Forever Barefoot Girl - Chapter 1

Allison walked down the street on a freezing winter night. She was really bundled up... she hated the cold.  But, she had to go to this party... she was obligated. She was too timid to say no. Her feet were extra bundled up... they were extremely sensitive... even with socks and boots on, they'd still feel a bit cold, so she wore an extra pair of socks too... just to be safe. She kept walking, curing to herself that she didn't have enough money on her to take the bus. She walked, when she saw a strange sight... a glint in the snow. She walked over to investigate. She noticed it was a tiny person. She picked the person up, and saw it was a fairy. "Hello!" the fairy said, "Can you help me? I need to get back home..." "Hmm..." Allison thought about it, then kept walking. The fairy followed. "Please? It would only take a moment." She thought some more, then turned to the fairy. "I'm sorry... I would like to, but I have to get to a party..." "A party, hmm? So, that is more important!?" "Um, n-no, I... I'm just, cold, that's all... I'd like to get there sooner rather than later, so that I can get inside..." "Hmm... well, why are you walking?" "I don't have a car, and I don't have enough for the bus..." "Hmm... how about this?" The fairy smirked and waved her wand.

Suddenly, Allison's footwear disappeared, leaving her barefoot on the freezing snow. "H-huh!?" She noticed it suddenly and screamed, running to try and get out of the snow, only to trip on an icy patch and fall on her ass. "W-what the hell!? Why did you do this!? What is this!?" "Motivation." "Huh!?" "Now you'll be motivated to move faster." Allison carefully and slowly stood up, feeling the chill on her sensitive bare feet. "Aah... s-son of a bitch, that's cold..." "Then you'd better get moving... if you don't want them to freeze." She looked at the fairy and nodded, continuing to move. She walked quickly, thought looked around. "Oh no... where am I?" She had gotten lost in her barefoot confusion. She looked around, trying to see where the party was. Her feet got colder as she stood still, so she knew she had to get moving. She decided on a direction and went that way, finally getting back on track. "Heh... now, girl, if you try to put on any footwear before you get to the party, it will not work... whatever you put on them will disappear. But, I shall get rid of that as soon as-" The fairy stopped in mid-sentence as she was hit by a truck. "W-what!? No!" She heard nothing from the fairy. She was stuck like that.

She kept going and finally reached the party. "Ahh... good, I'm he-" she froze, seeing the one thing she dreaded... the party was outside. "Hey, Allison!" someone yelled out. It was her sister, Rose. "You wanna- woah..." she saw the poor girl's bare feet in the snow. "Are you okay? Doesn't that hurt?" she motioned down to them. "Um, y-yeah, it does... I was cursed by a fairy... I can't wear anything on my feet..." "Hmm... well, that sucks. Anyway, we've got a bunch of great things here..." One of her friends called out to her. "Hey Allison, c'mere!" She ran over there quickly, trying to keep her feet out of the snow. Her friend, not bothering to look down, motioned for her to follow him. "C'mon, I just found this huge, badass patch of ice! Come slide on it with me!" "Um... no thanks..." She knew the ice would be colder than the snow. "C'mon, why not!?" She pointed down. "Oh... well, it won't be that bad... c'mon, only, like, a minute, alright?" She reluctantly nodded and walked forward onto the ice. She gasped. "...Ooh, that's cold..." Her feet turning a bright red from exposure already, she knew she couldn't spend long on the ice. She looked around for anything... any warm surface she could rest her feet on, but found nothing. She shivered and stepped off the ice. Her sister came by. "Hey, Allison, that looks pretty cold... you mind if I take a look?" "Um, sure, Rose... go ahead..." Rose nodded and lifted one of Allison's feet from behind. Her soles were bright red from exposure, and there was frost forming on her toes. "Ooh, that doesn't look good... you'd better come and sit down." She motioned for Allison to follow her and she did.

"...Ow!" she realized she had stepped on something sharp. "What the hell!?" "Oh yeah... watch out... there are pine trees here... could be dropping pinecones... plus, they'd be buried under the snow." She kept walking, eventually getting to a bench. "Have a seat." Allison went over and sat, picking her feet up one at a time and warming them in her hands. "Ooh... cold..." "Yeah... snow tends to do that..." She laughed a bit. "N-not funny, Rose... my feet are freezing!" Rose nodded. "I'm sure they are, but you promised Roy you'd come to this party... it means a lot to him." "I know... just... why did it have to be in a park!?" "I don't know... ask him... if he ever shows up..." "What!?" "Yeah... apparently, the party doesn't 'officially' start until Roy gets here." "Oh god, my feet are gonna freeze!" "I'm sure you'll be fine... now c'mon... let's get back to the party." Allison nodded and stood up, gasping a bit when her feet hit the snow. "Aah..." her soles now pink instead of red, her feet were now warmer... marginally. "Alright," Rose said, "Now, from what I've been told, we have about 5 minutes to kill until Roy arrives, so... you wanna pick something to do?" "...Sure, I guess..." she looked around and saw a table with a punchbowl. "Punch? Why do we have punch? It's, like, 20 below! Won't it freeze?" "Yeah, probably... but it's a party standard, y'know? We also have multiple kegs and some water bottles in case anyone gets thirsty." "Great," she said, "Couldn't've had any warm drinks, huh?" Rose laughed a bit, Allison jogging in place to get her feet out of the snow temporarily. "Oh, god... um, I don't know, let's just..." Suddenly someone bumped into her, spilling his freezing cold beer down, all over her feet. "Aah!" she felt the ice cubes trickle down and onto the ground. "Heh... sorry, brah." He was clearly drunk. Allison shivered and put one foot on top of the other. "G-god dammit... why is it so cold!?" "Um... 'cause it's February?" "...Right..."

They decided on something to do and joined in on the pre-party game of horseshoes. "Alright, we win!" Allison and Rose were on a team. "Hey, could you maybe go and get those, please?" Allison nodded and went over, not seeing one, stepping on it. Not only was it painful... since it was metal, it was a huge conductor of cold. "Oh, f-fuck!" She jumped off of it. "Ooh... th-that's frigid..." "Hey, sis... how's it coming?" Rose went up and asked her. She looked down at her sister's freezing bare feet, now red from cold again, and assumed for herself. "Ah..." the 2 picked up the horseshoes and went back. Suddenly a car pulled up, and a man got out, wearing a very formal-looking suit and tie, with a fur coat on, and some very nice boots, along with heavy-looking formal pants. "Oh, look!" Rose said, "Roy's here!"