Parallel Worlds

Chapter 1

Sencond update =] please comment and stuff thanks for reading =]

*Chapter 1*

The ‘other (magical) world’ was… not as different as Charlotte had imagined. She had imagined fairies, dragons, toadstools, magic circles, everything she had read in her fairy tale books. But this, this was like nothing she had imagined. For starters they (Charlotte and Raven) were both in a library like they were before. It had only minor changes here and there. For instance, the chair was not a white colour, but a back colour. In the library Charlotte was in not a minute ago, the only people in it were herself and Raven. But in the current library, it was full of people. People looked at Charlotte curiously and Charlotte felt her checks redden as she realised that the clothing she was currently wearing was her pale blue night gown. Raven chuckled as he also realised and Charlotte’s face grew redder.

“Shall we get some new clothing Miss Charlotte?” Raven asked as he struggled to keep a smile off his face. Charlotte, who was too embarrassed to speak, just nodded her head. He took off the black coat he was wearing and draped it over Charlotte’s small shoulders. She smiled at him gratefully and buttoned up the buttons, therefore, hiding most of her night gown from view. Her feet were fine, as she had worn shoes when she had left her chambers to look out of the window in the basement she was originally kept locked in at. She pulled the coat up to her nose when Raven turned around to face the door. To Charlotte, the coat smelt like… something she had never smelt before, it was a soft but sweet smell.

As Raven opened the doors of the library, Charlotte noticed that this time, more than one thing was different. First of all, they were no longer in a castle. They were in the middle of a busy street. Next was the fact that it was no longer night time. The sun had risen. For the first time, Charlotte saw sunlight. It was everything Celia said it was and better. Beautiful, bright and warm. Charlotte closed her eyes and pushed up the sleeves of her- well, Ravens- coat and let her arms feel the beautiful warm feeling. Her smile got wider as the heat got stronger. She turned to face Raven.

“I thought it was night.” She said, still with a big smile on her face.

“Yes, but this is a different world. Almost always, it is opposite to the place you live in. For instance, when it is dark there, it is usually light here. Also in Earth, it was winter. Was it not?” She nodded. She was a lady with proper education as a child. As she got older, she got smarter. Until the governors had nothing left to teach her. Seasons were one of her favourite things to learn about. “Here, it is summer,” he continued. Charlotte felt her face fall at this. Yet again she had missed spring. The first time she went to visit her window, it was already fall.

But, even still, she was still grateful for the sunlight in this world. The sunlight she had never seen before this. Raven noticed her change in emotions and changed the subject.

“After we have obtained your clothing, we should head to the place you will be staying at, as you must be tired.”

After Raven said this, Charlotte did notice how tired she was. She yawned but then quickly covered up her mouth with a small smile and then nodded her head.

They walked across the stone path to a store with the name of “Anna’s ladies clothing”. It was a plain store, consisting of a grey stone walls and a brown, small wooden door. But for Charlotte, who, if you recall, had never gone beyond her chambers in her basement, it was something she had never laid eyes on before. She was very excited. So excited, that she practically bounced in the shop. The inside of “Anna’s ladies clothing” was just as plain as the outside. The same coloured walls as on the outside and a stone floor. In the middle of the room was a small but beautiful collection of clothes of all different colours, shapes and sizes. Some dresses were red, some other dresses were blue. Some had little elegant embroideries, whilst others had colourful, fabric flowers lying delicately on the waist line. Charlotte was speechless. Never before had she seen so many different dresses at the same time. Sure she had of worn dresses before but they were all chosen by her maid, Celia or the brother, Vincent. She had never been able to choose her own clothing and had never seen so many dresses to choose from.

She began to examine the dress closest to her. It was white in colour, with pink coloured fabric roses attached to the base of each of the long sleeves of the dress. She gently placed it back onto the table. Pink was not a colour she particularly liked. Before she could begin to examine the next dress, a young girl, about the age of five with wavy red hair, stepped forward, holding a teddy bear. She stopped walking when she noticed the other people in the room.

“Belle! How many times must I tell you to not stand still in the hallway?” A stern, yet motherly voice came calling from towards the back of the shop. Out stepped a plump but motherly looking woman. Her red hair held up in a bun. Charlotte could only guess that this woman was Belle’s mother.

“Oh hullo there dear, my name is Anna. Can I help you with anything?” She asked with pure kindness in her eyes. Charlotte, who had never interacted with anyone apart from Celia and Vincent (oh and Raven), grew incredibly shy. She took a step back and hid behind Raven.

Belle giggled a little at Charlotte’s behaviour before earning a ‘hush’ from her mother and Raven spoke up.

“Please excuse my friend’s” he said gesturing at Charlotte “behaviour but she is terribly shy. But we would like to continue browsing, only if you don’t mind Mrs Anna.” He said ever so politely. Charlotte was impresses but even more to find that Raven introduced her as his friend. She had never had a friend and was glad to have one now.

“Oh, yes. Of course” Anna said with a wide smile. She turned to sit on the chair, that Charlotte had not noticed until that moment, with her daughter, Belle, on her lap. Charlotte turned back to the collection of clothes and continued to look at them in great interest.

A curious Belle spoke to the pair about simple things. She seemed to be scared of Raven but absolutely adored Charlotte and helped her find some nice dresses.

In the end, Charlotte chose a white dress with sleeves that came to her wrist and the bottom came past her knees. It was a thin fabric but not see-through. It had a line of colourful flowers stitched on the waist line that Charlotte absolutely adored. Raven payed 5 gold coins for it. According to Raven, the dress Charlotte had chosen was considered not expensive.  

They said their farewells to Anna and Belle as well as a promise to visit them again soon as Belle seemed to take a liking to Charlotte.

Charlotte stepped out of the shop first and was closely followed by Raven. Together, they headed towards the direction of Eagle’s house. Eagle was a friend of Raven’s. He assured Charlotte that it was safe there and that he would explain everything properly to her once they were out of direct danger. Because, according to Raven, nowhere is safe these days.

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