Chapter
1 – Dolls Just like Me
Parents are supposed to take care
of their children and the ones that don’t are considered some of the worst people
in the world. Elena was raised by an abusive family before a fire destroyed her
home. She was then adopted by a better family who treats her better. On one day,
she did something that she wasn’t supposed to and was about to be scolded by
her family. Fearing being hit or yelled out again, she runs away from home and
into the woods. In the woods, she finds what appears to be an empty mansion
that she goes into. The door behind her closes. She tries to open it but is unable
to. When she turns around, she sees young dolls like her that come out of the
darkness, though these dolls have cracks in their shells.
“Who-who are you?” Elena asks.
A single girl walks out from the
crowd with a maid outfit and a headwrap that makes it look like she has cat
ears.
“My name is Mia and you look like
you’re one of us.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you have a mom and dad who hate
you?”
“Not exactly. I mean I did, but my
new family is nicer.”
“That can’t be true if you ran away
from them.”
“Um. I don’t know about that.”
“Then why did you run away?”
“Because I didn’t want to be hurt
or scolded at again, even though I think I may have deserved it. Is there a way
out of here?”
“There is, but an adult is
preventing us from leaving. The first floor is the only safe place with
many of us trying day in and day out to get to the third floor to get the adult
and its lapdog to break the spell on this place. You can help if you want. It
is dangerous because of all the traps that were set for us.”
“Um. I don’t think I can do it. I’m
not a very brave person.”
The crowd of young dolls disperses
as they go back to what they were doing.
“That’s fine. You can make yourself
home with us. We’re all friends here so there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
Elena is hesitant to do anything as
she looks around then outside the windows hoping that someone will open the
door from the outside. Mia approaches her and holds out her hand.
“Come on. I’ll show you around.
What’s your name?”
“Elena.”
“Well, Elena. It’s nice to meet
you.”
“Um. It’s nice to meet you too.”
“You can take my hand. Haha, I won’t
bite.”
Feeling a little pressured and uncertain
of what to do, Elena takes Mia’s hand. Mia smiles a comforting smile to Elena,
and she returns the smile while feeling a bit uneasy about the slight coldness
in Mia’s hand. Mia leads Elena to a dining hall with plates of food and cups of
drinks floating in the air. The flying tableware flies from the kitchen back to
it when the food and drinks are finished as a continuous supply of food is put
on a long table for all the dolls to enjoy.
Amazed by what she’s seeing, Elena says,
“Wow! There’s so much food flying around!”
“We were able to steal some of the
magic from the adult to make this happen. Pretty neat, ain’t it? It’s an infinite
supply of food. We desperately need it because of how long we’ve been stuck
here and because we don’t know how much longer we’re going to stay.”
“Hm.”
“Do you want to eat anything?”
“I’m okay.”
Mia then leads Elena to a large outdoor
area where the dolls are playing with stuffed animals and toys that have come
to life to play with them. With Elena’s hand still in hers, Mia takes her to
play with the animals.
“Woah, hey!”
“Come on, this is going to be fun!”
The two fly through the air and
through an obstacle course before landing on the ground.
“I bet you’ve never done anything like
that before. Wasn’t that fun?”
“Yeah, it was.”
“Unfortunately, we can’t fly out of
here, use the toys to help us with the toys, or bust out of here with the toys.
I wish I could say everything is fun and games down here, but…I’ll just have to
show you.”
Mia takes Elena to the bedrooms
that double as the medical room.
“The dolls who try to make it
through the traps and fail end up here. You can see the terrible things that
might happen to you here. I’m sorry if this scares you. It’s a good thing us
dolls don’t die unless each piece of us shatters, isn’t it?”
“Yeah…”
“So, this is it. Most of us just stay
down here and wait for someone to beat all the traps and set us free.”
“I’ll help.”
“Really? You will? I thought a
sight like this would’ve made you too scared to.”
“It’s better than doing nothing.
Besides, I can’t stand to look at people in pain and do nothing. It’s part of
the reason why I got in trouble.”
“Then you didn’t do anything wrong
and your parents were going to scold you for no good reason.”
“I guess.”
“I’ll lead you to the first floor
since this floor has traps too.”
“It does?”
“Not in our safe area, but the area
that leads to the stairs has traps. We’ve pretty much figured out everything
about it, so we know how to safely get passed them. The traps on the other
floors are more difficult and unpredictable though.”
“Oh.”
“You won’t be on your own though.
There should be other people on the other floors that will help you.”
“Okay. Can you let go of my hand
now?”
“For now, I can, but I’ll need to
hold onto your hand for the next room.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ll see.”
Mia leads Elena to a hallway with
many doors and a floor with different colors and symbols on the tiles.
“Do you see how the tiles on the
floor have different colors and symbols?” Mia asks.
“Yes,” Elena answers.
“It may look confusing, but it’s
simple. Can you guess what we have to do?”
“Uh. Ummm. Does it have something
to do with the puzzle games in the playing room?”
“That’s what we thought, but it
doesn’t. It was a red herring Instead, this about going through this trap
together. We figured that out two of us went through the trap together while
holding each other’s hands. They walked all on all the tiles and nothing
happened to them while something happened to the dolls that walked by
themselves. That’s why I need to hold your hand. You can’t do it alone.”
“What happens to you if-”
“Oh, it looks like someone tried
going through here on their own. I’ll take this foot back to them after I get
you to the first floor. Did you say something?”
“N-no.”
“Oh. Is that a head over there?”
Mia and Elena go to the head.
As Mia picks it up, she identifies
it. “This is a friend of mine who’s a little rash. Let’s see if her body is
around here.”
Mia and Elena walk around the room
and put together the doll.
When she’s together, Mia says, “I
told you not to do this trap by yourself. You know you can’t pass it without
someone.”
“Whatever. I knew someone would
eventually find me and put me back together.”
“Don’t be so reckless.”
“I don’t take advice from you. You’re
not my parents!”
“Wait, don’t open that door!”
The doll opens the door and walks
into an abyss of darkness. A loud shattering sound is heard before the door
closes.
“Whelp. It’s going to take some
work to put her back together or maybe it’d be better if we left her that way
until we get out because of how much trouble she causes,” Mia says.
“Um.”
“Oh, that’s right. There’s only one
right door. The wrong doors lead to different horrors like; the door eating
you, monsters, and-”
“Can we just go?”
“Okay.”
Mia finally leads Elena to a door
that opens up to reveal a spiraling staircase that goes up to the next floor.
“Here we go. This is where we part
ways for now. I’ll catch up to you later,” Mia says.
“Wait, won’t something happen to
you on the way back?” Elena says.
“Nope. If you go through the traps
on a floor, then you can safely go through them on the same day. It’s a weird
rule, I know. Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
Mustering whatever bravery she can
manage, Elena ascends the stairs ready to face whatever horrors and traps the
house may have to escape.
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