Barbara's Bizarre Voyage

Chapter 1

It was another day for Barbara, a young adolescent who was hated by her peers for being ordinary. She obtained their disdain by maintaining her morbid sense of humor. Children openly mocked her, furrowing their brows, calling her names like unibrow, dog or troll. Most of the villagers of Dreadsville treated her with disdain, disgust, or acted plain rude. The only ones that treat her with kindess is her aunt Elizabeth, and Marvin.

On her way to the merchant, a dog barked at her, snarling. She responded with the same greeting by giving a menacing glare, emitting a guttural sound with a hiss, boring her onyx eyes, looming over the canine. The dog shrank and shivered, running away from the tall, barefooted girl. Her friend Marvin had a stand built out of wood, it was more of a wooden caravan without the horses. Stones were on the wheels to prevent the mobile store from moving, and a window was open. Below the window was a face of a monster carved on it, on top of the caravan was a sign that said: Marvin's Merchandise. 

Marvin traveled to a lot of villages, he doesn't stay there for too long since he got banished from most of them, mostly due to scamming most of his customers for selling useless junk or cursed objects. His mischievous nature only made him have a few loyal customers when it came to giving offers or bartering to keep his business afloat.

Barbara walked up to the caravan and knocked on the wood. A shadow shifed and approached to the light, and it was none other than merchant himself. "How can I help you?"

"I would like to buy a spindle, three threads, 12 pins, a pin cushion and six long candles." Barbara ordered.

Marvin bent down to open the drawers which the sewing products were stored, and walked five paces back to pick the candles from the second row of the shelf and put it on a sack with the two Ms sown across. He put his head out the window with the sack in his left hand. "That would cost you 8 pounds," he also grabbed a small net which held six apples, "and as a bonus, a net of apples, free of charge." The merchant added as he gave the apples. Barbara paid him.

"How nice. Did you get yourself into trouble again?" Barbara asked, the corners of her lips forming into a smirk.

"What's wrong? Can't a salesman be generous to a fellow customer?" Marvin queried, feigning with a small plastered on his face.

"Not unless it involves with some kind of favor." Barbara responded in a nearly melodious tone.

Marvin dropped the act. "Alright, you caught me...", he admitted as she smiled victoriously before leaning down to her level, "now listen, I'm having a little trouble with a certain goblin." He whispered.

"Figures," she interjected, "it's easy for you to get yourself into trouble. Did you forget what happened last time? A gang of leprechauns were after you for tricking them into giving you their gold in exchange for that fake clover."

No, he didn't forget. It was an eight leaf clover, a rarity in fact. To bad the spell wore off and the clover reverted back into an ivy.

"And the time the archer was hunting you down for giving him those useless arrows, claiming that it would hit their target guaranteed."

In his defense, the archer scared off his clients. The archer had been pursuing one of his faithful customers. He paid the favor he owed to a client by selling the archer the flimsy arrows that he had reserved for a gag. The archer swore vengeance upon him ever since.

"And the time you gave a group of travelers the wrong directions and led them astray."

He stifled a giggle when she mentioned it. He was bored without having any customers to attend that day until a group of travelers got lost. The one in charge of the group was too obstinate in following directions. Marvin took the opportunity to sell a broken compass he had at a very low price. He wore different disguises to confuse them and his voice acting was so good that he managed to scare one of them.