Better Off Pt. 02

July 25th

A bell echoed through the room, jostled by the heavy wooden door as it creaked open.

"Welcome to Tiff's Thrifts!" a voice called out from the back, sweet and confident. A woman's head bounced above the clothing racks that crowded the floor in rows or islands as she attended to her duties. "You're a bit early, but feel free to look around. I'll be with you as soon as I finish opening up!"

"Have any clothes that would let people know that I'm ready to get fucked? It's laundry day, and let's just say that all my club outfits are well used." It was said in a casual tone, as if the person speaking had already explained it too many times by now.

The head stopped for a moment before weaving its way through the aisles like a fin in water. From behind a rack of musty sweaters stepped a mousy girl with short, messy black hair and glasses. Over her vintage clothes she wore an apron with the store's logo emblazoned on her chest. Her hand clutched the pole of a mop, a trail of soapy water marking her path through the forest of clothes. "Sherri . . . I didn't . . . Um, hi . . ."

"Mornin', Dia. It's good to see you again." Sherri smiled, glad to finally see a welcome face. After the ordeal of the past few weeks, a chance to unwind with a friend was exactly what she needed.

Except the familiar face didn't appear as welcoming as she had expected. When Sherri took a step forward, Dia took an equal one back. "What's wrong?"

Dia brought the mop stick up to her chest, keeping it between herself and Sherri as if it would protect her from anything. "N-nothin's wrong. You look . . . well." She offered a nervous, crooked grin.

Sherri flustered a bit, but kept her distance. "Dia, don't bullshit me. C'mon, out with it."

Whether at the restrained tenacity of the statement, or the accusation, Dia flinched at the rebuke. She kept a wary eye on Sherri the entire time. Only when Sherri signaled her impatience with a shrug did Dia speak up. "I um . . . They say you joined a cult. That you were like . . . were brainwashed or something." She tensed up as if expecting Sherri to attack her for the indictment.

Instead, Sherri scoffed at her. "Who said that?!"

"Brooke, I think. Though everyone else seems to say the same thing."

"Brooke?!" Sherri laughed loud enough to spook Dia. "Brooke also says her friend was possessed by a mask two summers ago. You know better than to listen to her." Dia seemed to be waiting for her to continue, unsatisfied with her response, so Sherri sighed. "I didn't join a cult. I was just . . . I was trying to get laid. And turns out the hot girl hitting on me happened to be a member of that group. One thing led to another, and before I know it, within a few days they had me strapped to a chair."

"Wait, so you were brainwashed?" Dia took another step back, bumping into the nearby rack and nearly jumping out of her skin in response.

Sherri grabbed a shirt off a nearby hanger and threw it at Dia, the old cotton falling unceremoniously short. "Clearly not! I think they just drugged me. Some drug, at that . . ." The comment reminded her of the feeling she had that day, the pleasure that threatened to consume her, and the drive to do what Victoria wanted just so she could feel more.

She shifted where she stood, hoping Dia didn't see the way she clenched her thighs together. She knew if she focused too much on the memory, her pants would betray her with a visible marking of her arousal. Better to not dwell on the past. "I managed to escape as it was wearing off."

Sherri tried to maintain her patience as Dia seemed to evaluate the answer she gave, but she could only withhold her annoyance for so long. "Dia, seriously . . . It's me."

That uncertain look from Dia remained, but only for a moment more. She soon relaxed and leaned her mop against the nearby counter. As she approached Sherri, the mop began to slide down the edge. It fell to the tile with a sharp clap just as Sherri wrapped her arms around her.

"I was worried about you," Dia said. She leaned her head against Sherri, finding a comfortable position. Just as relief began to wash over her, she felt Sherri's arms tighten. A hand pressed the back of her head against Sherri's shoulder, making it difficult for her to breathe. "Sh-Sherri, what-"

"Shh, don't struggle," Sherri said. "It'll all be over soon."

Dia tried to scream when she felt the pinch on her neck, but it came out muffled. As much as she tried to thrash, Sherri was too strong for her.

"You're far too trusting, Dia. But that's okay. You'll see The Light soon enough. Jim Jones has shown it to me. He is very much looking forward to meeting you, too."

Dia stopped struggling as her body relaxed with a sigh. "You bitch," she said. This time when she pushed against Sherri, she was let go. She brought her hand up to her neck to check for blood where she felt the injection. Finding no evidence, she glanced over to see Sherri's smiling face as she made pinching motions with her fingers.

"You gotta stop watching those fantasy movies, Dia. They're making you paranoid." Sherri tried to ruffle Dia's hair, but Dia batted her hand away. "C'mon, don't sulk. I haven't seen you in over a month. Got a backlog of pranks to get through!"

Dia only rolled her eyes as she rubbed at her neck, but couldn't stop the slow grin from showing on her face. "Jim Jones? Really?"

"There it is." Sherri leaned against the nearby counter next to Dia. "So, how ya been?"

"Busy. Had to cover a few of your hours with you gone . . ." Dia flinched. "Not that I'm complaining! Sorry . . ." she said, but Sherri only shrugged in response. "I uh, are you okay? I didn't know when I'd get to see you again."

Sherri waved her off. "Of course! Never been better. Just tied up with legal stuff lately. With that finally settling down, I thought it was about time to get back to work. Truth be told, bit bored at home with all the excitement gone. My position still open?"

"Unfortunately for you, it is. We tried to hire someone to take your place, but it didn't work out. She uh . . . cursed out some customers. Had to fire her the other day."

"Well shit, if that's all it took to get out of this dump, I would have told Mr. Norfleet to shove his coupons up his ass months ago!" She gave Dia a playful jab in the side. "So, need help with anything? Have nothing better to do, might as well bother you for a few hours."

Dia scanned the room as she said, "Well, pretty much just finished getting ready to open. Got a new delivery in. Was about to start on that, if you want to give me a hand?"

"After you." Sherri followed Dia into the back room, dimly lit from the worn incandescent bulbs that bathed everything in a soft yellow glow. They stopped before a formidable mound of boxes arranged in a haphazard mess.

Sherri whistled. "Seems I came back just in time."

"Yeah . . . I may have been putting it off for a few days." Dia sat down on the employee couch, a faded, dusty relic that even her great grandmother would call antique. "Tell me about her?"

"What's that?" Sherri was only half listening to Dia. A nearby box caught her eye, as if calling out to her. She wiggled it loose, careful not to create an avalanche of the ones above.

"About the girl that kidnapped you. I didn't peg you for someone that would go chasing after a batshit crazy cultist."

Sherri whirled around. "It wasn't like that!" Her reaction surprised even her. With a sigh, she took a seat opposite Dia, throwing a few clothes onto a stack of pallets to protect her ass. "I thought . . . I thought she was going to be the one. Being with her was like . . . It was like being alone, but in the best way, y'know? Like I could be myself, even when it was with someone that could drive me wild like she did. It all just worked, in ways that it never had before."

Sherri paused to take a deep, slow breath. Her body was still as she stared at the ground, but she only saw Victoria in her mind. With a sniff, she became animated once more. "And then everything that happened, but . . . I can't help but wonder if maybe it can still work."

"Sherri . . ."

"I know, I know!" Sherri said, throwing her hands in the air. "She's the one that did this to me, but I can't blame her! From what they told me, Victoria was just as much a victim as I was. She has to be. And I know how fucking crazy it sounds, I know, but maybe she's still there. Maybe there's still a chance that we can be together, once everything is back to normal. I want to believe that."

Dia sat in stunned silence as all of Sherri's thoughts from the past few weeks came pouring out.

"Of course, there's the chance that she won't be the same person once the doctors are done helping her. That I fell for some person that's not even real. And . . . And sometimes I wonder if I even want them to succeed . . ."

Sherri let out a deep sigh. "Who knows, maybe I need to just get away for a bit. I hear Germany is nice this time of year. Been following this one girl's account, keeps raving about some hotel or something in Berlin. Maybe that's what I need to get my mind off things." She shook her head. "Sorry, didn't mean to kill the mood."

"It's okay. Always here to listen, if you need. And a trip sounds nice, given what you've been through."

Sherri jumped off the pallet stack and dusted her hands. "Shitty thing about trips, they cost money. And I'm all but broke. So as long as it's okay with Mr. Bossman, I'd like to start earning some."

"I'm sure he'll be happy to have someone to help that doesn't need to be trained," Dia said. Just then, the bell at the front of the store jingled. She glanced towards the sound. "You wanna get that, as your first customer while back?"

Sherri thought about it for a moment. "Nah, you go ahead, if you don't mind. I want to see if there's anything here I can claim before it goes out front. Could use a new outfit. I'm thinking . . . thin white dress and a headband of flowers, to really sell that cult member look. What do you think?"

Dia made her way towards the door as she said, "I'm thinking you're definitely crazy enough to be a cultist, maybe you should have stayed. I hear the Kool-Aid is to die for." Dia dodged a half-assed kick aimed at her shins. "Don't give me that look, I can make jokes too! Can't keep the customer waiting too long, though. I'll be back soon."

"Good luck," Sherri said. She approached the wall of boxes. "Now, which one of you is hiding something good . . ."

Synth tracks backed by a thrumming bass filled the room as Sherri placed her phone on a nearby rickety nightstand. She turned her attention to the box she had her eye on earlier. Opening it with anticipation, she was met with a disappointing array of flannel shirts and overalls. "Guess I'll be set if I ever need to run off and be a lumberjack," she said to herself as she began pulling the fabric from the box.

Sherri never did much care for this aspect of the job. Tedious work fueled her boredom, and having to sort boxes was just that. But she was happy to get her mind off of things for once. She let her thoughts take a backseat as she made uneven piles of fabric from the disorganized mess before her. There was little reason to be neat about things, as Dia would only correct her organizational decisions later.

Occasionally Sherri would focus a bit, if she found an item that caught her attention. She would appraise it, and those she liked went into a pile of her own to compare later. Before making much of a dent at all in the overall mountain before her, Sherri opened her next box and gasped.

"Well well, what do we have here?" Sitting right on top of a pile of uninteresting garments was a diamond amongst coal. The fabric shone with a seductive crimson color, and it seemed to have been placed in the box with a care indicative of its quality.

Sherri ran her fingers over the silk, relishing the sensual feel of it. Her mind drifted back to the night where she saw a dress very much like this one. The person wearing it teased her with the body the dress covered. She never did get to remove that dress that night. No, Victoria made her wait in anguish. Drove her wild with anticipation. Until the night where Sherri could let her passions run free, and then . . .

Dress in hand, Sherri couldn't help but sulk that there was no naked body before her. She held the wrapping, but the gift was gone. She chastised herself, doing her best to ignore the heat between her legs.

Such an odd item, Sherri thought, to be placed with what she was accustomed to finding. It amused her for a moment to think of the circumstances that brought it here. Perhaps it had been an unwelcome gift, either by someone foolishly trying to save a failed marriage, or by someone misjudging theirs.

However it came to be in that box, Sherri knew where it would end up. She doubted she would have the patience to make some lucky woman wait as long as she had to back then. Or any woman that followed. But as she examined the dress more closely, she cursed her own luck with a groan.

"Yo, Dia," Sherri said as she entered the shopping floor, dress in hand. "You ever want to slut it up, found the perfect thing for you. Doesn't fit me, but with your chicken ass . . ." When she looked up, Dia was nowhere in sight. She might have had regret for what she shouted if the customer had heard her, but the entire store appeared to be empty. "Dia?"

A curtain opened to her left, catching Sherri's attention. A woman stepped out from the changing room before closing the curtain once more with care. She turned towards Sherri and smiled.

"Oh, hi," Sherri said. "What happened to the employee that was out here?"

"So embarrassing. I accidentally spilled some of my drink on her." The woman shook her cup for emphasis. Sherri recognized the logo, sold by the convenience store just down the block. "She went out to her car to get something to clean off with."

"I see." Sherri glanced out the store front, but Dia's car couldn't be seen to confirm. She thought it odd that Dia wouldn't have gone to the employee bathroom. "Well, I don't actually work here, so you'll have to wait until Dia gets back. Sorry." Sherri made a quick turn towards the back, eager to not have to deal with a customer so soon.

"I wonder, do you still feel the cravings?" the woman asked. "Perhaps at night, when you're all alone in bed?"

"What?" When Sherri turned to her,, the woman took a quick sip of her drink and licked her lips a bit too long for Sherri's comfort. Sherri could have sworn she saw the girl's eyes flutter, but at that distance, it was hard to tell.

"Do you really not recognize me?"

"Sorry, not good with faces. Usually not where I tend to look." As if to emphasize the point, Sherri let her eyes trail over the woman's body. She was athletic, for sure. If one couldn't tell from the skin-tight nature of her wetlook leggings that showcased her toned legs, they would need just one look at her exposed stomach to see just how much effort she put in at the gym. Perhaps a little assistance wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Wait . . ." Sherri squinted. When she did, a red flash went off in her mind, images of a naked body strapped to a chair. It was then all too apparent just who this woman was. "A . . . Alexa?"

"Alessa, actually, but that's okay. I'll forgive you for not remembering." She sauntered closer to Sherri, keeping her eyes fixed on hers.

"Oh, wow! I didn't know if I'd see you again. I tried to bring you with me that night, but . . ." Sherri brought her hand up to rub the back of her neck. "So, what are you doing here?"

"I just had to say thanks for doing what you did. And no worries. I wasn't in the right frame of mind that day. But I'm all better now." She winked at Sherri.

"Cool, cool. Good to hear." She couldn't keep her eyes off Alessa's body. Even clothed, it was so much more beautiful when it wasn't bathed in that red light. And the things Sherri pictured it doing to her . . . "But hey, if you really insist, you can thank me over dinner tonight?"

"Why wait until later?" Alessa leaned against a nearby clothing rack, the rack sliding just a bit until the wheel locks engaged. "Got somewhere to be right now?"

Sherri approached, surprised at the direction the conversation had gone in such short duration, but loving every minute of it. She joined Alessa by the rack, close enough to smell her perfume. It was an intoxicating scent, yet somehow familiar to her. Perhaps a faint memory of some former tryst triggered her subconscious and made her body flush. "I do. And it involves a bed. Or a couch."

Sherri clicked her tongue in frustration. "But I should wait until Dia gets back. Let her know I'm taking off. Or at least tell her not to go in back for the next . . . hour?" Of course Dia would be taking her sweet time today. The way her heart was racing, Sherri had half a mind to just drag Alessa to the back and deal with the consequences later.

"I can wait." Alessa took another sip and once more ran her tongue across her lips. "Mmm, this stuff is delicious. Would you like a taste?" She then put a finger over the top of the straw. When she pulled it out of the cup, she brought it over her chest and let the purple liquid drip onto her chest and down between her tits. "Better get it all. It can be quite . . . sticky."

"What is it?" Somehow Alessa's perfume was even stronger than before, even more inebriating. All Sherri could think of was burying her face between those breasts and licking away. To hell with Dia, she could apologize to her later. Worst case, she could find another job. She knew Alessa was going to be worth it.

And then Alessa crooked her finger, beckoning Sherri closer. As Sherri closed what little gap there was, Alessa leaned in to whisper in her ear. "There is purpose in obedience."

For a moment, Sherri didn't understand. Only when she felt her body go weak, her legs threatening to give out, did realization dawn on her. The words reverberated in her mind, through her body. She looked up from the glorious treasure of Alessa's chest towards her face, panic in her eyes, only to find Alessa staring back with a victorious grin.

The urge to respond bubbled up from within, words awoken from some slumber, similar to the ones that left Alessa's lips. Sherri fought against them. "No . . ." she said.

Were it not for the clothing rack, she would have crumpled to the floor. Pleasure surged through her, a phantom memory come back in full force. Suddenly the smell made sense, and knowing what it was only heightened her arousal, much to Sherri's dismay.

She had to get away. She had to find Dia. What was taking her so long?

But her thoughts were coming in slow. Before she could even think to run, she noticed Alessa take another sip. Only instead of swallowing, Alessa kept the liquid trapped in her mouth, her cheeks puffed. She drew closer to Sherri and reached out to grab her head, her lips ready to inject their poison into Sherri's mouth.

Fighting with the same force of will as she did so long ago, Sherri kicked out with her foot. It slammed against the wheel of the rack, unlatching the lock. Free to move, the rack rolled away under their combined weight, catching Alessa off guard and sending them both to the floor.

The cup burst open as it impacted the linoleum, spilling the sap all over. Dazed in body and mind, Sherri took notice of the puddle as it spread towards her. With what strength she had, she scrambled away just in time to avoid touching any.

But that wasn't the only danger. All too quick, Alessa was back on her feet. Sherri tried to push away, to put some distance between them, but could only accomplish a few inches at a time. Her palms kept sliding on the smooth surface below her.

The grin had disappeared from Alessa's face. "Stupid girl. Why do you have to make this harder on yourself?"