Chapter One: The Shoes

It all started with the shoes.
As soon as Alicia saw them, she knew. They were the ones. Gorgeous black leather, ribbon for laces, a killer heel, brilliant. Alicia picked them off the shelf and admired them close up, breathing in the new shoe smell, her favourite smell save only from the smell of spring morning. Out of the beautiful air-conditioned shop into the hot Australian summer stepped Alicia, a silver shopping bag in her hand and a triumphant grin on her face. She flicked her auburn hair back from her tanned face and the grin disappeared, the heat hit her right in the head and made her groan. An ice-cream on the beach would be preferrable to hopping into her hot car right about now. Nevertheless Alicia pulled her keys from her pocket and unlocked her yellow VW Beetle.
"Please, work," she whispered as she turned the key in the ignition and turned her eyes pleadingly to the air-conditioner situated on the dashboard of her car. A blast of cool air hit Alicia right in the face and she grinned, hitting the steering wheel triumphantly.
"Yes!" she laughed and steered out of the carpark. She stopped at the red light and glanced across at the silver bag sitting on the passenger seat, they were absolutely perfect. There was a beep from behind her and Alicia glanced in the rear-vision mirror to see a red-faced middle aged man glaring at her.
"I'm moving, I'm moving," she grumbled and pressed onto the accelerator. The shoes tilted forward slightly and Alicia reached out a hand to steady them.
"Perfect," she said and let her eyes leave the road for a moment to glance back down at the packet that held, in her mind at least, the most perfect pair of shoes in the world.

That was when it happened. Hand still steadying her precious cargo, Alicia slipped out of this world and into the next.