Cinderella’s story

There was an eerie expectant silence at the railway station. About a hundred people had gathered and were waiting for the train to arrive. Granny was also among them, sitting on a bench, head resting on a cane, thinking about that night before little Cinderella had left for boarding school, when she had told her the story of her namesake. The words were still fresh in her mind and now echoed in her ears as if little Cinderella was saying it out loud…..“But I already have nice clothes and good shoes, how will I get the fairy godmother or the charming prince at the end of the story?? I too want a story of my own, and you will have to tell it to other children.” Granny smiled despite herself at the memory and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

Cinderella - her charming, chirpy, mischievous brat of a granddaughter was returning home today after ten years. She had called a few days ago to tell granny about her latest adventure. Like every Saturday night, she had sneaked out of her dorm with her friends Alice and Jessica, after their fourth roommate, Betty, who was the school prefect, had fallen asleep. The three were going towards their spot in the woods where they went every week, with no more purpose than the morbid excitement of defying the school rules, when they heard another set of footsteps and a dragging sound nearby. Cinderella and Alice, with their ever present curiosity, started walking towards the sound. Jessica told them not to, but they wouldn’t listen and kept on.

After some time, they saw a man putting a dead body in a freshly dug grave. Both the girls panicked and were bewildered at first and thought of running back to school. But Cinderella felt that the killer should not be spared and it would be too late till they reached the school or the police. Alice thought it was a really stupid idea for two girls to try and confront a man, who was so obviously dangerous, but relented when she saw Cinderella’s resolve; and went up with her to face the killer. He startled on seeing them and was immobilized for a moment, but soon recollected himself and pointed a gun at Cinderella. This was not entirely unexpected, but they hadn’t really thought about weapons till then. She didn’t bat an eyelid, (or that’s what she had told granny anyway) and kept on walking towards him - the man renewed his threats and waved the gun, but still she didn’t stop. Alice thought she had gone insane and just stood there rooted to the ground. At last, when Cinderella got threateningly close, the man could hold no longer and clicked the revolver.

Miraculously, the gun didn’t go off, and at that precise moment, Jessica came up from behind the man and hit him on his head with a log. He went down and the girls rushed back to school to report the incident. Before leaving, Cinderella took the revolver with her as her adventure souvenir and convinced the others to omit the gun details from their narration to the authorities.

Everyone at school praised the girls for their bravery; however the principal also reprimanded them for their escapade. They were awarded at the Sunday mass and even the Reverend preached a sermon on courage that day. Betty was a little upset with her roommates for keeping her out of their secret and taking away all the glory. So the girls decided to give her a live recap of the events of the night. On returning to their dorm, they arranged for the role play and Alice took on the role of the killer. To make it more real, Cinderella handed her the gun they had brought back. They even made a makeshift grave using pillows and covers, and started acting out the confrontation scene. Cinderella kept approaching Alice, who kept mock threatening her and finally pulled the trigger. As fate had it, this time, the gun did fire.

Everyone at the railway station, dressed in mourning black, stood solemnly as the train approached. As the coffin was taken out, granny thought, “Welcome home, my darling, now you have a story too, and I will have to tell it to everyone. Only that, not every Cinderella story has a happy end.”