Yes.

"Yes! I was fated to come here and accept what I'm offered. It scares me a tiny bit, but... I'll stop pretending I have a choice." — and her ability to make choices was left behind.

"I'm glad you finally understood. Now put on this dress. Yes, above the hobble one."

The girl took it off the hanger and put her head through without question. The second layer of latex fell onto the first with ease. Then she slid her hands into the long sleeves and admired their girly frilliness. Jen stretched the material over her body, playing with her apron and new short skirt that was now barely covering her thighs that were already covered by a really long one.

On the back, there were no zippers or laces. Instead, there were five large plastic buttons waiting to be put into their button holes, which were made of thicker latex.

"I wish someone would help me with these."

As soon as she managed to place the first button where it belonged, a door on the other side of the room opened, and multiple pairs of heels could be heard approaching.

"Can we help you?" — one of them asked sweetly.

"I would greatly appreciate it." — Jen answered smilingly, even though it felt alien to choose these exact words and this exact tone. One of the girls helped her button up the dress, and there was a faint click in all five buttons as soon as the last one was in place. Then one of the other girls separated from the rest for a few seconds, probably to fetch something.

"So you wish to become one of us, don't you?"

"Yes! By the way, who are you?"

"We're Maids of the Mall. We keep the place from getting covered with dust... and other nasty substances. I see you're not going to be a very impactful worker with this and this..." — Jen assumed the maid was talking about the blindfold and the hobble dress, — "...but we'll figure something out of it. First of all, let's secure you in that outfit of yours."

In a team effort, the maids held the girl by her shoulders and applied some strange device to her new dress' keyhole that appeared on the top button. It started to hiss loudly, starting a chemical process.

"Leave the other dress and the blindfold unsealed, just so she gets a chance to be of any value as a worker."

"And the shoes?"

"Oh, look at the shoes!"

"Yeah, our dressing rooms don't sell those."

"I'm totally jealous!"

"You think?" — Jen said. — "They hurt like hell."

The maids broke into laughter, and within a minute the ankle straps of the shoes were also sealed forever. A ruffled headpiece was also placed over her hair.

"This thing will be telling you where to go. Take your duster and good luck!" — the maids then walked out of the room, leaving Jen alone. After she steadied her breath, she suddenly saw an outline of a certain room far away drawing itself over the blackness that was surrounding her ever since she decided to 'try out' the blindfold.

"Wow." — was all she managed to say before the headpiece that must have delivered this vision to her also delivered an electric shock to speed up her arrival to this place.

"I'm going!" — she yelled, starting to move towards the room in her hobble dress. This was going to be a long shift.

ENDING #15