Cinder

He walked by their house each and every day, carrying a brown sack full of neatly folded letters that were addressed to many different people. She watched him through the window of her room with hopeful eyes; please give us a letter from Daddy... please, she thought. But he never knocked on her door.

Her father never told his daughters where he was going. After packing his things, he kissed his family goodbye without saying a word. Her step-mother, she recalled, did not look as sad as she looked when he left. As her father's wife, the girl expected tears to be flowing down her face as he stepped out of the door. But her face showed no emotion.

After weeks of waiting, she was beginning to give up hope. Her father would never send her a letter explaining why he left her in the care of her horrible step-mother. The girl's two sisters started to tease her, telling her that her father was never coming back.

"He isn't coming back, Cindy." Without batting an eye, her step-mother told her the news. She had no idea how she knew, but, deep within her heart, Cindy did not believe it; she would never give in to the lies that her step-mother spat in her face.

Her father was alive and Cindy knew it.