Macabre: the Gothic Boutique [1st draft]

Chapter 01

As I pulled into the parking lot my apartment complex provided, I couldn't help but notice that the difference between the previous parking lot and mine were extreme. I could feel my heart sink into my gut. It simply was a portrayal of my poverty stricken life; the reminder was only slightly devastating. Where the nursing home was dusted black and fairly large, the pavement in parking lot E was small, filled with broken surfaces of pebbled concrete and green weeds infesting every crack. The apartment complexes weren't fairing too well either. Patches of grass in mud was my yard. And the dirty tan and tacky light blue siding on the buildings were peeling from age.

I swiftly turned into my parking space, the one good aspect about the parking lot were the designated spaces for residents and guests. Turning the car off, I quickly took the keys out of the ignition and clinked the loose seat belt out of its buckle. I swiveled around and reached in the back for my work bag and, on a whim, decided to grab the crumpled piece of purple paper.

We couldn't afford the ridiculously priced events, but it was still a boutique, so they had to sell other things. It seemed right up Maggie's alley, mine too for that matter, especially with Halloween a week away. Maybe with some coaxing this could be our Friday night escapade instead of the usual dance, drink, barf. Anything was better then that. Being stuck in the bathroom holding Maggie's hair for her all night wasn't supposed to be the highlight of my weekends.

"Annabelle, you're home." A gleeful muffled voice vibrated past my window, followed by a rather obnoxious knock that rattled the car door.

I quickly rolled down my window with a scowl. "Hey, easy on the merchandise."

Maggie flipped her obscenely high brown ponytail and bent down to eye level, her hazel eyes twinkling with excitement. "Be ready an hour early tonight. The best idea ever landed on my windshield and I swear I was picked exclusively because the parking lot I happened to be in was packed, yet only my car had it."

Settling more comfortably in my seat, I raised an eyebrow skeptically. "And what is this idea?"

She opened her Coach bag and fished out a purple piece of paper that looked suspiciously like the gaudy piece of work I'd gotten on my windshield.

"Macabre the Gothic Boutique," she started, but I stopped her by holding up a finger and wiggling my own identical advertisement in her face.

"I got one too," I said with a teasing smile. "You aren't special."

With a harrumph she scowled down at me folding her arms across her rather ample chest and her body jiggled slightly, like she was tapping her foot against the concrete. "Daddy sent money to pay my credit card off."

I groaned, but refrained from dropping my forehead onto the steering wheel. "Which one? And are you going to actually pay it this time?"

"The big one," Maggie said, her eyes widening as she dropped her voice for emphasis.

I blinked, surprised at the information. Maggie's father was rich, but a tight wad and he'd been refusing to pay 'the big one,' claiming Maggie needed to pay it off herself since she'd decided to follow me to New Orleans, something he had not wanted her to do. Following me wasn't the only thing she did either, she also decided to take time off from school. Sometimes it rubbed me the wrong way that she had chosen to take a break from school. For her it was a decision, she had the means to go, whereas I had no choice. I had to save up money.