Sculptures

Chapter 1
Whole Story

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Chapter Description: Three college students on an exchange in Italy get the chance to visit the unseen part of a museum. But something down there is waiting for them, waiting to feed on their intelligence and maturity. (Mental AR to toddler/infancy)

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This story was inspired by my visits to Italian museums crammed with naked sculptures and also by one of my favourite episodes of Doctor Who. There is nudity, bad language and brief masturbation in this one so don’t read if these offend you.

Spending a semester in Italy had been a dream Sarah, James and Bill had shared since they met in freshman year. They were all in the same art history class and they often talked about seeing the work of the masters. They considered doing a tour of Europe over a summer holiday but in the end they decided it would be best to take a whole semester and study there. In their junior year they were finally able to do just that, attending college in Rome.

Attending an art school there gave them the chance to get a behind the scenes look at the great museums that most tourists only got a few hours in. In their second month Bill volunteered them all to help catalogue a lot of the works stored in the warehouses beneath the museums. It was not commonly known that only a small portion of each museums holdings were actually on display. Most of the artefacts and artworks were kept in storage.

On the first day of their assignment the three aspiring young artists met on the sidewalk in front of the museum. It was an imposing building from the Fifteenth Century, built in a mixture of Gothic and Romanesque style. The last visitors were being ushered outside by the guards. A gaggle of Japanese tourists snapping photos with their phones and listening through earpieces to their guide, who carried a tall red golf flag, passed through the gates and headed for their bus, leaving the museum empty.

“I wish we got to work with the real stuff,” James lamented as he watched the eager tourists board the bus.

“What do you mean? This is the real stuff we’ll be cataloguing,” Bill corrected him.

“Yeah, but I mean the cool stuff that’s worth putting on display. This is the crap that no one really cares about. I still don’t know if this is worth it.”

“Oh c’mon dude, don’t be so damned negative all the time,” James complained.

“Just think Bill, we get to work with stuff none of the tourists get to see. I mean, a lot of this art hasn’t been seen by anyone in years, decades even,” Sarah enthused, trying to counteract James’ bad mood.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” James admitted after thinking it over a bit.

“Of course she is, now let’s go,” Bill directed, heading for the gate himself.

The trio walked up to the gate where a guard stopped them and began directing them away in fast Italian.

“No, we are here to work, we have IDs” Bill explained.

The guard made a call and after a moment a woman with an ID badge showed up and waved to them. “Hello, I am Adrianna, you will come with me,” she greeted cheerfully in a thick Italian accent.

They followed their new Italian guide into the building. They had been through this museum a number of times of course, but they’d never been behind the scenes before. Bill and Sarah were very excited and James was at least willing to play along for the time being. Adrianna led them quickly through a door marked “Staff Only” in Italian and English. Once through there she led them down a series of narrow and winding corridors. Finally they had to duck down a steep spiralled staircase that emerged in a sub-basement that looked like a Medieval dungeon.

“Well this is homey,” James cracked.

“It used to be the palace of a wealthy duke. He was a patron of the arts and it seemed fitting to make his home the home of so much art. In fact he paid for much of the work down here himself,” Adrianna explained as they walked deeper into the basement.

“So how much is stored down here?” Bill asked.

“Too much to even imagine really. There are over 400,000 artefacts, sculptures and paintings.”

“Wow,” the trio sighed in unison.

“Yes, indeed. You will be helping us with the sculptures from the Renaissance era. You will examine the sculptures for any damages, and record them on the forms I give you. Our curators will determine if the damage is original or has happened in storage later,” Adrianna informed them.

They turned a corner and found their way blocked by a heavy wood door. Adrianna leant over and picked up three clip-boards from beside the doorway, handing one to each student. “You have eight hours to work tonight. You will be most efficient if you each take a different section. If you need to leave you should press the call button for the guard here,” she said, pointing to a green button on the wall by the door.

“Can’t we just head up on our own?” Bill asked.

“No, the building can be something of a maze. You’d only get lost. So if you need help, call the guard and he will come down here. Now, any other questions?”

The trio shrugged.

“Okay, follow me then,” Adrianna said, swinging the massive wooden door open.

They followed her into the room, finding it to be a massive, even cavernous place. Hanging lights here and there provided minimal illumination. It was dank and smelled of mould. Row upon row of statues, some covered in cloths, were visible stretching out into the distance.

“Oh my gosh,” Sarah whispered.

Adrianna smiled at her. “Yes, it is impressive. The room runs all the way under the museum and beneath the street. Of course you will only be working in a small section of it.”

James was shaking his head ruefully, clearly thinking they’d volunteered for a daunting task. Bill however looked absolutely ecstatic.

“Okay guys, let’s get to work!” he directed happily.

Adrianna gave them their assigned sections and thanked them again for volunteering. “I’ll see you tomorrow, have fun,” Adrianna said, heading to the exit and swinging the heavy wooden door shut behind her.

Bill wasted no time, choosing a section on the grid map she’d handed them and heading for it. James was not so enthusiastic, so he simply tagged along behind Sarah.

“You really think this is going to help us get better at art?” he whispered to her as they made their way down a dimly lit row.

“Anything that exposes us to more works has to be good,” she whispered back.

“I dunno, maybe,” he allowed.

They turned a corner and Sarah studied her map, trying to determine which way to go. James looked at the statue beside them. It depicted a beautiful woman with long, flowing hair seated on a pedestal with a loose gown draped over her mid-section, just covering her breasts. At her feet was a small boy crouching on his knees, leant forward to look at something. Of course he was depicted in the nude, his little bare butt and the soles of his feet perfectly formed.

“I think we go left here,” Sarah said.

“Hmm,” James mumbled, looking back at her.

“I said I think we need to go left, see,” she said pointing to the map.

“Yeah, okay,” James shrugged, not really caring where they started.

Sarah turned and continued and James followed, glancing back at the statue as he went. Then he stopped, looking back more closely. As Sarah’s footsteps grew further away James stood still, staring now at the statue. The little boy’s head was tilted upward, looking not at the ground but over at James. He was sure it had been staring downward before. But it was only cold stone, right? It was ancient and dead. He had to be imagining it. James began to step closer for a better look…

“James, c’mon we have to start,” Sarah called from down the row.

“Yeah, okay,” James called back, hurrying along to catch up.

As he hurried along the row he passed countless depictions of nude women with their babies, little boys and girls staring up at mothers with total adoration, muscular men protecting them. And every one of them was depicted naked. What the hell was it with those Renaissance sculptors and nudity? James wondered what would happen today if some artist commissioned to make a sculpture for a public square unveiled a work of naked bare-breasted women, men with dangling penises and even naked little children. They’d surely be run out of town or charged with some kind of indecent exposure. Yet every city in Italy had piazzas filled with just such statues and no one batted an eye.

James caught up with Sarah at the intersection of two aisles. She was staring off to the left. “What is it?” James asked.

“Oh, probably nothing,” Sarah whispered, as though speaking her fear aloud would make it real. “I just thought that statue over there, the one of the hunter, was covered up a second ago. Guess my eyes are playing tricks on me.”

“This place is creepy,” James agreed, trying to keep the anxiety out of his voice.

“Why don’t we get to work, that’ll take our minds off it,” Sarah suggested.

James nodded and they stepped over to a simple statue of an angel and began cataloguing the damage to the wings and the missing toes. James crept around it looking for cracks while Sarah wrote down what he saw. Their work came to an abrupt halt though when a sound that made their hair stand on end echoed through the room. It was a child’s giggle.

“What the fuck was that?” James whispered to Sarah.

Sarah shook her head and shrugged, but her eyes betrayed her fear as well.

Another giggle echoed from far away and then there was a new sound. It was the slip-slap of feet on the cold stone floor. Footsteps that were getting louder, getting closer with every second.

“Bill, is that you?” Sarah called out.

There was no response. The footsteps sped up, growing closer still. Slip-slap, slip-slap, slip-slap.

Sarah and James stood closer to each other as they peered in the direction of the footsteps. Then as quickly as they began the footsteps stopped. Whoever was making them had stopped just down the row from them, hidden behind a statue of Hercules.

“What do we do?” Sarah whispered to James, clinging to his shirt sleeve.

“I dunno,” James shrugged, wondering who was in the room with them, but afraid to investigate.

As they stood frozen something appeared from behind the statue and they were momentarily relieved to see that it was Bill’s face.

“Jesus Christ Bill, you had us fucking scared for a second!” James yelled to his mate.

But Bill didn’t say a word and as they squinted in the poor light both Sarah and James began to see that something was wrong with Bill’s face. As they moved closer he stepped out from behind the statue, revealing himself completely. Sarah and James stopped where they were, eyes wide, mouths contorted in surprise.

Bill was standing there buck naked. The toes on his bare feet were turned sharply inward and he toddled forward in an awkward and unbalanced fashion, his toes dragging under his feet as he stepped. With each step his dangling penis bobbed back and forth, swishing across his thighs. James had immediately noticed that Bill was hairless down there now. In fact, his legs and arms appeared hairless as well. But that wasn’t all that was wrong. His cheeks seemed puffed up, swollen and rosy, his hair was a lighter blonde than usual and had suddenly become curly, wispy. He barely looked like Bill anymore.

The most disconcerting thing though was the smile on his face. He was grinning from ear to ear with a look that said he was perfectly content, not a care in the world. He was toddling naked in a strange basement exposed before his friends and he didn’t seem to mind at all. His chin glistened as he passed under the light and it became clear he had drool running freely over his smiling lips and running off his chin and onto his hairless chest.

“Bill, what the hell is wrong with you?” James snapped, trying not to stare at his friend’s exposed private parts.

Bill continued toddling unevenly toward them, arms extended as though expecting a big hug. He giggled in that unnerving childish way that had chilled them before. Now it scared them even more.

He reached Sarah first wrapping his open arms around her and cuddling his nude body close to hers while she stood stock still with her hands at her sides, afraid to do anything. “Wan’ cuddle,” Bill announced loudly, showing he could at least still speak.

“Bill what happened to your clothes?” Sarah asked in a calm voice, trying to keep herself under control.

“Wen’ bye-bye,” Bill mumbled, unconcerned.

“Bill when did they go away? What happened?” she prodded.

Bill pulled back, releasing her from the embrace. He looked into her eyes and she could see that his were wide and glassy now. They lacked comprehension. It was like looking into the eyes of a baby or a little toddler. When he opened his drooly mouth she could see that he only had a few teeth, all molars. The rest seemed to have disappeared.

“Saw pweety eyes an’ Biwwy get nakie,” the young man explained in toddler diction.

“Honey, how old are you?” Sarah asked him next, very confused.

Billy just shrugged. “Dunno numbahs. Dey fow big boys,” he explained.

Sarah looked over at James with concern. “We need to get him out of here now.”

“We need to get the fuck out of here right now!” James corrected.

“This makes no sense,” Sarah commented, shaking her head.

“Worry about logic later Sarah! Let’s just go now.”

“We need to take him with us,” she insisted, taking Billy’s hand while he stuck his free thumb in his mouth.

“I think it’s a bit late for him, don’t you? He’ll just hold us up.”

“He’s coming with us. We don’t even know what we’re running from anyway,” Sarah reminded him.

“Something with pretty eyes. That’s enough for me. I don’t want to find out if it means ending up a naked, drooling mess, do you?”

Sarah shook her head dismissively and pulled Billy’s hand. “C’mon Billy, let’s go,” she directed.

But Billy shook his head and hopped up and down in place. “No! Biwwy wanna pway!” he yelled, sticking out his bottom lip and sulking.

“We have to go sweetie. I’ll give you ice cream if you’re a good boy for me,” she promised.

Now the scowl was gone and Billy was nodding eagerly, toddling ahead and pulling at Sarah’s hand to hurry up. If ice cream was involved he was there.

“You’re good with kids,” James commented wryly.

“I babysat my way through high school.”

James rolled his eyes and indicated the way back. But they had made it only a few steps when he froze, causing Sarah to walk right into his back. “What the hell?” she complained.

James didn’t care, he was staring at an empty space between two covered statues on their right. “There’s something missing there,” he said quietly.

“Yeah well they probably took it up for restoration,” Sarah speculated.

“No, I mean there was a statue there when I went past here a few minutes ago,” James said.

Sarah furrowed her brow, tightening her grip on Billy’s hand while he dropped to a squat picking at the cracks in the stone floor with his free hand. “Why would someone move a statue?” she asked.

James looked around before responding, in a hushed whisper, “I’m not sure anyone moved it.”

“What are you talking about? It didn’t very well move itself!” she exclaimed.

“What if… what if it did?” James suggested, barely believing the words even as he spoke them.

“I’m beginning to think I have two men who’re touched in the head now,” Sarah snapped at him. “You’re letting your imagination run wild.”

“Oh and he just lost all his hair, his teeth, grew huge cheeks and turned his mind to mush all on his own? There’s something seriously fucked up in here with us Sarah! And I’m telling you I saw…”

James’ angry rant was cut short as he saw something that chilled him to the bone. The shadow being cast by the sculpture to his left shifted across the floor. James immediately looked up at it and Sarah did the same, confused by his shocked look. Now both of them froze in fear. The sculpture was of a Madonna with her infant in her arms. But now both mother and infant child were staring straight down at Sarah and James.

“You aren’t going to tell me that was looking at us before, are you?” James asked, fear in his voice.

“No, that definitely wasn’t in that position before,” Sarah admitted, now equally terrified.

Billy meanwhile had discovered the joy of wiggling his long free toesies in the soft dirt between the stones. And he simply giggled and munched on his thumb while Sarah tightened her grip still further on his other hand.

“If it can move then why the hell isn’t it doing anything right now?” Sarah whispered to James.

“I don’t know. It has to know we’re on to it now, so why pretend?”

“I think we should move on, head towards the door,” Sarah said.

James looked up the aisle, dimly lit as it was. It wasn’t that far to the door, if they moved quickly. Sarah looked too, pointing at the far side. “We just have to get to that corner, then turn right and we’re home free.”

They both turned back to face the sculpture and Sarah let out a scream while James nearly fell to the floor. The stone infant was now sat at the Madonna’s feet, it’s arms outstretched towards them. The Madonna was leaning over with her arms also extended, eyes and mouth wide and demonic looking. But she was still frozen dead stone.

Sarah recovered her wits, breathing heavily and trying not to hyperventilate out of fright. She looked down to check that Billy was okay. He seemed better than either of them, sitting on his bare bum as he looked innocently up at the demonic sculpture, pulling his foot to his mouth and slurping on his now dirty toes. Seeing he was fine she looked back at James, who was staring intently at the statue. “Why isn’t it moving? It clearly can. We only looked away for a second.”

“That’s exactly it. We looked away. I think it can only move if we’re not looking at it.”

“What is it?” asked Sarah.

“Who cares? Let’s get out of here first then ask questions.”

“So what do we do?”

“We back away slowly and we keep our eyes on it. Don’t even blink! You hear me Sarah? Keep your eyes on it and don’t blink. I’ll take your hand and guide us to the door.”

“Okay,” Sarah agreed, “But I’ve got to keep Bill with us.”

“Oh for God’s sake Sarah, he’s got his own filthy foot in his mouth and he’s smiling about it! He isn’t Bill anymore, they’ve made him an empty-headed little baby. Just focus on getting yourself out.”

Sarah said nothing but she kept a firm grip on Billy’s hand as they began to move. He popped his wiggling toes free of his mouth and rose tenuously to his feet again, allowing her to lead him along while he picked at his nose. James led the way while Sarah kept her eyes focussed on the statues. When Billy’s hand tugged at hers she glanced over at him for a second to be sure he was okay. But when she looked back the sculpture, mother and child, were gone.

“Uh-oh,” she muttered.

“What?!” James demanded.

“It’s gone,” she stated flatly.

“Gone? Where the fuck did it go? Weren’t you watching it?”

“I was! I looked away for a second, just a second I swear!”

“Well fuck me, that’s just great! Now we don’t even know where it is! Just keep looking all around okay? Don’t let it sneak up.”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than things took a serious turn for the worse. The overhead lights began to flicker. Every time the lights went out the whole room was plunged into pitch blackness. And though it only lasted a fraction of a second each time, both Sarah and James knew that was enough to cause trouble.

As the light flickered on and off the heads of sculptures on both sides were suddenly turned towards them, then looking down at them. Sarah gasped and covered her mouth. “There are more of them,” she told James.

“Yeah, a lot more of them,” he replied.

“Now what?”

“Now we run for it,” James announced, no longer whispering as he took off at a sprint.

“Shit! Wait up James!” Sarah called after him, pulling Billy along as she too began to run.

With each flicker the sculptures seemed to close in around them. They were blocking the way back and closing in across the aisle in front of her. James was out of sight. He’d abandoned her to these things. She was so pissed at him, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it. She just had to escape. Sarah turned a corner, hoping to find a clear path, but she ran right into a large sculpture blocking her way. “Oh shit!” she squealed as the light flickered out again.

When it flickered back on the sculpture’s face was directly in front of hers. It was a young woman with long flowing hair, the symbol of fertility and motherhood. She was completely nude with large breasts bared. Her wide stone eyes were staring right at Sarah. She needed to back away quickly, she kept her eyes right on the sculpture’s, not even blinking.

Then the sculpture’s white stone eyes shifted, changed. They glowed a bright pink and before Sarah could even consider looking away she felt the warm light fill her vision and then flowing warm energy caressed her whole body. Her nerves danced with pleasurable sensations, the endorphins flowing freely to her brain, bathing her in a euphoric glow. She could feel her body changing, growing in places. It felt wonderful.

The wonderful light and energy receded and Sarah felt alertness returning to her. The statue before her was just as before, frozen in place, but no longer threatening. She felt the cool stone of the floor under her feet and a breeze drifted across her skin. She looked down at her nude body and felt it with her hands. Her breasts had grown noticeably larger, swollen with milk. Her skin had taken on a healthy glowing tan all over. Her hair was longer and thicker, brushing across her bare shoulders.

Sarah looked away from the sculpture, no longer afraid of it or any of the others in this room. She looked down at Billy, now seated on his bum at her feet. He was absent-mindedly picking his nose with one hand, sticking the boogers he found into his mouth. The other held his foot up before his face. He watched his toes wiggle back and forth, blinking with wide-eyed awe. Sarah felt the deepest sense of love she had ever thought possible. The booger-eating adult sized toddler sitting naked at her feet seemed to glow with beauty in her eyes. She looked at the dirty toes, the soot smeared across his bottom and back, the messy hair, the drool soaked chin, chest and tummy and all she saw was the most wonderful, lovely little baby boy who needed her love and care.

She knelt down before Billy and beamed at him, reaching out and caressing his soft, rosy cheek. “You’re the most lovely little boy I’ve ever seen,” she crooned to him.

Billy smiled and announced, “You nakie now!”

Sarah enjoyed hearing his childish voice, his small words. They told her how small his mind was, how little he could think for himself, how much he needed her. She pecked a kiss on his forehead, enjoying the scent of drool that emanated from him. Billy released his foot, his hand slipping down to his dangling penis, manipulating it and smiling more broadly still.

A few moments ago seeing her friend masturbate himself in front of her would have disgusted her. Now she looked down at his stiffening hairless pee-pee and felt happy for him. “That’s right sweetie, it’s okay. Mommy knows little boys like to explore their bodies. That feels nice doesn’t it?”

The naked young man nodded vigorously. “Uh-huh pee-pee awll big!” he told her.

“Yes sweetie, it gets happy when you play with it.”

“Biwwy got happy pee-pee!” the young man enthused, breathing heavier.

As he fondled himself, breathing more deeply, eyes half-closed, Sarah pulled him into an embrace. She gently stroked his back, feeling his smooth, warm skin as he had his fun. There was no more understanding that this was meant to be a private act for Billy. Sexual activity was no more than a fuzzy memory for him. All he seemed to know was this felt nice, so he did it more. Sarah cuddled him until she felt his body jerk and felt the warm release he made splash across her skin. “That’s a good boy,” she cooed to him.

“Biwwy pee-pee,” he stated.

“No honey. You made a squirt-squirt for me. It’s okay, mommy will clean it all up,” she assured him.

She looked into his peaceful blue eyes and watched him lick his lips as she cleaned his tummy of the sticky stuff. And she knew then why she was naked. She didn’t need clothes because her purpose in life was to care for babies. She needed her breasts ready to feed little Billy. It made perfect sense to Sarah. She leant in close and turned his face towards her chest. He opened his mouth instinctively, taking the nipple into it without a word. His mouth was had no teeth that could bite there and his cheeks were puffy and big, perfect for nursing. It all made sense now.

Sarah’s long hair brushed across his face tickling him as he nursed. She watched as he reached awkwardly for it, his glassy big blue eyes locked on the dangling long strands while he suckled. The feeling was amazing for Sarah. She wanted to feed him forever. “You need me so much now Billy. You used to be a big boy with all sorts of fancy thoughts, but that all went bye-bye didn’t it?” she sung down to him as he fed. “You don’t remember how to be anything but an itty bitty baby boy now do you? You’re head got all emptied out and now you need Mommy to feed you and cuddle you and clean up your poopies and pee-pee and even your squirt-squirts. But that’s okay, because Mommy wants nothing more than to take care of you forever and ever!”

Billy didn’t object to any of this, as he probably understood very little of it. Instead he finished his meal and grew sleepy, resting in her lap once he was done feeding. While she enjoyed watching him rest Sarah still felt a pang of emptiness. She had two breasts for feeding, but only one had been emptied. She needed to do something about that.

**

James wasn’t sure what happened to Sarah and Bill but he couldn’t worry about them at the moment. As the lights flickered off and on he raced at full speed for the door. Images of his once intelligent friend Bill eating his feet kept racing through his mind. He couldn’t end up like that, there was too much he had to do. He still needed to travel around the world. He still had to get a steady girlfriend. None of that would happen if he had a vocabulary of under a hundred words and got distracted by anything shiny or brightly coloured.

As the door appeared before him he could feel every sculpture, every statue, turning their heads and staring at him. James slammed into the door at full speed, but it didn’t give way. Instead he crumpled against it with a horrible thud. He was seeing stars but he forced himself not to pass out. Pulling himself up he tried pulling the door open. It would not budge. James kicked at it and looked around for a way to unlock it. There didn’t seem to be any. The only thing he found that helped was an emergency flashlight on the floor next to the door.

James picked up the light and switched it on, spinning around to face the statues and sculptures again. The whole aisle behind him was clogged with them, all frozen in place now. They stared at him with their unseeing demonic eyes. Without looking away he banged at the door and called at the top of his lungs for help. He remembered his own words. “Don’t blink, don’t even blink.”

After a minute it became clear that no one was coming to open the door. James’ eyes were burning, stinging like hell. He had to blink. As soon as he opened his eyes a fraction of a second later the statues had moved even closer. One was only a couple feet away, arms stretched out. James’ heart pounded so hard he could barely hear anything else. What could he possibly do?

The lights had at least stopped flickering. As long as he had a flashlight that was pointless he guessed. Waiting at the door was equally pointless. Perhaps there was another way out. Seeing no other choice James slipped along the wall to the side of the door, away from the army of sculptures, but not taking his eye off them until he was around a corner.

Hurrying along the wall, hoping to find another door James kept looking back over his shoulder every couple seconds. Sure enough they were following him. He just hoped there was some way out. And then a voice, a human voice, called out to him.

“James, are you still out there?”

James heart soared with relief, he wasn’t all alone! “Yes, I’m along the wall. The door was locked, I couldn’t get out!” he called back.

“I found a way out James, just follow my voice and don’t blink!” Sarah called from somewhere across the room.

“You found a way out?! Where? How?”

“There’s no time James, just get over here quickly!”

Elated that maybe, just maybe he would get out of this thing with his mind intact James raced through the sea of statues, abandoning the wall and following her voice. “Which way now?” he called.

“Over here!” she yelled back, and he turned in the direction of the voice.

He made another turn and called again, “Now where?” feeling he had to be close.

But this time no answer came back. He called again, and still no answer. Feeling worried again he didn’t see the foot come out in front of him until it was too late. It had come gouging out of nowhere, not a statue, not stone, but a bare human foot. Running as he was he couldn’t regain his footing and he went smashing down to the hard stone floor smashing his front teeth painfully into it. The flashlight slipped from his hand and smashed to the floor with a massive bang, flickering out immediately. The moment the flashlight died the lights of the whole room flickered out as well.

James was now flat on his stomach, his teeth throbbing, the taste of blood in his mouth, lying in pitch blackness. “Fuck!” he mumbled in pain, feeling all around the floor for the flashlight, desperate to get it on before it was too late.

He crept across the floor feeling the cracks and pebbles until finally something round and metal was in his fingers. “Yes!” he exclaimed, feeling for the switch.

The flashlight flickered to life immediately revealing the sculpture directly in front of James. It was the crouching little boy he’d seen right at the start of his work down here. The toddler sculpture was alone now, no mother. It was crouched on the floor the same as James, his curly stone hair messy and his face smiling with his eyes locked on James.

“Don’t blink,” John reminded himself, staring into the boy’s cold eyes.

In an instant the eyes weren’t cold stone anymore, they were a dazzling blue. They were so bright and the colour filled his vision. James felt panic as energy swept over him, seeming to blanket him. He knew what was going to happen now. It would make him some kind of idiot, a mindless little rugrat like Billy. He couldn’t let that happen! He had to focus his thoughts and look away.

But his muscles seemed to be locked in place. He could feel the cold floor under his hands but he couldn’t move them. Then he could feel cold stone under his knees as well and the tops of his feet. His clothes were gone, he was completely naked. The aching pain in his teeth disappeared and the bloody taste was gone. He could feel tingling through his mouth as teeth receded into gums. A warm pleasurable wave ran over his skin as his hair fell out all at once.

James wanted to cry. He was a toothless, hairless freak now. He could feel his muscles weakening, losing their tone. All his years of working out, getting toned, wiped away in seconds. His manhood was bare and hairless like a boy’s not a man’s. But worst of all he still couldn’t move and he knew what was to come. Years of art school, of college and high school and everything else. How could he just lose all of that?

The swirling blue that filled his vision became blindingly bright. His mouth fell open as he felt euphoria of orgasmic proportions sweep over him. He moaned in pleasure and let go. It felt too good, too wonderful to resist. The pleasure overwhelmed his thoughts and they turned to meaningless static.

As the light went out and the sculpture before him seemed again to be frozen James found the opposite was true for him. He could move again! He was free! James tried to stand up but found his balance tenuous, so he settled for resting on his haunches. The ground was cool and tingly under his bare soles and he wriggles his toes nicely in the dirt. That was quite comfy. James clearly recalled being quite angry and scared a few seconds ago, but he couldn’t quite recall why.

James looked around the room. It was a big place with a very high ceiling. He wondered why he was here. He thought he came here with some other people, but couldn’t quite picture them. He tried to think but his head was all fuzzy and it was very hard to concentrate. He felt a warm hand on his shoulder and he looked up to see the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen standing over him. She was all naked and had big boobies and lovely long hair.

“Hello sweetie-pie, how are you feeling?” Sarah asked him.

James felt his love for this woman growing by the second. And yet something told him he needed to make her understand he wasn’t little. He needed her to know that. But it was hard to put any words together. He could almost remember them but they just weren’t coming to him. Finally he managed to squawk, “Big!”

The woman frowned and brushed his hair as he repeated, “Big! Big!”

“I know honey, I know you used to be big. But you aren’t James the big boy anymore darling. You’re my little baby Jim-Jim now,” she told him.

James tried hard to follow her words. They were so familiar sounding, he was sure he should know what they mean. But it was like she spoke a foreign language and he couldn’t make sense of it. So he shouted, “Big!” again.

“Jimmy honey you aren’t big anymore. The pretty light made that all go away. Here, let me show you,” she explained, taking his hand and pushing down two fingers so that only three were extended.

“How many fingers are there?” she asked him.

James understood ‘how many’ and he knew that should be easy. But as he stared at the fingers nothing came to him. He couldn’t recall any numbers. The lady nodded at him, seeing his slack-jawed gawp. “I know honey, numbers went bye-bye didn’t they?”

James nodded, his numbers were all gone. He tried hard to remember them but only felt wet stuff dripping down his chin as a result.

“Okay honey, what sound does a cow make?” she asked next.

James tried to picture a cow but nothing came to mind. So then he thought about animal noises. He only knew one, so he said it. “Woof!” yelped the naked man crouched before Sarah.

“No dear, a cow says moo. You remember? Moo-cow.”

James was lost now, his mind a blur or noises and images totally lacking words to put them together. Attempting to think only produced confusion and drooling.

“You see Jimmy, you’re much too little to care for yourself now. You need Mommy to take care of you. Mommy will do all the thinking for you from now on,” she assured him.

James found her tone reassuring. She was so beautiful and he loved her so much. He was glad she was around to help him when he was so clearly incapable of caring for himself anymore. He just wished he could speak properly to tell her how grateful he was.

“Me wuv momma,” he finally managed to say.

“Oh thank you dear. I know you’re sad, but let me make that all better. Mommy will put a big smile on that face.”

James wondered how on earth she could make him smilie. But then she knelt down really close and took his right foot in her hands. She smiled at him and then ran her fingers gently up and down the sole. James wriggled and giggled in pleasure at the lovely tickle. How funny of her! He loved her so, so much! And he liked the way his toes wiggled. When she stopped the tickles he tried to tickle his own foot. It didn’t work but he decided to explore it more. He experimented in tasting it, feeling the dirty tootsies wriggle in his mouth. This made Mommy very smilie too so he liked it even more. Soon Mommy knelt down and guided his mouth away from his toes and towards her nipple. For a brief second James enjoyed a moment of lucidity. He felt the drool-soaked toes in his hand, felt his bare bum on the floor, Sarah’s warm skin sliding against his as she pulled him close. He saw Sarah’s maternal smile as she guided him closer to her breast and he realised that the sculpture had made him a copy of itself, only in flesh rather than stone. He had been made into a nursing babe dependant on this model of maternal love and care. Then the fleshy teat slipped between his lips and thick, creamy liquid filled his mouth, caressing his tongue and sending all his lucid thoughts scattered to the wind.

**

Adrianna arrived in the morning to let them out. As she opened the thick door after unlocking it she didn’t seem surprised at all to find a naked young woman standing before it smiling peacefully at her. She never explained how she knew what would happen or even why she did it. Perhaps she fed victims to the sculptures regularly. Perhaps she was not human at all, but one of them. Sarah never asked, and never knew. She had her babies and that was all that mattered to her now.

Adrianna had provided her with some clothing so she could leave. Although it was just a simple wrap to cover her breast and mid-section. But she brought none for the babies, they had no more need for clothing and they certainly wouldn’t mind anyway. Sarah was directed to lead them through the empty halls of the not yet opened museum to a waiting car in the alley out back. From there it would be up to her.

And so Jimmy found himself being led by the hand through the museum he had come to a dozen times to study in great depth the works of the masters. His brother Billy toddled along on Mommy’s other hand, fingers jammed up his nose and pee-pee dribbling over his feet and the tile floor as he went. As Jimmy toddled along feeling the cool tile under his feet, his penis swinging back and forth freely brushing across his thighs, he recalled coming here and doing grown-up things. He wondered how he’d done such big person things. As they passed one sculpture he pulled away from Mommy and toddled over to stare at it. He tried hard to remember his big boy thoughts. Mommy stopped and came over behind him as he stared. It was a sculpture of little naked boy eating grapes.

Sarah watched the naked twenty-one year old man stare intensely at the boy, his brow furrowed. Would he recall the hours spent sketching this sculpture, the report he wrote on its creation? Finally after a long moment Jimmy smiled and turned to her, pointing at the sculpture. “Him jutht wike me!” he announced eagerly. “Him wittle boy!”

Sarah chucked and ruffled his curly hair. “Yep, he sure is. And a little jaybird like you too,” she added.

Jimmy nodded. “Uh-huh, nakie jaybiwd.”

“Okay jaybird, let’s go. It’s time for a car ride.”

“Vwoom-voom!” he babbled eagerly.

Jimmy toddled ahead now, excited about the car ride, all thoughts of big boy things long gone.

 

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