Growing up, i didn’t have much money. Every so often i would go to second hand stores to find something that was still in good condition, but wasn’t that pricey.
After i started college, i needed to move to a different region and so i couldn’t quite go to the same store, as it was an about 2 hours drive. I was online after school one day, when i stumbled upon this ad for “Cheap high-quality clothes” and it also said that it was made from “recycled material”, whatever that meant. I looked a bit through the photos they posted online and it al seemed too good to be true.
I looked up the adress and it was just 2 blocks away from the college campus. I still had time until the sun went down, so i figured i would pay a visit to whoever owned the store. I took my jacket and headed out the door. I slowly made my way to the store, and at first i didn’t notice the entrance. Then i looked for any sign that indicated that the store was here. There was this graffiti sprayed on the side of the building in red: “second hand store”, with an arrow pointing downward .
I turned the corner and saw that the store itself was below ground level, with a narrow staircase leading down. I went down and opened the door to be met with a wierd sight. The racks of the clothes were all aligned with the walls and in the very center of the room, there was this guy with a disturbing look on his face.
“Good afternoon” i politely said. “Good afternoon” he responded, without much emotion.
Then he just went in the back of the store and told me to call for him when i was done. He left and i started looking through the racks of clothing.
First thing i noticed was that the clothes weren’t sorted and on every rack you would find anything from skirts to shirts. Second thing was that the clothes weren’t particularly interesting, but some looked pretty wierd. For example, there was a purse that looked to be covered with fur, which itself was pretty long.
It honestly looked like a DIY job rather than some fashion brand. Still, i brushed it of as being someone’s experiment, took a few large pairs of pants and some T-shirts i liked and called for the man. I need to mention also that the materials of the clothes didn’t look ordinary. For example the “jeans” felt like they were being made from a material that seemingly tried to imitate the material it looked like, which is jeans. The T-shirts also had this feeling.
He quickly came back and told me how much it costed. I was suprised as to how cheap they were, but i assumed just that many people wanted to donate their clothes to the shop and the ones that i picked up just so happened to be the ones he was trying to get rid of. I payed and went home.
For the next 3 months i didn’t go to that shop, but winter was approaching and i needed to get some warmer clothes. Just as i was about to leave the house, i got a call from my cousin. She said that she was coming to pay a surprise visit to me and that she was already on her way here, with about half an hour left.
I decided to put my shopping trip on pause, as i always took a longer time finding winter clothes and i didn’t want my cousin to arrive while i was gone. So i waited and waited and it was already about 10 pm when i decided to call my family to ask whether my cousin was really coming.
They said they hadn’t spoken to her since she left, but she assured them she was coming to meet me. I thought that maybe she stopped for the night at a motel and tomorrow morning she would pay me a visit. So i went to bed.
Next day i was woken up by my cell phone ringing. It was the police. Just outside the college campus they found my cousin’s car crashed into a tree and on the inside there was her head with both eyes missing. Her body was nowhere to be found. I froze. I went over to the crash site and it was exaclty how they discribed it.
A few days passed after the funeral and i still couldn’t get over the fact that she was dead. Still, i needed to go buy some winter clothes, as i risked freezing to death. Where i studied had really harsh winters. I made my way out the door and to the second hand shop. I walked inside and started looking through the clothing items.
Something was odd though. Many items were with the same color: a pale beige. I was looking through the racks and then saw something familiar, but i couldn’t place my finger on it. Then i understood: the items i was looking at were a pair of beige gloves, with a brown spot on one of the fingers: it looked exaclty like my cousin’s birthmark and placement of it.
I ran so fast that i slipped on the floor and fell near the shoes under the clothing racks and my body left my soul: a pair of shoes with eyes on them. I recognized them: they were definitely my cousin’s eyes .
Suddenly the man came out of the back room and i sprinted to the door. I ran until i reached my campus. I got in my dorm, called the police and they arrived a few minutes later. I showed them where the store was, but it looked like it had been abandoned for years.
Only thing that was left was a blood red writing. “We told you we use recycled materials”