Ink Cursed

Chapter 1

Ink Cursed

Chapter 1

The fur on the expensive-looking costume looks almost real, and it scares me.

Will Jared like it?

My fingers glide over the thin layers of cloth that are dark in color. The plastic hanger beneath my hands feels cheap and weak. Taking a breath, I finally decide to agree with Sam and her decision with the costume.

"Are you sure I should wear this?" I ask for the third time, matting down the costume against my body in thought. Sam's stern face doesn't look like it feels too elated with my question. She doesn't even respond as she pushes me throughout the store, past clown masks with blood staining the circles beneath their eyes and bags and bags of candy corn.

As we finally reach the gothic-designed changing room, Sam pushes me in with full force, gives me a look, and shuts the door behind me. Sighing, the out of tune carnival music of the Halloween-themed store plays with a wicked tune that gets me uneasy.

Staring back at myself in the mirror, I strip my clothes off, keeping only my bra and underwear on. At first, the costume is hard to put on and incredibly tight on the thighs, but I manage to slip into it anyway. Picking the headband off the costume at the end, I dig it into my lively waves of hair and look at myself.

A skimpy-looking girl is staring back at me, but she actually manages to look good in the cat costume. My thin legs are covered with black lace dancing delicately on my white skin. The bodice is tight and gives my body a figure somewhat with a mini lacy skirt hung on my hips. Tilting my head to the right, the black ears on my headband swoosh back and forth as if they're alive. The tail connected to the skirt is hanging past my legs and reaching my ankles but not touching the ground.

A loud rapping of the door brings me back to reality. The ghostly music plays sweetly in my ears.

"I look. . ." I trail off, hiding the cat ears on my headband with my hands. Sam enters and smiles widely. She takes a few seconds to look over my body, and I can't help but smirk. "Just say something already."

Sam's bright eyes look up at me and she removes my hands from my head and smiles. Still silent, she grabs the thin plastic covering, opening it and hanging me its contents. Two black gloves now rest in my open hands.

"Why did you open that?" I ask, trying to gloves on the grabbing the tail that actually looks like it's a part of my body. "You only open that package if you're going to buy it."

"Well you are going to buy it," Sam replies, ruffling my hair a bit. "I told you you'd look great."

"Thanks Sam but how much does this cost anyway?"

She carries the price tag in her hand, creases her eyebrows then speaks. "Fifty dollars. And don't tell me you can't afford it because both you and I know you've been saving money for an actually presentable costume." She walks around me, examining me as if I have a weapon hiding at the security check in an airport. "And you look really good. You really pull it off well." She claps three times. "Good job."

"Why thank you, and now it's your turn to try on your costume, don't you think?" After pushing her out, she skips over to a stall and locks the door behind her.

Looking back at myself, I don't see why I can't wear this. Every teenage girl these days dresses like this for Halloween, probably even worse. Inching closer towards the mirror, I pull my hair back and examine my profile and my well-structured face with light freckles painted on the skin around the bottom of my eyes and nose.

Pulling the tail a bit, I realize I look quite similar to the main character in an anime I used to watch as a kid.

Half not wanting to change back, I put my clothes back on anyway and make my way towards Sam's changing room, pushing the door open. Sam turns to me, confidence lightening her face as she twirls around, the flimsy little dress flowing through the air around her. Her long brown hair is in a tight bun, and a bow is perched on the top of her head. The vibrant colors of the costume almost pour off of it like paint, and the expensive material of the whole outfit makes it look even better.