Doll House

Chapter 1

Bella's eyes open, her eyelids sticking together and feeling gritty from the extremely dry air of the room. Her back was against a cold tile wall, her brittle fingers running over the individual panes before she realised they were covered in crimson.

Covered in blood.

Bella's brain began working again and she recoiled her hand in horror, brushing off the blood onto her denim dress, which seemed grimier than she remembered. She leaned forward, and her dress made sticky noises as it pulled off the blood-coated wall, mixed with her brown locks. Bella's eyes seemed blurry as she adjusted to her surroundings, her vision zooming in and out like a camera trying to focus until it finally stopped moving so weirdly. Bella swallowed her saliva to prevent herself from vomiting from her vision acting up.

She blinked twice and looked around the room. The walls were covered in tiles and more blood, with a little window at the top of the wall to her left, near the roof. The sunlight beamed onto Bella's sun kissed legs, magnifying the little dust particles as they danced through the air. A little smile teased her lips as she gazed at the source of light, before looking around the room again. There was a padlocked wooden door to the wall beside her, and a bench opposite to where she was sitting, and not a nice one either. It was splintering and cracking at the sides, so Bella decided not to sit on it. Bella got up off her feet, her hands and dress covered in crimson as she slipped in the pool of old blood at her feet, before checking herself for injuries. 

Unscathed and okay. Except for her bruised wrists, but that can't be helped. Bella padded noiselessly to the door, which had a little window with bars over it. She peered curiously through the bars and saw another door, with another prisoner looking through the bars right at her. Bella's eyes lit up happily and she smiled at the stranger, who gave her a shy smile in return. Bella couldn't see the person's facial features very well, but she guessed that it was a boy.

Bella's brain decided to fast forward and catch up with her then.

She gasped and pressed her left hand to her forehead, stumbling back and catching herself on the handle of the door. 

"Where am I? Who is he? What am I doing here?" Bella murmured frantically to herself, her eyes darting around the floor, terrified. Bella's eyes popped up at the corner of the window to look at the other prisoner interestingly, who was looking right back.

Bella almost fell over as she regained her composure and gave the boy a quick smile before she heard footsteps coming down the corridor. Slow and sluggish, whoever owned the pair of feet most likely couldn't move very fast, which was an advantage for Bella. The boy and Bella made quick eye contact and both ran for their old positions, Bella slumped on the wall, and the boy sprawled on the floor.

Bella heard keys jingle outside her door, and she squeezed her eyes closed, clearly terrified. Her door creaked open slowly, and was accompanied by heavy breathing as Bella felt short, meaty fingers grab her shoulder and shake her slightly.

Bella opened her eyes slowly, pretending to wake up from a nap and let out a yawn, looking curiously at this newcomer. There was a mask over their face, along with a black cape covering their head and body. The figure stood up, and beckoned for Bella to follow them. Bella stood up again, still slipping in the blood, and followed the masked man, as he unlocked the boy's door next. Bella waited outside before the boy was brought out, and boy, was he handsome. He had a chiselled jawline, sparkling blue eyes and fluffy chocolate brown curls at the top of his head. Even though his hair was matted with blood, and his jawline was covered in dirt, Bella fell for him hard. They made quick eye contact as the figure walked down the hallway, and agreed to shut up until they were alone.

The figure led them through long corridors, which seemed like an endless puzzle to Bella's brain, until they finally reached a door with a padlock on it. The masked man pulled his keys off his belt, and unlocked the door, standing aside and pushing it open for the duo to step inside.