Mansion of Dolls (Complete)

Chapter 41 (Edited)

It was stupid, Taryn knew that.

No, it was more than idiocy. It was purely suicidal.

Yet, she couldn't think of an alternative. Part of mind screamed to just run, to never look back. And yet... the rest of her knew that running would not work. It would only delay what would be becoming. The last thing she wanted to be was for Toya to end up on her doorstep.

Stephanie was the first to respond. "Are you crazy!" she snapped. "You want us to leave you here? After all the flack you gave me for coming back, you expect us just to do it? These people are insane! They've killed god knows who many, and you intend to do what exactly? Stop him? How?"

"He's only after me now. In his mind, I'm the one he wants. He made that abundantly clear when I was in the underground. You should know too; you saw the painting."

Stephanie faltered, but she wasn't willing to just let someone possibly sacrifice themselves for something that could easily be avoided. "Do you thank sacrificing yourself will do any good? So, what if there's a painting that just so happens to resemble you? That could be anybody! You should just forget all of this and get the hell out of here with us!"

"If I do that, he'll follow, he said that he would."

"It's a bluff!" Stephanie pressed. "It has to be! There's no way he'd come after you when we return home, not after all this!"

"You don't know that!" she snapped back.

"Even if I don't, there's no way in hell I'm going to let you go, so what if he wants you? The man is crazy if he thinks any of us are going to let you go back in there!"

At that moment, Taryn pictured what she dreaded most. Of her loved ones lying dead in the dirt, by Toya's hands. It was the thing she feared most, something she desperately wanted not to happen, no matter the cost.

"I DON'T WANT TO LOSE ANYONE ELSE!" she screamed, ignoring the pain in her throat, looking Stephanie right in the eye as she let out heavy breaths. "Not again," she said softly. "I can't, not again. And if that means I have to do something extremely stupid by risking my own life to keep the rest of you safe, then I'm okay with that. Toya now fervently believes that I'm the one he's been waiting for. He has no intention of stopping, not now, not when he believes he's finally grasped it and has no intention of letting go." She glanced back towards the mansion before looking back to Stephanie. "If the roles were reversed in this situation, you can't tell me you wouldn't do the same as me."

Stephanie flinched, for Taryn's words were right, Stephanie would have done the same. Damn it. She cursed. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it! Her body shook in frustration. Frustration at Taryn, at this whole thing, the death of her boyfriend, at her powerlessness. "Even still! I can't just let you go off and—"

"Three hours," Rachael said, suddenly cutting Stephanie off. "We'll give you three hours. If you think you can stop him, then do it." She then looked at her friend with a stern gaze. "But once three hours are up, we're gone, do you understand?"

"I do."

"Rachael!" Stephanie gasped in outrage, shocked that she'd be allowing her friend to do this. "You can't be serious in letting her go back in there!"

"I don't want her too either, but..." Rachael looked to Taryn with a knowing stare. "You haven't seen what we did. What she has, those things... they aren't even human anymore. There's no telling what or how many are down there."