Cinderella

https://tapas.io/episode/3064468

Check out my comic on tapas.

" 100,000,000 yen in debt! How are we going to take care of the children? If I knew that you would lose so much money I would've never given you my savings. You said that it was big and that we would be rich!" A young mother cradled the newborn baby girl in her arms, as her five-year-old son was sleeping on her lap. She looked at her husband disappointed as she gently put the children's book down on the coffee table beside her.

" Ai, I'm sorry. The odds were really in my favor but somehow I still managed to lose

" Ren, we have two young children that depend on us. We have to do better, if not for ourselves then for then

" I promise that I will earn all of the money back and give our family the best possible future, I want Kotori and Hideaki to have the life that I could not. You are my world and I want to be able to give you everything that the world has to offer. I swear to you, I am done gambling and I will search for a real job, Ai."

5 years later.

The little girl heard a loud noise and woke up from her slumber. She could not find her brother anywhere and walked out of her room then saw him standing by the stairs listening to the parents argue.

" This is insane! I cannot live like this anymore, let's get a divorce. You gamble every single day for 24 hours a day and haven't managed 30 minutes to spend with your children!"

" What is divorcing me going to do? It's not going to fix none of the problems and how could you even possibly suggest something so selfish! Ai, you didn't even think about the children. How would this impact them? How can you only think about yourself when you brough two lives into this world."

10 year old, Hideaki listened to the entire conversation and it weighed heavily on his heart. He remembered the fight that he witness his parents fighting, he cried for six days and night.

He sighs.

" I will never let her find something like this out!"

" W-what's going on, brother?"

Hideaki turned his head and looked at his five year old sister rubbing her eyes tiredly.

" It's nothing, Kotori. Let's go to bed! I will read that Cinderalla story like mothers always do."

" Yay!" She says excitedly with a bright smile.

4 years later.

Look Father! Look Mother! " She says happily and showed her parents the high marks from the exam.

" That's great, dear!"

A proud moment to most parents at age fourteen, Kotori tested the highest in the country. It was mandatory that she be placed in a prestigious school with advanced teaching. It was a finically burdensome.

The sound of a vase shattered downstairs, and two adults argued yet again. While the children stood at the top of the stairs, Hideaki comforted his crying sister. From that moment that when they realized that they only could depend on each other.

" I been hired at the secretary, it's very promising and will fix our problems."

" Do you know how many years I had to hear the same lie for? You can't leave me here alone with these children! I never wanted these bastards in the first place but you convince me to keep them. You ruin my life and you was my worse mistake!"

" I understand that you are upset but the one bedroom hotel was offered in the contact and I will be stupid to turn down such a high position. I am doing this for our family, just think about the benefits! It just going be a temporary fix then in time, I will move all of you wish me when I find someone bigger. Please just wait for me to return."

He picked up his suitcase and that was the last time the family heard from him.

" Cinderalla live happily ever after."

A dream that was so distance that it became foreign,

The payments from Ren were consistent up until Kotori's eighteen birthday, when Hideaki got into a car accident.

That was the breakpoint for the family. The hospital bills piled up, Kotori went and found herself a part-time job at the convenience store down the street.

However, her mother, Ai. She been a housewife for a long time that it was difficult for anyone to hire her. It was only one way for her earn money and she was desperate for it.

In this story, my evil step mother would actually be, my mother!

Then who will be my ugly step sisters? You will find out.

In the middle of the night, Kotori will hear her mother crying leaving countless voicemails.

" Y-You bastard! Why won't you answer my calls? I bet you living a lavish life being at the top with the CEO." She cursed at the phone and throw up before passing out completely.

" What a life"

Kotori learned to take care of her mother. She would help her mother into bed, tuck her in and then start cleaning the house. She spends hours scrubbing the vomit out from the carpet. She barely managed to sleep and was up all night studying for her exams.

Her stomach growls.

She sat down at the table and ate three-day old rice.

" Did you complete all of your assignments this week? If I'm going to be in debt then I should get something out of it." Her mother complained then took another smoke from the cigarette. In her cheap, short back dress that showed her curves perfectly.

She tapped the ashes in the bowl in front of her daughter, Kotori

" Yes, I do not want to disappoint you mother." Kotori answered obediently then silently sighed as she tossed the rice in the trash and wasted a great meal because her mother had to dump the ashes all in it.

To stand up for herself or defy her own mother equal punishment and sometimes it's painful.

" As long as you know." Her mother pouted cheap liquor into a plastic cup and mixed it with cough syrup. This concoction make her feel really good about sleeping with strange made. She looked at her daughter, Kotori who reminded her of herself in her youth and carefree life before being married.

" You are the reason we are drowning in debt, your father left and why Hideaki is on his death bed." She became repulsive around her own daughter," I can't stand the sight of you."

A hand came across her face.

" I know, I'm sorry mother." Kotori stood there and lowered her head.

" I have to go." Her mother said and hurried out the house.

'This is minor, it doesn't hurt at all'

It what she has to tell herself.

Last time, the two of them was in a heated argument and her mother pushed her down the stairs. That how Kotori ended up in the hospital once.

" This house is a mess!"

She grabbed a large white plastic bag and picked up cigarette buds, soiled needles, and small bags that has tiny dust of white power. After she finished, she flop down in the bed.

" I must be positive! Time heals all wounds and things will get better!- I have to believe it."

It easy to convince the mind but her heart was silently crying. She turned her head towards the picture- the family of four standing together happily.

" What about the future? What does it mean for us?"

It was upsetting and she felt alone.

The dreams and goals seem distant. It didn't matter what she wanted to be in life anymore. The mind is where she can let her fantasy run wild and it could be no more than that.

" The debt is too great and my family needs me! I will do everything in my power to make everyone happy. Whatever dreams I had, that's all in the past and I ended that chapter today. I decided to spend my life taking care of my family."

" Maybe when I graduate, I can find a better job."

A new text message from your online friend.

They share a lot of common interests and it is hard to believe that there is someone going through a similar life as hers.

Easyfinesse: I have not heard from you in a while. Are you doing, okay?

Typing…..

ConfessionHeart: I am okay.

Easyfinesse: Did she put her hands on you again? Do you want me to call the police for you?

ConfessionHeart: No it's okay. Thank you for always being there for me and sometimes it makes me feel less alone knowing that someone cares for me.

Easyfinesse: That's good, I'm glad that I'm helping. I must attend to a meeting in a few minutes. I will talk to you later, okay?"

ConfessionHeart: Talk to you in a bit :)

She put on her phone the charge and reach her hand for the switch on the lap. She stared at the broken frame on her and her big brother Hideaki.

" I wish that you were here and not in that stupid hospital."

Next to the frame was a prize her brother won her at the amusement park. A small fuzzy animal with long hair and a short fluffy tail with bloodstains.

" Kotori, if you squeeze it hard enough, it will say something."

She remembered his voice and their last conversation then turned off the light.

Somewhere in S City.

A handsome man walked out of the meeting and then entered the office. He looked over the documents and glance at his phone.

"Perhaps, she is sleeping. I mean, she's still a student after all."

" Young master, Amelia is three months pregnant with your baby –" The assistant said.

There were pictures of his pregnant fiancée having affair with another man. He raised his eyebrow in shock, flipping through each scandalous photo furiously.

" You betrayed me, Amelia! I thought we were in love. Did all of those years mean absolutely nothing to you? Was I just a toy that you got tired of?"