The whole time while Karyn was in the shower, it felt like the bottles next to the sink were calling to her. Asking her to use them. At first, Karyn told herself that she should ignore these feelings, that they'd go away, but somehow she didn't feel clean with her normal soap. It couldn't hurt to try, could it?
Karyn reached past the shower curtain and grabbed the bright orange bottle of body wash. She snapped it open and smelled its fragrance: it did at least smell better than her plain white bar of Dove soap. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. Karyn squirted a blob onto a wash cloth and worked up a lather. Yes, this definitely smelled nicer than her normal soap.
And the feeling on her skin was an improvement, too. This felt better. This felt cleaner. Karyn didn't even question herself when it came time to wash her hair and she felt the desire to use the shampoo by the sink instead of the bottle with her in the shower. Or the conditioner. She didn't worry when she found herself spraying... she didn't even know what it was she was spraying into her hair after she'd gotten out of the shower, but doing so felt right. Felt good.
Karyn finished her morning routine and wrapped herself in the pink bathrobe, almost relishing in pulling it tighter around her, before grabbing the bottles she'd used and retreating back to her room. She felt possessive over them, didn't want anyone else to use them. Guests could use her old soap and shampoo, but these bottles were Karyn's.
It was as she re-entered her room that Karyn managed to snap back to reality. What had just happened? Why had she felt compelled to use Sarah and Kara's things? Something was wrong.
The stone! Where was the stone?
Karyn arranged her bath products carefully where they belonged, then frantically searched her room. Maybe it rolled under the bed? Maybe it was somewhere in the folds of the blanket? Had she put it anywhere when she was half-asleep? Karyn wracked her brain, but couldn't remember what she'd done with the stone.
What if someone had taken it?
Karyn started to move towards her door, but stopped. She was in just the bathrobe. What if someone saw her? What if she had to go outside? No, she'd have to get dressed first.
She started to move towards her dresser, but her foot stepped at an odd angle and she sort of tripped forwards. Once she had regained her balance and was able to stand up straight, she found herself in front of her closet instead. The closet that was filled with Sarah and Kara's clothes. Slowly, the guilt returned from earlier. Why hadn't Karyn considered wearing any of these clothes? She had them now. It was her fault they were here. She should treat them with the same dignity she treated her own clothes.
Karyn furrowed her brow. There was something wrong with that line of logic, but she couldn't quite place what it was. Whatever, it was getting hard to concentrate, and she still had to get the stone.
Karyn reached her hand into the closet and retrieved a hanger, upon which was clipped a pleated denim skirt with roses on vines embroidered around the edge just below the belt loops. She supposed this would do, so she laid it out on her bed. The next hanger she grabbed turned out to hold a pink cami-tank top. Usually Karyn would wear something a bit more... more, but she was in a hurry and she didn't really want to wear more of Sarah and Kara's clothes, she just felt responsible for them.
So she laid that top next to the skirt and opened her underwear drawer. Which was now overflowing. Karyn couldn't even see any of her own items, they were buried under so many of Sarah and Kara's things, so she again just grabbed the first things her hands touched.
The bra and panty set matched, and it was even a slightly darker shade of pink that complimented the cami top, but Karyn had a moment of hesitation. Was she really going to wear underpants that had almost certainly been previously worn by Sarah McMillan? Karyn looked back at the still-open drawer, but she didn't want to dig through there again. Mentally holding her nose, Karyn slipped one leg, and then the other, into the panties she was already holding, and before she knew it, she was wearing them.
She exhaled. "That wasn't too bad," she told herself. Next on came the bra, then the cami top, then the skirt over that, and almost without thinking she grabbed a white glittery braided belt and strung it through the loops of the skirt.
It wasn't anything like what Karyn normally wore, but it felt right. And now-dressed, she could leave her room and look for the stone.
