The Doll Collector

Chapter 18: The Doll Collector

I took in a deep breath, filling up my lungs. Maria had fought more than the others and had caused me some damaged. I slumped down beside her body, clutching my leg. She'd dug deep, but it didn't seem as though she had cut an artery.

Lucky bitch, I would have killed her before I bled out.

I limped into the kitchen to grab zip ties and my trusty duct tape. Pain was running down my leg with each step. I feared I would bleed out, but I couldn't go to the hospital. I would have to identify myself and that would raise too many red flags.

I crawled the rest of the way back to the living room and managed to zip tie her hands and her legs, then wrapped the duct tape all the way around her head, as well as her ankles and wrists for added restraint. She wasn't going to fight me anymore.

I dragged myself to the bathroom and dropped my pants to assess the damage. Without all the blood crusting on my pants, the wound didn't look so bad. Still, a piece of glass had broken inside of it. The skin surrounding the wound was tender and swollen. I gritted my teeth as I used a pair of tweezers to pull out the piece of glass. It tore my leg internally on the way out.

My facial muscles twitched in a grimace as it finally exited my body. It was much larger than I'd thought. It clinked in the sink as I tossed it and then I grabbed the bottle of alcohol. I stuffed a hand towel into my mouth then let it rip. It muffled my agonizing cries.

Thin streams of blood slid over the hairs on my leg and onto the floor tiles. My muscles twitched in discomfort at the burn ripping through my senses. I held the towel down on the wound until it stopped bleeding, then reached into my first aid kit for a suture needle and thread. With the same meticulous precision I used on the girls, I closed the wound and wrapped my leg with white, sterile gauze.

Even with the tight wrap, my leg was very much sore and likely wouldn't be able to hold my weight. I would just have to hobble

Now for Maria. I dragged her heavy, flaccid body into the doll room and lifted her onto the bed.

My leg burned with pain as I ungracefully set her up top near the pillows. As soon as her weight was off my arms, I fell to my knees and clutched the wound.

I could curse her to the high heavens if she was even awake to hear it. With a deep breath, I pushed myself up and balanced my weight on my good leg.

Maria would wake up here.

A small twinkling light from the closet piqued my attention. There, beside Barbara's rotting flesh was Maria's cellphone. I picked it up, tapping on the home button. It lit back up to reveal several messages from someone named Jenny.

Jenny: Maria???

Jenny: Maria??

Jenny: ANSWER ME

Jenny: MARIA!

I went over to Maria to use her thumb to unlock it and typed out my response to Jenny.

Me: She'll make a beautiful doll

The three little dots popped up immediately to inform me that Jenny was replying.

Jenny: WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER YOU MONSTER?

I chuckled, softly, sitting down beside my Maria. My hand trailed down her arm and over her thigh, stopping on the flesh of her inner thigh. She'd shaved above the knee, she must've thought she was going to get lucky.

I do believe it was I who had gotten lucky.

Maria: She has such soft skin