It's Just Fashion

"Lighten up, it's just fashion."
- Michael Kors

"You have to buy it," the salesclerk said with the biggest smile on her face. It was the obvious way of trying to sell something, but she did it so well.

"I don't know," Renee sighed as she studied herself in the mirror again. She admired how the blouse flowed elegantly over her torso as she tried it on. It was a nice shirt. It was nicer than any shirt she had before. But she had hesitations about it. It cost more than she would care to pay for one piece of clothing.

"It looks so beautiful with your skin tone, though," the salesclerk continued. "And it compliments your hair color perfectly."

"Yeah..." Renee agreed as she admired those facts, "...but I just don't know. I don't really have anything special coming up for me to wear this."

"You don't need to have something special to wear it." The salesclerk pressed out some wrinkles in her own shirt as she did her best to persuade this obviously parsimonious customer. "It's a lovely shirt to wear to work, or for a night out on the town, or..." The salesclerk paused as she looked at the customer's former shirt laying on the bench. It was some anime t-shirt. She had nearly choked upon first sight of seeing it, and she had nearly choked again upon remembering it. "Or can be used for everyday wear."

Renee did indeed like the shirt. The cream colored material with ruby-tinted swirls and circles was quite stunning. It made her look so sophisticated, so alluring and beautiful. It was the price that had made her uneasy about buying it, though. Normally she wouldn't even consider paying so much for a shirt, but with her new promotion she could afford nicer things. And she wanted to buy nicer things. She may never buy a shirt for this much again, but she did think it right for her first higher than normal purchase to stand out. With a sigh, Renee realized it was a step in the right direction. "I'll take it."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Renee carefully pulled the shirt out of the shopping bag once she was back home and in her bedroom. Even in the poor light of her house the shirt still had its ethereal quality to it. She ran her fingers over the smooth, silky material. It even felt beautiful.

"I can wear it on the date with Chad tomorrow night," she reminded herself. That alone made it worth buying. It would be their fifth date. She thought it would compliment his good looks and attire when they were out at a restaurant or some nice place.

Renee was good looking, but she had never been with someone like Chad. He was a real man, a grown up man, who wore nice shirts and ties. He was handsome and kept in fairly good shape. She was use to dating more childish men, some that even still lived at home or with old frat buddies. She was lucky that her friend Courtney had introduced her to Chad. She needed to move on in life and stop being a kid herself. At the age of 34, she was done dating deadbeats. She was becoming successful herself, and it was annoying to have to be the one paying for dinner.

Renee walked over to her closet and cleared a space for the shirt in the center. As she hung it onto the bar, she immediately noticed that it was out of place. Besides some business suits for work, a dress for a friend's wedding and a few nice pair of shoes, nothing in her closet seemed to be near the same quality as the blouse.

Most of her wardrobe consisted of graphic t-shirts she had gathered through the years. She was a big fan of anime and many other cartoons. Her friends always teased her about being a teenager in a woman's body, but she didn't care. She couldn't change her personality. But she could change her style. Renee thought a few nice pieces would spruce up her wardrobe.

Satisfied once more with her decision, Renee closed the closet door and went down stairs to make some supper and watch some TV. She would definitely have to call Courtney about this and tell her all the details.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next morning Renee woke up to a surprising find on her bedroom floor. As she placed her feet on the ground and got ready to walk to the bathroom for a shower, her little toes were greeted by the feeling of a t-shirt on the floor. It was a surprise since she was a very neat person and never left clothing hanging around.

When Renee looked down to see what it was exactly, she realized it was her t-shirt from the day before. But it was not simply just laying there as if she had dropped it and forgotten about it. The shirt was torn, ripped up with tiny shreds scattered across the floor. It was a most confusing sight.

Renee's skin shivered as she wondered what could of done something like this. Her first thought, and the most logical, was a mouse. She quickly withdrew her legs from the ground and tucked them under her body on the bed. The thought of a mouse running around in her home didn't set well with her. She loved animals, but she hated rodents. Even pet mice freaked her out.

The woman scanned her bedroom floor for the culprit. She saw no signs of it, though. The mouse had obviously done its work and gone to find other little devious things to amuse itself. Not letting a mouse stop her from having a good day at work and a better night with Chad, Renee quickly got out of bed and ran for the bathroom. She would clean up the mess later.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"And you live here by yourself?" Chad asked as he followed Renee up to her bedroom. The date had been a success.

"Yep," Renee replied nervously. "I fell in love with the neighborhood. It's a bit big for one person, but it's not as expensive as people think."

"It's a nice place," Chad replied.

When they reached her bedroom door, Renee turned back around to say something. She was stopped though as Chad leaned in and gave her a kiss on the lips. It was deep and passionate. When it was over, Chad withdrew slightly and paused. He was waiting to see her reaction, to make sure this is what she wanted. Renee responded with a kiss back.

The two walked into the room with lips still locked. Their fingers undid each other's shirts as they backed up further into the room. Renee stopped suddenly when she noticed something strange out of the corner of her eye.

Under her dresser she could see scraps of clothing. It reminded her of her shirt from earlier. It wasn't that though since she had cleaned it up before work. Renee realized it was a pair of socks. They too looked like they had been chewed and torn by the mouse. They were fuzzy green and pink socks, her favorite to wear around the house on cold days. But now they were just a pile of fuzz scattered over the wooden floor.

"Something wrong?" Chad asked after drawing back from the kiss once again.

"Huh?" Renee responded in a confused voice. Her eyes darted back to him quickly, hoping his own gaze wouldn't trail off and eye the mess. Renee wasn't going to let a silly little mouse ruin her date. "Oh, no, nothing at all. I was just..."

"Forgot to tidy up this morning?" Chad teased. "Please, don't worry. Your house isn't even close to being messy. My apartment on the other hand..." Renee smiled at this, and then the two were back to kissing.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The weekend went by without another incident. On the next Monday though, weirdness had returned to Renee's place. When Renee got home from work, she noticed instantly something was wrong. Her first clue was the black thread lying on her living room floor.

Renee's eyes followed the thread and noticed it went up the stairs. She placed her jacket and pocketbook on a chair and decided to follow the strange dark line. She cautiously walked up the stairs and across the second floor hallway. The thread lead to her bedroom, and so that was where she went. She gulped nervously as she entered, hoping not to be startled by this stupid mouse. But she knew at the first sight of it she would probably scream.

There was no mouse, though. At least, there was no mouse in the bedroom. All there was, on the floor of course, were the remains of some black and white object. That was what the thread led to.

Scanning the floor once more just to be safe, Renee proceeded to the piece of clothing. From a distance she wasn't sure what it was. She didn't own a lot of black. But as she got closer she knew it wasn't hers. Still, she recognized it. It was a scarf. Chad's scarf to be exact. It was a black scarf with little dancing snowmen on it. She thought it ironic, really. He was such a sharp dresser for the most part, and yet he had an almost childish scarf that he seemed to wear all the time.

Suddenly a creak of her closet door caught her attention. She nearly jumped when she heard it. The door was nudged open just slightly and she never left it open. The mouse must've done it. Or maybe it wasn't a mouse.

Renee's mind played with the possibility of it being a person in there. Her heart beat quicker at the thought. Someone playing cruel jokes on her, cutting up clothing, trying to scare her. "Someone there?" she called out.

There was no response. Not even a chuckle, or a sigh, or a heavy breath. "Courtney, is that you?" Renee asked. She thought her the most obvious suspect. Courtney wasn't really a prankster, but given the opportunity she just might take a chance. And since Renee had told Courtney about buying the blouse and thinking of trying to change her style a bit, this would've been the perfect joke.

Renee took a step forward. Courtney would've revealed herself. Courtney would've hid just long enough for Renee to see the torn clothing, then she'd probably pop out of her hiding spot laughing. Renee then wondered if it was one of her neighbor's kids. They always liked to play pranks on the residents of the streets: a dead frog on the front porch, a comical devil face smudged on a window, a stuffed dummy in the trashcan... those kind of things.

"Timmy? Kevin? Is that you?" Renee walked closer still. "Come on out. This isn't funny. I'll tell your mother!" No response again.

Renee grabbed a heavy book from her nightstand nearby before proceeding to the closet. If it wasn't Courtney, or Timmy, or Kevin, then she wasn't quite sure it was someone she knew. Mere inches from the door she took in a heavy breath and prepared herself.

She flung the door open and lifted the book up. There was nothing. There was nothing but her clothes in the closet. Renee let out a deep sigh of relief.

Movement caught her eye. She looked up just in time to see a blur of red coming at her. Renee quickly stumbled back away from the closet and screamed, dropping her book in the panic and falling onto her bed. "Please no!" she cried out as she put her arms up before her for protection.

Renee waited in that position for a good half a minute before she got the courage to look again. She saw no one. She heard no one. Her breathing slowly subdued when she noticed what the red was. One of her shirts, a red one with cartoon flowers on it, laid on the ground before her. It had clearly fallen from her closet.

Before she could walk over to pick it up, the phone rang. She jumped with a sudden startle by the noise. Her fingers hovered over it timidly, then she quickly answered. "Hello?" she practically gasped.

"Hey Renee, it's Chad."

"Oh, hey Chad." Renee let out a sigh of relief.

"Is, uh, something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine. Just... kind of tired, that's all. How are you?"

"Fine, thanks. I was just wondering, calling to see if I left my scarf there the other night?"

"Your scarf?" Renee's gaze quickly fell back onto the shredded remains of the scarf on the floor.

"Yeah. It was black, with dancing snowmen on it. My grandmother had made it for me. Kind of... well, kind of sentimental. I was hoping I had just forgotten it at your house. I can't find it anywhere."

Renee paused. She couldn't tell him the truth, not when she knew what it was. "No," she lied. "No, it's not here. I haven't seen it at least, but I'll keep an eye out for it."

"OK, thanks. Oh, by the way. Well, I was going to see if you wanted to go to the movies tonight, but if you're too tired..."

"No, not at all," Renee interrupted. "The movies sound great. I could use some time out of this house."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Are you sure there's no mouse?" Renee asked the man as he packed up his supplies and got ready to leave. She couldn't accept this as the answer. There had to be a mouse, or else she wasn't sure what was making a mess of her clothing.

"Yes ma'am, I'm sure there's no mouse," the slightly overweight and scruffy exterminator replied. "I've checked every room... twice. There wasn't even so much as a stool dropping. Your house is perfectly mouse free."

"Well then, thank you, and I'm sorry about wasting your time."

"It's perfectly fine," the exterminator assured her. "That's my job. Better to check it out before it becomes a..." His sentence was interrupted by a loud crash coming from the upstairs. Both turned to look at the second floor, then back at each other. Renee quickly rushed up to her bedroom, the source of the noise, with the exterminator following close behind.

The source of the noise was a dresser drawer hitting the ground. It sat there on the floor, the clothing ruffled up a bit from the fall, but at least none of it had fallen out of th drawer.

"Did you forget to close a drawer?" the exterminator asked as he watched Renee walk over to it. He still wasn't convinced that there was a mouse in her home. There were no signs, and a falling drawer was hardly a good one.

Renee ignored his question as she bent down and examined the contents of the drawer. Everything seemed to be in tact at first glance, but upon shifting through the clothing she noticed some loose yellow threads. Renee pulled out her bathing suit, a one-piece orange with yellow suns bathing suit. It was ripped up like the clothing before.

Renee stood up and held the bathing suit out for the exterminator to see. "Still think I don't have a mouse problem?"

The exterminator examined it, but the case was closed. "You don't. Those aren't chew marks. It looks like something cut into it, or ripped it." There was a pause as the words settled into Renee's head, and then the exterminator suggested what she had even really thought of or believed in. "Maybe your house is haunted."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"I love you, Renee. You're my best friend. But you can't keep sleeping at my house," Courtney informed her friend as she gathered some snacks and put them on the tray beside the glasses of tea. "This is just silly though. You're house isn't haunted. Houses aren't haunted."

"Then why is there a paranormal investigator waiting in my living room? Need I remind you that it was you that made this appointment and not me?"

"To show you how ridiculous all of this is. She'll tell you your house is perfectly fine, we'll laugh about it when she leaves, and everything will go back to normal."

"I hope you're right," Renee said as she followed Courtney back into the living room with the tray. An older woman, the investigator, was sitting on the couch neatly with her hands over her lap. She smiled when the two others returned. "Sorry for the wait."

"It is completely fine," the woman assured her as she watched the tray being placed carefully down on the coffee table. She took the cup of tea closes to her and sipped on it. "Very delicious tea. Spice flavored?"

"Orange spice," Renee replied.

The woman took another sip. "Oh yes, I do taste the orange now. Quite delicious indeed. Now please, where were we? You were saying about how there was a fallen drawer too?"

"Yes. I had thought it was a mouse, or mice. An exterminator was here checking out the house." The investigator gave her an almost disapproving look but she did not say anything. Renee went on. "We heard a crash, and when we went up to my room there was one of my dresser drawers on the ground. And my bathing suit was ripped up inside."

"And all of this happens in your bedroom?" the woman continued the questionnaire. Her face went back to the more curious and sensitive expression she seemed to have naturally.

"Besides the scarf."

"Oh right, the scarf," the investigator repeated. "Yes. It was started down here, but ended up in your bedroom?" Renee nodded her head. "I think it would be best if I saw this bedroom of yours. It seems to be the center point of the paranormal in this house. It may just be the gateway to whatever has settled here from worlds unknown. If you don't mind of course."

"Not at all," Renee informed her as she stood up. She led the woman up to her bedroom and Courtney followed behind.

The woman walked around a bit in the room. She was quiet for a few minutes as she just scanned and got a feeling for the room. After that she started to nod her head as if she was understanding something. "Oh yes. Yes," she started. "There is a presence here. A dark one. I can feel its coldness on me."

Courtney just shot her friend a look, as if to say 'is she for real?' but Renee ignored it and focused back on her other guest. "Can you really?"

"It's bitter, angry about something. Something in this house disturbs it. But it wasn't here before you. It came some time recently. It's not angry at you, though. At least not angry in that it wants to harm you. It wants to... help you. Yes, that's what it's saying. It wants to help you."

Renee was about to ask a question, when the women turned suddenly and pointed to the closet. "Oh!" she gasps. "It's in there! I can feel it! It aches in there! Calling out to me."

"In the closet?" Courtney mocked. She gave Renee another look and then walked over to the closet. Courtney opened it up casually, causing the investigator to gasp and cover her eyes as if the Devil himself was there. Courtney walked back over to her friend and gave her a third look.

"So, what is it?" Renee asked.

The woman walked closer to the closet with her arms still defensively before her. "Oh, it is horrible. It breathes hatred. Its eyes gaze at me with the piercing strength of a thousand daggers! Oh vile beast, show yourself. Show yourself to the world!"

The woman paused for a second before the closet, then reached out and quickly pushed at the clothing. She separated them into a left and right section on the rack, leaving a large gap in the middle. The gap wasn't empty though. The lone piece of clothing in the center was the expensive and newly bought blouse. "There!" the woman shrieked. "Oh, you foul creature." She pulled her mustard colored shawl tighter against her body. "Don't... look... at me!" The woman suddenly slammed the door shut.

Renee and Courtney jumped with a startle from the slamming door. The woman pressed herself tightly against the closet door and slowly regained her breath back. Her hand rested on her chest as she gathered herself once more and then looked at the two younger women. "You must destroy it!"

"But you said it wanted to help me," Renee pointed out in a confused expression.

"I was wrong," the woman replied. "You must destroy it. You must!" Then with a look of dignity and false self-respect, the woman stormed out of the room.

"Clearly she's not a fan of good taste," Courtney whispered out of the side of her mouth. "I hope you don't believe her."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Renee tossed and turned in her bed. She couldn't sleep. It had been a week since the paranormal investigator had been to her house. Things hadn't gotten any better. Sure, Renee was comfortable sleeping in her bed at night, but she still was bothered by the torn clothing she found every morning and evening.

Since the investigator had come and gone, a large chunk of Renee's wardrobe was now in the trash. Twelve t-shirts, five pairs of pants, two pairs of shoes, a jacket and even a belt had all been mutilated and torn to bits. A lot of it was her anime and cartoon stuff. A lot of it was just cheap little things she bought for the fun of it. Her paychecks would soon be going to buy a whole new wardrobe it seemed.

Was the investigator right? Was there even a shred of truth in what she said? She seemed like a whack job, yelling at the blouse and blaming everything on it. Maybe Courtney was right. Maybe it was just... something else. Renee wished she had a logical explanation for all of what was happening. There was none, though.

As Renee laid there awake, she could softly hear sounds coming from her closet. Her body shivered at what she guessed was clothing being torn and ripped apart. As frightening as it was, she knew that this was her chance to catch whatever was going on. This was her opportunity.

Renee reached over silently and turned on the light. The sounds from the closet quickly stopped. The young woman slowly got out of her bed and walked over to the closet. The coolness of the room tickled her bare legs as her long t-shirt swayed with each step. Her bare feet traveled softly across the wooden floor, their slow pace contradicting the quickening beat of her heart.

She placed her hand on the doorknob cautiously and waited a few seconds. She heard no sounds from inside. There was no movement. Maybe whatever it was had left. She was too curious though, and she quickly opened the door.

She should've expected the sight before her. There, on the racks, was the peach and ruby blouse. It was alone. There were her nice business suits and a few dresses still hanging on the ends of the racks, but as for the center it was left only to the blouse. The bottom of the closet was covered with a pile of torn and ripped clothing.

Renee stared hard at the blouse. The investigator couldn't be right. It was only a blouse after all. It was just a shirt, a piece of clothing, man-made and with no artificial intelligence. It was nothing. And yet everything pointed to it.

Renee wasn't sure what came over her next, but a little bit of crazy had stored up for too long. "Did you do this?" she asked the shirt. It didn't respond. It didn't move or say anything back. Renee rubbed her head and sighed. "This is ridiculous," she stated in agreement to Courtney's comment from days earlier.

"I'm going to settle this once and for all," Renee informed the blouse. She turned and walked over to her nightstand. She didn't want to do this, but it was the only thing that would make her mind relax. She couldn't return it now. She had already taken the tags off of it, and she knew the store refused to accept clothing back without the tags on no matter what the reasons were. She had heard someone arguing about this while she was buying the blouse in the first place.

It came down to one course of action: she had to destroy it. It had cost more than she wanted to pay, looked better than anything she had worn before, but it left something foul lingering in her mind. Even if she could return it, maybe getting rid of it permanently was better. She quickly opened the drawer and shuffled through it, looking for her pair of scissors. They weren't there.

Renee jumped as she heard her bedroom door close shut. She turned quickly to see what the cause was. The young woman had to blink a few times just to make sure what she was seeing was real. There, standing upright on the floor between her and the door, was the blouse. The once ethereal looking blouse now had a very sinister aura around it. It was only intensified by the fact that it was standing up on its own.

Then Renee noticed an even more horrifying detail. Its right sleeve was wrapped around her pair of scissors. Renee shook her head at the sight. This wasn't real. This couldn't be real. Shirts were inanimate objects. They didn't move on their own.

As if to prove her wrong, the shirt did move. Renee watched as the right sleeve lifted up and moved forward as if the shirt was taking a step. The sound of the scissors hitting the floor broke the silence of the room. Even Renee's own breathing was so sporadic and soft that she could barely hear it.

Then the shirt took a step with its left sleeve. Then another with its right, and another with its left. The body of it trailed behind. Renee continued to shake her head as she took some steps back. She could only take two before she was pressed up against the bed. Before the shirt could get to her, the young woman quickly climbed up onto her bed nervously. She watched as the shirt disappeared underneath, slithering into the darkness like a snake.

Renee frantically scanned the floor around the bed. She couldn't believe this was happening. It had to be a nightmare. She pinched herself but she didn't wake up. She wasn't dreaming this. And she had a good sense that she wasn't hallucinating either.

All of a sudden the sound of screeching metal caught her attention. It wasn't loud, but it wasn't far away. She turned around and could see the scissors being opened and closed rapidly before her, as if cutting at the air. The blouse still had its sleeve wrapped around the handle and was slowly climbing up onto the bed.

With her heart racing in her chest, Renee leapt off the bed and made a dash for the door. As she turned around to close it she could see the blouse crawling after her rapidly, the sound of the scissors clanging on the wooden floor the only sound it made. She slammed the bedroom door quickly. There was silence once more.

"This is like a bad movie," she mumbled to herself as she leaned up against the door. She took a moment as an opportunity to catch her breath. The paranormal investigator was right, as hard as that was to admit.

Her moment of rest was cut short when she felt something wrapping tightly around her ankle. Renee looked down to see the blouse had slipped a sleeve under the door and was now grabbing tightly to her leg. She yelped with surprise and quickly tried to pull away. She couldn't break its grip, though.

Renee reached and down and tried to pry the material off her ankle. It only tightened its hold. Renee could feel the foot already tingling as the circulation was being cut off. She didn't have nails to rip it, so she thought of using the next best thing. She sat down and lowered her head to bite and tear the blouse free.

Before her teeth could sink into the smooth fabric, the blouse loosened its grip. Renee pulled her ankle free and kicked frantically at the sleeve. It tried to grab at her again but couldn't get a hold. Renee didn't give it much time to try though as she quickly scurried away from the door. She had to get help.

Renee made a break for the stairs and ran down them as fast as she could. She nearly tripped at one point but managed to keep her balance with the help of the railing. Making her way across the living room in the dark, Renee stumbled around a bit but quickly found her phone and picked up the receiver. She dialed 911 in a flash.

The phone was silent though. Renee looked down and could see that the chord had been cut. There, on the ground, was the blouse. It held the scissors still. It looked up at her, or what she assumed was it looking up, and didn't move.

Renee wasn't going to just stand there. She backed up from the blouse and tripped over a chair. It was only a minor interruption. She got to her feet again and rushed to the door. If she couldn't get help from the phone, then surely she would have to escape and find it elsewhere. Surely if she got outside and screamed, one of her neighbors would've heard her and come to her aid.

The door was locked, and as she fiddled nervously to open it Renee wasted precious time. She tried to unlock it as fast as she could but her fingers were too uneasy to manipulate the lock. It may have added a second or two to the process, but that was all that was needed to blow her chance. The sound of metal hitting wood filled her ears and Renee jumped back from the door. There, in the doorframe, were the scissors. They were level with her chest. They had been thrust into the wood, the moonlight glimmering off the smooth metal. The blouse hung ominously from the scissors, wavering slightly from the aftermath of its actions.

If Renee could not escape through the front door, then she would have to through the back door. The young woman did not focus on the monster any longer. She turned and ran for the kitchen. Her bare feet glided over the smooth tiles as she made her way to her goal, the moonlight coming through the window in the backdoor causing the curtains to shimmer with a welcoming color. She was close.

As she took a turn around the island counter, Renee stopped abruptly. Between her and the exit stood the blouse. It had somehow outran her, outsmarted her. There was no running this time. It wrapped its sleeve around her ankles before she could even take a step back. Renee lost her balance and tumbled to the ground. Luckily she was not hurt.

Renee tried to push away at the shirt as it climbed upon her writhing body. It hardly looked like a shirt now. Everything about it seemed monstrous, dark, cruel. The peach material was wrinkled from the battle, the fabric appearing more like aged skin in the moonlight. It was like the skin of some demon, reborn to kill. The swirls of rose and cherry on its form were now dark, sanguine spots of blood. They were reminders of past victims, of innocent souls lost simply for the whim of killing.

"No! No!" Renee cried out as she struggled more. She couldn't fight the blouse, though. It may have been a sheer material, a gentle and delicate creation, but its demon powers far outweighed her mortal strength. It held her down, pinned her to the cold tile, and raised the scissors into the air.

"No!" Renee screamed as she closed her eyes and turned her head. She gasped deeply, her lungs filling with a large quantity of air and fear. She waited for the moment.

It never came, though. The blouse did not stab her, did not hurt her, and did not murder her. Instead it gently took the scissors and began to cut the shirt she was wearing. Upon the sound of hearing the fabric rip, Renee gently opened her eyes to see what was going on. She watched as the scissors cut the t-shirt in half, the once happy and smiling cartoon kitty in the center being torn into two. Its expression slowly wilted away until it had an almost morbid look as it fell to the floor, the last fabrics of the shirt fully torn.

Renee stared at the blouse that sat upon her body. It froze there for a minute before it gently collapsed. The arm-like sleeves gave way to its weight and the elegant shirt gently eased itself down onto her smooth skin. It settled there calmly, the scissors falling free of its grasp and landing onto the floor.

When Renee knew it was over, knew that what the blouse had intended to do was now finished, she gently placed her hand over the material. Once more it felt smooth, beautiful, welcoming. She held it tight to her skin as she rested there on the kitchen floor, her world back to normal again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"How may I help you?" the salesperson asked as she flipped through the magazine on the counter. She didn't even look up at the woman as she approached.

"I had bought a blouse here a little more than a week ago," Renee started.

"If you're here to return it, then you will need the tags and..."

"No, no," Renee interrupted. "That's not it." The saleswoman looked up from the magazine and studied Renee. She noticed the lovely peach and ruby blouse hanging perfectly off of the customer's body. The saleswoman smiled happily. Renee continued what she was going to say. "I was just... looking to add more fashionable items to my wardrobe."

"Well then," the saleswoman said as she walked out from behind the counter. "You have come to the right place. Fashion is what we breathe here."



Written for:

ID: 1090764   (Rated: ASR) Mixed Genres Contest - Closed  Come on in for scrambled genres and a cuppa. by Jedi Moose (Victor Wyatt)