Hollow Dolls, The (30 page)

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Dismembered oak tree limbs appeared, abruptly jutting out from patches
of fog that  drifted around the property. Three girls in dresses walked up the
deserted driveway toward a Tudor style mansion.

“Pretty quiet,” said Melanie.

Jeers echoed from the mist.

“What’s going on?” said Kim Li.

A mob ran down the hill toward them.

“Hurry guys,” said Winnie. She locked arms with Melanie and Kim Li
on either side. Holding their dresses up like dainty mannequins they ran. Three
sets of heels clicked on the cobblestone path as they passed under a stone
archway through a twelve foot high wrought iron fence.

“In here,” said Winnie.

They scurried to the side entrance and Winnie thumbed a giant
black iron lever on a beast of an oak door and the three girls pushed hard to wheel
it open. Inside they shoved it closed and Winnie bolted it.

“What was that about?”

“Ferrets,” said Winnie.

“You’ve been here before I take it,” said Kim Li.

Winnie’s mouth curled into a salacious grin and she nodded. She
loved keeping a secret from Kim Li. Secrets from Melanie were for fun. It was
part of a game. Having one up on Kim Li was like knowing moves in the chess
game ahead of time. It was a part of their unfolding power struggle.

Two blondes wearing lab frocks took their things and lead them
down the hall. Melanie spun the top off of her bottled water and finished it
just as they turned in through a glass door. It was a spa.

“Who invited us?” said Kim Li.

“You’ll see,” said Winnie.

Hours passed with the girls being in spa preparations.

Melanie found herself inside an ornately decorated ballroom. Opulence
wafted through the air. Expensive gowns, tuxes and perfumes were everywhere. It
was a large rectangular room with high ceilings and chandeliers. The oxblood
velvet curtains set off the outfits of dancers and wallflowers alike. High
above, a balcony surrounded the room complete with a walkway and curtains.
Every surface was gilded, puffed, ornate and perfect. A grand buffet was set up
at the front by a raised stage where a big band played. Guests pecked at the
buffet fare and glanced at the dancers like desserts turning in a display case.

Melanie looked closer at their faces. The chandelier lighting was
so dim, and the women were taller than her by at least a foot. As each turned
or stepped away from the buffet, their faces basked in the dull yellowish light
of the chandelier where she could catch a more detailed glimpse.

She became obsessed with trying to recognize something in their
faces. It seemed that’s all she was doing at this party. Every time their
facial details came into view they disappeared again into the yellowy glare of
the light. Then she caught a clear glimpse.

They all had animal faces! With human features, they were all
quite androgynous and very attractive just like the Man-Rabbit. In walked some
men of the same anthropomorphic ilk.

“There we go I told you others would be coming!” she exclaimed
enthusiastically, wondering why she’d say such a thing or be so cordial.

“Am I the hostess?” she said.

“Yes,” said Winnie, “Because it’s your first time.”

“Oh, there you are,” said Melanie. She turned to look where Winnie’s
voice had come from and couldn’t find her.

“Let’s dance!” Winnie got hold of Melanie from out of nowhere and
led her around and around through the dance floor. She was wearing a feather
mask. They made their way into the center of the group weaving amongst the
other dancers. It seemed to Melanie the song would never end. As they passed
close to the wall she caught a glimpse of her and Winnie in a mirror. Each time
she came around, she tried to focus and see herself. She couldn’t. Melanie
stopped. Men in dark tuxedos and their ladies swirled past interrupting her
view. There they were—her and Winnie in the mirror. She saw Winnie had a crazy
black wig. And her own hair was an intricately braided golden crown. She
wore... Melanie saw her face was a white rabbit! Winnie’s was a black raven,
covered with feathers! Melanie felt her face as she moved closer to the mirror.
Her eyes fixed where her fingers touched her face. There was a fine layer of
fur. It was some kind of mask that was so attached to her face and didn’t come
off. She hadn’t even known it was there. She turned from the mirror and saw
Winnie’s face.

“When did you?  How?” She touched Winnie’s face and felt her fine black
feathers. It seemed almost transparent, the two blended together, the same way
the Man-Rabbit’s always had. Winnie was wearing her charred raven feathers for
real.

 “Alejandra brought me here before,” said Winnie. “We were behind
the curtains, watching.” She pointed to the balcony.

Melanie kissed Winnie and touched her face like she was a black
raven angel.

“It’s okay,” said Winnie. “It will be great fun.”

“What’s in the balcony?”

“Horus Hall,” said Winnie, “It’s behind the curtain. That’s where
you have to go.”

Melanie then noticed Kim Li walking across the dance floor through
the middle of everyone. Her white gown disappeared and reappeared amongst all
the others, half of which were men wearing black tuxedos. Then she lost sight
of her. She spotted the Man-Rabbit. “There’s three of them,” she said.

Beside him stood another Man-Rabbit with a dark tuxedo and then
another with a tux of mixed tans and browns. Together the three of them had
that air of misbehaving the way men do.

“The bad boys,” said Melanie.

Winnie nodded in agreement and she licked her lips. “Sexy bad
boys,” she said.

Nearby were three others—a wolf, a badger and a fox. They too were
a devilishly handsome trio who all smoked cigars and drank from snifter
glasses.

“Come.” Winnie led as they climbed the narrow winding wrought iron
stair, each stepping carefully on the marble steps with their high heeled
shoes. Up top the balcony was even darker than the main floor. Melanie looked
closely at some men standing in between the oxblood velvet curtain. Their eyes
glowed. Their faces seemed to be no species at all. They were mutated beyond
recognition. She quickly turned and looked down at the dancers in the ball. There
was Winnie by the buffet yet she had just been right beside her!

Then a warm scratchy tongue licked the skin on the back of
Melanie’s neck. She held perfectly still. She wasn’t sure if it was for the
enjoyment of the feeling on her neck, or fear that if she turned she’d see one
of those mutated hideous creatures from between the curtains. It felt like a
cat’s tongue!

A finger touched her chin and turned her head. Before her was a
beautiful androgynous young girl with no trace of animal whatsoever. Two pairs
of anthropomorphs on either side of made choreographed operatic ballet
movements. Their jaws opened and closed on one another, piercing their furry
faces and they swung their heads toward the girl and back in a flowing movement.
As they did, blood dripped onto the girl’s white dress.

Melanie felt surely she was falling in love with the girl. The
blood and the beauty were almost all of her deepest desires. The girl’s hair
was like her own, only in a blonde bob that came to a point near her chin.

Sister. It just formed in her mind like pink elephants. Then as
though she’d pushed a button the beautiful girl began to speak to her in a soft
voice.

“You’re right Melanie. I am your sister.”

Melanie stared transfixed at her mouth as a polyphony of sounds
came out.

“I’m Talia. Pleased to meet you Melanie.”

She should curtsey or something. Melanie reached out and touched
Talia’s powdered cheek to prove she was real.

“But where? How?” Melanie was tied in ribbons and bows, confused
by Talia’s very existence and her exquisite beauty.

“Trust only me Melanie,” said Talia. “We are the ones who shall
win.”

Talia took her hand and led her to the opening in the curtain where
a tiger stood. It was Kim Li! Her eyes were far away and didn’t recognize Melanie.
Talia and Melanie passed  into the dark between the curtains.

Once she was on the other side, Talia took Melanie in her arms and
kissed her deeply. Melanie was lost in the dark and the love she felt. Then she
was turned and her body was immediately touched by so many hands that she felt
like a spawning salmon in a stream. She was raised in the air by the hands.
Horizontal, she floated while they chanted like monks. Down onto a hard surface
she was laid and the hands continued to touch her everywhere. She was stripped
naked. There was a  hard warm slab of rock against her back and a needle prick
in her arm.

Someone sat on top of her while the hands held her down. Hands
played with her. In her. Someone kissed her. It was Winnie. She knew her kiss
and could smell the Chanel No.5.  She was on top of her. Then a knife point was
in Melanie’s chest and it slowly dug in. The singing was louder. Monks chanted
in Latin.

“Salvia,” said Melanie.

Then came a pain in her chest. The knife dug in more. She passed
out.

Melanie was being lifted up. Now she was on top of Winnie and she
held the knife. Other hands grasping it around hers were forcing her as she sat
on Winnie. She tried to pull away. It was no use; the hands directed the knife
down onto Winnie’s chest. She felt the point go in and slowly sink deeper. Then
a thrust came from the weight of all the hands and she felt the point of the
knife hit bottom.  She was delirious, drifting from one moment to the next. Melanie
smelled
‘C’.
It was t
he perfume of Cara and Lilly only it was
Talia’s lips upon hers. She was in madly love with her own sister.

Another voice came to Melanie in the darkness. She knew it was all
the way from downstairs at The Ball. The smell of Talia’s perfume and her lips
upon hers had enchanted her so that she would not move. The voice became louder
and more insistent. Then louder again as if it would explode the entire world
around her.

“Melanie!”

 Melanie sat up. Stiffness cried out in every muscle. Her face
felt numb. The light hurt her eyes, shooting needles into her head. As she
began to open them the tiniest bit, she saw around her a mostly empty room and
that she was sitting on a carpeted floor.

“You were beautiful Melanie,”

It was Winnie’s voice. She looked around the room and saw no one.
She felt her chest. A scab had formed where she was stabbed with the knife.

“Winnie?”

Melanie’s leg was pressed against some anonymous flesh. She felt
around a contour under a sheepskin blanket finding first a back and then an arm.
She felt her way along and realized this was skin. It was a body that would pull
her anima into existence here in this room.

She pulled her hand away. She did not want this world. She did not
want to lose where she’d been. She had to return. To find Talia.

Melanie saw the slender white arm led out to a hand on a blue
carpeted floor. She looked down at the long fingers. Perhaps... No, it was Kim
Li. Melanie dropped to her pillow. She closed her eyes and saw Talia’s eyes.
The blonde girl as she had stood by the oxblood curtains. Melanie fought to
push this reality away from her.  “We are the ones who will win. Trust only me,”
said Melanie aloud.

“What?” said Kim Li. “What happened to you guys last night?”

She was back. It was no use fighting it anymore.

 “You’re the one who disappeared,” grumbled Melanie.

They both became quiet for some moments.

Melanie opened her eyes and looked at Kim Li disapprovingly as
though her existence should not be allowed.

“I saw my sister.” Melanie said it dreamily as though she could
drift right back to be with her again.

Kim Li was looking coy, evasive even. She pinched Melanie.

“Ow! What the—” Melanie stopped herself when she noticed Kim Li’s
necklace.

It was like the bracelet she’d recently cut from her wrist, but Melanie
wasn’t registering anything rationally. She just felt it was wrong. “Where did
you get this?” said Melanie. She fingered Kim Li’s necklace and Kim Li pulled
the sheepskin up brushing Melanie’s hand away.