Stone

She had finally invited him over.

He'd always wanted to visit Minnie, his new girlfriend, at her home, but she'd never entertained the idea.

"I'm a Sculptor, Darren. My house is a mess of POP, Cement and wood."

"I don't care. I wanna see all the beautiful art."

"Soon enough!"

He never understood why he was so keen on visiting her at home. Maybe it was something about her emerald green eyes that told him she was a real mystery.

And he was the one to solve that mystery.

As he turned into her big mansion, he couldn't help but think about his big catch. She was the only daughter of a successful artist who was now dead.

If he could secure her heart, he would be rich.

Of course love, real feelings for her and marriage would come later. Eventually. Maybe.

Well, even if it didn't, he would have made a good amount of money from the relationship. It was always easy with the single, rich and heartbroken 30-year-olds looking for a handsome younger guy like him.

He buzzed the intercom aa he reached the gate.

"Darren?" Her voice called over the buzzing.

"Yes beautiful..."

"Oh, come in." The gate rolled back of its own accord.

He parked his car in the driveway, noticing how inferior his sedan looked when viewed beside her Rolls Royce and Bentley.

Calm, Darren. It's only a matter of time.

He knocked on the door and waited. Soon, she opened and stood at the door, looking scary and enchanting at the same time. Her apron and hairnet were stained with splotches of dried Plaster of Paris and Paint, but her eyes glistened.

"Finally," she said, laughing.

You have no idea.

"Yeah," he smiled.

She let him in while she dashed upstairs, saying she had to shower. He looked around the huge room with its crystal chandeliers, finally setting his eyes on a door marked 'Studio'.

This is not an Art Class field trip, Darren, a voice chided.

His M.O would have been to go scouting so as to find anything of high value which he could steal without any notice.

Maybe he would build some trust just this once, he thought, heading towards the studio. He could just look at all the art in there today.

Best behavior, he thought, smiling.

As he stepped into the studio, he knew why she didn't want him here. The place was scattered with ceramics, wood, POP... It was hardly a place you'd want visitors to see.

Well, she's a sculptor anyway.

The room was quite spacious, and had two windows facing the lawn outside. It was a really comfortable place to work. At the end of the room was a door marked 'Collection'

Must be her finished work, he thought, opening the door. He was surprised.

There just have been over 20 sculptures in there, all of naked men. They were in all sorts of poses, but all had the same expressionless face. The place smelled thickly of lavender, as though ever inch of the place had been painted with it.

Strange became stranger.

He'd seen sculptures before, but these ones had an uncanny resemblance to modern-day people. Except that there were holes where eyes should have been.

"Well someone's been busy." He heard a voice say. He whipped around to see Minnie holding two glasses of wine.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I got a little..."

"Don't worry. You're the first guy that actually headed to my studio first. Other guys would have loved to see the cars in the garage."

"I wanted to know what you've been busy with all this while," he said, kissing her on the cheek as he took the drink.

"These are some really life-like er... sculptures." He said, unsure of what to comment.

"Yeah, Darren," she laughed "Some people find it weird, but I'm more into the naked man as a muse."

"So you get naked guys to model for you?"

"Oh no," she said, blushing. "Well, actually, not quite. When I started, I kinda just imagine it and work on it. It was quite hard without a real subject."

"Yeah it would be." He said, sipping his wine. It was a strange topic to talk about, and sbe was clearly more of a mystery than he expected.

"That's why I stopped using my imagination to create the works and started using the real deal."

"Huh?" He was finding it hard to focus his eyes on her. His mind was muddled, and he was unable to think straight.

"You wouldn't understand, Darren." She said,. dropping her cup on the floor and catching him.

"W-what have you done?"

**************

It was cold, quiet, and dark. He couldn't move.

He had a clear view of the door, but he couldn't move towards it. His mind was still befuddled, and he was just gaining consciousness.

The door opened, and Minnie and another man walked in.

"Wow, the guy said. How do you even make all these? Do you get guys to model for you?"

"Something like that," she said, winking at hia direction while she offered the man a glass of wine.

It hit him.

He was in a statue.

He was a statue.