Scribbles and Drabbles

Hell House Drabble 2

Kei walked down the long winding corridors slightly aimlessly. He had lost track of time in the house entirely now. Without daylight, he couldn't even tell if it was night or day anymore. Occasionally a clock would chime, but Kei was sure that they didn't tell reasonable time.

Eventually, he found a door he had not seen yet. He could tell it was one of the domain doors thought. He hesitated for a moment. The last monster he'd dealt with hadn't turned out well for him. However, he needed to make some allies here. Not all of the residents were monstrous, but they all had no ethic or morals left after living this life for so long. He needed someone to protect him from Karl.

If a resident didn't want another coming into their domain, they locked their doors. If whoever controlled this portion of the house wished to have nothing to do with him, the door wouldn't open. Steeling himself, he moved over to the black door with silver patterns carved inside and held the cold handle.

The door creaked open into a mostly dark room. It smelt of lavender and paint. He winced at the strength before looking through the gloom. Glass cabinets were surrounding the room, as well as bookcases filled with half hazarded placed books and wooden drawers. He flinched as he saw heads move in the display cases. They were dolls. This was the doll makers domain.

Kei almost backed out straight away but froze as he remembered why he was here. Kei took a deep breath. This was fine. It wasn't like the man had humans bodies struck up from the ceiling or anything. There was no blood, just pots of dried flowers dotted about.

"Excuse me?" Kei called, before stepping into the room.

There was a sobbing noise in the back of the room. Kei slowly crept in the direction and realised the Doll Maker was working at a desk. A doll head streaming with tears down its face was sitting on the side as a man hummed sympathetically. The rest of its body in pieces under the desk light. The man paused and looked behind him, a broad smile unfurling as he saw Kei.

"Hello Kei, welcome to my den," Walter greeted. "I thought I told you not to come in here without me saying though."

"The door was open, and no one answered when I called," Kei murmured, moving forwards and looking over the other dolls nearby. Most seemed to be resting, but a few were mumbling amongst themselves.

"Um? I must have forgotten to lock the door again," Walter shook his head. "Silly me." The man continued to clean the parts of the doll he had disassembled in front of him. He picked up the head and looked it over carefully, wearing strange glasses to help him as he wiped the tears away and applied a fresh coat of paint to the freckles.

"Just how many souls live in this house?" Kei's eyes glued to one of the dolls which was shaking like it was scared in a nearby cabinet. The unfortunate thing was rocking back and forth, hugging itself tightly. "What's the matter with this one?"

Walter shrugged, kissing the head he had in his hands as he finished touching up its facial features. "Too many to count, I'm afraid. Most fade, but with the constant supply of guests, we get a fair few who are stubborn and stick around. Jim is an example of one who is a little too stubborn." He paused, putting the head down on a pillow and patting it gently. "Ignore it, it's being overdramatic."