Chapter 3

Claire had made lots of decisions during the day, and as she was going through the rails again, I decided to look through a rail myself. There was a black dress that caught my eye. Claire came over with an arm full of dresses and lumped them into my arms, while her back was turned, I picked up the black one I was looking at and added it to the pile. I entered the changing room and hung them all up on the wall. I singled out the black dress and hung that on the opposite side of the room. It looked very low cut in the front but was not as bad as others I had seen nor like what Claire had chosen. One by one I tried Claire’s dresses on and stepped out of the changing room. One by one Claire turned her nose up at all of them.

“I refuse to admit this is hopeless. We must find you a dress.” Her frustration was coming through into her voice now.

“There’s still one more dress left, Claire.”

“That’s everything I gave you though?” She sounded confused.

“I saw something and picked it up, I liked it. Which says a lot for me to like a dress, however I have no idea if it will look any good on though.”

“Go, go, go!” she exclaimed as she pushed me back into the changing room.

I slid the dress on. It was a black waterfall dress. The top was adorned with sequins making it sparkle in the light, with a satin waist band, out of the waist band flowed a mix of materials. The shortest part at the front of the dress stopped just above my knees with the back flowing down in a ripple effect to the floor. I zipped it up and looked in the mirror. It was gorgeous, never had I felt so comfortable in a dress before.

“Are you ready yet?” Claire’s voice carried impatience.

“Ok, but I need your honest opinion.”

“Yes, yes of course,” she hurried.

I stepped out of the dressing room. Claire’s mouth fell wide open.

“Leila,” she paused, “you look absolutely incredible.”

“Do you really think so?”

“You are going to have every guy at that ball eating out of your hand.”

“Why do you sound disappointed?” I asked.

“Because I didn’t choose this for you. I can’t believe I overlooked something that would look this stunning on you.” She paused again. “This is your dress, Leila.” she smiled. “All we need now are your shoes and a mask for both of us.”

Claire disappeared into the shop and returned holding some strappy black heels with a Diamontae embellishment on the buckle. I slipped my feet into them and saw Claire on the verge of tears.

“Claire it’s only a ball dress, if you’re almost crying now what you going to be like if I ever get married.” I laughed.

“Don’t even get me started on that. You look stunning.”

I changed back into my clothes and handed the dress and shoes over to Claire. The only part of our outfits was the mask that was required. Claire paid and we headed back to the car.

“What about masks?” I asked.

“Don’t worry I will order them when I get home, and they will be delivered before the ball.”

“Do I not get to choose? Because apparently, I have good taste in what suits me, you know,” I joked.

“You may be correct on that and have shown me a thing or two in the last few hours but no, you do not get to choose the mask. I had an idea of one for you and now with this dress it will be the perfect fit.”

I wrinkled my nose at her as we headed out of the store. As we arrived back, I took my dress and hung it in front of my wardrobe. I couldn’t stop staring at it and wanted to keep it on show while I could.

That evening, I was feeling sentimental and pulled out a box from under my bed. I sat on my bed and lifted the lid slowly. It had been so long since I had opened the box, I had almost forgotten what was inside. There were several little trinkets from my childhood but the most important item out of everything was the photo album at the bottom. I lifted it out slowly and placed the box to one side. I opened it to the first page. Inside the cover was a handwritten note from my mother.

Leila, my love, my daughter, my light in the darkness.

Fill this with all the happy memories throughout your life.

Fill this with everything you can to retain the happiness in life.

And if the times get truly dark, remember stars cannot shine without the darkness.

Shine bright my little star.

Love you to the moon and back xx