Hi guys! I have decided to share with you a chapter from my NaNoWriMo novel every Saturday and Sunday. I shall upload one each on these days and put it on display here at this blog! Constructive criticisms are most welcomed, as do comments! =) Here's some information about this novel I'm writing.


My Novel Information:

Name: Kinderella

Genre: Other Genres/General Fiction

Written by: Me

Synopsis:
Tired of reading the many different variants and versions of the popular fairy tale of Cinderella? Then look no further as this novel presents you the everyone's favourite classic tale, with a modern twist. This story focuses on a young male, yes a male, by the name of Kinderella who desperately hopes that he could finally see the bright light at the end of the tunnel of his life. Kinderella's constant wishes of getting out of his miseries will be granted, and soon he realises his life will never be the same again. Will it end with a happily ever after, or is reality not so kind? Find out by reading Kinderella, the Cinderella story as retold by me.


Click on No. above the Date field to view the story.



If you're eyes tire after reading such long blocks of text, I divided this chapter into 2 halves for your convenience.

Quick Jump:
First half
Second half

---------------

Prologue


As the flames of the fireplace flickers its orangey fingers, Kinderella was there dusting the bookshelves full of meaningless scholarly books which have been collected by his step-mother over the years. The full volumes of Encyclopaedia Britannica, National Geographic magazines and pamphlets, The Times, The Economists, Oxford English Dictionaries; you name it, she has all shelved meticulously in those rather antique bookshelves.

If you think she’s a bookworm with lots of free time, think again. Visitors and guests came and admired her amazing collection of books. “She must be a bibliomaniac,” said the Duchess who visited her house when her stepmother celebrated her 50th birthday. But oh no, she did not keep those books for her pursue of knowledge. She treated books like assets, something that’s worth showing off and something which earns you respect from others the more you have in collection. Why she does not collect diamonds and jewelleries, like any other noble rich ladies, instead of books leaves me baffled too.

Kinderella shuddered when he recalled how some people have praised her for being very knowledgeable. “These people do not know, but they have wrongly equated books with knowledge. They have been deceived by the sheer amount of books,” he added with a sigh. He shook his head pitifully at how these books are being treated. Never before opened books lay waiting in that bookshelf, hoping that at least someone can open them and immerse himself with copious knowledge.

“KEEEN-DERR-EELAAAAAAA!”

Kinderella gulped hard as her feared mother approached him. Things aren’t going to be pretty from here on!

Mdm. Sweet loomed over him, and gave him the scowl that sends chiver down Kinderella’s spine every time without fail. Kinderella gulped hard again. I didn’t do it, he thought, whatever that he had done.

“Stop loafing about and dust harder! Save your dreams later for tonight! We, or rather…” she added menacingly, “…you, need to keep this house in top shape! Christmas is near, and I command you to clean with all your worth.”

Kinderella hesitantly nodded. Like it or not, it’s an order from the great queen.

Without warning, Mdm. Sweet pulled Kinderella’s collar. “And you had better do a good job. Else, you shall be banished to your room for the whole of Christmas!”

Sweat dribbled down Kinderella’s forehead. “Don’t make eye contact, don’t make eye contact!” shouted little Kinderella in his head.

Unsurprisingly, he looked at her beautiful stepmother. And he saw the glare. It is an unmerciful glare which can forever imprint in anyone’s mind. Mdm. Sweet released Kinderella and walked off, leaving a very dismayed-looking Kinderella.

Kinderella gave a very long sigh. He did not know what to do. He half-wished that his dad had never died. He was the only one who can control his freaky wife. If only he survived; if only he could have a vision and warn his dad beforehand of the impending doom…


“Bye Dad! Take care and be safe!”

Mr. White hugged his son lovingly. “I’ll miss you so much son. Please, take good care of your stepbrothers and my wife too.”

“What if you never come back?” Kinderella choked back his tears. He was fighting the urge of crying. He though it was unmanly for a young adolescent male like him to cry.

“Don’t worry. I’ll always be there for you, I promise,” were the last sincere words of Kinderella’s dad.

They hugged each other for the last time, and Mr. White stepped out of sight in the busy military airport. Kinderella could not take the sight of his father leaving him, and he ran to hug his stepmother with tears streaming down his face. She lovingly patted him, while his two not-so-nice twin stepbrothers mimicked him. Their mother gave them a smug look.

“Oh honey, I’ll miss you…”

A few long minutes passed slowly. The family watched as the aircraft took off the landing strip which Mr. White boarded. None of them knew of what was going to happen to them, especially the naïve Kinderella whose life would soon turn for a worse.

As the day wore on, the invasion of Iraq was getting worse with many soldiers grisly deaths reported every passing day. The White family stared at the television set in horror as they watched the bombings, the shootings and the fights which took place in a foreign land miles away from their home.

“Is Dad going to be all right?” asked Kinderella’s step-brother, Dean, woefully.

Mrs. White pinched him playfully. “Of course, dear, he will always be safe and sound.”

Kinderella wistfully stared at the television, hoping that his step-mother was right. He suddenly didn’t feel good and was breathing heavily. Strange, he thought, what’s wrong with me?

All of a sudden, an explosion ripped through the land below, and black sooty smoke bellowed out. The reporter can be heard gasping and immediately gave a report, “It seems like the Iraqis have mined their own oil wells with explosives. Their motive could be due to disguise their troop movements and distract air forces.”

The camera zoomed back to the scene. Minutes later, the black smoke had risen to the sky. Some fighter planes came from the corner of the screen and were heading towards the smoke. They quickly averted, but one pilot did it too late. He flew directly into the smoke.

The household went quiet. Dean gasped in horror while his siblings covered their eyes. Mrs. White watched with bulging eyeballs. The aircraft showed up a few seconds later, but it was spiralling down to the earth…

“Oh God!”



“BAM!”

Miss Laudette slammed the blackboard duster on her table. Her pupils reeled in horror as they were shocked that their normally nice History teacher reacted pretty aggressively. The class went silent for a few moments.

Miss Laudette broke the silence with a relatively short sentence, “Class, please give me a chance to emphasise how very important the downfall of Malacca is. Questions based on this topic keep recurring every year in your exams without fail. Now, let’s get back to our lesson, and I want complete silence from…”

“BRR-RINN-GGG-GG!”

The young and slim History teacher sighed loudly. “So much for the silence,” she rolled her eyes, “Class dismissed!”

The door flung open as the hyper teenage girls storm out of their classroom. It was just like any typical day at an all-girls school; girls sharing juicy raucous gossips amongst themselves, the vain sorority ladies flinging their hairs about with some staring at their too perfect reflections in their compact mirrors, and there are the cheerleading girls having a meeting just outside their classroom. And of course, there are also the outcasts who are the brains of the class.

The chatterboxes suddenly quieten themselves when the ever unpopular smart alecs casually walk past them. The bolder one of the group, who has curly long blond hair and eyes that many boys die for deliberately walked towards one of the girls and “banged” her.

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I hurt you?” asked Mary, who apparently was the victim of that day.

One of the nefarious girls pretended to mimic her, exaggerating her reaction as much as possible. “Oooohh, I’m sorry,” she put her hands over her mouth, pretending to gasp, “did I hurt you?” she squeaked in a sing-song voice while flaunting in a very clumsy manner.

Stifles of giggles came from the students around who were slowly gathering to witness another ‘Desperate Nerds’ scene, so aptly called by one of the girls there. Definitely better than watching the ‘Desperate Housewives’ show, one exclaimed the other day.

“Hey, dweeb! Watch where you are going! Seriously, your specs are oh-so-thick. Do you want me to get you a new one?” taunted the blonde, who goes by the name of Melissa.

“I can get you a brand new Versace specs for you birthday!” she exclaimed loudly. The crowd oooh-ed and ahhh-ed at her sudden generosity.

“You will?” Mary asked hopefully.

“Sheesh, and a gullible dweeb too you are! Why should I waste MY money on buying that for you? You’ll probably trip over something and break them. They’re too fragile for an uncultured lady like you.”

She gave her horrible snicker. Nobody got her pun, but they follow suit anyway. Soon, the hall echoed with roars of laughter.

At that very moment, Amy could not take it anymore. She had had enough of that Melissa blondie trying to insult her group of friends almost everyday. Being a loyal and faithful friend, she stepped out in front of her friend and put her arms wide.

“Look Melissa, stop bothering my friends. Seriously, don’t you have better things to do, like flirting with that macho wacko who you considered ‘cute’?” defended Amy.

The crowd gasped. So this is where the famous Melissa does every time after school. Flirt with the icky guy at the neighbouring school.

“Amy! You…you don’t have to pub…pub…public…cise that out loud!” stuttered Melissa, who was clearly embarrassed now. Amy gave a victorious grin. Surely she did not just sent the school’s biggest bully into embarrassment? This is too good to be true, she thought. Her girlfriends gave each other a high five.

The hall buzzed with new activity.

“I cannot believe she has such bad taste in men!”

“You mean Miss Popularity hung out with a guy totally engrossed with muscles?”

“Double yuck!”

“SILENCE!” shouted Melissa, who clearly cannot take it anymore. Everyone stared at her.

“Amy, one day I am so going to get even with you. You could have been popular just like me, maybe even as cool! But nooo! You decided to spend your time hanging out with these useless dweebs of yours instead and poke your nose into books all the time. You already have the opportunity to do so, but you ditched everything! You swapped popularity with…” Melissa shuddered, “BOOKS! And a bunch of crappy friends who are so weak to defend themselves!”

Melissa signalled her clan to leave. Amy could not say anything but just stare at her, giving her the fiercest frown she had ever frowned. Unfortunately, her intimidation failed to have any effect on her.

As Melissa walked out, she paused and spun around to face a very antagonized Amy. “You know what, princess? You’re a loser!” “You know what? You're a stinking VIP: Very Idiotic Person!” (Dialog edited 7/11.)

“LOSER!”

Her clan gestured the L-sign, and left behind four very embarrassed friends and one very enraged girl.

(Catch Chapter 1 tomorrow! Comments and criticisms very much welcomed =). Thanks for reading!)



P.S. Man, this Blogger Help topic here really helps me in condensing this post. Check it out, it might be of use to you!