Finding Armpit Freedom

She had been at it for days, and the sun was beginning to set. She had forgotten about food, water, and sleep. She just wanted to finish. It had started out as a small drawing, really nothing more than a few lines in her notebook. She’d been doodling one evening as she waited for something—she didn’t recall what—when she’d gotten the idea for an illustration of an armpit hair piece. It had taken her almost a year to figure out how to make it work, but when she finally did, she couldn’t stop creating designs based on pits and their hair. She’d already made four other pieces, but this one… this was special.

She would need to find someone to wear it tomorrow. That was the hard part—finding someone willing to let her wedge herself under their arm pit while they wore her creation around town. No one had seen her designs yet except her mother, who thought they were “weird” but bought them anyway because of how much money they saved on art supplies. The only other people who knew about them were the girls at school who saw her running home from class every day with a new design scribbled in her notebook or crumpled up in her backpack. They didn’t know why she was always so sweaty and red-faced when she returned home, but they figured it must be something bad if it was making her cry so often. Their curiosity had nearly killed them, but no one ever confronted her about what she was doing and that suited Sarah just fine.

It took another hour for Sarah to get the ink exactly right, then another hour for all the little hairs to be in place. Finally finished with that piece, she got up off the floor and stretched her back. Her legs were cramping from sitting on the hardwood floor all day and night, but she didn’t care; she was proud of what she’d done today and couldn’t wait to show it off tomorrow afternoon at school if everything went according to plan.

She looked down at all of the drawings spread around the room—drawings of armpits and their hair in various shapes and styles laid over top of other pieces of clothing or accessories she had made earlier in the summer. This was not just some random hobby—it was an obsession that began after Sarah discovered a photo album belonging to her great grandmother at a garage sale last year while staying with relatives while her parents were away on vacation. In it were pictures from 1910 through 1940 of Sarah’s great grandmother modeling fashions from Parisian designers like Coco Chanel--who seemed obsessed with armpits themselves--and Elsa Schiaparelli of Dali dress fame--who famously altered skirts so that they exposed the wearer's armpits (although this habit later earned Schiaparelli such a nasty case of dermatitis that she retired from fashion).

On a whim one day after looking through that album again and again, Sarah decided to try out some of those looks for herself using some scraps from her mom's sewing room. The first outfit had involved hot glueing tufts of cotton balls into what looked like two hairy pits sewn onto a sheer blouse with long sleeves that ended in fake armpit hairs poking out beyond the tips of the sleeves. It wasn't until Emma Kirkbright mockingly pointed out that it looked like Sarah had glued pit stains onto herself that Sarah's obsession took root in earnest. Emma advised her not to do anything stupid or gross because no one else would ever want to be friends with someone who dresses like an idiot (except Emma ended up being Sarah's first friend ever).

Sarah spent most of the rest of the summer experimenting with materials and finding ways to get creative without having access to any proper artistic tools or supplies (unlike Emma's older sister Olivia who could draw anything perfectly using only colored pencils). If Olivia only knew how many pencils Sarah ruined trying to draw realistic representations of pit hair! Or how many times she'd used up all her colored pencils trying figure out a way to draw hair onto clothes without having access to thread! Or how many hours total she'd spent staring at photos online looking for inspiration! All that time wasted! And now here she was with four different designs completed and waiting for someone brave enough to wear them publicly so others could see them as well!

Finally finished admiring what she'd accomplished thus far, Sarah grabbed up all of the papers strewn around the room before deciding to go take a quick shower before bed (and before going through everything one more time while it was fresh in mind). As soon as she turned on the water however, there was a knock at the door downstairs followed by several loud noises like footsteps clattering down stairs before suddenly stopping just outside her bedroom door upstairs which sent chills running up and down Sarah's spine as goosebumps popped up all over her flesh causing even more hairs than usual sticking out above each armpit thicker than usual if possible (which caused Emma Kirkbright's sister Olivia when seeing this once during gym class said “What is wrong with you?! You look gross! You can skip P.E., though—I'm sure Mr. Smith won't mind---and go straight home after school tomorrow instead").

As if by reflex once this thought entered Sarah's head (which actually wasn't true since Mr. Smith preferred not skipping P.E.), Sarah panicked and ran into her bathroom shutting off every light before scurrying over behind where there should have been walls separating both rooms but instead found large windows looking out over trees across an open field instead thanks to freak tornado weather last month which destroyed several houses including hers which hadn't been repaired yet hence why nobody else could see inside except whoever just knocked on your fucking front door downstairs you dumbass!