Macabre: the Gothic Boutique [1st draft]

Chapter 02

I cocked my head to the side, examining the chain of tiny shops decorated with orange and black lights. A few stores even had carved pumpkins with cat patterns and witches sitting on their steps, but none showed such festivity as Macabre. To others it may have stood out like a sore thumb, but I found it quite pleasing and very festive. The carefully placed cotton webbing, with plastic black spiders scattered in it, clung to the corner of the display window, and just beyond that window, inside was a dry ice grave yard. Complete with skeletons and seriously real looking RIP gravestones. In the corner, opposite the spider webbing, was a black pointed coffin with a silver pinstripe going down and horizontally forming a cross over its surface. It was fully adult sized.

"Wow," I said in awe, taking a slightly exaggerated giant leap over the side walk curb to get a closer look through the window. "How is this place empty?"

Maggie peered in, cupping her hand over her forehead to avoid the glint of light as she scanned the inside of the store. "This is Nah'lins," she said, trying to mimic the accent. "People are highly superstitious of this stuff."

"Not everyone is," I said.

Maggie shrugged, reaching towards my arm, she tucked her own in mine, locking our elbows together, before tugging me towards the door. "We didn't grow up here A.B., we don't know that. It's a different area, people believe different things here. They eat different too," she said, absent mindedly patting her slightly rounded stomach. "I've gained over ten pounds since we moved here."

"God, I thought it was just me," I said with relief and patted my own stomach, wiggling my eyebrows at Maggie as she rolled her eyes.

She reached up with her free arm and flicked the tip of my nose. "You should've put your nose ring in. It's the one place people find it acceptable."

I couldn't wear the septum piercing at work so I had to take it out, but Maggie didn't exactly give me a lot of time when I'd gotten home to put it back in. I'd barely managed tennis shoes and a jacket. I shrugged and pushed the door.

The door opened and a ding sounded above our heads. On instinct, I glanced up only to be greeted by a dropping spider. I let out an eep of surprise, but Maggie squealed loudly and ran towards the middle of the store, which happened to be next to a stand that advertised fake vampire teeth and key chain coffins. Laughter trickled out and vibrated my throat as I calmly, yet smugly, sauntered over to her. She looked frazzled as she clutched her chest, her pink mini pocket t-shirt bunched in her fists, and her cheeks flushed with a mixture of fear and embarrassment.

"It's not funny," she said with a whine and then stomped her foot childishly. "I hate spiders."

"Actually, it was hilarious. And I'm going to buy one."

Maggie scoffed and turned towards the miniature silver key chain coffins. "So you can buy stuff, but I can't?"

"Mags, that spider's like ten, fifteen bucks tops. You're talking about over $600 dollars. Don't forget that mandatory physical either. That's about $54 a piece too, maybe more considering Macabre is probably getting a physician from a privately owned practice. Think about it, would you pay over $700 for a fake purse?"

My financial reasoning was sound and it had saved Maggie more times than not from her father and her own insane spending habits. It was also probably the only reason Maggie's father allowed her to be friends with the Podunk girl from the wrong side of town whose parents lived pay check to pay check and allowed their daughter to get a nose ring. Not to mention the hair...the day I met him I happened to look like a bad version of Sailor Neptune. Even now I colored my normally black hair, but working in a nursing home requires it not be as vivid. So I settled with coloring the bottom tips of my long curly hair. This week was purple.