Zoe held her head in her hands as she watched the door from her seat behind the front desk. She sighed. Ever since she’d struck out on her own and made her own beauty salon customers had been hard to come by. “Carly always made it look SO easy,” she moaned to no one in particular. “People used to run to Beautylicious in freakin’ HORDES!”
No customers meant no money and no money meant no cash to carry on paying the wages of her employees. She looked at her employees who were all gathered and chatting together. Her oldest and most qualified employee was Meghan. She’d tied her blonde hair into a high ponytail and though she wore a plain all white tunic she still found a way to look attractive, her top buttons undone to reveal her perfectly shaped C-cups.
Beside her was another of Zoe’s new employees, Leanne. Zoe wasn’t a lesbian but even she knew Leanne was a stunner with her large DD boobs and round ass. She stood only an inch below Zoe so she was tall as well, a near perfect 10.
Both Leanne and Meghan were laughing with the youngest member of staff at Lash Academy.
Cute little Holly had just come out from university from a beauty therapy course. She was only 23 and looked juvenile compared to Zoe as she stood at a shorter 5’6” with her ash blonde hair done into twin plaits, her body not as developed as she only had small B-cup breasts. As usual she was grinning, her infectious, pearly whites illuminating the area around her.
Poor Holly, Zoe sighed. If business doesn’t get better any time soon, I’ll have to go and ask her to look for another job. How can I ever take away that beautiful smile? Oh God, please help me...
It was if her prayers had somehow been answered as the bell tinkled to indicate someone was coming inside. Zoe shot up from her seat and hopped over the counter, clipboard in hand. “Hi there, I’m Zoe, welcome to Lash Academy! Please tell me your...” Zoe’s face dropped when she looked up at the woman that had walked through. The woman was ancient with wrinkled, saggy skin and deep, sunken eyes. She wore a woollen blouse and skirt complete with pantyhose and pearl earrings.
Well, a customer’s a customer. “Your name please, ma’am.”
The woman smiled, a gruesome sight considering her lack of teeth and rows of pinkish red gums. “Mildred. Mrs Mildred Nebauer.” Zoe shivered before saying, “Okay, Ms Nebauer. Let’s do some quick paperwork and then straight into a chair for you to look FAB-U-LOUS!”
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
30 minutes later and Zoe was now using some hairspray to finish up the work she’d done on Mrs Nebauer’s hair, straightening her silver locks and draping them over her shoulders. “And... Done!” Zoe put down the hairspray can and lifted a mirror up to Mrs Nebauer’s face, showing her her beautifully decorated face, long eyelashes, rosy cheeks and subtle makeup disguising her true age.
“Oh, thank you, thank you SO much!” Zoe smiled politely and replied casually, “You’re very welcome Mrs Nebauer. I’m just doing my job.” The elderly woman looked on the verge of tears, admiring her makeover with the small hand mirror.
“I’m sorry,” she sniffled as she wiped away a tear. “Its just... My husband, he... He passed away a couple of... (*sniff*) A couple months ago. When he left, I- I just lost the ability to see myself as anything but a half senile, crazy old bat.” Now Zoe was holding back a tear as she walked up and clutched the woman in a warm, tight hug. “Thank you, Zoe, I needed that. Anyway, you’ve shown me that I can still be beautiful and for that I have to give you something special in return...”
The woman reached into one of her pockets, pulling out what looked like just a rusty, old coin and dropping it into Zoe’s palm. It looked like an ancient relic of a past age, not a currency Zoe recognised. “What’s this?” She inquired, holding it up to one of the lights to try and discern the symbols written on the rusted copper surface.
“THAT,” the woman explained, “Is an ancient artefact that me and my husband found on one of our expeditions in Egypt, decades ago. That ‘coin’ is supposedly an enchanted item crafted by the Lord of Chaos, Set, himself. It’s said that whosoever finds it and discovers how to wield its power will have access to powers that could supposedly transform anything to the wielder’s will, even bending reality to satisfy them.”
Zoe squeaked with laughter before composing herself. “Um, thank you, Mrs Nebauer, but...”
“Please, call me Mildred.”
“Okay, Mildred. I have to say, this all kind of sounds a LITTLE far fetched, don’cha think? I mean, ‘enchanted items’? ‘Transforming powers’? ‘BENDING REALITY’? It’s a bit unbelievable, especially since, in your own words, you’re ‘half senile’. Like, if you’ve had this ‘powerful artifact’ in your possession for DECADES now, why don’t you use it for yourself?”
The woman’s face dropped, making Zoe immediately regret her statement. She sighed. “Me and Harold, my husband, did try to use it ourselves on many occasions. In fact, it was the perfect tool to ‘spice up’ our marriage if you get what I mean. Nevertheless, I am not in the shape I was a couple of decades ago. I’m going to die, I don’t know when, I don’t know how, all I know is that my time is nearly up and that I can’t take a stupid coin to the afterlife. In fact, I don’t even want to; I’d rather have you take it. Please, just have it, just to let my soul be at peace.”
Zoe pondered for a second. Then she clasped the coin tightly in her hand and nodded solemnly. Mrs Nebauer flashed another gummy grin and stood up, thanking Zoe and the trio of other beauticians before walking out of the store. Zoe opened up her palm and stared down at the coin. Although she didn’t want to believe the old lady’s story, she couldn’t help but feel something, some kind of energy emanating from the coin, spreading out and coursing through her body like an electrical current. What is your deal?, Zoe thought to herself.
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