Quote:
A new temporary co-op shop called the Boo-tique has opened up for the holiday season. Folks from all around the city are selling neat odds and ends to celebrate the spooktacular parties and events to come at the end of the month.

While you’re trying on one of the many costumes for sale, you leave the dressing room and find yourself engulfed in a world associated with whatever costume you put on. You can't go far--only a few feet in any direction, as if you hit an invisible wall. There is no person there, no animals, but a very vivid sight. After a few moments, you blink once and it's all gone--you've returned to the mothball-smelling, dusty dressing room you’d originally entered. The costume you’d put on has no price tag and if you approach a staff member to purchase or question it, they take it away and apologize -- it shouldn’t have been out on the floor to begin with. What… exactly happened?

Word count: 1184


Dawn was going to a school friend’s Halloween party the weekend before the actual day and she was running out of time to find a good costume. Unfortunately last year’s costume was too small so she needed to come up with something new, if it came down to it she could go in her girl scout uniform but Dawn didn’t want to do that. It actually seemed a little disrespectful for the outfit and what it represented. So here she was, the last weekend before the party in a temporary co-op shop that was open just for the holiday season, kind of like those Spirit stores. This one was called the Boo-tique and was filled with some really cool odds and ends all geared towards the ‘spooky’ day that marked the end of October.

Honestly, the bubbly teen had no idea what she was looking for but the standard outfits all bored her. If you’ve seen one witch, you’ve seen them all. The same with the superheros, princesses, vampires, and Disney out the wazoo. Nothing in this large building really said ‘me! Pick me!’ but she could feel her mom’s pacense starting to run thin. Turning towards the slightly taller version of herself the young woman asked her mother, “What would you suggest? Nothing really seems like me.” She harrumphed as she turned back to the rack of clothes and poked at a Cleopatra outfit.The material was thin and would be horribly cold for the fall night of Trick or Treating, fine for the party but not for Halloween night. That and Dawn wasn’t really into the whole egyption, greece, toga-esqu outfits either. They always required so much more than just the dress to make it really work anyway and she was determined to spend her own money on the outfit which limited her choices.

“I don’t know dear,” Her mother shrugged and absently checked her phone. “Why don’t you check some of the occupational ones. You know like firefighter or mailman or something.” The older woman didn’t really want to be there but she came because Dawn had asked. There were several issues at work she still had to deal with.

“Your right, there might be something that I missed.” Dawn moved over a rack and absently picked up a white lab coat on a hanger. It could have been anything from a simple scientist's coat to a doctor’s but the little paw on the breast pocket made Dawn think that it was meant to represent a veterinarian. Maybe this will work! She always wanted to work with animals anyway. She would just need to find scrubs and a few other odds and ends to really dress up the coat since it really was just a lab coat… not a very ‘flashy’ outfit, unlike some of the others. It was also quite big so she might have to see about getting it fitted somehow.

With the coat in hand the young teen made her way back towards the mothball-smelling, dusty dressing rooms. She didn’t really need to change but she did want to check herself out in the mirrors that were there. It only took her a moment to put it on, like she thought it was rather large on her but not childishly so. Still wearing the coat Dawn stepped out of her dressing room absently calling out to her mom as she went, “Mom, what do you think?” Only her forward progress was halted, as if she hit an invisible wall. But that wasn’t the shocking part… no, what was surprising was what she was seeing!

It was the back room at the vet clinic she volunteered at. Empty cages lined the wall, the plain linoleum was cracked and worn but squeaky clean, stainless steel tables and deep basin sinks were against the other wall, cabinets covered what wall space was left. Dawn could smell the remains of the cleaning supplies as well as hear the hum of the fluorescent lights above her. She knew where the three doors that were around her lead too. The one behind her went outside, the one to the right went to the hall with the exam rooms, and the one right in front of her was for storage. She knew this place. Inside and out. Honestly, what the strangest thing of all was that there wasn’t a single soul around. Not a person chatting in the hallway or an animal in one of the observation cages. No one but her.

With a frown Dawn opened her mouth to call out but before she could do more then blink she was once more standing in her dressing room looking at herself in the mirror. It was like nothing had even happened. With hesitant movements Dawn pulled the coat off and left the room for a second time… had she really left the first time? Blue eyes glanced over at her mother who was talking on her phone, her back turned away from the dressing rooms. Either Dawn never called out to her mom or she hadn’t heard her daughter’s question. Confused and more then a little curious as to what just transpired the teen snagged a nearby staff member’s attention.

“Miss, I was wondering about this costume,” She held out the lab coat but never got finished as the staff member gently extracted it from her grip.

“Terribly sorry dear but this coat isn’t for sale. See no tag,” The matronly lady pointed out the obvious lack of price tag and started to shuffle off with the coat.

“Wait, please.” Dawn called out trying to get the woman to stop. When it became apparent that the staffer wouldn’t, or didn’t hear her, the teen rapidly caught up with her. “I just wanted to know-”

“Sorry dear but its a coworkers personal coat. It went missing this morning and we had been looking everywhere for it,” The lady cut her off before she shouldered her way into a door clearly marked ‘Employees Only’.

Dawn could only stare dumbfounded at the particle board that now separated her from any answers. “But I only wanted to know what happened,” she muttered quietly as she turned away. It hadn’t been scary or even disturbing, just confusing. And honestly a little pleasant. She had known that she wanted to be a vet, or some other professional who handled animals, but after having that ‘vision’ Dawn felt even more sure in her life path.

“What happened to the coat?” Her mom asked when Dawn walked back to the dressing rooms.

The teen shrugged. “Lady said there wasn’t a price tag and took it into the back. It was too big anyway.”

“Well I’m sure we can find something better anyway,” Her mom tried to cheer her up as the made their way back into the racks of clothes. Her attitude was a lot better now that she had dealt with that phone call. Spending the day shopping with her daughter didn’t seem like such a bad thing anymore. Who knew that a single phone call could make such a difference.