Troy was a small, slender man, even standing a few inches shorter than Kelsea herself. He wore a sharp gray suit that matched his sharp grey hair. Kelsea played with her fingers, sitting hunched over like a school kid in trouble with the principal.

Her costume, with it’s leather boots, leather skirt, and leather corset  that made her feel so empowered before now made her feel ridiculous. She pushed her black hair out of her face.

“So, um. You caught me.” She said, her voice small. She didn’t look at Troy, who had his fingers steepled as he looked at the woman, “Can I go now?”

“No, of course not. You are property of the MacMillian Convention Center.” Troy’s words were calm, measured, and they caused Kelsea’s head to snap up.

“What?”

Troy pulled out a sheet that Kelsea vaguely remembered. It was a paper that her friend had signed when he dropped her off by the loading bay. “'It says so right here: any booth decorations. . . . that's you . . . are the property of the convention center until released with the express permission of the convention center”

“But I'm a  human! I'm not a stage prop!”

“I have a signed note here that says you were signed in as a booth decoration, and you pretended to be a booth decoration for several days in my convention center.”

“Because I was trying to save money, I lost my ticket. You caught me, it's fine, I'll just go.”

“No,” Troy said firmly, “you were too good at your job. Too good being a perfect object and decoration, and I am disinclined to release you from being my property.”

Kelsea stammered ,”But you can't just own someone, you sicko. I'm a person, I have rights, good bye.” Her heart pounding, she stood up and turned to leave the small office.

Troy pushed a button on his office intercom. “Bruno, would you introduce my mannequin to her stand?”

“Bruno, Bruno? Who name anyone 'Bruno-oh my God he's a gorilla,” Kelsea backed up as she saw the man who had over a foot and a hundred pounds on her, who reached out with a pair of giant fists, wrapping them around her middle. “Put me down!" She kicked and screamed, but Bruno didn’t seem to react.

“Just place her on the stand. Gently, we don't want to break her. She will be worth so much less if she's broken”

“Break me'? what the hell are you talking about, put me down. I am so sueing for this.”

“I'm sorry, but objects can't sue their owners.” Troy said, “Now, Bruno, do you see that implant chip. I want you to, very carefully, push that into her neck”

Kelsea, pinned to the stand, tried in vain to hold back the large man as he lowered the chip to her neck. But she can’t stop the man, and Bruno pushed the flesh colored chip into her neck. She heard a sudden snap when it made contact.

“'Now then, she'll be a little more pliable and easier to control, even if she resists.”

Kelsea’s eyes go large as a strange feeling sweeps over her body. She feels somehow disconnected from her body. Try as she might, she can't move anything other than her eyes.

“You see, my mannequin, you won't loose your thoughts, but your body will obey my commands”

The mannequin’s eyes manage to go wider as they flip back and forth, the woman inside the rapidly changing body clearly panicking.

"What are you doing to me?" Kelsea managed to ask, but already her words come out slow and slurred.

“Keep an eye on her, Bruno. We must give the chip time to work. You insisted that you were a human. I have simply made it so that will no longer be the case.”

Kelsea tried clumsily to remove herself from the stand, only to be stopped by the large bodyguard who pushed her back on it. "You . . . can't do . . . this. . . to me." she said, her mouth starting to ignore her commands, her hands hanging limply on her arms.

“Why not? Why can't I do to my property as I wish? If You give me a very good answer, I may just let you have some freedoms while you earn me money.”

“I’m not . . . yourh. probobmmph!" she said as her mouth stops moving. She tries to slap Bruno away, as he stopped her from getting out of the stand once again. Her entire body felt disconnected from her now.

"Oh, too bad. I would have given you your own space, but now I think I'll have Bruno take you to the storage rooms. The rooms where I keep my banners, chairs, tables, and other bits of decoration. Because that's what you are now. You are a perfect and beautiful decoration for my convention center”

The mannequin's body was still flesh and blood, but is began change into a supple and soft plastic. It was not under her control, and she remains motionless on the stand, only her eyes flickering.

“Bruno, watch this,” Troy said while turning to Kelsea, “Mannequin, put your left hand on your hip.”

The mannequin’s eyes darted to the left as her hand reached up, placing itself on her hip and then freezing. Try as she might she couldn’t get her hand to move or even respond.

"Hmmm. Your eyes moving like that might attract a little too much attention. Mannequin, would you tilt your head slightly so you can see the door. And stop moving you eyes." The mannequin had enough time to look at Troy, her eyes pleading before her head snapped to the door and froze in place, her eyes no longer moving.

"Tell me, my mannequin, what do you think? What do you think of being a decoration for my halls? For whomever rents you out for the weekend? At the lovely costumes you'll be forced to wear?"

Kelsea suddenly found her mouth back under her control "Please don’t do this! I don’t want to be a mannequin! I'm sorry and I'll never tell anyone about this, just let me go"

Troy leaned back in his chair, arm up to his chin while though. "Answer me this, my Mannequin, what did you think during those days you pretended to be a booth decoration? Did it excite you? And know this, you can't lie to me"

“Being a mannequin on display was slightly arousing,” she said in a monotone voice, as she tried to stop her mouth from moving. “I enjoyed having people see me in the beautiful costumes.” Still in her frozen state,  the mannequin  can’t even look at Troy as her face turned red from embarrassment

"Of course you did. And now I'm just giving you that feeling for . . . well, let's just say a very long time.” Troy turned to his bouncer, "Bruno, would you step outside, and tell Jessica to step come in?" The giant man nodded, and Kelsea’s eyes seemed to flash in relief. "Jessica, my Mannequin, is my director of sales. She sets the prices for booths and rentals and such."

The mannequin’s eyes couldn’t even react as she heard him say rentals. She mentally sreamed. Like I can be rented?

"You're going to be our newest product. How does that make you feel?"

“Terrified and slightly aroused at the same time,” Kelsea said, mentally slapping herself for saying  the second part of that.

"Wonderful,” Troy said as Jessica, a middle aged woman, stepped inside the office. She saw the mannequin and her eyebrow arched up. "Jessica, I think we should add this mannequin to our rental services. How much do you think we could get for it?"

"Oh. For a mannequin of this quality?” Jessica appraised the now plastic object, looking her over, never realizing that the object in front of her used to be human. “Fifty a day, easily. Where did you get it?"

Fifty? Fifty bucks a day? I am so worth more than that! And come on you can't see i'm a human? when have you ever seen a mannequin with this much detail?, Kelsea mentally screamed, willing her mouth to move.

"Can you believe that a convention goer just left it here?" Troy said, a small smirk on his face.

My god does this guy just lie through his teeth all day?, the mannequin thought.

Jessica looked back at Troy, "I'll add it to our information sheets. The quality of the design really is superb."

Oh, she thinks I look good, well that is a plus then. The mannequin tried again, in vain, to get her body to move, but even the smallest twitch was beyond her ability.

Troy smiled more, knowing what his mannequin felt when it’s on display. Moreoever, he was proud of the way he made the woman his property. "It's made of a smart plastic, you see, Jessica, and has a complex voice recognition system. Watch: Mannequin, look at Jessica"

Kelsea’s head turned to look at Jessica, her face still devoid of any emotion or thought, despite the panicking woman inside

"Mannequin, would you smile? You look too dour for such a beautiful decoration"

Kelsea’s mouth pulled up into a smile, plastic teeth showing from between parted lips.

"She's . . . it's a very pretty mannequin.” Jessica says, awed by the beautiful leather clad mannequin. “I think we can increase her rental price to $100 per day for access to it's vocal recognition software."

"A splendid idea."

I'm not a software, I’m not a damned robot, the mannequin thought with some indignation, at least 100 sounds more reasonable.

“Add it to our sales sheet, then for the next available convention. But I think this weekend coming up , we'll just put it on display to drum up advertising"

Advertizing for what? what are you doing with me?

Jessica nodded to Troy, took another glance at the mannequin, and then left the office.

Please come back you seemed nice.

"See?” Troy said to Kelsea, “even Jessica knows you're just a mannequin, and we can rent you out to be displayed whenever we like. It didn't even cross her mind that you used to be a human. What do you think about that, my Mannequin?"

"I feel embarrassed and mortified and oddly aroused by the fact I am worth 100 dollars a day.”

"Well, your price could always go up. You never know when you have a brand new piece of property.”

"What do you mean?” The mannequin’s voice lacked a human quality, always sounding a little flat and emotionless.

"I'm not in the mannequin rental business. I don't know the prices that a mannequin of your quality and features would go for. Hmm. There's an idea. We could rent you out to a store for a week, to model the new fashions. Or a toy store to decorate the windows. What do you think of that?"

Kelsea was unable to stop herself from saying, "I find the idea of that humiliating which is very erotic.”

"So, would you say, that in the end, you will enjoy being my property?"

The mannequin growled mentally as her mouth automatically responds on it's own. "Yes"

"To be put on display and looked at?"

Yes.”

"And dressed up however someone else chooses?"

That is all a mannequin can do.”

“And that's all you are now. A mannequin. Don't you agree?"

“Yes, I am now a mannequin.” With each passing answer, Kelsea felt like she lost a little more of herself. God I am a mannequin, aren't I? This is the rest of my life, just smiling and posing, and I'm never going to be normal again.

"So, what would you feel when I tell Bruno to put you in the storage closet, where I keep the decorations for the convention center. Like any other piece of property?"

“That that is where a mannequin should be stored.” The mannequin's voice kept that detached cadence, as it spoke, “and unhappy as no one will see me in the closet.”

No, stop saying that i'm not really  damn piece of plastic . . . except I am, but not really, Kelsea argued with herself.

“Now don't you feel a bit silly for insisting that you weren't my property?"

“No, as I was not, I was not a mannequin before, I am now.”

I am a mannequin now.

"Yes. You are a mannequin now, and I have no intention of ever letting you be human again.” Troy waved his hand in his mannequin’s direction, “One day, I suppose, you'll be sold outright instead of rented to another convention center, or a store. And then no one who ever sees you will ever know that you were anything but a mannequin.”

The mannequin mentally stammered, not quite able to grasp what her owner said.

“Or did you think I would turn you back one day?"

“Yes, after I had 'learned a lesson' or something.”

"What lesson? To not pretend to be property?"

“To not try to cheat you out of money. This mannequin assumed it would pay off the debt for the ticket, and then be released.”

Troy chuckled and got up to come closer to his mannequin, "My dear, a ticket costs me nothing. You will bring in so much money to this convention center. And, this mannequin? So you accept it? Accept that you are just a decoration."

Kelsea tried to force her mouth not to move, not to reveal the truth. But she couldn’t resist her owner’s question. “Yes I am just a mannequin now.”

"Knowing the truth: knowing that you enjoy the thrill of being an object. And knowing that you will be an object for a very long time, I want you to imagine twenty years into the future.” Troy kept his predatory, steady walk around his property as he spoke, "You would have been a mannequin for two decades. Do you think after all that time, you would still want to be human? Or would you perfer to be my property?"

“No, I would want to stay a mannequin, everything I know would be gone. I only want to be dressed up and have others look at me or to be turned into different objects to be better at my task.”

"I have one last question, before I have Bruno come back in and take you to your storage closet. If someone were to ask you, such as a con goer, or the booth owner who rented you, if you had once been human, what would you tell them?"

"I would tell them yes.” Kelsea’s voice was simple and matter-of-fact.

"You are only obliged to tell me the truth.”

“I would tell them yes in the hopes they might find help to save me.”

"Save you from what? From being an object? Don't you enjoy being a decoration?"

“I do, but he possibility for escape still exists.” Horror shot through the mannequin's plastic mind, No no no, shut up shut up! she thought to herself, hoping Troy would let her slip up go. But he didn’t.

"Oh? How do you imagine you might escape?"

“By having them warn the authorities, and to remove the chip.”

"I see. But I think I have a solution to that problem, because I never want you to escape. I want you to be my property until I say otherwise." Troy said, walking forward and pulling the flesh colored chip from the back of her neck. It releases with a snap. "What do you think will happen now?"

“I will return to human.” Kelsea said, and for the first time in seeming hours, hope entered her voice. The mannequin waited with baited breath for the changes to reverse.

"Oh, do you really think I would remove this chip if I knew it would return you to being a human? When I like you so much better as my property?"

But . . . but . .  the mannequin stammered, her voice trapped inside her plastic form.

“This chip is merely a converter. A one time use one at that. It changed you into what you are now, and what you will be forever.” Troy grinned a shark grin, You're trapped in your plastic body now, my mannequin to be rented and admired."

No please, there has to be some way.

"See, the thing is, it's much easier to go from flesh to plastic, than the other way around. Complex to simple and all that"

Wait so there is NO way back?

“There is no way for you to be human again."

The mannequin’s mind blanks out, unable to comprehend what it owner had just told it, and would only respond once he asked his next question.

"Now, if you were asked about being human, what would you say?"

“No I am not a human,” she said, her mouth moving automatically and without thought.

“Do you enjoy being my property. My mannequin?":

“Yes, I am a mannequin.”

"That wasn't the question.” Troy’s voice goes hard and he glares at his beautiful piece of property.

The mannequin babbled a bit, totally broken down. Yes I enjoy being your property, she thinks.

"Say it out loud."

“Yes, I enjoy beign your property.”

"That will be all for now, my mannequin. I think it's time you go to your storage closet. Unless you have a question or concern for me?”

“No.”

Troy nodded and walked back to his desk. He pushed the button on his intercom and said, "Bruno, would you take my mannequin to the east storage closet?"

His mannequin blankly stared head, her owner’s words not mattering, knowing she's stuck this way forever.  Bruno came up to her, and she barely noticed. He wraped his burly arms around her waist, easily lifting the object off its stand, and began to carry you out of the office. Just like he would with any other mannequin. The mannequin remained stiff as she was lifted, her arms and legs holding their pose. She barely takes notice of the hallway scenery as she passes it.

Then she heard her owner’s voice again, "Oh, Bruno, wait just a moment. Set my mannequin down" The big man complied, and made sure the mannequin faced her owner. "I have one more question for my property."

“Yes?”

"If you could go back, to before you were signed into my convention center and before you became my property. Would you decide not to pretend to be a mannequin, or would you go through with it, knowing what would happen to you?” Troy’s shark smile appeared on his face, “If you had the chance, would you do it again?"

“Yes,” No!

Troy’s shark smile grew two sizes when he heard his mannequin’s answer.  "You can take it away, Bruno, and leave it to it's thoughts,"

Bruno once again picked the mannequin up, and it thought about what it had just told its owner while Bruno carried it away. It begged one last time as it was carried to the closet to begin its new life as a mannequin. But there is no one to hear its thoughts now. No way to escape its new life. Bruno set the mannequin down, and it wobbled slightly, not quite balanced. There are tables, chairs, and other objects around it.

Oh my god, this is my home, a storage closet, no one can even see me. What will I be first, I hope its sexy. I hope people look at me, I am a mannequin after all.

The mannequin saw a banner nearby, printed and ready for the next con; fantasy convention for TV and books.

Ooh I recognize a few of those shows. I hope I look good, I hope people see me. The more it thought about it, the more it is pulled into that way of thinking, an inward spiral pulling it down and down until the mannequin can think of nothing but being displayed, dressed and looked at.