The Last of Us

Chapter 2

I walked into the clothing shop, already knowing I wouldn't like this visit. The woman running the shop, her name never made known to me, was always rude and criticising my family and I for being poor and not being able to afford good enough clothes.
I walked up to the front desk, waiting for her to say something but she didn't look up from her book until I cleared my throat.
"Oh, it's you. I should have known. What is it you need? Some more rags to run around in?" She looked back at her book, not even being kind enough to give me her full attention.
I have her a mean look and practically slammed the coin purse on the desk. This caused her to look up, eyes slightly widening before she regained herself. She smirked.
"Ah, so you actually have a bit of coin this time I see." She went to grab the coin purse but I snatched it back. She frowned at me, her greediness showing through it.
"My ma sent me to get us all the finest clothes we can afford with this. It's 100 gold. What can we all get for that?" I kept my words harsh and bitter towards her, as she did to me.
"Well, you could get this." She turned, opening the wardrobe drawers behind her. She pulled out a really nice green shirt with gold trimming and then a pair of brown pants with some plain brown slip on shoes, all of its stitching finer than anything I've ever seen ma or pa do. The shoes looked and felt more like socks but I decided I wanted the outfit. It was better than anything I had ever owned. I told her I wanted it and she nodded, setting it in the counter.
"What can I get for ma and pa?" I asked, the rude aura leaving the conversation as business took over.
"Well... The finer, upper class clothes cost 45 gold, not including shoes." She waited for a response to her statement.
I asked to see the clothes. She again nodded, same as before, and this time went to a tall cabinet to the right sitting against the wall.
She opened it and pulled out a vibrant green shirt with jewelry attached to the neck of it. It had gold trim designs on the cuffs and bottom of the shirt, the gold spiraling around itself in an eternal loop. My eyes widened at the beauty of it.
'This is absolutely the one for ma. She loves green.' I thought to myself before the high elf pulled out a pair of simple, yet more elegant, brown pants with even finer stitching than the outfit I had picked out.
She set the shirt, along with the pants, on the front desk and went to get some shoes.
"Do you require boots or shoes?" She asked, rummaging around in the bottom of the tall cabinet.
I thought for a moment before answering with boots. Ma always wears boots.
She caught on to the reason I picked boots, for my ma, so she pulled out a pair with a slight heel to them.
She looked at me again before asking if I wanted another green or a different color.
"My pa really likes brown..." I said, trailing off to see if I could think of anything else that might help get something he would like.
"I think I know what he would want." She said before rummaging through clothes again.
She pulled out another gorgeous outfit. This one was dark brown and had a diamond type pattern on it going down the sides and all along the back too. It seemed to reach the knees, it's light brown trimming on the cuffs and bottom had a tiny, dark brown line going right through the middle, separating the light brown into two pieces. It was perfect. Both of them, for ma and pa, were perfect.
"I'll purchase them. All three outfits, shoes and all, please." I said setting the entire coin purse on the desk again and pushing it towards her this time.
She gave me a look, showing that she knew I didn't have enough money.
"I'm sorry but you don't have enough gold for all of this. Two fine outfits, not counting the shoes, are 90 gold. The boots for one are 5 gold and so are the shoes for the other. And your outfit, the outfit itself is 10 gold, with the shoes being 3 gold. In total you would need 113 gold to get everything. You'll have to leave something for another day. I'm sorry." She added up the cost and I felt my hopes drop. I thought for a moment.
"I'll take the outfits for ma and pa. You can put mine back." I waited for her to take my stuff back and stuff it into the wardrobe but what she did next shocked me.
She sighed and then pushed everything into my arms. She reached under the desk and pulled out a napsack. She set it on the desk then took the clothes back, folding them then setting them in the napsack. She set my outfit in there last and put all the shoes in there on top of everything else. She opened the coin purse and counted out half the gold before closing it back and handing it to me.
I didn't really know what to do, this woman was the greediest I knew and here she was giving almost everything to me for free and giving back half the gold.
"Thank you, thank you so much!" I ran out of the store, napsack slung over my shoulder and coin purse in hand, wearing the biggest smile ever. I knew ma and pa would be pleased.
I arrived home, ready to show ma and pa what I had gotten for us all.
I halted a bit at the sight of a carriage in our yard, assuming our dinner guests were already there. I resumed my run to the door, stopping when 4 people, 3 men 1 woman, burst through the door and walked out. They all wore an elegant golden armor, except for the first man who walked out. He wore a black robe with white designs on it, complete with a hood and gloves to match it.
They stared me down as they passed, looking as though they were deciding to say something or not. They didn't in the end, but the looks they were giving me afterwards, while leaving, made my stomach drop.
I dropped the gold purse on the ground and ran inside the house.
I screamed at what I saw lying before me, barely hearing the horses feet stomp away, pulling the now filled carriage.
Tears ran down my face, I couldn't stop screaming. My voice cracking and dying down as my throat began to burn...

My parents were on the floor...
Slaughtered.....