Rubber skeleton

My friends all called me crazy
They laughed at first
I held its hand and felt the anatomy of of its fingers crossed with mine
I laughed along

We were in science class
It was empty then, but we were in the room
But I hadn't felt empty
I felt someone holding my hand back
I felt warmth where there was none
I felt someone where there was none

I couldn't stop thinking of it that night
That doll, that mannequin
With its fake rubber bones
And big, empty eye sockets
I wondered who it was that they might have modeled the skeleton after
Were they handsome? Tall? Short? Skinny? Large?
Would I ever know?
Would the answer ever be good enough?

When I was back in the class 2 days later, I have science every other day
The skeleton wasn't there
Some other class had borrowed it, I was told
I tried to keep it hidden but I felt genuine disappointment for the first time in a while

That was a thursday. I woke up on friday and didn't want to get out of bed
I didn't want to go to school knowing it wouldn't be there
The weekend passed
I barely slept
I forgot everything else
I just kept hoping
To a point praying it would be there

So monday came around and with it the end of the year prom was announced
And I saw every person in the room find a friend to go with
My friends chose each other
My other friend chose their partner
But all I could see through the commotion around me
Was the mannequin standing lonely in the front
It was looking at all of us
Not at me, nor the tall olive skin girl behind me, or the pale ginger haired boy two seats over
It just saw a group
A close one
A pack

Believe it or not it took some courage to walk up to it
For embarrassment yes
But also out of fear
Not like it'd say no regardless, though
It didn't have many options

At first there was silence, it didn't say anything
But before I could process it I realized
The silence had spread to the classroom
The air sat still for a split second
Similarly, before I could realize it, my classmates errupted in laughter

They thought it was one big bit
I caught a half glimpse of my friends
They weren't laughing

I was asked to go to my desk
I slathered a thin layer of pride on my face and walked shamefully back
They couldn't see my smile shook

On prom night, I got dressed
I wore a suit
I struggled with the tie
I buttoned up very slowly as to not crease the suit
I didn't fit
It didn't fit
Although the size was fine
My body stuck out at irregular intervals
But it would be fine
It's not like it could say no
It didn't have many options

My mom asked me who my date was and I responded that it was a secret
She laughed
I didn't
She didn't notice
She complimented me and drove me there

When I got there the school was packed
It was full of teens
Confident ones
Awkward ones
First date ones
Hoping for a first kiss ones
But I didn't care
They weren't my date

I walked into science and the teacher was there
She made a joke about the skeleton
I didn't laugh
She didn't notice
She left the classroom and we were alone for the first time
Strangely enough I was nervous
But I reminded myself I would be fine
It didn't matter what happened
It didn't matter what I did
It didn't have many options

For a while I stood
I looked
It looked back
For a while we stood
I convinced myself enough and grabbed its hand
For another while we danced to the faint sound of music from the gym
And no one saw us

Two couples did walk in
At least one, I could tell, were hoping for a first kiss
The other were very nervous
Others probably saw me to my madness and walked past

I gathered enough courage to take it to the gym
It should've been lighter than I originally imagined, but the looks from other people weighed it down

I got to the gym and I set it down
From being set down suddenly it swayed and spun
Its arms swung in circles
I stopped it and set it down
Amidst the flashing green, pink, black, white
I saw it
And it had a face
Not a scary face
Not a dead or cold face
But a face
A human face

I heard a few girls giggle when they danced by
I had decided to stand in the one place near the door while they circled the middle
A few guys pushed me and toyed
They all laughed
I didn't
They didn't notice

I caught a half glimpse of my friends
They weren't laughing

I spun it several times over the night
It spun me too several times over the night

After the night was done and the day had finished, I returned the skeleton to the science class
I waited for my mom to pick me up, and didn't dare look back
In the car I told my mom the night was fine
And I watched the window as the school fell back behind us
And I knew
I would never get to see it again
But I hoped it would come back
Although I learned
It may not have many options
But I am still one of them

The end

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A/N

Had the idea of writing this one from a intagram reel I saw. I thought it'd work well in short story format. To be clear, the video was just someone filming themselves holding an anatomy doll's hand. Everything else was me.

I liked this one because it's more or less open to interpretation. Is the skeleton a stand in for someone who also has social issues? Or is it someone who our MC sees no depth to? Is it maybe that he's asexual, and doesn't want to go with anyone else? Is the story touching on hopeless romantics, and how we can find ways to express ourselves when no one else fits us?

I did have a set path in mind. It's not like I didn't have an idea of how to end it so I chose to make it open. No, that was always the intetion.

If you have any ideas of what the ending could mean, feel free to comment. I wanna know how you related to this story. What about it?

Thanks for reading!! :>