Author's Note: This seriously shouldn't have taken as long as it did, I was planning to release this last month but between multiple rejections and re-writing the first draft because I wasn't happy with how it went I was pretty delayed. Well that and I'm a lazy ass, and I apologize for that.
*****
Philip awoke quickly and out breath, feeling like he only escaped sleep by physically running from it, he slowly got out of bed and groggily took note of his surroundings.
He was no longer in the dungeon, as he had come to know it, but he was still in the manor back in one of the bedrooms on the second floor.
At this point he didn't feel upset, just pissed off.
That was twice now this hell hole got the best of you! Came his judgemental thoughts.
He should have been more careful, faster perhaps and maybe he wouldn't have been caught up in that trap, but regardless he couldn't just sit and dwell on things he could have or should have done.
Dragging his tired body off of the warm sanctity of the bed he quickly scanned the room, resting his glare on the corner and the doll, petite with a single ginger braid, that stood there with its arm outstretched an a card in her hand.
He snatched the card away immediately and scanned its contents, just as before it mocked him on one side:
One more time and you're here forever!
And on the inverse were his instructions:
Next to the attic among the spares.
As he turned to leave he caught a glimpse of the attending doll and thought something about it seemed off. Physically it looked like any of the dolls - bar the ones from the basement. Aside from their small but shapely proportions it shared the same faux flesh, the same lifeless, unseeing eyes and-
Ah that was it - this one was smiling.
Objectively there was nothing off-putting about the smile, it was simple and sweet, full of innocent intent like a loyal maid encouraging her master to face the day with healthy enthusiasm.
But to Phil, after all he'd been through, it felt as though a malicious imp was ridiculing him and his failed rebellion, as if it were expecting him to fail and was egging him onward to his demise simply so that he could hurry and get it over with.
In a moment of blind fury, Phil was dimly aware of a hollow impact on his knuckles and that the doll was now lying on its side with its head rolling steadily to the opposite corner of the room its loving smile still stretching its cute face.
The sight disturbed him, not because of the smile but because of the possibility that these dolls were once living people.
Did she feel that? Was she even aware of what was going on?
What did it matter though? In the end he was leaving and never coming back.
He left the room and stalked down the surprisingly, and unnervingly, empty corridors to where the attic was.
As he walked he reflected on his memories of his rape in the dungeon.
Despite his unresponsive and tired state he could recall almost every moment and minute sensation during that time with one factor leaving a great impact on him:
A day had definitely passed during his time in this mansion, perhaps two days if his first rape was equally as long.
Did his parents not think him staying at the mansion this long was suspicious? Or was there something stopping them from reaching him? If only he still had his phone.
Not wanting to waste any more time, Phil decided to get to his destination as quick as possible, hopefully this time the room wasn't rigged to shut him in with whatever buxom beauty was willing to accost him this time.
Phil stopped before the two doors at the end of the mansion, the door on the right was indistinct and ordinary.
Originally this simple wooden frame had him spellbound, his heart quickened and his body flushed when he was near it and he felt urged to find what was inside it but now the spell was gone.
Because the dweller within the room was gone too.
Phil clutched at his chest when his thoughts lingered on the purple-eyed girl, the spectre haunting the mansion that stirred an uncomfortable familiarity and passion in him.
Surely she couldn't have been the witch that cursed the mansion all those years ago. But it was entirely possible she was related to the witch in some way wasn't it?
Philip shook his head, aggressively beating down his thoughts and feelings to focus on the task at hand.
All that mattered was leaving, and then none of this bullshit would mean anything.
Phil turned to the iron door on the left, its appearance mirroring the basement door did little to allay his nerves.
Initially, this door was locked but now it swung open with as little ease as the basement's door as if it too wished to urge him into a welcoming trap.
Concerned that this one would close behind him, Phil paused a moment and took to the attic next door where he acquired an assortment of boxes, filled with antiques and junk alike, that he piled in front of the neighbouring door.
It was enough to keep the door from closing completely yet light enough that, in the case of an emergency, it could be kicked away to close the door and seal inside whatever demons pursued him.
Then, as if to draw in all the courage within his soul, Philip took a deep breath and stepped into the mystery room.
It was brightly lit, thanks to curtain-less windows set in the left wall, dominating the whole space from floorboards to rafters. Thanks to this, Phil was able to ascertain the contents of the room, though it took him a moment to comprehend exactly what he was looking at.
The entire room, with exception to the open space in its centre acting as a path, was packed to the brim with stone statues of various women.
They were all depicted to be naked except for lacy underwear tightly fastened to their nether regions and each and every one of them wore an expression of extreme euphoria.
The effigial garden wore an atmosphere of life that the dolls seemed to lack, it wasn't just a matter of their faces capturing a moment of believable rapture but rather their presence itself.
Just by standing in that room, Phil felt like a hundred eyes were watching him, or a moment of claustrophobic delirium pressing down on him, smothering him as if he was being embraced on all sides by countless beings.
In the silence of his gathering thoughts, Phil became aware of a muted humming in the room, it wasn't coming from any one location, more like it was present everywhere he turned. Unable to pinpoint the location of the noise, he put up with the sepulchral buzz and continued to examine the room.
There were two doors in the room, one to his right — which was locked but was decorated in a rather flamboyant manner in contrast to the dingy conditions of what he assumed to be some kind of storage room. Its flowing purple and pink emblems were at odds with the rest of the estate's cardinal red colour palette.
The other door was straight ahead from where he came in from: it was simple in design if not a little more worn down and weathered by age compared to the rest of the mansion. With a gentle tap (little more than a ghost of contact on the dusty wood) the door swung open unconditionally and without resistance.
Unlike the room before it, there was no light source inside so Philip had to make do with what filtered through the door frame.
He stepped into the room, the floorboards complaining when they met his weight, taking care to remain as close to the door just in case.
Though it was hard to see in the absolute dark, he could make out piles of something gathered in the small room.
Stepping as close as he dared and reaching a reluctant hand towards the nearest "thing" and pulled out a doll.
He stumbled back towards the door frame, expecting the sleeping figure to rouse itself awake and pursue him as well.
When nothing happened he took a closer look, pulling the body closer into the light.
It shared the same physical properties as the other dolls but this one had no arms attached to it, furthermore its hair, long enough to reach down to her thighs, was whiter than freshly fallen snow, as were her eyes.
The doll didn't show any signs of life at all, even when the dolls were on standby they had a presence to them but this one felt...well...empty.
It wasn't just her either, from the pile were several other dolls, with the same hair and eyes, some missing limbs and some without any limbs at all. There were even a few heads without bodies, stray arms without an owner and torsos that were basically glorified onaholes.
Determining the room to be some kind of storage for spare or unused doll parts Phil returned to his search for the key.