Tethers

"I'm not ME!" she screamed, "I'm a person, im HUMAN, this is NOT ME!" she insisted as she tore at her ceramic flesh. The intangible crystal-like strands that jut out from her limbs created a kaleidoscope of reflections under the dim light of the candle, as she furiously thrashed around the room.

"W-Why can't I remember?! You cursed me..You pushed this onto me..You transformed me..I-I dont KNOW what you did but, please.. turn me back..". The Witch patronizingly smiled at the histeria edging her doll's voice, she heard that tune so many times, she knew what to do. The Witch slowly rose from her seat, turned her back to the doll and started rummaging through the cupboard. "There," she exclaimed, as she firmly grasped her quarry "This is what you wanted, wasn't it?".

She brought the hidden object towards the light of the candle so that the doll could see its unique etchings. The shimmering trinket now lied on the open palm of her doll, she couldn't believe her own eyes, the key to her own escape so easily given to her? The enchanted scissors sat still in front of her dull eyes, a colorful hue emanating from their golden inscriptions.

"Why.." was the only sound that escaped her ceramic lips. The Witch nonchalantly turned to her Work, giving a last sneering glance towards the awe-stricken doll. She couldn't contain her excitement as she stripped down to reveal the shimmering threads underneath her clothes. Her tethered limbs seemed to move as possessed as she slashed at her silken bounds with inhuman precision. And Oh the feelings now cursing through her body! Oh how she missed the weight of human limbs. Their lacklustre grace, now slowing her calculated movements, felt like a breath of new life now diffusing throughout her body.

She will be free! She will be free! She still couldn't believe her own thoughts as she tried to maintain her pace, while severing and slicing the myriad of shiny tendrils radiating off of her skin. New human sensations broke the veil of her perception. Her dizzying speed now brought her nausea so she mindfully gave way to her newfound human limitations. Fatigue and exhaustion, previously unknown sensations, now consumed her and yet, she endured, only slightly decreasing her speed with each cut.

"This is it! This is IT!!", she excitedly exclaimed as only a few last strands stood between her and freedom. She slowly raised her trembling arm towards the final filaments, the only limb she could move at this point, as that new human stillness had now embraced her entire being. Yet her small golden scissors inched towards their silky targets, her now feeble hands still holding up their insurmountable weight, until finally, with the last fibers captured by the cold razor of her blade, with all her might and fury finally free of her captor's influence, she gently squeezed the golden scissors through the string's dimming light

and fell to the ground

without making a single sound.