The Wax Dummy Karin Chandler
She always smiled. You never saw her not smiling. A wax dummy. A wax dummy doesn’t smile. How did she turn into a wax dummy that doesn’t smile? How did she turn into a wax dummy that doesn’t resemble her in any way? With the red dress on, a bridesmaid’s dress to be exact, and flowers underneath her carefully laid out hands. She was supposed to be a bridesmaid. She was supposed to be a bridesmaid in her brother’s wedding with her two sisters. She was supposed to be at the rehearsal dinner. She was supposed to be there, but she wasn’t. I wonder if she felt anything; perhaps the sharp pain of the car smashing head on? Herself being ejected from the back seat, right before dying instantly on impact? Did she hear her sisters dying with her? Were they screaming? Did they even make a sound? What did the people in the other car feel? They all survived. They didn’t become wax dummies. Why didn’t she survive? She didn’t wear her seat belt. Why didn’t she wear her seat belt? She didn’t wear her seat belt because the thought of being strangled terrified her. Yet, it’s strange that she was more terrified of being strangled, than of being ejected from her seat. I wonder if she would still be alive if she wore her seat belt? Maybe not, but I still wonder. She used to sit next to me. She used to be my friend. She used to play clarinet. She used to talk like everybody else. Now she doesn’t. She is trapped inside a wax dummy, unable to escape. You might see her standing in the hallway. Just standing there, staring at you. Staring at you, hoping that you won’t forget, just hoping that all her memories are not lost. Not lost within the wax dummy. The last time I saw her, she was standing outside the classroom. Then it was winter break. My mom woke me up early in the morning and showed the front page of the newspaper. I didn’t believe it. I doubted the truth for weeks. However, it all became true when I entered the school after winter break. We had discussions in class and didn’t do much of anything. In band, we left a chair empty. For our concert, we played “Childhood Hymn” in remembrance. This was in seventh grade. We also played the song again our senior year of high school. Her parents sat in the audience.
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