Cinderella Dimensions

Story 1: Dinner, Dance and Death

The story is being told through interviews. A very interesting perspective I might say.
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Matrise Brine
(Mother of Laila
Brine) : I never...I never thought that it was an important thing
to her. I mean...why on earth someone would want to go to a dinner so
much? It was not as if it was a life and death matter.

Rachel
(one of Laila's best
friends) : Laila was a...an emotional person. We...were good friends. I've known
her since five years ago. She was always being funny and silly. She
was always happy and making people happy. We were going to have a school
reunion party...I was gonna come, but something came up at my college.
Laila was quite excited about it. She kept talking about what she was
going to wear. She looked sad when I told her I could not go.

Beth (friend) : I wished that I had come to the school reunion dinner and dance. I wish
I hadn't gone to that stupid camp. If only I had known what's to come
later.

Delilah (friend) : For as long as I had known her, Laila had never been late. She was always
early. I tried to be early too. I wanted to catch her in that white
dress of hers. She was already at the table when I arrived.

Matrise : I didn't let Laila go. Why should I? As mother, I have every right to refuse
her.

Delilah : Laila acted queer that night. She kept saying that she had something to
attend to. I asked her to dance, but she wouldn't. The most she would do was
to stand up.

Rachel : There was this boy at school...Erik. She liked him. She liked him far longer
than we had been friends. I told her that they were worlds apart. Laila
didn't care of course. In the end she would always do what her heart says.
She would do things her own way. That is what makes her special...

Erik : Laila seemed to be quiet that night. She was wearing this white dress but
still managed to look pale. Weird. Anyway, she caught my eye and smiled. I
sauntered to her.

Delilah : I stopped dancing at around eleven at night and saw Erik and Laila chatting.
Laila kept glancing at the hall clock every few minutes. Finally, Erik
managed to persuade her to dance with him the last dance. Frankly, I didn't
know that Laila could dance, or that she could dance so well. I...I saw that
it was as if she was floating on air.

Erik : I didn't know Laila very much actually. Just passed by a couple of times a day
that was all. She was a good dancer. And she looked especially nice that
night. It felt odd to have her in my arms though.

Matrise : Laila wanted to go to the dinner and dance so very much. And I said no. That
night I locked her in her room.

Rachel : I still don't believe what had happened you know. I still can't...

Beth : Laila was always happy. She was a good person. A strong person whose motto was
to believe in herself first before others believe in her. I was surprised she
regarded the reunion with such seriousness.

Delilah : Laila stopped dancing when the clock struck twelve. At that moment, I felt a
sense of deja vu when she suddenly ran away from the hall. It was sort of...
like the fairytale. Cinderella.

Erik : She just broke away suddenly. I thought I had stepped on her toes or something
like that, and that she was annoyed with me. I ran after her of course. To
apologise. She ran down the stairs without turning back. I heard her saying...
that she loved me til the end of her life...and she sort of disappeared into
the darkness.

Delilah : I thought something must be wrong with her. Her house was quite nearby, so I
decided to call on her on the way back home from our old school. Maybe she was
suddenly sick or something.

Beth : I called Delilah as soon as I came back from my camp. "How was the dinner and
dance?" I asked her. She said that it was pretty cool. Then I asked her whether
Laila wore white dress or black dress in the end. Delilah...

Erik : She dropped something on the stairs. I picked it up and saw that it was a hair
pin. Laila's hair pin. She had this long thick hair, and she wore it with a
pin that reunion night. I walked back to the hall. I must have a hole in my
pocket...I meant to give the pin back to Laila if I ever met her again, but I
lost it. My mother checked and said that I have no holes in my pocket.

Rachel : I am not psychic, but I felt that something would happen that night. Something
bad...

Matrise : I knew something was wrong the moment Delilah showed up at my doorstep at 2 and
asked to see Laila. She asked me whether Laila was alright because she ran
home earlier. I told her that Laila had been home the whole night. She insisted
that Laila had been talking to her. So I unlocked Laila's door to show her.

Rachel : I can't believe it. I still can't. I have lost my best friend.........

Beth : Delilah broke into tears. She sobbed over the phone, saying Laila's gone, she's
gone. I asked her what she meant. Delilah said Laila died on the night of the
reunion.

Delilah : Laila...that was the most unreal sight I've ever seen...A few hours before...I
swear...I saw her dancing with...Erik...he will tell you that he really did...
she was...lying on her...bed...in the white...dress...

Matrise : Doctors said she died naturally...how can a young healthy youth like her die
suddenly? How? It can't be...

Rachel : Delilah called me...she cried...she told me...and...I...went straightaway. Laila
...she looked so peaceful in a white gown...I thought she was sleeping...she...

Delilah : The paramedics came. They said...she died five hours earlier. Nine at night. At
the same time I saw her...She had came to the reunion...even when she died...

Rachel : Delilah told me that Laila did came to the reunion. Everyone won't believe her
save for me and Beth. We know how Laila acts. Those people sent Delilah to a
psychiatrist...

Erik : Laila did felt light in my arms. That was the odd thing I guess. Yesterday, a
girl called me...Yes, her name was Delilah. She wanted me to tell everyone that
I did danced with Laila that night. I don't know whether I want to tell everyone
that I danced with a spirit. Laila's last words still stirs me in my dreams.
That she loved me til she died...

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Please comment on my story! Also, if you ever experienced anything like the above story, please
tell me! Thanks!

~*LoL*~