In many ways, there's a great modern mystery that lurks throughout our cities, but only for a scant month or so every year. It's a place that seems to be there one moment and is gone again the next, returning once again a year later. Sometimes they're in the same space, other times they seem to move at random, but they always seem to inhabit old and abandoned buildings. Nobody really seems to know where they disappear to in their off season, they're simply empty and gone. Most people barely think about these places even during their season, and nobody seems to truly question their appearance and disappearance.
Perhaps it has something to do with the magic of the season. Perhaps there's something more sinister afoot. In either case, they seem to leave our collective consciousness just as fast as they arrive and disappear.
I'm talking, of course, about Halloween Stores.
To be sure, there's something weird about them. But they're not the actual subject of my story today. It is, however, closely related. There is just something about those stores that has entered the cultural zeitgeist, something that I'm not sure is original to them. In a similar respect, there is another type of store that has entered the cultural zeitgeist in much the same way. It's the shop known for its cursed items or the sacrifice made to be able to purchase exotic and occult items. Those stores that sell you items that might as well be deals with the devil himself. While Mr. King does spin a fanciful tale, I believe that he, too, is not the originator of this mythos.
Personally, I believe that what I have come to call "The Wandering Costume Shop" to be the originator of both of those myths. In fact, I fully believe that the stories I have heard are true, spoken from the lips of its very victims.
What neither of those more known myths seems to get straight, however, is what the shop actually does.
Generally, it appears at the edge of town. It's either a curiosity or basically the only option around when its victim needs it. It entices the curious with an odd and eclectic assortment of sensual and stylish wear. For others, it offers the more traditional "slutty" halloween costumes one would expect. It's almost always the only shop of its kind in the area. It's definitely the only thing open late and/or close enough for those who desperately need something for a costume party.
In either case, once a victim is lured in, they are given an "offer" they can't refuse. In exchange for an outfit that fits their desires or needs, they must give up something of themselves. For a great many of its victims, this is at least their manhood. For others, they lose something more ethereal such as their intelligence, career choices, or even something as simple as their sense of fashion. Truly, I don't believe that anyone who enters the shop can ever get out unchanged.
These claims are very difficult to track down, and most definitely impossible to prove. The only individual that ever believes something has been taken away is the victim. Every other individual in their lives, every scrap of physical or digital evidence shows them to have always been the person that they are now. One and all, it seems as though the victims were always the over-sexualized pictures of humanity that they appear to be. Further, the store is always gone before the victim has a chance to return. Disappeared as if it had never been there at all.
These are the stories of the shop's victims.
***
"What do you think, bro? Too much?"
"You look fine," I replied.
It was a simple reply and not even the whole truth. My step-sister did not just look fine. She looked absolutely incredible in her outfit for the costume party. She had opted for a sexy, slutty nurse outfit. Her hair was tied back in a long ponytail with a nurse's cap atop her head. A white latex skirt and a matching white latex shirt hugged her curvy figure, leaving nothing to the imagination. The only splash of color on the outfit was the pink and blue piping that marked her as an RN.
"You're no help," she replied.
"Hey, I'm serious. You'd kill a room in just about anything, and the host did specify that costumes were supposed to, and I quote, 'slut it the hell up'!" I threw myself back onto the bed. Frustrated that I didn't find a costume that the host would have accepted in time. I had literally ordered 3 different ones and each of them had either been canceled or delayed at the last minute. Heck, the order that I didn't ultimately cancel was set to show up the next day, first thing in the morning. A mere 10 hours too late.
"She put a very particular inflection on the word 'slut'." I said, only a little of my bitterness leaking out.
"It's gonna be ok," my sister said, sitting on the bed next to me. "She'll understand. And you'll get some other party to go to before the holiday's over."
"Her understanding isn't going to get me in the door to what will easily be the hottest party of the season." I grumped. Even if my step-sister's, Alexia's, best friend Clara wasn't one of the most popular girls in town, and someone I'd had a crush on for ages, this party was bound to become an actual fuck-fest. Her telling everyone to wear costumes literally just short of fetishwear would practically guarantee that. As such, Clara had been incredibly picky about both the guest list and the costume rules. Nobody that she felt like wouldn't at least take their partner for the night out on a date after being invited, and nobody on the list wearing something up to both her quality and sexiness standards would be allowed in, let alone to any of her other parties in the future.
Alexia and Clara had been friends for almost 3 years, and she was the only person that my sister knew who was able to pull off what had become an annual tradition. She always got the best DJ, the best food, the best drinks, and the best guest list for a Halloween Party. She'd also gotten a reputation for it, and everyone was dying to get an invite.
"If it was that important, then you could have ordered a costume days or weeks ago and had it delivered," she pointed out.
"I did!" I retorted. "I ordered one a month ago, from a serious cosplay crafter I might add, knowing how big of a deal it would be to Clara! They canceled on me with only a week and a half left to go. I've even ordered multiple more since then, knowing I can't just go grab some off the rack crap from the local Halloween Express. All but one of those has fallen through, and it was delayed until tomorrow."
"You could have called her, she'd have let you in. Hell, if you wanted, she'd probably have even brought you a costume to try on."
"You know I could never ask her for that," I said, sighing. I knew that she would have come through for me, but only as her best friend's brother. This party was supposed to be my chance to impress her, maybe even work up the courage to ask her out. If not that, at least I could have held my head proud in at least partially earning my own way in. Certainly a good custom outfit would have at least endeared me to one of the other hotties in attendance.
"I still think you should have asked her," Alexia said. "But that ship has sailed. I'm sorry, bro."
"Eh, it's fine," I replied, trying to brush it off. "Honestly, it might be for the better that I sit this one out if I couldn't source my own costume."
"Bullshit," she said, "I've seen the way you look at her, and the way you've looked at the rest of the girls in her social circle. You've been dreaming of this party for months, and I've seen how many costumes you've ordered. Don't tell me you aren't interested."
"No, I'm not interested," I shot back, trying to sound indignant, "I'm desperate. You've seen the kinds of costumes that get worn to this party. There's just no way I would ever live down begging Clara for help... Again..." I finished with a sigh.
"Again?"
"When you two were freshmen, you remember how the school's costume contest was right before Halloween? When Clara and I went and won for the most ridiculous couple?"
"How could I forget, you won in drag."
