"(Story) Spur of the moment. (cons) « on: Yesterday at 07:58:" By robblu (https://pastebin.com/u/robblu) URL: https://pastebin.com/EFNz3JQ2 Created on: Saturday 18th of August 2018 07:00:10 PM CDT Retrieved on: Saturday 31 of October 2020 03:11:48 AM UTC (Story) Spur of the moment. (cons) « on: Yesterday at 07:58:58 PM » ReplyQuote Written purely to get a dumb idea out of my head and make room for something better. There's barely any plot or characterization. But I wrote it, and I hope you enjoy it. ___ My two best friends and I were out for an afternoon downtown when it happened. Mostly it was uneventful: we had some coffee, we gossipped, we took a walk... and then Misty stopped dead in her tracks and looked up at something. "...Huh." "What?" I asked "...'Bye girls." It took me a few seconds to even figure out what she said, by which point she'd already gone through the front door. I took a closer look at the shop, then upon realizing what it was I yelped and barged in through the door. "Wait, Misty!" Our friend Tina was just behind me. "Misty, what the-?!" Misty was already taking her clothes off. She dumped her cute orrange sweater in the laundry bin and shrugged at us. "what?" "This is a head shop!" She nodded and undid her bra. "Didn't that used to mean something else once upon a time?" "Well... yeah. But I don't care what it used to mean. What are you doing?" She wriggled out of her jeans. "What does it look like I'm doing?" "Well it looks like you're-" "Exactly." Into the bin went her jeans. Her bra, underwear and socks went into the other bin marked "intimates." "Why?" "Why not?" "I mean why NOW!" "Why not now?" She grinned at us, then turned toward the wall, where she swiped the ID implant in her hand. "You don't have to come with. I just... wanna do it." I looked to Tina for help, but she just shrugged at me. And then it was too late. Misty stepped up to the wall, stuck her head through a hole and pressed the button next to it without any pause. There was a SNAP! and her headless corpse crumpled to the ground. A second later, a hatch opened beneath it and she dropped out of sight, destined for a meat bin. Somebody would be along later to collect her carcass and take it to a butcher, and by this time tomorrow Misty's meat would be on people's tables. I was still trying to catch up. She'd just... seen what this shop was and walked right in off the street. She'd always been impulsive, but HOLY CRAP! "What...?" I asked, quietly and to nobody in particular. "...Well. Okay then." Tina looked at me and shrugged. "That was sudden." "Yeah." "...I'm gonna do it too." "...Oh." I watched as she undressed. Neither of us said a thing until she was completely naked, at which point she gave me a hug. "'Bye babe." "Uh... 'Bye." She smiled, gave me a little peck on the lips, then swiped her ID chip and stepped up to one of the clean holes. She glanced back at me, grinned, then stuck her head through the hole. Unlike Misty she hesitated a few seconds, but then her finger stabbed the button and.... SNAP! Another bundle of meat slumped down onto the trapdoor, which opened and took her away. All that was left of my two friends were some bloodstains and some clothes. I stood alone in the shop for... some time. I don't know how long. Long enough that an attendant opened the door and wheeled a yellow cleaning cart into the room. "Oh! Sorry! I thought everyone had finished." I shrugged at her. "I... guess I'm just a little blown away. This wasn't what we had planned today." She turned the cart around and pushed it back through the door. "I'll come back in a few minutes. Are you going to join them?"" I stared at her, then at the wall. And the holes. "...Yes," I decided, though I had no idea why. "Okay. Goodbye." "Uh... Goodbye." She wheeled her cart out and shut the door and I was alone again. I shook myself and stepped up to the laundry bin. I was only wearing a summer dress, so I peeled that up and off, kicked off my sandals, donated both and then gave my lingerie to the intimates bin. I stood there feeling a little cold and detached from everything in this simple white room with its tile floor and the stained steel wall at one end. Why had we done this? I didn't know. Only Misty knew, and I couldn't ask her. But we'd come out together for an afternoon and... well, I guess this was what she wanted to do. So I'd do it with her. ...that was crazy. This was crazy. I was crazy. I swiped my ID chip and stepped up to the wall. There was one last clean hole. I stood in front of it for a second, then bunched my long curly hair into a ponytail, stepped forward and found that the hole was at just the right height to stick my head through if I leaned forward a little. The edge was padded and I rested my throat on it. I found myself in a narrow, echoing chute that smelled of metal, blood and cleaning products. ...Seriously, why was I doing this? I didn't know. But I pushed the button. There was a SNAP, and I dropped into the dark.