Chương 17: I Don’t Like Repetition Anymore

I hear… a beautiful song. I didn't open my eyes yet, nor did I let my brain start to function. It might be a dream, and if so, the song will stop if I wake up, and I didn't want it to. Anyway, I just listened.

"♪ A dream is a wish your heart makes," the lovely voice sang softly, "when you're fast asleep. ♪""♪ In dreams, you will lose your heartaches. Whatever you wish for, you keep. ♪""♪ I had faith in my dreams, and yesterday… ♪""♪ My rainbow did come smiling through. ♪""♪ No matter how my heart is grieving. I kept on believing, and the dream that I wished for… came true. ♪" Suddenly, the loud bell at the distant palace rang. I slowly opened my eyes. I instantly brought both hands up to my mouth to silence a shriek.

I was in a zoo! A vast amount of birds and mice filled the room to the brim! But… I was in Cinderella's room, I remembered. A horde of critters was to be expected. Yes… they had all just come out to hear her song, probably. Honestly, by now, I really should be past the point of critters shrieking. Cinderella noted I had woken up and smiled at me.

"Good morning, Drizella." The morning light streamed through the window, catching Cinderella's angelic features and illuminating her sweet smile. It was entirely too much radiance for someone who had just woken up, so I couldn't quite find the words to answer.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked.

"Oh, I hope I didn't wake you with the song?"

"Oh, no…" I murmured.

"The song was... nice." I sat up in bed and saw something amazing. The mice and birds were helping Cinderella with her morning routine! I saw them fix her mother's dress before, that was one thing, but now they were like little servants. They were tidying her clothes, polishing her worn shoes to a shine, and even untangling the ribbons for her hair. They were little Cinderellas!

"What is she doing here?!" a squeaky, high-pitched voice demanded, accompanied by an accusing finger. That was Suzy.

"Oh, Suzy," said Cinderella.

"Drizella changed. She is like a different person! She is my… well, my best friend!" Best? Did she have any other friends? Did she count the mice?

"Uh… uh…" Gus stammered.

"She helped Gus-Gus too. She is a nice lady!"

"Oh." Suzy looked taken aback for a second.

"Well, if that's the case, you are my friend too." Suzy's friendship was easy to get, I knew it from former experience. Still, some small part of me that wasn't disgusted by rodents liked Suzy and was glad for her rodent grace.

"Drizella, I want to take a wash," Cinderella said.

"Will it be… ah, make you uncomfortable?"

"Not at all." Cinderella walked behind the bath screen, and then, Suzy shooed all the male mice out the door. They were mice! It was silly of her. Then the birds dripped a sponge in water… they actually bathed her. That was… maybe really weird. They prepared her work clothes, and helped her get dressed and… Wait a moment.

"Why… why do you wear them?" I asked. I was still half asleep and thinking slowly.

"What do you mean? My work clothes?" she answered.

"Yes!" I said.

"After all of… yesterday… and well, a carriage will get you to the palace at noon! To marry a prince, become a princess, and such. Won't you find it ridiculous to do the house chores?"

"Yes, well," she said, and smiled at the memory of it all.

"But all of that didn't happen yet. Today is still just a normal morning, and anyway, I don't mind doing my chores, I'm used to it."

"But…" I wasn't sure what I wanted to say.

"Even without the prince… It's not… It's just silly of you to do all that work. I mean… I know it's wrong." This was hard for me. Cinderella looked at me with a loving… with some kind of soft smile. Then she did another thing she had never done before. She walked over and kissed me softly on my cheek. I blinked once, completely unready for it, and blushed horribly.

"Thank you for saying it," Cinderella said, and went out anyway. Starting her dusting and mopping and cooking and being yelled at—her morning routine. I touched my cheek where I had my kiss. She was cheeky, that one, I thought. Already feeling very comfortable with me. Still… I don't remember anyone giving me a kiss before. Not Mother, surely. Kisses… hugs… these things… they were not so terribly bad.

"What are you looking at?" I asked the mice, who were all staring blankly in my direction.

"Haven't you got anything better to do with your day?" Some mice started moving here and there; some just kept looking at me. Then I saw Suzy come my way. She climbed onto the bed and sat beside me, really close. I didn't recoil.

"You did change!" she squeaked.

"I… can feel it!"

"Ah, thanks?" Suzy moved even closer, until she was right beside me. Then she reached out and gently patted my leg with her tiny rodent hand.

"You really helped Cinderelly, didn't you?" she said.

"No one never helps poor Cinderelly! Except us mice and birds. And we love her sooo much. So I'm really happy you did!"

"Ah… okay?" Suzy could be a little odd sometimes. Then the door to the room suddenly opened. But it wasn't Cinderella. It was Anastasia standing at the open door, panting.

"This tower climbing is horrible," she whined.

"With my hair getting all spider webs stuck in it, I…" She suddenly stopped talking, looking at the room with wide eyes. Anastasia blinked stupidly, then…

"AHAHAHAHAHHA! RATS!!" she screamed. She was loud, too! She immediately jumped back out the door and slammed it shut.

"Oh! Disgusting!" she whined from behind the door.

"Drizella! You have to get out! The room is full of rats!"

"Mice, actually," I corrected her.

"And they don't bother me at all. They are harmless, really. If you came here to talk to me, you need to get over it and get inside."

"Can't you just get out?!" Anastasia begged.

"I'm quite comfortable here," I said.

"FINE!" Anastasia shouted. She opened the door slowly. Then she stepped inside and stood stiffly against the wall, keeping her eyes glued to the ceiling to avoid looking at the mice, while hovering just an inch from the doorframe to ensure a quick escape in case of a rodent assault.

"Eww. Mice," she continued.

"Honestly, Drizella, how could you stand them at all? Disgusting!"

"How rude!" Suzy remarked.

"Who said that?!" Anastasia asked.

"It was me!" shouted Suzy at her.

"Large and uglyyy rattt!"

"Heeep!" Anastasia whimpered, pressing herself flat against the doorframe.

"Suzy, stop it!" I said.

"Most ladies are terrified of mice; you shouldn't take offense."

"Oh, alright," Suzy said.

"I need to collect raisins anyway." She jumped out of the bed and disappeared through a small hole in the wall. Now that I looked, most of the mice were gone; they were busy rodents, after all.

"The mice left," I said to Anastasia.

"You can come over here now."

"I will just stay here! If that's alright with you," she said.

"And… do mice, well, always talk?"

"No?" I said hesitantly. Actually, I wasn't sure about it. Ah… it wasn't normal for mice to talk. I was almost sure of it.

"Well, what did you want to talk about anyway?" I asked her.

"Oh," Anastasia said, sounding like she forgot all about it.

"I came to say… you were mean! Going to the ball without telling me and Mom! And with the servant of all things! And…" The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. She stopped. I didn't think she was very sure what she wanted to say to me.

"And now Mom has had it with you!" she continued to rant.

"Look at you, all but locked in Cinderella's room! Oh, why did you do it? It was silly of you! I don't understand it at all!" Oh, so that was it. She wanted to know why I did it. Also… she may be offended? Yes, probably. I totally forgot Anastasia has feelings. The thing is… I wasn't sure why I went to the ball with Cinderella. My original plan was to send Mother and Anastasia and just chill.

"I decided I like her," I said honestly.

"I like Cinderella. She is pretty, and nice. And we treated her like a servant, like dirt, worse even. Because…. Because we were jealous of how pretty she is! And because Mom did it." Anastasia looked at me with confused eyes. She probably didn't get much from what I said.

"So, you like her because she is pretty," Anastasia finally said.

"You don't need to be ashamed, but what did she wear to the ball? Did you lend her a dress?" Anastasia was remarkably dense. This was not a new discovery.

"She had her mother's dress," I sighed.

"Looked cute in it, too."

"If she had a pretty dress," Anastasia said, "and you like her, it's alright I guess." She sighed.

"As long as she don't start acting all high and mighty now, and doesn't slack on her chores, of course. And… you didn't invite me… because you were embarrassed to be seen with Cinderella, and thought I would never want to be seen with the servant." She could so easily shift events to make sense in her limited grasp.

"Yes…?"

"So I guess it's okay," Anastasia sighed.

"But ask me the next time, no harm in that. If I judge Cinderella to be of adequate appearance, I might join myself."

"Okay…" I said.

"But you should have told Mother," Anastasia added.

"She is furious! I don't know how much time she will have you stay here."

"A pox on Mother," I said. I remembered too well how she had hurt me.

"What…?" Anastasia gasped.

"I don't care what Mother thinks," I said.

"She doesn't care about us either, only about her social climbing. I don't think she even loves us." Now Anastasia looked struck, like it really hurt her.

"Don't say that," she said, her eyes glimmering.

"Don't talk like that about her! She tries to make the best of us."

"She tries to do the best for her!" I said.

"Oh, grow up! She only tries to make us more presentable so we don't embarrass her! Can't you see that, stupid?!"

"What happened to you?" Anastasia's eyes were full of tears.

"You are acting really strange. I don't like you like this."

"Oh, just leave me be," I said with a dismissive gesture.

"Go back to powdering your face, or sucking up to Mom, or whatever it is you do."

"You meanie!" she shouted at me, tears in her eyes, and stormed out the door.

"Oh, I hate spider webs!" I heard her whine from the hallway. I felt resentment toward Anastasia, and that probably wasn't justified. She was just a poor, dumb cow of a girl, my sister was. The repetition magic changed me, and looking at her now reminded me of who I was just days ago, and I found that I didn't like that girl much.. So now she was gone, Suzy too, and I was left alone. I didn't care so much about being alone here. No one will bother me here.

Maybe Cinderella will come soon, and we could drink tea together, or maybe Suzy will come after finishing collecting her raisins. I was a bit bored, truth be told. What should I do? Just wait? Maybe plan what to do in the next repetition? Oh, but then Cinderella will hate me again! I didn't want to think about it. I looked around the room. Didn't she have a book here to read? Well, I guess she didn't really have a way to get any, being the poor servant she was. But she did have an old book about dress design.

I took it and flipped through the pages. Some designs could look cute on me, I dared to think. Will the mice tailor it for me if ordered by Cinderella, I wonder? Could I just bribe them with food from the kitchen? Nah, they steal what they want anyway… The door creaked open again. Finally, Cinderella!

"Drizella!" Oh, it was just Anastasia again.

"Mother calls you, she wants to speak to you!" Mother was? Really, I was sure I wouldn't hear from her in this repetition. And why send Anastasia to call me and not Cinderella?

"What does she want with me?" I asked.

"No idea," said Anastasia, "but it doesn't seem like she is angry with you anymore." I walked after Anastasia down the stairs and saw Mother in the common room sitting on the couch, drinking tea. She saw me and gestured for me to join her with a small smile. Oh, the tea was for me. That behavior… after she tried to basically murder me yesterday… what… Oh, I think I knew what it was!

"Please, sit," she said warmly. I did.

"I do want to apologize," she said quietly.

"I did presume some things and… I admit I acted rashly."

"You hit my face with a shoe," I reminded her. I knew the wound was very much visible on my cheek.

"I shouldn't have done it," she said.

"You see, I just had a cup of tea with my dear friend Countess Therese, and was notified of events that happened at the ball. You… you can imagine my surprise." Yes, that made perfect sense. Mother heard from court gossip that the now-famous mystery girl who conquered the Prince's heart had arrived at the ball accompanied by non other than her own daughter.

"It was a clever plot on your end," Mother continued.

"You shouldn't have hidden it from me. But you executed it well enough. You have my respect." I looked at her, I still couldn't tell what she wanted with me.

"You should keep doing it, as much as you can," Mother continued.

"Getting close to her, being her friend. We must make sure to guarantee our place in the palace." I stared at her. blinked. Then laughed. I laughed right in her face. A small laugh first, but then louder, rolling. I couldn't really stop for a while. My mother's face twisted in cold anger.

"What… got into you?"

"You…" I tried to speak, wiping tears of laughter from my eyes.

"You think she will invite you to live in the palace? After years of treating her like trash?! That… that is too much!"

"She forgave you quickly enough," Mother said quietly.

"You treat her no better than me. Maybe worse."

"I know," I said, a bitter smile on my lips.

"She shouldn't have forgiven me. None of us truly deserve it."

"What happened to you, child!" Mother snapped, slamming her hand on the table.

"Don't forget your place!"

"No, Mother!" I said coldly.

"It's you who forgets her place. Your place is here, a miserable old woman plotting her petty schemes. Not in the palace, certainly!"

"You…!" Mother got up, red with anger now.

"You and that wretched servant! I should…" I got up too, not the slightest bit afraid of her.

"You should remember, Mother," I warned, "that 'wretched servant' is likely your future queen. And you should be very careful how you speak of her."

"Why… I…" Now she just sounded confused. I had it with the talk. I turned and started walking away.

"Just hope that when Cinderella is queen," I said over my shoulder, "she won't order to hang you both first thing." Standing up to Mother, telling her exactly what was on my mind, putting her in her place… that felt incredible. I walked up the tower and back to Cinderella's room. I was happy to see her there, sitting by her table and knitting a tiny dress. She noticed me coming.

"Oh, Drizella, the weirdest thing just happened!" she said.

"Let me guess," I said.

"Mother was nice to you?"

"She was!" Cinderella explained.

"Said I work too hard, said I ought to take the rest of the day off, and mumbled something about how she always appreciates my dedication to the housework." I laughed.

"She just heard from her friend about what happened at the ball," I explained.

"She assumes you will marry the prince, and wants your good grace. She hopes you will take her to live in the palace."

"Well," Cinderella smiled to herself.

"If I did marry the prince, I surely don't want Stepmother to live with me!"

"I know!" I said.

"I told her she should just hope you won't order her hanging."

"Goodness," Cinderella covered her mouth with her hand.

"I definitely don't want that!"

"She is just a horrible old woman. You should go to the palace, live happily, and forget about us."

"What? No." Cinderella got up from her chair and came really close to me.

"I could never forget about you," she said. She was… too close.

"If I do marry the prince, and move to the palace, I would very much like you to come with me."

"Me… You want…?"

"If… if you want to, I mean," she said.

"After that horrible beating Stepmother gave you… I thought that maybe… you would like to."

"I do," I said, blushing, and at that moment forgot all about the time repetition.

"I will be so happy to have you by my side!" Cinderella said with that sweet, honest smile that does things to people's hearts. I just smiled like a silly girl.

"Hey, did you forget about me?" came a small, squeaky voice. There was a female mouse on the table. That was Mary, I think.

"Oh, I do apologize," Cinderella smiled at her.

"We are almost done, I think." Oh, Cinderella was in the middle of making a new dress for Mary. When I looked closely, I could see old one was a bit tattered and worn.

"Can I see?" I asked, and she handed me the tiny dress.

"It's cute," I said, inspecting the stitching.

"But a bit dull, don't you think? You can add some lace trim here, maybe a tiny blue ribbon there…"

"Oh, but it could take another half hour," Cinderella said, "and Mary here was in a hurry."

"I'm not in a hurry at all!" Mary squeaked.

"I want this with a lace and a ribbon! I'll have a prettier dress than Suzy and Perla's dull, boring dresses!"

"They have pretty dresses too!" Cinderella said.

"But alright, since I won't be doing any chores today, I have plenty of time."

"The carriage to the palace will arrive in an hour or so," I reminded her.

"That's right, I almost forgot," she said, smiling.

"We do have some time. I will bring us tea." We drank the tea, talked about dresses, and laughed a lot. I had a really good time. After Mary's dress was finished, I gathered I should give Cinderella something to wear. I gave her my blue day dress—simple, but cute and made of high-quality silk. It wasn't fancy enough for a formal ball, but it definitely wasn't servant's clothing either. The royal carriage soon arrived outside the Chateau gates.

Cinderella looked down out the window and saw it, smiled wide, and hugged me one last time before she reached for the door. And then, she was gone. I wouldn't see her again in this repetition, and that meant…. The crushing realization hit me. This Cinderella was gone forever. The version of Cinderella who genuinely liked me. The next time I see her, she will come to my room as a servant, not as my friend. She will look at me with cold eyes, and ask if I slept well without actually giving a damn about it. She…

She will despise me. Sure, I could do all the things I did again. She will be my friend again, but it will only last until the repetition ends. So what was the point, really? I touched my cheek where I got my kiss. She will never be like this, not exactly. I noticed my eyes were wet. I felt deep sadness wash over me. I didn't really want to do anything anymore. And I didn't want the stupid repetition magic. If it just stopped… If the days won't repeat. Then… it will all be good. I wouldn't lose that Cinderella.

I could leave my abusive mother, and go live in the royal palace where Cinderella will be Queen. I could maybe be… happy. It's Lucifer. He did this to me… somehow. And he could make it stop! I searched for Lucifer around the house. It didn't take much time; he just slept lazily on the couch in the main room. No one else was here.

"Hey! Lucifer!" I told him.

"I just had it. I'm done with the repetitions. Do you hear?" He glanced lazily my way, opened one green eye to a narrow slit, and then returned to his nap.

"Hey! Didn't you hear me?" I started to rattle him.

"I want that silly magic to stop! I've had enough with the repetition. So stop it!"

"Mrrraaaw!" he hissed in deep annoyance as I kept violently shaking his fat body.

"I mean it, you old bag of fleas!" I kept shaking him.

"Make it stop!"

"MRRREREAAW!" He scratched me! After a flash of fur, my hand stung with white-hot pain. I yelped and pulled away. Three deep cuts opened on the back of my hand, quickly turning red with blood. Then Lucifer jumped to the floor and quickly left the room.

"YOU!" I shouted at him.

"How dare you! Mean old stupid… cat!" I tightly wrapped the bleeding injury with the sleeve of my dress. It hurt so much! Wait… the magical repetition started with Lucifer scratching me, did it not? So maybe that was it. Lucifer maybe made it stop with that scratch. I will go to sleep, and it will be the real next day. I won't hear Cinderella calling Lucifer behind my door. Cinderella won't be here; she will be at the palace. It was late afternoon already, but I was emotionally exhausted and deeply tired.

I went back up the tower stairs, letting the sticky spider webs cling to my hair. I didn't even care. I went into Cinderella's room. No one will use her bed tonight. I lay down on the thin mattress, closed my eyes, and slowly drifted off into a heavy, dreamless sleep. It was so hot. I threw the heavy blanket off me. I opened my eyes wide. I had gone to sleep in Cinderella's room, but now… now I was…

"I'm sorry if Your Highness objects to an early breakfast," I heard Cinderella calling Lucifer behind my door.

"NO!" I shouted.

"NO! NO!" Cinderella heard the shout and opened my door.

"Is everything alright, Drizella?" Her look… her eyes, as she asked it. They were cold. It was clear as her beauty. I wanted to catch her shirt and shake her, scream at her! Don't you remember? Don't you remember anything!? But her look of hidden resentment was all but enough.

"JUST LEAVE ME BE!" I shouted at her. And she dutifully stepped back and closed the door. I stayed on my bed and cried. I was hurt. Really, I was. I felt like I lost someone dear to me. And so suddenly, without a good reason. Then slowly, my sadness washed away, and was replaced with anger! This was all so meaningless! Nothing that happened meant anything! NOTHING! I wanted to just... completely flip my bed upside down! I got up, gripped the bed and… Arrrrr! A heavy wooden thing, that was! Nothing really happened.

I settled on just taking the sheets and pillows and violently throwing them on the floor. I stormed out of the bedroom, still in my nightgown and bare feet. I marched down the stairs, and out the front door of the house. The morning sun was warm on my face. I ran.