Sarah felt the darkness wrap itself around her as she was moved back into the inner hallway of the mall and pulled along by several hands. Her limbs were bound so tightly that she could not move or even begin to struggle as plastic unfeeling fingers peeled off the padding on her body. Everything felt as if it was moving very fast as she suddenly found herself back in only the guard’s uniform before a clumsy hand mistakenly yanked her head into a doorway, knocking her unconscious.
When she woke again, Sarah found herself bound by ribbons in a soft chair sitting at a table with three other women and the small doll. The doll sat on the woman’s lap opposite to Sarah and had a stiff smile on her face. Her facial expression appeared strange, as if she was struggling to smile for a picture that was still waiting to be taken. Her fingers were also noticeably twitching at the doll’s hips, though the doll didn’t seem to mind. On the contrary, it wore a beautiful smile that was neither forced nor straining to be polite as it held onto a teacup with its little finger pointing out.
The other two women at the table were likewise bound by pretty red ribbons with a couple mannequins at their sides. The stiff beings poured tea into their cups as well before stepping back and waiting for further instructions. Their lifeless eyes falling on the doll that carefully held and sipped tea from her teacup. Sarah took in the entire scene with an incredulous look while pain still emanating from the place where her head struck the doorway.
“It’s good that you are finally awake and able to join us, miss Sarah.”
The doll stated with a smile that expressed her honest joy. Her painted face had such expressive emotions that she looked very human to Sarah. She almost mistook the doll for a little girl that was merely pretending to be a doll to play a prank.
“How do you know my name? and how about letting me go? You don’t really want to do this right?”
Sarah expressed her sincerest plea tot he doll child while her eyes continuously scanned the room. The other women’s lips were sealed shut, not interfering with the conversation in the slightest nor showing any intention to slip in. Sarah’s anxiousness heightened when she realized the other women’s eyes were pleading for help from her and bore a striking unwillingness to their uncanny situation.
“Silly, it’s on your uniform. As for letting you go, I can’t do that. You see, my friends and I have had a single dream since waking up.”
The doll stated with a mix of anticipation and sorrow as her eyes turned towards a side pile of broken mannequin bodies. She took in a deep breath of the tea fragrance and sipped lightly to clam herself once more before continuing on.
“We want to become human…to be able to truly feel each other’s embrace, taste the tea in our hands and not live in fear of being disposed of when broken by feisty children.”
The doll stated with a dreamy expression and stared down at the teacup in her hands. Melancholy colored her eyes when she came to the last part of her little speech. Sarah could feel the heartbreak in her voice, but she felt no empathy for the mannequins and the doll. At the end of the day, they were not humans and they were sacrificing her for their own benefit.
Sarah stared at the doll without speaking. Her mind began racing as she considered her options of escape, ideas popping up before being shot down and moving on to the next, one after another in quick succession. The doll looked up at her and grinned devilishly at Sarah with mockery clear in her eyes. Her tiny fingers traced the rim of her teacup as she opened her mouth to order the mannequins around her to begin the spiritual transference ceremony when loud footsteps broke the tense atmosphere.
Sarah’s eyes lit and she opened her mouth to scream, only to have a cloth shoved into it. The mannequin behind her followed up with a scarf, tying the cloth in place before Sarah could spit it out. Anxiousness clouded her mind as she began to struggle hard against the red ribbons. The other two women’s eyes shifted and their inner struggles seemed to grow exponentially for a brief moment before being suppressed once again.
A few stores away from the tea shop, a group of college students walked in sync with measured steps and emotionless faces. A slimy substance drooled from their lips and a black eel-like being hid behind their teeth as they searched the mall. The group of five soon came across a strange mannequin wandering out from a store next to the tea shop as a scout. It had only a single arm with the other arm missing from the elbow down. The group made no move to avoid it, instead choosing to attack it immediately with their bare hands. In a matter of seconds, they had pulled the mannequin apart and were checking its parts in confusion.
Sarah and the two women still fighting felt the temperature drop to sub-zero as a mannequin whispered into the doll’s left ear. Her head tilted to the side in thought before turning and issuing several commands at once before jumping out of the woman’s lap. Her plastic heels clacked on the faux bamboo floor as she walked to the entrance of the tea shop.
“Wait for me, Sarah. We have some very rude guests that need to be dismembered. Then we can continue our ceremony. I am really looking forward to getting to know you better.”
The doll’s voice rang out as she disappeared from view with the mannequins following behind her. A loud series of flesh and plastic clashing rang out shortly after she left. Unnatural animalistic screams echoed in the mall as a steady stream of blood spread across the entrance mixed with a black color. A disheveled doll and only two mannequins followed the doll back inside as she wiped her fingers on a tiny handkerchief before throwing it to the side.
“Now that those disgusting things have left the university campus, it will be troublesome to find more usable bodies. They also managed to send out their distress scream, so we don’t have a lot of time remaining. Let’s get started, shall we?”
The doll complained to Sarah with fiery eyes as her anticipation peaked. Now on a time limit, she let go of all her remaining niceties and motioned her two mannequin subordinates to move Sarah deeper into the shop where a circle with stars was carved. Sarah’s bound figure was placed within the center and the doll climbed onto her knees before beginning to recite an ancient curse. Sarah struggled fiercely to no avail as she felt something begin to invade her body. Her thoughts turned chaotic and fear gripped her as she began losing her sense of self. Fives minutes into the ritual, the doll dropped lifelessly to the side and Sarah’s eyes grew wide and then distant. Her consciousness slowly disappeared as it was eaten away by the new soul inhabiting her body.
