There was once a cinder girl. She liked it among the cinders, where no one noticed her, and no one hurt her.

Then along came a Man. Not a prince or a wizard. Just a Man. He Saw the girl, and told her she was too fine to sit among the cinders.

But I like it here. It is safe. No one has hurt me in many years.

But I know a place where no one will hurt you. You are too intelligent, interesting, special, and beautiful to choose to sit among the cinders.

So the cinder girl believed his words, and let him take her to his place. He made her believe that she was intelligent, that she was interesting, special, and beautiful.

She wanted to give him something. The cinder girl had a bag no one else knew about. She called it her treasure bag, and it had a few gold coins, and one extra special treasure. She had kept this treasure her entire life. But the Man's love was so special, she needed to give him something special in return. She pulled out a gold coin, and as she gave it to the Man, she told him, you make me feel safe.

The Man said, oh, thank you for this tin foil. It's nice. And then he threw it away.

The girl was hurt and confused. Why was it a gold coin in her bag but tin foil in his hands, to be cast away so lightly? No matter, there were other coins in the bag.

One day, she told him I'm in love with you. and she gave him a gold coin. A really special one she had polished to a mirror shine. He said think you for this tin foil, it's nice. Then threw it away.

Again her heart hurt and stabbed at her. I've kept these coins for so long, they are the only thing of value. The rest of me is trash. How can they be trash, too?

There was the coin that meant "I believe you love me.". It too, was trash. There were coins of "firsts" and "only" and these, too, were just tin foil, bound for the trash.

Soon, the cinder girl found she was a cinder girl at the Man's house. But she didn't mind, because she loved him so much, and nothing else she had given him could show him this.

Finally, there was one coin left in her bag. She gave it to him, though it was tarnished and ugly. The coin had been used to hurt her many times. It gave him control over the most painful day in a cinder girl's life. He could use it to protect her, but he did not. And instead of throwing it away, he hurt her with it, too. She took it and threw it away herself.

But still, she loved him. So, she reached into her bag for the one last, very special treasure there. She'd never given it away and had promised herself she never would. But she had to, because she needed something to show the Man how much she loved him. It was a huge, beautiful ruby. She'd held on to it for her entire life. She thought for a year and a day before making her decision. It was one of the hardest decision she ever made.

One day, she presented it to him. Take this ruby. It is all I have left.

Ah, nice rock. And then he threw it out. And her heart broke. At first she was angry. How could I give him this, the only thing I had left, it took me a year and a day to decide to do so, but he cast it away so easily? He stomped on it, he spit on it? But then she realized the Man was just a man. And not like the cinder girl. If the cinder girl received a greeting card, even a thank you note, she kept it in her heart. But the man, he just read it and threw it out. And that's how he saw her gifts. So she stopped being angry.

The time with the man wasn't all bad. She learned not to believe those who told her she was special or beautiful. She has learned "safe" really is just an illusion, in all forms, just as she'd always believed it was. And there is no "special" love, only love that stays. And getting rid of the trash she thought was treasure made traveling easier.

And now her bag was empty. She cast it out, lest she begin to use it to store up all the hurts and heartbreak she encounters. She knows, above all, that to let the heartbreak become cinders in her bag, and the hurts ashes in her mouth, would be the end of her.