The Modern Fairy Tale

Ch 1:

"POK!"

When Ella had been small and had lived with her father she never wanted for anything. They had had a big house, a wonderful yard, and no lack of any resource. Even though her and her father were alone they lived happily with each other. Then, when she was ten, her father remarried and Ella's life changed dramatically.

At first it wasn't so bad, Dima, her stepmother, treated her civilly enough and mostly kept to herself. But when Ella's father died of cancer about seven years later, Dima spent all of the family fortune on expensive gifts and clothes for her daughters, leaving their family broke with only her father's large house (which was falling apart from disrepair) and a bundle full of debts to live on.

Dima had quickly come to the conclusion that she could not keep up her current lifestyle if she had no money and she had not wasted any time in sending Ella to work in a small restaurant/bar so that she could support her two lazy stepsisters and their expensive habits.

Ella had taken it all in good part, knowing that one day, when she finished college (which she went to on nights and weekends) she would be able to go off on her own and have a normal life, out from under the decree of her oppressive stepmother.

Unfortunately, the waiting was the hardest part and at times Ella found it hard to keep her cool in the face of her 'family's' criticism. Everyday she came home to shouting, cursing, bickering and petty squabbles. Sighing, Ella realized that that was what was in store for her once she got home today. Hopelessly, she looked around, wondering if she could trade places with anyone, anyone. With another sigh, this time of resignation, she picked up her stuff from the staff's lounge and got ready to leave.

Normally, the workload at the restaurant was manageable, but today had been horrible. The place had been overflowing with drunken men who didn't so much want a drink as a look down her shirt. The Manager had been no help; he seriously didn't care what the customers did, as long as they came back. Ella knew that if she complained or threatened to quit the Manager would just fire her, after all, the slums of Chicago were full of people without a home or work, people who would have no qualms with taking someone else's job.

The Manager, every so often, goes on a random firing binge, dismissing anyone who looked even remotely like they weren't doing their job. So far, Ella had been able to avoid the Manager's wrath but she didn't know how long she could keep it up. Every time he walked by he gave her a hungry look that made her uneasy; she always made sure she was never alone when he was around.

Still it was a hard practice to keep up, 10 hour shifts in a smoke-filled room with minimal lighting and wet slippery took a lot out of a girl and left little time for thinking about trivial things like safety.

Out on the corner Ella's beat-up pick-up truck was parked between to other cars in the employee parking lot. Carefully she got into the car and tried to start the engine. After three such trials the engine roared to life with a loud and rather ungraceful *POK!*.

Ella was on her way to face another night at home: fixing dinner, cleaning and listening to the non-stop bickering of her sisters. Or at least that was the plan.

About three blocks away from her work Ella was passing a particularly confusing intersection when a black Mercedes came out of nowhere and slammed into her car, pushing the large, rickety car off the road and into a small wooded area where it promptly wrapped itself around a tree.

The shock of what just happened rocked Ella so much that it took her a few moments to realize that inside a wrecked vehicle was not the best place to be, no matter how shocked she was. When finally she struggled out of the driver's seat and into open air she could smell something burning and - rattled as she was - she realized that that was not a good thing.

Ella only managed to get about 30 yards away before the entire car exploded, throwing debris everywhere. Looking back to the site where the car had been she gasped, the car hadn't been much before but now it was rather less.

Dima was going to kill her. Never mind it wasn't her fault, regardless that the car had been hers in the first place. She knew this probably meant another weekend spent at home cleaning and walking to work.

"Oh My God, are you okay?" asked a masculine voice from behind her. Ella swung around to see a slightly disheveled man with black hair and brown eyes standing behind her. What kind of stupid was he? Did she look okay to him? She looked him up and down, taking in his appearance, which marked him as a wealthy person considering the 14-karat diamond in his left ear and the fact that he was wearing all leather.

Probably some playboy Dot Com millionaire who has nothing better to do then spend his days making work for other people. She thought to herself and unaccountably got even angrier then she already was.

"What the hell is your problem?! You could have killed me, and you totaled my car! Were you just not paying attention or was that expensive cologne you seem to be bathed in clogging your brain?" Ella practically screamed, frustrated that anyone could make her so mad.

"I guess I deserved that." The man said looking slightly uncertain

"No shit." She said turning around and heading back towards the road.

"Hey, I was trying to be nice! You don't have to get all pissy." Ella just ignored him and kept on walking, hoping he'd get the idea and just go away. "Where are you going?" he asked running after her.

"To the road."

"Why?"

"Why indeed." She said just to confuse him.

"Wait. . . What?" he said, confused. When she didn't answer and kept walking he tried again. "You still haven't answered my question, why are you going back to the road?" Ella sighed, she couldn't even have the fun of confusing him.

"To call a tow truck."

"You could use my cell-phone I - "

"That's okay I think you've helped enough for one day." She cut him off sharply, strangely annoyed. The man made a frustrated sound in the back of his throat.

"Listen, lady, I just wanted to see if you needed my help." Ella turned to him; about to tell him exactly what he could do with his so-called 'help', when her retort was delayed due to the fact that everything in her line of vision seemed to suddenly begin to spin. Fast.

The last thing Ella remembered was her knees giving out under her and someone catching a hold of her arms.

A/N: I'm pretty sure you are all smart people so you tell me: what is this story based off of? First one to get it right gets elevinty-billion brownie points!!!!^_^ (Even though the name Ella sort of gives it away *hint hint*)

Luv

Don't take that tone with me

-Maharanjoni

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