“I think you still need to look for a dress at that boutique I was telling you about.” My friend, Naomi, nagged me for the hundredth time. She had been my friend for about seven years. She was sweet, but, very pushy. We are seventeen, our prom was actually coming up. I wasn’t that excited about it, but, Naomi was really excited, so I decided to go. Naomi had always looked out for me.
I looked at my phone, and realized it was already four PM.
“Naomi, we need to pick out a dress, so I can hurry up and get back home. Just pick one out, and hurry,” I said, snapping a bit. “Fine. Fine,” Naomi said. She dragged me into some fancy looking store. “Oh great, a store of dresses, that I can’t afford,” I whispered in Naomi’s ear, sarcastically. “May I help you?” a friendly cashier asked, smiling. “I want my friend to get a dress!” Naomi said, really excited. “We just got in new dresses over there, and they are very antique,” the cashier said, pointing to a different part of the store. “Ok. Thank you,” Naomi said, before I could even respond. Naomi dragged me over and started putting, at the least, about eighteen dresses in my hands. “Try these on!” Naomi ordered, shoving me into the dressing room.
I tried them on, none of them really catching my eye. Some of them were too big, while others were too tight. Then, some of them just didn’t look good. The very last dress, that I didn’t remember Naomi handing me, caught my attention immediately. I tried it on, and it made me gasp.
It was a blood red dress, with sequins on it, that made it sparkle each time I moved. I was excited, I pulled back the curtain of the dressing room, to show Naomi. “Naomi?” I asked, confused. I didn’t see my friend anywhere, I also didn’t see the cashier. I looked around, everywhere. “Naomi?” I called out again. The store was empty. There was no other customers, and I didn’t see any workers. “Where did everyone go?” I thought, confused. I decided that I was going to change back to my normal clothes, find Naomi, then come back for the dress. But, when I turned around, my original clothes was gone, so was the other dresses I tried on. I told myself not to panic. I started making my way towards the door, telling myself that it isn’t wrong if I come back to pay for the dress.
I opened the door, and my blood ran cold. It had been a perfectly sunny day, and the temperature was at about eighty degrees, but now, it was snowing, heavily. It was about thirty degrees.
“I can see my breath,” I thought, shivering. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I saw Naomi, standing across the street, her back turned to mine. “Naomi!” I yelled, happy that I found her. Naomi slowly turned around. I almost screamed when I saw her face.
Her eyeballs were hanging out of the sockets, her hair was matted down with sweat, and her clothes were all torn up. “Hello?” Naomi said, hearing me heavily breathing. I started backing up and fell back into the dress shop. I looked back at Naomi, and saw her head slowly go back.
She slowly turned around, and bent backwards, where I could see her facing me. I could hear her spine cracking, as she she went on all fours, with her back in a sickly U shape. She started coming towards me, fast. I screamed and slammed the door of the shop, quickly. I heard Naomi’s body slam against the door, over and over again. “Let me in… I am hungry,” Naomi said, her voice, slightly distorted. I quickly threw everything in my grasp, against the door, in an attempt to barricade it. “Go away!” I yelled at Naomi. I looked around to see if there was anything else in the store. “I have to find a weapon,” I thought, still facing the door. When I turned around, I saw the dress shop wasn’t even the dress shop anymore.
“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!” I yelled. It had turned into a rusty old building, hooks hanging from the ceiling, and the smell of death lingering in the air. I got up, still hearing Naomi’s body slam against the door. “I have to find a weapon,” I thought, looking at the hooks. I jumped up and tried to grab the hooks, which didn’t work. “I’m too short. Darn it!” I thought, angrily. I heard Naomi’s body slam against the door, once again. I heard the door crack a bit. “I can’t let her get in. God knows what she’d do to me,” I thought, scared of the one friend that I used to share my bed with. I walked away from the hooks, looking around.
TO BE CONTINUED.