Into Another Time

Playing Dress Up

This is how a 12th century woman would dress, the married ones would wear a veil and unmarried ones would skip the veil. The hair would generally be plaited like this with modest ribbons.

The looks of horror on their faces were priceless at my blood-curdling scream, that rang in the garden. There were no bird chirping either, everything else went dead silent at my piercing scream of agony, not like I was able to hear other things over my own sound. I continued to scream at nothing in general, but at my fate, my confusion and my dilemma. It went for a few seconds before my throat gave out, feeling raw like sandpaper. The guy's face was no longer scowling, but he was as much scared as the girl next to him. But at the time I could not think of acting sane, not when everything happening to me was INSANE. 12th century!? Freakin 12th century? How the fuck-?. What was I going to do and survive?. How would I even get out of here? WOULD I EVER GET OUT OF HERE AND BACK TO MY OWN, SWEET CENTURY?.

With my heart in my mouth, my mind ran with these possibilities. I would never see my parents again, never see Chloe again, or my home. I would never be able to get up in my soft bed, put on my modern 21st century clothes and go to school or a cafe or club or go to college. Is that why everyone around me was calling me a witch?. Of course! It made sense now, everything made sense now. I would obviously look like a strange person to these people, and people in the middle ages labeled every strange woman as a witch. Shit, I had to be careful or there was a very good and real possibility I would be burned at stake. However, the guy and the girl were not waiting for me to calm down, and started running in the opposite direction, clearly frightened by my lunatic 'witchy' behavior.

Shit. Shit. Shit. If this is the 12th century, I had to have some trustworthy allies on my side who will guide me through this hellhole until I get back to my world. I can't afford to lose these two.I had to gain their trust and start acting appropriately.

" WAIT!", I shouted, which did not faze them because they only started running faster.

" Come here or I'll tell your whole town about your little kissing session!", I shouted again angrily. It did the trick, they stopped dead in their tracks and looked guiltily at each other. I had no idea kissing or anything was taboo in the 12th century, but I guess you only get to know the inside story when you actually live it. 'Lucky me'. They sheepishly looked back at me before half-turning back.

" We can solve this amicably alright? So just come here. But if you dont cooperate I'll be forced to tell everyone"

I dialed back my tone a bit softer, to convince them, which works. They slowly took steps back to me, clutching each other's hands in support. Aww, how cute. When they were at a reasonable distance from me, they stopped and waited for my move. Ok, this my shot.

" I am sorry for my screaming and outburst. I was very overwhelmed and scared, I didn't mean to startle you. I also realized that my hometown is actually very far from home, making it impossible for me to return. And I know it's probably the last thing you want to do, but could you give me some kind of shelter or accommodation? Please", I apologized. This was a long shot, given the century and my stupid behavior before but this was my only try before somebody else tried me as a witch.

Their eyes remained wary but I knew they were bound by my threat so they did not move. They were uncomfortable AF but so was I, and neither of us wanted to be in this situation but we are both compelled by our fate. As usual, the boy spoke up first,

" We don't even know you"

" I am obviously just a girl, in need. Damsel in distress, if you will", I joked but his face remained unchanged. Time and place, Emma, time and place. "  I mean I am just someone in need, I was confused and overwhelmed earlier so I wasn't thinking straight and...", I trailed off. Their expression did not soften but it clearly wasn't as bad as earlier because of my damage control now. " I confused my Chelsea with London and then you clarified and I realized I have no clue on how to get back."