CINNAMON

 

“So Cinderella finally met her ‘Prince Charming’ and they lived happily ever after.”

“That’s it mommy?”

“Yes,  sweetie. Now go to bed. Mommy has work to do. Good night sweetheart. Sleep tight.”

Samantha gently kissed her daughter’s forehead, tucked her in, turned off the lights and tiptoed out of the room with the story book in her hand.

“Oh no, no, no, no…. Not again! Crap!” , she exclaimed as she looked at her watch. She darted into the bathroom midway picking up her red heels.  As she began to fix her soft brown locks, she began thinking of which look she wanted to go for today. But firstly it was important to conceal all the bruises and the hickeys. She carefully dabbed some liquid on her face and arms to conceal the purple spots and the blue-black ones. “A girl’s body shouldn’t have any scares”, she softly spoke to herself.

As Samantha began to transform into Cinnamon, she stared at the picture of a couple she had put up on her bathroom mirror; a cut out from the Elle magazine, and thought to herself that maybe someday she could too have a handsome guy right beside her to make her happy. “ Maybe I am just another Cinderella waiting for her prince charming. Just one more day in this hell…. “, she said to herself as she did her eyes. Her phone buzzed. It was Cindy from work.

Samantha  smeared the darkest tint of red on her lips finishing up her makeup,  stole a  quick glance of herself in the mirror; Cinnamon was ready.

She checked on her daughter, looked around the house, took the keys and left.

After an hour or so, she reached her work place where she met Cindy. They exchanged their usual ‘hellos’ and complimented each other on how great they looked tonight as they stood in the freezing, dark, alleys hollering at men who came; hoping that out of all the guys they sleep with today, maybe one will be their Prince Charming.