I feel my body loosening up and air starting to enter through my nostrils. My arm which has been frozen in place for hours fall limply to my sides. I blink and look around, seeing if the shop has changed. But the shop remained the same, like it had the night before, and the night before that. I sigh and step down from the platform when I spot a new shop opening right across mine. I squint and manage to catch a glimpse of some dresses, clothes women wear, and realize it’s a women’s apparel.

There are no mannequins yet, but I’m sure the shop owner would bring some in a few days later, they always do. I stretch and reach into my pocket for the shop key. That young chap still hasn’t realized that I took his spare key. I almost unlock the door when I spot him trudging towards the shop. Why the hell for, that I don’t know, and I don’t have time to think about that. I quickly scramble back to my place on the platform and remain still. I could feel my human features hardening and turning back to plastic, I couldn’t see him, but I was still able to think and hear what he says.

“Mom, I’m fine. I just left some mail at the counter,” the young man sighs.

“It’s midnight, Sehun, can’t you come back the next morning?” A woman retorts. There is a bit of static over her voice and I guess he is on the phone— a gadget invented much later— with his mother.

“But it’s important and I’m already on my way back,” the shop owner answers. The tingling of bells tell me he opened the door, and I picture him locking up and walking away. I stay still for a little while more, just to make sure. Once I feel no other presence, I unfreeze and hastily unlock the shop. The cool wind hit my face as I walk towards the next shop where another mannequin was given the blessing and could come to life. He's already waiting for me by the door.

“You took longer than usual today,” Baekhyun says. Like me, he has his label imprinted on his left wrist in both mannequin and human form, that’s how he got his identity.

“Shop owner came back all of a sudden,” I reassure him as we went to wake up or join the others. At midnight, some mannequins were given the chance to become human. They function like humans, but when the sun rises, they return to doll form. I am the first, I started this all.

“I bet you those two are fighting again,” Baekhyun laughs as we walk.

“If they’re not sick of fighting each other every night, I certainly am, just by watching,” I sigh as we approach the shop. As we get closer, we can hear two voices yelling. I roll my eyes at their childish argument.

“Come on! Just give it to me,” Chanyeol whines.

“It’s none of my business that you’re stuck in a secondhand clothing shop!”

“Just a shirt, please!” He sounds like he’s about to cry.

“Just one word, no!” D.O stands firm on his ground.

“Hey! Break it up before I break your faces! I mean it!” Baekhyun yells and approaches them. I stroll leisurely, trying to avoid having them screaming into my ears.

“Just let me borrow that shirt! You don’t know how awful it is to have a ten year old’s dinosaur shirt shoved onto your adult body,” Chanyeol bargains.

“The last time you borrowed a shirt, you didn’t return it and my owner nearly called the cops,” D.O snarls and grabs his white polo tee and hides it behind his back.

“The cops over a shirt,” I mutter incredulously to myself.

“Just give him the shirt. I’ll see to it that he returns it by daybreak,” Baekhyun sighs. D.O finally relents and hands Chanyeol the polo shirt.

“Well, if you’re all done with your petty arguments, let’s go see Suho,” I say. The other three obediently trail after me, softly discussing where to go for the night (or morning). I was surprised to see that the city was still alive even in the wee hours of the morning, that was something I wasn’t used to.

“Will there ever be a night where you two aren’t fighting?” Baekhyun asks.

“I doubt,” Chanyeol snorts and looks away.

“Highly unlikely,” D.O scoffs and crosses his arms.

“You know… There’s a new shop opening just across mine, it sells girl clothes and I was wondering if maybe there would be a female mannequin that was like us,” I interrupt before those two could break into another verbal argument.

“We haven’t met a female one like us for as long as I can remember,” Baekhyun says thoughtfully.

“We can finally have a new addition to our group if there really is a special one!” Chanyeol beams excitedly.

But there hasn’t been a female one ever since…

“I don’t think I’d get my hopes up,” I say. Chanyeol’s smile falters as he looks at me with sad eyes.

“You always gotta ruin the moment,” he says with a pout.

I grin and put my hands in my pocket. “It’s better than being disappointed.”

We go and meet our last buddy, Suho. Like the rest of us minus Chanyeol, his identity is imprinted on his left wrist. We’ve been going by that identity for as long as I can remember. We gather at the fountain in the middle of Doll Street and rant about how tiring standing completely still for hours was, as if we didn’t do it every single day. When we’re in mannequin form, we can still sense the things happening around us, we can’t see anything but we can hear. Or, we could just choose to completely transform into a lifeless mannequin, it’s just like humans and sleeping.

As we have no money whatsoever, we can’t afford to buy anything or go anywhere that requires money. We can’t eat, well, not that we need to, we’re mannequins after all. We just go around, admiring city lights and kicking puppies— just kidding. We have no money, but time spent was fun and the hours pass quickly. We decide to head back to Doll Street as soon as the sky begins to brighten. We split up at the fountain and say our goodbyes. I walk back to my shop and unlock the door. I take a glance at the new boutique across mine and wonder if the mannequins they bring in would be like Baekhyun and the others. I slip the key back into the pocket of my pants and take my place on the platform. As the sun rose higher and higher, I can feel myself turning back to plastic and then finally, reverting back to a mannequin, in the form of a deep slumber.

~*~

When I wake up the next night, there are three new mannequins in different kinds of clothes standing on the platform of the new shop. Before I get down my platform, I lean close to my glass panel, waiting for any of the three to wake up. I don’t know how long I waited, but it was long enough to make Baekhyun and the others come look for me.

“Are those the three new additions?” Suho asks, pointing at the new boutique. I nod and reluctantly get off the platform and join them.

“Maybe if we knock on the glass, it’ll wake them up faster?” D.O suggests.

“Yeah, I oversleep sometimes and Kai does that to wake me up. Maybe it’ll work on them too,” Baekhyun agrees happily. Chanyeol makes his way over the first mannequin, the one on the far left. It wore a pair of tight jeans, a beige coloured knitted top and a pair of white high cuts. After three knocks and a pause, nothing happens. Chanyeol moves on to the next one. It has on a pair of floral shorts, a long white tank top and a pair of heels that matched its shorts. Chanyeol does the same thing but still, nothing happens. He moves on to the last one. It wore a glittery midnight blue dress that stopped above mid-thigh and a matching pair of blue heels with a ribbon. Once again, nothing happens.

“Maybe they’re not one of us,” Suho concludes.

“Let’s just go,” Baekhyun sighs in disappointment and we head off. I linger around the glass panel a while more.

Just one, one out of three would be nice.

“Kai, what are you doing? Let’s go,” D.O prompts from in front.

“Coming,” I take one last look and join them.

~*~

Three nights has passed ever since the addition of three new mannequins. Every time I come back from my night (or more specifically, early morning) adventures, I stare at the shop across, waiting for any of those to start moving. I don’t know why I want them to wake up so badly. Even though I told them not to get their  hopes up about it, I find myself spending every second of my free time staring at them, as if that will help them wake up.

Instead of going to find the others, I pull up a chair from behind the cash register and place it on my platform so I can sit down. I start to get used to ticking of the clock. I turn to look at the clock— 12:05 in the morning— and groan to myself. Tonight would be a long one. My eyes then rest upon the shop across. 

Stop getting your hopes up. You’ll only be disappointed in the end.

Time flies by while I imagine what would happen if there really was a female one. The others will be really happy and excited. Let’s just say they haven’t interacted with the opposite gender in like, ever, so I understand the hype about it. I then consider the possibility of liking her, but I brush it off. There is a sudden flash of lightning, even though there's no rain or dark clouds. I think my eyes are playing tricks on me or I'm just being delusional. The mannequin on the far right, the one in the midnight blue dress, drops her arms by her side. I blink hard and squint, the stiff brown-almost-red wig became more luscious, wavy and silky, dents in the plastic where her eyes are supposed to be started to become more detailed. Her pupils, eyelashes and eyebrows start forming, her lips becomes fuller and pinkish. And when the transformation is done, I find myself up on my feet and pressed against my own glass panel, staring into the most beautiful pair of stormy grey eyes I’ve ever seen.

Hello~ This is my first time writing in like... Idk what it's called, present tense? So if I make any mistakes, please look over it, hehe. Did you guys enjoy the first chapter? Leave a comment and subscribe! ^^