Once Upon a Story [ INCONSISTENT UPDATES ]

The Sculptor II

❝ 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘸 ❞

Word count: 1763

— 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭 ⚒️ ❞

My world was a sensory mess. My nose burned with every breath, my eyes stung under room lights, and my hands hardly withstood the sensation of most chairs and tables. All the sounds around me, the birds and cars, the forklift on the construction site near my apartment, were headache-inducing.

Living set my head on fire.

When it became too much, the scents and sounds, things I felt...I pushed them out. Numb. It was peaceful, so I stayed that way. But I couldn't create; I couldn't live anymore. All the dreams and projects I had, I locked away. With time, I forgot them entirely.

All the overwhelming moments had passed.

But when summer came, she appeared. A girl wearing too much for the inferno outside and the equally humid workshop. She always had a thick cardigan that seemed to swallow her whole and an equally draggy skirt. Even when sweat speckled her brow, she refused to take any layers off. The mere thought of her situation made my skin itch with discomfort. I couldn't imagine the layer of sweat that stuck to her skin or how she bore it throughout the day.

Despite my body's clear physical repulsion towards her, something about her piqued my interest. I broke her apart in my mind, trying to piece her back together in a way I could process. But each time, I bore no result. Still, I didn't give up. I couldn't. Each time I sat at my station, sponge and water ready, I dreamed of her. It was odd. Her eyes never sparkled, even when she received praise among her peers. She rarely smiled, maybe faintly smirked here and there. Everything about her was bland and unappealing.

She was someone you could easily forget. And yet...I could never seem to be part of that group.

She was now an inseparable part of me.

"I'd like to sculpt you."

"Pardon?"

"I'd like to sculpt you for our final assignment," she specified.

In my shock, I had accepted. Intrigued, I asked the same in return. She thought it was fair, and we each began planning our masterpiece. With each meet-up, I found myself more entranced with her.

She didn't appear as bland as before.

When she was there, a subtle scent of lavender and honey followed. She said it was her shampoo, but it never came from her hair. Her hair smelled of rosemary, sometimes like sweet coconut. Some days, I approached her, excusing myself to get a better look at her features. Almond-shaped eyes, deep brown with a forest green ring around the pupil, and long straight lashes. Her brows were strong, bordering an unibrow from the sparse hairs between them.