Living Dolls

26Heide

Even though I didn't understand a lot of what Carmen said what happened with her and Jules last night, I knew that it wasn't good. I still remember how mad Jules would get when I used to try to even bite him way before, even though it never even made a mark. A knife though? Not so good.

That's why, I thought something bad was going to happen in the morning.

Julien usually just wanted one person later on during the day, but it was still early. You'd think that because it was the weekend, he'd sleep in. No.

I was just starting to get up after he tapped his knuckles right at the window above my bed, over and over, so he had to have been wanting me. Though confused and anxious, I quickly got dressed and hurried down the stairs before the others could stop me. When I made it outside, I found he was already dressed and cleaned up, breakfast already on the table.

Still, he picked me up with a familiar excited glint in his eyes.

And, shocker, I didn't get my limbs pulled or tossed into the air (okay, maybe twice). Instead, I was sitting down on the dining table, Julien sitting at one of the chairs eating his waffles, and me begrudgingly eating his scraps.

He kept talking in between his chewing, about the typical nonsense, and I was painfully confused, especially as I eyed the small bandage on the side of his hand. Nothing about Carmen? Nothing about being angry? Nothing about how someone can get an action figure stuck in their stomach?

He seemed to have noticed how distracted I was, raising his eyebrows as he set his drink down. Just that made me tense up, it made everything shake, and the glass hovered high over me, and I found myself staring up at it for a good while. He didn't say anything at first, he just looked around for a while. I was just about done eating when he ripped up a napkin over and over and then threw the pieces down at me like confetti. Frowning, I wiped the pieces off of me, and he leaned forward, "What's up? You're quiet again."

Still yanking the napkin pieces off me, I sighed, "You were talking."

"About - hey, use those, those are for you - about random stuff, it's not like I haven't gotten to the good stuff yet."

Curious, I peer up at him, "... What good stuff?"

He sits back again, grinning, "Well-!"

"Is this about the... Thing?"

Now he's the one who looks confused. "What thing?"

"Cuz I do have a question."

He squints, "What question?"

"Well..." I take one of the napkin pieces, wiping my hands and face, "I was wondering how an action figure-"

His hand slams on the table fast, his silverware rattling, and I jump from the table with it. My heart is still racing when he stands up from his seat, taking his dishes and swiping all the napkin pieces with him. I keep my eyes down as he heads into the kitchen with them, confused how that could have upset him. When he's finally back, I look up at him, but he just walks right by the table and out in the hall, letting out a gruff, "I have to brush my teeth, or else you'll whine."

Once he was gone for longer than a minute, I stand up and hurry over to the edge of the table. Getting on my knees with my hands near the ledge, I lean over.

It's even taller than the table we're on in Julien's room, I note with a frown. There are no legs to it, just a smooth counter type set up. Even still, there wouldn't be much of a way for us to climb anything, and what would be up here anyway?

Miserable, I hunched over and lowered my head down to the table, breathing heavy for a good few minutes.

Was it seriously hopeless?

Rumbling footsteps signaled Julien's entrance, but I was slow to get up on my feet to move back to the center of the table. Before I could do that, Julien's fingers pushed me all the way back, and he said, "Do that again and I'll kill you."

It used to be easier to know he was "joking".

He takes his seat back in front of the table, not bothering to scoot back in as he crosses his arms over his high chest, and I sit crossing my legs, hands grabbing onto my ankles. "So? Do you have any idea what happened?"

I would talk about what Carmen said happened last night, but I don't want him getting angry again, "N-Not really, no..."

He pouts, "W-Well, it's not as if I ever liked to talk about it. Well, Ewald called me yesterday and gave me some news-" I'm sure he noticed my excessively concerned expression. "No - he just - I just... Ugh, h-he forced me to issue an apology, locked my accounts 24 hours to let everything settle, a-and let's just say my plans with the team this weekend are canceled, oh, and if I don't get the highest mark on the next physics test, he might actually kill me."

"Did you apologize?"

"No, I just paid someone else to do it for me." Of course. "I hate making this huge apology when I don't mean it, you know that, Heide. And yet that's what my life is full of, pft. It's already annoying enough that I had to send it off, I wouldn't be able to stomach having to write it myself." He's rolling his head back, groaning, "What am I supposed to say? I'm sorry for...!" He stopped suddenly, eyes narrowing down at me. He snapped straight up again, "Okay, okay, forget that!"

"Yeah, yeah. So, what, um, news did he give you?"

I thought that would get him smiling again, and it did, for just one second. Just as quickly, he looked down to the side, frowning. "Well, um... Yeah, I hated talking about it, so I'm not, you know, exactly sure if you..."

"Julien."

He flushed, took a heavy breath, and then looked back at me. He looked like he was hesitating, and before I could say his name again, he spoke.

"Do you remember... You know..." He kind of made a face, and I knew by his hesitation who he was talking about. Still, I waited. "Ester?"

How could I have forgotten? She was... Well, yeah, he doesn't like for me to even think about it, so it was hard to do so even when I was prompted by him...

"Ye... Yeah..."

He looks down again, taking another heavy breath. "Well, that's the good news." He smiled, but he still wouldn't look at me. "Her and her mom finally paid off the debt."

"What?" I flinched, "H-How? B-But..." I had to count with my fingers, "It's been five years! I thought you said the money they owed got bigger with each month? That's like... Over ten months!"

"They did it-"

"Wait, no! Over twenty months!"

"I know. But, well, they managed to do it."

"You said they'd never be able to pay it off-!"

Quickly, he leaned forward, fist slamming down at the table not too far away from me, and I scrambled back in a panic. You'd think after the thousandth time he did that, I'd stop getting so startled. My heart was racing, and my ears were actually ringing from that pound he made right in front of me. I'm still crawling back, one hand on my chest and the other over my ear, when I look up at him.

What was that funny string of words Carmen said? When you're in trouble? Oh yeah, definition of fucked.

I barely whisper the dirty word that I can't even hear it.

His fist was shaking. "I... Really...." He said the last part through clenched teeth, "Don't want to question it. And you shouldn't be questioning it, either."

Shivering, I put my eyes down. His fist uncurled, fingers tapping and running tremors through me. Cringing, I squeeze my eyes shut and nodded frantically.

"... Okay... Okay!" He finally pulled away, "I don't know yet! Ewald should call me and let me know soon. He just told me that as a little afterthought after he called me as soon as I woke up! All he told me when I kept asking for more was he'd call me down and talk about it in length, but he's been so busy it might take forever."

I hesitated, "Why would he tell you?" He didn't answer, so I assumed it was a stupid question, and I tried to answer it myself before he could do it in a more angry fashion. "B-Because she's your f-friend, right?"

Silence.

After a minute, Jules breathed out the biggest sigh, "Because it's my fault. I guess." He leaned forward, arms on the table with his hand keeping his head up. Nervous, I stared high up at him. "I mean... Ewald taught me how money worked, I wasn't dumb! They were the dumb ones. Whatever, though." He shrugged, "It taught me more at least. Makes me all the more madder when people ask for money from me, just because I'm their friend, and rich." He scoffed at the last part. After a pause, he looked back down at me, waiting a while before asking, "You have something to say?"

I tried to figure out if it was an angry sarcastic question or a genuine one. I was stammering, and when he tilted his head, I went for genuine. I wet my lips, "S-So... They paid it off now, so... Are you gonna go see her?"

He scoffed, and I frowned. Someone was touchy today. "Like I even know where to look, she's always lived in a suitcase all over town." Downtown, I wanted to say, but I just knew he'd snap at me. "Besides, there's nothing I can even, you know... Say to her, as a, um... friend." He slapped his hands down at the table, making me flinch back and close my eyes again. "Either way, if I do go to try finding her and talking to her or whatever, I'm taking you with me, that's why I'm telling you all this!"

"Why..." I kept on hesitating, my hands getting a little clammy. I fiddled with them. "Why would you take me?"

He huffed, "Why not?" Before I could say anything, he said, "I'd rather have you there to know what happens so I don't have to talk to you about it. Or, just, talk about it at all. It's not you." Well, that was totally reassuring. "I don't even know when or if I'll ever try. It's just..." Suddenly, he stopped. His fingers dragged a bit o the table, and he closed his eyes with a shudder. "Good to not have to hold that burden anymore."

"I... Thought you weren't holding onto it."

He looked down at me, and I looked down. Why did I keep getting into moods where his eyes scared me? It was like looking at a mirror, and I hated looking at mirrors enough.

After a couple seconds of silence, he reached over, and a shadow cast over me. I closed my eyes, tensing up, and I had to restrain a cry when his thumb pressed against my chest, index finger against my back, and lifted me up.

He spun me around using the rest of his fingers as he brought me up to his face, and I had to hold my breakfast in as he was doing so. He soon stopped, swinging me full force upside down, his fingers against my midsection as I was forced to mostly dangle. Ahead of me, there was the upside down view of the dining room, and the table where I was just sitting a moment ago. I was just beginning to try finding exactly where I was positioned when I felt the gust of breath burst out from right behind me.

Growing sweaty again with the blood rushing to my head, I tried to reach up to grab hold of his finger against my stomach. Right behind me, Julien breathed out another chuckle, and I held my own breath as his washed behind me.

"I was... Really thinking." His grip tightened on me just a bit, and I almost grunted. "For, like, the past couple months about the whole thing." He tilted me back and forth a bit, letting out another sigh, "Especially with people talking about her again, it really, really pissed me off. I've just been wanting to forget about it, pft, which I'm sure you of all people know."

Of course I know. He locked me in his drawer for over an entire day when I tried asking about it four years ago, and tormented Ernest the entire time in my place.

"So, I'm happy I don't have to carry any sort of obligation to care anymore! It was so annoying."

My head felt like it was going to burst. With a shudder, I tried to grab onto his finger even tighter, trying to signal that I wasn't a fan of being held upside down like this any longer. He didn't care, of course.

"How do you feel about it?" He chuckled, and his warm breath kept washing from behind me. "I remember you were really jealous of her!"

"WHAT!?" My blood was already rushed to my head, but now it really focused in on my cheeks. His fingers released me, and I almost instantly toppled to his awaiting palm down near his chest. Sputtering, I tried to steady myself to sit up. "What!?" I repeated, looking up at him, "I w-wasn't jealous!"

He's grinning, "Yeah, you were! I remember you kept whining and whining asking do you like her? Do you like her? And then you were all sad when I left you for the day to see her for the last time."

"I was sad because you left me and never told me when you were coming back!"

"Mhm, well, I made up for it! That was the last time I saw her and I got you Dad right after."

"Liar. You got him for you, too."

"Hm, that's fair."

I wanted to say more - whine some more, but all this Dad talk started to make me squirm. I had to stop that, I'm sure Carmen would tell me. Ernest wasn't my Dad, he was gonna be someone else's. But, it was so hard when Julien was doing it...

"Hm, but it's happening again, isn't it? You always get so jealous of other people I like. And now, Tiffany, wow..."

My muscles tensed up, and I had to physically restrain myself from saying anything. Anything at all.

"... There's no reason for you to be jealous of anybody anyway." He snickered, bringing me up a little higher, "Not when you have me."

My chest got heavier and heavier. I frowned, pressing my hands harder against the skin of his palm, dragging them. God, it was all so hard and confusing. Julien said stuff like that but Carmen would say otherwise. Sometimes it was easier for me to know what to believe, but I was in that empty, confusing place again.

I hadn't realized how much I was moving my hands over his own until I felt the corner of his band-aid. I didn't know what it was at first, so I retreated quick, before seeing it and gulping. I look back up at him, and he's looking at the band-aid, too, frowning deeply.

"You wanna know what Carmen did to me?"

"She..." I held my hand to my chest, the other on the surface of his palm to hold me up. "Uh... Stabbed you?"

"Of course she told you. Just like she dared telling you about that... stupid thing." He sighed, annoyed. "Whatever, it's so small it's already almost gone, and Carmen's gonna pay for it anyway."

Shit.

"There were so many things I wanted to do to her when she did that."

"Yeah." I hung my head, "I heard you curse really loud, you called her a bad name."

"She tried to stab me, Heide!" Did that excuse it? In that case, how many bad names could I call Julien? I've started to write down a few whenever I got in a mood. "I couldn't do anything because Ewald called me right then and there! It scared me so bad. So, what should I do?" We both looked at each other, and his smile was smug. "What should her punishment be?"

Yeah, shit. "I... Don't know." I could start to feel his hand begin to tense right under me, and I cried out, "You already hurt her! You kept dropping her and she's all hurt and-"

"Oh, boo hoo-"

His cell phone starts to ring from the counter over in the kitchen, and the both of us, startled, look towards it. He always has so many other people on silent, so it had to be someone important. As soon as I looked back at him, he rolls his eyes, and then his fingers instantly curl right over me. I cry out as I'm forced to lie down, and then everything spins as he gets up and retrieves the phone.

The ringing stops, and as soon as it does, I hear two familiar voices.

"Good morning!" Both Tiffany and Gale, together.

Julien, of course, is quick to put back on his bubbly face. "What? Did I forget to say good morning to you guys!? What are you guys doing?"

Please put me back with the others, please put me back with the others, please put me back with the others...

He didn't put me back.

It was a video call, so Julien sat back at the small dining table again, hiding me under it. He kept passing me from hand to hand, fingers prodding and dragging all over me, and it burned and ached so badly. Luckily, though, that was enough to distract me from the call he was having with his two best friends.

Yeah.

Luckily, the pain was enough to distract me...

I don't know how long the call or bruising session lasted, but when it was finished, I was out of breath and exhausted. By the time Julien ended the call and brought me back up to his face, I was too tired to deal with him, but there was nothing I can do about it but scowl at him.

He was holding me by my midsection, and he laughed at my angered face, bringing his other hand up to shove my head to the side with his finger, "See! See what I mean? You get jealous."

"I..." My throat was too dry to get the words out. "I... I'm n-not jealous..." I could see he was already starting to laugh at my claim, so I quickly add in, "Y-You get jealous, t-too..."

His smile faded, his eyes narrowing, and I briefly regretted saying that. Briefly. "... Me?" He squinted, "What do I have to be jealous of? Who?" He wouldn't even let me answer for him, try as I may have. "Whatever." He stood up out of his seat again, putting his phone in his back pocket, and slipping me into the breast pocket of his shirt. I didn't want to be in his rough hands, but I didn't want to be here either. Groaning in the cramped space, I pressed my hands against his chest and beat at it, as he started walking. "I have nothing and no one to be jealous of, not when I have the perfect family here - just like you."

Eventually, I stopped beating against his chest because I could feel the bruising take effect on my arms. Still, I kept my feet against his chest to push me back as much as I could, though it still meant nothing to Julien as he kept walking, reaching the stairs eventually which only jostled me more.

I recognize where he is based on his steps, and before he even opens his bedroom door I'm struggling to stand in his cramped pocket, turning myself around to look out. I have to grab on tight as to not fall right back in, right arm slung over to the outside of his pocket.

"Oh, you guys are still out here!" He rushed over faster, and I grabbed on higher to steady myself and see what he was seeing. I could barely make it out, but it was Ernest and Irene at the bench with Kyle situated right in front of them. "Kyle! How did you-?"

As soon as Julien spoke, maybe even before, maybe as soon as he saw us, Kyle made a break for it to go up the porch and back inside.

That made Julien push himself into a very brief halt in his steps, almost sending me crashing back down to his pocket.

"Ah, um... You two!" He was walking quickly again, swinging out his chair and plopping right to it instantly, as it was still moving closer to the table. That got me to let go and fall clumsily deeper into his pocket, and I gave myself a minute to compose myself before climbing back out. "Did you like breakfast? I got up extra early to make it."

Julien was hunching himself over, so it should have been easier for me to climb out, but I had to hold on even tighter as to not fall out completely. I pulled myself up, and now that we were closer, I can see that Ernest and Irene were looking through a book with the former holding it, but he very uncomfortably closed it shut.

"Where's-?" Ernest starts, but sees me right after, deflating even more, "Ah."

Despite my exhaustion, a smile begins to build on my face as I begin to wave at him, but Julien's hand comes over and pushes me back in his pocket. "Forget about her! How was breakfast? Wait, wait, no... Where's Carmen? Kyle was just out here."

I hurried to scramble my upper half out of his pocket just in time to see Irene look down uncomfortably, "She's sick, she has the chills and stayed in bed - we brought breakfast to her."

"Hmm. How convenient."

Maybe. I did hear some choked up wheezing sounds coming from her room late last night.

"Did you...?" Ernest is looking at me as he starts his question, but his eyes go up to Julien's face and he suddenly stops. I try to look up too, but I can only see the underside of his jaw. Sighing, Ernest asks, "Did you both eat?"

"We did! Together. Again, I got up really early to make food and get dressed. Breakfast was good, right?"

Irene answers. "Yes, Julien, it was good."

"Did Kyle think it was good too?"

I can only assume she was lying by her rushed answer, "Yes, he liked it too."

Ernest kept watching me, and I watched him back, almost leaning far too out of Julien's pocket Still looking at me, he asked Julien, "What'd you get Heide up and early for?"

"Hm? Oh, just wanted to talk to her about stuff."

"Your Dad didn't call you?"

"W-What?" He sucks in a breath, and Ernest averts his gaze instantly, realizing his mistake. "God, what'd Carmen tell you? And, no, Dad..." His finger taps furiously right in front of Ernest and Irene's feet. "Ewald hasn't grilled me about it!"

"... He hasn't? I thought-"

"I thought, too. But he seems really busy with something, and I think it's one of his things where I'm gonna get roped in, too..."

Ernest was looking more uncomfortable as the seconds passed, and Irene kept her eyes downcast, her hand holding on tight to Ernest's sleeve. Ernest kept on hesitating before simply asking, "How?"

Julien kept hunching closer and closer, making a whining sound. "Stuff I don't want to do. Like, sometimes he doesn't... Make me, make me..." His fingers came towards me suddenly, stroking the top of my head and sinking me down. "Do things sometimes, but he still makes me feel like I have to."

"You... Don't have to..."

"Mhm. That's why it's better with you." His fingers snaked into the pocket with me, grabbing me by my midsection and dangling me out sideways, slowly bringing me to the table with them. "Because you can't make me do anything!"

Out of all the scares Julien gave me today, nothing prepared me for what happened the second those chilling, taunting words left his lips.

The door opened.

I could barely see how awake and alert Ernest and Irene became upon hearing the door open, and in the same millisecond, Julien's grip on me tightened so hard I was scared he was gonna break all my ribs. I didn't have enough time to worry about that though, because Julien instantly tossed me right onto the table.

Luckily he was already bringing me there, but being flung over wasn't very fun. I fell on my side hard, tumbling a few times, and my bruises screamed in agony. As I was still tumbling, Julien slammed the closet door completely shut.

Ernest and Irene were quickly rushing towards me and helping me up. Ernest knelt beside me and I leaned into him, Irene's hand on my back, and I was too busy wincing and wheezing at the pain in my body to remember what happened.

Until I heard that voice. "... Really?" It came out very muffled in here, the heavy sigh that followed especially. The closet door was still being held onto, it was shaking along with Julien's grip, and I could feel Ernest tense up beside me, his breathing stopping upon hearing Julien's dad's voice. "You were playing dolls?"

"Are you..." Irene's sigh is heavy, her hand pressing harder against my back. "Kidding me..."

"I..." Julien's voice came choked out, and the closet door was still trembling. "I was bored. You locked my accounts for the day, remember? And Mom never answers my calls or messages."

"Studying is what you should have been doing. Especially with all that talking your teachers say you do in class."

"I... I know. I'm sorry. I... I'll go do that-"

"Not now."

Julien's hands release the closet door. The three of us are silent, unbreathing.

"I need to talk to you about something, Julien... You're the one who wanted to talk so bad."

Silence is his answer.

"Now come." He says, and I can barely hear Julien's sigh as he stands up from his chair. "And on the way to the office, you can explain in greater detail where you ran off after our meeting on Tuesday."

"I was..." Julien starts, voice shaken. "I came home like you told me."

"Doesn't explain the behavior I saw in the security footage, and why you left without my permission right after."

"W-Well, I was stressed out! I just - I just came home and talked to Dad because I-!

Silence.

Complete silence.

I held my breath, and my heart was beating wildly in my chest. I was almost certain the one only thing I heard was Ernest's heart beating more frantically than mine.

The silence goes on, before Julien's real dad blankly says, "... Julien."

Julien sounds startled out of his skin, "Y-Yes?"

"Come now."

There's another second of silence, of hesitation, before Julien walks towards the door.

Ewald's footsteps start off back into the hallway again, and I can barely faintly hear him tell Julien, as he catches up with him, "Let me see your phone."

Silence.

"... Oh..." Ernest finally lets out a breath first, and we all follow suit, letting out the oxygen we've been holding in for so long. "My God..."

"Did he seriously..." Irene retreats her hand from my back, and she steps backward, covering her mouth. "Not see us?"

"He probably just saw our... The dollhouse." Ernest is panting, standing up to his feet and helping me up. "But... He just... Oh, my God." He's still holding me up, but he stumbles back in a daze, Irene herself helping steady him. "He... He's so damn dense!" Ow, my ears. "He's attentiveenough to call every teacher and coach and look in security footage but... WHAT!?"

"O-!" I choke out when his grip on me tightens, "Ow!?"

Ernest just notices that he's still holding me, "Oh, sorry-!"

He lets go, and Irene wraps her arm around me, breathless herself, but still calmly says, "Come on, let's get inside and get you some rest."

That's what we do, slowly heading back to the house and up the porch. Ernest picks up the book from the bench before going up the stairs right ahead of us, still frantically ranting under his breath, "And he gets straight A's but studying is still the only clear problem, unbelievable... Everything else flies right by... Heide, when you girls go down, it's best not to waste any time on that-!"

The door is opened before Ernest can reach for it. Kyle's eyes are wide, face even paler than usual, and he chokes out. "What..." Taking a huge breath, "What h-happened-!?"

"Nothing!" Ernest storms past them, making Kyle wheel back. "Absolutely nothing!"

Guess this was close to an "escape attempt", because it didn't work, and Ernest was pissed, and was probably going to be for the entire day.

Kyle still looks dumbfounded, and Irene explains as she leads me inside. "Ewald popped in but Julien closed the door before he could see us."

"And he threw me," I added.

Kyle looks back in the living room, and I follow his gaze. Ernest didn't even lay down on the couch, he was lying face down on the floor in the center of the living room, punching the space beside him.

"And..." Irene cringed, "Julien mentioned Ernest to Ewald on accident, but by Dad..."

"That's... Awkward."

Irene led me to the living room and sat me on the couch, going to the kitchen to get me some water. Still, I just watched Ernest before getting up and lying down on the floor next to him, or rather, over his back. He grunted, just starting to say something, calling me a bad name maybe, before I asked.

"What made you madder?" My fingers traced along the floor. "That his dad didn't see us, that he was mad at Julien, or...?" It was weird for me to say the last part.

He was quiet, thinking about it. He answered after releasing a heavy, exhausted breath, "All of the above."

Irene was back, tapping my leg with her foot. I got up off of Ernest and stepped back to sit on the couch and accepted the cup of water she gave me. She tried to get Ernest up, and he did so, but whined and groaned the whole time, and she had to physically push him to sit right beside me.

I stared down at my water, before turning my head and looking towards the stairs. "Carm's sick?" I asked, "Is she really?"

Irene got another cup of water, "No, she's not. She said she is." She came over and sat next to Ernest, handing him the cup. "But she won't let me in to take her temperature, so I really doubt she's sick."

"Then..." I kept looking back at the stairs, "She's doing it again..."

"I'm still gonna trust her. For awhile." Kyle came over, situating himself beside me. "She might just be shaken up still from yesterday. But if she's not out of her room by noon, then we can force her out."

Still, I couldn't stop staring over at the stairs, waiting to hear or see her come down.

"Heide." Ernest nudged me, making me flinch. "What did Julien say he was doing today?"

"I - I don't know..." I took a gulp of the water, "He said he might..."

"... Might?"

My hands were shaking, "I don't remember."

He wouldn't know what I'm talking about. Ernest came along right after Julien stopped me from talking about it.

When I was finished with my water, Irene asked to see my bruises and had to wrap the more serious ones on my shoulder with elastic bandages. I tried to rest here with them talking around me, with me lying down at the other couch wrapped in a blanket, but I kept getting distracted. I kept looking back and forth between the stairs and the clock next to the window, waiting for Carmen to either come down, or for the clock to strike noon.

And just six minutes before it did, I heard the noises back in Julien's room.

I sat up a bit, watching the others reactions. It took them longer to hear, but when they did, they stopped talking. Hesitating, I pull the blanket off of me and get up to my feet.

"Heide." Ernest reaches out for my wrist, stopping me from walking any further. I look down at him, and he shakes his head at me.

"I just..." I try to shake him off, "I'll stay on the porch, I won't go down!" He barely even let me go if at all, I mostly had to rip myself free. Hurrying before he or the other two could call for me, I step outside onto the porch.

Ah, I knew it.

The closet door opened slowly, and Julien looked stunned to see me waiting right in front at the door of the dollhouse.

"Wow." He muttered, blankly. "You really are in sync with me, huh? I was just gonna call you."

I look him up and down. He changed, he's wearing a different shirt and he has his letterman jacket on. Ignoring my promise to Ernest, I hesitantly step forward onto the first step. "Where are you going?"

He gives me a depressing looking smile. "I'm not taking you with me." He lowered himself down, probably kneeling, his hands holding himself at the end of the table. "I just wanted you to wish me luck."

My heart rate quickened.

"I always feel better when I know you're on my side."

"Ah... I... Y-Yeah."

"I'm... Really nervous." He chuckled, lowering his gaze. "So, uhm... Yeah." He got back up, and I was taken back. That's it? "Sorry, I just wanted to see you, make sure you're still there for me. Thanks, take care of everyone while I'm out."

Though I was still a little confused, I nodded and began to step back closer to the front door. Julien started to close the closet door, and just before he finished - leaving a usual small slit of openness - he absentmindedly spoke.

"I'm gonna have to change my passwords again..."

And walked away, closing his door behind him.

Goosebumps were settling on my skin, and everything got so, so much colder.

I stood there for a second, thinking about what he said on and on, and it only made me freeze more and more. I took in a deep breath, and quickly, trying not to think anymore, I went back inside the house, going straight to the storage room.