Ivy and Mia, standing in front of the apartment building, were a comforting sight to the half-dead Ruby. Her legs were aching, and her head was throbbing by the time she reached home. Home? Well, this was kind of her home now. It just felt strange to call this place home. Whenever she thought of home, she thought of Robert’s house. That would always be her real home. Ivy didn’t even try to hide the surprise that filled her eyes upon seeing Ruby. A chuckle escaped Ruby. She couldn’t blame Ivy. After all, she was just as surprised by the fact that she wasn’t dead.
“Hello, Ruby!” Mia called out, rushing over to meet her. “You made it, yay!”
“Yes! You did too! Did you have fun playing the game?” asked Ruby.
“Nope. It was very boring. Ivy spent the whole time telling me to be quiet while we sat in a dark room. I changed my mind again. Games aren’t fun after all,” said Mia. Ivy rolled her eyes.
“How are you doing?” Ivy asked. Ruby shrugged.
“Okay, I guess. But I’ve got to admit I’m really tired.”
“Some sleep should help with that.” Ivy led her into the apartment. Everything seemed a little cheerier now. The other dolls were laughing and talking with each other happily. That heaviness that had hung about that city in the morning was completely gone. But as she looked around, Ruby realized that the rooms halls were much emptier than they had been before. How many dolls had been lost today? Maybe she would find out in the morning. She couldn’t bring herself to think of that kind of thing right now. Ruby turned back to the ever-cheerful Mia for comfort and strength.
“You look like you’re getting really sleepy. I’m very sleepy myself,” Ruby asked.
“Nope! I’m just sooo bored! I thought that hide-and-seek was supposed to be fun,” Mia sighed. It was comforting to see how untraumatized Mia appeared to be. There was no fear or sadness in her voice. How on earth did she do that? Maybe she was just too young to understand how horrible everything was. Maybe her mind was still too soft to process everything.
“It can be a very fun game. But I agree that this wasn’t fun. I think it comes down to how you play the game,” Ruby said. She found herself smiling now. Hide and seek had always been Betty’s favorite game. Betty and Ruby had spent hours and hours playing it together. Obviously, it wasn’t the kind of game that worked well with only two people. But that hadn’t mattered to Betty. They had had fun anyway.
“How about we play a little round of hide and seek now?” Ruby asked. Mia’s face lit up.
“Okay! But I want to seek this time!”
“Have it your way then. Count to ten and I’ll hide okay, Mia?”
“Okay!” Without a moment of hesitation, Mia spun around, closed her eyes and began counting. Ruby dashed off as quickly as she could.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“One, two, t-three, five, four, six… seven… um… here I come!” she could hear Mia saying. Ruby kept her hiding places pretty obvious. Mia insisted on remaining the seeker. Each time she found Ruby, Mia would scream at the top of her lungs with delight. Everywhere that Ruby looked, she saw happy people talking. There was no trace of the silence and stillness. They played a total of five hide-and-seek rounds. Then Mia announced once again that she was once again bored, and she ran off to find something new to entertain herself with. Ruby watched the child scurry off with a smile on her face.
“She’s a bit of a handful, isn’t she?” Ivy asked, sitting down next to Ruby.
“Yeah, but she’s so adorable!”
“Thanks for playing with her. She’s really taken to you. Honestly, I’m really surprised. It’s probably hard for you to believe, but she tends to be really shy. I have a lot of trouble getting her to talk to anyone,” said Ivy.
“Oh, yeah, I’ve met a lot of little kids who are like that. Some little ones just never come out of their shell, until they do. Then sometimes you wish they’d go back to hiding in their shell,” said Ruby. At that, Ivy flung her head back laughing. This was a new, wholehearted laugh. It didn’t sound anything like the bitter laugh that Ivy had used earlier.
“Mia reminds me a lot of a human child that I used to know. Her name was Betty. She was also a shy-until-she-wasn’t kind of kid,” explained Ruby. The more she thought about it, the more alike Betty and Mia seemed. It was the smile that really stood out to Ruby. Whenever Mia smiled at her, it felt as if Betty was smiling at her.
“Speaking of humans and the outside world, there’s someone who I really think you should meet soon. She lives a little way away. But I think she’d have a lot of questions for you. Not now, of course. I know you probably can’t think about anything other than sleep at the moment. Maybe you could meet her tomorrow morning. I think she might be able to help you with some things,” said Ivy. What things?
“Alright… I guess I don’t mind,” Ruby said. It was probably a good idea for her to meet as many dolls as possible. If they ended up working together for a game, having allies would be really important.
“Thanks! You have a good night. Try not to die tomorrow,” Ivy added before turning to Mia. “Mia! Bedtime, come on! You need your rest.” Ruby watched as Ivy dragged the whining and reluctant Mia upstairs.
How had they met? The two acted kind of like sisters. They seemed to have known each other for a very long time, but that didn’t make any sense. Surely, they had been shattered and fixed a couple of times. But the overseers hadn’t separated them. Why was that? Everyone in this building seemed to obey and listen to Ivy.
Maybe Ivy was just very good with people. Ruby decided not to ask Ivy. It was none of her business. Prying into other people’s lives didn’t help anyone. If anything, it would probably just feed Ruby’s curiosity. She had learned a long time ago that answers usually came with brand new questions.
This was all too much for her to think about right now. Sleep was what she really needed. Ruby made her way down the hall to her room. She did her best to relax her sore, aching body and let her mind wander. Her fear began to fade away. Tomorrow would bring more challenges and horrors. But she didn’t need to think about that now. For now, she just wanted to rest, lie to herself, and pretend that everything was alright. If Robert was here, what would he do? Could he see her? Was he up there, watching her somehow? Would he be proud of her for making it through the first game and helping fix that doll? That was a comforting thought.
She could see his proud smile. Ruby had felt so close to him when she had cast the spell. It was as if Robert had wanted to cast it. Her eyes closed and her thoughts drifted back to her old home and her old life. Comfort and a feeling of security filled her as she drifted off.