Broken Dolls (18 page)

He mumbles something incoherent, so I don’t respond. His head rolls back onto the headrest, his eyes closed. This time, he doesn’t flinch awake.

Perfect.

I squeeze out of Gabby’s arms and lower myself onto the hospital floor, pleasantly surprised by how clean it appears. I swear the dust in the attic is bigger than me.

“Libby!” I tug on the professor’s coat that’s hanging by the chair leg. “Libby! Are you awake?”

Libby pops her head out of the professor’s pocket like an excited puppy. “Ella!”

“Hey.” I raise a finger to my lips to hush her. “Do you want to come and find Lisa with me? She ran off and the professor doesn’t want to look for her.”

Libby nods and awkwardly climbs from his pocket, falling onto her head. She lies twisted on the ground, looking up at me apologetically.

“I’m assuming you were never a cheerleader.” I offer my hand to help her stand. She accepts it and dusts herself off.

“So, how are we going to get around without the humans seeing us?”

I glare at Libby, offended by the way she phrased the question. “We’re humans, too. We’re just humans trapped in dolls.”

Libby shrugs. “Yeah, okay. So what are we going to do?”

I pause and stare into the hallway, hoping that a miracle will present itself.

“Hey! What about that?” Libby points at a wheelchair, folded and leaning against the wall.

I grin. Of course. We just have to wait for someone to wheel by and we’ll jump on.

“Great idea!” I grab her hand and tiptoe towards the doorway. A peek from the side reveals a person in a wheelchair slowly making their way down the hall. “When I tug on your arm, we’re going to jump in the bottom of that wheelchair.”

“The part where they put their bags and stuff beneath the seat?” Libby clarifies, nudging me out of the way so she can see the target.

“Yeah.” I push her behind me. “Okay, it’s coming. Are you ready?”

“Yes!”

“Steady?”

“Yes!”

“G–wait. Wait, not yet.” I psych myself, waiting for the wheelchair to hurry up. “Okay! GO!”

Libby and I dive into the back of the wheelchair, bouncing on the leather base. The wheelchair seems to move a lot faster now that we’re in it.

“Do you have any idea where Lisa might be?” Libby whispers, sitting as still as possible to avoid detection.

“No!” I scan the passing rooms. “But we have to try.”

“I don’t understand why, though.” Libby runs her fingers through her hair, combing the frizzy parts. “You don’t like her. You say she’s a liar and stuff, so why do you care?”

“Because I don’t leave anyone behind,” I say quietly, sinking into the material when the wheelchair comes to a halt. The rider shakily stands and slumps onto the bed, pained moans escaping with each movement. When they settle and the moans cease, Libby and I scramble out and hide beneath the bed to get our bearings. All these hospital rooms look the same.

“We’re lost, aren’t we?” Libby sighs and starts fidgeting with her dress.

“No one is ever lost,” I say encouragingly. “It’s just time to figure out where to go next.”

“So we
are
lost?”

“Well, yeah.” I kick the bed wheel. “Where would Lisa go to find her human body?”

Libby shrugs. “The morgue?”

I freeze. “That’s downstairs, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know.”

“We’ll never get downstairs undetected!”

“Maybe because it’s not meant to be?” Libby scratches at her nose even though I’m confident she doesn’t have an itch. She’s sickeningly well-adjusted.

I go to say something, but I’m interrupted by a young boy in a hospital gown sobbing in the hallway. He’s holding something close to his chest and stroking it. A woman–his mother, maybe–speaks to him tenderly and leads him into the room across from us.

“But I only just found her!” he cries.

“Shh… Settle down, Maddox!”

I can’t hear anymore, so I pull on Libby’s arm and sneak out from underneath the bed. Scoping the hallway from the doorframe reveals some nurses up ahead, but they’re not looking in this direction. We leap along, vulnerable and visible. It feels like an eternity to reach the room on the opposite side. When we get there, Libby and I crouch behind a plastic plant by the door.

“She was just someone’s doll you found,” the woman says reassuringly, sitting by Maddox’s bed.

“No!” he screeches. “She spoke to me! She was real! She came in here, and then the stupid cleaner broke her! She won’t speak anymore!”

“Who?” The woman strokes the boy’s dark hair.

“The doll!” Maddox yells. “The doll the cleaner broke! Why aren’t you listening to me? Look!”

I want to be sick when he lifts the object that he kept close to his heart. It’s Lisa, but her face is smashed and her body is mangled. She hangs limply in the boy’s hand, beyond repair.

I can’t look anymore. I cover my eyes and bury my head in Libby’s shoulder. “She’s a broken doll.” I sob. “She just… doesn’t exist anymore.”

“But everything exists,” Libby insists. “Energy doesn’t just disappear.”

“We defy science, Libby,” I say firmly, lifting my head from her shoulder. “I think the rules are a little different with us.”

The woman awkwardly snatches Lisa from Maddox’s grip and tosses her into the bin by his bed. He screams and shouts obscenities at her.

“I’m not going to take this nonsense!” the woman says, standing to leave the room.

“You’re going to leave me here?” Maddox shrieks. “I’m sick!”

“You had a routine operation to get your appendix out! Now stop this! I need to speak to your nurse.” The woman storms past us, leaving Maddox to have a tantrum in his bed.

“Let’s get out of here,” I whisper to Libby.

“How? I don’t remember where Gabby’s room was. Do you?”

I shake my head. “We’ll wing it. We found Lisa, didn’t we? I’m sure we can find our way back.”

“Who’s talking?” Maddox shoots up in his bed. Wow, he has good hearing.

I keep quiet behind the plant, but Libby seems to have other ideas. She steps forward and waves. “Well hello, there!”

I stay hidden, silent,
mortified
.

Maddox gasps and jumps from his bed, crouching down to speak with Libby. “Did you come to find your friend? She broke!”

Libby smiles sweetly and nods. “I overheard what happened to Lisa. Do you think you could do me a favor?”

He nods emphatically. “Anything! I feel so bad for what happened! The cleaner’s mop thing went straight over her… and then there was this noise… and some kind of green mist left the doll’s face… and then she stopped talking.”

I frown and step out from behind the plant. “Green mist? Did she manage to say anything?”

“Oh!” Maddox says. “A dancing doll! Cute. Um, she was asking me something like…um, if I had seen a human that looked like her. When I didn’t know anything, she got frustrated and didn’t look where she was going. Walked straight into that electronic mop thing. And yeah, a green mist just appeared from her broken face and floated out the window.”

Oh my God. Maybe Libby was right. Maybe Lisa still exists. She’s still alive… “Maddox, right? Could you please carry us back to our friend’s room?”

“Of course! Yeah!” He scoops us up and shuffles out into the hall, wincing with each step. “Which room?”

I try to follow the door numbers without turning my head or eyes, not that I actually know Gabby’s.

“This one!” I announce when I recognize the bright glare of the professor’s lab coat.

Maddox turns into our room, halting when the professor pins him to the wall with his glare.

“Who are you?” The professor’s still in his chair, dark rings beneath his eyes.

“I brought your dolls back,” Maddox says, shifting uncomfortably. “I found them in my room.”

The professor stands and angles his head so his eyes are looking over his glasses. “Give them to me,” he says, his voice uncharacteristically deep.

Maddox suddenly tightens his grip around us. He gulps, but stands his ground.

“Child,” the professor speaks slowly, exposing his palm. “Walk to me and hand me the dolls.”

“It’s okay, Maddox.” I pet his hand. “The professor won’t hurt you.”

Maddox lowers his head to whisper to me. “I’m not worried about me. I’m worried about what he’ll do to you.”

“
WHAT?
” the professor snaps, taking large strides to reach our little hero. He tugs on the boy’s arms, desperate for Maddox to release us. “Give them to me!”

“Professor, stop!” I squeal.

“Not until he gives you over!”

Maddox reluctantly passes us to the professor and nurses the part of his arm where the professor grabbed him. “I’m telling!” He sobs, hurrying out of the room.

“What did you do that for?” I yell, as the professor lowers Libby and me onto the bed.

“Because he’s mental,” Gabby’s tired voice says. Surprised, I swing over.

“You’re awake!” I squeal, bounding towards her to cuddle in. She giggles, weakly, but brings me close. Oh, I wish she really were my cousin. The lie made me feel bonded to her, like we had something special. Of course, even though we’re not family by blood, we’re sisters by nature. And in a way, that’s even better.

“Yeah.” Her voice is croaky, but still optimistic. “Where have you been? I’ve been so worried!”

“Lisa ran away. She lied to us, about my mother, everything. I still couldn’t help myself–I had to find her.”

“And did you?” the professor snaps, his body stiff and his expression hard.

I nod. “The cleaner broke her. She’s… she’s gone.”

The professor’s reaction startles me. He slams the magazine onto the bedside table and paces on the floor. “I didn’t
really
mean I wanted someone to break her! We have to get home!
Now
! Gabby, come on!”

Gabby nods at her hospital bed. “I’m kind of indisposed at the moment!”

“No, you’re not!” The professor grabs the wheelchair pressed up against the wall. It unfolds, and he maneuvers it over. “Quick, get in. You’re fine to go home. The doctor said so.”

“I’m not ready!” Gabby’s eyes water. “Just let me rest! Please!”

“Gabby, she’s going to ruin everything! I need to get you home so I can save you before it’s too late!” A vein appears near the side of the professor’s forehead. “You have to trust me! Get in the wheelchair!”

Gabby turns to me for reassurance, although I’m not too sure how to give it to her. Is there anyone left we
can
trust?

I link my hands around her finger to show my support, and she nods firmly. At least, we’re still together. She slowly crawls out of bed, holding onto the professor for support, and drops into the wheelchair.

“Boy. That was hard,” she wheezes. “I’m not fond of this whole being sick and weak thing.”

I jump onto Gabby’s lap and wave at Libby to follow. She jumps–almost missing–and lands next to me. We freeze while the professor wheels us out of the glaringly white hospital and into the parking lot.

He picks Gabby up and slides her into the backseat so she can lie and rest. Libby and I hold onto one another as we rock back and forth while the professor speeds down the road. He doesn’t stop for traffic lights and doesn’t slow down rounding the corners. Whatever happened to Lisa…

—A jolt of electricity pierces my skin, my organs, my eyes…

Everything’s blurry… everything’s dark… everything hurts so much.

I can’t breathe. I’m drowning again. Water seeps into my mouth, my nostrils, my lungs.

A dark figure with its arms crossed watches me with a smile on its face… It’s… It’s Lisa
.

don’t mean to scream when we pull up in the driveway. My daydream was just so real.