Hey girl, open the walls, play with your dolls – Dollhouse, Melanie Martinez

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Part I - Curiosity Killed the Cat

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It had started when her mother had left them.

The big mansion got uncomfortably silent, and her father got uncomfortably distant, burying himself in his work inside of his office.

The little tapping began in her dining room.

The large area seemed even bigger without her mother's chatty voice, and her father's equally as eager replies, usually followed by Lucy's giggles.

Ms. Spetto had put a plate in front of her, leaving her for more important chores. The plate stood untouched, the steaming fish now cold, and Lucy liked to think that if Happy were real, he would devour it.

A little noise caught her eager attention, bringing something new to discover in her monotonous routine.

Wake up, eat, get ready for school, sit in class, go to recess, go back to class, go home, practice piano, eat, get ignored by father, and go to sleep.

The curious noises from within the dining room's wall were a welcome disturbance.

With great difficulty, she jumped from the high chair and stumbled down, falling on her butt. She swore that she could hear a childish chuckle resonate, accompanied by a louder thud. She crawled to the wall, pressing an eager ear against it, when she heard it again, right where her ear was.

Thud.

"Hello?" she whispered.

The noise started again, a few feet from where she was crouching on her knees, and she crawled once again, following it. When she pressed her ear in the new spot, the noise resonated from a few feet away, and she was forced to stand up to follow it again, as it was a bit higher up. Soon enough, her little friend had her running along four walls, her laughs echoing through the room while she followed the curious noise.

"What's going on here?"

The noise abruptly stopped, and Lucy's head whipped around. Ms. Spetto stood at the door, glaring disapprovingly at her.

"Why are you running around? That's not the behaviour of a good little lady. Cease this childish entertainment at once, your dad wouldn't be happy."

Lucy frowned, putting her head down, a curtain of blonde hair hiding her distraught face.

"I apologize, Ms. Spetto."

"And you haven't eaten!" gasped the maid. "A proper lady always finishes what's on her plate!"

Lucy huffed, glaring at her shoes in frustration. Why do I have to be a good lady? Why why why?

"Now eat your food. That plate better be empty when I'm back."

The elder woman exited through the door, and Lucy was left standing in the middle of the dining room. It was silent for a moment, and Lucy turned around, raising a fist towards the wall. She hesitated for a moment, gulping down, before softly knocking on it.

"Are you still there?"

The walls stayed quiet, and Lucy disappointedly put her arm down.

She finished her plate in the heavy familiar silence that always surrounded her.

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The little tapping in her walls returned a few days later.

Thump.

The noise wasn't as playful as when she heard it in the dining room. It was loud, precise, and menacing.

At night, hearing that was slightly more worrisome for a little girl who was prone to nightmares and to believing that monsters lived underneath her bed. It was worrisome especially when she knew that no one would be able to help her if something dangerous was lurking within the confines of the four walls surrounding her.

Lucy shivered at the prospect of sleeping in the room while something was keeping her company in the huge mansion. Her mother's soothing voice no longer there to lull her to sleep, she had no choice but to lay in a bed far too big for her small frame, surrounded by the cold dull white covers and absolute silence.

At least Happy was there to keep her company.

"I'll protect you, Happy."

The little fuzz ball's emotionless eyes stared at her, and she could swear that the blue cat's ears twitched in a comforting gesture, acknowledging her caring words. She took hold of the white wings sporting its back, and wrapped them around her waist, securing them with the sticky ends. The soft material of the plushy resting against her chest calmed her racing heart, much like when her mother would whisper gentle words in her ear following a particularly frightening nightmare.

"Hush little Lucy, there's nothing to be scared of, I'm here with you."

A soft tear slid down the young child's pale cheek, disappearing in the pillow underneath her hair. She held Happy closer to her body, wrapping herself around it. The fright she had earlier part of history, she got engrossed in the memory of long blonde hair and warm brown eyes staring down at her, a soft smile stretching the woman's lips.

Thump.

The noise made her jump, and she looked up at the wall behind her bed for its source. The soft blue wallpaper was a dull grey in the darkness of the night, its colour barely visible due to the moonlight outside of her window. Her heart had resumed its erratic beating against her fragile chest, and she chuckled to herself.

"There's nothing there Happy, see? Nothing to be scared-"

A creak was emitted from within the same wall, sounding like a high pitched screech like those the kids in her class would mockingly make while running their dirty fingernails against the board to antagonize the girls.

How she hated the noise, and how she hated the way its reverberation would pierce at her ear-drums.

She wailed softly, watching as a shadow passed on the wall. She quickly grabbed the covers laying around her chest and hid her whole body underneath, muttering encouraging words in her cat's inanimate ear. The noise seemed to be approaching her, coming from the headboard this time, followed by ruffling of the numerous pillows decorating it.

When the noise ceased, she tightly closed her eyes, praying for whoever –or whatever- was in her room to leave her and let her sleep in peace. All she could hear for a few seconds were the shallow gasps of breath coming from her mouth, which she closed in fear of being heard.

Nothing would happen to her, it was a rule that anyone was protected from danger while underneath their covers.

Lucy half wished that the noise would be back to tell her that it was still stuck within the confines of the wall. But instead of the noise, Lucy felt the caress of a hand on the few strands of hair that had escaped the covers, reminding her of her late mother's soft fingers threading through her locks. The gesture seemed oddly familiar, as if the person had observed her mother do it to her numerous times.

Lucy almost reached for the hand, wishing that it belonged to Layla, when she gasped in pain as the hand forcefully tugged at a lock.

This definitely wasn't her mother's soothing caress.

Her hands shot to grab the offending limb, and she came in contact with hot hard skin, covered with what seemed to be a scaly surface, and sporting claws that dug in her wrist when she attempted to push it away and free her hair.

Lucy felt hot, and she couldn't breathe.

She hastily pushed the covers away from her face to grab the arm with both hands, her eyes still tightly closed, and her mouth open in a silent scream.

"You're not lonely enough," a voice whispered.

When it finally released her hair, her hand rubbed at the stretched skin of her scalp. She looked up, eyes glistening and wide with fear, but all she saw was a flash of red light.

The strong smell of smoke infiltrated her nose, and she had to put a hand on her face to block its nauseating odor.

She lay there, looking around the room in fear, and trembling while clutching Happy to her chest. This wasn't the same playful attitude from the previous days, this had hurt. Her little friend was bullying her.

That night, only exhaustion forced her to sleep.

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She complained to her father about nightmares, fearing that he would laugh at her, or worse, ignore her if she told him that someone-something- was in her room. She almost wished that he would tell her to sleep with him in his room within his comforting arms. She used to sleep in between her parents when her mother was still with them, but her father would be enough this time.

"Leave me alone. I don't have time for your childish complaints, don't you see that I'm busy?"

Lucy swallowed the lump in her throat, and looked up at her father with glistening and pleading eyes.

"Please, father, I can't sleep at night. Please."

Her father's dark eyes stared at her with a menacing gleam in his orbs.

"For the last time, leave."

She nodded, holding back the tears that threatened to spill, and turned around to run out of the room. She slid down the wall outside of her father's study, crying thick tears.

Thump.

The noise was right next to her ear, and Lucy couldn't help but jump in fear, hastily standing up and backing away from the wall with her eyes wide, fearing that something might reach for her through it.

Thump Thump.

She quickly turned around, running away to the kitchen where she knew that some servants would be.

For some curious reason, the noise only happened when she was alone.

That night, Ms. Spetto had agreed to sleep with her in her room.

Hello! This is a new project of mine, and this is kind of like an intro more than a chapter.

It's a story in three parts that I thought about while watching the video for Dollhouse, and while reading a Stephen King book, my favourite author.

I have a knack for creepy and terrifying stories, and this one is going to get even more scary in the following two parts.

The story is already finished, the next part will be up in a few days :)

Thank you for reading, leave a review to tell me what you think about it!