Inside the box was a medium sized plastic container and a brush. Squinting at the label's small print, Chad saw it read 'Grey Model Paint'.
"Model paint?" he wondered. "So I'm supposed to coat myself in this stuff?"
Chad put the container and brush into his bag before going to his next class.
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Chad entered the field-house a little before 4 pm. He glanced around the room and saw little that seemed particularly out of place, besides a thin plastic platform of circular shape and a mirror sitting in front of it. There was a note attached to the mirror.
'Hey Chad, thanks for coming. Now you just have to strip, coat your body from head to toe in this paint, and stand on this platform. I'll be here soon.'
Chad made no waste in removing his clothes, quickly throwing his jacket, t-shirt, jeans, shoes, socks and boxers into a pile to the right.
Opening the container, he found that it contained exactly what the label said it would: grey paint. Stirring the brush through it, Chad found it to be of a thick consistency. After stirring it slightly, he sat down on the floor and began to coat his feet in the paint. It felt warm and easily adhered to his body. He worked his way up his body, from his toes to his hips, before beginning to coat his manhood. It grew slightly in response to the brush strokes, which made ensuring a complete coating easy.
Having covered his upper body, he then moved onto the slightly more difficult task of covering his arms. His left arm was easy enough, but his left hand was less accurate in covering the right arm. Despite this frustrating hindrance, he finally finished the rest of his body, leaving only the top of his head uncovered.
After wondering for a moment whether Sinclair wanted him to cover his hair as well, Chad opted to coat it in a thin covering, careful to not disturb his hairstyle.
Looking himself in the mirror, Chad felt quite satisfied with his handiwork. His well muscled and immaculately groomed body was now completely coated in the grey paint, leaving him with nothing to do but stand on the platform and wait for Sinclair.
As soon as he laid both his feet onto the platform, he felt it sink slightly under his weight. Immediately after, a blinding light flashed on, startling the quarterback.
"What th-" He exclaimed, but he was unable to finish his utterance, suddenly silenced. He tried to feel his mouth to determine the problem, but was unable to move. His arms were not exactly frozen, as they had dropped to his sides, but where refusing to respond to his commands. He soon realised that his whole body had followed suit. The light dimmed, displaying to him clearly his paralysed body, looking like some statue of dull stone.
"Oh, finally done I see." proclaimed a familiar male voice as Chad heard the door open. "Took you long enough."
Chad futilely tried to turn round, but he soon had no need to as the face of his fellow team member Derek popped into view from the mirror. Derek had never been a particularly close friend of Chad's, and had always wanted to get rid of him so he could replace him.
"Enjoying yourself?" he sneered. "Or are you too embarrassed 'bout being naked in front of me?"
Chad was embarrassed. As proud as he was about his body, he always preferred to change into his gear in private when he could.
"Don't worry about it, I'll probably have you dressed soon enough. But how about I explain things for you first?"
Having heard that, Chad now turned his attention to the situation of his paralysed body, though he was more concerned about getting out of it.
"Well, it's sorta a long story, so you might want to take a seat." He laughed at his stupid joke, and walked around Chad so that he could now see him clearly.
"Well, you know my little cousin, role-playing nerd, big fan of the team, yeah? Anyway, I took his laptop 'cause he broke mine, and boy would you laugh at what was on it!"
Chad had seen Derek's 14 year-old cousin, Joey, only a few scant times during sport rallies, but could vaguely recall the scrawny, brown-haired cousin who lived with Derek's family since the loss of his parents.
"It was a shopping site for some dumb tabletop game miniatures! You would not believe the prices they charge for those things, too much for those tiny plastic models. I was about to close it when I saw something that by now you must be well acquainted with."
Throughout this drawling story with no apparent connection to his current affliction, Chad had been desperately trying to overcome the paralysation that had him helpless. However, his body seemed to be becoming even more useless, as he found he was losing his sense of touch.
"Gray Model Paint: Transform your Friends into Models and enjoy a never before seen level of realism! It sounded lame, but I clicked on it anyway. It said if you follow the instructions, you can shrink normal people into game pieces. Sounds tacky and fake, eh? I though so, but I wanted to get payback on Joey, and what better way than to buy such an over-priced, worthless item on Dad's credit card? I bought 4 cans of it for $200, and boy, was he mad!"
Chad's panic was soon overtaken by weariness, and he began to wonder if this story was ever going to end. He rolled his eyes, which he found to be the only part of him he could still control.
"Joey said he didn't order it, but nobody bought that. The paint was confiscated along with all his other models and he was grounded for a month. While I was moving his stuff to the attic, I decided I'd keep a few of the cans, figuring I'd pour one over his head later. But then I got the even better idea to use it on of his friends, then make him clean up the mess!"
Chad, having all but given up on escape, could see where this story was going. Derek used the paint on one of Joey's friends, followed whatever other instructions were involved, and found that is worked, however that was possible. Apparently his frustration was showing somehow, and Derek took a moment from his tale to laugh at him.
"What, you don't want to hear it? Fine, we'll just get on with this. I swear I was just getting to the interesting part."
He inspected Chad's limply standing nude body, and nodded.
"Ah, the paint seems to have dried. Good, now we can get you dressed. Good thing I prepared something earlier, or you'd have to wait even longer." He held up some clothes. They were similar to what Chad had been wearing earlier, but they were coated in the same grey paint he was. "I'll just slip these on you, yeah?"
He began manoeuvring Chad's body to slip his limbs through the sleeves of his clothes, which were still some what wet. After a few uncomfortable minutes of being manipulated like a doll, Chad was fully dressed, now looking like a completely grey version of himself. Derek stood him back up on the platform and inspected his handiwork.
"There, nice and decent again."
However Chad felt, decent was not the word for it. He was completely helpless, and had no idea what was going to happen next. Life as a miniature model? How was that even possible? A never before seen level of realism? What the heck did that mean?
"Okay, next step: apply finish. This stuff'll make your surface nice and smooth" Derek reached behind the mirror and picked up a large brush and a bucket of a clear liquid. "This'll just be a few minutes."
He quickly brushed the large glossy gel over Chad's body and clothes, before going over him again to smooth over any uneven surfaces. He left only the head uncovered. Chad looked into the mirror and saw that the dry texture of his body and clothes had been covered with a slight sheen. He was beginning to look more and more like a plastic model.
"Okay, now your head. But lets change that dopey look of yours, eh?" Derek began to gently push his fingers over Chad's face, turning his look of shock into a neutral expression. He then slightly rearranged his hair, flattening it slightly. He then brushed over Chad's deceptively calm face with a smaller brush of the glossy liquid, giving it the same look as the rest of his body. He did similar to his hair, which now resembled a somewhat greasy compressed mass instead of the spread out curls of about an hour prior.
"Just one more spot!" Derek laughed maliciously. He took the small brush and began to sweep it near Chad's eyes. Chad wished he could scream from the pain of the chemical touching his eyes, and unreleasable tears began to well up as his last vestige of control was taken from him.
"There, no more painting, for now, at least." He gave the model of Chad a punch on the arm. "Damn, was this as tiring for you as it was to me?"
"Well, there is only one thing left to do, and then we are done!" He slightly repositioned Chad on the platform and smiled. "Hold still for this part, okay?"
Chad was really getting sick of Derek's sense of humour. He saw him pull a small remote control out of his pocket and press one of the buttons. The lights that had heralded the start of this horrid experience changed to an unpleasant shade of green. Chad felt as if he were under a great deal of pressure all over his body, and the pain was unendurable. The whole world seemed to be growing around him, and it was all growing darker as his consciousness faded.
Derek looked on as the grey quarterback shrank into miniature size. Once done, he flipped the lights back to their normal setting and picked up his new collectable. It was incredibly realistic looking, but there was no way it would be recognised as Chad, at least by passive observers. He applied a drop of glue to the model's feet and stuck it to the also shrunken platform.
"Well little buddy, you still need a coat of paint, but I think you'll fit right in with the other other models at home."
Derek wondered what to do with his captive. He could keep him for his own amusement, or give him to Joey to use in his games. He could flush him down the toilet, but that seemed a waste. Maybe he could even collect more?
He placed the miniature jock into his coat pocket and started to head home.