The Alien Inside Me

Chapter 3: Shopping

After a few months, I had completely acclimated to Berksfield and my job at the paper. I was wandering around my house picking up all of the clutter that I had let accumulate around the living room throughout the week.

As I began stacking up a bunch of books in my arms to take upstairs, I heard a rythmic knocking at my door. Instantly, I knew it was Becca. She had taken to coming over every Friday night to either drag me out to party or force me to watch a movie marathon with her. I had to admit, I actually appreciated how she tried to pull me out of my shell and I was ecstatic that I hadn't managed to push her away.

No one really warned me how loneliness would creep up and punch you in the guts when you lived alone. No mother trying to snoop over my shoulder as I read my Kindle or father to invite over coworkers without any warning. Without Becca, I would have probably already given in to my mom's many not so subtle hints at visiting me.

Grumbling at how awful her timing was, I carefully walked to the door and managed to open it without dropping any of my books. All my hard work was dashed when Becca bowled into me and knocked everything out of my arms.

"Becc-"

"Daisy! I can't believe the festival is tomorrow! We don't have any clothes! We need to figure out what to do with our hair! Holy crap, I don't even know if any stores are open tonight!" Becca babbled on getting quieter until she was just talking under her breath.

"What festival?" I asked, frowning in confusion.

"Oh Em Gee, Daisy! How disconnected from reality are you?! We literally work in a newspaper and you haven't heard about the Berksfield festival?" Becca tutted at, me shaking her head.

"I only do the international news section!" I argue, bending down to pick up all my books, hoping none of them were damaged.

"Fine, the Berksfield festival is an annual festival celebrated here. It's supposed to be celebrating the founding of the entire town, but I've read that they changed the date about a hundred years ago to be in the fall rather than the winter," Becca followed me up the stairs and into my room so I could put the books away, "Basically, the town sets up tents with fun activities like a carnival and everyone just parties into Sunday morning. If you don't show up everyone winds up coming to your house and dragging you into town anyways, it's another part of the festival. So, you should come with me tomorrow to avoid being dragged to the party in your pajamas."

I finished putting my books away and sighed, "Does this mean we're going shopping?"

Becca gave me an evil grin, "You know me so well."

At the mall, I was surprised to find so many stores open, but I suppose they must have extended their hours that day to allow them to close early for the festival. Becca dragged me into every store that sold dresses, shoes, or anything even vaguely related to those things. In the end, we both decided on our dresses and Becca made me buy a new pair of strappy heels.

My dress was a long sleeved silky black number that fell to my knees and had nearly no back to it. I whined that I would be shivering all night, but she assured me that all the tents would have heaters or a nice man might lend me his jacket.

Her dress was a long sleeved red dress that cinched at the waist and poofed out at the bottom. She said that she had a pair of white heels and a pearl necklace she would pair it with, but still made me look at every single accessory stand to make sure there wasn't something better than what she already had. In the end, I was exhausted and the mall was closing by the time Becca finally decided we were finished.

We loaded back up into the car and I felt myself getting secretly excited about the festival tomorrow. Becca kept feeding me information about the festival and some of the stands that would be there throughout our shopping trip, and honestly I thought it was cool that they had such a longstanding tradition that everyone still respected so seriously.

"Daisy, do you think this town is a little odd?" Becca asked me suddenly.

I turned to look at her, but she stared straight at the road, "I guess a little. Initially I thought it was weird how the mayor kept pulling in college students specifically, but I just figured she was trying to attract people who would want to make Berksfield their home. Why?"

Becca paused, "I just feel like it's odd how most of the people being recruited to the town are girls and how they're all from seemingly random places."

"Maybe we're just more easily swayed by a cheap house and a decent job," I grinned at her.

Becca chuckled, but her face still looked tense, "Maybe."

I didn't show it, but I was concerned too. I had noticed the disparity in genders being taken in here and how all of us managed to buy houses in the same area. Even some of the locals kept their distance from us (or at least me).

However, despite all the oddities, I was happy here. All the people at the paper had taken me under their wings, especially Becca. Plus, I felt this inner peace here; it was probably how wild it was here, trees everywhere and cute critters always hanging around my yard.

I mean, how bad can a place be if they hold a festival every year? Festivals are probably the least ominous events I could think of.

"Becca, do we need dates for the festival?" I asked, trying to distract her.

"Nope! Some people come as couples, but it's more of a town coming together type thing." She responded, "But, it wouldn't be awful to try to pick up a guy during the festival! I think a scary guy would suit you."

"A scary guy?!" I poked Becca in the side.

"Hey! Don't stab the driver, crazy!" Becca complained, leaning away from me, "Besides, I just think you need a guy who can protect you. Ya know, tall, dark, handsome, and lethal!"

I laughed genuinely, "I'm not some damsel in distress, Becca."

"Yeah, but imagine how cute a burly guy would look next to you!"

I shrugged, fingering a piece of my dark blonde hair and biting my lip, "I don't think I would be a guy like that's type."

"Pu-lease! You can be all 'woah is me' when you don't have a sweet face and a sweeter body!" Becca protested.

I rolled my eyes, but figured she was right that I could look worse. I just didn't always feel as beautiful as other people. Becca was a tall red headed goddess, whereas I was just a pale girl with some curves that some people would consider a little too big.

"Okay, whatever you say." I said just to placate her.

"Just wait until your perfect match shows up, I guarantee you that he will make you accept just how gorgeous you are!" Becca announced with absolute certainty.