Cherlyn Becomes Cherry

Kobe did not stop there, her fingers exploring Cherlyn's body while she was restrained, pinching her buttocks and her belly too so that a sharp rise of blood leapt to the abused spot. Cherlyn yelled and landed half a kick to Kobe's shoulder, but the woman laughed and brushed it off as if she did not feel it at all.

They put her down, though Cherlyn had nowhere to go, turning in a circle and trying to cover herself still, though Kobe poked at her sides, mocking her "love handles". Cherlyn bristled. What? She didn't have anything like that! And yet Kobe found every tiny bit of fat on her body as if it was all there to be examined, as if under a microscope, every tiny imperfection, from the way one hip bone stuck out a little more than the other to how the fat in her cheeks didn't sit quite right. Without makeup, the contours of her face were all wrong, not allowing her any of her usually smoothly dramatic flair, what Cherlyn was most used to presenting to the world.

"Go on, try to stop us, silly Cherry," Kobe goaded her on, skipping out of reach as Cherlyn tried to lunge after her while still covering up her body. "What's after her flat feet, Viviana? Maybe her squishy calves, how big they are -- and there isn't even any real muscle in there! What about the freckles on her shoulders? She looks like she's been splattered with paint!"

Viviana wrinkled up her nose less than delicately, but there was no need to be delicate at all with or around Cherlyn.

"Ugh, it would have been an improvement if she had been painted... She'd pass for a child if not for how old she looks, those disgusting crow's feet. You should have those taken care of, Cherry, or else you'll never get anywhere in life."

Cherlyn growled and snapped back.

"Once again, I am not Cherry -- I am Cherlyn. Do you have some difficulty saying my name or something? Give me my clothes back right now! I'm not doing this anymore; all of this is insane! I didn't come in here for the free humiliation, you know!"

Viviana turned a page to the last of her chart, lips moving as if she had not heard a single word that Cherlyn had said at all.

"Wrinkles everywhere, sagging skin... You should have been better to yourself when you were much, much younger, Cherry, then maybe you would still be worth something. This is all going to be so hard to work with -- look, actually take a good look at yourself in the mirror and you'll see what we see. It's a wonder that you haven't seen yourself properly before, but not all that surprising with all that makeup caked on. You had to hide it somehow, Cherry, but it's misleading to the rest of us when you're so ugly underneath."

A full body mirror was shoved in front of her and Cherlyn gasped. She might have seen herself at a distance before, in the background mirror that had been behind her tormentors, but the narrower mirror, intended for trying on clothes, had lights around it too, like a makeup mirror, magnifying everything. Yet like a makeup mirror, it had the effect of enhancing every imperfection, every pore rendered huge and gaping, her fat looking fatter, fat that she had not even thought was there.

Forgetting her nudity, Cherlyn grabbed the mirror with a whimper, heart sinking and turning over multiple times. Was that really what she looked like? She was old without everything on her face, everything that she had taken great care with to maintain her looks and appearances, yet she was nothing without everything that she had used to enhance herself. Ginger hair would not have been bad on its own, but it was thin and clinging to her scalp, smeared with the cream, looking herself up and down to the lines of her body that were nowhere near as clean nor as smooth as they had once been. It was as if the person that Cherlyn had been forced into another body entirely, one that she did not recognise.

Flanking her on either side, Viviana and Kobe helped her see her faults, though they didn't go from head to toe and merely chose their favourite ones.

"Those ridiculous monkey ears, Cherry," Kobe mocked. "You could catch a flight with those! And your hearing has been ridiculously dull the whole time, it's crazy that your ears are so big when you're just not listening to anyone. Your skin has hardly seen the sun, let alone a real tan, you look so pale, wan... You really look unhealthy, Cherry. Is that really the image you want to present?"

Cherlyn squirmed and opened her mouth, but Viviana was quick to step in.

"Your nose isn't cute anymore too, I don't know who you paid off to make it look as cute as a button in all that shoots, you could give a wicked witch a run for her money! But your lips...ugh... I can't imagine what I would do if I had lips like that. And what a ridiculous double chin on you, no wonder you had so much makeup slathered on, it took forever to wash you -- that's what the ladies tell me!"

Of course, Lafawna and Lorel weren't going to deny that, standing back to allow Viviana to do her most cruel of work, pointing out her tiny feet, her flat feet, the myriad of freckles in places that Cherlyn had never seen in years, spreading down her back and her butt. Even her thighs were thicker than they had been before, no longer toned, flab rubbing together even though the sagging skin there was merely an effect of ageing.

"Fuck you," Cherlyn spat as Viviana grabbed her ear and twisted it, managing, for once, to swat her away. "Pointing out all my imperfections like you're so perfect. How many grey hairs do you think I would find in that dyed mop of yours if I looked?"

Viviana's eyes gleamed.

"Ohhhh, well, we can check if you like, Cherry!"

Kobe grabbed her head, helping Viviana to comb too roughly through her ginger hair, thickly clumping together where the cream had not yet sunk in, though it was likely not designed to.

"Aha! See!" Kobe pulled back triumphantly, a tweezer in her hand and a look of victory on her face. "A grey hair! Oh, Cherry... Ageing has done a number on you, hasn't it?"

They grabbed her hair, wrenching her back and forth, yet Cherlyn never once dropped the mirror, as if holding onto it was a lifeline that she had to cling onto at all costs. Once they knew she had grey hairs, they were relentless, pulling her to the side to pluck them out, all while Cherlyn stared back at her own horrified eyes in the mirror, wishing that it would all stop.

She was the only one who could make it stop, yet it was quite as if every last little modicum of her power had been stripped from her with her beauty, no longer sure of her footing, even if fury boiled in the pit of her stomach. It was there that it seared and lashed out, not knowing where to aim itself, but Cherlyn still knew that she had to do something, had to fight back, had to push back at them at all costs.

She couldn't let herself be taken advantage of again.

Viviana held up the grey hairs next to her head, grinning from ear to ear, as Seb leaned in with his camera.

"Pinchy!"

Cherlyn jumped, shocked, lowering the mirror a little. The camera flash hadn't gone off yet, however, and they had merely been waiting for their next best chance, their opportunity. As quick as a flash, Viviana and Kobe pinched her nipples hard, grinning wildly, though their smiles did not hide their shrieks of glee in:

"Pinchy-pinchy!"

Cherlyn screamed, dropping the mirror. She almost didn't register the glass shattering into a thousand pieces before her, flying across the floor, only the pain lancing through her chest as she ripped herself away.

Viviana only tutted, clicking her tongue disapprovingly against the roof of her mouth.

"Ohhhh, that's seven years of bad luck for you now, Cherry. Too bad, so sad."

Seb grinned, stepping forward to show Viviana and Kobe the photos he had taken on the back of his digital camera.

"Look at these... I got some excellent shots of her flat chest! Even caught the mirror mid-fall! You can't just make expressions like that happen to a flat-chest flat-foot bimbo like that!"

"Bimbo?" Kobe laughed and scoffed. "Please, she's as dumb as a bag of rocks, but you've got to have some looks to be a bimbo. Cherry's just dumb and ugly, what more is there to say?"

Cherlyn scowled and rubbed her chest, stepping back, her gaze sliding away to the door, but, of course, it was blocked by Lafawna and Lorel, their arms crossed, standing there as if they were bouncers.

"You fuckers," she hissed through her teeth. "Delete those pictures immediately and perhaps I won't sue you! You have no right to treat me as you have! No goddamn right at all!"

"Oh, the bitch still has a foul mouth on her," Seb said dismissively. "But look how hard her nipples are in this shot, you can really see it, even through the camera."

Viviana smiled, almost purring.

"You are a master at what you do, Seb. No one else could have captured the horror and humiliation in the silly girl's face like you have, bravo, really, bravo."

Cherlyn gasped, red in the face, anger returning, the fury of being treated as if she was nothing to them boiling over, straining and bubbling like a pot brought too quickly to the boil to be free. Yet her words were cut across by Viviana brushing past her, saying something about the styles all being planned out already, that America will get the best chance to finally see the true Cherry, who she truly is.

"I'm not going anywhere looking like this," Cherry growled, drawing her small frame up as tall as she could, though that was not saying very much at all. "This isn't right and you're not treating me as a person, least of all who I am! Sometimes I even wonder if you know who I am!"

Viviana scoffed.

"Oh, hush now, silly girl. Don't you see the grown-ups are talking? Does anyone have an idea for our sour cherry? We need to do the reveal show, of course, but the outfits must fit the scenes..."

"Oh!" Kobe grinned, clapping her hands together. "Maybe they can have her be wheeled out and jump out of a giant cream pie! All naked, showing off her real body!"

Seb frowned and shook his head.

"With all that cream flying through the air, splattering... No, it is hardly a good photo op, not one that will preserve my equipment, at least. What about having her in a nineties outfit, crop-top and neon, but everything's cut out to make sure her body is on show? She must sing, of course, but who knows if even her voice is going to be the same after all those hiccups the doctor recorded..."

Viviana nodded along while Cherlyn gaped.

"Yes, that's a good point, Seb. There's lots we can do, but we must make sure, of course, that it is televised worldwide, that it hits all the major news channels after the watershed. I'd love to see the little girl in pigtails, perhaps dressed up like the brat she is. I don't think there's a skirt in wardrobe long enough to cover her fat backside though, even if there is a poofy one, like from Alice in Wonderland..."

But Cherlyn could not have that. They spoke about her as if she was not there and she snapped. She'd been holding back for so long, even though she'd protested and tried to stop them, each time, from overpowering her, but she could not stop the rage. They would not take her and use her like that -- enough was enough! She'd wanted to do a show to show everyone what she was worth, but being crushed down into the dirt under their might and overpowering domination... Well, that wasn't what she'd signed up for! She hadn't signed up to be squashed to a larger woman's breasts, to be restrained and controlled, for them to tower while they pushed and prodded and pulled her and forced her to undergo humiliating physical examinations.

"You arseholes!" She screamed, her voice reaching a pitch that was painful to the ears. "You fucking idiots! What the hell do you think you're doing? You can't do this to me and I'm going to goddamn show you right now! I'm Cherlyn -- not Cherry! And I don't take orders from dickheads and I'm sure as hell not going to do anything more that you think you can push me into! You're not the fucking boss of me -- argh!"

She howled, for she had been stomping around before them, flailing her hands in the air, but had forgotten that her feet her bare. The broken glass, thankfully not a huge shard, sliced into the side of her foot without sinking in, bright red blood spilling, though it could have been a lot worse than it was.

That did not stop her from screeching, hopping around on one foot, trying with all her might to keep her other foot up off the ground, though that was a difficult endeavour, wobbling as if her balance too had been thrown off after so much abuse through the day so far. Gasping and choking on frantic sobs, she whimpered and made an odd, strangled, hooting sound, their peals of laughter ringing in her ears.

"Ohhh," Viviana howled, bent over, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes. "That's the best thing I've seen all week! She looks just like a monkey, all flailing and gangly, like she can't even stay up on her feet civilised, not like us! Dance for us, monkey -- dance, monkey, dance!"

Kobe and Seb joined her, clapping their hands and chanting, though it was tricky for even them to chant, eyes streaming with tears, though they were merely from enjoying the show so much.

"Dance, monkey, dance! Dance, monkey, dance!"

They chanted and clapped and stomped their feet, though Cherlyn's tear-filled eyes had turned, already, to a new woman -- well, not a new woman to her.

Nathalie. Her expression soured, too caught up to even be glad that the blood had stopped streaming from her foot, that it was no longer as painful, stopping quickly. Of course, it had to be perfect, pretty Nathalie, looking like a million bucks, as if she had just been professionally made up. Naturally, she was a tall, statuesque beauty with a strong tan that boasted her good health, a smile on her perfect, red lips that promised trouble.

Cherlyn's heart sank. Had Nathalie found out that she was being replaced? Well, it had been in Gossip Magazine, so who knew what was going on there, what had been said behind the scenes as to the reasoning. Cherlyn hadn't given much thought to the woman she was replacing, casting her from her mind the moment she had agreed to take on the role, yet she could never have anticipated just how far Nathalie would go to crush and humiliate the woman who had taken her spot.

Only then did Cherlyn realise how close to Nathalie Viviana was in body type and shape, as if the two of them had been cut from the same cloth. Nathalie's hair was longer and fuller, of course, much more like the hair that Cherlyn had had before, but the uncanny resemblance between them was impossible to miss, even the little mannerisms and throwaways in Viviana's voice that had reminded her of Nathalie. Or, at least, what she knew of Nathalie. They'd never been close friends, not like that... Only for what the cameras needed them to do.

"Well, well, I didn't think you'd all get on with the show so quickly without me."

Grinning widely, Nathalie clapped, pushing her sunglasses up out of her face, though she was not the kind of woman who would ever have had to hide her eyes in any way. She was too gorgeous, her lashes thick and full, to do that.

"You guys have done a fan-tastic job," she said, emphasising the syllables, though she ran the latter two together as if they were one. "I didn't think you'd get her like this so quickly! But this is a much better look on you, Cherry, especially if you're going to be the silly girl to take my place. I just didn't expect them to turn you all the way down into some kind of alien... Or maybe a chimp. You were dancing about like a monkey that someone had trained for a circus!"

Viviana laughed and waved her hand, though she blushed at the compliment.

"Oh, Nathalie, don't you worry... I had far, far more to work with than I could ever have imagined! Did you see how flat her feet are? I mean, her flat chest is already obvious, isn't it, you can't miss it...but there is a birthmark here and another stretch mark on her hip... There's so much we can accentuate!"

Cherlyn rushed hurriedly, although it was too late already, to cover herself up, though Kobe grabbed her by the shoulders, turning her for their attention, once again. They showed off her body to Nathalie, though there was not much left of her at all to be shown off, her saggy bits and loose bits of skin all on show, as if it had been a crime for Cherlyn to cover up in the first place.

"And the hair... Look how thin and wispy it is! She was never going to surpass you anyway, Nathalie, it's going to be a sure win to get you back."

Nathalie smiled, though the light of it did not reach her eyes, cold and unfeeling as she looked over Cherlyn's naked body with a distinct sense of dispassion. It was quite as if Cherlyn had never registered on her radar before, not when she had been nothing to her, nothing of a threat, just a stupid woman that she had had to deal with from time to time.

But, at least for them, the time had well enough come to take Cherlyn down a peg or two or three... Brats didn't always get their way, regardless of what Cherlyn thought about her own attitude. But that was no longer for Cherlyn to decide.

Cherlyn took a half-step back, jaw dropping, blood roaring in her ears, heart pounding, its dull thud filling her senses. Although she covered what little was left of her modesty, she panted through an open mouth, not getting enough air into her lungs, stress getting the better of her, heaving and trying to calm herself, though it was all becoming clear.

Nathalie... She was behind it, or that and her cronies were, all of them, they were all trying to humiliate her. They were all trying to make her look bad, as if she was dull and incompetent and most certainly nowhere near enough as groomed as she usually was! She tried to say something, but all that came from her lips was a strangled kind of gargle, every head there turning inquisitively towards her. But they were not interested in what she had to say. All she had to do was to be there, to play her humiliating part to the very end.

"I can't believe your husband is okay with you looking like that," Nathalie scoffed cruelly, pushing her glasses back into place as if she could not stand the blaring glare of Cherlyn's too pale skin for a single moment longer. "You look like a drowned rat, something that has just been dragged up from the sewers. I wouldn't let you in my house looking like that -- and your husband is the one that has to sleep with you too? Maybe I should drop him a line sometime, hm? Poor guy probably needs a good night, if you know what I mean..."

Cherlyn growled, balling her hands up into fists, though she was not brave enough to advance, cautious of her foot, despite the racing of her heartbeat.

"You'll stay away from him if you know what's good for you, whore..."

"Ooooh, so she does have a voice. Fancy that!"

Nathalie threw her head back and laughed in a flash of perfect white teeth.

"Shame for you then, Cherry, that the man is no longer yours. Isn't that right, Viviana?"

Viviana nodded, having already slid Cherlyn's rings onto her own fingers -- just for safekeeping, of course. Those would go to the mastermind behind everything, taking her dues and her prize from Cherlyn at the crux of it all.

"Yes! She's already totally unmarried, all official and everything. Nothing to worry about there."

Sliding the rings off her fingers, she made a flourish of the moment, letting the light catch them, Cherlyn's eyes following them the whole way as if they could not be ripped away. Before Cherlyn's eyes, her prized, treasured rings were tossed to Nathalie, flashing through the air, though Cherlyn hesitated for just a moment, her hands on her breasts, not wanting to uncover them.

Yet she had to, had to try, especially as Nathalie caught them in her hands, smirking widely, a flash of triumph in her eyes that could not be concealed even by her dark shades.