Suspicious Shop (story)

Sara, a shy 18-year-old girl about to enter college, takes advantage of the summer vacation to look for a part-time job to save some money. Even though Sara has all the basic and educational expenses paid for by her parents, she doesn't usually get much money for her hobbies, such as buying manga and video games, so she has no choice but to work hard in the summer to be able to buy the things she wants. Her parents don't usually agree with her working in the summer, but Sara feels that her parents don't have to know, and it helps Sara a lot that her parents work abroad and very rarely come to visit, so Sara currently lives alone at home.



Although she is quite shy, her need to earn money is greater, otherwise how would she be able to buy those expensive video games that she spends nights playing? So she has overcome her shyness a little, or maybe not so much, but at least enough to be able to work and earn money in the summer.



The other day she saw on the internet a job offer as a storekeeper in a clothing store in the center of the city, a job that she sees viable for a person as shy as she is because in that kind of job she will surely not have to deal much with unknown people, but only organize the merchandise and dress the mannequins of the store, so one day of that hot summer she decides to go to look for a job there, in that store. Later, when Sara is in front of the store, she is surprised to see what the store shows through its windows.

[Drawing 1]

The mannequins in that store are very realistic and beautiful, so much so that it seems to Sara that these mannequins must be very expensive. This situation intrigues Sara, why would a simple clothing store spend so much money on such expensive mannequins, after all, a mannequin doesn't need to be beautiful or show off itself, but simply show off the clothes that are for sale, because it should be the clothes that catch the attention of the customers, not the mannequins themselves, since the store sells clothes, not mannequins. However, despite the doubts and disagreements that Sara may have with the store's policies, they are not really her problem, so Sara continues with her plans and enters the store to ask for reports to work there.



Sara enters the store and the first thing she notices are more strangely realistic mannequins, and a girl behind a cash register. Fortunately for Sara, there is no one in the store at that moment, since it is late afternoon and the store is about to close, so Sara will surely have the full attention of the girl behind the cash register. Sara approaches to ask about the job, but as she does so, Sara feels a little uncomfortable. The girl smiles with a blank look on her face as she listens to Sara, to which Sara prepares to pass her hand in front of her to see if she is okay, and the girl doesn't even blink, seriously worrying Sara. The first thing that Sara thinks is that maybe this girl has behavioral problems and for that reason maybe the store plans to fire her and for that reason they are looking for new employees, since it is not normal that a girl who works attending a store behaves in such a strange way. Then the girl tells Sara in a bland and emotionless, almost robotic voice to accompany her, and walks in a monotonous way through a corridor behind the counter of the store, a place that Sara infers must be where the offices and warehouses are. Therefore Sara follows the girl.

[Drawing 2]
After a few minutes, Sara was in the office of what appears to be the store manager. Even though the store manager is a pretty, short woman with white hair who is not very intimidating, Sara can't help but feel nervous because after all, Sara is in some kind of job interview. The other girl, who answers to the name of Mia, asks Sara some questions, like why Sara is interested in working there, in which region of the city Sara lives (to verify if she lives close enough to the work area), about whether Sara lives alone or with her parents, and about how much Sara expects to earn in that job and what kind of things she would be willing to accept.



Sara answers all the questions one by one, until Mia looks thoughtful as a stony silence reigns in the office. Then Mia tells Sara that she is the one. Sara, surprised to be hired after an interview so soon, watches as Mia pulls out a pocket watch on a chain and starts moving it back and forth in front of Sara's eyes, who has a sleepy look, over and over, up and down, back and forth, or that's at least how that watch moves, swinging like a pendulum in front of Sara's eyes as Mia starts talking to Sara almost in her ear: "just let yourself go deeper and deeper, breathe in and out slowly, and when I count to five, I'll thunder my fingers and you'll fall into a deep sleep" to which Sara nods her head.

[Drawing 3]

After those five seconds, Mia thunders her fingers and Sara falls almost unconscious into a deep trance, from that moment Sara feels that everything is filled with darkness and she feels as if she enters in suspended animation and time stops around her. On the other side, it seems that Mia is satisfied and calls her other employees, who are other hypnotized girls.



Then Sara starts to be undressed mercilessly while another girl starts to spray her body with a somewhat strange spray, even though it looks like a kind of paint or oil that sticks to the skin, but that gives the skin a plastic, reflective and shiny appearance, something that Mia seems to like, and considers that it suits Sara's new appearance with her skin so pale and unblemished.

[Drawing 4]

After that Sara is dressed in black lingerie and left in the store for the rest of the night, as it is too late for Sara to go home, plus staying in the store as a common mannequin is part of the initiation ritual in that job. The next day, a few hours later, the store opens and Sara has her first day of work, even though nobody told Sara that her job would really be as just another mannequin in the store, then the light of the store's luminaries blinds Sara while other hypnotized employees carry Sara as if she were a board or an inert object, one holding her legs and the other her head.



Finally Sara is placed on a circular platform along with other mannequins and displayed as just another mannequin, while the employees put the price tag on the clothes Sara is wearing. Surely everything would be easier for Sara if it were not for the fact that she is still aware of her surroundings in some way, filling herself deeply with shame.

[Drawing 5]

And this is how the store works, all the girls are under hypnosis, some working as regular clerks manning the counter and helping people who go shopping for clothes, while many other girls, most of them, work as full time mannequins in 12 hour shifts in the store. After their shift, the girls are discreetly taken home and wake up from the hypnosis trance, but all the girls end up with amnesia and do not remember what happened, except that they only remember they must return to the store every day at 8 AM, while simultaneously to all this procedure the girls collect a salary and see the money appear in their bank accounts, a generous sum of money every day.

[Drawing 6]



In the following days, Sara disappears and does not answer the phone from 8 AM to 8 PM, only being available all day two days a week (presumably on Mondays and Tuesdays, when the store does not open). However, Sara is at least able to be home the rest of the time. Sara does not know what is going on at all, as Sara has amnesia about what is going on or doing at her job those 12 hours a day. Sara tried in the following days to find out what was going on, but she resigned herself to the fact that every time she tried to remember, Sara became dizzy and drowsy or sometimes fainted and fell asleep for several hours. Also, Sara sees how the money appears in her bank account and withdraws it every chance she gets, having her wallet now, so Sara decides that it is better to enjoy the money that apparently is free (since Sara not remembering what she does at work, feels as if she does not do it, even though her body usually feels tired and tense most of the time), and Sara is predisposed to enjoy her money by buying all the latest generation consoles and the latest video games.

[Drawing 7, good ending]

However, one day, Sara did not appear again, one day she sent an e-mail to her parents indicating that she was leaving home to live her life in another country, and that they should not bother her or follow her. Sara even changed her phone number, becoming untraceable.



Meanwhile, the real Sara was packed ready to be shipped to another country, as the store had decided to sell her at a very high price to another store in another country while exploring other markets and other possible forms of financing, Sara being the first super-realistic and high quality mannequin that the store would sell in its process of becoming a reputable mannequin factory, or so it appeared to the public eye. Sara would eventually be packed in her box, loaded into a van and then transported on a plane to an unknown destination, and no one would ever see her again.

[Drawing 8, bad ending]