X is for Pillow Talk seX Shop - eXtraordinary by Natasha Duncan-Drake - Day 24 #AtoZChallenge

X is for Pillow Talk seX Shop

I had to cheat a little for X, because it's not a letter you find in many Kentish place names, but I found one that almost counts for today's ghost story.

Today's tale is inspired by the former Pillow Talk sex shop in Margate. It was rumoured to be haunted by the playful spirit of a girl who once worked in a brothel on the site.

This is definitely not a scary story, and don't worry, it's not adult rated.

eXtraordinary 

by Natasha Duncan-Drake

The first thing Susan noticed when she walked into the shop was the new kinky bra display. Three of the bras were missing and the rest were all upside down, back to front or sideways in an almost artistic arrangement. She immediately pulled out her phone.

"Bryant," came from the other end of the call.

"Mr Bryant," Susan said, "this is Susan, I think the shop's been broken into."

"Dammit," her boss said, "what's been taken?"

Susan looked around; the rest of the shop didn't seem to have been touched.

"I can only see three bras missing," she said, "and the display we put up last night is all over the place."

"Three bras?"

"Yes."

"Nothing else?"

Susan walked up the shop, even the till appeared pristine.

"Not that I can see," she said. "Doesn't look like they got further than the new display. The door was still locked when I got here as well."

She moved into the back storeroom.

"The back window is fine too."

"Is there anything on the display that wasn't there before?" was the odd question that came from her boss next.

"Um, I'll just check," she said and went back into the main shop. "Oh, there's a feather boa draped around it that we didn't put there."

A rather heavy sigh came from the other end of the phone call.

"You don't need to worry, Susan," her boss said, "I should have warned you."

"Warned me about what, Mr Bryant?"

"Peggy," was the even odder reply.

"Who's Peggy?"

"Our ghost."

Susan laughed. She got it now, this was a new girl prank kind of thing.

"Very funny, Mr Bryant," she said, because she'd only had the job a week and she was discovering that she enjoyed working in the little shop.

"Sometimes I wish it was a joke," her boss replied, "but Peggy is real. Every now and then she takes a dislike to one of the displays and does a little rearranging. She also likes bras, you'll probably find them in the back room hidden under something. Just put it back as well as you can, I'll be in in twenty minutes."

"Yes, Mr Bryant," she replied.

Not that she believed a word of it. Still, she could play along until her boss actually arrived.

By the time he walked through the door, she had the display back to almost what it had been, but she hadn't been able to find the missing bras yet.

"Good job, Susan," Bryant said as he viewed the carefully arranged rack.

"No problem, Mr Bryant," she replied.

"Call me Bob," he said with a smile. "Sorry for the panic this morning, we don't usually give new staff the Peggy talk before their third week. She probably likes you if she's made herself known this soon."

Susan considered that for a moment, it didn't sound like her boss was kidding.

"It's not a joke then?" she finally asked.

"Oh, no," Bob said, "Peggy has been here longer than any of us. We think she may have worked in a brothel that used to be on the site in the dim and distant past. She's mostly a cheerful soul, but every now and then she gets artistic and moves things."

"I don't believe in ghosts," Susan said, because she really didn't know how to deal with this new information.

A box containing a feather teaser fell off the shelf just left of her ear, and her heart leapt into her throat.

"Peggy makes believers of us all," Bob said and gave her a sympathetic smile. "Come on, I think you could do with a cup of tea."

Susan nodded and stared at the fallen box as Bob walked past her. This had not been in the job description.

Dramatic Reading on Patreon

For this month I am also recording dramatic readings of all the ghost stories. These are available on my Patreon. Some are public, some are patrons only.

eXtraordinary- read by Natasha Duncan-Drake - coming soon

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Ever worked in a haunted establishment?