Harry was terrified of the idea of becoming a statue. To be totally immobile. To be looked at as an object. A thing. An old movie from the 90s, back when his parents were kids, scared him. Ernest Goes Camping. It was meant to be more of a comedy than a scary movie. But that troll turning kids into little wooden figurines scared him.
His nightmares would always put him in their place. Kind of like when people dwell on what it would be like to fall off a building, or to be buried alive in a coffin.
He noticed a small little stone statue in the corner. He walked over to it, and it was a small dog. He recognized that dog! It looked just like his dog he grew up with! Hiker! He went missing when he was in second grade! He went over to inspect the statue. It sure LOOKED like him. A big hairy mutt. He kissed Hiker. Could that be him? It couldn't. Could it?
And if it was, what would it be like? To be totally stuck? Harry would dwell on that from time to time in the past. Even sometimes pretend he was turned into a statue. But of course, he would breath, blink his eyes, and his body would just move, even slightly.
He liked a good thrill, and pretending to be a statue wasn't quite good enough. He pondered what it would be like, to be forced to be totally still. Unable to make a sound. Even to breath. What if he had an itch? The thought both terrified and excited him. He was a 12 year old boy, and started to get a small little boner.
He set the controls on the screen to "statue." Then set the material to "stone." He pressed "Enter," and the timer started from 10 seconds and counted down. Heart racing, he stepped inside the booth...
.....and a red light started blinking. Nothing happened.
"Huh. What a disappointment. Of course people can't turn to stone."
Harry stepped out of the booth, and saw the statue of Hiker in the corner. He went over to the screen. It read:
"Error: only organics."
"Only organics?" he pondered. "What does that mean?"
He learned the word "organic" in science class last year. It meant anything alive. Tomatoes were organic. So were trees, animals, and humans.
"I guess it doesnt work after all."