Ember Girl

Born orphan, the torture of her stepmother and stepsisters shaped the fairy tale Cinderella with fire, the ember girl, who didn’t dream seeing the dormant love bloom, but seethed within to take the retaliatory revenge. On the night of the grand royal ball the cruel family left bedecked with jewels and satin for the palace, locking her in the attic in the company with rats. She didn’t cry, performed a mystic trick, mother taught. She came out glowing, dressed in a gorgeous golden gown, wearing slippers made not of glass, but of sharp steel. She strode elegantly like a flame in the wind to the ball where she saw her stepsisters dancing with the prince. Like a mesmerized moth the prince was drawn to her fire. They danced passionately amidst the petrified spectators. The entranced prince slowly burned in the embrace of ember, while the stepsisters fumed in anger and envy. When the clock struck twelve at the fated midnight hour, the music stopped for a while in dead stillness. The spell on the stunned prince was shattered as with the steel slipper she stabbed him with a smile. She ran away barefoot, disappeared like flying cinder, getting the torment of stepmother and stepsisters avenged.