Raven Saga 01 - Raven

Crystal to the chair in front of the mirror and sat down while she inspected my hair carefully and thoughtfully before smiling brightly at me.
    “So... I'm guessing you hacked at your hair yourself?”
    She clearly knew my answer before carrying on, “And I'm guessing you bleached it yourself too. Well, the hair is in surprisingly good condition but it is in some serious need of shape. Do you want the colour back to its natural shade?”
    I nodded and she agreed it was the best choice for my colouring.
    And so as she went about returning my hair back to some kind of normality, I relaxed and enjoyed the pampering while thinking about the journey my life had begun to take. It was one that I would never have imagined, not in a million years.
    Growing up the way I had, trapped within what appeared to be a loveless family, not able to go out and meet people, not even able to see the world through the television. My only glimmer of the world out there was through the eyes of authors like the Grimms Brothers and Hans Christian Andersen. When I read those magical tales, I'd had no idea that their worlds had existed, yet here I was with the knowledge that they did exist, yet within a veil of secrecy.
    A secret world. And I knew about it. I was part of it. I shivered.
    “Sorry, Lilly. Is the water too cold?” asked Crystal.
    I assured her it was fine. The cold came from within. Within the knowledge that I couldn't share. Not even with Oliver – the boy that gave me goosebumps just by looking at him. And he felt the same way that I did. His heart skipped a beat when he was with me too. It was hard for me to fathom anybody could have feelings for me in that way.
    I was young, I had never had a boyfriend. I had never been kissed. I didn't know the meaning of love, other than the new love I felt for my newfound family members. I had never even felt love for my father because I had always had the impression that he didn't love me. Not really. A feeling of shame enveloped me. All this time, of course he had loved me. His only way of sharing that love was to sneak those books to me. And I had never shown him that he meant everything to me. Of course it was easy for me to say that now. Now that I knew the truth. He was under a spell. Pure and simple.
    It didn't take Crystal long to return me to my 'natural' beauty as she put it and when I left over an hour later, Ben had been right, I did feel like a million dollars. I felt pretty and I hadn't felt pretty in a long, long time. In fact, I had never felt pretty because I'd never been told I was pretty.
    Crystal had worked wonders and my new short crop was surprisingly a great shape for my face. I was astounded how much it suited me, considering what a mess I had looked before. As much as I wanted to show the world my new style, I had no choice but to cover it up the second I stepped outside because of the cold, so on went the beanie once again.
    As I glanced back through the window, I waved goodbye to Crystal as she waved back happily before attending to the other young woman who had entered just five minutes before. I hadn't taken much notice of the salon's entrance as we'd arrived so I looked up at her sign. Crystal's Salon was in big bold black lettering on an orange background with a catchy logo featuring a cat with big eyes and long hair. It made me chuckle to myself as it matched her personality perfectly.
    I put my hands in my pocket and felt a piece of paper. It was the map to my father's land that Rose had drawn for me. I checked my watch and figured I had plenty of time so I headed in that direction.
    As I walked through town, a number of familiar faces smiled at me and said their hellos before hurrying out of the cold. It was still so alien to me to be known by so many people. In London, I knew the faces of the kids at school. I knew the faces of the many teachers. I knew the face of the postman but I didn't know anybody but December, my secret best friend. Vivian had never allowed me to get to know anyone at all. I couldn't even say hello to the neighbours without fear of being grabbed and pulled away by her. Yet here I was surrounded by friendly people that I could get to know if I wanted to. And who wanted to get to know me.
    Some even stopped me in the street and made small talk, asking how I was doing, if I was settling in okay and so on. It was rather nice actually. It made me smile and again, I felt liked. I felt loved. It was a feeling I would cherish.
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