The glow through the curtains woke Clare, a beam of sunlight casting a gleaming ray onto her naked chest, creating shadows over the gentle curves of her breasts. She was confused as she initially woke in the unfamiliar bed and breakfast, but then came to remember the events of the day before, her unplanned liaison with Mike and the thrill of the stone bangle.
She glanced at her phone and then realised how late it was, hopping out of bed and giving her body a quick rinse in the pathetic dribbling shower. The breakfast at least was pretty good, the jolly round middle-aged woman that ran the B&B was happy to make her some poached eggs and had some strawberries as well to follow it up.
She had to wear the same clothes as yesterday which felt a bit odd, she hadn't planned to stay overnight, but after all the thrills of the previous day, she felt compelled to go back to the museum, to Mike, to study the papers of the events from the distant past but more specifically to have another experience in wearing the stone bangle.
She walked back down the high street of her old hometown, although she felt no love for the place at all. She had always felt the people there were cliquey and hostile, and she had loved moving to London to escape from the suffocating atmosphere.
It occurred to her that she needed a few basic supplies and so walked into the post office and general stores. She picked up a few items and then approached the expansive dark wooden sales counter at the back. Even as she walked into the shop, she had felt that old familiar coldness of the village, some kind of hostility that had dogged her through her youth, the happiness she had felt on waking somehow curtailed.
There was an imposing old woman standing at the desk, judging her with her eyes, following her every move. This was exactly the kind of thing that Clare had always hated here, an untrusting vigilance. As she approached the desk, she saw a moment of recollection in the woman's eyes, and then realised that this was the same woman that had always run the shop. The woman that used to watch her and her friends.
When she had finished emptying the items from her basket, and had loaded them into her bag, the woman looked at her, a nasty attitude obvious in her face.
'You should never have come back.' The old crone finally whispered as the transaction was complete, almost inaudibly to Clare.
'What?' Clare exclaimed as she turned back to face the woman, trying to make eye contact, although the woman was now looking over to the door, watching a young boy entering.
'I didn't say anything dear.' The woman replied, but she looked at Clare with utter contempt, a crooked grin spreading over her mouth.
Clare swivelled on the spot and walked out of the shop, so relieved that she knew she would be leaving the village that day, returning to the normality and regulation disinterest of London.
She arrived at the museum that had been converted from a church and walked into the main room. She was immediately enveloped in the same feelings from the day before, already able to feel the gentle influence of the bangle, even though it was still locked away. Re-entering the building was like stepping from a cool room into a warm shower, her body felt the steady persistent pressing of the items in the room as she starred to perceive them again.
More intensely than the collection of artifacts though, was her awareness of Mike, sitting once again at his desk, he was as yet unaware of her and she walked quietly through the room, observing him as he was cleaning and tinkering with some obscure brass device.
'Hi Mike, it's me Clare.' she finally revealed herself. She immediately felt stupid, as if he would have forgotten her, after the things that they had done the previous day, she was pretty confident that he would never forget his afternoon with her in his whole life.
As soon as she spoke, he jumped up and smiled, a look of happiness and desire, she saw his eyes glance down over her and felt a little of his yearning leaking from his perception.
'Oh... wow... great.' He finally managed to mumble through his lustful thoughts.
'I am just going to have another quick read through the papers if that is ok with you, you know.... The papers from the trials. In the back, is everything still where I left it?' Clare asked, almost innocently. Thinking to herself: 'Is it all still on the table where I fucked you yesterday?'
'Yeah... be my guest, everything should be exactly as it was yesterday, and take your time, we are open until 4pm today, so... well anything you need at all, I am here, just give me a shout. Oh... do you want tea?' Mike was growing in confidence which she liked.
'Yeah, thanks that would be great.... I will be... well through the back.'
Clare walked through the heavy dark wood door and re-entered the converted vestibule where she had been working the previous afternoon. She walked straight to the old iron chest that contained the papers, and the bangle and opened it, the key slipping in the well-oiled lock and then clicking open satisfyingly.
The lid creaked a little as she opened it, a musty smell emerging from the old case, the smell of incense and old papers. She picked up the papers and stacked them neatly once again on the table, and then picked up the smaller case containing the bangle. She could sense it already, feel it calling to her, demanding her attention.
