Porcelain: A Novelette

By Kaylee Vernice Long

As you take a step, a crack slithers up the glass floor, forcing you to hesitate to step again. You realize, however, it's not the floor that's made of glass, but it's your own feet. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: A Greater Destiny
• Release date: Aug 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088233467

Book preview

Glass

What if the whole world was made of glass? Would you watch your step or would you carelessly stride across it like it was stone? That’s the first thing I noticed when I came to life on March 25th — when I took a step on the floor for the first time. Porcelain glass clinked on each step, making me wonder when the floor would shatter under my feet. But as I took wobbly steps to the other side of the workshop, a sudden realization hit me. 

It wasn’t the floor that was made of glass. 

It was me. 

The Professor was proud of me, but I was fragile. I guess that is what happens when you are built to be a demonstration — not a living, breathing being like my Professor is. He called me an automaton — a beautiful precious thing. I didn’t much appreciate sitting there at the table, staring up at him as he slipped the tiny cotton dress over my smooth porcelain body. Sometimes, he would carelessly leave me lying there and walk away to return home, leaving me helpless in the dark. 

I wanted to walk like him, his strong steps across the floor. That’s why I was especially excited when I overheard him telling someone that I would be a walking automaton — something not all of us special dolls got the opportunity to do. Others, he would say, could dance, write, draw, play an instrument — anything you can imagine!. 

I wanted to walk. 

Now this was my chance. I only remember so much of his work on me, but once he wrapped his fingers around the key in my back, I felt my body churn with energy. He put me down and then — slowly and carefully — I took a step. My foot clinked on the floor and I cringed in hopes that the next step wouldn’t shatter it. But as I slowly took the next step, then the next, I no longer cared. I was walking! One step after another, my arms moved at my sides, each step clinking, and suddenly I was at the door. I made it, I walked all the way here. With a smile on my face, I turned to him. He had just as big of a smile as he picked me up in his big, wide hands. 

Good girl, he whispered as he stroked my smooth head. 

Although the moment was beautiful, once he found I could walk and work properly, he placed me on a shelf next to a dusty automaton and left, leaving me in the dark once again. The dusty automaton’s squeaking key on her box slowly turned as she looked at me, her eyes squinted at me. 

You’ve come a long way just to end up on a shelf, she croaked, her voice low and scratchy. 

I shook my head. Don’t worry. I will walk again. 

You already proved your worth, she responded, turning further towards me. He’s only going to use you when he’s demonstrating you. Once you are bought, you will be placed on another shelf to gather dust. After so many years on your dusty shelf, your owner may look at you and think they need to send you off to some thrift shop. It goes even further downhill from there. Eventually, you just stop working. Yes, your hinges become rusty, your glass becomes caked in dust and the gears deep inside you will simply… fall apart. And you’ll find yourself sitting on a shelf, knowing you will never be fixed again. It’s just how life works for us automatons. 

Sitting on a shelf, rusting? 

Is my worth just to sit on a shelf and gather dust? I asked.

Your worth on a shelf is to be looked upon, not played with. The more that key is turned, the more likely you are to break down, so most owners prefer just admiring. 

I looked at the dark door where the Professor left, thinking of how he could possibly