Doll House(7)

Suffocating silence spread throughout the open marsh, with rows of gravestones as far as the eye can see. Inside these graves weren't the rotting deformed skeleton of a dead child, instead there was only a silent coffin without a soul.

Digging up the rest of the graves revealed the same thing, only empty coffins buried in shallow graves.

So where were the children?

No one could answer.

Maybe only the Madam herself would know.

By this time the sky had already started pulling in its cover, the surroundings of the marsh slowly turning dark and gloomy. They had recieved more questions than answers but they couldn't stay here. Who knew what would crawl out of the ground and devour them if they did.

With heavy footsteps they trudged back to the castle wearily.

They could feel that time was encroaching on them but they had neither found any clues nor figured out a way to survive. By tomorrow the seeds of suspicions and paranoia buried in their hearts would undoubtedly spring up like weeds because if it was just as they discussed, only five people could make it to the final day. That meant of the fifteen people, ten would die.

Quietly they joined the others gathering in the hall, waiting in trepidation for the butler as well as the surviving player to arrive,

" Surprisingly you managed to survive so long even after courting death, It makes me wonder how much luck do you have...."

"Must be tantalizing."

It was a man sporting beady, swollen eyes, a tiny frame supporting a large head leaving for a particularly disjointed appearance. Right now this man was looking at them with mocking stare, a sarcastic sneer at the edge of his lips.

Chu Yi's group who had already been frazzled by the empty coffins, were immediately unhappy and one of them, who was already somewhat hotheaded; called Ran Sici, immediately quipped back viciously,

"At least I, your grandfather is not a whimpering coward like you pieces of shit. I'd rather die with my eyes wide open than burying my head in the sand like a damn ostrich."

"You-"

Face first turning purple, then green, then white and finally red, the man opened his mouth to argue back fiercely but it was at this moment, there came the sound of footsteps dragging into the hall.

Breath suffocated in his chest, the beady eyed man could only swallow this grievance sullenly.

Except this time, all their faces quickly turned ugly upon the arrival of the butler.

There was nothing strange about him as per say, however - there was no one behind him.

Here, missing meant dead, therefore all the players who went out today were.most likely dead, completely overturning their previous conjecture.

There was a momentary uproar amongst them, absolute dread seeping into their eyes, there was no way the system would have been so merciful.

Contrasting against their hideous faces, the butler, himself, was exceedingly happy. Even the look in his eyes as he stared at them was somewhat kind.

Like an old father staring at particularly filial sons.

A shudder ran shakily up their spines, chilling them from the tips of their toes to their top of their heads, at the last newcomer directly broke down

They were going to die here.

The butler took in all their emotional disruptions with joy, only speaking when they eventually numbed.

After throwing a scalding gaze at Chu Yi standing to the side, he said with wicked intent permeating his tone,

"The oh-so wonderful jesters will put on a wonderful performance for the Madam and the young master tomorrow. All the players will be invited to participate in this grand gesture at noon."

This was unprecedented news, all two groups before had been whisked away individually and no one knew where they had been taken to but this time they were actually being invited to participate in a individual task.

This did not bode well for them and no one had to speak to notice the ominous premonition that this invitation beheld.

With a sob, Xiong Qi who had been barely hanging on to sanity collapsed with a wail. He had been apart of the group that stayed behind, holed up in his room blubbering and whimpering from the nightmares of that night.

Now he was being informed that he still had to face another instance, the string in his mind finally snapped under unbearable pressure.

"Whywhywhywhywhy WHY DO I STILL HAVE TO DO THIS WHY WHY!!??"

"why wont you let me go, please let me go. I can't do this. They died, they died, they're coming for me I'm going to die, die, die, DIE, DIE, DIE"

"AHhahaHhahahahHa, Were all going to die. ALL OF US, JUST LIKE THEM"

The fragile nerves of the group directly broke with his hysterical screams. And one of the men couldn't help but send a harsh kick in the mans direction, a hideous look on his face.

"SHUT UP IDIOT, fucking coward, why didnt you just die from the start huh? Save us from having to listen to your dumb wails."

Xiong Qi didn't acknowledge him either, but continued to wail in hysterics. With a targeted resentment the man began kicking him relentlessly, not sparing any force, vile curses and spats coming out of his hideous mouth

Unexpectedly the others who had stayed behind, joined him, viciously beating the man, unremoresfully throwing all their fear and hatred at him couthly.

Chu Yi stared at the panicked group with boredom, their hysterical and ugly expressions completely tearing any hope of peace, he looked away, catching sight of the gleeful butler still standing there, feeding off the high emotions with a wicked grin on his face resembling liver mortis.

The butler caught his sight and stared back at him cruelly, a evil mirth flooding his eyes as he stared at Chu Yi.

The chaos had already spread and even the previously logical bunch who had followed Chu Yi out, had descended into arguing and cursing in fear.

None of them were able to hide the festering resentment and anger behind their eyes and the words they spat was more vicious than the other.

Xiong Qi hadn't survived because of luck,

No.

He had purposely been left out, to spread and be a catalyst for the seed of fear planted in the human hearts. To set off chaos in their midst.

Around him, he could even faintly hear a low pulsing of a heartbeat.

Ba-Dump. Ba-Dump. Ba-Dump

It was like the castle was alive, feeding off the dark and filthy emotions of the players, milking them to create the most vilest of beings! 

He could hear a low childish giggle in his ears, like the little young master was sitting high above the rest, watching them descend into anger and fear with childish amusement.

As if they.. they were a group of toys in a dollhouse.

Dollhouse.

The roles, the tasks.

They were all just dolls for his amusement

"AHHHH-"

From behind him came a scream.

The man who had been the first to kick Xiong Qi was currently grasping his neck frantically , blood spurting from his torn artery without stop, staining the .floors and walls a bright crimson red.

The man held the wound painfully, mouth opening and closing like a dying fish on land, grasping for that last bit of air.

There was absolute disbelief and horror in his eyes and by the time, he finally fell limply onto the floor he still couldn't believed that he died so easily.

His fallen body, revealed the crouching Xiong Qi, lips still firmly wrapped around a piece of bloody meat, a crazed almost maniacal look in his eyes, mumbling over and over again

"Die- die- die-"

Then with a wet gulp, he swallowed the piece of meat cleanly.

There was a moment of silence before all the people in he room turned green.

Turing away from the disgusting seen, they heaved alm the contents from their stomachs onto the floor, still heaving even when nothing was left.

Xiong Qi grinned creepily at them, eyes moving skittishly in his skull, rolling up until only the whites of eyes were showing.

The look in his gaze was so crazed it could no longer belong to a normal person. It even held the dark gleam of a beast, like a blunt knife, slicing into their nerves and making them go numb.

Chu Yi on the other hand was more interested in something else. At the corner of the mans neck appeared a wrinkled patch of skin. It was rough and textured, obviously misplaced on the rest of his skin.

Almost as if...it was patched on like that of a ripped doll.