Picture by ootsuki momiji

Jim groaned as he felt the girl climb into him, her full weight pressing his wheels deep onto the tile floor. Her soft, warm body sat on his cold, metal grating, a nice contrast that Jim enjoyed without wanting to. "Why couldn't people just use shopping carts properly anymore?" He thought before the irony of his situation reminded him that he wasn't anyone to talk. It had been a few months since Trader Flo's newest shopping cart was made out of Jim's body and mind but he still had hope that one day, his debts would be paid.

Jim and his buddies had decided one day to be the average reckless mid-20s douchebags and thought loitering and vandalizing the newest store in town would be a great way to spend an afternoon. After the two new initiates, Liam and Henry, had seemingly skipped town instead of facing the music of their failures, the frat decided to mess with the store themselves. Groping the bunny girl cutout advert on the way in, they started their reign of chaos, unknowingly sealing their fates.

The group split up to cause the most havoc possible. Some went ahead and toppled stacked displays while others decided that bathrooms were too 'un-graffitied' and wanted to remedy that situation. Jim, on the other hand, decided to play around with the carts as his friend recorded him. He climbed into the cart and pushed himself off the nearest shelf, yelling as he did so until he crashed into a plate glass window, shattering it and causing the cart to buckle under the stress.

"What the hell is going on here!" An attractive woman in a security uniform stomped over, seizing both of the boys by their collars and dragging them to the office. "Sorry," Jim said insincerely, "Just messing around." "Too late for apologies, I'm sick of you lot trashing my store," she scolded. "Go ahead, call the cops," Jim replied smugly, "My dad will have me out of there before sunset, and he'll have your job." "No need for cops," the officer smiled maliciously, finally striking fear into both unrepenting boys, "Not when you can simply replace what was broken."

Jim's friend stood up but his eyes showed his body wasn't under his control. His arms and legs splayed like the Vitruvian man as his body started to flatten. His entire body grew thin, losing all color as it did so until he was mostly transparent. Within only seconds, Jim watched as his friend had been reduced to a sheet of glass, not unlike the one he had broken. "That's the window," she said, turning towards Jim, "Now, for the cart."

"Please!" Jim pleaded, "My father! He's very rich! He'll pay you anything you want!" The woman just chuckled as Jim's body was overtaken by a magical energy. He was forced onto all fours but with his back to the ground instead of his chest. His torso started to cave inwards, creating a large cavity as his neck became the back gate of a shopping cart. His hands and feet balled up, turning into discs as his limbs attached to them with individual bearings. His body, now a silvery metal, grew larger until it could fit the standard amount of product. He stared on in horror at his body, tears in his eyes, before his head grew thinner and wider, becoming a handlebar to be used to push around his mechanical body.

"I'll send in another employee to put you both in your proper places," she told the two objects coldly, "There are a few boys in the bathrooms who are begging to become the graffiti on the walls they're making." And with that, she left the two to stew in their new bodies. Jim was pushed out of the office and unceremoniously slammed into a row of other carts identical to his. He watched from his cage as his friend was lifted into the window socket and sealed to the sides, fully repairing the damage the two had done. Jim could only whimper as he heard the commotion of the crowds who were unknowingly walking by him.