Shan decided she fancied a bit of fun, for a change.

After comparing notes with Stacey, she decided that one of the students staying in the village would be perfect for her side project.

Fiona Craig was a very dedicated Goth, keeping her makeup right all the time, even when at work; she did, however, only change into the full gear at weekends. Her corset, skirt and platform boots would have been a bit out of place in the dress shop where she worked.

Fiona was just leaving work when she spotted another Goth walking down the street.

She stopped dead; if she could have drooled without messing up her makeup, she would have done. She had never seen such beautiful clothing and makeup before. The black lace sunshade was incredible, as was the metal and latex corset, and the coffin-shaped black latex backpack was incredible.

The other woman just carried on walking and completely ignored her.

Fiona shook herself, to pull herself together then, before she knew it, she was following the woman down the street.

Walking quickly, she pulled up alongside the other woman.

“Hi”, she said. “I haven’t seen you around here before. Love the outfit…”

To her amazement, the woman ignored her again, just carrying on.

Fiona, desperate to find out where all the clothes and gear had come from, tried again.

“Could I please talk to you for a second?”, she asked.

As the woman was going to walk down an alley and ignore her again, Fiona lost her temper. The woman had everything that she’d ever wanted, and she was completely blanking her. It was so infuriating…!

“For fucks sake, talk to me!”, she cried, throwing caution to the winds and parking herself in front of the other woman.

The woman stopped, folded up her parasol, and stared down her nose at Fiona.

“And what are you supposed to be”, she said. “Playing at being a Goth, I see. No self-respecting one would ever wear clothes like that. The makeup is passable, at least…”

All this did was to make Fiona even more infuriated.

“I have to wear clothes like this because I work for a living”, she said.

As soon as she had opened her mouth, she knew she’d made a big mistake. She had insulted the other woman, as well as agreeing with what she had said in the first place.

She shuddered, bit her lip to stop herself from crying out loud and went to turn away.

“Ah, so you have actually got some spirit”, the woman said. “There’s hope for you yet. Come, sit and have tea with me. We’ll chat…”

The woman steered Fiona into the nearest coffee shop, and they both ordered drinks and sat.

After the rough start, the conversation went quite well. Then the woman said something that made Fiona gasp…

“Despite your earlier comment”, the woman said, with a smile on her face to show she was being light-hearted, “I also work for a living. However, what I do is design outfits like these…”

She used her hands to gesture at herself.

“All of my clothes are directly or indirectly based on my designs. They took a lot of time to put together. That’s why I ignored you at first, because I just thought you were playing at being a Goth.”

“No, no, no”, said Fiona, pulling out her phone. “Here, look…”

Fiona showed the woman some pictures of her in full ‘goth mode’.

“Not bad”, the woman said. She offered Fiona a card, with her business details on it.

“If you get time tomorrow, drop round”, she said. “I’ll get you measured, and you can try on some of my gear.”

“I’m off tomorrow”, Fiona said. “Would 10am be ok?”

“Sure, I’ll see you then.”

The woman got up to leave and as she did her lace gloved hand brushed against Fiona’s.

Fiona felt a shiver run through her, but it was one of anticipation…