Katie Ann held the pose with ease. She watched out of the thin pane of glass that separated her from the rest of the world. It had only been a week, but she was already getting used to seeing people through the medium. Their eyes meeting, her not saying a word. It was the way it was supposed to be. She was just a mannequin.  There was no need for her to talk. There was no need for her to do anything but stand there and look pretty.

She remembered the before time. It was only last week, but it seemed like such a distant memory now. Before she was a mannequin, she only pretended to be one. She would spend a few minutes at a time standing behind the pane of glass in fancy boutiques all over California. Holding a pose as long as she could.  Trying not to blink, to ruin the effect. No one ever really noticed that she wasn't a fiberglass statue when she worked. She associated that with the fact that she was very good.  Perhaps too good, leading to her current fate.  She could stand for twenty or thirty minutes in one pose without feeling tired, or the need to move. All the agencies wanted her to pose for them, and she always thought she’d have a job.

But those times were gone. She wasn't sure exactly what happened to her, but she knew that her life, if she still had one, would be changed forever. Last week, god, it seemed so distant, she was standing in this very window, in a different outfit.  She couldn't remember what. Had it been pants? Or a skirt? She couldn't recall. She knew what she was wearing now, lingerie. She felt very sexy in it. It mad her feel good about being a mannequin.

Last week, she had been standing, and a gentleman stood in front of while she posed. She thought nothing of it. She was used to people staring at her while she modeled. It was part of the job. In fact, she figured, it was the purpose of the job.

He had looked at her in a curious way. One that she had never seen before. Then he came into the store. She had heard him talking to the shopkeeper, asking about why she was posed there. He must have heard the right answer, because he didn't get angry. He had come over to her and climbed in the window and stood next to her. She didn't break her pose. She had been thinking he might be a recruiter, and she didn't want to miss out on a job because she wiggled. So, she had held her pose. He touched her arm, and then she remembered feeling a prick.

Now it was beginning to make sense. Last week, he must have injected her with something. Gave her something to turn her into a real mannequin. She tried to wiggle, but she could not. She had already accepted the fact that she was a mannequin. No amount of willing her body to move would change that. What ever he had done, it was going to last a while. She still wasn't sure what his motivation could have been. He didn't take her, and he hadn't come back. She had just stood here all week.

Katie Ann then realized something else. She was still wearing the same thing as when it happened. He hadn't touched her, and neither had the shopkeeper. She tried to look around, to see if she was the only mannequin, but her eyes betrayed her like the rest of her body. She tried to picture the store windows in her head but was having trouble. Were her thoughts beginning to freeze up as well as her body? Possibly, and she feared it.

That's right; there were no other mannequins in this store, real, living, captured or otherwise.  So, they probably had no visual merchandiser, which is why no one had changed her clothes. She began to wonder.  Would she be stuck here in this outfit forever?  She tried to remember what she was wearing.  She couldn't look at herself, and it was hard to feel the clothing, without being able to wiggle.  Or was the paralysis preventing her nerves from feeling the cloth as well?  Would she not feel anything after a while?  She dreaded the thought as much as losing her mind.

One thing was sure and that was that she was not wearing lingerie.  She only thought that she was.  She realized why.  She couldn't feel anything but her underwear.  But, she was able to notice her clothing in the reflection in the glass.  She was wearing the same thing as she had been when she assumed this pose voluntarily, a week ago.  A short skirt, nude pantyhose, and a white blouse.  But, now all she could feel on herself was the bra and panties, nothing else.  She couldn't even feel the tight nylon encasing her legs.

What else could change, she wondered to herself.  She wondered again about her brain "stiffening up".  It would be horrible if it did, but maybe not.  At least she would forget that at one time she had been a real living breathing person like the ones on the other side of the glass.  She would just be beautiful forever.

She stood there wondering what else could happen to her.  She looked out through the glass, refocusing on the crowds walking in the mall.  Then it hit her.  She could refocus her eyes.  What a relief.  It meant there was still something alive in her body.  Then fear stuck her once again. Would they freeze up soon?  Would the chemicals that were attacking her brain and nerves attack her inner eyes as well?  She hoped not.

With the fear subsiding inside of her, she looked out again.  Across on the park bench was a familiar figure.  She studied him for a moment and then realized who it was.  It was the man.  It was the man who had done this to her.  He sat across, mocking her.  He looked familiar in another way somehow.  She tried to think, where else did she know about him?  Her mind refused to think.  She knew it was happening.  Her brain was seizing up, just like her limbs.  She tried to clear her thoughts, to remember who he was.

Fear swept over her as she realized time was running out.  She tried to focus on him more and realized that her eyes were finally locked.  She tried in vain to focus on the glass, to see herself, but she could not.  Her focus was frozen on the man, on the bench, forever.  She wanted to cry, but her tear ducts were just as worthless as her legs.

Her brain cried out.  It could see the end coming.  She could feel the world slip away.  Her mind was getting cloudy, her thoughts merging together.  She couldn't remember the before time anymore.  She couldn't remember that she had once existed outside of the window.

Aren't I pretty? She thought to herself. NO! A part of her screamed out, but there were no other parts left to listen.  As the final strands of her brain ceased functioning, she was on top of the world, in total bliss. She didn't notice the man get up from the bench and walk toward her and the store.  She never noticed the world going black in front of her.  As simply as she had been frozen, she ceased to exist.  Her consciousness was gone.

Katie Ann felt a shake on her shoulder.  She tried to ignore it.  She was tired and needed some sleep.  Suddenly her mind shot to life and she opened her eyes.  She looked around the room and saw the man standing over her.  She looked up at him.

"Hi Honey!” she said lovingly to her husband.

"I was worried about you", he spoke to her, as she lay on the bed in their bedroom.

"You were?"

"Yeah, you weren't coming out of it too well"

Her mind tried to recall all that had happened, and she finally recalled everything.  It hadn't been some strange man that had plunged a needle into her, trying to end her life and turn her into a mannequin.  No, it had been her loving husband of 5 years.  She remembered now what happened.  She wasn't even a living mannequin.  They had played some games in the past, but she was no model.  They had decided to try out their games on the next level.  She came up with the idea of posing in a store, and they had tried it a few times.  He came up with the idea of a chemical that could turn her into a mannequin temporarily.  She had loved the idea, and couldn't wait to try it out.

They had worked with his sister, who owned the store she was posed in.  The drug would leave her posed and helpless for a week.  They had no idea it would cause her to lose her mind, but that wasn't a big deal.  She was glad to be back to her old self.  She had feared being a mannequin forever during those last few conscious moments in the window.

"Did you enjoy your stay?" he asked her.

"Yes, very much, and I can't wait to do it again", she confessed.  She wrapped her arms around him tightly and hugged him.

-Dosman!
December 16, 2000