Works & Wonders

All Sales are Final

     Julia loved shopping at old thrift stores and would usually spend her Sundays traveling to different towns to browse different shops.  One Sunday, she found an old vintage thrift shop in a nearby town that was called "Selma's Old-World Gifts."  It was a small shop crowded with various items from very long ago.  There were old perfume bottles, horse-hair brushes with sterling silver handles dating back to the 1800's, Old China sets and pewter mugs from Germany and Sweden as well as personal items such as photographs and jewelry.

     An elderly woman sat behind a tiny counter reading a dusty old book right next to a large brass cash register from the late 1800's.  She held a corn cob pipe in her mouth, it's stem resting between her clenched teeth.  In one corner of the shop, some green glassware caught Julia's attention.  She strolled over to have a closer look.  As she looked through the items, she spotted an antique green glass candy dish that had a very old bracelet curled up inside of it.  Julia picked it up and tried it on.  As she held it up to admire it, the garnet red beads and tarnished silver glistened in the light that shone through the cluttered store windows.  The bracelet fit perfectly, and Julia loved it.  The price tag said $35 and described the bracelet as being from the year 1885. Julia was shocked at how little the bracelet cost considering how old and valuable it was.  She quickly paid for the bracelet and the elderly lady smiled at her as she placed it into a small brown paper bag: "A very special bracelet indeed," the woman said with a strange smile.  Julia paid little attention and merely said "thank you", before leaving the store.

     When she got home, Julia soaked the bracelet in warm soapy water and went about cleaning each garnet and silver clasps with a tiny brush until the bracelet looked brand new.  She put it on and took pictures of it with her phone before sending them out to her friends.   They were all deeply impressed with it.

     As Julia and her friends were texting back and forth, there was a knock at the front door followed by the voice of a distressed woman, who said: "Where is it!?" in an alarmed voice.  Julia immediately went to the front door and opened it.  But no one was there.  She stepped outside and looked all around but saw no one at all.  So, she went back inside and went about her day without another thought about it.  

     That night, Julia went to bed in a great mood.  She undid her bracelet and placed on the nightstand next to her bed.  She closed the light and fell to sleep.

     Suddenly, Julia was jolted awake by a loud banging on her window! "Where is it!" a frantic woman's voice boomed from behind the window.  It was the same voice as the one Julia had heard earlier, only this time, the voice seemed angry and was shouting.  Boom, Boom, Boom! Three more thundering knocks shook the window. "Where did it go!?!" the woman Hollered! Julia slowly approached the window, at first with fear but then slowly she began to feel anger. After all, who would do such a thing at 2:00 on the morning!?  Julia went to the curtains and hurled them aside to reveal a woman in a black Victorian era dress and a black veil across her face.  Her eyes were milky white, and she glared at Julia with an enormous grimace that bore large white teeth.  The womans black lips framed her teeth in a sinister fashion.  Julia jumped back in horror.  "Where is it!!!" the woman shouted again in a pained voice.  Then, she simply stood there, staring at Julia intensely with her milky white eyes.

     Julia slowly backed away from the window before darting over to her nightstand and retrieving her phone.  She quickly dialed the police, running from her room and into the hallway. The banging started again, but this time it came from the back door at the end of the hallway. Julia told the police what was happening, and they told her that they would send an officer as soon as possible.  She hung up and just as she did, the banging started on the front door: "Where is it!!?" the distressed lady screamed.  Julia hid in the hallway closet and waited for the police to arrive.  As she sat there, she could hear the banging on different windows throughout the house while the lady continued to yell: "Please!! Where is it?"