The Conduit

Chapter 1
Employees Only

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Chapter Description: New Store In Town

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Chapter 1: Employees Only

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“How about this one?” Summer asked, holding up the plastic package.

“No I hate baseball” said Katie.

“This one?” asked Alexis.

“It’s going to be really cold. I don’t want to freeze” said Summer.

Halloween was coming in two weeks and Alexis, Summer, and Katie still hadn’t quite figured out what they were going to be. The sorority house at their college was hosting a party on Halloween night, and Veronica, a mutual friend of the three girls, invited them to come. Therefore they need to make an impression and to stand out from the crowd

Now they were standing in the Halloween costume shop which opened up a few weeks prior and had been bickering for an hour over what they would wear and wouldn’t wear. Every suggestion that one girl would make, another girl would shoot down. Being college girls, it was easy for typical costumes to catch their eye, and so far they had ruffled past the slutty cheerleader, the slutty cop, the kinky Alice, the sexy Dorothy, the foxy pirate, the naughty nurse, and all manner of other trashy costumes that one might see prowling around on Halloween night. They had just got done skimming past the sexy baseball player and the cute bumblebee when Alexis started to wander off, bored.

The Halloween store was big. A warehouse almost. Big enough to lose a child in or search for a while and turn down an aisle you haven’t been in before. The shop seemed relatively new, and despite the size of the place and magnitude of different costumes, party supplies, and all things Halloween the owners were able to fully stock the shelves within a few days, opening just in time for October. The girls had seen the huge banner hung above the massive glass storefront in town which read “Madame Mary’s Halloween Outlet. For All Your Magical Halloween Needs!” in massive orange and black letters.

Alexis with her curious nature had wandered off into a nearby aisle to leave Katie and Summer bickering about how cold Halloween night was supposed to be and how every other girl would be dressed in trashy outfits.

“We gotta look sexy!” Alexis heard Katie say as their voices began to trail off in the distance. “Paul Dunnigan is going to be there! I know you’re crushing on him like big time”

“Well yeah!” said Summer from a distance “And I don’t want to be just another girl in a ruffled tutu for him to stare at. I want him to actually notice me.”

Their words became more faded as Alexis walked down the aisle. Her eyes drifted over women’s costumes folded neatly in plastic bags.

Hippie, lame.

Clown, creepy.

Pimpette, boring.

And her eyes scanned the shelves until they fell onto a particular costume. A sweet looking woman with golden pigtails smiled back at her from the cardboard picture in the bag. She was wearing an adult-sized diaper and bonnet so pink and sweet that her teeth began to hurt just thinking about it. She was also wearing a large baby-style shirt which was big enough to cover her torso but partially revealed the white crinkly diaper underneath it. One of her hands was at her mouth and she was sucking cutely on her thumb. Her other hand held a soft baby blanket and around her index finger was a large pink pacifier. Soft booties capped her feet. The caption on the picture read, “Little Baby Girl. Package contains Baby-doll shirt, Diaper, Blankie, Pacifier, Bonnet, Bootie-shoe covers”

For some reason she couldn’t look away from the picture. Something about it made it click in her mind.

“Hmm...” she thought. Not a bad idea. The diapers would keep them all warm, and even though the babyish shirt-dresses had typical puffed sleeves and skirts, they weren’t skanky. They would look sweet and approachable rather than just another slutty college girl at a Halloween party.

...

“Babies?” they said in unison.

“Why not?” said Alexis, holding two of the costume packages up. “You have to admit we’d be pretty adorable. A regular baby brigade.”

“Yeah but... babies?” said Summer.

“That’s kind of weird, don’t you think?” asked Katie.

Alexis let out a small sigh of frustration. “We’ve been here for almost two hours and we’re being picky about everything. It’s getting late and the store is going to close soon. It’s a HALLOWEEN party! Lots of people wear weird costumes. I mean, weirder than normal. Michelle and Rebecca had to dress as babies for their sorority pledge last year remember?”

Summer smiled. “That was funny. And you’re right we would look pretty cute. Although I don’t know how I feel about the diaper. Can’t we wear frilly panties or something?”

“I would say yes,” said Alexis, “but if it’s as cold as you say it’s going to be, I’m betting a diaper would keep you warm down there wouldn’t it?”

“It bet it would in more ways than one” said Katie jokingly.

“Don’t talk about my vagina!” laughed Summer, “OK fine, we’ll be baby triplets.”

“FINALLY WE HAVE A PLAN!” said Alexis loudly, happy to be done with the search, “I have to ask the owner if they have any more in stock. These were the only two on the shelf.”

The three girls were standing very close to the back room where spare costumes were stocked and waiting to go out. The thought of having to ask the woman up front to walk all the way to the back, look for the costume that may not even be in stock seemed like an annoyance to Katie. “Just sneak into the back room,” she said, “It’s right over there. You’re going to pay for the costume anyway so it’s not like you’re stealing anything.”

Alexis bit her lip. “I don’t want to get in trouble.”

Katie grabbed the costume bags out of Alexis’s hand, gave one to Summer, and kept the other for herself. “I’m going to go pay for my costume. This was your idea, so go in the back and snoop around for one. We’ll be paying so she’ll be distracted, OK?” and before Alexis could protest, Katie was already off on the hike to the front counter, dragging Summer by her arm behind her. Alexis looked at the door to the stock room. A big sign saying “employees only” hung from its face. Reluctantly she turned the handle and went inside.

...

The back room in the costume store was dimly lit. Alexis passed by hanging horror ornaments, trick or treat bags, costume make-up, props, gadgets, decorations, and all sorts of things that had yet to be put out. She walked quietly without trying to look too suspicious. She didn’t like breaking the rules, but this wasn’t really rule breaking. She just wanted find a spare costume.

After a few minutes she saw a small pile of women’s costumes lying on a table in a corner. She rummaged through the pile for a moment. She finished one tower of costume and started on the second, but as she turned to the rest of the pile, her elbow hit a precariously placed cardboard box which fell from the table onto the floor, spewing costume bags all over the place.

“Shit!” she whispered to herself under her breath and began to replace the costume into the box.

As she placed them in the box she gave a double-take and saw that one of the costumes from the box was another baby costume. She looked at it again and saw the same woman with the same costume on the package card. She was standing in a different position and the font of the letters was changed slightly. As she scanned it to make sure it had all of the same materials and pieces inside, she noticed that it also read, “So cute, it will be the last costume you’ll ever buy!” in smaller letters under the costume name. After checking it once more to make sure it listed the same items she quickly replaced the rest of the costumes in the box and turned to leave.

“Excuse me?”

Alexis jumped up in fright and saw one of the employees standing in the doorway.

“Can I help you with something?” she said.

Alexis stammered for a second. “I... uh... no! I just came in here because you were out of this costume and I just wanted to see if you had any more back here. I didn’t want to have someone have to walk all the way back here.”

To Alexis’s surprise, the employee smiled. “That’s ok,” the woman said, “I understand the store is big. Thanks for your concern.”

“Um... anytime!” said Alexis, taken aback by the employee’s kindness.

“Did you at least find what you were looking for?”

“Yes I did. The... uh... baby girl costume.” Alexis felt herself turn slightly red.

“Oh well then you’ll need this.” The girl said, walking over to a small cardboard box on the table. She opened it and pulled out a large pacifier in a packaged bag. “They send us these separately for some reason.”

Alexis looked at the bag in her hands. She felt through the fabric of the baby shirt, the bootie-covers, the bonnet. She couldn’t feel the hard pretend pacifier in the bag. “Oh thanks!” she said, taking the pacifier from the woman’s outstretched hand. “I wouldn’t have even known it was missing until Halloween.”

“Anything I can do to help,” smiled the woman, and Alexis thanked her again before turning to the door and leaving to room, once again entering the massive room filled with racks and racks of ordinary costumes.

After the long walk to the front counter, Alexis saw Katie and Summer waiting there, plastic bags in hand, evidently having paid for their costumes.

“It’s about damn time!” said Katie impatiently.

“This store is huge!” said Alexis slightly frustrated and annoyed at her friend’s immaturity. “I’m surprised you don’t dress like a baby every day seeing as how you’re acting like one.”

Katie didn’t retort. She simply scoffed and looked away. The older woman behind the checkout counter looked up from behind thick glasses and smiled at Alexis.

“Ah...” she said in a sweet motherly voice. “So this must be the third baby girl.” She had dark red hair which seemed to be thinning slightly due to her old age. She wasn’t elderly, but she wasn’t exactly young either. Her face was lined, and the thick glasses didn’t help any ideas of youth.

Alexis blushed slightly. “Yes that would be me.”

The woman behind the counter began to ring up the costume. “Your little friends here told me of your costume idea. It seems very clever and sweet. It’s nice to see young women like yourselves breaking from the mold, as it were. I’m Madame Mary, the owner.”

Alexis noticed her nametag. Duh...

“Nice to meet you,” Alexis said kindly, “This is an incredible store you have. Lots of interesting stuff you have here.”

“You have no idea” said Madame Mary with a smile.

“How come I’ve never seen this store before?” Alexis asked. In her peripheral she saw Katie roll her eyes due to impatience. Apparently she thought that small-talking the owner was wasting time.

“I move from town to town every year or so. Did you find everything ok by the way?”

Alexis became embarrassed. “Yes,” she admitted, “You were out of this costume so I went into the back room. One of your employees caught me snooping around. But I wasn’t trying to steal anything.” She heard the self-justifying tone in her voice begin to rise. Mary simply waved a hand and continued the transaction.

“Don’t worry my dear. I see Emily gave you the pacifier which goes with it”

“Yes ma’am”

“Can we fucking GO already?!”

Both Alexis and Madame Mary looked around at Katie whose arms were out wide with frustration. Summer immediately began to take interest in the surroundings in an attempt to hide any relationship to Katie or her rudeness.

“My my,” Madame Mary said calmly, “Quite a vocabulary you youngsters have these days.” The receipt popped out of the cash register and was placed inside the plastic bag containing Alexis’s costume.

“Thank you” said Alexis sweetly as she grabbed the bag, her change, and Katie’s arm before bustling out the front door.

“Come again soon!” Madame Mary called out to them as they passed through the door. She shook her head and continued to work.

...

To be continued

 

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