Nadine Ferguson, a girl from Jon's school that had the reputation of being an uptight conservative "Bible-thumper", was walking home from her Bible study when she glanced over at the filthy Satanic store The Occult Stop. She watched two of those Goth freaks leaving the store and felt so disgusted by them. She began to continue on her way, but then suddenly stopped. She turned back towards the store and saw something in the window that grabbed her attention. She just had to have it.
So, she entered the store for the first time ever. She hoped no one saw her go in there. It would be hard to explain to her church-going friends why she was in such a wicked place.
The woman behind the counter looked surprised. It was a reasonable reaction. It wasn't every day that someone like Nadine entered a Goth store.
"Hello," Nadine said. "I was wondering, how much is that?" she asked, pointing in the direction of the thing that grabbed her attention.
"What are you pointing at?" Scarlet asked.
Nadine grunted, then walked over to the item and picked it up, then returned to the counter with it. "This."
Scarlet looked at it, then back up at the prim and proper girl, then back down at the item. "Are you sure you want this? I mean ..."
"How much is it?"
Scarlet told her the price.
"I'll take it then."
"Really? I don't think ..."
Nadine glared at her. "What? Is it because I'm not one of your Goth freak customers?"
"They're not freaks."
"Oh yes, they are. Freaks through-and-through."
Scarlet looked into her eyes. "They're not freaks."
Nadine was going to turn away in disgust, but she found herself looking right back into the woman's eyes. "They're ... not freaks."
"No, they're not. They're people, just like you and me."
"People."
"Uh huh."
Nadine shook her head, knocking herself out of Scarlet's hypnotic gaze. "Just let me buy this, okay?"
"Okay, sure." Scarlet just wanted this girl to leave. Seeing her in the store might scare off her usual customers.
And less than a minute later, Nadine was on her way out the door. She smiled, looking down into the shopping bag at her acquisition, which was ...
