"Thrifting" by Amy G

 

It was a normal Saturday afternoon, around two to be precise. The sun’s beams burn bright against my skin as I head down towards Clemming’s Thrift Store. I love this store with most of my heart. There’s so many styles on the metallic racks waiting to be explored. They range from the tattered old clothes of the 2000’s to even older, pale colored clothes from who knows when. I usually come in here and find gold. Most of my clothes are thrifted whether they be in the best or worst shape. Today I was on the hunt for a hot pink cheetah print skirt to match with a new shirt I got. Oddly specific, I know, but I come in here with a specific item in mind and usually find it so, my request isn’t that far fetched. I turn the block and grab the handle, opening the door to the store. The bell jingles against the top to alert the workers another customer came in. My eyes scan around to see only a handful of people today. Some old lady was pushing a cart filled with different colored scarves, another woman with weirdly pointed red sunglasses walked around checking logos on brands then tossing them into her cart. Not a lot of people were here but that didn’t change the fact that the customers already in the store were odd. I frowned a little and slowly walked towards an aisle without anyone, since it felt weird to linger around today. Slowly, I put on my headphones and let my playlist run. While hearing Robert Smith pour his heart into lyrics, my hands scanned the clothes. They ranged from random old birthday shirts to fast fashion throwaways, nothing good nor my cheetah printed skirt, so with a heavy sigh I continued until my hands brushed against silky fabric. I pushed other clothes away and lowered my earbuds because there stood the most beautiful coat I have ever seen. Where do I even begin to describe this? The black base of the coat blended perfectly with the deep red stitched on flowers and spider webs. The trim had the same blood colored red as the designs, as did the cuffs. It looked perfect and I knew I had to buy it. Slowly I glanced around to make sure there wasn’t anyone eyeing this before grabbing it quickly and walking towards the cashier. Forget the skirt, all my mind could think about was getting home and trying this coat on. So with only six dollars, this coat was mine. I began rushing home right afterwards.

“Hey Casey!” my sister says. I give a quick nod and head to the stairs, walking into my room. Finally with the door closed, I'm alone with nothing but the silky coat in my hands. I look across at my long facing mirror with a confident expression. I stand up and brush down my long black skirt then slip my arms into the coat. Slowly, I walk towards the mirror and take out my black curls, smoothing them down to lay effortlessly against the sharp shoulders of the coat. My eyes scan the mirror slowly, it looks perfect. Just as I was about to take off the coat and think of an outfit to go alongside it, my vision blurred and my balance grew more and more unsteady. I staggered backwards, closing my eyes and tried to fall into my bed, however I immediately fell onto the wooden floor instead. With a groan, my eyes open and blink rapidly. Slowly, I get up from the floor. When trying to grip my bed’s railing, I instead scratched the white thin curtains that fell against me. There was a loud clang that echoed through my room as the curtain rod fell on me. I get to my feet again with a groan and look over at the mirror. I hold in a shriek and quickly back away. Oh no, this can’t be happening, I look hideous! Instead of my tanned skin was a more sickly pale almost grey like a corpse. My eyes are blood red and my cheeks are hollowed as if I hadn’t eaten in days! There’s dark wine colored spots under my eyes that give them a sunken look. I opened my mouth to gasp again before immediately stopping as my heart dropped. Slowly, I slide my tongue against my teeth and find the sharp edges against two of them. I walk closer to the mirror and open wide to find two fangs where my normal teeth used to be. This can’t be happening, I look like I'm straight from some cheap horror movie! Quickly I grip the jacket against my skin that once felt like heaven, now feeling more like a tightened grip that wouldn’t let go. Something happened when I put on this jacket and now I can’t take it off. My chest went up and down rapidly as I grip the jacket but couldn’t get it off. I hear my sister’s voice calling from the hallway. My eyes dart around for any kind of cover or escape. With a lighting speeded pace, I run towards the window and open it, shrieking in pain as the sun hits my hand. I tremble in fear, looking at the redness that deeply contrasts my pale skin from where the sun hit. Well- the sun hurts now and I have fangs. This can’t be real- I couldn’t have turned into a vampire from wearing a stupid jacket, that’s not how this works! This jacket has to be cursed. Now what? Where do I go? What do I do, I can’t go back to school or society looking like this, what if I suddenly crave blood? I’m not going to murder someone! My eyes look over at my door before exhaling and smoothing back my hair. All of a sudden a paper flies down towards my feet. I gently pick it up and squint to read it better. The wrinkled note says, “Extremely important coat! If lost, return to Jane. Address: 8593, Blood Dr. Transylvania, Romania” With a heavy heart I realize I need to run away and make the trip to this Jane, hoping she can take this jacket off me and remove this curse before I turn full vampire! (Or at least that’s what I assume happens) So I pack my bags with outfits and whatever food I had hidden in my room. I grab my ipod and earbuds, the important things, then leave my phone against my nightstand so I can’t get tracked. I take one last glance at myself in the mirror and weakly try to take off the jacket. It still wouldn’t budge. So I sigh and put a giant sun hat that I dug up in my closet from last year's Hawaii trip. Slowly, I climb outside of my window and jump down. I take one last look at my house before heading towards the road that’ll hopefully lead me down to my new life. Maybe I'll come back if I find some kind of cure for this curse, or when I find Jane, all I know is that there’s no way I'm showing my face till then. Today wasn’t as expected though I did learn two things, never to shop at Clemming’s again and to never trust super cool coats before looking to make sure they’re not cursed.