The Mall

You're supposed to think of a place to be, but you can't exactly focus. One part of your brain is too busy grunting happily with the idea of all the promising opportunities, while the other more rational and more pessimistic part is desperately trying to explain and understand these events in a logical way. Is everything here the result of hallucinogens? Were you **** somehow? That must be it. None of this is actually happening, is it? There's just no other explanation ...

... or is there? Is there a scientific reason supporting the validity of all of this?

Gah. There's no point. You’re just going to have to go along with it and see what happens. It might all just be a hoax and you’ll end up back in your normal world, or ...

Could it possibly be true?

You think about the possibilities. Boys, girls, men, and women ... all of them Goths of one kind or another, believing that it's normal to be that way, and for people 18 years old or older, romance is considered to be BDSM.

Thinking about romance makes you remember Angela, that cute Goth girl that works at the mall video store. You've had your eye on her for a while, but never got the courage to go over to her and ask her out, thinking she'd reject you ... you know, because you're not Goth like her. But now ...

Your mind made up, you look to Charles with a nod.

"Got a place in mind, have you?" Charles asks. "Alright then. I'll be opening the door now. The light's gonna be a bit blinding at first, but just will yourself and walk on through, understand?"

You give him an affirmative nod as he grasps the metal of the silver handle and pulls backwards, slowly swinging the massive door open. It creaks as a powerful light escapes from its depths, engulfing the area and cutting your vision off entirely.

"Remember, mate," you hear Charles speak up as you close your eyes in the shower of light. "Don't overthink things. It's that simple, you hear?"

Unable to see anything around you or confirm your surroundings, you take a step forward and begin walking towards the light ...

As you slowly open your eyes, a cacophony of voices fills your ears. At first, it's hard to make out what they're saying, it's just too much. But as the seconds pass, you can filter out the voices, recognizing the difference between further away voices and closer ones, and the difference between female voices and male ones. And that's what really gets your attention, because a close by conversation involves two men talking to each other, with one of them asking "What kind of night do you have planned for your 9th anniversary?" Then another guy's voice answers "A round of bondage, maybe some whipping. Jenny likes that kind of thing. But we have to schedule it around my kid's musical. It's fucking annoying that it's the same night, but what're you gonna do? At least it'll have good music. Not that fucking boring rock 'n roll shit. It's the good stuff. Heavy metal."

Wow, did you just hear that right? Some married guy is going to do BDSM with his wife for their 9th wedding anniversary, and his kid's school musical is using heavy metal music?

Your eyes adjust to your surroundings and you realize that you're in the main walkway of the two-floor mall that Angela works at. Looking around, you see what looks like a mass of black and dark-colored clothing around you (with the occasional blood red ... or bright neon color, for the cybergoth types). Everyone seems to be dressed as one kind of Goth or another. Goth clothing, Goth hairstyles, Goth piercings, Goth tattoos. It really happened! Somehow, Charles and that mysterious doctor - they did it. They really did it.

You turn around, realizing where you are, and face the video store that your crush Angela works at. The store sells movie and TV DVD's and Blue-rays. You look down at yourself, just now realizing that you are also dressed as a Goth, wearing a black T-shirt, black leather pants, and black boots. Touching your face, you can feel a piercing in one of your nostrils and a few in your ears. And also a spiked collar around your neck, one with small and short spikes. Looking like this you're sure that Angela would give you a chance. And if you can score a date with her, you can expect lots of BDSM on your first time out with her.

Taking a deep breath, you walk into the video store and head to the cashier's counter, where she works.