In the quiet of night, the small museum on campus lay in silence, until whispered voices neared.
"Alright, told you the security was awful!" One female voice said.
"Sure, Becki, we all knew that!" Another replied.
"Shh! We're not here to talk, we're here to win this stupid bet you made with Bobbi!"
The five students breaking in after hours were Becki, Nicole, Jasmine, Sarah, and Holly. Becki was the ringleader of sorts, a pretty blonde 19 year old cheerleader, wearing a grey shirt and black yoga pants, hair in a ponytail. Nicole was also 19, a somewhat mousey girl in glasses with shoulder-length black hair, wearing a plain blue hoody and jeans. Jasmine was something of a diva despite being a Science major, the 20 year old redhead wearing a white dress more suited for a party than a late night breaking and entering session. Sarah was a brunette tomboyish runner with a pixie cut, 19, wearing black cycle shorts under cut-off jeans and a dark green tank top, her light yellow hoodie tied around her waist. Holly was the youngest at 18, hair dyed purple, a green jacket, and a pair of khaki cargo pants.
All were here because Becki had bet one of the other cheerleaders she'd bust a ghost story - namely, the haunted museum. And brought her friends along for backup and evidence.
For generations of students, there had been an urban myth - anyone in the museum after dark would never leave. Some said it was a serial killer, some said it was a ghost, some said it was a vampire, some said a mummy prowled the halls some said their founder had preserved his soul with a Satanic ritual. Of course, the faculty denied it all. Nothing was lurking in the small museum. Just works of art like paintings and sculptures, the ancient Egyptian exhibit, the Civil War exhibit, and an extensive amount of taxidermied animals hunted by the college founder decades ago.
"What's your plan anyway?" Sarah spoke up.
"We all take a look around the place quickly, meet up back here, then get out. Call... this statue here our meet-up point," Becki said, pointing at a nude statue in the main foyer, a marble work that seemed to be carrying a jug of water.
Nicole studied the statue, with medium sized breasts and long flowing hair. Something seemed familiar... and yet also unfamiliar, as she'd never noticed this statue in the museum before.
"...Doesn't that look kinda like Bobbi?"
"Nah, that statue's pretty, Bobbi's just pretty bitchy," Holly said, eliciting giggles.
"Shh! Let's just get this over with!" Jasmine hissed.
"I'll take the art gallery, Sarah takes Egypt, Jasmine takes the Civil War, Nicole takes the taxidermy, Holly waits here!"
"Wait, how come I wait here?!" Holly squeaked.
"Well, if there is a vampire when one of us screams you get to escape first!" Sarah joked.
Sarah slipped into the wing with the many Egyptian displays, fully aware they were almost all replicas. This wasn't some huge museum, it was a bunch of crap old white dudes had slapped together to claim the college was somehow special! Their founder had been a whackjob who hunted animals and supposedly dabbled in the occult. Yeah, right....
"Bet these sarcophagus things are empty too," She muttered aloud, before deciding to check.
Going over to one, she tugged it gently open, confirming that yes, it was empty - and felt a lot more like fibreglass than the gold it pretended to be.
"So much for a mummy prowling the halls!"
She moved to close it back over, when a noise made her turn. Meaning she didn't see the bandages shoot out from within the sarcophagus, quickly wrapping around her mouth.
Silenced by them, her screams muffled, she had her hands and arms grabbed by more bandages. They began looping and wrapping tightly around her frame, binding her legs, forcing her arms to cross before her chest, wrapping her from head to toe, muffled cries growing quieter with each layer, until the bandages pulled her back - and the sarcophagus slammed shut, sealing her in.
Jasmine sighed at the Civil War display. A bunch of crappy mannequins depicting some battle or other. A broken and rusty old cannon supposed to have been used at Bull Run - more like Bull Shit. And some muskets clearly labelled replicas because even this place wouldn't try fobbing them off as real.
Still, one thing did catch her eye - A display card by the mannequins claiming a number of women had disguised themselves to fight, up to 1000 across both sides. However, it stood before four union soldiers, all clearly male by their beards and moustaches. Maybe they intended a fake beard, but that would have surely been an easy way to get found out. Fake beards can't have been all that convincing in those days.
"What's the point in saying that in front of all these dumb bearded mannequins though?" She complained aloud, before turning to look away.
That meant she missed the four mannequins turning to look at her, but when they stepped down, she heard them. Her attempt to scream was silence by one quickly grabbing her, holding a plastic hand tightly over her mouth as another held her arms. Trying to struggle, the blank-eyed soldiers began yanking at her dress, making her scream even louder behind the hand. With a rip, it tore in half, and to Jasmine's shock, each of the two mannequins took a half - and the dress changed, into a tunic and pants for a Union uniform. They began ripping at her bra and panties, leaving her nude.
And unknown to her, she had been changing as they attacked. Her skin was going glossy, her anatomy becoming flat. Her struggles weakened and slowed, her hair began shortening, and as she stared at the mannequins now converting her underwear into a leather belt and a hat. Her last sight was of the mannequins going to grab a replica musket...
But even now fully transformed into a female mannequin, the job wasn't done. The four dressed the transformed woman, putting her in uniform, and twisting her limbs to make her hold the rifle. They placed her beside their stands, and resumed their post. The fifth member of their squad now looked almost obviously feminine....
Nicole adjusted her glasses, reading the card in front of a stag. It kind of disgusted her to see these animals had all just been shot for sport - but it had been long ago, at least. Still, it all seemed wasteful.
She turned from the stag to look at a tiger, only to yelp as something prodded her back. She turned to see... nothing. And then groaned.
Falling to her hands and knees, her whole body felt strange, like it tingled and ached. She couldn't even make any noise higher than a strangled gasp, as she felt the odd sensation like bones shifting. Her skin itched, like something was growing, and though her glasses had fallen off, she could see her hands seemed to be turning black... her neck hurt, like it was stretching, as did her nose and jaw. She heard something ripping, and found herself... bleating? And that felt oddly right.
As her body shifted and expanded, white and brown fur growing all over, Nicole's hooves stamped on her glasses, breaking them, but they were useless. As a deer, her eyes were fine... but she wouldn't use them for long. As her torn clothes fell, she stood up proudly on all four legs, and trotted over beside the stag, taking up her place, as her eyes turned glassy and she froze. Before her, the clothing vanished, and the card altered unseen to add a doe to the display...
"Never anything modern in these places. All just old scenes or landscapes," Becki sighed looking over the paintings.
Until one caught her eye. It depicted a football game, and looked more like a photograph, a quarterback running, with a trio of cheerleaders in the background. The poor light meant she couldn't see any brushwork, so she put a hand to it, feeling that it was indeed painted, oil on canvas, probably.
"Never seen this one before..." She mused, trying to pull her hand back... but it was stuck.
"What the..."
Struggling and tugging, she was stunned to see her fingers seemed to sink in. She pulled again harder in panic, only to have her whole arm slide in. Fear overrode her senses, she tried to turn and run, only forcing her entire upper body to be absorbed. Her legs kicked and squirmed as the painting swallowed her whole, until her feet were slurped up.
The quarterback kept running, behind him, four cheerleaders cheered him on, one ponytailed blonde looking especially enthusiastic...
Out at the main foyer, Holly stood blank eyed, a shape before her in a Security guard uniform.
"And that's four new additions or improvements to the museum. I do so love the invincible mindset of young college students. Don't you, Holly?"
"Yes sir," She replied.
"Bobbi behind you there thought so too, her and her boyfriend. He's quite a nice Tiger now - certainly more useful that he ever was as a running back. But she helped lure in you five quite well. Think you can beat her record?"
"Of course."
"Good, that's what your founder likes to hear! Head back to your room, good luck, and see you... say, tomorrow night?"
"Yes sir."
"Great! You'll need to come first before the rest, of course. Need to get you set up here as a new statue..."
Holly once again obeyed, and the entranced girl walked out to find more victims....