Beauty of The Grotesque

Chapter 5

You stood there for a moment to contemplate what to do, looking over at the elevator-like shaft that seemed to lead up to the house. You grunted and and begrudgingly entered the small building and walked along the stone hallway towards the elevator, eventually finding a way to work the contraption and waited patiently as it brought you up.

The elevator sounded with a 'ding' as it brought you up to its destination, which met you with another stone hallway leading back outside and up to the house that sat next to the waterfall nearby. You opened the gates and stepped through as they screeched while you did so, causing you to cringe and cover your ears for a minute or two in the process before you were able to continue walking up to the house. Although the estate was relatively large, it wasn't anywhere near as big as the castle you had first been introduced with. However, as you cautiously entered the old, creaky house you had to admit it looked rather cozy on the inside, not being too overly decorated like the castle but not dull or plain either. You could see a set of stairs to your right and  a a rocking chair with a table that had a basket of what appeared to be threads and needles. Most of what your eyes landed on was made of a fine, dark wood and must've been relatively expensive to craft or purchase.

You walked over to the stairway and looked up at the large portrait that was on the wall and spent a long moment examining the picture of the woman carefully. She had a pretty distinct jawline with her lips being a dusty rose in color and were a strong contrast against her porcelain-like complexion. Her raven-colored hair was worn in a bun but had a few stray pieces that fell to the sides of her face with full, dark eyebrows to match, resting just above her dulled hazel eyes.

In her pale hands was a doll, judging on her size in the picture you guessed the doll was rather tall as well as the woman. You continued on up the stairs as the rhythmic ticking of a clock seemed to go on forever. There wasn't much to the second floor but a couple rooms and a large window sitting just across from the stairs, letting in the new rays of sunlight that filled the-now twilight- sky. Crates blocked one of the doors and you took that as a sign to just leave it alone and continue on. You walked through the only other door and found yourself in a small bedroom, having all the basic necessities such as a bed, a couple of small side tables against the walls and a wardrobe with a box and a few books stacked on the desk next to it and strangely, another rocking chair in the corner.
You walked back downstairs after you checked out the room and the thought of the woman and the strange doll resurfaced in your mind;

'Where were they?'

You wondered, surely this house wasn't that big for you both to not have crossed paths yet... or so you thought.

You walked past the table and rocking chair you had seen when you first entered the house and made your way through the next door you saw which led you into what appeared to be a small dining room. A large desk sat beyond the small table and behind it was a fireplace. A couple of expensive and large china cabinets were near the table, appearing to hold plates and other dishes such as tea sets and what not. You walked around to the desk and picked up a piece of stray paper that had fallen onto the floor and quickly recognized the picture on it to be the yellow flowers you had seen so much outside the house. You carefully set it down on the desk and walked through yet another door that led into a hallway just next to the dining room. Making sure to be on alert you made your way through the hall, the floor creaked under you as you walked and you took notice of the old wallpaper that had started to crumble off the walls slightly in multiple different areas.

Making it to the end of the hall, you were too busy looking around at the area and jumped when you heard a 'ding' just a couple yards in front of you.
You contemplated turning and running but before you could properly execute a plan the figure of what you could only assume to be the woman stood mere feet to the side of you. It was hard for you to tell but based on the way her veil was turned slightly in your direction you could guess she must've been looking directly at you. You breathing heaved behind the skull head you wore and for a minute or two it was silent. The woman said nothing and thats when you heard a small 'thud' sound next to her. You looked down at the little doll that had jumped down from the woman's arms and walked up to you. Just as you had suspected, the doll had to be at least 3ft tall. What confused you was how it managed to move seemingly on its own accord, you couldn't see strings or anything of the sort attached to the doll either.
The doll stared up at you momentarily before it turned and looked back up at the silent woman before looking back to you

"Hello friend!!" A shrill, perhaps coarse voice sounded from the doll and you jumped back in surprise
'It- can talk?'

You were amazed at how this was being done. You were an ill-conceived being, not one of light or magic, and even you were stunned and perplexed by how this doll was managing to walk and talk as if it were truly alive and well.