Chained By The Witch

Chapter Seven: Rude Awakening

"Hellooo. Hello? Emily! Up! Now! Time to get up!" Xander yells, shaking me awake.

"I-I'm up! I'm up! Geez, you don't have to be so aggressive."

"For someone who looks like a kitten when they sleep you sure are a gremlin."

"Hey! Wait, wha- Did you just call me a kitten?"

"Yeah, you look like a kitten when you sleep."

"My parents used to call me Kitten." I whisper, luckily this time I'm able to keep my tears at bay.

"O-Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't know." He stutters an apology to me but I wave my hand and give him a sheepish smile. I failed at trying to conceal my emotions a long time ago. I'm usually able to conceal my true feelings but something about this place draws them out of me, like Mary used to do.

"It's fine. You didn't know any better. You can call me that if you want, it just reminded me of them." He sighs in relief and goes into his closet.

"I figured we'd get you all dolled up today," He says as he makes weird hand gestures in the air and looks over his shoulder at me.

"Dolled up?"

"Yeah. Y'know, dress you up in pretty clothes and do your hair and makeup!" He says excitedly.

"For what?"

"For me I guess. But first, you need a shower. So go, go! Out!" Xander shoves me out of the room and towards the bathroom.

"Okay, okay I'm going!"

"Your clothes are on the side of the bathtub!" I nod and shut the door behind me. Light pools in through the high window above the shower, I yawn and stretch out my sore limbs before turning on the hot water. I hum to myself as I wait for the water to heat, surprisingly, it doesn't take as long as I thought. I strip myself of my clothes and enter the shower, melting under the heat. It doesn't take long for me, I'd rather not waste water like that.

"C'mon!" Xander whines through the door. "Put on the clothes I bought you! Get rid of your ugly archaic style, appreciate the time it took for me to find that and convince Ives to let me buy it!"

"You bought these?" I yell over my shoulder, staring at the clothes in my hands. He makes a sound of agreeance, muffled by the wood.

"Hurry up. I'll be in my room waiting for you." He giggles. "Then we'll do makeup!" He says giddily. I scoff at his excitement. Why is it so important anyway? It's just makeup, I'm gonna take it off again anyway.

These clothes are so confusing, I don't understand them at all. Arm fishnets, translucent shirt, strange pants covered in chains and leather, more fishnets? I sigh and try to get all the clothes on, I hate this. I put on the final touches of the outfit; massive boots covered in chains, spikes and leather, a leather choker, and several bracelets.

I exit the bathroom feeling a little like a jingle bell with all these chains attached to me. I sigh when I enter the room. Xander has his legs crossed sitting on his bed, smiling. He's gripping a giant box which I assume is full of makeup.

"And, for the record, my clothes are not ancient." I snark.

"Well..."

"Ah ah! Don't say it! Now, are we doing this or not?" His smile grows and he beckons me to sit next to him on the bed. He opens the case and pulls out strange pallets and brushes. He starts to paint my face with a light shade, being careful as to not hurt me.

"What colors do you want? Other than black, of course."

"Um. I like yellow. It reminds me of Mary." I smile remembering how happy I was back then.