Neither of them had said anything yet that night. After picking themselves up off of each other they had simply, wordlessly walked out of the store and sat down together on the nearest bench. Stephanie flashed her a smile, and she returned with one of her own. Then they were quiet, for what seemed like the longest time.
“Are the days always that long?”, Stephanie finally asked, staring toward the ground.
Jenny breathed slowly, remembering all of the seemingly endless days she had already spent as a mannequin before finally answering, sighing heavily as she said, “That one was longer than most...”
“What are we going to do?” Stephanie asked, sounding nervous and scared.
Jenny stared at her hands, uncertain of how to answer. She had already spent two months as a mannequin. She had never stopped hoping to return to normal, but she had long since stopped expecting it...
She swallowed nervously and looked toward Stephanie, wondering if she should be truthful or not.
“What do you think?”, Jennifer asked her new friend.
“We have to get out of here, don't we? Get back to normal...” Stephanie said, still not looking toward Jennifer.
“Stephanie I'm...” Jennifer started, looking away from Stephanie and toward the ground. She wasn't sure if she should say, but she did it anyway, “I'm not sure if we can...”
Stephanie looked up, toward her friend.
“I mean... you saw last night... we tried to leave and we just froze up. And I've been stuck here for two months...” Jennifer said, her voice heavy as she spoke, “I... I'd like to leave, I'd like to be a normal girl again... I'm just not sure if it's possible...”
Jennifer looked up toward Stephanie, and Stephanie immediately looked away again.
The silence that followed was uncomfortable, and it seemed to stretch on just as long as the day that had just ended. Finally Stephanie spoke up.
“So... what do we do now?”, she asked.