Welcome To The Dollhouse ~Style fan fiction~ {Complete}

11

"I have to go..." I tell Token, which makes him raise an eyebrow and shrug before walking back into the party room, most likely to find Nicole who disappeared at some point.

I rush back to my room, taking the correct turn this time, and slam the door shut.
I grab the tv remote and sit on the bed, but on the foot of the bed is a pair of brand new shoes with a post-it note attached.

'Hey, K.
Stanley asked me to bring these for ya. Hope you enjoy 'em
~Donovan.C'

I remote the note and try the shoes on. Luckily, they fit.

They look like a really expensive pair of shoes I saw at a store in the mall all the girls go to. I heard that if you date the owner's son you get free shoes until you break up.

I take the shoes off so I don't dirty my bed and switch the tv on, leaning back comfortably on my bed.
I put it back on the news channel to see what's happening in the outside world right now.

This time my mom is on the screen, eyes red from crying, hair still in her usual bun but scruffy as if she didn't have time to do it properly.
She's only got one earring in and it's not even her usual hoops, it's a dangly silver one Sharon got her for the anniversary of their friendship.
She hasn't got any makeup on, but if she had it would probably be messed up anyways.

In the background I can see all of the family photos have been replaced with photographs of me and new ones have been put up too, making the house look like a shrine. All it needs is some candles.

"So far there has been nothing else to help with the case," mom tells the news reporter behind the camera, "the only thing is the mysterious boy Scott mentioned he saw, but nobody can find him either. If we can find him, then maybe we can find my baby."

If my mom's looking for the master then she's out of luck, there's no way anyone's getting in this place without knowing the entrance, which seems to be hidden.
One day I'm going to find that fucking entrance and I'm going to leave this damn place.

"Kyle, if you're out there and you're running away because you're unhappy, please come home. We can talk about it! I know it's been stressful at school, I know that you've been struggling a lot at home too because of your father and Ike, but we can get through this," mom pleads, her eyes spilling fresh tears down her already tear-stained cheeks, "I'm sorry, this is too upsetting."

Then mom runs off screen, most likely not wanting everyone watching to see her crying. I feel awful for making her feel like this, but there's nothing I can do to help. I'm stuck here.

"Kyle?" A soft voice asks, knocking gently on the door.

I don't respond, but the door opens anyway and Esther walks in with the girl in the orange dress who I haven't been introduced to yet.
Esther sits on the edge of my bed and the girl stands awkwardly at the side of it.

"Kyle, this is Annie," Esther tells me, gesturing towards the other girl, "Annie says she has something to tell you."

I look over at Annie, who has the blankest facial expression I've seen since I've arrived here. You wouldn't think that she's been kidnapped.

"Don't drink the wine if you want your memories back." Annie whispers before turning away and heading towards the bedroom door.

Esther shares my look of confusion, indicating she didn't know what Annie was going to say.
I leap off the bed and run after Annie just as she starts walking out of the room.
I grab her wrist and pull her back in, slamming the door behind us.

"What does the wine have to do with memories?" I demand, squeezing her wrist tightly by accident.

Her green eyes are glued to my hand and a slight smile flickers on her lips.
She looks me dead in the eyes, not blinking, and stares for a while before speaking.

"Your memories," she says slowly, "are locked away inside your mind, like prisoners behind jail bars, or like us in here. The wine is the jail bars."

"So if I don't drink it I'll get my memories back?" Esther asks, joining our conversation.

Annie thinks for a second, her gaze returning to my hand around her wrist. Worried about hurting her, I drop it.

"Not necessarily," she frowns, "I haven't drank a single drop since I came here, since I haven't been offered any due to being younger than all of you, but not all of my memories have been returned."

She looks up at me again with a puzzled expression.

"You've had one come back to you, right?" She asks, "I can see it in your eyes. They're like ghosts of things that once were. It's so fun to remember things, but..." she trails off.

"But?" Esther repeats.

"But the nightmares are awful."