Crista stood, stone faced in the corner of the store. Her expression betrayed her true emotions. She looked pleasant, happy, and at peace with the world. Inside she was full of contempt and rage. She wasn't sure why she was still standing there. She hated it, and wanted it to end.

She continued to stand, motionless. She watched, through motionless eyes as they came past her. She wanted to reach out and choke them, but she refrained. She had too many bad run ins with customers. Now she just stood there, waiting for the shift to end, so that she could go stretch and move, like a human should.

Crista still wondered what had ever made her decide to become an LM. Modeling was cool. She had done a lot of photo shoots with various photographers. She liked the runway. She liked the attention. But, being an LM was like none of that. With this modeling, she just stood here, and that was it. There was no glamour, no fame, and no moving.

She remembered how she got into this trade. She was walking through a mall, and noticed the crowd of people looking into a storefront. She watched, and in the window was 3 very beautiful models, standing perfectly still. Their blinking eyes hidden behind designer sunglasses, it was almost impossible to tell that they were alive. It was amazing. While she was standing there someone came over and talked her into posing. It had been an exciting experience. That was a year ago, and she had done numerous modeling jobs since then. Every one was different. Sometimes you stood in one pose all day, sometimes in a variety of poses. Sometimes it was in a window; sometimes it was out on the shop floor, like this one. She never knew what to expect from day to day.

As she stood here today in the clothing shop, she began to realize how sick she was of posing. She didn't want to be an LM anymore. The time had come. She couldn't stand the motionlessness. It just felt wrong. Three months ago, she thought it was the most peaceful experience she'd ever had, but those days were gone.

Now she wanted to move. She wanted to jump up, scream and run away, but it wasn't going to happen. She didn't want to cause a scene. She was good at what she did, and didn't want to ruin that status. Plus, she was on display in front of a large group of people, and would hate to ruin the effect. So, she remained in her pose.

She stood, in slacks and a blouse. Her feet slightly apart, one arm hanging at her side, the other bent at the elbow hanging in front of her. It was an easy pose to hold. She normally thought nothing of it. She was considered the best model in the company, because she could hold that pose for 23 minutes, and blink only rarely. She was blessed; she had good eyes for this trade.

After what seemed like an eternity of standing there, her boss finally came into her view. He told her it was time for break, and she wanted to jump up, in happiness, but she didn't. Very calmly, she put her arm down, and relaxed her expression. She blinked a few times, and it was almost visible that she was becoming more human again. People said it was an amazing sight, but she never noticed it, in the mirror.

She carefully stepped off of the platform where she was being displayed, while one of her coworkers assumed a pose in her place. She changed her shoes and took off for the back room of the store. That's where the boss was waiting.

She walked up to him and told him how she felt. She told him that she was not interested in posing anymore, and that this was her last day. He was very distraught about it. He begged her to come back, but she refused. She told him how she couldn't stand being there, and watching the people moving around her anymore. He agreed that she had been doing it a while. He was confident that she'd come back and offered her some time off.

She told him she didn't think she would be back, and left the store. After walking across the street and getting coffee, she came back and got in her car. Her muscles felt stiff from being posed so long that day. She had successfully extended her record to 28 minutes, and she was feeling it.

She took off toward home in the car, sipping the coffee. She thought she heard something in the backseat, but she couldn't be sure. She looked in the mirror and didn't see anything, so she guessed it was ok.

Suddenly a hand came across her face, holding something tightly over her face! She couldn't believe it. There had been someone in the back. She felt so stupid for not checking. She was panicked! She didn't know what to do. Her screams were muffled, and she could barely breath. She pulled the car over on the road, and tried to fight before she slipped unconsciousness. She felt so stupid as she fell into the blackness.

Crista stood stoned face in the corner of the store. Her expression betrayed her true emotions. She looked pleasant, happy, and at peace with the world. Inside she was full of contempt and rage. She wasn't sure how she had ended up standing there. She hated it, and she wanted it to end...

Inside her helpless body, Crista began to regain consciousness. She was happy to be alive. She wasn't sure what was going to happen to her. She looked out at the world. Her field of vision seemed very limited. She realized she couldn't bat her eyes to look around. She frantically tried to move, but it was impossible. She was totally rigid. She felt like one of the mannequins she had been imitating for so long. She checked every muscle from her eyes to the tips of her fingers and toes, but nothing obeyed her, nothing moved. She watched out of her glass eyes and realized where she was. She was back at the store.

She realized in that moment, in horror, what had happened. He had kidnapped her. He wanted her so bad that he took her and brought her here. She couldn't believe it. She was furious. She wanted to break pose and run after him, but she could do nothing. She stood there, rigid and feeling dumb for allowing this to happen. She was back in the same pose as before. One arm down, the other bent and out. She could do nothing but look at the wall in front of her. Someone came into view and remarked how much "this real mannequin looked like the LMs". She hated it. She wanted to jump up and say "I'm real! I'm here, I'm me", but she couldn't. She just stood there, her motionless body betraying her.

The End
December 07, 2000