(Follow Up to Cut It Out)
“I will get you back for this eventually Crystal! Ugh, this is so humiliating!” I yelled from where my head peaked just over the top of the glass jar that held me in place among my fellow art utensils.
After the whole incident at my apartment where Crystal revealed that she actually had magical powers and rudely turned me into a art stencil, I have been her prisoner, stuck as a simple inanimate object for her to use for her own art projects, which might I say are derivative at best. But watching her make her uninspired art isn’t even the worst part. After using me to sketch stuff for her drawings, she routinely will ‘accidentally’ splash paint onto my gorgeous cut out body, and then let it dry on me to remind me of how truly vulnerable I am like this. Personally I don’t mind the paint drying, because it sort of feels nice, but she could at least use better quality paint. The stuff she uses is for amateurs.
Anyways, Crystal had decided early on in my ‘punishment’ that I was to stay like this for at least a month. She said that it would give me time to think about how rude I was to her for years, and hopefully make me appreciate her more, while also helping her make her own art. What sucked was that she kept the telepathic channel between her and me off, so I was left to my own thoughts as truly just another art supply.
Well, the month had ended and Crystal, as promised, turned on our telepathic channel once again so we could communicate and she could see if I had ‘grown’ as a person. She sat me down on her workbench next to an ugly drawing of a fruit basket. “Alright Steph, your one month as my art stencil is up. I’m not gonna lie I enjoyed using you for some of my art projects, but a promise is a promise. So tell me, did you learn anything from this experience?”
I was fuming at the belittling tone Crystal was using. “Oh yeah, I sure learned my lesson Crystal. I’m SO sorry for how I treated you, and being an art supply completely stripped of my humanity has really helped me gain perspective on so many things.”
Crystal raised an eyebrow, unsure if I was being completely sarcastic or not. “Oh really, that’s great to hear. What perspective did you gain?”
“Oh, well to start I learned that being human is way better than being a boring piece of paper. But also, I learned that friendship must be a two way street.”
Crystal was smiling at the revelation I made. “Finally, that is so great to hear. So now you understand how I felt when you kept mocking me?”
My fake happiness changed suddenly at Crystal statement. “Nope. Why would I? Crystal, you were saying you had MAGICAL POWERS. To a normal person like myself, that sounds insane!”
Grace wasn’t liking my new tone. “But I thought you said you were sorry and that friendship is a two way street?”
“Yeah, exactly. I’m sorry I didn’t treat you as the self centered, egotistical witch that you are. Always trying to make everything about yourself, so desperate for my approval. If I had known you were such a bitch, maybe I would’ve been prepared when you inevitably turned on me like you did. And to think I called you my best friend.”
Crystal was beside herself hearing my revelations. “Self Centered? Egotistical?!? Do you hear yourself? I rarely got to choose what we did when we hung out, not to mention barely getting a word in during our conversations.”
I mentally rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I didn’t let you talk because when you did, all you would do is talk about your stupid magic. Get over yourself. Clearly you’re not very good with your magic or else you wouldn’t be cramped up in this dingy apartment.” At this point I couldn’t help myself, and decided to unload my anger on my so called best friend who was baffled I was taking the stance I did.
“Oh my god, I can’t believe this. Even as a simple art supply, your blaming me for everything. How do you not see that being a terrible friend is what got you In This predicament?”
“Exactly, you being a bad friend is why I’m now your prisoner. I’m the real victim here.”
Crystal was clenching her paint crush extremely tight at this point, almost ready to snap it in half out of pure anger towards me.
I saw her getting angrier and angrier was upset that she didn’t see my side of things. “What, what are you gonna do to me? Turn me into some inanimate object? Newsflash, I’m already stuck as your dumb art stencil, forced to watch as you paint your subpar paintings.”
At this moment, a lightbulb went off in Crystal’s rage filled mind. “You know what, your right. I’m sorry for making you have to watch me paint my horrible paintings.”
“It’s alright. At least you acknowledge your mistakes.”
“Yep. It was rude of me to put you through that torture. But don’t worry, I know how to make it up to you.”
As I started to believe that she was going to turn me back to normal, I saw the wicked grin she had as she flicked her finger at my flat form, sending a surge of magic into my paper body. Suddenly I was floating off the workbench, engulfed in the familiar golden glow, and then suddenly I plummeted to the hard table top, once again unable to move. “Umm, Crystal why can’t I move still? I thought you had come to your senses and were turning me back.”
She scooped me up by my now cylindrical lower extremity, and stared directly in my face. “But I did come to my senses. You said it was rude to make you watch me paint, so I corrected that issue. Now you’ll have a much more hands-on experience with my painting seeing as your now a paint brush.”
She rotated me around towards a mirror on the wall so I could see my new form. I was petrified at what I saw. Instead of being a sexy stencil, Crystal had reduced me to nothing more than my head popping out of the end of a paint brush. My hair had been restyled so it resembled the bristles of a normal paint brush. “What the hell! Damnit Crystal, you twisted my words again. I swear you are the biggest piece of sh-“ once again I was cutoff before I could curse out my former friend, as she muted me and forced my face into a fake smile.
“There we go. Proper paint brushes don’t talk. Now let’s break you in on my latest art project.” Crystal said as she brought me over to an abstract piece of art she was working on, which was made up of multiple intertwining colors. “Now what color to start with… Hmm, ooh, how about red.” She proceeded to dip my hair into the small container of red paint she had, and began making small strokes across the canvas, sending frustrating pleasure through my small form. “Wow, you work amazingly well. Definitely gonna use you quite often. And don’t worry. I’m still holding out that there’s some semblance of humanity left in you, so in about 3 months I’ll check back in with you, and see if you changed your tone for the better, and if not, well, I’ll just have to find another punishment for you.”
I tried to make an upset face to show Crystal I was not ok with being humiliated and tortured this way, but the spell she used on me kept me from changing my facial expression. I knew the next 3 months would be a nightmare. I just hope she keeps using red paint with me so my gorgeous hair stays the same color.