My Life In Ruins

1. Why Did Men Create Dresses Again?

Chapter 1

Why Did Men Create Dresses Again?

In the eighteen years, four months, three weeks, and five days that I’ve been alive on this earth, I’ve never liked dressing up.  But on the rare occasion that I absolutely had to dress up, I’d kick and scream as much as possible…before we get out the door of our hotel room that is.  Then I’m the most prim and proper lady, who just happened to have been wearing cutoff jean shorts, a tank top, and brown hiking boots just earlier that day. 

Which was just what we were doing this evening.  My stepmom Brielle, who was more like a best friend to me, went out and bought me a dress and heels to wear to the charity gala that the Egyptian Museum was having. 

We’d been in Cairo for the past week, but in Egypt for the past three weeks.  We actually weren’t here on the hunt for treasure, which was possibly the first time in a few years.  It was a ‘family vacation’ as my dad put it, though we still took the time to go explore the pyramids. 

Since my real mom died from complications when she was having me, it had been just me and my dad until I was about thirteen.  That was when I finished high school and was starting at a university near where we lived in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Brielle had actually been the first – and pretty much only – person who welcomed me to the school.  She was a TA in the history class I was taking since she was working on her master’s in history.  She was twenty-three at the time – ten years older than me – but we still became best friends. 

And just a few weeks after the start of my first semester when midterms were coming up, Brielle had come over to my house to study with me since we were taking two of the same classes.  That was the day she and my father met. 

I knew it was pretty much love at first sight.  Yeah, my dad had been thirty-two at the time – he and my mom had me pretty young; they were only nineteen – and teaching at another university nearby, but I don’t really think that their age difference really mattered to them. 

From then on, Brielle came over more and more…and sometimes she’d be at our apartment before I even got there, talking with my dad.  I wasn’t surprised when they started dating and just a few months after that were engaged.  I was actually really excited.  We’d been a close family ever since. 

But in my last few weeks of my last semester in college, our lives pretty much changed. 

It was over spring break with it happened.  Dad had always been fascinated with stories of lost treasure and wanted to go out to look for one.  But since he had me to take care of, he couldn’t really do that until I was older. 

We’d got to Egypt for vacation and exploring some of the pyramids when we got separated from our guide.  Needless to say, we found our way out…after we discovered a hidden tomb full of ancient treasures of the pharaohs. 

And we’d been hooked on finding hidden treasures ever since. 

We’d made three more big discoveries since then, each of them making us a pretty penny.  You could say that what we made off of our finds paid the bills, though we were hardly ever home in Boston anymore.  We were always traveling the world now, which was just what I loved.

That was why we were in Cairo at the Egyptian Museum since it was the two year anniversary of our discovery.  We were the guests of honor and that was why I was put into this ridiculous dress.  It was emerald green silk that was cut way too low in the back and had a slit on the side that showed way too much leg.  It hung all the way down to the floor where it hid my feet in my sparkly heels.  Brielle thought I looked gorgeous, though, just like she always did when I had to dress up.