The Doll Girl [discontinued and horribly cringey]

Chapter Thirteen: The Porcelains

"Oh my goodness!" Mrs. Ryder exclaimed. "What on earth are you doing here, Brook?"

"My mom said..." she panted, "to come here. She was running around the house all panicked and stuff and then she told me that I have to run here."

"What..?" Suddenly her face became serious. "Ohhhhh, ah, did you hear any strange noises before she told you to come here?"

"Well, I'm not really sure because I was taking a bath, but I think I might've heard the wind making a loud noise, and then it just stopped suddenly..."

Mrs. Ryder's white face was horrified. "Where's your mother?"

Brook shrugged. "I ran here, so I'm not sure. She's probably still there, right? I mean, like, where would she have gone?"

Mrs. Ryder did not respond. Her face was pale and she sat down heavily in an armchair. "No..." she murmured, pressing a hand against her forehead. "They've come..."

~~~~~~

Evelyn waited nervously. She should've received word already...

She went to her living room and peeked out behind the once-yellow, now graying curtains.

She couldn't see them. They must've already left. Or they should've... The Head was going to kill them if they hadn't gotten her...

Well, it had been a little unwise to bring them directly from her house, thus the woman would be warned.

Yes. The woman.

She would not be called Marilyn Stewart Willow. She would not be called Evelyn's sister. Nor was she Lynn's daughter. She was the woman.

Just the woman. She was nobody to Evelyn anymore, nobody that mattered... nobody but some woman.

She was jerked from her thoughts as her iPhone began to ring. Evelyn glanced at the phone carelessly.

It was Brook! Evelyn answered immediately after mentally preparing herself for this.

"Hey, Brook. What's up?"

She heard Brook's panicked voice through the phone.

"Evelyn... I don't know what just happened, my mom told me that I had to go to my friend's house and now I don't know where she is, and I called her so many times, but she didn't answer... I'm scared. My friend's mom got really scared when I told her and stuff... I have to go, bye."

"Um, okay... That sounds weird... bye."

~~~~~~

"Who were you calling?"

"Just calling my mom. She didn't answer." Brook lied nervously.

"Really? I heard you talking to someone..."

"I left a message."

"Okay... well, I have something to tell you, Brooklyn."

"What?"

"Well— I'm sure you've already figured it out, but your mother knows who you're talking to."

Brook's eyes bulged. "You know?! How do you know?"

"Of course I know. Evelyn told me when we were your age what she was... and what you are, too... I'm sure she's already told you. Since Evelyn came here, your mother and I have been speaking about Evelyn, and... some other things."

Brook decided she must be open about this. "So?" she spoke up defiantly.

"Well, Evelyn isn't a good person. She... she did some awful things before and your mother and I are sure she's up to something. You're supposed to... you're supposed to stay away from her," Mrs. Ryder admonished.

"Who are you to tell me not to talk to my aunt? You're just... just my mom's friend. You're not even one of us!" yelled Brook.

"You mean the Porcelains? I would never!"

"I don't know what a Porcelain even is, okay?!"

"So let me tell you... when Evelyn was young, her mom sent her to live with the Porcelains. The Porcelains were... kind of an organization of your kind... they keep tabs on every new one born in their area, which was hard work but they managed it... Being a Porcelain doesn't mean you are one of them, it means you're part of the organization... so you're not a Porcelain... yet, at least. The Porcelains want to wipe out mankind. They're jealous of humans..

"Lynn— your grandmother— was part of the Porcelains, or I guess you'd say she was a Porcelain... she left the Porcelains to have babies. She was still a Porcelain but she didn't live with them anymore...

"When she gave birth to your mother she was disappointed. She wanted a Porcelain. Then when—"

She was interrupted by a loud banging at the door.

"I'll go get it," she said.

Brook came along anyway.

Mrs. Ryder swung open the door.

Brook froze in horror... it was a Porcelain.

Mrs. Ryder's eyes widened. She tried to shut the door... but something was wrong with the hinges. They would not allow the door to move.

"You know what I need... and I won't stop until you give me her," the Porcelain said. She stood there calmly, waiting for an answer.

Mrs. Ryder shook her head, frightened.

"Well then, we'll do this the hard way." The Porcelain closed her eyes and concentrated hard.

When she opened her eyes she said, "Fine, if you want to go, go back inside," with a suspicious grin.

Mrs. Ryder gasped quietly and tried to move... but she couldn't.

Her feet were glued to the floor.