Real as plastic (A Short Story)

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Though after weeks and weeks of partying, Mikey would grow to hate it and be numb to any kind of fun. "Mikey we should go to the movies!" Mikey looked in disgust at the plastic person. "Where would we go, nobody is operating the movies anymore and as well we need to clean this college up. It's a mess!" The doll looked emptily into Mikey's eyes, almost as if it remembered something. Some parts of Mikey wish he never did what he did. Some parts of him deeply resented the chip and the power it held.

"Do you not understand, I am telling you in so many words I want you out of my presence?!" The doll stared at the chip under Mikey's arm. "Ooh what's this?" The doll took Mikey's arm in a forceful fashion. Digging her sharp plastic fingers into Mikey's arm to get the chip out. Mikey tried to pull her off his arm, but she wouldn't let go. "Let me go!" The doll immediately let go of Mikey's arm. Now Mikey really wished he could get rid of the chip.

Then in a swift motion the plastic girl snatched Mikey's arm again digging her fingers in the same place she did before. "Let go!!" She didn't let go though. The more they struggled with each other, the more he resented the chip. As she dug her fingers deeper into his arm, he realized something. He realized he had to stop thinking and he did. After he stopped thinking. She stopped digging.

Mikey was relieved, but then an image of Thadius popped up in his mind. The feelings of anger, regret and disdain returned to him. "This was all Thadius' fault, if he hadn't been in my life or even existed. Everyone would still like me and still be my friends." The doll looked up at Mikey. "But Mikey, if they're not your friends now, they never were and plus you don't need to pretend to be anything for anybody. I love you and we all love you. ''

Mikey looked down on the ground and was perplexed to hear this wise and smart thing come from her mouth. Although she helped him cool down a little. Still deep down, he had feelings of resentment to Thadius and maybe even jealousy. When Mikey put his head up to acknowledge the advice she gave him, she was gone.

An eerie feeling began to creep up on him as he realized the huge mistake he just made. Mikey ran out the room and flew down a flight of stairs, in hopes he could stop it before it happened, but when he came upon a pile of shattered remains. He knew he was too late. It was the remains of Thadius. "See Mikey, we got the bad man." Mikey looked from Thadius' remains to the plastic people. All he could see was their shattered bodies on the ground and that's what he did. He got a hammer that was lying randomly on the ground and swung at them watching their bodies fall and shatter as he screamed "You murdered him!"

Mikey was finally letting out his anger and it felt good. It felt good that he was taking control for once without the use of the chip. Although, as Mikey destroyed each plastic in the room, he felt remorse. Simply because he dragged everyone into this mess and was now taking the anger he let lie dormant in himself be unleashed on those who didn't deserve it. In some ways he wanted to just think about the fun and control, just so he wouldn't have to feel guilty about what he did constantly. As Mikey shattered the last plastic person. He was oblivious to the fact, another group of plastic people were watching him. Watching him almost as if they had a plan.

As Mikey walked from the room, he couldn't understand why the people were so fragile, but the dolls weren't. As Mikey walked by the group, the group of plastics grabbed him by the wrist and made him follow them into a big room. As Mikey walked, he hoped they weren't going to kill him for destroying the others. As they approached the room. Mikey saw a cake on a table in the middle of the room with his name on it. The plastics let go of his wrist and told him to sit down and have a bite of the cake.

"You guys, it's not my birthday." Mikey said as he sat down. "We know, we just wanted to celebrate you and all you have done." Then a feeling of guilt hit Mikey's chest. He hadn't done anything for them but used them. "We just want to thank you. For giving us a sense of purpose. You made us feel important. When before nobody really saw us." The doll girl said, who looked very familiar to Mikey.

Then it hit him, it was Shelly Founder, a theater major. He had to admit, she truly knew how to put on an act. Mikey felt touched by her words, but something was gnawing at the back of his head.

Something he couldn't put his finger on, but then he realized something really was. When he touched his head, he felt one of the dolls. He brought the doll to his eye view. "I thought all of you died." The doll was thrashing in his hand and then it bit Mikey on the finger. "OUCH!" Mikey dropped the doll and it landed on the cake. The doll started smashing the cake. "What are you doing, that's Mikey's cake!!" The plastics grew angry and had an expression that Mikey never saw on their faces before.

The doll kept smashing the cake, until one of the plastics got the hammer Mikey used and smashed it on top of the doll. The plastic kept smashing the doll almost as if it had pent up anger that needed to come out. The plastic stopped smashing and looked at Mikey. "There...all better." As Mikey processed what happened, another plastic emerged with a slice of cake. "Thank goodness we made two cakes." The plastic set it in front of Mikey. "I don't think I want the cake anymore guys." The plastics looked emptily into Mikey's eyes. The looks they gave him made him shiver. "You guys I am sure it's good, it's just that a doll got smashed in my first cake and that was pretty traumatizing. So I kind of lost my appetite from that."

The plastics still stared at him. In order to get a response from them, he just decided he was going to take a bite. One small bite. "Okay fine." The plastics clapped their hands and watched as Mikey put the cake on his spoon and put it in his mouth.

The cake actually tasted good and as he swallowed it, he realized something about the smell of it was familiar. Then he heard it, he heard the cracks of plastic. The cracks of his own skin. "We only want to help you Mikey, we want you to have as much fun as we do, you even said it yourself. You didn't want to feel guilt anymore and now you won't have to..."

Mikey watched as the plastics took away his cake slice and watched in silence as his skin turned. It was a painful process. Not only did he feel his skin changing, but his brain as well. It was like his brain was becoming numb to him and putting on a whole new personality.

He was no longer Mikey anymore, he was becoming someone else. How could his life end like this, the signs were there. If only he would have taken heed. If only he didn't take the short way out. If only he chose to love himself and those around him. If only he would have lived life with resilience. Though it was too late now. All these years he victimized himself and Thadius was right. Not only did he ruin his life, but he ruined the lives of others. He made his issues everyone else's. Never thinking about what load they possibly had themselves. Now he was becoming the very monster that he thought would give him freedom. He would be just like the plastics with no direction. He was already lost before all this happened, but now he was going to be even more.

At the last stage of his transformation. A huge fake smile splayed on his face. Now he understood what he made others feel all the time. Constantly making them act in ways they didn't really feel to make him happy. He never once tried to make anyone happy and even with the control he did have. He was still angry and miserable and the very thing that gave him power and control. Took control of him. As his own mind faded, all he could think about was his past mistakes. Then when he thought it was the end, he heard a voice that said pride comes before the fall and then he felt nothing. He wasn't anybody anymore, he looked just like the other plastics and all that he built up to be, went away with his own destruction.

The End