As Jeff stands there, thinking about how much fun he’ll have once the store is shut for the night, the curtain to the stall suddenly opens and he sees a young woman wearing the store’s uniform stand in front of him with a surprised expression at first, which quickly changes into a scowl as she stares at the “Mannequin”.
“Why is there a Mannequin standing in this stall,” she asks out loud, “it’s clothed in some out of date attire, which we do not have in stock”. The woman scratches her head in thought, “there are two options: one, some college of mine is having a “prank day” or two, someone took the Mannequin off of it’s stand, brought it into this stall, changed into the clothes the Mannequin was wearing, then dressed the Mannequin in his old clothes and simply walked out of the store”. The woman tilts her head, “the first scenario is more likely,” she says to herself, “for one, all Mannequins are on their stands, and for two, if someone would have stolen clothes, the alarm would have gone off. Soooo… I assume that a college is being a prankster”. The woman shakes her head, she then grabs her walkie talkie, “TJ, please come to the changing area in the teen section,” she says into it.
“On my way, ma’am,” a male voice answers.
A few minutes later, Jeff sees a young guy, maybe between 16 and 18 years, come into view, “were you up to one of your pranks again,” the woman asks, her arms crossed as she nods towards the “Mannequin”.
TJ looks at the Mannequin, he then shakes his head, “no, ma’am,” he says, “this time I am innocent. Buuuut… it is kind of a… funny idea. I wish I came up with it”.
“Don’t push it, TJ,” the woman warns, she then sighs, “you seem truthful, besides: you are a bad liar”.
TJ rubs the back of his head, “yeah… I should stop doing childish stuff and start to… um… “grow up”, as my mom would say”.
The woman sighs, “it would be about time,” she says, “you are not some mischievous kid. Now, do me a favor: take this Mannequin down to the storage in the basement and put it with all the other Mannequins, which are either going to be thrown out, sold, donated or whatever. We have so many Mannequins, especially males, we do not need one more taking up room”.
TJ nods, “understood, ma’am,” he says, “what about the clothes,” he then asks.
“Get rid of them,” the woman simply says, “just throw them into a waste bin, or the donation bin”.
TJ once again nods, “yes, ma’am,” he then walks up to the “Mannequin”, grabs it by the hips and without any effort picks it up and starts to head towards a nearby metal door.
Jeff starts to panic as the young man carries him away, ‘darn it,’ Jeff thinks to himself, ‘I do not want to end up on a dump or some random place. I hope I can find a way out, once TJ is gone, I just hope the door to the storage will not be locked, but if it should be, I might have to think of a other way to escape’.
TJ carries the “Mannequin” through the metal door and down a long hallway, unaware that he is actually carrying a 16 year-old human, who transformed himself into a Mannequin. If he knew, TJ would be amazed, shocked and curious, the young man in to stuff like transformation and hypnosis, he even bought himself a book on hypnosis, wanting to become a professional hypnotist. TJ also enjoys crafting, modeling and sculpting, so it is no surprise, when he finally reaches the storage and sets the “Mannequin” down, and after undressing the Mannequin of the clothes, that he takes a step back and just looks at the “Mannequin” with a thoughtful expression on his face. “This Mannequin,” TJ says out loud, “is in a amazing shape, as if it just came from the manufacturer. It’ll be such a pity to throw it out, I’d love to have it, I really could need it for my art project at school. I’ll ask Miss Winters later, if I would be allowed to take it with me after work”. TJ nods to himself, he then heads out the storage, taking Jeff’s clothes with him, and, to Jeff’s demise, locks the door, leaving the “Mannequin” in total darkness, surrounded by all the other Mannequins, some of which looked rather creepy.
‘Aw… crap,’ Jeff thinks to himself, ‘now I REALLY need to get out of here. I don’t want to end up as some random guy’s “art project”. Who knows what… idea… this guy has in his brain, well… I am not planning to stick around to find out’. Jeff then mentally facepalms himself, ‘ah… yeah… TJ took my clothes,’ he thinks to himself, ‘so turning back now won’t be smart, I just hope TJ won’t be allowed to take me with him. BUT… I really would not want to risk it, the other option I have is to transform into a fly, or something small that would fit under the door or a vent, but… what if suddenly someone appears while I am transforming?”
Jeff mentally groans, ‘man… what am I supposed to do?’