"Mairey," said an elf girl as she knocked on the stall door, "You've been in there for hours! Some of us have class soon."
"I'll be out in a minute!" Said Mairey before she turned the water off. She then stepped out of the shower and into the stall where her towel was. She wrapped it around her torso and the bottom of it reached down to her knees while the top was barely an inch below her collar bone. She put her little bottle of soap, sponge, and back brush into her basket before opening the stall door. She carefully walked out of the stall and began to walk towards the bathroom door. The room was full of other girls, sitting on the benches, talking to one another, standing in front of the mirrors, brushing their hair, getting dressed, and waiting for another one of the five showers to be vacant. Mairey clutched onto her towel tightly as she walked across the wet floor. She darted her eyes across the room, making sure nobody was looking at her. Once she reached the door, she sighed in relief. *I finally made it!* she thought as she was about to grab the handle.
"Heads up, Bhatti!" Said one girl as she grabbed Mairey's towel and pulled it off of her. As the towel came off of her wet body, Mairey stood there in shock. She tightly squeezed her legs together in shame as her face turned pale.
"What's wrong?" One girl giggled, "Come on, Bhatti! We're all girls here, no need to be shy." A few other girls began laughing. One of them grabbed Mairey's shoulder and forced her to turn and face everyone. They're giggling stopped as they all gasped in shock.
"Wait a minute," said one girl, "You… You don't have the same parts as us!"
Another girl pointed at Mairey, "Imposter!" She yelled, angrily. All the girls then pulled out pitchforks and torches.
"Burn the imposter!" One girl screamed. Mairey quickly turned around and attempted to escape.
"It's locked." Mairey panicked as she began pulling the door handle forcefully. She then turned back around to notice that the angry mob was gone. Instead, there was now a giant blob monster that had glowing red eyes and purple skin.
"Leave immediately or face the consequences!" Screeched the blob as it began to devour Mairey.
"No!" Said Mairey as she woke up. She took a moment to look at her surroundings before she realized that she was in her dorm room, laying in her bed. She slowly sat up and looked at her alarm clock. The time was four in the morning. She then laid back down and sighed.
"It was just a dream, Mairey," she said to herself, "Just a dream."
After her alarm woke her up, Mairey climbed out of bed and brushed her teeth. She then stripped out of her nightgown and applied some dusting powder to her underarms before getting dressed into her casual clothes. She threw on a dress which consisted of a light, beige top and a dark, magenta skirt that reached all the way down to her ankles. The top had long sleeves and buttons on the front, that were sewn in a straight line, along with a black ribbon tied on the front of the collar. The mid section had a wide piece of black fabric that wrapped around her waist, emphasizing Mairey's slender figure. She then slipped on a pair of flat, black slippers. She then looked at the cloak on her nightstand.
*Looks like I have some time before my date.* Thought Mairey before she began brushing her hair in front of her mirror. She tied her hair up into her usual braid and sprayed some perfume onto herself. She looked at herself in the mirror and winked with a smirk.
"Looking good, Mairey. Looking good." She said to herself. She then grabbed her red, leather purse and hung it on her shoulder before leaving her dorm room.
After a few minutes, she arrived at the front gates of the school. The sky was a bright shade of blue while there were hardly any clouds in the sky. A gnome girl was sitting up against a tree nearby, drawing in her sketchbook. She looked over and saw the other girl.
"Hey, Mairey!" The gnome girl waved with a smile, "Where are you going?"
"Hey, Arie!" Mairey stopped walking and waved back, "Old Town pub." She smiled.
"Drinking alone?" She raised an eyebrow.
She shook her head, "I never said I was going to be alone." She chuckled.
"Ooh!" Said Arie.
"What about you?" Asked Mairey, "What are you up to?"
"I'm currently working on something for my life drawing class."
"Oh yeah? Wanna show me?"
Aerie shook her head, "Not yet! I can't have anyone see it until I'm done."
"Well good luck on your project, lass! I'll see you later." Mairey smiled and waved before leaving the area.
"Thanks, Mairey! Good luck on your date!" Said the gnome girl, waving and smiling back.
After leaving campus grounds, Mairey went to the nearest train station. The place had buildings made from dirty bricks and the pavement was dark grey. The area was clouded by soot and smoke from the trains, which made the station look very dim. Mairey kept her mouth and nose covered with her hand until the dull, black train had left the station while she browsed the different sections of the area. She found a board with directions on it. One of the white signs on the board had 'Platform 42.0' written on it in bold, blue letters. Underneath the text, on the same sign, it said 'Dead end ahead' with a blue arrow pointing to the hallway adjacent to the sign. She turned and walked in the direction of the arrow, entering the dark hallway. Despite the lack of light in this hallway, Mairey had no problem seeing in the dark. She quickly approached a wall which seemed to be the end of the hallway. Knowing that she's alone, the girl placed her hand on the wall, causing the surface area underneath her to glow a pale shade of grey. The wall seemed to soften as Mairey effortlessly walked through it. Once she disappeared from the area, her glowing handprint did the same as it slowly faded out of existence.
When Mairey stepped out from another wall, she looked around and noticed that she was now in a dark, dirty, cold alleyway. She began to walk out of the alley, ignoring the smell of garbage and the sound of stray cats hissing. Once she exited the alley, she turned and walked over to the pub right next to her. After entering the bleak, nearly empty establishment, she took a seat at the bar and placed her bag on one of the many, vacant bar stools next to her. The room was very warm, which wasn't a bad thing compared to the chilly weather in the city. She noticed that barely any of the staff seemed to be present at the moment. She could only see a couple of servers taking orders and bringing food to the only few customers in the room.
While Mairey was distracted observing the dull surroundings, a little girl walked up to the staff side of the bar. She was wearing a long, pale blue dress with a pink bow on the back along with black, flat slippers. There was a small, wooden stool behind the bar that the girl stood up on with her chin barely an inch above the countertop.
"Hello!" The little girl smiled proudly. Mairey gasped and almost jumped out of her seat, as she was caught off guard, and turned to face her.
"Hello there!" Mairey smiled at the girl. The child seemed to be no older than six and seemed to be a little over three feet tall. She had short, black hair that reached her earlobes along with bangs that reached right above her thin, faded eyebrows. She had pale, lilac skin and her irises were dandelion colored. Her face was very round, like a baby, and her nose was tiny. Mairey was tempted to pinch the girl's cheeks and poke her cute little nose.
"What can I get you?" Asked the girl, still smiling.
"Do you work here?" Mairey raised an eyebrow.
The girl nodded, "Mhm! I'm Aphiya and I'm a tender." She said as she pointed to a name tag that was pinned to the top of her dress, "See?" Mairey leaned in and looked at the small writing on the tag, which read 'Lars'. She then leaned away from the counter and looked at the girl.
"Well you're doing a good job so far!" Mairey chuckled.
"Thank you!" Aphiya giggled.
"Anyways, what's today's special?" Asked Mairey.
"Today's special?" The little girl looked around, "Umm…"
Mairey smirked, "Is it a stew?"
"No," The girl held up her index finger and leaned against the counter as she attempted to shush Mairey, "I know this!" She then looked down at the counter and tried to remember while Mairey struggled to hold back her laughs. A purple teufel man walked behind the bar.
"There you are, Aphiya!" Said the man as he approached her, "I've been looking all over for you." He said in a furious tone.