The Dress

All she ever wanted was something that was precious. Something that would make her fit in and accepted wherever she walked into. She wasn’t selfish but it felt right to have something people envied but most important of all, made her special. Her wish came true when she was given a dress that fitted perfectly. It was sparkling white and she loved it. It was so beautiful the best place she felt best to keep it was in her closet, away from prying eyes but she knew she would have to wear in one day. The perfect outing came and she wore it. She looked graceful in it as she counted her steps into the venue. It was impossible for her not to be spotted and everyone admired the dress (more than her) BUT she didn’t mind. She was sipping a glass of red wine when a drop fell out of the cup. Everywhere went silent as the red liquid made contact with her dress. It was an unfortunate moment that was noticed. Her response was to run out of the place in tears, sobbing uncontrollably. She needed to get the spot off immediately. She used her most powerful detergent to wash remove the stain and she did a good job. Still, she was unsatisfied. In her head she could see the stain. She carefully placed the dress back in her closet regretting she wore it in the first place. She shut her closet never to wear it again.

Months later another event came up and she had to wear the dress again, she couldn’t deny the fact that she loved and missed the attention she got the last time she wore it. She got there and indeed she turned heads but it wasn’t like the first time, still, she was having a great time. The party had more vibe and was energetic. While she was expressing her dance moves she accidentally bumped into a waiter who had a tray with cups of champagne. She got some of the liquid content on her dress. Everyone waited for her attention and responded with a sigh of relief when she laughed it off. She felt bad but she knew what she had to do to get the stains off when she got home.

After two washes she could see the stain and this time it wasn’t just in her head. It looked like a map of Islands but it wasn’t that obvious. She left the dress on her bed hoping the stain would miraculously disappear and make her feel better. Few days later she had to do her laundry and had to get to the supermarket to get detergent but had nothing clean and acceptable to wear. She decided to wear that dress; it would just be for few minutes. On her way back she got muddy water on her dress courtesy a driver that drove fast over a puddle. She could only watch as the guy drove pass without any intention of stopping. She found comfort knowing she was about to do her laundry anyway. She got home and washed the dress the same as any other items. It was then she realised the dress had lost its original glow but it was still beautiful. Since she had bad experiences anytime she wore it outside her home she decided to only wear in indoors.

She had it on one day and as she was in a rush to get to the front of the TV from the kitchen, the dress got stuck to the door handle and gave a little rip. She immediately got a needle with tread and stitched it. Although she did a good job, it made the dress look ugly and from them on she began to wear it casually. She was about to sleep one night and decided to treat herself to a cup of coffee. Her had tripped the cup and had the content all over her kitchen counter. She stretched her right hand for a napkin to clean it up. Few seconds later she realised it was the dress she had picked up to clean up the mess. She remembered she had dropped it carelessly in the kitchen earlier in the day. Her mind flashed back to when she first had the beautiful dress and how a stain began to reduce that quality. The stains were accidents but she knew if she had washed the dress immediately the second one occurred the outcome would have been different. After cleaning the coffee stains she saw the label on the dress for the first time, ‘Conscience’.