Beyond the Broken Angel

CHAPTER SIX

— gastrell & butler —

July 18th, 1937

BACK IN HER sophomore year of high school, Giselle's former best friend, Lacey Thomas, convinced her to go to a senior party she had scored an invite to.

Giselle had been against it at first, wanting to spend her Friday night at home in bed binge-watching a good TV show rather than be crammed in a house with sweaty teenagers and rap music. But, Lacey Thomas was the type of person that didn't take 'no' for a answer, which led Giselle to eventually add the word 'former' to Lacey's title of best friend years later.

One thing Lacey couldn't convince Giselle to do was wear something skimpy, which was why the girl showed up at the rager in jeans and a simple blouse.

She remembered feeling very out of place as she walked into the dark room, sticking out like a sore thumb and getting tossed around by drunk teenagers and having to yell in order to be heard over the blaring music.

She felt similar to how she felt then as she walked into Gastrell & Butler's Department Store with Selene flanking her side. The store was located in a larger town named Frobisher, which apparently was the town everyone from Gentilly went to when they needed something.

Even though Giselle was dressed in era-appropriate clothes, she still felt incredibly out of place as she took in all that 1937 had to offer.

People passed her by without sparing her a second glance as she stared openly at them, their clothing, and gaped at the fact that most of them were dead in her time.

She was also taken aback by how nice and neat everything and everyone was. The shelves were stocked to perfection, everything perfectly straight and in place. People were dressed in their finest. All women wore makeup. All men wore dress shoes.

It almost seemed like a movie.

The remaining doubts that had clung to the neurons in her brain slowly faded away as her eyes flicked around the store. There was no disputing the time travel story. Selene was right. It was the truth, and there was no way around it.

She stopped when the gravity of the truth finally weighed on her.

"Giselle?" Selene questioned, slowing to a stop and looking back at her younger cousin. "You okay?"

Giselle nodded. "Yeah. I—It all just hit me."

She met Selene's eyes, finding understanding there. Of course she would. The women knew exactly what Giselle was thinking. She had done this all before.

"You'll get used to it," Selene assured her.  "Just be lucky you're in a more modern time than where I ended up so many years ago. People traveled by horse and buggy, and I had to wear a corset. A corset, Giselle!"

Giselle felt her eyes widen, suddenly grateful for being dumped in the 30s instead of somewhere worse.

Selene waved her hand forward. "Come on, the women's section is over here."

Giselle struggled to keep up with Selene's long strides, the too-big heels the woman had loaned her making it a feat.

Selene had graciously given Giselle her clothes to wear for the time being, which made Giselle feel like a little girl playing dress up in her mother's closet.

Selene was tall for a women, with her lanky limbs and long torso. It made her clothes ill-fitting to Giselle's smaller frame, which, in turn, made the idea of shopping for new clothes all the more appealing.