Goth Girl, Queen of the Universe by Lindsay S. Zrull

Author:Lindsay S. Zrull
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cosplay, goth, goth queen, gothic girl, goth girl, foster teen, foster youth, foster home, cons, conventions, geekdom, geeks, nerds, geek fiction, cosplayers, costume, competition, friendship, found family, mental illness, schizophrenia, birth mother, New York City
Publisher: North Star Editions
Published: 2022-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

We stand upon the brink of a precipice.

Edgar Allan Poe, “The Imp of the Perverse”

We are the last team to perform. The pressure steadily rises while we watch one team after another fight robots and evil emperors. Our costumes aren’t nearly as elaborate as some of the other teams, but I’m surprisingly not worried. I know our skit is solid gold. We got this.

When the stage lights go out, we set our super-secret prop mattress onstage in the dark, then hide behind the curtain again. Gerrit’s A Nightmare on Elm Street mix begins to play over the speakers as the lights come back on. The audience cheers with recognition. We let the eerie sounds play for several seconds, to lure the crowd into a feeling of unease. Then we begin.

Emily runs onstage, screaming, fighting to get an invisible monster off of her. She scratches at the buttons on her shirt. Several pop open to reveal the bloody claw marks I molded across her chest this morning with latex and paint. Just like we practiced, she secretly scratches open the blood bag I tucked inside minutes ago. As she struggles, she smears it all over her face and arms. Her now bloody button-down shirt swirls around her like a morbid gown as she struggles. She’s a mess. She’s a terror.

She’s perfect.

Then out comes Gerrit as Freddy. Someone in the audience screams. He lunges for Emily in an expertly executed attack. Our blocking is perfection. The two fight in three-quarter speed, like in a dream.

Oscar squeezes my shoulder just before our cue. Onstage, Emily falls to the ground. We run out from behind the curtains to face Freddy.

Out in the audience someone roars with the ferocity of a soccer mom on her third wine cooler.

“GET HIM, NANCY!”

It could only be Vacation Vibes Link.

Onstage, there’s a standoff. Gerrit lifts his shirt to expose the secret fake-skin pocket we’ve glued to his ribs with spirit gum. He tears at his side with his metallic claws. A maniacal grin spreads across his face as our disgusting green goo spills out, flopping to the floor like a living thing. The audience reacts just as I’d hoped. They’re disgusted, and loving it.

While Gerrit chases me, Oscar yawns and stretches, his belly button on full display in his ’80s sports crop top. He curls up on the mattress we’ve placed there—possibly the most ridiculous prop item in cosplay history. With dramatic flair, Oscar places his oversized headphones over his ears to sleep. The audience laughs. Then, while Gerrit is attacking me, Oscar begins to struggle on the mattress, kicking and flailing like he’s fighting his invisible foe. He tears open his own hidden gore bag and smears it all over the bed. The white sheets are thrust into the air to expose the shiny, blood-red, tattered ones we’ve secretly hidden underneath. As Oscar flails, he covers himself in the red and disappears from view as he tucks himself into the hole we cut out of the middle of the mattress.

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