Dark Smiles

The idea of choosing a nightclub based on the appearance of its sign seemed naïve to Kevin. However, after spending half an hour searching fruitlessly for a club with a short enough line of sufficiently interesting people, it was ultimately a sign that caught Kevin's eye. It read "Dark Smiles" and was accompanied by pictures of women smiling mischievously.

It was the only sign Kevin had seen that evening that gave anything close to a reliable indication of what the club it named was like. Some clubs had seductive names like "Paradise", some had more modest names like "Loser's Shack", and some had scary names like "Minotaur's Lair", but neither these names nor the artwork on these clubs implied anything particular about the interior (assuming the owners had not somehow captured a live minotaur and gotten the municipal inspectors to sign off on it). The sign for Dark Smiles, on the other hand, clearly conveyed the message: "We are going to have a great time at your expense."

It takes a very specific type of person to walk into a place like that. It's not enough to enjoy seeing people smile. Most nightclub staff smile, either because they're required to or because it helps them get tips. To enter a place that practically brags about preying on its customers, one would have to have such a high level of empathy that one would endure any amount of humiliation or discomfort in order to be certain that the smiles of others were genuine. And one would indeed be certain, because there would be no reason for an open predator (well, prankster anyway; the smiles weren't quite condescending) to fake enjoyment. Kevin was not surprised by the absence of any line at the door; he doubted many people had that kind of empathy.

Kevin himself, however, was one of the (probably) few that did. It had been several years since he had had to put up with any malicious teasing by classmates, and he was in a good enough mood that he felt he could take whatever the people at Dark Smiles threw at him as long as it did something for them, so he decided to go in.

For all the chilling undertones of the sign, the door was actually quite inviting. It was closed and opaque, but it had a big, cute up arrow outline on it, inside of which the word "Enter" was printed. Kevin entered and found himself in a fairly small entrance hallway. Two open doorways in front of him led deeper into the club, but before Kevin could more than glance at them he heard a voice to his right say, "Welcome to Dark Smiles." He turned and saw a friendly-looking man sitting behind a counter with a cash register.

The man was smiling pleasantly, not darkly like the women on the sign. He had a very easygoing appearance: casual enough not to seem intimidating, but well-groomed enough not to look like a pickpocket. Kevin took the two steps to the counter, letting the front door close behind him.

"Have you been here before?" the man asked.

"No," Kevin answered.

"Do you know much about this place?"

"Only what I can guess based on the sign."

"Okay. Dark Smiles is a drinking bar. Unlike some of the clubs in this area, we do not have a dance floor or a disco ball, and we play our music quietly enough to encourage conversation. Shall I continue?"

"Sure."

"The next thing you need to know is that you might be put into situations that you find distressing. Have you ever been to a haunted house?"

"No."

"Would it bother you to be pushed into mud or sprayed with silly string?"

"Sometimes, but not tonight. Is that the sort of thing that happens here?"

"Not those things specifically, but that's about the level of mischief that you can expect. I won't elaborate any further because surprise is part of the game. Do you have any physical or mental health conditions that you think we should know about?"

"Not that I can think of."

"You should be fine then. Now, before you're allowed to enter the main area, you have to either pay a fifty-dollar cover or change into a special outfit that we provide. You'll notice that there are two doorways leading into the club." Kevin looked at the doorways that he had seen when he came in. "The doorway on the left leads straight to the bar for customers who choose to pay the fifty dollars. The doorway on the right leads to changing rooms and lockers, and a hallway continues past them into the rest of the club so that you don't have to come back through here. Would you like to see the outfit?"

"Sure."

The man looked under the counter briefly and then pulled out a folded stack of white cloth. He proceeded to unfold it by holding an edge up with both hands and letting the rest fall. It appeared to be a one-piece garment that combined a plain white t-shirt with pants of the same material and color, although there was no waistband to indicate where the shirt ended and the pants began. After a few seconds he turned it around horizontally. On the newly-revealed side (Kevin couldn't tell whether it was the back or the front), there appeared to be a vertical break or fold in the "shirt" portion, midway between the shoulders, starting at the neck opening and stopping near the waist. "It fastens at the back with VELCRO®," the man explained, pulling the garment apart at the neck to demonstrate how the back detached down to the waist in a V. Kevin noticed two round holes next to the tops of the V at the neck, about the size of his thumbnail, each of which was reinforced by a metal ring. The man then re-fastened the back of the outfit, and the two holes lined up at the back of the neck. He turned the garment back around.

The man went on, "If you choose to wear this outfit then cover is free. You would be required to buy at least one drink, unless someone else offers to buy one for you, but I can assure you that our drink prices are quite reasonable. The bigger concern is that the outfit will mark you, both to staff and to other customers, as a target. So what do you think? Would you rather pay the fifty dollars, wear the outfit, or go somewhere else?"

"I'll wear the outfit," Kevin said. He didn't know enough about the place to want to pay fifty dollars to get in, and he didn't think he would be able to find another place with quite such a playful atmosphere.

"Okay. Here," the man said, holding the outfit out to Kevin, who took it. "This one should fit you. If it doesn't, come back and I'll give you a different size. Before putting it on, I recommend that you remove all of your clothes, including socks, shoes, and underwear, so that they stay clean and dry no matter what happens to you in the club. Would you like a pair of flip-flops?"

"Sure."

"Do you know your shoe size?"

"Nine."

"Do you care what color?"

"How about purple?"

The man looked under the counter and took out a pair of purple flip-flops. "Here," he said, handing them to Kevin. "Remember, changing rooms are through the doorway on the right. There are three of them, all on your right-hand side. Look for one with an open door; if they're all closed, try knocking and then go in if no one answers. Lockers for your outside clothes and shoes are against the opposite wall. You can pick any locker with a key in it. The key will come out once the locker is closed, can be worn around your wrist, and has the locker number on it in case you forget it. Remember also that that hallway continues into the club, so you don't have to come back here until you're ready to leave. You can use your key to start a bar tab, so that you don't have to carry cash or cards with you into the club. Do you have any questions?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Great. There's a staff member at the other end of the hallway who can help you if you have any difficulties. Have fun!"

Kevin carried the outfit and flip-flops through the right-hand doorway and immediately found himself in a hallway with a wall of lockers on his left and three doors on his right. All three of the doors were open. Kevin went through the first door, which led to a small room with a bench. He closed and locked the door, sat on the bench, and started taking off his shoes and clothes. Following the man's advice, he stripped completely naked, folding each article of clothing as he took it off and stacking them on the bench next to him. He then opened the back of the outfit and climbed into it. It was not excessively difficult to put on, although fastening the back again was a slight challenge. In the end, though, he was able to do it on his own, found that the outfit did indeed fit him well, and emerged from the changing room wearing his new outfit and carrying his old one. He found an empty locker, put his street clothes and shoes into it, closed the door, took the key, which was attached to a wristband, and put it around his wrist. He then followed the hallway deeper into the club.

There was indeed a staff member at the far end of the hallway: a woman with reddish brown hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a shirt with "Dark Smiles" written on it. The smile she put on when she saw Kevin was, in fact, a bit dark, unlike the smile of the man at the front. Kevin did not let his gaze linger on her, in order to make it clear that he did not have any questions. Even so, when he reached the end of the hallway, she said, quite loudly, "Welcome to Dark Smiles!"

"Thank you," Kevin said uncertainly, looking at her. The woman winked at him, then looked away. Kevin glanced quickly around the room he had just entered. It was not crowded, but all of the twenty or so people that Kevin could see seemed to suddenly be looking at him. One woman, seated with others around a fairly long table, actually stood up. Kevin spotted the bar, which only had a couple of patrons at it, and started walking in that direction.

He had only taken a few steps when he heard a different nearby female voice say appreciatively, "Welcome indeed." He turned and saw that the woman who had stood up from the table was now standing right next to him. "Is it your first time here?" she asked.

"Yes," Kevin said.

"Delicious," the woman purred, more to herself than to Kevin. "Looks like I'm in for a real treat." Kevin started to worry that this woman might actually eat him. He felt something against the back of his neck, then heard a click from that same spot. He reached up with his hand and felt a palm-sized metallic object there. "It's a combination lock," the woman told him. "It prevents you from taking off your outfit until I decide to unlock it. We put one on everyone who wears the outfit. I'm glad I got to you before one of the staff members did. I'll take the lock off at the end of the night so that you can change back into your street clothes. In the meantime, why don't you come sit with us? I saved you a seat."

Kevin looked at her, confused. "How did you know I was coming?"

"Okay, not

you

you. I saved a seat for a cute first timer. So hurry up and take it before someone else does." She took hold of Kevin's wrist and started pulling him back toward her table. Kevin decided not to resist. If he did get eaten, then at least he would be a source of enjoyment for an attractive woman.

The table had a transparent top and was much longer than it was wide. Up close, Kevin could see that it consisted of several smaller tables arranged edge-to-edge. There were five chairs on each of the long sides of the assembled table but no chairs at the ends. On the far side, the leftmost and rightmost pairs of chairs were each occupied by a man and a woman, while the middle chair was empty. On the near side, the leftmost two chairs were empty, while the three rightmost chairs were all occupied by women. The woman between the other two, in the fourth chair from the left, was the only person at the table wearing the club's special white outfit. Her outfit, like Kevin's, had a combination lock passing through the two holes at the back of the neck, preventing the outfit from being removed while the lock was in place.

The woman who had brought Kevin there pulled out the second chair from the left on the near side of the table and gestured for Kevin to sit. He did, and then the woman herself sat in the empty chair to his left. "I'm Wanda," she said to Kevin, holding out her right hand.

"Kevin," Kevin said, shaking it.

A waitress approached the table. "What would you like to drink?" she asked Kevin.

"Do you have pineapple juice?" Kevin asked.

"Sure thing," the waitress answered. "I'll be right back." She headed back to the bar.

While she was gone, Wanda introduced Kevin to the others around the table. The woman to Kevin's immediate right was named Crystal. The woman beyond her, in the white outfit, was named Emily. Emily was apparently another first timer, and she looked as nervous as Kevin felt. The woman to Emily's right was named Debbie. Wanda told Kevin that Debbie was the one who had put the lock on Emily's outfit. The names of the people across the table Kevin forgot almost as soon as they were introduced, although he did learn that each pair was a romantic couple.

The waitress came back to the table. "Here's your pineapple juice," she said in a musical voice, putting the glass in front of Kevin. She had an amused smile on her face. Kevin wasn't sure what could be so funny about a glass of pineapple juice, but he decided not to think about it too hard. "It's two dollars," the waitress said.

Kevin realized that he had left his wallet in his locker. Then he remembered that he was supposed to use his key to start a tab. Before he could remove it from his wrist, though, Wanda said to the waitress, "Put it on my tab."

"You got it," the waitress said. "Wanda, right?"

"That's right," Wanda said.

"Enjoy your drink," the waitress said to Kevin, smiling even more widely, before heading off again. Kevin was becoming increasingly curious about what all these people were smiling about, but at the same time he thought that maybe he was better off not knowing. He started to drink his juice.

"I notice that Emily's the only other person at this table wearing this outfit," Kevin said between sips. "Does that mean that the rest of you all paid the fifty dollars to get in?"

"Yes," Wanda said. "After the first visit, the free option just doesn't cut it anymore."

"But it's so much money! What do you get for it?"

"We get left alone. And if we're lucky —" she started caressing Kevin's shoulder with her fingers — "we get toys of our own."

As Kevin finished his juice, Emily inhaled sharply, then, speaking quickly, asked, "Does anyone know where the bathroom is?" While she had never truly been at ease, Kevin was surprised by how suddenly her anxiety level seemed to have skyrocketed. Equally surprising was how quickly and excitedly everyone else around the table smiled in response to Emily's question. Their smiles made Kevin even more uneasy than he had been, but they did not appear to be literally cannibalistic; whatever horrors might happen to Kevin or Emily while they were there, Kevin felt reassured that the two of them would be able to leave at the end of the night without any permanent wounds. Emily seemed to feel similarly; she sounded scared but not adrenaline-scared as she asked, "Why are you all smiling?"

Debbie, the woman on Emily's right, said, "You won't be able to use the toilet until I unlock your outfit."

"Right, of course," said Emily, in a tone that suggested she had forgotten about the lock. "I'll need you to take the lock off. But it would also be helpful to know where the bathroom actually

is

."

In an amused tone, Debbie said to the people across the table, "She wants to know where the bathroom is." She turned to Emily and said, "The bathroom's next to the hallway where you came in. But I don't feel like taking the lock off yet."

Emily put a hand between her legs to squeeze her crotch, then crossed her legs tightly over the hand and bent forward. She used her other hand to try to pull the neck of her outfit over her shoulders, but with the lock in place the neck wouldn't stretch far enough. She also fumbled at the lock to confirm that it couldn't be removed without dialing the combination, which Emily couldn't have done even if she knew the combination because she couldn't see the numbers on the lock. Wanda moved her hand from Kevin's shoulder to his chest, continuing to massage him gently.

"Come on," Emily said to Debbie, "I really have to pee. Could you please take the lock off? You can put it back on when I get back."

"Oh, you have to pee, do you?" Debbie teased, still smiling widely.

"Yes," Emily said anxiously, "I

really, really

have to pee. Please take the lock off so I can go to the bathroom."

"Well, I

could

take the lock off, but I think it would be more fun to tickle you," Debbie said, then unfastened some of the VELCRO® holding Emily's outfit together at the back, slid her hand in, and started tickling Emily's side under the outfit. Crystal, the woman on Emily's left (next to Kevin), also slid her hand in to join in on the tickling.

The four people across the table, who were also still smiling, each slid a hand down the adjacent person's pants and started rubbing. They did it in pairs; no one reached across the empty chair. Kevin remembered that each pair was a romantic couple, so it wasn't as though they were touching someone that they had just met, unlike Wanda, whose hand had drifted down to Kevin's stomach.

"What, you think this is cute?" Emily asked, still squeezing herself with her hand between her tightly crossed legs while trying to dodge the tickling fingers of the women on either side of her. "I'm serious, I don't know how much longer I can hold it."

"Aww," Crystal teased, "are you going to wet yourself? Are you going to start peeing helplessly into your thin white cotton outfit?"

Emily did not respond. Wanda slid her hand farther down Kevin's front until she reached his penis, which had already started to harden from Emily's movements and pleas and the teasing of the women next to her. As Wanda rubbed Kevin's penis through his outfit, she said softly into his ear, "It

is

pretty cute, isn't it? Look how tightly Emily's squeezing her pussy with her hand and thighs. Look at the way she's wriggling and squirming. Look at her face; she's starting to panic. She really does have to pee extremely badly. But Debbie's enjoying the show too much to want to take the lock off. Isn't it delicious?"

Kevin thought about speaking up for Emily. Remembering what the man at the front had said about silly string and mud, however, Kevin figured that refusing to unlock someone's outfit when she needed to pee was fair game, so he decided to keep quiet. Remembering the lock on his own outfit, Kevin made a mental note to avoid drinking too much so that the same thing didn't happen to

him

. Of course, they would probably still find some way to trick him. Or perhaps they had already decided to be nice to him that evening. He turned his attention back to Emily.

Emily uncrossed her legs and crossed them the other way, with her hand still between them, while the women on either side of her continued to smile and tickle her. "Try not to think about waterfalls," Crystal teased in a singsong voice.

"Are you

trying

to make me wet myself?" Emily demanded.

"Maybe I'll take the lock off before you lose control, or maybe I won't," Debbie answered. "At the moment, though, I'm really enjoying watching you frantically try to stay dry."

"You have to pee so-o-o bad right now, don't you?" Crystal asked Emily rhetorically. "You really need Debbie to take that lock off soon so that you can have a clean, relieving pee in the toilet instead of an embarrassing, wet accident in your clothes, don't you? Do you feel like you're about to completely soak yourself? Do you feel like, no matter how tightly you squeeze your crotch, your pee is about to start flowing uncontrollably and unstoppably out through your pussy and saturate the entire lower half of your outfit?"