It was another day for Barbara, a young adolescent who was hated by her peers for being ordinary. She obtained their disdain by maintaining her morbid sense of humor. Children openly mocked her, furrowing their brows, calling her names like unibrow, dog or troll. Most of the villagers of Dreadsville treated her with disdain, disgust, or acted plain rude. The only ones that treat her with kindess is her aunt Elizabeth, and Marvin.

On her way to the merchant, a dog barked at her, snarling. She responded with the same greeting by giving a menacing glare, emitting a guttural sound with a hiss, boring her onyx eyes, looming over the canine. The dog shrank and shivered, running away from the tall, barefooted girl. Her friend Marvin had a stand built out of wood, it was more of a wooden caravan without the horses. Stones were on the wheels to prevent the mobile store from moving, and a window was open. Below the window was a face of a monster carved on it, on top of the caravan was a sign that said: Marvin's Merchandise. 

Marvin traveled to a lot of villages, he doesn't stay there for too long since he got banished from most of them, mostly due to scamming most of his customers for selling useless junk or cursed objects. His mischievous nature only made him have a few loyal customers when it came to giving offers or bartering to keep his business afloat.

Barbara walked up to the caravan and knocked on the wood. A shadow shifed and approached to the light, and it was none other than merchant himself. "How can I help you?"

"I would like to buy a spindle, three threads, 12 pins, a pin cushion and six long candles." Barbara ordered.

Marvin bent down to open the drawers which the sewing products were stored, and walked five paces back to pick the candles from the second row of the shelf and put it on a sack with the two Ms sown across. He put his head out the window with the sack in his left hand. "That would cost you 8 pounds," he also grabbed a small net which held six apples, "and as a bonus, a net of apples, free of charge." The merchant added as he gave the apples. Barbara paid him.

"How nice. Did you get yourself into trouble again?" Barbara asked, the corners of her lips forming into a smirk.

"What's wrong? Can't a salesman be generous to a fellow customer?" Marvin queried, feigning with a small plastered on his face.

"Not unless it involves with some kind of favor." Barbara responded in a nearly melodious tone.

Marvin dropped the act. "Alright, you caught me...", he admitted as she smiled victoriously before leaning down to her level, "now listen, I'm having a little trouble with a certain goblin." He whispered.

"Figures," she interjected, "it's easy for you to get yourself into trouble. Did you forget what happened last time? A gang of leprechauns were after you for tricking them into giving you their gold in exchange for that fake clover."

No, he didn't forget. It was an eight leaf clover, a rarity in fact. To bad the spell wore off and the clover reverted back into an ivy.

"And the time the archer was hunting you down for giving him those useless arrows, claiming that it would hit their target guaranteed."

In his defense, the archer scared off his clients. The archer had been pursuing one of his faithful customers. He paid the favor he owed to a client by selling the archer the flimsy arrows that he had reserved for a gag. The archer swore vengeance upon him ever since.

"And the time you gave a group of travelers the wrong directions and led them astray."

He stifled a giggle when she mentioned it. He was bored without having any customers to attend that day until a group of travelers got lost. The one in charge of the group was too obstinate in following directions. Marvin took the opportunity to sell a broken compass he had at a very low price. He wore different disguises to confuse them and his voice acting was so good that he managed to scare one of them.

"And the time you sold the wrong luck charm to a knight, his luck got even worse."

He sold that cursed charm on purpose, the knight took all the attention from his potential customers away back when he traveled to Sardonia. The knight acted like a pompous prick, and decided to give him a lesson he would never forget. The Sardonic knight nearly lost his life during a joust, then Marvin got banished from that city.

"And the time when-"

"Alright! You made your point!" Marvin interrumpted her. "You know very well I can't be trusted, but I will let you in on a little secret..." He whispered in her ear, taking a rolled parchment from his pocket. "I found this map in an abandoned ship on a barren wasteland during my trip."

"So what? You always find useless junk in the middle of nowhere."

"No, this is diefferent. The map leads to a buried treasure in the ruins. The problem is that I can't read a single word on this acursed map." This piqued Barbara's interest.

"How do you know it's cursed?" She squinted at him, knowing how shifty Marvin can be.

"Most of what is written on the map has strange symbols, not to mention the dry blood stains."

"May I take a look?" Barbara requested.

"Sure." He was an inch away from giving her the map, then pulled it away from her. "On one condition..."

"What is it?"

"Deliver this to the goblin that lives in a cave at the Black Forest by tomorrow." Marvin hands her the crate. "This charm will help protect you against the mosters that lurk there." Then gave her a pendant with an olivine gem in the center.

"Is that all?" She asked him, annoyed.
"Pretty much." Marvin looked down at her, pursing his lower lip as if he was looking at a servant.

Barbara walked away, carrying the items he gave her before Marvin hollered. "By the way..."

Barbara turned her head to the side to look at Marvin's direction.

"...say hi to your alluring aunt for me!" He finished, biting his bottom lip and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Irate, she yelled. "You dog!" Then walked away, hearing Marvin's laughter until he was out of earshot.

*

Barbara brought the items into her aunt's house. She held the crate with one arm and opened the door. Inside, she rubbed the sole of her feet against the carpet.

"Good morning, aunt Elizabeth."

"Good morning, dearie." Elizabeth replied while sewing the lace of a dress that she has been working on by hand. A fuchsia dress with white lace and rose frills.

Barbara walked past her to leave the crate on one of the tables along with the sewing products that she bought from Marvin. "I bought the spindle that you asked for."

"Good." Elizabeth replied, "Dearie, would you mind helping me look for the shears? I may have left it in the counter." Her niece helped her look.

"Is not on the counter." She bent down to the floor and pulled out the baskets to check while Elizabeth looked for it on the shelves.

"Where could it be?" Elizabeth muttered to herself, rummaging through her stuff. Barbara saw that her aunt was in a haggard state, her neatly dark graying hair was usually wrapped in a bun but it looked like the ribbon of her hair was loosened and her hair unkempt. The side of her fringe looked messy and some of her strands had split ends.

Elizabeth walked to another table to check. Barbara noticed a metallic object peeking out of the pocket of her apron.

"Where did I drop those shears?!" She queried, becoming irked by the minute.

"Uh... Auntie."

She heard the slam mixed with the cluttering noise. Her aunt's blue eyes brimmed with anger. "Where is it?!"

"Auntie! It's in your front pocket!" Barbara exclaimed, pointing at her apron not afar off. Her aunt blinked twice before looking down on the pocket.

"Oh." She removed the shears from her pocket, then sighed in relief. Then she left the shears on the counter before sitting down on her chair, putting her hand on her forehead, pinching her temple. Barbara walked up to her. "I have been overworked lately, I barely have the time to rest. I still need to sew the next four gowns, sweep the floor and the chimney, clean the dishes. Not to mention-"

"You've done enough. What you need now is a nice bath and some rest. I will do the rest of the chores." Barbara laid a hand on her aunt's shoulder, giving her a warm smile. The soothing silence only lasted for several seconds before Barbara noticed something.

She wasn't here.

"Speaking of chores, where is Cathy?"

"She fell ill five days ago when she caught the flu and haven't heard from her since."

"Well that's odd, I saw Cathy yesterday and she looked just fine!" Barbara's serene expression reverted into an furrowed scowl.

"You don't think-"

"THAT TRECHEROUS TRAMP!!!"