Letters From a Broken Past

Dear Cinderella,

I know that you're misunderstood.

I know that what they say

Is wrong;

But I'll try to create you some other way.

I know that your father is broken

And

The death of your mother was too harsh.

You're beating yourself up with words not spoken

But rather the actions that are taken too far.

I've heard that your dad has remarried.

The sin of the world he carries on

While the stepmother and daughter

Try to calm your father,

The man you once thought of as your own.

You seek the comfort of the mother.

Her daughter just keeps to herself.

But when there's no one else

You bury yourself

In the child that was once lost in the womb.

She comes to you,

Your only true sister,

In thoughts and words not spoken

But rather a spirit that shows itself in your head.

Dear Cinderella,

I know that you're broken.

I know that what they say isn't true

Because it's not them

And it's not you.

It's your father causing all the pain

Taking away the life you once knew

And throwing it all away

With the fairytale you thought you lived.

But this is no fairytale.

How could it be?

Your father with other women

And your stepmother in the midst of it all.

No.

She is not oblivious to this.

Yet she chooses to stay

Too afraid to let go

Too afraid to leave you alone

All on your own

Because she cares about you

And the future you can have.

Maybe she can take away your pain.

Dear Cinderella,

I know that you're downcast.

You look for every opportunity to run

And when your father looks at you,

You can smell him from a mile away

Only now there is blood everywhere

Coming from his hands

From your stepmother's throat

Trickling to the soles of your feet.

He abuses you.

He beats you.

How can you deal with the pain?

Broken bottles and empty words

As he pulls out the restraints

Until you scream no more

Until you’re dirty and on the floor

But by then, you’re already bleeding

And your eyes, already sore.

I know that you try to cover up his tracks

But the remaining glass

Stabs you in the heels

And I can see it when you walk.

Your father's drunken laugh,

A permanent mask,

Leaves you trapped and shaken and

Still

Broken

Dear Cinderella,

I know that what I see is true.

Trapped in a house forever

But I'm certain I can mix up the puzzle

So that no one will know the real you.

Let me make your father

The one you've always wanted

And that it was sad to see him die,

A beautiful way to dissipate

The hatred that was left behind.

And your stepmother and sister

But now two sisters instead of one

To bring back to life

The one unborn.

How useless any of their comforts was.

I'll make them the evil ones.

And for the ending so grim,

The ending without happiness,

I'll make for you a fine man

And a godmother to care of you

Before everything went bad.

Yes.

And a glass slipper

To always remember

That not everything can be the same

When a fairytale,

Such as yours,

Comes in an inexplicable way.

Dear Cinderella,

Now you can say

Once upon a time...