Chapter 2

Monalisa stared steadily at her reflection in a broken mirror in front of her in the shabby small basement she stayed in. Peering into her clear blue eyes, she could not help but wonder why life was treating her differently unlike the rest of the people living in this city, especially girls her age, who are all loved by their family members, friends and neighbors. She is only sixteen but had gone through so much trouble that she now thinks she has suffered more than Cinderella whom she had read about in books.

She loved reading stories about girls who had suffered unjustly but had happy endings at last instead of reading stories of vampires, witches and werewolves which was the most preferred among the people in her city because she does not believe in its existence as most of the people do, she found such stories scary and preferred happy ending books like Cinderella's.

Monalisa slowly lowered her gaze to a book in her hand which was still about Cinderella, this was the only Cinderella book she had left because the others had been burnt by her aunt Lila and her daughter Annabel who was about the same age as she was. “Cinderella and the seven dwarfs,” she muttered, running her fingers tenderly at the letters of the book. This was one of her favorites and wished her life would become a fairy tale like the one the cinderella in her book had only there were no dwarves in this city, at least none that she knew of. 

She had fantasize a lot about meeting a prince or been found and kissed by a prince like the ones in her books but up until now she was yet to see such a person or even someone close to being called a prince because everyone around her always made fun of her and saw her as a tool to mess with instead of a human that she is.

She lifted her gaze again to her reflection in the mirror, “what is the use of having a pretty face and a beautiful body when you cannot even find yourself a prince or even a man?” she asked inwardly, peering at her reflection and still wondering what was wrong with her or if her aunt Lila was right when she called her cursed.

Monalisa suddenly became furious as her aunt’s abusive words resounded in her thought that she unconsciously threw the book in her hands away without even looking where she was throwing it as she suddenly felt like she was being deceived by her  book. She gasped immediately, lifting her hands to cover her lips as she turned her gaze to the direction she had thrown the book to and found her aunt’s daughter, Annabel standing by the door, her pupils dilating, stunned by what Monalisa did.

Annabel, a tall white skinned slender girl, about the same age as Monalisa, had just returned home with her Mum. They had left their house a few minutes ago to go see a show but returned home sooner than they should because the show was canceled. They were disappointed because of the show and had called on Monalisa to try and ease their  frustration on her but she hadn’t answered their call which led Annabel to come and find her in the basement where she stayed. “How dare you throw your stupid book at me?” Annabel snapped almost immediately, now glaring from Monalisa to the book on the floor close to her feet.

“I am sorry Annabel, I didn't mean to throw that at you…” Monalisa muttered frightfully, knowing what would happen to her if her aunt Lila heard about this, she lifted her hand to try and plead with Annabel not to let her aunt hear about it but it was already late.

“Mum… she is in here…” Annabel shouted, her angry gaze still fixed on Monalisa.

“Oh no,” Monalisa muttered frightfully again, peering from Annabel to her book on the floor as she heard Aunt Lila’s footsteps heading to her room. She did not know that they were going to be back this soon and wondered how she allowed herself to be carried away like this by her emotions. She quickly rushed towards her book on the floor to try and save the only book she had left.

“Don’t you dare,” Annabel said in an angry tone, stepping her feet on the book as she peered down at Monalisa who was on one knee in front of her as she tried to pick her book up.

“Annabel please, I didn't mean to throw it on you…” Monalisa said pleadingly, lifting her gaze on Annabel whose white face had turned red from anger. She had hid this book well for so long now and was mad at herself right now for being careless with the only thing that brought a smile to her face knowing that she was about to lose this book too. 

Annabel saw the fright in her eyes but cared less about her feelings, she has despised Monalisa from when they were little especially since she looked more beautiful than her and her mum does not fail to remind her of that whenever they were alone, she even had to be on diet to remain skinny in order to be attractive as her mum had told her and what angered her the most was how Monalisa could remain beautiful even with all the suffering they have put her through. 

“What is going on here?” Lila asked as soon as she stepped into the basement that was Monalisa’s room. Lila is a chubby fair skinned lady in her late thirties, she is Rosy’s elder sister who is Monalisa’s mum. Rosy had left her daughter Monalisa in her care a year after her birth and had run away leaving only a letter to her sister requesting that she should not bother looking for her. Lila had hated to care for Monalisa since then because of her hatred for her sister Rosy but only had to keep her because of her husband Willey who was now late and she blamed his death on Monalisa, she had despised Monalisa more after her husband's death.

“Can you tell me what is going on here?” Lila asked again, peering hard at Monalisa who had stood up from the floor where she was kneeling, especially after seeing the furious look on her daughter’s face.

“She threw her stupid book at me, mum,” Annabel said before Monalisa could even speak, pointing at the book on the floor which she had stepped on.

“What?” Lila asked, turning from her daughter Annabel to Monalisa and then to the book on the floor.

Monalisa shook her head sideways unable to find her voice to speak up and say what had happened, her eyes filled with terror as her gaze followed her aunt Lila as she bent down and picked her book off the floor.

“Your stupid Cinderella book again?” Lila said after seeing the title of the book, glaring from the book in her hand to Monalisa whose heart started drumming in her heart as she felt that burning her book would not be the only punishment she would get from her careless mistake, wishing she could turn back time and undo what she had done.

“She had the guts to throw this stupid book at me mum,” Annabel said, sounding so bitter as she pointed her finger to Monalisa.

“You are not even a princess and yet you read these stupid books and you even had the guts to throw it at my daughter,” Lila said angrily and almost immediately swung her palm across Monalisa’s face, giving her a resounding slap.