(Man inflated, Man turned into a rug)



I didn’t know where I was or how I got here. The last thing I remembered I was in my bed about to fall asleep and now I was here, still in my pajamas. My first thought was I was dreaming but it seemed too vivid so my next thought was that I had been sleep walking. Though the problem with that theory is I didn’t have a history of sleepwalking. Not only that but the season and time of day seemed off, as if I had been transported onto the other side of the world. I didn’t know how to make sense of this and anything on me to help either. There was a door in front of me partly open as if it were inviting me in.



With nowhere else to go, I decided to walk towards the door in hopes of finding someone to help. Before I ended the door I noticed the strange doormat, it had a face and was flesh coloured. I brushed it off as a novelty doormat with someone who had strange tastes. So I stepped over it and entered the house. The hairs on the back of my neck rose up as I felt a sense of dread, like I shouldn’t be here but before I could leave, the door shut behind me and locked itself. I wanted to turn back but something was compelling me forward.



Walking further inside I saw a poster of a person hung on the wall. Their eyes seemed to follow me. I also spotted a yoga ball, which like the doormat had a human face and was flesh coloured. On a nearby shelf I spotted a naked statue which was broken in a particularly unfortunate area. My heart raced as somehow I knew these object used to be people but in my mind I kept saying that it was impossible.



I continued to walk further into the house and entered the living room, that’s when I knew my fate was sealed. I saw a woman with long brown hair and tanned skin. She was wearing a white shirt that exposed her collarbone and denim shorts. She was admiring a ring on her pinkie finger and adjusting her necklace when she saw me in the doorway.



“Right on time,” she gave me a smile and snapped her fingers.



I couldn’t breathe as I felt a large gust of air entering my nostrils and mouth. My lungs began to expand to the point I thought they were going to explode. Instead, I felt them grow larger pushing against my bones and organs, squishing them until I was completely hollowed out. It didn’t stop there though my skin began to stretch and grow, tearing my clothes off in the process until I looked like a blimp.



The woman happy with her work waved her hand again and I felt a large plastic plug in my mouth. It stopped the air from rushing in but it felt awkward. I stood there feeling light as a feather but unable to move without any bones or muscles. A simple breeze would send me rolling at this point. The woman raised her hands again and this time clapped them together, the plug in my mouth opened as all the air in my body escaped through the hole. My whole body, except for my head was now stretched out and completely flat, causing it to collapse in on itself.



I laid in that position for a few seconds before I felt my body being picked up by the shoulders and dragged across the floor. My head rested against the floorboards as the rest of my body was straightened out. I felt my left arm being picked up and angled outwards, then my right arm. Both my legs were stretched out on an angle with my deflated heels now resting over my ankles. I felt rather exposed in this position.



Finally I felt a hand grab my hair and tilt my head back until my chin rested on the floor, giving me the ability to see more than just the floor or my own skin. Though even in this position I couldn’t see much. I could only see up to the woman’s shins and behind her I could only see the bottom of the TV unit and the dusty floor beneath. I tried to speak, wanting to ask the woman how and why she did this, and beg her to change me back, but with no air in my body and a hollowed out neck leaving me without a voice box I couldn’t. All I could do was look forward, slightly upwards and a little to the side.



I watched the feet raise up out of my field of vision before I felt them standing on my bare back. I heard her sit down as she turned on the TV. I could still hear it and see its light on the ground but I couldn’t watch it. I was now a human shaped rug on the living room floor and all I could wonder was who this woman was and if I would be stuck like this forever.