Everyone wants to be Cinderella. But what if in the fairy tale your role is that of the stepsister? In reality they are more the extras and not the protagonists in the love stories you see in movies or read in books.
The rain beat incessantly against the fogged windows of her apartment, creating a hypnotic rhythm that mingled with the sound of her racing heart. Lia found herself sitting on a creaking wooden chair, surrounded by unfinished canvases and brushes soiled with dark colors, like the shadows that danced in her mind. The dim light from the lamp cast a yellowish halo, revealing an environment that seemed to reflect her state of mind: cluttered, confused, imbued with a palpable restlessness.
At that moment, Lia felt like Cinderella's stepsister, trapped in a fairy tale that did not belong to her. As the outside world continued to spin, she felt relegated to a secondary role, a shadow moving stealthily among the twinkling lights of a life that always seemed within reach but never really attainable. Others danced, loved, dreamed, while she remained on the sidelines, watching with a mixture of envy and resignation.
Her mind often went back to him, the boy who had stolen her heart and then abandoned her, like a prince walking away with his true beloved. Lia felt trapped in a glass castle, surrounded by illusions and unfulfilled desires. Every attempt to free herself from that thought led her to a new collapse, a new fall into the abyss of loneliness. Her life had become a series of fleeting encounters, of superficial relationships, as if trying to fill a void that no one could fill.
As the rain continued to fall, Lia got up and walked to the window, looking at the outside world with eyes full of melancholy. The city shone with artificial lights, but to her it was only a mirage, an illusion of happiness that always seemed to elude her. At that moment, she realized that no matter how hard she tried to fit into the role of protagonist, her true essence was that of a half-sister, destined to remain in the shadows, struggling to find her place in a story that seemed already written. Yet deep in her heart, a glimmer of hope continued to shine, a desire to rewrite her own destiny and to discover that, even in the darkest fairy tales, there was always room for a new beginning.
