"I could have sworn I locked that door," Arthur murmured, mostly to himself. He slowly looked around to get a look at who was at the door. "I guess I must have forgotten. Sorry, but we're closed." He said, this time directed at the woman standing at the door.
The woman was quite small and exuded an air of natural beauty. Her long brunette hair was in low bunches, cascading over her shoulders and tied loosely with red ribbons. Her floor-length turquoise-blue dress was fitted with a corset top, showing off her slim figure and a navy cloak hung around her shoulders. The neckline of the dress was lightly decorated with white lace and pearls. A grin crept across her face and she slowly started walking over towards Arthur.
"Well, well, isn't this a boring little shop we have here." She picked up a piece of embroidery between her forefinger and thumb as if she was holding a dirtied rag. "So very tasteless. And very, very boring." She dropped it on the floor, taking care to tread on it as she came very close to Arthur. "And you," she said as she walked her index finger and middle finger up his chest, "are by far the most boring thing in here." She let out a small giggle and pushed him hard backwards, giving more force than he would have though capable from a sweet looking girl like her. He managed to catch himself on the table and quickly righted himself.
Arthur was angry now. Here was some random woman, in his shop, insulting his work and had now assaulted him. He was not going to stand for this. He marched briskly to the door and pulled it open, using all of his willpower to try and stay calm.
"I'm afraid you will have to leave now," he said through bared teeth. "The door is over here – we're closed."
The woman threw her head back and laughed, hands on hips. "Either you don't realise who I am, or you're brave standing up to the Witch of the Waste. Either very brave, or very stupid. You can take your pick." Until that moment, Arthur had not realised who he had been dealing with. Suddenly he felt he had lost all control of the situation. He was worried.
Without warning, the girl grew, and now towering over Arthur, she looked very menacing. It appeared as though dark, transparent wings sprouted from her back, and she swooped forward, rushing straight through Arthur. He collapsed to the floor.
Looking up at the girl, she let out a small giggle again. "This spell really is a beauty – and the best part is, you'll be unable to tell anyone about it!" Then she pulled over a sewing stand next to her, sending cotton reels rolling everywhere. "Oops!" She said, holding one hand over her mouth and feigning sorrow for her action.
"Give my regards to Francis," she said with a grimace as she pulled the hood of her cloak up with a flourish and swept out of the door.
Slowly, Arthur crawled up onto his knees. That blow must have been worse than he thought – he was finding it a bit difficult to get up. He looked down, taking in a breath, ready to get himself back and standing, and then he saw his hands. He couldn't help but let out a surprised shout – they looked exactly like the hands of an old man.
Surely his imagination was just playing tricks on him? He pulled himself to a standing position and rubbed his eyes. He looked back at his hands and saw that they were still looking the same. He rubbed his eyes again harder, clawing at his face and then at his hair, although he didn't know how this was going to help. As his hands met his hair, he realised that his normally thick messy hair felt far too thin.
He stumbled over to the mirror and gasped – he really did look old. The man staring back at him could still be recognised as Arthur, but from what should have been well over fifty years into his future. His face was wrinkled and his hair thin and silver-white. Even his eyebrows seemed thinner and were also white.
"Is that really me?" He said to himself in horror. "Ok, ok, stay calm." He said and wandered away from the mirror and then back again. He didn't think it was going to work, but anything was worth a try.
"Stay calm," he repeated. "Come on, man up Arthur, you're not going to gain anything by just panicking." He planted his hands firmly onto the cabinet in front of the mirror and leaned in closer, staring straight into his eyes. The bright green was still exactly the same as it had been before. Almost as if they were the eyes of a young person staring out of an old man's body.
He sighed and leaned his forehead against that of his reflection. He was not going to get anywhere by just standing here. He turned around, shuffling towards the door, but dithered there, wandering back in and out again. Could he go out like this? Surely people would notice. But then he couldn't stay here all night. He had to do something, but right now he just had no idea what he could do.
So he decided that the only thing to do, would be to head home and get a night's sleep and think about things when they would be clearer in the morning.
Arthur was awoken by the sound of someone rushing up the stairs. He jolted up right, head reeling as he had sat up far too quickly for his body to automatically adjust to. He clutched his head as he heard someone trying to twist the doorknob. He was very glad he had thought to lock the door.
"Arthur? Are you in there?" He heard his mother's voice call on the other side of the door.
"Yes," he croaked, forgetting how different his voice sounded. "But don't come in, I have a terrible cold and really wouldn't want you to catch it." He lied quickly, hoping she wouldn't see through it.
"Oh love, you sound horrendous – just like an old man!"
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine," Arthur replied, hoping to get her away from him. He really couldn't risk her seeing him like this. "You go and get on. It would be awful if you caught this as well."
"Well, if you insist," she said reluctantly, and after a moment's pause, he heard the sound of her disappearing downstairs.
He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and hesitated before getting up and heading over to his bedroom mirror. Nothing had changed. He sighed.
"This really is me isn't it?" He looked himself over. "Well, I guess this really could be a lot worse – at least my clothes suit me now. Everyone did always say I looked like an old man." He chuckled, but it was strained.
"Well, there really is no way that I can stay here and I won't find a way to get this curse lifted if I just sit around here any longer." He slowly got dressed and then grabbed his coat and threw it around his shoulders, before checking no one was around and then heading downstairs.
His back cracked loudly. "Well isn't being old just a bundle of laughs," he murmured to no one, but just feeling the need to complain. He felt he had a right to make a fuss all he wanted. He headed towards the kitchen and stopped to decide what he should take. He really didn't want to be carrying much and so packed some bare essentials.
Arthur shut the door of his house quietly behind him and after taking a couple of steps, glanced back, wondering if the next time he would be here, whether he would be back to his normal self or not. He took in a deep breath and started walking. He was on a mission, and was not going to stop until he found a way to set things right.
"Excuse me sir, could you do with hand?" A young man offered him as he made his way down a flight of stairs.
"No thank you," he replied, and then under his breath, "not bloody likely. I may look like an old man, but I can cope perfectly fine on my own." The blow to Arthur's pride seemed to be worse than anything.
He headed into town, and at his new slower pace, it was taking far longer than he would ever have anticipated. Sitting in a street, was a cart carrying a large amount of hay, with a large carthorse standing obediently at its front. Arthur knew that this would be heading out towards the outskirts of town.
"There's room in the back if you'd like," the farmers owning the cart replied to Arthur's inquiries as to where they were going. "Where are you headed then?"
"Oh just a little bit farther than you," he said. Anything would be good – he knew he would never survive walking on old legs like these. He hopped onto the back of the cart and settled back into the bundles of straw, trying to find a comfortable place to sit. He put his coat around himself like a blanket.
After a slow and very uncomfortable journey through the town, and into the outer reaches, they finally came to a juddering halt.
"So this is as far as we're going," one of the men said to Arthur. "Are you sure you'll be alright on your own?"
"Yes, yes, I'll be fine," Arthur waved a hand, dismissively. "Thank you very much for your kindness." And he started making his way in the direction of the wastes.
The men realised where Arthur was going and called out to him. "Woah, mister, it'd be crazy you going out there on your own – you do realise that there's nothing but witches and wizards out there, right?"
"Thank you, I'll bear that in mind," he called back, not even turning around to reply. He knew he had a long journey ahead of him, and nothing was going to get in the way of him getting his body back to its normal state.
A/N: Morning guys! Thank you very much to my lovely reviewers: XxCapturetheLightxX, Vine8Ky, Miss Grenouille and ThePsychicAnimelovingBookworm.
I know this chapter was little bit longer in coming than the others, but now I've just returned to normal sixth form life, so . . . well, I have no idea when I'll get another chapter xD There are still things I need to sort out for later chapters and they're nagging at me for the time being OTL
"Seriously dude, why am I not in this yet?" "Have a little patience would you, Al." "But you should have like totally made me the main character!" "Would you really have wanted me to pair you with France?" ". . ." "onhonhonhon mon ami, we would make ze best couple evaaa" *casually gropes* "And what about the awesome me?" "Erm . . . yeah . . . you totally have a role . . . I have to go now" *runs off*
Thanks for reading everyone! *salutes*
