Trick of the Mind - 08 by Maeryn Lamonte Melanie Ezell's big closet ultimate writer's challenge — Written From The Heart Thanks to Wren Erendae Phoenix for editing/proofing. “D’you fancy going shopping tomorrow?” She asked. Normally that would be a big no, but for one this would get me away from Mum and Dad for a while and for another… “Sounds like fun,” I said, surprised that it actually did.

The night passed peacefully enough. Most nights I found myself wearing the light pink satin chemise that Jen had described to me some weeks before, and I was getting used to the way it felt. The sensation of crisply ironed sheets against my hairless legs was a fresh delight though.

The next day Alice knocked on my door on the way to the bathroom and, while I waited for her to finish, I dug out my phone. There were five texts and three missed calls, all from Jenny, all asking how the reunion had gone and, when replies hadn’t come back, if I was alright. Feeling guilty, I tapped out a quick reply.

“Sry 4 l8 reply. Olds still not happy with me, but have told Alice all. Off shopping wiv her in a mo. Will call l8r, aml xx Rich”

The phone rang 2 minutes later — Jen’s ring tone.

“I didn’t know you’d be up at this ungodly hour,” I told her glaring at the clock. What kind of time was 8:00am in the holidays?

“Never mind, I was worried, tell me about it.”

So I did. Ten minutes later I’d covered the main details and we were drifting into a soppy exchange of 'love you, miss you' when there was a second knock on the door from my sister as she headed back to her bedroom.

“The bathroom’s clear so I’d better get up. I’ll call you later,” I said grabbing the opportunity.

“Make sure you do,” Jen replied.

We exchanged love yous and hung up.

Half an hour later, wearing a peach cotton gauze top with off the shoulder sleeves and a long white cotton summer skirt, I was following my sister out to the bus stop.

I won’t bore you with the details of our day, except to say that it was fun. Alice dragged me through pretty much every clothes shop in the city and tried on half a dozen things in every shop. Rather than my usual bored out of my skull response though, I found myself commenting on her choices and offering a few alternatives. She found some really nice outfits and even bought a few.

Once or twice she offered up a blouse or a skirt to see how it would look on me and I played along drawing a few odd looks from other shoppers. It was all in fun though and we spent more time laughing through that day than I had in a very long while. We filled up on carbs and protein at a BK halfway through the day and didn’t make it home till after the shops had shut. The shoes that had come with my outfit had a slight heel, no more than half an inch, but my calves were burning by the time we made it home and I was glad to be able to collapse onto a sofa.

Alice grabbed a couple of cokes form the fridge and handed me one before collapsing herself.

“I really had fun today,” she said. “Not many girls have got big brothers who would do what you did today. I’m really lucky.”

I smiled back at her. “I enjoyed myself as well you know. I wasn’t really expecting to, but it was massive fun.”

“Help me carry my spoils up to my room?”

We grabbed an armful of bags each and headed upstairs.

With the door closed Alice looked at me a little uncomfortably.

“I’m not sure if I’m doing the right thing here, but I wanted to say thank you for a special day.”

She picked out one of the bags and held it out to me.

I peered inside then pulled out the contents. It was a crinkly cotton summer dress in a rich coral hue, with short sleeves, a deep neckline and a gathered waist. I remember her holding it up against me and nodding approvingly earlier in the day.

“I kind of guessed your size, but I’m usually quite good at that. It was on sale if you’re worried about how much I spent.”

I didn’t know what to say, so Alice filled in the gap.

“The nice thing about this kind of material is it doesn’t need ironing. You can hide it at the bottom of your bag and any time you want to wear it, just pull it out and put it on.”

I was still numb.

“I just thought it would be nice for you to be able to dress up for real instead of pretend all the time.”

She smiled shyly, uncertainly.

“It’s lovely,” I finally managed, “but Mum will go completely ape if she finds it on me.”

“I’ll put it in my closet for now. Mum and Dad are going out tonight, so maybe we could have a girl’s night in?”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to risk it, but the idea was tempting. I gave my sister a hug and thanked her again. She turned to her bags and started putting things away so I backed out of her room and headed for mine.

Remembering my promise, I picked up my phone and called Jenny. A blow by blow account of the day soon had her in fits of giggles and by the time I got to my sister’s gift we were both relaxed and enjoying ourselves.

“I think you should,” Jenny told me. “I mean as long as you’re careful and Alice covers for you if anyone comes to the door, you should be OK. I think it would be good for you to stop pretending for one night.”

So that’s what we did.

Mum told us what there was to eat and where to find it when we got hungry then headed out the door with Dad telling us not to wait up. He was all gussied up in dinner jacket and bow tie and Mum looked elegant in a mauve, velvet evening dress. This looked like a proper night out which meant we wouldn’t expect them back until gone midnight.

The moment they were out the door Alice tried shooing me upstairs, but I forced her to wait a while just in case. As it was Mum did pop her head back in a couple of minutes later saying she had forgotten her purse. The suspicion in her eyes faded when she found Alice and me lounging in front of the telly, and she headed back out to the car.

“Forgot her purse indeed,” I said. “She really has it in for me Alice. I’m not so sure this is a good idea.”

“Well she’s gone now, and you were right to wait. I doubt she’ll be back now, she’s been looking forward to this evening for weeks and if they dither about any longer, they’ll risk missing the curtain.

“As for you, if you’re going to act like a timid little girl, you might as well dress one.”

The car ground gravel as it eased off the drive and Alice pulled me bodily up the stairs.

My sister had bought some underwear for me to go with the dress; I hadn’t seen it when I first dived into the bag. Twenty minutes later I was wearing the coral dress and staring at how I really looked in my sister’s full length mirror.

It seemed odd for the clothes I was wearing to match what I saw in the mirror, and for the first time in some weeks, I felt an immense weight lift off my shoulders. I had thought this was going to be too much risk for too little gain, I mean it didn’t really matter what clothes I put on, the most likely thing I was going to see in the mirror was going to be the coral dress anyway, but standing there and knowing that what I could see and feel was really real eased a stress that had been building for many weeks without my knowing it.

Alice wasn’t content though and, having dressed me up, she now led me to her dressing table and sat me down in front of the array of mirrors. I had washed my hair at Alice’s insistence then shaved my face as close as I could. She now pulled out a hair dryer and brush, and started to work my longish hair into a feminine style, finishing it off with a plastic hair band that matched the dress. She then turned me towards her and started working on my nails, first cleaning them and tidying the shape, then painting on a coat of nail varnish. Finally, leaving me waving my hands helplessly in the air, she took out her makeup kit and went to work on my face.

I don’t know why I let her, knowing the terrible consequences if Mum and Dad did come home earlier than expected, but I couldn’t resist.

Alice wrapped a towel around my front a little like a bib, then set to with some foundation. Eye shadow and eye liner followed with me closing my eyes obediently when told, then a touch of blush on the cheeks and a coral lip gloss to finish. She made me press my lips down on a tissue to clear the excess, checked that my nails were dry and stood back to observe her handiwork.

“I knew if I looked deep enough I would find my sister,” she declared proudly.

She pulled off the towel and turned me back towards the mirror.

“Oh my.” My voice automatically softened with awe as I stared into the face of an attractive, if not particularly well endowed, young girl.

Alice continued to fuss, first pushing a couple of balled up pairs of tights into each cup of my rather baggy bra, then reaching for her jewellery box.

A gold chain with a tiger’s eye pendant went around my neck and settled into the gap between the two new bulges on my chest. She then held up the matching earrings.

“These are clip-ons,” she told me, “from the time before I managed to persuade Mum to let me have me ears pierced.”

She fumbled with each earlobe for a few seconds and I was left with a slightly uncomfortable pinching sensation and the weight of the dangling tiger’s eye pendants pulling on my ears as I moved my head around. It wasn’t long before the pinched feeling eased and I became less aware of the dangling jewellery.

Alice handed me a pair of gold sandals with about an inch of heel.

“My feet are a bit smaller than yours, but I think there’ll be enough give in these that they’ll look OK."

I slipped them on. I could feel the edge of the sole with my toes and my heels, but they didn’t look ridiculous.

Finally Alice handed me a gold clutch purse and had me walk up and down the room a little.

“I wanted to spray on some perfume as well, but I don’t think we could wash it off before the olds get back, and Mum would certainly notice it even if we clean the rest of you up and have you soak in the bath for an hour.

“Where’s your phone?” She asked.

“In my room on the bedside cabinet. Why?”

“Some things need to be recorded for posterity,” she said and ran out the room.

I was unused to wearing heels for real and so was a bit slow in following her. By the time I reached the landing she was already coming out of my room having worked out how to operate the camera.

“Alice don’t, please,” I pleaded, but to no avail.

She held the phone up towards me and said, “Stand still and smile.”

There was little else to do. I put on my most feminine pose and smiled. There was a flash and Alice was pressing buttons again. I made my way to her just as she turned the phone to me and asked, “Is this your girlfriend?”

The display showed Jen’s name and number.

“No Alice,” I said more as a plea than a denial. I made a grab for the phone, but she pulled it out of my reach.

“I guess I’ll just have to send this to all the J’s then.”

“OK it is, but please don’t.”

“Too late,” she said handing the phone back to me. The display read 'sending photo message' for a second then cleared.