Forlot - Books 10-12

Chapter Twenty-One

Unlike Milo, I was not at all scared of the talking doll. At least, not yet. I thought at first that the doll was being controlled someone. Remember Vincent?

I also did not believe that dolls and puppets could come to life.

Boy, was I wrong.

"Haha. Very funny, Milo," I said sarcastically as I picked Gabi up and cradled her in my arms.

The expression on his face was filled with confusion. "What are you talking about?" he asked. "I do not think that this is funny."

"You cannot fool me. I know that you are controlling Gabi."

"What? No!"

"You heard me. Just like when my mom controlled Vincent with a controller. And where is the controller? You must be hiding it in your backpack."

He held up his hands as if he were surrendering. "Dude. Is this a way for you to look into my backpack?"

"Yeah," the doll piped up. "Why the crub would you want to take a look inside your friend's bag? Whatever he is hiding in there must be junk."

I quickly turned my head back to her - and screamed as loud as I could. Then I dropped her, scooped up my baby sister, and backed away until I was next to Milo again.

The doll fell on her side and stayed lifeless. She did not move. She did not speak.

Milo gulped. "Are...are our brains messing with us?"

Gabi's wooden head shot up. "You wish."

"Ah!"

Little Amy did not cry out. She just stared at me and my best friend like we were idiots and sucked on her little hand.

Gabi Dollson's smile grew wide, and she slowly staggered to her wooden feet. She did not take her glassy eyes off us.

"Mmm. It is wonderful for me to know that you boys are scared of me," she said. "Especially you, Jackson. I learned so much about you from your mom back when I was in that stupid glass case."

When she mentioned Mom, I got worried. "What did you do to my mother?"

She giggled. Giggled darkly. "Relax. I did not even harm a hair on her head. I am not...that kind of doll."

"What do you want?" Milo demanded. "To kill us? To enslave us?"

Gabi shook her wooden head. "No and no. I will tell you. But first, I would like to introduce you to my boyfriend."

I raised an eyebrow. "Your boyfriend?"

She put a wooden thumb and finger inside her mouth and whistled.

"Darling! We have assistance!"

In an instant, we heard rapid steps, and they sounded like that they were coming from down the hall.

"Oh!" My best friend and I exclaimed as something - or in this case, someone - touched our legs and pushed past us.

It was Mom's dummy. My dummy. He was alive too!

Vincent staggered up to Gabi Dollson and embraced her in a hug, wrapping his wooden arms around her.

Gabi let out this creepy laugh and hugged him back. "Oh, Vincent. I am so glad that we are reunited once again."

They pulled away from each other, and Vincent nodded his wooden head.

"Boys, you have already met Vincent," Gabi said. "Vincent, this is Jackson and his friend Milo."

The dummy looked up at us and smiled.

"Does he talk?" Milo asked.

"Only when he needs to. He does not feel the need to right now."

The dummy raised a wooden hand and pointed a wooden finger at Amy.

"That is Amy, Jackson's little sister," Gabi explained to him. "She is a doll."

A chill shot down my spine when she called my sister a doll. I do not know why. Probably because the real doll was alive and talking!

"Boys, Vincent and I mean you no harm. No harm at all," Gabi said. "We come to you for help."

"Okay..." I said. "...what do you two need help with?"

"Well, you see, this tiny favor is not really meant for my boyfriend. It is meant for me."

There was a pull string attached to the upper part of her wooden back. Vincent pulled it, and as the pull string slithered back, we heard...nothing.

You see, when you pull a pull string, you are supposed to hear something, like the toy's voice. But this pull string activated no sounds.

"Are you...broken by any chance?" I asked Gabi.

The doll's smile disappeared. "Unfortunately, yes. I did not want to admit it at first, but I now realize that I am." She looked down at her shoes. "It is so sad."

"Is that what you want me and Milo to help you with? To fix you?"

She looked back up at us and smiled a little. "Please? It should not be that hard."

"Okay then. How do we fix you?"

"Easy. I need a new record and a new voice box. The ones in me do not work at all."

"We can agree on that," Milo said.

I stroked the tiny hairs on my sister's head. "How are we going to get our hands on a record and voice box? It is not like that either of those are easy to find."

"Oh, they will be easier to find than you think. Your mom has plenty of records for dolls like me that have not been used. Get one of those."

"Alright. What about the voice box?"

"The voice box will be tough."

"What? But I thought that you said that it was easy to locate."

"Oh, it is. Getting it will be the challenge."

My best friend put a hand on his hip. "So do you happen to know where a bunch of voice boxes are lying around?"

"No. But I know where the perfect one is." She pointed at Amy.

I was confused. "Why are you pointing at my baby sister?"

"Is it not obvious? Her voice box is perfect. So perfect that I want to rip it out of her throat!"