And rained them down on me
There was something unsettling about the rain that fell that morning, the cold wind that flowed between the drops was just a bit too chilling to her than normal by the early evening. It didn’t help that she had left her umbrella inside the shop before closing up. She cursed her lack of forethought as she caught a glimpse of herself in a window reflection. For a moment it took her a moment to recognize herself, but with a moment of focusing on the image she recognized the tired face of Jamie Burnette in the distorted surface. She sighed trying to smooth her damp colored hair into something less horrid looking.
“Pastel Lavender just doesn’t do anything when it's this wet…should’ve kept it silver...” she murmured to herself offhandedly.
She moved on, giving up on her hair in order to progress to her destination up a block or so to try and get out of the cold and rain. Her oversized leather jacket helped with the cold, but it was a relic of the early 80s and gave her an impression of being more of a punk than she really was. It didn’t help her legs looked disproportionate under the huge jacket, they weren’t slim legs, but they looked it at the moment with skinny jean clad limbs poking out from under the hem of the jacket. Pressing onward she sniffled watching the cars pass by, making sure to keep aware of what was around her. Finally she perked up at the sight of a familiar doorway, and lets out a sigh of relief at the thought of getting out of the rain.
She reached out a hand for the door handle of a building only differentiated with a white door with the word “Pearl’s” gilded on frosted glass. Stepping inside she saw some of the store’s regulars milling around the colorful retail floor and chatting idly. One or two resembled Jamie with damp clothes and hair, and a few were dressed up cute colorful clothes similar to the looks and accessories surrounding them. Sections of clothes with hand made signs with names like “Cyber” and “Sweet” and “decora” and lots of cute furniture overwhelmed the left side of the room, while the right was a counter with display cases filled with trinkets, dolls, and makeup. Dark colors were kept in the back left corner for all the gothic patron of the shop while the rest where colors ranging from bright saturated to pale muted hues. It was the best alternative women's clothing store in the city, and pretty sizable since it was on an off street. Jamie smiled as she felt the warmth of the shop seep into her.
She heard a balk from the back rooms door, and looked up to see the lithe blonde form of of Pearl arguing with her business partner Amy. They had just started walking into the main floor when Amy noticed her standing looking like a drowned rat.
“Hey B! You look awful, get stuck in the rain?”
The short woman was a bit out of place even if you put her in the cyber goth corner of the store, she was VERY punk. Amy had joined on the business to help pearl with heavy lifting, and she grew up with Jamie in Hell’s Kitchen. Jamie knew the woman was always relieved to see a familiar face when Pearl was in a mood to try and stuff her in an outfit from the store.
“Yeah, I closed up Mrs.Powel’s for her, but I left my umbrella inside. What I get for helping someone from the neighborhood. I’m just glad her shops not in the Kitchen, I’d hate for her to deal with some of those kids running around.”
The two shared a laugh as Jamie walked over to the clothing sections, zoning in on a section with a large chalkboard sign labeled “goth and pastel goth.” The section was among the back section of the store, with other darker colored clothing that wasn’t as frilly as the sweet pinks and whites of the sweet lolita front windows. While she wasn’t dedicated to any particular look, the clothing that Pearl kept in the section was often very comfortable and easier to wear for day to day dressing. The pastel goth aesthetic was particularly easy going for the most part, plus dark bottoms paired with soft pastel tops left a lot of room for accessories. The style was rather flexible.
Flexible was always good, it allowed for her to change things up from time to time. In fact Jamie rarely got rid of clothes so long as they were in good shape and still fit. The woman liked the idea that she could go from style to style if she wanted. Today, however, with the weather and her foolishness she wanted to stick to her comfortable and casual clothes.
“I can’t believe Pearl lets that freak shop here.”
Jamie winced, and didn’t look away from a particularly soft black skirt she had pulled out to look at better. Harsh words were not an unfamiliar thing. They were common. Expected.
“Did you hear about her mom? ‘Gifted’ is not what i’d call what her family is.”
She was not like her mother, but no one who didn’t know her well knew that. Jamie’s mother had been so kind and loving and SANE. Then the battle of New York happened and her mother became obsessive, she remembered the stirring of emotions, the paranoia. Jamie had moved out weeks before her mother's outburst. People assumed her daughter was no different, but it was far from true.
“Witches! I mean, after all that's happened it's ridiculous, right? I bet she’s really just a mutant freak.”
Jamie was about to cry, she knew she was. It had been over a month since the dust had settled in the wake of her mom’s incarceration in the mental hospital and she thought the jibes were over.
“Get out of our store!” A loud thump.
Feeling brave she looked up from the velvety cloth, only to see Pearl red-faced and livid, contrasting her pale blue lace dress. She could see the source of the thud as Amy had dropped a pile of boxes to join her tall angry employer. Jamie could only watch as the two chased out two women who she could tell were not part of the regular customers. She guessed they had come in to get out of the rain and look at the makeup, it didn’t matter though. Without a word she walked toward the back of the store and slipped through the door to the alley beside the store.
Jamie sighed to herself as she pulled out a phone to call a cab. When the rain felt off she should have known it was a bad day ahead.
“I guess I just wanted to pretend it was nothing.”
She waited in the alley before she heard a car drive up, not wanting Pearl to come and ask her if she was okay. Amy knew better and probably already told her not to, but still. As she slid into the cab’s backseat she prayed a familiar silent prayer. She prayed to wake up to no more instinctual pulling of magic or whispering spirits.
Passively she directed the cabbie to drive her to her Hell’s Kitchen apartment, where no one spoke of her family's past. The building knew her well, many of them respected her for her hard work and perseverance, especially the Powel's who took up many of the apartments. In fact the large family headed by Mrs.Powel owned the building, they took her in after she left her mother’s house and gave her a job at the old shop. As she started to climb the stairs Jamie remembered that was changing soon, one of the grandson’s was taking over her position, so Mrs.Powel found her two jobs one at a bookshop and another working at a local bar.
A smile found a way to her face remembering the older woman’s apologetic expression in regards to her having to work in a drive in Hell’s Kitchen. Jamie didn’t mind rough work, and she could handle rough customers, so long as she was making some money to stay where she was. Besides it was only a part-time job, and had her working less hours that the bookshop did.
Finally getting to her apartment on the top floor, she slipped in and locked her door on autopilot thinking through how she was going to cleanse her negative feelings before bed. A familiar sound of flapping and whistling accompanied the arrival of a precious green and yellow budgie. Making her way to her altar to light some sage, she looked at her winged friend to pose a question.
“Spritz do you think I should dye my hair before starting and Josie’s?”