritted her teeth.

“Anna!! Why are you so late? And what is wrong with your face? Are you okay?” Anna’s only friend Eli rushed over to her side as soon as the manager left and gave support to the body that was swaying around.

“I missed the bus today and had to run to the office,” Anna replied in a tired tone. “I thought today was going o be great but it already sucks, I missed the bus and now I have a pay cut,”

She pouted and made her way to a small cabin in the corner. “Don’t lose heart! I am sure something great will happen to you today.” Eli patted her shoulder.

“Yeah right! I haven’t been able to approve a single design of mine for the past three months. They say I have no skill. I am afraid if this time my design isn’t approved, I will lose the job.” Anna brushed her fingers through her hair tiredly and pulled out her sketchbook from under a pile of files.

“You know...The President of the company is going to visit today. I have heard that he will personally choose the dresses for this year’s annual Royalty fashion show.” Eli whispered joyously.

Anna’s heart leaped and there was a spark in her eyes.

“Really? You mean the...the President, Like the one who owns this place?” She shuttered in excitement. She couldn’t contain her excitement.

“This is so great! I just have to find a way to show my design to him so he can judge it personally,”

In the office management was biased towards its workers, only those who had a little influence would get their work approved while the commoners with no background would get pushed down. Anna believes that her designs were revolutionary but the management was biased and wouldn’t let her talent shine as it should.

Anna pushed her chair backward and opened the small cabinet under her desk that had a few bags in it. She took out one of them and peeked inside it. “I am sure if I send this to the President somehow, he would love it.”

“Tsk...tsk...tsk, Look who we have here.” A sarcastic voice rang in Annabelle’s ears and she stiffened up, her grip around the bag tightened up. She knew who it was, Grace Phillip, The daughter of a Baron, who owned larger farmland in the countryside. She was one of the recognized designers of the company just because her father had backed her up.

“Why are you here?” Asked Anna in an annoyed tone.

“Well I was thirsty so I thought you could buy me a cup of freshly brewed coffee from down the street, I have heard that they have a wide range of expensive drinks.”

Anna frowned, “Go buy it yourself! I am not your servant.”

Grace rolled her eyes and scanned the surroundings, she then held her head and spoke in a soft voice.

“Ouch! My head,” Grace winced out suddenly. And a few of the workers around them looked at Anna with a suspicious gaze.

“What happened to you, Grace?” The manager was on the ground and he too heard her painful groan.

“Manager! I was asking Anna to do me a favor and buy me a coffee because I was tired of working overtime. I even skipped my meals just so I could complete the designs, but she shouted at me.” like a delicate flower she trembled and spoke in a sweet voice. Anna’s hand-formed into a fist. The Manger shamelessly frowned at Anna.

“Go get her a drink and be quick.”

Anna glared at them without a word, She took the card that Grace was holding out for Anna and walked out of the office.