31 Tales (Volume II) - Powers Unlocked

Little Miss Perfect

Perfection, absolute perfection she thought as she lifted her crayon. All the colours were within the lines, not a smudge outside. She placed her crayon back into the box alongside its siblings and then tore her finished masterpiece from the rest of her colouring book, making extra sure not a tear was to be seen. She ran to her Mother who was in the other room. She knocked politely but after a second with no reply she invited herself in. "Mummy look what I made" her mother shooed her off with her hand. She was in an important online meeting where she was telling her workers what they needed to do for the day. "Mummy" the little girl tugged at her mothers sleeve. Her mother was getting irritated now. "Why don't you go play with your toys?" She turned and asked as politely as she could manage. Her daughter was not impressed. "Why can't you be the perfect mum?" She stomped her feet. The mother felt hurt by these words but remained as calm as she could "please, go play with your toys I'll be out in just a few minutes ok?" She smiled down at her little girl. "I wish you would play with me all the time that would make you the perfect mum" her mother placed a hand on her daughters cheek with a sad smile and suddenly collapsed into her chair. Her employees online screamed in shock wondering what had happened to their boss. One woman was quick to grab her phone to call for an ambulance. Panicked by the screams of the adults, the little girl switched off the computer monitor.

A few short moments after she had calmed down the little girl did everything she could to wake up her mother. Feeling deflated she went back to her room to grab one of her favourite plastic dolls and then came back to sit herself on the ground by her mother's feet. "Sometimes when I'm sad mummy, when you can't play with me, I pretend that this doll right here is you. She makes a good mummy. She never tells me no and stuff" she shrugged wiping away a tear with the back of her hand. In a burst of despair she clung herself to her mother's leg. "Please wake up mummy" she cried as her mother's leg became smoother and smoother. The girl stepped back and was surprised to see that instead of her mother a giant version of her favourite doll sat in her place. The girl clapped with joy "yay, now you're perfect."

The woman couldn't do anything. Her arms were too stiff and her legs would not support her upper body. She was lighter now so it was easy for her daughter to carry her around. What a strange and horrifying sight it must have been to see a six year old girl carry her five foot four mother in her arms with the ease of lifting a spoon. She was sat before her daughter's mirror. It was a tall standing mirror, a gift made from her husband to their their daughter, before he went off to work at sea a few months ago. The frame was decorated with the prettiest ornamental butterflies in pinks and purples and all the colours the little girl liked the most. She was painting her mother's face now with her crayons. They acted as Make-up, she had never been allowed to play with real make-up, she was far too young. The woman could feel the wax gliding against her plastic lips which were forced into a smile. The crayon also dragged across her teeth. "That's not right" the little girl claimed as she tapped her mother's teeth with her finger and watched as the wax quickly erased itself, returning her unnatural plastic teeth to their former whiteness. The woman could do nothing but stare at herself in the mirror. If only she had spent more time with her daughter, if only she hadn't been too preoccupied with work and wanting her business to run smoothly and pushing herself to her work load to its optimal capacity. She had no clue her daughter was Little Miss Perfect, she must have gotten that from her. A colouring page was shoved in front of her face. "Look mummy the drawing" the mother truly was proud of the piece. The colours were exactly where they should be. If she could she would have told her little girl just how proud she was of her. An intense feeling filled he lower stomach. Did she? She she need to go to the toilet? She tried moving but nothing, she was completely still and stiff as a board. It dawned on her that she still held every organ in her body. They were just as light as a hollow doll. She screamed within her head to get herself out but she just stared at herself in the glass instead. Well, not her exactly... was this really what her daughter thought perfect looked like? Had she really raised her so badly so that she couldn't even see the natural beauty everyone held. If she ever got out of this body at least she had learned something, she needed to be present in her daughters life more and not just dump her in her room and go to work when her employees already knew what they needed to do. Isn't that what everyone else took from lockdown? Working from home was the perfect opportunity to spend more time with your family. How could she not have seen that?

BRRRINNG BRRRINNG
it was the doorbell.

BRRRINNG BRRINNG
there it went again.

The little girl stood up and skipped out of the room, down the stairs and stopped before reaching for the door handle. "Hello?" She poked her head around the door to see a paramedic smiling at her with his eyes. "We are here to see your mummy is she in?" He asked through his mask. The little girl nodded, grabbed the mans blue gloved hand and lead him up to her room. "Here she is, see she is fine" the man was surprised to see a giant doll but looked down to the girl calmly "that's a lovely doll but where is your mum?" He asked patiently. The little girl stared up confused and walked over to her mother "no, this is mummy, I turned her into a doll with my hands to make her perfect." The eyes of the paramedic widened in realisation. He had heard of this new surge of people developing powers but he had never seen them first hand "Mary, Mother of Jesus" he cried rushing over to the life sized doll. "Mrs. Handler? Can you hear me?" He asked placing a hand on her plastic arm. She could hear him and she could also feel him. She wanted to turn her eyes to look at him but how could she? They were painted on. She laid still still staring at her face in the glass before her watching as the poor man tried figuring out how to help. First aid training hadn't prepared him for this. What's worse, Mrs. Handler could feel her full bladder, filled with the endless amounts of coffee she had been drinking as she worked throughout the night. Nothing could be done about that. "Can you turn her back?" The paramedic almost begged the little girl. She shook her head. "Why not?" He asked panicked. "I can only make things perfect and my mummy isn't perfect." Silence filled the room as the two adults slowly realised nothing could be done. "Do you want to be perfect too?" The girl asked. "I can make you look like my teddy?" She held up a perfectly soft bear. The paramedic apologised to Mrs. Handler before leaving her alone and bolting out of the room. The little girl giggled as she chased after him.

"Elliot?" The second paramedic called for his partner. "Sorry I just got off the phone is everything ok in there?" He called through the open door. As he stepped into the quiet house he arrived at the bottom of the stairs. He followed the steps up with his eyes, stopping when they fell on a little girl sitting on the lap of a giant teddy bear. "You must be here to see my mummy" she smiled looking down at the confused eyes of the man at the bottom of the steps.