Embellished With Lies

Chapter Eleven

After I explained to the Queen that Tessa was only joking about chicken nuggets, I got out of there as fast as I could without looking like it.

"Chicken nuggets are real," Tessa claimed as we walked up the staircase to where Emma had shown us before. "Mommy makes them all the time at home."

I rolled my eyes and debated what to tell her; I had to be careful with what I said. "I know, but here, in this world, there are no chicken nuggets. There is chicken and there are nuggets but no chicken nuggets. You understand me?"

She looked almost angry with me, but she nodded her head anyways. "Yes, Matty."

"Good."

When we arrived in our room, I opened the door, and the two of us closed the door behind us.

"Okay, Tessa," I began, opening up the door to our private bathroom. "You have to take a bath."

She frowned. "I don't wanna. Why can't I do that in the morning?"

I thought about it for a minute before I came to a decision. "Fine, fine, you can do it tomorrow, but I'm going to take a bath tonight." I paused. "You are not allowed to leave this room, alright?"

"What am I supposed to do?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure... There are some books on the shelf, and I think I saw some dolls too."

Her eyes widened in pure happiness. "Really? Okay, I'm gonna play with the dollies."

"Okay, but remember, stay here, alright?"

She rolled her eyes. "I know, I know."

When she left the bathroom, I closed the door behind her. There were no towels, and I didn't have any pajamas, but I was feeling so anxious that I decided to draw a bath anyways.

Letting my clothes fall to the floor, I turned the temperature all the way hot as I watched the water pour out of the golden spigot. Once the tub was filled almost to the top, I turned off the faucet and stepped into, letting the warmness consume my body. I couldn't remember the last time I'd taken a bath, to be honest. I'd always opted to take a shower at home, but because there was no shower head here, I had no choice but to slide into the bath.

I was actually pleasantly surprised.

Then I was interrupted by Tessa, who walked in with a doll pressed against her chest.

"Bubby?"

Completely take by surprise, I did my best to move my legs into a position that would make this a little less... Weird. "Tessa, I'm taking a bath."

She sighed and looked at me with her deep blue eyes. "I know, but I really need your help."

I rolled my eyes and exhaled. "What do you mean, you need my help? With what?"

Tessa started rocking back and forth, her eyes wandering to look at almost everything but my own.

"Get on with it, Tessa."

"Fine," she humphed. "I kind of broke something..."

My eyes widened. "You broke something?" I didn't want to know, but I had to ask. "What did you break?"

"Well..."

"Tessa..."

"I broke a book."

I was confused. "Did you rip it in half or something?" My mind jumped to the worst possible conclusion automatically.

She shook her head. "No, the cover came off. I was just reading it, and then this papery thing came off. Now the book doesn't have a picture on the front anymore!"

I breathed a breath of relief. "You didn't break it, Patootie."

"What? I did. I'm sorry, but I did."

I laughed. "That's just the cover that protects the book. You can put it back on, you know."

Her eyes lit up. "You can? How?"

"Well," I explained, "you open up the sides and..." When I noticed that my sister still looked confused, I stopped altogether. "You know what? Just leave it on the bed, alright? I'll fix it when I get out."

"Thanks, Matt."

"Yeah, yeah." I gestured to the door. "Now, get out, will you? I need to finish up in here."

She nodded her head and totted out of the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

I rolled my eyes and continued to wash up.

In the process of looking for some soap or something, someone opened the door and walked right on in.

And it was not my sister.

"You must be Matthew!" an old woman exclaimed as she burst into the bathroom holding towels. "I'm Ingrid; it's a pleasure to meet you."

My eyes widened. I was practically speechless. "Uh... yeah. May I ask you a question?"

She grinned widely. "Why, sure!"

"Why are you in the bathroom right now?"

"Oh," Ingrid began to explain, "the Queen told me to bring up fresh towels and sleepwear for you and your sister. Young Tessa told me that I could find you in here."

I was definitely going to have a word with my sister later on.

"Look, thanks for the stuff, but-"

"I'm sorry," Ingrid interrupted. "I didn't mean to be rude; I just had to bring these up. Here, I'll let you be now. I will; I promise." She set down the towels on the small sink and waved before she left. "Enjoy your bath, Matthew."

"Yeah, thanks..." I muttered before the door shut.

It had been an eventful evening.

Stepping out of the tub, I wrapped a towel around my waist and looked at myself in the mirror. I was so tired, and I definitely needed to get some sleep.

I then noticed that there were pajamas underneath the last towel, and I rolled my eyes on the spot.

It was a long, cream night gown.

Oh boy.

I slid on the "sleepwear" and opened the door to find my sister, changed into her night gown, laying on the bed. She was completely passed out, her security blanket covering the lower portion of her face.

After fixing the cover of her book and placing it carefully back on the shelf, I walked over to the bed and tucked Tessa under the covers. Then, I crawled under them myself after turning off the light.

I fell asleep soon after telling Tessa to have sweet dreams.

And tomorrow was going to be the strangest day yet.

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Hey! What's up? I'm so bored right now it's not even funny...

Thoughts? I personally think that Matt is so cute and sweet! This chapter was just okay though...

Thank you for reading!

Bye!