Almost as if absorbing the mannequin’s own mystic glow, Shaye began to feel the ability of motionless consume her. It started from the tips of her fingers and gradually crept its way up her raised arms, stealing its way onto her face. Her frozen smile beamed, indulging in the feeling of the symmetry of her body. Shaye loved it. She basked in the glory of this peaceful stillness. As the sun sunk below the horizon line, casting a deep red flare throughout the room, Shaye snapped out of her euphoric high and realized that the department store was still deserted. Her mother was nowhere to be found. She tried to step off of the platform but realized that she couldn’t feel her legs at all. She tried to move her arms but they wouldn’t budge from their position. She panicked and realized that she could only stare straight ahead, continuously smiling a beautiful and vibrant smile. Footsteps echoed, gradually approaching her and she felt relief wash over her.
Shaye’s mother stood before her, beaming. She was looking up at Shaye with a joyous rapture that ignited a flare of love in her eyes. An expression that Shaye hadn’t seen in years.
“You look perfect, Shaye.” Her mother breathed.
Shaye felt an incredible wave of joy overwhelm her, as if a final wave of success had come washing over her. She truly was a breathtaking thing, standing on the platform in model stillness, a piece of art to be gazed upon in adoration and wonder. Finally, the numbness that had held her limbs and soothed the pain in her ankle had reached into the depths of her heart and she became completely static. As her mother walked away, smiling with a sigh of acceptance, Shaye continued to stand poised and motionless, her vision beginning to dim as the horizon’s shades of red faded into grey hues of dusk and midnight fell upon the department store windows