Costume Series #2
Seasonal Sequel
(shortly after #1)

“…” You open your mouth.

“No, don’t tell me,” says your friend the inventor as she turns to face the two of you and straightening her not as white lab coat, “I want to guess.”

“Ok,” he agrees. You grab his arm and draw him close.

“Christmas party,” she doesn’t really guess.

“How did you guess,” he says. Neither of you are surprised.

“Could it be because Christmas is a week away,” you add.

“Nah …” You all laugh. “Let me guess. Everyone’s going as elves and such and you want something unique and totally me?”

“Absolutely. We come to you for all our costume needs.”

“Then I have just the thing for you two. Right this way.” She leads you back to the costume machine. It looks much the same as it did.

“We’re not going as dolls are we?”

“Oh no, that is so last party.”

“So what are we going to go as?”

“Did I tell you before you went in last time?”

“Yes,” you both answer together.

“Too bad. I’m not telling you this time. Hop on.”

“Don’t you mean ‘who’s first?’ ”

“Nope. You’re both going in together, back to back, arms to your sides.” You get on the table as directed and she puts you to sleep. “Get cozy,” she says as you drift off, “you’ll be like that all night.”

He moves a little and you wake up. You open your eyes and see the lab and green all around you. You must be standing. You hear you inventor friend’s voice, “Oh good, you’re awake.” She comes to where you can see her. “Good, you’re awake too. Ok, first things first. Movement. To get to the mirror, one of you will need to walk forwards,” she says indicating him, “and the other will need to walk backward,” meaning you.

You shuffle as best as you can, trying not to bump the back of his feet. In the process, you sway your mutual costume dangerously.

Finally he makes it to the mirror, “Amazing! You’ve out done yourself this time.”

“You have no idea. Turn so she can see.” This process takes practice as both of you are sliding your feet while trying not to step on each other’s foot. As you progress, you see tree branches and then your trunk. You look down and see wrapped presents at your feet. What you don’t see is your face. You figure it is in the tree branches somewhere.

“We’re a Christmas tree. This is amazing.”

“What’s even more amazing is that the whole tree is hollow inside. If you can pull your arms up, you can put them in the branches.” It’s a little struggle to get your arms up, but you do and you clear some branches and see your wooden trunk face. You feel him wiggling and after a little squeeze there is more breathing room.

“Now as you head toward the door,” you each start shuffling that direction, “Let me tell you about your presents on the bottom. Like before, I’ve added something for everyone to do. All they have to do is take off their costume, and get in a present. Inside each present is a little puzzle. If they solve it, they’ll get a present. If they fail to or take too long, they will exit the present.”
She looks away and back, “This is taking too long. Hold on.” After a minute, “Ok, this may hurt a little, but you’ll thank me when you get to the party on time. I’m going to tie you up to transport you.”
Sure enough, rope closes in on the two of you taking the breathing room you created. In doing so, your face is pulled away from the mask keeping you from looking out. Your branch arms get tied down to your sides. Your heads bonk as she goes up the tree. “Hey sexy,” you say to him.

“Hey sexy,” he chuckles back. She tips you onto your side. The breeze by your feet tells you that you are moving.  You get lifted onto something then you hear the all too familiar sound of her transport start up. The breeze flows the other way past your feet. It’s colder this time.

Finally, you get lifted off the vehicle, stood up and untied. “You’re here. I’ll ring the doorbell in a minute, but not before I tell you that there is a surprise higher up.” You think about climbing up a seeing what she was talking about but the door opens.

The same voice as before calls in, “Did you order a tree with presents?” Then they haul you in.
You pull back and whisper to him, “I’m going up to see what she put above us. You pull your arms out and carefully climb onto his shoulders and then up the branch holes. It’s tighter up here, and at first you can’t see anything. Then you see a little hole in the top. You put your hands on it and it stretches. You push yourself up straight pulling your head through the hole. Your hands looking for something to do, find holes to go into.

Just as you wonder what the big deal is, someone gasps. You look at them and they are pointing at you, “I knew it! It’s them in a Christmas tree costume. And look at her!” You look down at yourself and you see that you are all white in a fancy dress which you laugh is not how you are dressed inside. You look to either side and see what you were expecting. You are the angel at the top of the tree.

The host approaches you, “I’ve got a tree in the other room, but I think it would be more fun to decorate you two. Do you mind?”

You laugh. “Go ahead.”

“Sure,” you hear from below, “I mean, No. I mean, go ahead.”

“I guess it unanimous.” They proceed to lightly wrap you both in strings of lights and popcorn. They add tinsel and ornaments. When your costume looks just right, they stop and you see several unused boxes. “So what now?”

“Well, I’m not sure if you’re interested, but our costume designer told us that we are also a game. She said that you need to take off your costume, and get in the presents at our base. Then you do a puzzle and when you’re done you get a surprise.”

“Oh! That sounds like fun,” exclaims the host’s wife, “Why don’t you do it, Honey? I would but I need to serve the refreshments.”

“Certainly, after a few of my workers go,” he challenges the room. After a moment, a tall secretary steps forward. The hostess’s wife shuffles her to the master bedroom where she returns in normal clothes and without her costume. She climbs into a large box. He helps her by using his branches to put the lid down on her. The box disappears into the tree somewhere and returns a moment later.

The box collapses on all sides and a giant egg rolls onto the floor. The crowd separates letting it stop wherever it will. It eventually stands up on its larger side. Her head pops out a hole in the top like yours is on the tree. Cracks appear in the shell. Several around her ask her, “Are you ok?”

“Yes,” she grunts, “but my movements are restricted in here. If I can stretch a little more … I can … get  this open.” The uniform vertical cracks get wider and longer.  From your angle you can see in and suspect you know what’s happening.  “Maybe … if I … go … this … way.” The shell breaks away and she stands up a little.

She’s standing in a flower pot. All around her are the finger and arm prints of where she pushed out.  And since she pushed out on all directions, “She’s a mini Christmas tree! Let’s decorate her!” She laughs consent. The unused boxes come out again.

Another young intern from your area tries a box after taking of her costume. She exits minutes later like the first. “Is this what happens when you solve the puzzle,” a guest asks them.

“I don’t think so. I didn’t push all the buttons.”

“Me neither.”

“I’m going to find the answer,” one of the group declares, “or get decorated trying!” Several others chime in the same. They each enter a box and exit as a laughing tree.

“Now it’s your turn, Boss.” He looks nervously at all the staff decorated as trees.

His wife walks past, “You did give them your word. And you are a man of your word.” She playfully grabs his tie and takes him back to the bedroom. He returns and tries a box. He takes longer than the rest. The group gives up on him and starts chatting. Finally he emerges from the box. Everyone turns and gasps.

You look down at the Boss shaped angel. “What,” he asks. His wife leads him from the room. The rest of the room submits their votes for best dressed. Some people even carry the mini trees over to the vote box so they can vote. After that the “staff” trees are escorted to whatever conversation they want to be in.

Time flies and eventually the crowd brings a ladder and feeds the both of you food and drink. The crowd starts to disperse when the Boss Angel returns. “Now it’s time to announce the winner of the Costume Contest. I’m sure we all know who will win again this year.” He looks at the both of you.

His wife finishes counting the votes, “The winner is …” she leaves it hanging it for a moment, “You, Honey. It’s unanimous.”

He flushes as he says, “WHAT? You’re kidding, right?” She shakes her head. “Well, let me see the votes then.” She hands them to him. He counts them himself. He laughs. “Who would have guessed? What a great party this was this year.”

Everyone says their goodbyes and leaves. The mini-trees look to you. “Thank you,” they each say in turn, “But how do we get out of here?”

“We didn’t do anything. You need to thank the costume maker. She did this. And she didn’t tell us about this. We are as surprised and stuck as you are.”

“I hate to crash the party,” says a familiar female voice, “but I have to get these two home.”

“Oh good! You’re here,” he says.

“We have some forlorn trees here wondering how to get free,” you add.

“Oh, that’s simple. You give them what every tree needs, water.” The hostess brings a watering can and as the water touches their enclosure, it dissolves. The freed staff trees exit the flower pots, return their decorations, and say their thanks and goodbyes.

“What about my outfit? We weren’t able to get it off.”

“Oh! You got that one,” the inventor chuckles to herself, “That’ll come off by itself in a couple of days.”

“Oh,” he says disappointed.

“Oh,” his wife eagerly happily responds.

“Now I have to get these two out of here. Have a nice night, sir.” She turns two of you, “I’m sorry, but I’ll have to tie you up again to get you back. Do you want to go like that, or back to back again?”

“I prefer it like this,” he answers.

You’d rather have more snuggle time with him, “Are you sure?”

“What are you thinking?”

“Let me show you.”

“Ok. “ You put your feet into branch holes and lift enough to get your arms out of the angel. After pulling your head out of the hole you descend down to him, but this time you go on his other side so you are front to front. “I like this better,” he calls out to the inventor.

In short order you are tied together, and before you know it you are being untied in the lab. You wait for something to happen to free you, but nothing happens. You climb up and poke your head out. “How do we get out?”

“Oh. Didn’t I tell you that?”

“Nope,” he confirms.

“Oh. Sorry. You pull your feet up and at your feet where you are standing is a hole in the side. Slide your body into that hole and you’ll come out in one of the presents.”

You stick your head back in, “I’ll stay up here while you get in and then I’ll get down and go out my side.” Your costume shakes while he slides slowly into the hole. When he isn’t below you, you climb down and squeeze carefully through your passage to a present. Something closes at your head. The box lights up. Four buttons are in front of you to push. Each has a different symbol on it. “Uh oh. I thought getting out was too simple.”

CHOOSE YOUR ENDING

If you want the original ending, look below at [ENDING 1]
If you want the alternate ending, scroll down to or search for [ENDING 2]


[ENDING 1]
You look carefully at the buttons. Immediately you think you know which to push in which order, but you stop yourself. “She wants us to pick wrong for making her doll-like last time. I bet if I go with my first instinct, I’ll end up as a mini-tree.” You look again. It’s during the more careful look that you see the minor changes on the symbols changing them. You push the new order. Now you know why it took your boss so long. The light goes out and you hear a click. You push up on the top and it lifts up. You sit up hit your head on a soft branch.

“Great! You made it out,” she says in an excited voice, but her eyes say something else. She comes over to you.

“Is he out yet?”

“Nope.” She leads you to the other side of the tree. You see a box shaped like yours. You hope that because it’s taking him so long, he’s figuring it out, too. Nervousness shows on her face. You hear a click. She puts an excited face on. “Great! You made it out, too! I thought that perhaps you were stuck.”

“No. It took a little thought, but I got out.” You go over to him and give him a big hug. He gives it right back. “It’s good to see you again.”

You smile and say coyly, “But we were together all night.”

“Yes, we were. I especially enjoyed the ride home.”

“Me t-“

Her frustration boils over, “You weren’t supposed to get out.”

“You didn’t leave us a way out,” you ask innocently.

“Yes, Well, you weren’t supposed to get out like that.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“Me, too.”

She’s almost crying now, “I made the puzzles hard and tricky. And they didn’t work.”

He winks at you. “Well, it seemed kinda easy to me. Are you sure you put the hard puzzles in?”

“Yeah, or maybe something went wrong. We were bouncing a little going to and back from the party. Something might have bumped and broken.”

She seems encouraged, “Yeah, I’ll check it out now.” She enters one of the other presents and closes the top on herself. A couple of minutes later, the box breaks open and an egg comes rolling out. You let it stop on its one end.

You wonder if that was supposed to happen. “Would she change herself into a tree on purpose,” you whisper to him.

“I don’t think so,” he whispers back. Her head appears out of the top. She mumbles something.

“What did you say?”

She mumbles a little louder, “I forgot the answer.”

“So what do we do?”

She looks down at her egg and smiles a little, “Nothing, I guess. I’d better get cracking if I’m going to get out of here.” She grunts and pushes over and over. The egg barely moves. She works on it some more. You notice that she’s sweating and run to her kitchen and return with a towel and some juice. You towel her off and give her something to drink. “Thanks,” she says and then gets back to work.

“Is it just me,” he asks you, “or is it taking longer for her than for the others.”

“Definitely longer.”

She chuckles, “I guess something did break after all.” The vertical cracks on the egg widen. You step forward to open the shell. “No! I mean, no, I’ll do it myself. I got myself into this. I’m going to get myself out.” You return to him and watch as the egg slowly opens.

The egg shell finally opens and you see way more arm branches with finger leaves. She looks to the two of you not moving to get water to free her. “Let me guess. You’re not going to let me out of here.”
You look to him who says, “Actually, we were thinking of inviting you over for Christmas. You don’t have a tree yet, do you?”

“Nope. She would make the perfect addition to my holiday decorations.”

“I don’t suppose there’s any other alternate,” she says resigned.

“You might as well enjoy it,” you agree as he lifts her flower pot and carries her out.

“A whole week?”

“It’ll be a good break from working so hard and creating something so cool.”

“Two days made this costume. Imagine what you can do by talking and hanging out with us for a week.”

The week goes by as before. “Ugh! You have to stop feeding me all this food. I’m going to be as big as a house!”

“But we want you to be a growing tree.”

“As long as you’re no larger than the tree, we’ll be happy.” Her face drops. “What’s wrong,” you ask your tree friend.

“Well, it seems like this is always happening to me.”

“Becoming a tree,” he asks.

“No.”

“The doll, too?”

“More than that, yeah, I wish you guys wouldn’t do these things to me or exploit them when they happen …”

“I’m sorry. I thought this was a good thing for you. I won’t do it again. I promise.”

“Me, too.”

“But the reason I got into inventing is because no one except you guys notice me.”

“The people at the parties noticed your work. I’m sure it’s a matter of time before they are banging down your door.” That breaks her out of it. She smiles and returns to her normal self.

Christmas comes quickly. You pull a package from under the tree and give it to the tree. “You first.” Two branches move and the fingers manage to open the present. “It’s a watering can.”

“Merry Christmas,” you say as you free her.

“And for your second gift.” He gives her a present.

“Some clean clothes,” she exclaims, “I never thought I’d ever feel so dirty.” She looks at you both.

“Of course,” you answer her unspoken request, “You’re our friend.”

“Please excuse me.” She disappears into the restroom. After a long shower, she returns in her new clothes with her hair wrapped in a towel. The rest of the day is spent giving each other presents and laughing and talking. “Friends?”

“Friends,” you both agree.

“No more tricks?”

“No more Tricks.”

The End

[ENDING 2]
You look carefully at the buttons. Immediately you think you know which to push in which order. The lights go off, but you can see. You look to the light and see a hole by your feet. You bend , twist and contort your body switching sides of the box. You stick your head out and see a present with his head out one side. You figure you look the same.

Your inventor friend looks down on you.  “Welcome to payback for last time.”

“You mean you are still upset from last time?”

“Not anymore. You see, You are going to have a hard time getting out of those presents. For one, the box is closing in on you. I figure that in a week’s time, you’ll be in tight cubical box, the perfect gifts for me to unwrap Christmas morning.”

“But you’ve given us a way out, right?” He chimes in.

“Did you give me an out?” You realize that you didn’t. “But yes, if you can manage it, there is a way out. As your present shrinks, the bow on top of the box gets closer to your head. If you manage to untie it, the lid unlocks.” You try to think how your head could untie a ribbon, but set that aside for now. “And of course, I’ll give you all the food, drink, conversation, and comfort you want while you wait for the big day.

Occasionally, his head disappears and an arm reaches out blindly. You watch him reach for the ribbon. “It’s still too far away.” She gives you a pillow and you go to sleep. The next day the enclosure is touching your feet. He tries again. “Still too far.” The day passes uneventfully.

The next day your knees are bent slightly. “Getting closer,” you try to encourage. Day after day passes  as the box forces you to pull your knees over your body. “It’s getting kinda tight in here,” you realize. He reaches for the bow. “You’re close. Maybe tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow’s Christmas Eve.”

“Would you rather wait until Christmas?”

“No.” After another full day of eating and visiting, you sleep. You are so tight in this present that you aren’t sure how you are going to get smaller.

His present wobbles as he adjusts to pull his arm out. He reaches but over shoots the bow. “You’re too far now. Bring your arm back a little.” He does but in the effort to move back his arm jumps over it again. “Ok, you are on the other side of it now. Go back away.” After going on either side of it several times, he finally finds the middle point. Unfortunately he can’t lower his hand. “You’re right there! Just down a little.”

“I CAN’T.”

“Oh dear, I guess you miscalculated. Last night must have been the optimum time.”

“Well maybe later today,” you console him as his head returns, “when the bow comes closer.”

You each try it for the remainder of the day and even into the night until you are unable to adjust any more. Then you drift into a restless sleep. Somehow you must have fallen asleep, because when you wake up you are under the tree.

“Merry Christmas!” She stands your box up.

“Merry Christmas,” you both mumble out.

“Even?”

“Even.”

“No more tricks?”

“No more tricks.”

“Friends?”

“Of course.” She pulls the ribbon and your bundled body explodes out of the box. He exits much the same way. Her present to you both is a massage. When you can move again, you give her the same. Then you go out and buy each other things while talking and laughing.

The End