Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Sunny Ella
    Sunny Ella
    Sunny Ella
    Ebook115 pages1 hour

    Sunny Ella

    By Sally Zybert

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    It seems to be the classic Cinderella story. With the help of a fairy godmother, beautiful Ella meets and falls in love with a handsome prince. But Ella has lost her mind from years of abuse from her stepmother and things aren't as she imagines.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSally Zybert
    Release dateApr 7, 2011
    ISBN9781458055071
    Sunny Ella
    Author

    Sally Zybert

    Sally Zybert enjoys karaoke, pop culture trivia, horror movies and most foods. She lives in Southern California and writes two blogs.

    Related to Sunny Ella

    Related ebooks

    General Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Two Sisters

      Dec 15, 2018

      Two sisters lived together in a two-room apartment. They were very poor. For lunch, they usually had a boiled potato; for breakfast, a slice of bread with a glass of hot water. They were very thin but very neat, and kept their home spotless. Every da

      23 min read

    • Article

      The Only Rule

      Jul 13, 2020

      There is only one rule in polite English society, but it is iron clad. Of course, polite English society is a fiction. For one thing, its members are rarely polite. Politeness is for the middle classes rather than those who live off ancestral acres o

      5 min read

    • Article

      Someone To Watch OVER ME

      May 25, 2022

      Someone To Watch OVER ME
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Shared Driveway

      Jan 24, 2019

      The Shared Driveway
      3 min read

    • Article

      Lady with A LUTE

      Aug 3, 2022

      Lady with A LUTE
      9 min read

    • Article

      One Look Back

      Jun 1, 2023

      One Look Back
      20 min read

    • Article

      Whom He May Devour: Saving her planet would ban her from paradise.

      Jan 7, 2016

      Lydia watched Ahad play the guitar. He leaned against a boulder, eyes shut, his face positioned to catch the last warm rays of the setting sun. His long, slender fingers caressed the strings, producing a slow, haunting melody. The music almost made h

      17 min read

    • Article

      Cromer

      Mar 11, 2022

      Cromer
      21 min read

    • Article

      Mirror Mirror On The Wall

      Oct 5, 2023

      Mirror Mirror On The Wall
      10 min read

    • Article

      This One So Loved

      May 9, 2019

      This One So Loved
      9 min read

    • Article

      Love And The LAND GIRL

      May 26, 2021

      Love And The LAND GIRL
      9 min read

    • Article

      Out Of The Shadows

      Mar 25, 2020

      Out Of The Shadows
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Quiet Boy

      Jan 28, 2019

      The Quiet Boy
      29 min read

    • Article

      Trick-or-treat

      Sep 7, 2023

      Trick-or-treat
      4 min read

    • Article

      ‘The End of the Day’: Featured Fiction from Bill Clegg

      Sep 30, 2020

      An excerpt from a novel Kirkus called "A moody, atmospheric domestic drama with a mystery novel somewhere in its family tree." The post ‘The End of the Day’: Featured Fiction from Bill Clegg appeared first on The Millions.

      12 min read

    • Article

      The Mr Darcy MYSTERY

      Nov 23, 2022

      The Mr Darcy MYSTERY
      6 min read

    • Article

      Dolly’s Star Turn

      Jul 12, 2023

      Dolly’s Star Turn
      7 min read

    • Article

      Nectarivores

      Sep 5, 2023

      Nectarivores
      15 min read

    • Article

      Vagaries

      Mar 1, 2024

      Vagaries
      8 min read

    • Article

      The DIRT LADIES lunch

      Sep 22, 2021

      The DIRT LADIES lunch
      2 min read

    • Article

      The little NIGHTINGALE

      Dec 21, 2022

      The little NIGHTINGALE
      9 min read

    • Article

      Damson JAM

      Jan 17, 2024

      Damson JAM
      10 min read

    • Article

      PARTING the Veil

      Oct 21, 2020

      PARTING the Veil
      3 min read

    • Article

      Lady with A LUTE

      Aug 10, 2022

      Lady with A LUTE
      9 min read

    • Article

      HOME To Roost

      Mar 5, 2024

      HOME To Roost
      11 min read

    • Article

      Killed For Walking A Dog

      Sep 21, 2022

      Killed For Walking A Dog
      16 min read

    • Article

      SERIAL PART 3 A new PAGE

      Mar 20, 2024

      SERIAL PART 3 A new PAGE
      9 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Sunny Ella

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Sunny Ella - Sally Zybert

      Introduction

      William Fitzpatrick built his family’s home larger than necessary. It was a grand building, tall and majestic, lovely enough to deceive its residents into thinking it wasn’t a prison.

      Mrs. Fitzpatrick was afraid of sickness, of sunlight, of the outside world and she refused to let her sons leave the house. She insisted repeatedly to her husband that they’d never survive if she let them out. This house is sterile, she told him. The outdoors would kill them!

      So Jacob and Ichabod stayed inside and for the most part they were happy. They never knew friends apart from each other, but they got along splendidly. They taught themselves to read and play the piano and help their mother with household chores.

      As far as games went, they had to make up their own. Their favorite was Acting, wherein they’d each write words or phrases on pieces of paper and hide them throughout the house. When one boy found one of the messages from his brother, he had to act out what was written on the page until the other boy noticed.

      For instance, Ichabod found a piece of paper wedged in a loose door handle that read Elephant. Ichabod made himself as large as he could and lumbered about the house, trumpeting. The pages Jacob wrote were fairly straightforward and he always had a difficult time acting out what was on the scraps his brother left for him, which tended to say things like Passive Aggression.

      Time, as it does, moved on in the house. Eventually the boys’ mother died and their father decided he could bear to be in the house no longer, as every inch of it reminded him of her. For the first time in their lives, Jacob and Ichabod were going to step outside.

      Their furniture and other belongings were moved into a smaller home and the boys, gripping each others’ hands, stepped out into the sunlight.

      In a small room in the attic, Mrs. Fitzpatrick’s sick room, the room she had spent the last three months of her life, sat the one piece of paper Jacob had never managed to find. Ichabod had written it the cold, rainy week before his mother’s death. It suited his mood.

      It slid off of a bookshelf that was being carried out to the new house and lay on the floor for several years, unseen and gathering dust.

      Once Upon A Time...

      The dim glow of a single candle. The rustling of hurried packing.

      Lydia?

      Lydia spun around, expecting to find her mother, already making up wild excuses as to what she was doing. She found instead her sister Eleanor, hair rumpled, rubbing her eyes. What are you doing?

      It was a stupid question and Eleanor knew it. Hiding upstairs with a pillow over her head hadn’t drowned out the shouting earlier that evening.

      Lydia had come home all aglow and announced her engagement to Harris Davis, errand boy for a law office in town.

      Had she known that Lord Manwick was sitting in the parlor, she probably wouldn’t have burst in shouting her happy news.

      This will be a much better arrangement for you, her mother tried to explain, patting her shoulder. Lord Manwick will be able to provide you with everything you require.

      Everything but love, Lydia snapped.

      Lydia’s father began to yell, saying he and Manwick had been planning this engagement for months and no upstart daughter of his would change plans for her own foolish and selfish reasons.

      "Selfish? Foolish? How dare – I – You …!" Lydia was at a loss for words, spluttering and stomping her feet.

      You ignorant child, her father laughed; a harsh, angry, hateful laugh. Stupid, worthless thing. You’re lucky you’re my own daughter or I would –…

      You’d what? Lydia found her voice again. Put me out on the street? Beat me? Smirk. Force me to marry someone I don’t even know?

      Lydia was on the floor before she realized she’d been hit. Two of her teeth were knocked out from the blow and blood poured from her mouth.

      Ingrate, her father spat.

      Lord Manwick had never been more uncomfortable in his life.

      Eleanor didn’t want to see her sister go, but she wanted even less for her to stay. Father’s going to be mad.

      Lydia let out an abrupt laugh. It still hurt to open her mouth. You’re a master of the understatement.

      She faced her sister, and may as well have been looking in the mirror if it weren’t for the fact that Eleanor’s eyes were green where her own were brown. I wish you could come with me.

      Eleanor blinked back tears. I’d be a third wheel. Father can’t know I knew anything about this. She tried to think of another reason not to beg Lydia to take her along. I wish I could go with you, too.

      Lydia shut her trunk as quietly as possible and embraced her sister. The two of them stood at the window, hand in hand, waiting for Harris Davis to arrive at the back gate and separate them forever.

      A Few Years Later...

      Harris stopped at the end of the long walkway and dropped his wife’s hand. All right, darling. You can open your eyes now.

      Lydia gasped. The house was enormous, grand and stately, standing alone on several acres of land. It’s beautiful! She threw her arms around her husband. I can’t believe it!

      Harris had been saving almost every cent he earned to buy the old Fitzpatrick manor. Years of earning his reputation as a lawyer, years of he and his wife living in a filthy apartment above a butcher shop, eating the scraps that couldn’t be sold, mending old clothes to the point of unrecognizability.

      Lydia was a fine seamstress. No one could tell all of Harris’ best suits were made of tablecloths and bed linens.

      There was only one thing they felt they lacked. Despite their best efforts, Lydia remained slim and without child. They consoled each other emptily, saying We have no room for a baby here, and We couldn’t afford to feed a child. They knew the sentiments were hollow, but it was easier than admitting how unhappy they were without a little one to take care of.

      Still, no one could say they didn’t love each other.

      They spent their first day in the house running up the stairs, down the halls, in and out of all the rooms, shouting and playing hide and seek like children.

      Exploring the house together they came across a small attic room with one window. It was musty and dark, and something about it gave Lydia the willies.

      Something very bad happened in this room, she whispered to Harris. He patted her hand and didn’t say anything. He didn’t think there was anything wrong with the room, apart from the cobwebs and bad lighting.

      A piece of paper sat wrinkled on the floor. Harris picked it up and read it aloud.

      Woe, it said, and sorrow.

      Lydia whirled around, slammed the door behind her and ran down the two flights of stairs to the second floor of the house, leaving Harris alone in the dark little room. He folded the piece of paper and put it in his coat pocket before opening the door and following Lydia down the stairs.

      Lydia cooked a roast for dinner. The meat was given to them as a going away present from the butcher who had been their landlord.

      You’re the best tenants I’ve ever had, he told them gruffly. I’ve never known kinder people. He then shoved the roast, wrapped in brown paper, unceremoniously into Harris’ hands and walked out.

      He didn’t return their friendly wave goodbye as they climbed into the carriage.

      As time went on, the couple gathered enough furniture to fill the house. At Lydia’s request, Harris boarded up the door to the attic room and affixed the warning, as his wife insisted it was, to the front.

      Harris hired Horace and Nancy as butler and maid to care for the house, and a cook named Frances.

      The room next to the master bedroom was given light yellow wallpaper and a crib. Lydia began to waddle instead of walk.

      It’s a girl.

      Eleanor.

      In less than a week Eleanor became known exclusively as Ella. She burbled and giggled and coughed, just like any baby, but she rarely cried, saving her tears for instances of pain, such as when her diaper pins stuck into her legs. Her cheery disposition earned her the nickname Sunny Ella.

      She grew, as babies do, and learned to crawl and walk and speak.

      Lydia and Harris decided immediately not

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1