The Dollhouse

Part 2

Chapter 2

Micah O'Neil, the Smooth Doll. He was dark chocolate, muscular and looked just like his dad who used to be an NFL Running Back. He was just a few days hours older than me. Our mothers were pregnant at the same time. They were sisters. He has these big lips and a perfect nose. He is smooth shaven. Micah isn't into sports though. He's not muscular because he's athletic. He could care less about that kind of stuff. He wants to look good naked. That's the only reason he spends so much time in the gym. He's into girls. Even now while we're in this car Micah is on his phone smiling at what I know is a girl. Micah was into girls and girls were into Micah. I'd seen Micah on dating shows, reality shows and celebrity girls even used him as their love interest in music videos. It made sense. Micah was a socialite. He was already famous. He already had it made. The fact that he was even finishing high school at this point was just a wonder of the world.

And he was my cousin.

"We used to be so close," I state in the car.

I can tell this is something that Micah doesn't want to talk about. He lowers his phone. I see a slight twitch though in his breathing. He inhales deeply and probably thinks I don't notice.

"Shit changes, Yogi bear," he tells me still looking down on his phone, "We grow up."

No one in school knew we were related. Hell, his sister Serena pretended like she didn't even remember my name half the time. It would ruin Micah if people knew he was related to a loser like me. I knew it and he knew it.

"You used to be nice," I state, "Until Fat Matt."

"Let's not talk about Fat Matt..."

I thought I got bullied growing up but no one got it worse than Fat Matt. In middle school, Fat Matt didn't have many friends. I was nice to him and so was Micah. The three of us hung around each other all the time. Soon Micah started to hit the gym. My Aunt paid for him to get veneers. He even got his hairline fixed, which I didn't even know was a thing until I saw how perfect it looked. As Micah became popular, Serena made him stop hanging around us. I didn't care but Matt did. They were best friends, after all, I was just the little cousin who tagged along.

Matt tried to befriend the popular kids in my classes, and the Dollhouse would pretend to be nice to him, but I knew better. I tried to warn Fat Matt. I knew it was suspicious when Serena asked Fat Matt to be her boyfriend. She paraded him around the school and the whole time it was just a joke to her. What was the worst part was that I think he fell in love with her. It was his first love. He admitted it to me one time. It was so fucking sad. All the while he was a running joke. People talked about him behind his back. It was my cousin Micah who created the website: FollowFatMatt.com. People who weren't in our middle school joined the website. Serena being so close to Matt posted his nudes. She took videos of him while he was sleeping showing off his rolls and pretending to puke on cam. The videos went viral which was a big thing back then. It was an ongoing joke that Fat Matt was in a fake relationship and everyone knew but Fat Matt.

And every time I tried to tell Fat Matt, Micah told me to trust him. Micah told me it was harmless fun.

Harmless huh?

One night, Serena tells Fat Matt that they were having a party at an old warehouse. Everyone had to dress like an animal. She tells him to dress like a pig. Says it would be funny. She tells him everyone will be dressed up like farm animals. She has a matching pig outfit just to make him comfortable. I went to the mall with Fat Matt and got material to sew a pig outfit from the costume shop (we couldn't find one already made that fit him), and then we went to the store and bought snacks and drinks for the party. I wasn't invited, of course, so I stayed home. Fat Matt had spent that whole week messaging me telling me how nervous he was. I didn't trust any of it. I didn't say anything though.