Insignificant

There was a loud “pop” and a giggle, and Severin knew that one of his fellow prisoners had just exploded.

Severin bobbed at the end of his string, looking straight ahead—all he could do without a neck to turn his gaze—and seeing the terrified expressions of the balloons adjacent to him.

All around him, both inside his field of vision and outside, were other human balloons: once men, now inflated versions of themselves. To the casual observer, they appeared as latex toys, with the barest of human features to indicate their former shapes.

There were perhaps a score of them remaining. There had been more, but their beautiful captor had burst them. Like toy balloons. And each time, she gave a musical but unsettling giggle.

Misery loves company, Severin thought bitterly. But his helpless fellow balloons only reminded him of his failure at everything in life.

He had failed in his dream of becoming an actor. He failed at being a husband (twice). So when he was approached in the pub by this gorgeous Korean woman, he should have known he was being set up as a failure again.

She introduced herself as “Jane Hannah,” but soon admitted this was merely an Anglicised version of her Korean name, Jin Hana. Voluptuous, leggy, and having the deepest, biggest green eyes he’d ever seen, Severin foolishly allowed himself to think his life’s luck had changed.

He remembered making clumsy, awkward conversation with a woman who, he knew, would ordinarily never give him a second glance. He remembered having a drink, then two or three. Then he remembered her smiling at him as the world turned sideways.

He didn’t remember passing out on the table, nor how he got into this large storeroom, filled with other balloon-men who couldn’t resist Hana’s undeniable charm.

It infuriated him.

Not that she had betrayed him, or turned him into a balloon. That, he figured, was the price he had to pay for being a failure.

No, he was infuriated that there were others. So many others!

She would burst them all—this he knew for certain. He could either see or hear her taking sadistic pleasure each time she claimed another victim. She taunted them, toyed with them, laughed at their utter helplessness. She’d tease them with her pointed fingernail, running it over their tight, taut skin that would, moments later, explode into unrecognisable fragments.

He could face being burst by this woman. He never would have guessed that his existence would end this way, but he could face it. It would almost be a relief.

But…she probably wouldn’t even remember him!

She had so many balloons, and she had probably popped many before him. How would she remember his name, his face? She wouldn’t. She couldn’t. He was just one balloon among many. Not even significant enough to warrant a memory of his passing.

He’d seen it happen: During his days of captivity—he wasn’t sure how long, but it had been at least a few—he watched or heard her burst several of her toys en masse, each popping in quick succession. Each balloon had a face—and to each face was a name, a story. And then they were no more.

That would be Severin’s fate, and he trembled in unreleased frustration, so much that he thought he might burst of his own volition.

To her, as to the rest of the world, he was insignificant.

As he contemplated this for another innumerable hour, Hana grabbed another one of her balloon victims, holding him in front of her like a trophy she’d won at a fair.

“How about you, balloon-boy?” she cooed at her prisoner. “Are you ready to go bang for me?”

The balloon, like all the countless balloons before him, was unable to speak. So any memorable last words were also a vain hope. All the “balloon-boy” could do was stare back at his captor with a pleading look in his comically wide eyes.

She traced her pointed fingernail along his globular surface. For several agonising seconds, she glided her fingernail over his fragile skin, occasionally looking him in the eyes and giving him a mocking smile.

Her fingernail slowly, imperceptively pushed into the balloon’s midsection.

The other balloons could only watch and wait. They couldn’t turn away. They couldn’t cover their ears. The suspense…was almost…as terrible…as…

BANG!

Even though they were expecting it, the explosion still made every balloon wince and tremble in surprise or fear.

The sound was immediately followed by Hana’s gleeful laugh, a laugh that would ordinarily make men smile but now carried an air of sinister foreboding.

Severin watched Hana’s bounteous chest heave with laughter. He had no fear at that moment, just a deep, unquenchable pining.

At least she paid him some attention before she popped him, he thought. Maybe she would give the same to me. Maybe she’d look me in the eye. Acknowledge me.

A moment after the thought entered his head, he watched as Hana thrust her fingernail into another balloon, causing him to go BANG!

And then she popped another. BANG! And another! BANG!

Severin realised that she was on another popping spree. He’d seen it before: She’d work herself into a frenzy and pop several balloons at once. Worse…the bangs were closer and closer to him.

Three balloons to his right: BANG!

Two balloons: BANG!

The balloon directly beside him: BANG!

She was now so close that he could smell her perfume. When he popped, would he feel her fingernail, or would it be too quick? Would it hurt when she pierced his skin? Would he feel himself burst?

All he knew is that he wasn’t the first balloon, and he probably wouldn’t be the last. He was just one balloon. A balloon that would be burst into fragments, which would comingle with all the others on the storeroom floor.

An insignificant balloon, facing an insignificant extinction.

But…it didn’t come. Hana had stopped short just before reaching Severin. Her popping frenzy had ended…for the moment.

She turned away, and Severin was blessed with the view of her perfectly round, tightly packaged ass as she walked away from him. He was both relieved that she had spared him, yet disturbed that his torture had only been prolonged.

He floated there, taking in the sight of several other bobbing balloon-men around him. And then Jin Hana came back into view.

She was carrying a small, electric air pump.

To his surprise, he found himself praying it was for him. Hana’s hand came toward him.

Me, me, ME!

But her hand passed right by him, grabbing a balloon from behind him. Severin was bounced out of the way as she pulled the other one forward, pushing Severin aside like he was a passing nuisance.

She smiled evilly at the balloon she held. “I think you could be much bigger,” she told him, though it was clear that he could not.

As Severin watched in silent suffering, Hana tied her toy to the nozzle and turned on the pump. The loud buzz of the engine filled the room as the air filled her balloon. Hana smiled brightly. The balloon-man grew larger, swelling up much tighter. She put her hand on him to feel his expansion under her palm.

“Getting bigger,” she murmured, barely audible over the pump’s engine, though Severin could hear her perfectly.

Again, there was a long, extended moment where Severin could only watch until…

BANG! Hana’s balloon exploded in front of her.

She reached for another balloon. Again, it wasn’t Severin, who could only inwardly moan. He watched as balloon after balloon burst in front of him, either from her nails, or from being overinflated by her pump, or squeezed against her bosom. Severin’s internal agony was excruciating.

But why did it matter? Shouldn’t he be glad he’s not the next victim? Maybe he’d survive long enough for help to arrive. Maybe she’d ignore him for days, and by that time—

Jin Hana grabbed his string and pulled him closer.

Finally, he thought.

As she placed him on her electric pump, the full weight of his predicament flooded into him, like the air that was now stretching his already-taut body.

So this is it, he thought. Just another balloon for her to burst. Not the first nor last, just another unmemorable balloon among many.

She looked at him and smiled as he grew bigger.

He looked back at her. For that blissful moment, he’d have her full attention. She would notice him. And as final images go, her flawless face was a pleasant final view.

As he grew larger, his midsection pressed against her full breasts. He allowed himself a moment of ecstasy to blend with his fear, and then overpower it. Paradoxically, as grew fuller and closer to his imminent bursting, his fear subsided, replaced by a sense of acceptance and contentment.

He felt her place her hands on him as he expanded beneath her touch. She felt his skin stretching and stretching, growing tighter and thinner…

He looked into her beautiful face. Inwardly he pleaded, Remember me!

I’m not just another balloon!

I matter!

Just then, he heard a jingle from behind Hana, who turned her head and pulled out a cell phone from her back pocket.

No! Are you kidding me?!

“Well, hi!” Hana exclaimed into her phone. “I haven’t heard from you for a while!” She paused. “No, I’m not really doing anything important right now.”

Nothing important?! Severin silently screamed. You’re about to pop me! Put down the phone and watch!

But his silent pleas went only to the back of Hana’s head as she continued to talk into her phone. The pump hummed on, pouring more air into Severin’s fragile, shaking balloon body.

Stop the pump!

Hana giggled in response to something from the phone. Her head was still turned.

Notice me!

“Oh, you have to tell me all about that!” Hana told her friend.

Turn around! Please!

The pump hummed on. Severin felt himself reach his absolute limit, but the air kept flooding into him. It was going to happen. He could feel it. Soon. Very soon!

Hana laughed again into the phone.

Please look at—

BANG! Hana let out a surprised yelp and turned around to see the last of the balloon fragments hit the floor, her air pump shooting air into the vacant, empty space above it.

“Sorry,” Hana apologized to her phone. “Forgot what I was doing. You were saying...?”