Chapter 11 To the castle part 2
1335 Words
This was not what I was expecting.
To say the place was beautiful was and understatement of time itself.
In front of us stood hundreds if not millions of brick buildings, some were extra small while others looked normal size. And from what I could see all of the were decorated or painted beautifully.
Every inch of the ground was paved, and the there was a clear path obviously leading to the center of town.
"Let's go." Eric instructs.
The longer we walk the more people we see and the houses keep getting bigger. Each more stunning than the last.
Soon we reached the center, there was a statue displayed in the center of a waterfall. This place was so fascinating and different.
The animals here did look strange, not to mention the people. Some of them had weird hair colors and strange looking skin.
But I knew better than to stare, since that is what normally is here.
"Could we rest for a few minutes?" Alison blurts out
"Soon, we are almost to our first destination."
"First?" I question Eric's reply.
"Yes, first. And we have a long way to go."
We decided not to speak after that. We just stayed quiet and held our heads down, while Celia and Julia walked behind us and Eric led us.
After awhile we stopped at a beautifully decorated building with many dresses on display. They looked strangely beautiful. To describe them properly they looked like a cross between modern day formal wear and 1900s ball gowns.
But the big question was, did they expect us to wear these all the time?
"This is our first stop." Eric says stepping aside while opening the door for us girls to go in first.
When we stepped inside the floor was so clean I could see my reflection on it, above our heads was a breathtaking chandeliers the illuminated the shop.
And bot to mention the dresses inside where just as pretty as the ones outside.
"Hello,and welcome. I'm the store clerk Athena, how may I assist you?" A girl about our age says with a smile.
"Atty, is your father here?" Eric questions.
"I'm sorry he's out today. But I'm sure I can assist you with whatever you need." She says her smile becoming stiff.
We hear a single of the bell and we all turn to see a chubby man evter the store.
"Athena, I- Eric is that you?" He stops in his tracks to look at him carefully.
"Yes Mr. Lancaster, its is."
"Oh my boy, it is so food to see you again. How can I help you today, and are these young ladies with you?"
"Yes, need a change of clothes for each of us and I was hoping you would have a carriage to spare?" He says rubbing his neck nervously.
The rest of us just stood there watching their exchange, including Athena.
"Dad, who is this?" She pipes in.
"This is Eric, you might not remember because you've only seen him once or twice, but he's one of my most loyal customers. He's the one responsible for putting this shop into business." Her father says with a bright smile and warm look in his eyes.
"Now Athena take their measurements and let then chose from the best of the best."
"You know I won't be able to pay for awhile?" Eric says scratching the back of his head.
"Don't mention it my boy, take all the time you need." He says with a knowing smile. "Forgive for not introducing myself earlier I am Lohan Vander, I am a old friend's of Eric it is a pleasure to meet you all." He says politely.
We return his formal greeting while being measured by Athena. She scribbled out measurements on a pice of paper, moving quicker than I expected. It was like she was doing this for a while.
She went into a back room and after a few moments she came back with four different dresses in her hands.
"This is for you." She hands me a baby blue dress.
"This is for you." She repeated handling Alison a chiffon colored dress.
"And you and you " she said simultaneously shoving the last two dresses towards Celia and Julia.
Celia got a beige dress, while Julia got a orange one.
"The changing rooms are this way." She notions for us to follow her and se oblige.
"Ugh, I hate this dress." Celia blurts as soon ash Athena is gone.
"Wanna switch?" Julia offers and Celia nods eagerly switching the dresses.
I look over to Alison only to see her watching their exchange with a smile, which gave me an idea.
"Hey do wanna switch too?" I ask her with a smile.
"No thanks." She says in a monotone without sparing me a glance, she turned her back and started to undress.
"I forgot we need corsets here." Celia face palms herself.
"Me too, I cant tell the last time I saw one of those." Julia adds with a hint of a smile on her lips. "I'll go ask for some."
She leave the room and soon returns with four corsets.
"Let's go ladies, we'll strap you up." Celia smirks at us.
"Yeah I don't think we need those." I say slowly backing away.
"Oh darling but you must wear one, or your dress will not sit properly." Julia mocks in regal tone and I couldn't help but laughing at how she sounds.
"No way! And aren't those things supposed to be super tight anyways." Try the shoo her away but she keeps coming closer.
"I won't do it too tight I promise."
"Joking aside we all have to wear one, or our dresses won't look right." Celia tells us and I give in.
I let her put the corset on me and true to her word Julia didn't tie it too tightly. But it was a bit difficult to breathe in and it was very, very, very uncomfortable
"Oh my gosh are you trying to kill me!" Alison shouts at Celia and she only laughs at her reaction.
I sigh remembering the cold shoulder she gave me a few moments ago.
Does she not like me?
Or have I offended her in some way?
A knock sounds on the door drawing me out of my thoughts.
"Hurry up ladies we need to get going." Eric says for the outside.
"Wear almost finished." Celia yells back.
We quickly slip into our respective dresses, tying each other up and fixing each other dresses.
"I think we should brush our hair." Julia suggests and we all agree with her.
We quickly too turns brushing and combing our hair except for Julia, she left her hair in its natural state.
When we step out of the room Eric is waiting by the exit while Athena and her father stood across from him.
Eric was also dressed different and I had to admit he looked really good in his tux.
"Thank you for your kindness." Julia and Celia say at the same time while bowing.
"The pleasure was all mine, I hope to see you again." Mr Lohan says waving bye to us.
"Your very much welcome." Athena says with a curt nod before going back to her stop behind the counter.
When we stepped outside a wooden carriage in front of the shop.
I guy was sitting upon it and it was held up by two brown horses.
"This carriage is for us, let's get going." Eric tells us, he stands by the door with is hand held out to help us up.
"Where to good sir?" The man sitting on the outside asks.
"Take us to Lord Alvern." He instructs.
"As you wish." He obliges.
Soon after the carriage starts to move forward. I've never been in a carriage before so I didn't know what to expect.
I deliberately sat next to Alison to gauge her reaction. And just as I thought she was avoiding me.
- Writer
