The Leipzig Ring des Nibelungen: Trixiebell Heartswoon, #3

By Maddy Bell

Zak, or rather Trixie, has settled into life as a Goth Gurl, with a full time job and even a bit of a social life. But as sure as the sun rising in the east each day, life doesn't stand still and a Goth Gurl can have dreams...

In this tome life as Trixiebell Heartswoon moves up a gear with a trip to Germany for the Asquith siblings to take part in the WGT Goth festival in Leipzig.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Maddy Bell
• Release date: Nov 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223740841

Maddy Bell

​M addy Bell, sometimes known as 'Madness', was born in Greenwich, London several years ago. After sampling life in Central and Northern England, gaining a degree in digging holes and becoming a parent and now grandparent, she now lives at the southern extreme of England's largest county. Between writing, digging aforesaid holes and earning a crust, she enjoys reading, travelling, cycling and the odd aperitif! Now a full time writer, this series was her first venture into paper publishing although she has in the past written articles on various diverse subjects from snails to castles and many points in between.

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Dedicated to

All those om Ukraine fighting the fight for freedom, may they vanquish their oppressors soon.

Maddy Bell

February 2023

Maddy Bell, sometimes known as ‘Madness’, was born in Greenwich, London several years ago. After sampling life in Central and Northern England, gaining a degree in digging holes and becoming a parent and now grandparent, she usually lives at the southern extreme of England’s largest county but currently resides near Bristol.

Between writing, digging aforesaid holes and earning a crust, she enjoys reading, travelling, cycling and the odd aperitif!

Now a full time writer, The popular Gaby series was her first venture into paper publishing although she had in the past written articles on various diverse subjects from snails to castles and many points in between.

Wave

It was like a scene from some teen vampire series, the players straight from a Shelley horror novel, the setting dark and foreboding with a background track of Wagnerian intensity. But this was no TV production, no opera cycle of legends long past, no, this was the Altemarkt, a reconstruction of the medieval original slap bang in the middle of modern Leipzig's commercial district. And this was no coven of the vampiric underground, no, this was a BlauHase concert, part of the Wave-Gotik-Treffen, the biggest gathering of 'dark culture' in the world, Trixie was mesmerised.

~~~

Three months previously.

What're you lookin' at Trix? Janey enquired as she leant over her sister's shoulder.

Nothing much, just some pics from WGT, her twin offered as the next shot from the gallery popped up on the screen.

And WGT is?

Its a huge Goth festival, Trixie supplied.

I got that from the pictures, well unless Disney princesses have all gone to the dark side.

If you'd let me finish?

Okay, keep your hair on.

As I was saying, its huge, four days of Gothishness, art, music, fashion, if its remotely Goth or SP it'll be there, its like a Goth expo.

So why haven't I heard of it?

You would if you were in the scene.

Okay, point taken, so I'm guessing its in the US or something.

Germany, Leipzig to be precise.

So you thinking of going?

It'd be nice but I'm not going on my own.

No one else in your coven going?

Its not a coven.

Whatever, what about that couple from Nottingham you went to Kent with?

Ray and Amanda, its in May, exam season, so they're both working, not that I can afford to go anyway, Trixie sighed.

Go on, how much?

One fifty.

That doesn't sound bad, wasn't it like a hundred quid at Whitby?

Eighty I think, its not just the ticket though is it? I mean, accommodation will be an arm and a leg, then there's food and getting there.

You can get cheap flights you know.

You're missing the elephant though.

Elephant?

Yeah, you know, the elephant in the room, something so big that everyone tries to ignore it?

So what is this, elephant?

Well dur, passport? In case you forgot, Zak's the one with the passport.

I suppose that could be a bit of an issue, Janey allowed.

You think?

No need to get sarky.

Soz.

Zak could go, the other Askwith girl suggested.

And that works how?

Jane looked at her sibling, her sister had a point. Was it only last summer when Trixie swept into the lives of the Askwith family? Of course, they'd been family long before, the Askwith twins shared a birthday but were otherwise unrelated, the result of second marriages and ultimately another divorce. Their mother belonged to Trixie and when things went sour, Janey had elected not to go with her father.

The elephant, to use Trixie's terminology, was that back then it had been mum, Jane and Zak that made up the Askwith household. Despite her physical presence, Trixie didn't actually exist, she'd been an invention that allowed Zak to make use of a 'spare' ticket for the Whitby Gothfest. Things had got a bit out of hand with the whole thing and from being a temporary disguise, a bunch of piercings and tattoos made Trixiebell Heartswoon, spinster of the parish, a reality.

Yep, the morose atypical goth that was Zak had been replaced by the pink hair, tattoos and multitudinous piercings of Trixiebell Heartswoon. There had been reasons for keeping up the subterfuge beyond the Whitby weekend but those excuses were history, Trixie was still here because she wanted to be. Oh Zak was still somewhere in there but for now at least Askwith, Z preferred to present as Heartswoon, T.

So what did you want? Trixie queried.

Dinner's ready – you might want to put something else on, mum'll have a hairy fit if you come down like that.

~~~~

With a sigh Trixie shut down the WGT site and started the shutdown sequence on her computer, when mum said jump you only hesitated to ask how high, well metaphorically speaking at least. In truth it had been something of a relief when the whole charade with mum had fallen down, the parental unit was, if anything, somewhat bemused by the whole thing, swapping a son for a daughter, on the surface at least didn't seem to have fazed her in the least.

No it wasn't the Trixie thing that concerned her, rather it was the fact that her child, the one with a good Mathematics degree, was working as a chambermaid at the Ibis. In my defense, it is a step up from part time barista at the General which had been my only long term employment after returning from Uni. Of course, Janey who 'only' went to college is a manager at my place of employment but at least I've got a regular income, enough to keep me in mascara and fishnets!

I probably should've ended this whole charade months ago, the problematic nails went shortly after Canterbury, the piercing stuff can be taken out, hair dye is quite cheap, et voiture, as my dad used to say, Zak would be back. The problem is, I sort of like being Trixie, its not that I want to be a woman or anything but I like the freedom of being able to dress as I like, Goth men are looked at as weirdos, Goth women are, on the other hand, an object of desire. Does that sound weird? Well I think it is and its me doing it.

Of course, there are other things which keep Trixie around, apart from the clothes, I like my job which is fine for Trix but who's ever heard of a chamberman? Then of course there's my friends, not that I have many but those I've made like Ray and Manda are Trix's not Zak's, they think, and I've let them, that I'm a girl. Yeah, it may have started as a bit of a