Playing With Dolls

Chapter One: Regret

Spencer isn't sure if it's the throbbing in her side that wakes her up, or the blood trickling down into her eye from a cut on her forehead, or the sound of someone screaming in the distance — someone familiar, someone whose voice, whose screams, she knows, but her head is too fuzzy to figure it out right now.

Either way, Spencer wakes up. That's her first regret.

Her second is attempting to move her arm to wipe the blood off her face, as the pain that shoots through her wrist temporarily blinds her to the other atrocities her body is up against. She doesn't know how her wrist got broken, and it definitely feels broken. She doesn't know how or why there's blood on her face, or why she's lying on the floor. She doesn't know where she is.

Her third regret is opening her eyes.

If her wrist is broken, the scene in front of her could only be described as shattered. The remains of what looks to be a party fill her vision — a turned over table, pieces of what used to be dishes, food splattered carelessly on the floor, and balloons floating high above it all, almost taunting in their cheeriness.

But it's the banner at the back of the room that ultimately grabs her attention. Lopsided, ripped at one end, red letters smeared as if the paint was never given a chance to dry, but Spencer could still read the words through her hazy vision.

WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE

Her final regret before it all fades to black is that she remembers everything.