Katie Takes Her Obsession Indoors

At the end of her fourth lap, Katie thought about doing a lap right at the edge of the atrium, but decided that would be all but certain to attract attention, way too much attention. Though she wasn't bold enough to stroll naked all the way around the edge of the opening, as close as she now was to it, she had to find out how being at the edge while utterly exposed would feel. She brokered a compromise between her daring and sensible sides; she stepped forward, one tiny step after the other, until she was standing right at the guardrail! She could almost convince herself that the glass panels of the guardrail might provide some slight cover for her lower body, but she was certain every inch of her body from her head down to her waist was now visible to all four levels of mallgoers below! She made herself hold that position for a full minute, then backed away. She was still a little shocked she had taken that risk, but the rush it gave her made her less than surprised when she decided to repeat the stunt at one other spot at the other side of the atrium. Her second trip to the well-lit edge was no less satisfying, and lasted almost 3 minutes as she tried to count how many people were in position to see her naked body if they would only look up. She gave up counting when the number of possible spectators spread over all four floors passed 50! "Why can't at least one of them look up," she said, leaning over the railing to complete her head count, "I'm giving them plenty of time."

She was just about to push back away from the railing and go back to the stair and the cover of her sweater when it happened. A couple she'd already noticed coming out of a store at the second floor during her head count had moved up to to the railing at their level. The woman was tugging at the man's sleeve and pointing straight at Katie! She felt lightheaded when she saw both the woman and the man wave at her, but automatically returned their wave before turning to bolt back into the shadows. She was all but certain she couldn't be seen now, but still was shivering as violently as she would if she was naked outdoors instead of in the well heated mall! She peered through the glass guardrail and watched her watchers. They stood still for almost 2 minutes, waiting to see if she might reappear, then offered a final smile, wave and thumbs-up sign before strolling away!

Though the couple seemed unlikely to call security on her, Katie didn't want to push her luck any further, so she hustled back to the stair, feeling like she'd pulled off something amazing. Back inside the stair tower, she retrieved her sweater and put her arms back into the sleeves. Looking over the railing down to ground floor, at least 60' away, she started to zip her sweater back up. A broken mirror someone had left at the top landing allowed her to assess her look in her one remaining garment. Definitely looking a bit improper, but safe enough, especially when compared to the way she'd spent the last 15 minutes! "Time to head back down," she thought wistfully, "and collect my undies along the way."

She already had her zipper all the way up when an inspiration for a new, better ending to her adventure came to her. Not leaving herself any time to let the audacity of her revised plan scare some sense into her, she unzipped her sweater, slipped it off and tossed it over the railing. Gripping the railing as she watched her only bit of cover flutter down to the first floor, Katie began trembling as the extent of her vulnerability sank in. She began the long trek down to the ground floor on wobbly legs, not bothering to collect the lingerie she'd hidden away on the way up in favor of getting to her sweater as quickly as possible, preferably before anyone else came along to find it. "Or find ME!" she thought. After what seemed to her like an eternity, she made it to the ground floor and scooped the sweater up. Blushing as deeply as she probably ever had, breathing hard and covered in goosebumps, she fumbled around trying to get into the sweater, putting one arm into an inside out sleeve. Though still shaking, she laughed out loud as she pulled the sleeve back right side out and finally got into the cozy knit cardigan.

Katie opened the corridor's exterior door and stepped outside. As expected, at this hour the small parking area and the adjacent loading dock were quiet and dark; the air was chilly, but actually fairly mild as February nights go, making the short walk to her car feel more invigorating than frigid. She glanced back at the exit she'd just come out of and noticed that the door was stuck, a few inches short of being closed. The thin strip of light spilling from the open door seemed like an invitation. She put her purse in the car and stood next to it a minute or two, weighing her options.

Her sweater joined her purse on the passenger seat.

Carrying her key fob in one hand and her phone in the other, she locked the car door on her way back to the Mall exit door, and stepped back into the corridor, this time wearing nothing but her pink mask and a pair of high heels! "Those stockings were pretty nice," Katie said to herself as she started back up the stair, "it would be a shame to leave without them. Besides, I forgot to take any selfies on the 5th floor. I should do some shots by the guardrail, maybe with the stockings..."