The Living Sculpture

He surveys the crowd. He knows she is here, the perfect material for his masterwork. She’d come every week – he’d been watching for months. There. She walks past the flower and garden stall, pauses to look at the marigolds. Perfect. Today is the day, and she will be his.

After the marigolds, she always gets a smoothie at the fruit stand. They work with their neighboring stand – a dairy – to make fresh fruit smoothies with homemade ice cream, and she gets one every time. He leaves his truck and walks at a carefully measured pace, so that he ends up in line right behind her. He pulls out the sticky patch, carefully prepped to deliver exactly the combination of drugs he needs to quickly make her sleepy and compliant. He waits and orders the same drink she does – not ordering would draw attention. They wait, and he is quivering inside in anticipation. When they call the drinks, he steps forward with her, deliberately bumping her and slipping the adhesive patch on her arm. Muttering an apology under his breath, he grabs his drink and walks a few steps away. Settling against an out of the way wall, he waits for the drugs to kick in.

A few minutes later, she is standing with glazed eyes in front of a vineyard’s stall. He walks up and cups her elbow, gently leading her over to his truck. Boosting her into the passenger seat, he buckles her in, and reclines the seat. Tossing a blanket over her, he tucks a pillow behind her head, slams the door and hops in the driver’s seat. Driving off with a selection of farmer’s market goods, and a sleeping woman in his front seat, he looks like any couple with a successful visit behind them. A clean getaway.

Arriving at home, he pulls into the secured garage and looks at his companion. He’d only had to stop and dose her once on the drive, though he’d been prepared for more. Hopping out of the truck, he nearly dances with anticipation as he rolls the gurney over to the passenger side. Rousing her enough to get her out of the cab, he settles her on the gurney and doses her again. It had been a risk, letting her wake up at all, but his raw material was too heavy for him to move alone. That will change soon, though. He can see the sculpture inside the block, and will cut away everything that doesn’t belong.

He rolls her into his state of the art surgical suite. He has the latest, cutting-edge technology, so that everything is automated. He can perform any sort of procedure he needs, alone. That doesn’t mean it can all be done at once, though. The body can only take so much. Gently, reverently, he cuts away her clothing. All natural, as he knew she was. A virgin canvas, unchiseled marble, she is ready to begin.

Swiftly, he pulls out his marking pen and notes the areas he will chisel away – belly, upper arms, chin, cheeks, thighs. Later he will address her back, rump, neck, hands, and feet. Every piece of her will be sculpted to perfection, yet naturally so. That’s why he chose her. Let those hacks add silicon and fillers, he will create the perfect woman without adding a single thing. Swiftly setting up an IV, he adds a mild sedative to the saline, and goes to his cot. He will begin in the morning, after he rests.

It has been weeks, and no one has found him, or his masterpiece. She’s almost complete. He’s allowed her to come to a twilight state daily, where he gently walks her body, washes her, exercises her, and feeds her. She might even have been conscious enough to notice, but she wouldn’t have had any control. He couldn’t allow her to interfere. He’d considered using feeding tubes, but the scars from a gastric tube would be unsightly, and the damage to her voice from a nasogastric one could be permanent. That was unacceptable.

Today, he stands her in the middle of the room and circles his creation. He had taken a woman who was 200 pounds overweight, with large breasts and buttocks, and carved her down to the ultimate ideal. Her breasts were still the large, heavy, delicious weight they were when he started, and her buttocks had been shaped into a round bubble. Her extra fat had been pulled from everywhere, giving her the sculpted high cheekbones, flat stomach, toned arms and legs of a modern beauty. To protect his creation from degenerating later, he’d even pulled excess fat layers from her organs, her back, her hands and feet. She had almost none left. It has been six months of non-stop work, and he is happy with the result. She is mouthwatering, a perfect masterpiece. It is time to release her back into the world.

He prompts her to dress in the clothes he bought for her. Generic, from a large department store, paid for with cash, there’s nothing linking him to them. He’d even spun a tale of a present for his girlfriend to the cashier when she’d given him an odd look. He had watched her glaze over and dismiss him from her mind – exactly how he liked it.

Once she’s dressed, he lifts her into his truck and buckles her in. Driving back to the indoor farmer’s market, he parks and helps her out. Gently walking her in, he gets her a smoothie and sits her at a picnic table and walks away. She’ll rouse to full awareness soon, and he can’t be seen with her. Watching from a discreet wall, he sees the minute she realizes where she is. She glances around in confusion, looking down at herself, then staring. She stands and walks to the nearest stand, asking for help. He takes the confusion of the moment to slip away. He knows how to find her. She’ll always be his, even out there in the world. His first success.