literature

So How Does Your Costume Fit-2

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Chapter 2


The Enchanted Threads was near the edge of town, so Sylvie and Taryn stopped by their houses to pick up their bicycles. Sylvie's was a six speed racing bike that she often took out to the park to practice by racing on the trails. Taryn's was a touring bike that she used to cruise around town. It even had a small white wicker basket on the front that she used to carry groceries and stuff for her mother.

As the girls rolled Taryn's bike from the garage, they heard the upstairs window slide open. "Hi, girls." Came a weak, reedy voice. It was Taryn's mother.

"Hey, Mrs. Grogan. How are you feeling today?" asked Sylvie kindly at the voice.

"Much better today, dear." Said the voice. "Taryn, sweetheart?"

"Yes Mom?" shouted Taryn, holding the bike.

"Could you stop at the store on your way home and pick up my medicine?"

"Sure thing mom." Taryn shouted. The sound of the upper window closing signaled an end to the conversation, and Mrs. Grogan's strength.

"Your mother sounds like she's doing better." Sylvie said awkwardly. Taryn nodded. "Yes. The new medicine the doctor has her on is doing wonders. Yesterday she was even able to go to the bathroom by herself."

"That's…amazing."  Sylvie breathed. For as long as she had known, Taryn's mother had been bed-ridden, unable to get out and perform simple tasks for herself. After her husband left her, Taryn had been the only one to take care of her. Sylvie greatly admired her friend. She knew she wouldn't be able to handle taking care of another day in and day out.

The two girls pushed off with their bikes and began pedaling. The neat white houses of the street flew by as they sped through the neighborhood. Along the way, friends shouted and waved cheerfully as they biked. Sylvie's bike clearly outpaced Taryn's as the girls dodged the slow moving traffic through the center of town. The old town hall gonged the hour, sounding as stuffy and well-classed as a British lord. In front of the hall stood a bronze statue in the form of a roaring lion, standing his eternal watch on the town. The great lion had seen better days. Years of neglect had turned his bronze coat a dingy green, and years of graffiti had tarnished his base until its original color of white was obscured. The girls passed the sad statue as they continued to the far edge of town. As they went, the buildings continued to get darker and dingier. Broken windows and boarded up storefronts became common. As Taryn puffed slightly beside her friend, she hollered, "Hey Sylvie, how's your dad doing?" As Mayor, it was his intention to lure new business into town.

"He's having a city council meeting today." Sylvie called back. "He's supposed to be meeting with some big corporation today about creating an industrial park outside of town, where the old mill used to be." She was referring to the old shoe factory on the far edge of town. It had been the main source of income for the town until it closed in the late seventies. Since that time, the town had been dying slowly, as businesses folded and left.

The girls reached the edge of the business district, and turned left onto Colman Street. There, they found most of the windows boarded up and the shops closed. Taryn was confused. She thought that this was where the store was. Sylvie seemed surprised too.

"I thought you said this is where the shop was?" Taryn asked.

"I thought it was. Maybe we took a wrong turn?" Sylvie said. Taryn looked around and spotted a flash of color on the otherwise dingy street. "Hey, what's that?" she asked pointing. Sylvie looked and spotted it as well. "I don't know, she said. "Let's take a look."

They slowly pedaled down the street. As they drew nearer, they could see that the color was a large sign standing on the sidewalk. It was brightly painted with great bold letters that read: WELCOME TO ENCHANTED THREADS! And below that, WHERE THE COSTUMES ARE REAL! JUST LIKE MAGIC!.

The girls looked at each other. "I guess this is the place." Sylvie giggled nervously.

"Yeah." Echoed Taryn.

They went up to the boarded up door, but saw that it was completely boarded up. "This is strange." Sylvie commented. "The sign is right in front of this door, but it's all locked up."

"Uh," said Taryn.

"No, this is so not right. The sign must be in the wrong spot. We should check the other stores. It must be around here somewhere."

"Uh, Sylvie." Taryn said again.

"What is it, Taryn?" Sylvie asked, concerned. She turned to look at her friend. Taryn was looking just off to the right of the entrance. Sylvie turned to look, and saw a stairwell that led underground. There was another sign on the metal rail that lead down the steps to another shop in the basement of the building. Laughing slightly, the girls descended the steps to the shop.

A bell rang overhead as they entered the shop. The entire space of the floor was crammed with racks and shelves of costumes. Nearly every kind of costume was there, from Pirates, to Narnia, to stuff that neither of the girls could even begin to recognize. There was one that was purple and furry, with one horn and an eyestalk mounted on the back wall. Beside him was the classic Frankenstein. Frightening masks adorned the walls and above great plastic spiders were glued onto the ceiling. On the left was a counter where a tired young man was working. He was wearing a brown shirt and a nametag that said: Hi! I am ROLAND. He looked up from the register and smiled at the girls.

"Ah, Customers!" he said, drawing out the last syllable slightly. "Please come in. You're my first ones!"

"Thanks" said Sylvie. "Do you have any realistic costumes? I mean, really good ones?" she asked.

"Hmm." Said Roland, looking thoughtful. "As a matter of fact, I do have a couple. Let me check." He walked around the back of the counter and disappeared amongst the racks of costumes.

"Sylvie, are you sure about this?" Taryn whispered nervously. "I'm getting such a bad feeling about this place."

"Come on girl, it's just your imagination. This place is great!" Said Sylvie. Visions of Sara's defeat danced behind her eyes.

Taryn saw that her friend was determined, and kept her fears to herself. She tried to figure out exactly what it was that had her so antsy, but couldn't pin it down. The store looked normal, there were plenty of costumes, and a definite Halloween feel to the whole thing. Something, however, was making her every hair stand on end. Her body screamed "run", but there was nothing here that would warrant such a course.

Roland returned from the back with a group of costumes in hand, and rolling a further two behind him. "This is what I have in the back. It's guaranteed to be as realistic as it gets." He said. He laid them out on the counter. There was a pair of troll costumes, two warrior costumes, and then what looked like rock singer costumes. However, it was the two big costumes that he had rolled behind him that had interested Sylvie. They were the back half of horses, with stiff back legs on wheels that would roll behind the person wearing the costumes. The body appeared to be held out by wire ribs and in the very front was a pocket with the front legs. There were two colors, a paint and a light brown with a black tail. "These centaur costumes just came in today." Roland said helpfully as Sylvie continued to examine the costumes.

"These look great!" said Sylvie enthusiastically. "Here Taryn, this one will go with you skin and hair perfectly." She pointed to the brown one.

"I guess so." Taryn said, looking it over. The front of the costume had built in shoe covers in the shape of hooves, to go with the rest of the costume. As the girls looked them over, Roland spoke up. "You can buy them now and try them on in the back of the store. However, once the purchase is made, there are no returns. Store Policy I'm afraid. Sorry." He said apologetically.

"Wait a minute," said Sylvie. "You mean that I have to buy it now, and if it doesn't fit, I can't return it?" Taryn echoed Sylvies anger.

"It's a one size fits all, so I know that it will fit. And once you try them on, they are yours, I can't resell them." He said. "It's a funny quirk of the owner, I know, but he's the boss and what he says goes." Seeing the girls looking about ready to leave, he quickly adds, "However, since your our first customers, and since you like the centaur costumes so much, I can offer a substantial discount for you. Call it a door prize." He smiled hopefully.

"How much of a discount?" asked Sylvie warily.

"Normal price is $65.99, but I can authorize a twenty dollar reduction, and bring the price down to $45.99. He said. Sylvie considered. The price was still a little steep, but the guarantee was still a little irresistible to her. Plus, she didn't want a dinky cheap costume that would leave her on the sidelines again. She wanted to win. "We'll pay." She decided. Taryn gasped in dismay, but pulled out her purse and gave the man fifty dollars. So did Sylvie. Roland rung up the sale and gave the girls their change.

"There's a dressing room in the back if you want to try them on." He said. Sylvie nodded and grabbed her costume. After shelling out that kind of money, she wanted to be sure of the purchase, otherwise she would raise cain to get her money back!

The lighting in the changing room was bright and ugly, but it illuminated the two of them pretty well as Sylvie tossed aside her shirt.

"There is no way that this year we're going to lose," she said. "Sarah Kendall is so going down when she sees these costumes. We're going totally mythological on her this time.

"I really like the spots on mine, but I think yours definitely looked better on you," she added. "It matches your hair better. It's a shame they didn't have any colors that match natural redheads like myself, but then what could match this gorgeous hair? But these spots are wicked cool. I heard Sarah's going as that girl from the Matrix this year, whats-her-name. No way she's going to beat me as a centaur."

"Um — " said Taryn.

"Would you quit your complaining? You complain too much. You look fine, okay? You looked fine when you were putting it on, and you look fine now. That weirdo geekoid you call your boyfriend — oh, I'm sorry, you're not actually boyfriend and girlfriend because you two idiots would never admit such a thing — Josh will love it when he sees you at the party tomorrow, so quit worrying. You're gonna be walking around in nothing but a bikini top made of leaves, so why wouldn't he?"

"Um — " said Taryn.

"These costumes are awfully baggy, though, and it's a shame they're not more form-fitting, but they're at a great price, and even if I don't win, which I will, but even if I don't win, you'll win instead, and either way, Sarah will lose! Serves her right. Can you believe how she beat us last year with that stupid Bunny costume?"

"Um — " said Taryn.

"What's your problem?" Sylvie stopped pulling the costume up over her legs, stood up, and turned to glare at Taryn. "You look great, okay? That costume's a perfect fit on you, and you couldn't look more like a real centaur if you tried."

Taryn bit her lip and held up the zipper.

Sylvie paused. "Whoa..." she said, and stopped. For once in her life, she was at a loss for words — for a moment.

Then she looked down at her costume. She had already pulled the zipper up when she had turned to look at her friend. She tried to unzip, but the entire zipper just peeled off the front of the costume in her hand!

"What the…" She began, but then she felt the changes. At first, it felt like the costume had sucked in on itself until it had molded itself to her body. Then there was a brief moment of pain as her legs transformed into horse's legs and hooves. She felt a peculiar pulling sensation in her rear. Turning around, she realized it was her tail that was swishing back and forth as if it had a mind of its own. Placing a tentative hand on the costume's back and gasped. She had felt her hand touch her back! Taryn looked as if she had seen a ghost. Sylvie suddenly screamed in panic. She was surprised when she suddenly reared and flailed with her front legs, as if it was the most natural thing to do! Unfortunately, the room hadn't been all that big in the first place, and she ended up hitting Taryn instead.

"Ouch!" squealed Taryn as Sylvie's hooves hit her midriff. Doubling over in pain she gasped, trying to ignore the throbbing.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Sylvie babbled as her hooves landed on the floor with a thunk. She quickly grabbed her friend. "Are you all right?"

"Uggg. No I'm not all right. I'm a centaur! What did you do to me?" Taryn shrieked a little hysterically. "I can't be a centaur, I just can't! What will Josh think? What will my mother think?"

"Roland!" Sylvie said, suddenly. "He must know how to get these costumes off!"

Taryn and Sylvie ran for the door. More than four thousand pounds of terrified horse-girl flesh slamming into the flimsy changing room door tore it right off its hinges and sent it flying. It hit the dusty ground with a loud crash that echoed in the dim room. The girls were still as they absorbed an awful truth. Where once a costume shop had stood, now there was only bare walls and an empty wall with thick heavy dust everywhere.

"Where did he go?" Taryn whispered, her eyes wide with fright and fear. Sylvie could hear the snorts of her breath, sounding just like a horse. She shuddered in fear.

"I don't know." She whispered back. Her heart was hammering her chest, but to her discomfort, she could feel a second, larger heart in her horse body thudding painfully. Now doubly scared, she suddenly pointed.

"Look!"

There, above the spot where the counter had been, was a large yellow banner with the words, NO REFUNDS OR RETURNS!. It seemed to jeer at the girls as they stared at it, trembling.

"Does this mean what I think it means?" Taryn asked, trembling.

"Yep." Sylvie said quietly, staring at the horrid banner. "We are screwed."

This is the second feature to the work, So How Does Your Costume Fit. In this, I put up the original artwork of Phantom-Inker for this chapter, as this is where the actual transformation is. (Note: I am only able to write this with Phantom-Inker's permission. Please ask him if you want to do any other spin-off).
© 2011 - 2024 snore23
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Yeet4997's avatar

Reminds me of the haunted mask from the goosebumps series