Preparing For The Ball

Over the next several days, I did everything that Milly told me to do. And that included making sure that the dresses for the awful twin sisters were ready. They were disgusting in my mind since they had chosen horrible colors.

I guess it was just fitting. They were horrible people, and their clothes should reflect that. Then again, maybe it was just that I truly did not like dresses, even after so long in this storybook.

Nah, I don't think that was it at all. You see, the twins were kind of ugly. Milly Tilly, Jilly, and Gilly all had these odd yellowish eyes. They weren't a pretty tone of yellow either. In fact, I would say that they looked like pale piss. They all had light blonde hair too. Gilly was tall and looked strong, but the sisters and Milly looked short and fragile. Looks are deceiving though.

Gilly and Milly were sort of naturally good looking. I could see why my storybook father had fallen for her. I mean, if you were basing it purely on looks and not personality. The twins, though, were unfortunate. They didn't get their mother's classically beautiful face. They didn't get her soft and shiny hair. They didn't get her perfect figure.

Nope, they didn't get any of that. Instead, the twins ended up with short, lumpy bodies that were very unfortunate. Their hair was dull and stringy looking. And their faces were pinched and overly narrow. To be honest, their faces looked like rats more than anything that I had ever seen before. They even had beady little eyes.

Now, the dresses that they chose, almost as bad. They were slightly bubble shaped so that meant that they ballooned out in the skirt before going back to be cinched, sort of, at the ankles. I am definitely not a dress sort of girl, so I didn't know what to call them. Other than ugly that is. And the way they were made was even worse. Jilly's dress was sort of an olive green but with more yellow thrown in. Tilly chose a dress that was supposed to be yellow, but it had brown of some sort in it and that just made it look muddy. Both were disgusting in my eyes.

While I prepared everything so that these two unfortunate sisters could attend the ball, I was still sneaking over to Elin and Jannick's house. I needed to eat there, have them help me with the laundry, and also have Elin help me with my dress for the big night.

"I think that this dress will be perfect for you, Ash." She had taken to shortening the name. I liked it way better than the long name that I had been forced to use.

"It's pretty, but will it fit me properly?" Elin and I were similar in height, but we were exactly an exact match in sizes. I was just a little bit smaller than she was.

"I will make it fit you." She grabbed a needle and thread from a nearby drawer. "Now come on, let us try it on you and see how much work I need to do."

I did as Elin asked, but not before using a cloth to wash myself up. I truly was filthy after living in the barn for so long. Once I was cleaned up though, I put the dress on and stepped in front of the mirror that Elin had at the ready.

She had been right. The dress did look good on me. Although I was still very uncomfortable just wearing this thing. I would admit to anyone that asked that it flattered my body and made me look stunning.

It was a light blue that seemed to change color and sparkle in the light. It had a bodice that Elin had needed to lace up and tie for me, so that it was very form fitting for me. There were these little butterflies that had been embroidered onto the dress's lace in a very dark blue thread. And the shimmering shirt went all the way to my feet so that it would end just above the shoes that I was going to be wearing.

"Oh my goodness, Ash. I don't even need to fix it. Isn't that amazing. The dress looks like it was made for you. It is just perfect."

'Yup!' I thought to myself. 'Now I just need the glass slippers.'

"Now you need something extra special. I am not supposed to get these out of storage, but I think that Jannick would agree with me that it's worth it."

At that, Elin ran to the closet at the back of the room. She was on her knees, rummaging in something at the back of it. After a moment or two, she exclaimed excitedly.

"Aha! I found it."

When she came running back to me, she had a very large box in her hand and a huge smile on her face.

"These belonged to my grandmother. They are very expensive and very precious to me. But, I think that this dress calls for these items here."

Elin set the box on the table and opened it slowly. I saw light shimmering from the box like it was magic. In truth, I knew that it was likely just the light glistening off of something shiny.

"Here Ash, take a look."

Set inside the box was a pair of shoes made from light blue crystal. There was also a necklace, bracelet, and earrings that seemed to match it. They were all made of the same sparkling blue crystal.

"My grandfather worked in the mines. He bought this material from his boss over time and made these for my grandmother. I don't know why, but I have a feeling that these shoes are going to be a perfect fit for you. It's like it was meant to be. They haven't fit anyone else in my family. Or anyone that ever tried to put them on really. They were literally made to fit my grandmother's feet years and years ago."

"They are quite beautiful." That wasn't a lie. They really were. And they were, of course, this book's version of my glass slippers.

"Try them on."

Following Elin's prompt, I sat on the chair and slid my foot into the first shoe. Just as she had said it would, the shoe slipped on effortlessly.

"It's like it was made for you instead of my grandmother." Elin laughed. "I am so happy that they fit you. They will be what ties this whole dress together. And the prince is going to adore you, I just know it." Elin was so excited as she looked at me.

"Thank you, Elin."

That was all that I could say. I mean, I had already guessed what story I was in, but having it completely confirmed like this, it was a big deal. At the moment, my mind was sort of blown. I was trying to come to terms with the fact that I was really Cinderella in this weird ass storybook.

"I will do your hair and makeup the night of the ball too. I just know that you are going to be the star of the whole show. And when you become the new princess and queen, you can just send those back to me. And I will also get to brag that I know the queen herself. It will be amazing." Elin was not after anything else. She just wanted to see me happy and to help me.

"Thank you, Elin. Thank you so much." That was all I said out loud, but I promised her something inside of my head. 'I will make sure that you are taken care of. When the prince picks me, I will make him promise it. Before I leave this story, I promise that I will help you and Jannick. You will never need to worry about anything ever again.'

I gave the dress and shoes back to Elin and prepared to go home for the night. I needed to make sure that my so-called family didn't know that I had left. They wouldn't like that very much at all. I would be back though, and soon. The ball was in two days.

Just two more days. That was all that I needed to endure at the hands of these people. Two more days until my hell in this story was over and I would be able to move on to the next one.

I shuddered at that thought. Just what kind of hell was my next story life going to be like. What sort of life was I going to live and in what tale was it going to be? Not knowing the answers to that was more nerve-wracking for me than anything else. So much so that I was having trouble sleeping all that night and I ended up being sluggish and tired the next day. Doing my chores and making sure that the family didn't catch onto what I was doing felt like it was ten times harder.