Description
“You have until midnight.” Tessa stirred when she heard these words whispered in her ear. Twisting her back, she stretched her arms over her head and rolled her stiff neck from side to side. The usual morning sounds of the city echoed out: the traffic, jets flying over every few minutes, and a few dogs barking at each other. But one sound she normally didn’t hear caused her to abruptly sit up, a single chime of the church’s bell.
Tessa opened her eyes and found that she had fallen asleep in the bell tower. But how? Other than her nightmare, the last thing she remembered was watching Gabriel and Gael sleeping. Guessing her sleep had been restless because of her nightmare, she wondered if somehow she had sleepwalked up here. She’d never done that before, though.
Her fingers ran through her curvy, long hair, yet stopped when she grew confused by this. Last night her hair had been short and spiked. Swallowing hard, she looked down and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw she was wearing a pretty white sundress and all-white slipper-style shoes. Slowly standing up, she ran her hands gently over the soft fabric of her dress, which reminded her of the dress she wore for her first communion ceremony. She recalled it being the prettiest dress she had ever seen.
Tessa quickly climbed down the bell tower steps and pushed aside the curtains covering the door leading into the sacristy just off from the altar. She remembered her mother telling her that the priest used this room to prepare for mass. Though none of the linens or furnishings were left, the one thing remaining was a mirror. Taking a deep breath, Tessa stepped over to view her reflection and her jaw dropped. For the first time in many years, she wasn’t just pretty. She was beautiful. Running her fingers delicately across her cheeks, her skin held a healthy glow. Her eyes sparkled in the reflected morning sunlight. All traces of the gang-member style she wore disappeared, leaving her appearing as she always wished to look.
The question reeling in her mind, though, was how? How could this happen? Biting her fingernails as she always did when confused, over and over, she thought about waking up and what she remembered before falling asleep. And then it occurred to her, remembering the words whispered in her ear when she heard the church bell: “You have until midnight”. A smile burst across her face as she wondered: Is this what Cinderella felt like? But Cinderella was only given a few hours. She had been given an entire day.
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