“Come check this out, Alex!” Amy shouted to her sister.

“You’re not going to have any money left if you spend it all on this stuff,” Alex replied.

Amy and Alex were identical twin sisters who were attending the anime convention that was happening over the weekend. They looked like exact copies of each other in appearance. However, Amy had a much more outgoing personality as opposed to Alex, who was more introverted and uncomfortable in large crowds. Nonetheless, the two shared similar interests and this convention was something they had both been looking forward to for a while. They had decided to cosplay as Ram and Rem and had a lot of fun putting together the costumes and were quite pleased with the results. The friends they had gone there with joked that Amy’s pink wig and Alex’s blue one made it possible to tell them apart for once.

After a fun first day of the convention, the twins were heading back to their hotel room. Amy’s arms were filled with various souvenirs : keychains, posters, mangas, and a few plushies.  Alex stared at her sister’s collection with an amused look on her face.

“You must have burned through all the cash you brought with you,” Alex remarked.

“Yeah well, this convention is only once a year so it’s not like I’ll be blowing every weekend on this.” Amy replied.

As they walked into the hotel hallway a young man with a camera around his neck and a large book under his should walked past them. Alex immediately got the feeling that he was watching them. She hated being stared at and did feel somewhat self-conscious in her costume.

“Those are some well-done costumes!” the guy said, turning around to face them.  

“Thanks,” Amy replied.

Alex, eager to get back to the room, kept walking for a few steps but was forced to wait when her sister stuck around to chat. She really didn’t feel like conversing with random people in the hallway.

“Anyway, would you mind if I got a picture of you two? I’m putting together an album of the best costumes I’ve seen. I’ll be sure to get you a copy,” the guy suggested.

“Thanks, but I’m feeling pretty tired, we should probably get back to the room,” Alex suggested.

“Oh, come on, we should have a picture of us together that isn’t taken with a crappy phone camera,” Amy retorted.

“But…” Alex began, but Amy insisted. “Come on, it’ll only take a second.”

“Ok fine,” Alex relented. “We spent a lot of time on these outfits so it would be nice to get a good picture of us together in them.”

Amy set down her souvenirs and the sisters walked across the hall and struck a pose as if they were welcoming someone to the mansion.  The guy raised the camera to his face and snapped the picture.

A bright flash of blue light erupted from the camera and Amy felt as if her body had seized up. She tried to relax her arm but it would not move from its outstretched position. Then, she saw her sister and she would have screamed if she were still able. Alex’s face and clothes had begun to gloss over giving them the appearance of being made of plastic Amy watched in silent horror as her sister slowly went from looking human to looking as if she were a life-sized plastic doll. In the corner of her vision, she saw her own arm take on the same plastic appearance as her sister and realized that the same thing was happening to her.

She frantically tried to call out for help but it was no use, she could neither move nor speak. It was as if she had become a statue. The transformation covered Alex’s entire body and she no longer resembled a living person at all, she looked like a life-sized version of the collectible figures they had seen at the merchandise stands and Amy had no reason to believe her appearance was any different. The ordeal wasn’t over however; as Alex’s plastic form began to shrink and the fact that Amy’s eye level seemed to be lowering with her told her that she was shrinking too.

The shrinking then stopped leaving the sisters standing just a few inches tall. At the very bottom of her locked field of vision Amy saw what appear to be the edges of a circular base form under Alex’s feet. They were being turned into figurines!  Amy couldn’t believe this was happening but the horrifying evidence was right in front of her. Had the guy’s camera done this somehow? That seemed likely given that this had happened right after he had snapped the picture. She was unable to look away from her sister starring lifelessly back at her. Amy wondered if Alex was still awake in there or not, unsure of which possibility was worse. Would they be stuck like this permanently? Amy’s fear was mixed with a terrible guilt; if she had listened to Alex and went right back to the room with her they wouldn’t be in this mess. Now they were stuck silently staring at each other but unable to communicate with each other.

The guy walked over and picked up the transformed sisters. Looking the over and beaming with satisfaction, he began making his way back to his room carrying them with him.