Thread: Jobs Bethan is not allowed to try Who: Bethan, lots of NPCs, and Brittany. Where: The mall. When: Wednesday 16, after school. What: Bethan goes to get a new job and has a claustrophobia-induced panic attack in a public place. Britt helps out in the aftermath. Warnings: Swearing, of course. Panic attacks and trauma flashbacks, so while there's nothing graphic, very slight sidelong mentions of rape/abuse.
It had been a couple of weeks, now, since the gym had been destroyed, putting Bethan out of a job for the next few months. She hadn't been there at the time, of course, but she'd seen the wreckage of the place and it seemed unlikely that it would be fixed any time soon. With that in mind - and mostly with the urgings of her parents in mind - she'd decided to take Quinn's advice in looking for a new job over the holiday period.
Which was what had brought her to the mall. More specifically, to the cake shop. It might seem like an odd place for someone like Bethan to be seeking employment, but beggars couldn't be choosers and, besides, she had actually liked the look of the place. Sure, it was too close to the toystore and candy stores for her liking - too many kids around - but she could deal with that, and she actually liked the idea - although she would never have admitted it - of working somewhere a bit more light-hearted than the gym had been.
Alarm bells started ringing when she was told they were looking for somebody to stand outside and offer samples. She wasn't good with people, or with patience, but she'd promised her dad that she'd find a new job and she wasn't going to disappoint him. Besides, she could see the bright side. It would be a bit more open than being in a back room or somewhere like that, a bit more room to breathe, and she could probably sneak off if she really couldn't take it any more. So she was willing to give it ago.
Until, that was, she saw her costume.
From the moment she laid eyes on it, she knew it would be trouble. For one thing, it was embarrassing - who wanted to dress up like Frosty the motherfucking Snowman, for christ's sake? - but that paled in comparison to the other problem. The big problem. And she'd bitten her lip and forced herself to go ahead anyway, because to do anything else would mean admitting why she didn't want to, and she would never, ever do that.
But the minute the woman helped her lower the mask down over her head, she knew she'd made a mistake. No matter how much she told herself she wasn't trapped, it wasn't like it was a room, or... or a closet...
...oh god and she could feel it remember it see it his breath stank and the air stank and it was dark and too hot too close too small trapped trapped she was trapped and nobody was ever going to know but god she'd do anything to get out to breathe oh god she couldn't fucking breathe...
It didn't take the shop woman long to realise that something was wrong, but to Bethan it felt like a million years, trapped and frozen and so, so fucking scared. When the mask finally, finally came off, and the air and the light flooded back in and she could breathe again, she was crying in loud, childish sobs. She barely heard the woman asking worriedly if she was all right, what was wrong, what had happened?... as soon as she was free and out of the costume, she snatched up her leather jacket from the chair nearby and made a break for it, running in blind panic, not sure where and not caring as long as it was away.
Which was how she ended up in the toyshop, wedged back between two shelves of teddy bears, clutching her jacket to her chest like a safety blanket and sobbing like the world was breaking apart.