The Cursed Little Dolly [TGTF]

[Contains goth woman MTF TGTF, Clay Doll TF, Clockwork Maid TF, identity death, mind alteration, reality warping, mind fuckery, and halloween vibes. Content warning for mentions of abuse. A slower burn story than normal, focusing on the Halloween vibes first and foremost. Everyone depicted is an adult.]

“I don’t think this is a good idea…” Martin spoke up, his voice partially drowned out by the sudden downpour of rain. He and his friends stood on the veranda of an old, abandoned gothic mansion as they sheltered from the elements. Their car had crashed in a ditch, their phones were all out of battery, and there was nothing else around except the disused premises of this old manor.

“Well I think this is a great idea!” Sean grinned as he repeatedly shook the handles on the front doors.

“Sean’s right this time, Marty.“ Raja stated reluctantly. “Unless you want to spend the night out here, with the cold wind and no place to sleep.”

“W-would you at least be quiet!” Tsuya pleaded to Sean as he rattled the creaky doors. “What if you disturb the g-ghosts that live here!?”

“Oh come on, you don’t actually believe this place is haunted, do you?” Sean asked flatly.

“I, um, w-well…” Tsuyu turned away to hide her face.

“It’s ok Tsu, haunted houses aren't real.” Raja said dismissively.

Martin ruffled his short black hair to shake the water droplets out. He was a bit short compared to most guys, with a twinkish build and habit of wearing tight clothes. His skinny jeans and plain grey tee shirt were doing a poor job of keeping him warm, but at least his feet were faring well thanks to his thick socks and hiking boots. Martin had a pair of small birthmarks below his greyish-blue eyes: the one on his left was shaped like a hockey stick while the other looked like a teardrop.

Once Sean got fed up with the doors, he moved on to the nearest window and tried to pry it open. He had a tall, muscular frame and wore simple black track shorts and a white tank top. He somehow managed with so little covered despite the chill in the air. The man had spiky brown hair that was just a bit shorter than Martin’s.

“Rrrgh, would one of you give me a hand here? I can tell it’s loose, we just need a bit more power!” Sean grunted.

With a sigh, Raja stepped up to help lift the jammed window.

Raja was the tallest and strongest of the group. Her curly black hair barely reached her shoulders, and her violet glasses made her stunning brown eyes pop. She was wearing a pleated, sparkling violet dress that flowed loosely over her body while a stylish black denim jacket covered her otherwise-bare arms.

After a quick stretch, Raja joined Sean in forcing open the foggy window. With one big heave, the pair succeeded and lifted it open wide enough for them to crawl in. Sean was first to squeeze inside, followed by Raja. Martin reluctantly began to as well, but paused halfway through.

“I don’t like this any more than you do, Tsu…” Martin said. “But I don’t want us to split up. I'll be here for you, ok?" He extended his hand out invitingly.

Tsuya took a deep breath and took Martin's hand. The considerate guy continued through and kept holding on until Tsuya was inside too.

She was a tad taller than Martin, and a bit pudgier too, but Tsuya's reserved presence made her feel like the smallest of the bunch. Her body was bundled up in soft black leggings and a thick forest green sweater a few sizes too large for her. The woman’s dark brown hair was styled in a cute bob with flared tips, ending just below her chin.

Once everyone was through the window, they all took a moment to observe the dusty old foyer they found themselves in. Twin stairways in the corners of the room doubled back on themselves, leading to a corridor overlooking the entrance. The central colonnade split into several more corridors on the ground floor, each with their own worn crimson rugs and ornate - but peeling - wallpaper. A cracked glass chandelier hung overhead that refracted each flash when lightning struck outside.

The drafty building echoed with the moving air and intense pattering of raindrops. A particularly booming rumble of thunder shook the rickety building, causing Tsuya to subconsciously grab onto Raja’s arm.

“Tch. It’s just the weather, Tsu…” Raja muttered coldly as she shook off Tsuya's grasp.

“‘Alright gang, let’s split up and search for clues!’” Sean boomed jokingly.

“No, we really should stick together.” Martin said firmly.

“I knowww, but come on, when else would I ever get the chance to say that?” Sean smirked, then walked up to one of the stairways. He poked his head out and looked upwards. “There’s two more floors above us, at least. Where should we start?”

Another flash of lightning was quickly followed up by a close thunderclap. In the brief moment between the two, Martin could barely feel a familiar presence nearby - this despite having never been in this mansion previously. After simply giving his head a quick shake, he decided to focus instead on what he could see.

“This hallway’s got a bunch of windows.” He said as he pointed to the corridor immediately to the left of the main doors.

“What, so we have an easy way to hop back out into the pouring rain?” Sean asked rhetorically.

“So we have a bit more light, smartass.” Raja gave Sean the side-eye.

“Alright then, lead the way Marty.” Sean replied.

“M-me?”

“It was your idea, wasn’t it?”

“I’ll go first.” Raja exhaled.

With Tsuya following closely behind her, Raja began down the dark corridor. Sean and Martin followed too, both keeping as close to each other as they could without seeming clingy and afraid. Even Sean shivered a little bit when one of his footsteps made the floor creak beneath him. They checked each closed door as they passed by, but none would open - some were locked while others were jammed shut.

After a few minutes of wandering, Martin glanced over his shoulder to see nothing behind him but the darkness from which they came. Just as he returned to facing forward, he heard a quiet, ethereal, distinctly feminine voice.

‘...Owner? Owner, is that you?’

“What!?” Martin gasped and spun around, again facing naught but an empty hallway.

“EEK!!” Tsuya shrieked, clinging to Raja again as tight as she could.

“What is it!?” Raj asked quickly.

“D-didn’t you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Sean couldn’t hold back the fear from sneaking into his voice.

“Come on, don’t mess with me! It was a v-voice, you have to have heard it! You must have!”

“I’m serious, I didn’t hear any voice except yours! Q-quit fuckin’ around, Martin!” Sean snapped back.

“I’m not fucking with you, dude! I heard someone call out…”

“I believe you thought you heard something, but I’m sure it was just this creepy old place getting to you.” Raja stated firmly, again shaking Tsuya off her arm. “Now come on, all we need is to find a bedroom or something and wait out the night, then we’ll be out of here before you know it.”

“I… o-ok…” Martin didn’t argue. He hoped his friend was right.

The group continued slowly through the corridor until reaching an intersection. The way on the left had more windows, while forward and to the right did not. A timely burst of lightning illuminated the halls, showing dark stains on the carpets underfoot and to their right.

‘Owner, have you finally come back? It’s-’ The next explosion of thunder drowned out the rest of the voice, but Martin somehow knew exactly what she was going to say: ‘it’s me, Owner. Your dolly.’

“Y-you didn’t just hear a voice that time, did you?” Martin whimpered quietly.

“No.” Raja and Sean said in unison. Tsuya shook her head.

“Th-then this place is definitely getting to me, let’s hurry up…” He dropped his gaze nervously to the floor.

While the other three wordlessly agreed to continue down the left corridor because of the marginal illumination its windows provided, Martin subconsciously walked straight ahead.

“Marty, where are you going!?” Sean whispered as loud as he possibly could.

“Whuh-?” Martin lifted his head and looked around. “Oh… I just sort of let my feet lead me, I guess… S-sorry guys…” At that, he quickly corrected his mistake and followed the others, though his gut told him he was making a mistake as soon as he did.

“Now we’re getting somewhere.” Raja said from just up ahead, pointing to a door that was open barely a sliver. After only a second’s hesitation, the tallest of the group gently pushed it open with a loud creak. “Can any of you see anything in there?” She slowly poked her head into the dark room.

The four visitors stared inside with bated breath until the next lightning strike gave them a moment of clarity. Before them were about a dozen single beds in various states of cleanliness: some were already made, while others were naught but bare mattresses with their sheets strewn all over the place. Dusty dressers and bedside tables accompanied most beds, though some had seemingly gone missing, and a few drawers had been haphazardly pulled out and left about.

“Jackpot!” Raja untensed her muscles and walked right in. Craving comforting closeness, Tsuya scurried in after her, and Sean followed suit.

Martin, though, lingered outside for a moment. His heart felt tight and he couldn’t help but keep looking over his shoulder. He covered his ears with his palms and thrummed the back of his head with his fingers for some temporary tinnitus relief. Tinnitus, Martin thought, must have been all it was he had heard.

After taking a deep breath, he joined everyone else in what could only be the staff’s living quarters. Tsuya had claimed the nearest clean bed, already hiding under the covers. Raja unwound on another clean bed as Sean dug through the dresser drawers for dry clothes and whatever else he could find.

“Yo nice! Look at this!” Sean said, but it was too dark for any of the others to see what he was holding up.

“We can’t see, just tell us.” Raja scoffed.

“It’s a necklace!” Sean opened up the heart-shaped steel locket on the necklace and squinted to read what was inside. “‘For… Emeralds? Live…’ No, ‘love… Esme.’ Oh my god, was this used to store emeralds!? Holy shit this must be worth a fortune!!” The man pocketed the jewellery and continued to rummage around for more, then suddenly froze. “Y-you don’t think anyone would mind me just taking this… do you?”

“Why should anyone care?” Raja muttered under her breath, then rolled onto her back. “That Esme was probably some pretentious old hag who’d lose her head if it wasn’t screwed on tight enough. How else would she have let it end up in some dumb maid’s belongings without ever being found again after all this time?”

“Unless…” Sean checked the necklace again. “It might not even be made of real silver… Hmmm…” Regardless, he kept the locket to determine its value later.

Martin had found a bed of his own now, which he carefully curled up inside.

Eventually, Sean stopped his search and chose a bed to - quite literally - hop onto. The sudden weight of his falling body made the mattress squeak and the bed frame creak.

“EEEEEK!!”

“It’s alright Tsu, it’s just Sean…” Raja assured, struggling to suppress a fed-up tone.

Shutting his eyes and gripping the sheets tight, Martin desperately tried to think of pleasant things such as the party they had just been to, but his mind kept returning to this spooky house.

‘I’m here, Owner. I’m right here, please come and see me…’

“You’re not real, I’m just hearing things, there’s nothing here…” Martin whispered to himself, almost silently.

‘Please, Owner, come back… I miss you…’ The forlorn voice’s tone was steeped in desperation.

Martin rolled onto his stomach, covered his ears, and thrummed the back of his head again. “It’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real…” He murmured into his pillow.

‘I want my Owner back…’

A pressure wrapping tightly around his heart made Martin curl into the fetal position and grit his teeth. He recognised the feelings of fear and anxiety within him, but beyond that, something inexplicable pulled on his heartstrings. He felt tears welling up inside him as he attempted to ignore the sorrow - no, the pure depression he felt. That voice was so sad… it evoked protectiveness within him he never knew was there despite how unnerving this whole situation was.

Nearly an hour passed of Martin tossing and turning, broken up by the occasional ghostly cry for someone’s - or something’s - Owner. Sean had begun to snore by the time Martin had gotten fed up and his patience had reached its limits. He decided to get up and stretch, but even after that he still felt antsy. Before he even realised what he was doing, Martin quietly snuck past his sleeping friends and left the room.

As he gazed down the corridor, Martin felt something was different. The house itself hadn’t changed, but the way he viewed it had; almost as if this mansion was somehow familiar to him. That being so, he still couldn’t help himself from shivering nervously.

“What am I even doing…?” He muttered softly.

‘Owner, I’m still here… I’ve been here this whole time… Please don’t leave me all alone here any longer! I miss you, Owner…’

Again, Martin’s feet had acted before he knew it. His curiosity and the ache in his heart outweighed the feeling within him saying this was a horrible idea. So when he reached the intersection, Martin didn’t so much as hesitate to turn down the corridor he had headed down while on autopilot earlier that night.

‘Please, Owner… I want to be held by you again… I just want to be your dolly again…’ The disembodied, depressed voice was getting louder now.

Moreover, whoever or whatever was speaking to him was evoking the occasional blip in Martin’s mental faculties; it was as if his brain froze and rebooted in a moment. A few seconds would pass where the wanderer dropped all feelings before remembering where he was and what he was supposed to be feeling. Each time, though, his fear came back weaker while his longing to search for the voice’s source only grew.

“I can’t just be hearing nothing at this point… It has to be something. What if it really is my dolly? -Er, a doll.” Martin thought nothing of his verbal blunder and carried on.

For the first time here in the abandoned manor, Martin felt a tad comforted. The sound of raindrops echoing through the cavernous old building soothed his anxiety and even elicited some sort of nostalgia. He’d never paid much attention to the rain before, he thought, but there was a faint hint in the back of his mind suggesting otherwise.

Soon enough, he reached the southwest corner of the mansion’s west wing - Martin didn’t question how he knew such a precise detail, nor did he even realise anything amiss with his memory. Straight ahead of him was another stairwell, while the corridor he was on took a right turn. He climbed the first flight of stairs, but paused on the landing to stare out the window he found there.

Outside, he could faintly make out a gazebo in the yard. At the sight of it, thoughts of tea parties came to mind so vividly that they almost felt like memories. As if to reach out and grab the memories he was unsure belonged to him, Martin lifted a hand and gently placed it on the window. A flash of lightning lit up the world, briefly highlighting his painted black fingernails before fading back into darkness.

“What the-?” Martin leaned in closer to his hand - he was certain he had never painted his nails before. “I think… it suits me?”

Martin felt a bit excited, a small surge of euphoria filling his soul knowing his nails were painted. For once, he felt pretty!

‘Owner… Owner… Are you there? Is it really you?’

The momentary peace he felt vanished when Martin heard that voice again. With renewed urgency, he continued up the next few flights of stairs towards where he was sure the voice was coming from.

Whether his eyes had adjusted to the dark or the top floor was brighter, Martin didn't know. The world was awash in subtly cooler hues now, and everything began looking just a bit sharper too. Little did Martin know that his eyes had in every way reformed into those of another: from his cone cells and how they perceived colour to his formerly-blue, now-green irises.

Everything sounded different too, and not just because his tinnitus was gone. Each step he took clacked louder than the last until he looked down to find that he was strutting confidently while wearing sturdy, high-heeled black knee-boots.

"This isn't right… right?" Even his own voice seemed to resonate differently and sound off. His voice had never been particularly deep. Now, however, his voice was lowering while simultaneously becoming smoother and more feminine. "What's… h-happening to me…?" His chest no longer vibrated when he spoke.

'Owner? Is that you!? I hear you Owner! It's me, I'm right here! Please, I’m right here!'

“Owner…?” Martin grasped his head as a sudden, momentary spike of pain shot through her skull. The dazed woman stumbled a bit and rested against the nearest wall, trying to catch her breath as confusion swirled around her. “Wh-what am I doing!? M-my friends… I left them and wandered off… F-friends…?”

Martin was made abruptly aware of her transforming body now since it felt so painfully foreign to her. Though she knew her chest had always been that flat and her crotch had always been home to a guy’s bulge, it just didn't feel like her own body at all.

“Nnng, what-!?”

‘That’s you, isn’t it Owner? We can be together again! Please, I’m right here!’

New memories flooded Martin’s fragile mind: growing up in her parents’ bougie mansion; the nicest maid sewing her pretty clothes from time to time; hiding in the secret part of the attic so she didn’t have to stop wearing her favourite dress; sneaking into her father’s study to read all the wonderful books; hand crafting a dolly of her very own from scrapped sewing materials nobody would ever miss; getting through those days when a priest would come to her home and shout at her about demons and evil spirits; trying her best at her first unpaid job with her father’s company; lying in bed, cuddling her dolly, being soothed to sleep by her plush friend; being kicked out on her twenty-first birthday with barely the clothes on her back… without her dolly… without her friend…

Friend… Friends?

Martin tried to remember the faces of her three friends downstairs, but it was hard to remember her own name let alone details such as that. The confused girl rotated the faces of Sean, Raja, and Tsuya through her mind’s eye, but her brain kept defaulting back to the mental image of her dolly. Her dolly was her friend, and she was all alone! She’d been alone so long, the woman knew she had to return to her dolly!

A name was bubbling up from the swampy soup of memory and consciousness in her head. A name she’d chosen for herself long ago. A name that fit her so much better than the one her parents branded her with.

Meralda. Her name was Meralda.

Before she could pry her attention from her memories, the rest of Meralda's plain clothes reformed with her changing body: her jeans split into a pair of black denim boyshorts and matching fishnet tights that hugged her widening hips; her knee boots grew steel studs around the circumference of their opening as she grew to over six feet tall; her tee shirt shortened in length, revealing her soft tummy as its fabric became an incredibly dark, wine red colour; her flat chest gradually gained volume until she had a modest bust, filling out her tight top; long fingerless gloves appeared that reached almost up to her elbows; a plain black choker materialised around her neck and black cat earrings appeared on her now-pierced ears; her lips gained matte black lipstick and black wings of eyeliner were added while her face grew rounder and her cheekbones became subtly more pronounced; and finally, a studded black leather jacket with patches sewn on formed around her, completing her transformation.

With a shake of her head, the last memories belonging to Martin faded into oblivion until all that remained was Meralda. Once the momentary disorientation from her reconstruction was gone, she remembered why she had returned to this mansion. “Dolly? Dolly is that you!?”

‘Yes, Owner! Yes!! I hear you Owner, it’s me!! It’s your dolly!!’

Meralda rushed to her friend, closing the remaining distance in no time at all. She opened the door to her plain, mostly-empty bedroom and stepped inside to witness the best sight in all the cosmos: her dolly was there, sitting on her bed waiting for her.

“Dolly!!”

‘Owner!!!’

The woman lunged onto her bed, sweeping her dolly into her arms for a tight hug.

‘Owner, it’s really you! I missed you so much, Owner!’

“Oh Dolly, of course it’s me! You poor thing… You’ve been alone here all this time, but no more. I’m back now, and I’ll never let them separate us ever again.” Meralda cooed to her beloved doll, tears of joy streaming down her birthmarked cheeks. “I love you Dolly… I missed you too…”

‘O-Owner still l-loves me??’

“Of course I do, silly! I never stopped loving you.” She gently petted the doll’s realistic hair.

‘Oh Owner! Dolly loves you too!! Dolly loves you too!!’

Meralda held Dolly out in front of her for inspection. There were some rips and tears in the fabric of Dolly and her clothes, but she was otherwise just as Meralda remembered her: silky violet-red hair; a tear-shape sewn on under her right eye, just like her Owner’s birthmark; purple button eyes; and a black, violet, and red gothic lolita dress. Dolly was still just as inanimate and seemingly lifeless as ever, though Meralda knew better - she could hear her friend!

“Oh Dolly, what happened? You’re all worn and torn…”

‘I tried to find Owner… I tried to rescue Owner… B-but I couldn’t find you! I’m s-sorry, Owner…’

“Shhh, it’s ok, precious… you’ve done so well, I’m so proud of you…” Meralda again hugged her dolly close. “You have nothing to apologise for…”

‘R-really?’

“Of course, silly… Don’t you worry sweet thing, Owner will patch you up, ok?”

Dolly’s spirits were higher than they’d ever been. The magic in her heart exploded in a surge of love that instantly transformed her Owner’s bedroom - the dusty, disrepaired room was no more, replaced by a fully furnished abode fit for a gothic witch.

Getting up from her bed with Dolly in hand, Meralda fetched her sewing equipment from her desk as if it had always been there. The woman sat down and got to work repairing her lovely doll.

—

“Don’t say it, Tsu!” Sean ordered harshly.

“Shut up Sean, you’re not helping.” Raja snapped at Sean.

Tsuya let out a frightened whimper, trying to stay as close to Raja as she could without being pushed away again.

Sean had woken up in the middle of the night and noticed Martin was missing, so he’d roused the other two back to the waking world.

“M-Marty said he heard a voice…” Tsuya muttered timidly. “I d-don’t think we should ignore the possibility that-”

“It’s not ghosts!” Sean interjected. “He probably just went to take a piss!”

“I said shut up!” Raja barked, this time getting the man to back down. Tsuya flinched and made sure not to make a sound, either. “It’d be pointless to wander around this place looking for him. Our best bet is to stay put and wait for him to return. If he’s not back by morning, we can search for him with the help of daylight.”

—

“There you go, beautiful~” Meralda hummed lovingly once she finished stitching up her plush friend. “Here, let me show you!”

The woman held a hand mirror ahead of her doll. What Dolly saw in her reflection was a hand-made doll repaired with visible stitches and patches.

‘Thank you, Owner! You’re always so kind to Dolly! I love you, Owner!’

However, the jovial air about them froze in a moment. Muffled shouting echoed through the old building, alerting the witch and her doll to intruders.

‘N-no! Nononono, p-please, I just reunited with Owner! Please d-don’t go, Owner!’

“I’m here Dolly, I’m right here… I won’t let go, ok? I’ll never let them separate us ever again, I swear!” Meralda squeezed Dolly tightly to her chest.

‘P-please don’t leave Dolly all alone! I promise I’ll try to be good!’ Dolly sounded choked up as she pleaded to stay with her loved one.

“Oh sweet thing, you’re such a good dolly! My good dolly…” She uttered softly before her voice turned sour. “I’ll never let them take you away from me! I’ll protect you from those horrid intruders. They’ll regret ever setting foot in our home, I’ll make certain of it.”

—

Before the three trespassers could return to their beds, a chilly, unnatural gust of air rushed through the disused staff’s quarters. Loud creaking echoed through the entire mansion as its wooden structure warped and flexed, making the floor shake beneath them.

“EEEEEEEK!!” Tsuya unreservedly screamed as she held onto Raja for dear life.

“Come on, we need to get out of h-!!” Raja was cut off by the shrill groaning of bending wood.

The house inexplicably reformed itself around the three friends, shifting corridors and splitting rooms. The staff’s quarters were torn asunder as the manor’s wooden floor and dingy walls reorganised into a new floor plan, pulling Sean away from the two women.

“A-AAAAGH!!” Sean wailed, losing his balance as he was swept away in the torrent of floorboards and carpets.

“Sean!!” Raja reached out, but it was far too late.

She and Tsuya were next to topple over and lose hold of each other. The mansion was ruthless, capitalising immediately and pulling the pair away from each other.

“EEEEEEEK!!”

Everything spun around the three lost souls in a dizzying display of magical meddling. Then, as quickly as it had begun, the mansion fell still once more.

—

When Sean’s vertigo faded away, he found himself in a dimly candle-lit lavatory larger than most living rooms. Dark chestnut walls and stone floor tiles absorbed most of what little light was being produced, but it was still brighter than the rest of the mansion had been. A steamy bath was already drawn in a large, ornate bathtub built into the floor which looked genuinely inviting; there were even a few rose petals floating on the water’s surface.

First and foremost, however, Sean stumbled over to the door and frantically shook the handle. “Come on, open damn you!” But it was no use - he was stuck inside. The frazzled man began to pace back and forth, taking long, deep breaths. “I swear to god, Marty, if you’re pulling some elaborate prank I’m gonna kick your ass!”

“That’s not very nice.” A low, monotonous voice replied.

“AAACK!!”

Sean spun around to the source of the sound, but saw nobody there. He shakily darted back and forth between every nook and cranny of the washroom, but he saw nobody else. Despite this, he did not feel alone.

As he backed up against the nearest wall, his attention was drawn to the fluttering flame of a candle on the lone windowsill. It gave one last defiant dance before being extinguished by a cold draft, and was soon followed by the rest of the candles as they flickered out one by one.

“Th-this seriously isn’t cool! The j-joke’s over now! You got me! Now would you just fuckin’ stop already!?” Sean warbled.

“Is this a joke to you?” The low voice spoke again, seemingly from somewhere inside the lavatory.

The window burst open, letting frigid cold air gust inside. Sean began to shiver as he instinctively crossed his arms for warmth.

“S-stop it! Seriously, just stop it!! You win! I’m scared, and c-cold, and alone! Now just let me get out of h-here already!!”

A flash of lightning illuminated the room, revealing a human silhouette against the rainy backdrop out the window for just a brief moment. As soon as it appeared, though, it vanished. Sean slowly inched towards the window, but whatever had been there no longer was.

The chattering of his own teeth startled the man, drawing further attention to just how frigid the air inside had become. He returned to the wall farthest from the window and rubbed his hands together in a desperate attempt to warm up, but it was then he noticed his clothes had vanished!

“N-no fuckin’ way…” Sean whispered airily. When the next lightning strike occurred, he could see his own breath.

Suddenly, a bit of light returned to the room as a candle next to the bathtub spontaneously lit itself. There was still steam rising off the water, beckoning the intruder to warm himself inside.

“Nnng, f-fine, I’ll g-get in the f-fuckin’ tub…” Sean slid into the luxurious bath, and he was rewarded with instant relief from the cold. His shivering quickly died out and his muscles finally relaxed. “Ahhhh…”

The open window continued to let frigid air blow inside and across his face, so Sean decided to dunk his head underwater so he could absorb more sweet, comforting warmth from every inch of his body.

Everything felt peaceful despite the unnerving events that just took place. When Sean resurfaced, he took a look around the lavatory once again, but saw nothing paranormal. He began to wonder if he’d just imagined those odd happenings, or if he was actually dreaming.

Sean pinched himself on the arm and felt an expected amount of pain. He would have been confident he wasn’t dreaming had his skin not begun to melt away right where he pinched it.

“WH-WHAT THE HELL!?”

His pale complexion was seeping into the warm water, draining the life from his mortal form. Sean immediately tried to leap out of the bath, but he was losing motor control of his limbs as his essence was sapped away from all over his body. The man flailed as much as his failing muscles would allow for, but that did naught but speed up the rate at which his uniqueness was draining into the bathwater. Sean no longer recognised his own arms and hands, instead seeing thin grey limbs devoid of life. Before he knew it, Sean’s senses slipped away and fell into the dark water.

Next thing he knew, Sean was observing his own body - or at least, what used to be his body - from a third person perspective: what was once his strong, masculine form was now just a plain, androgynous lump of clay in a vaguely humanoid shape. The husk had no facial features or defining characteristics other than a head, a torso, arms, and legs. Even his crotch, where his pride and joy once resided, was now just a null, flat surface.

‘Wh-what have you done to me!? This can’t be real, this can’t be real!!’ Sean tried to scream, but he no longer had a mouth to scream from.

The lifeless clay husk was slowly lifted out of the bath and suspended in mid-air by some invisible force. It was now, as Sean was looking up at his former body, that he realised the predicament he was in: his life essence had dissolved into the bath! Now, he was just a murky pool of bathwater that somehow retained his senses despite no longer having eyes, ears, or a body at all.

‘G-give me my body back! This is fucked up, you can’t just take my body from me!!’

“You shouldn’t have broken into our home and ransacked our belongings…” The monotonous voice returned. Another flash of lighting revealed the silhouette looming over the bath, but this time, it did not disappear again. “You shouldn’t have come to hurt us.”

Sean couldn’t move of his own free will anymore and was at the mercy of the water’s subtle waves and ripples. Though his vision wasn’t perfectly still, he could finally get a glimpse of the menacing figure: she was a tall goth woman holding a plush doll tight to her chest.

“Never return.” The woman ordered sternly. With a flick of her wrist, she magically pulled the plug from the bathtub.

—

When she regained consciousness, Raja found herself face-down on the hard, wooden floor. As she lifted her head, the tall woman saw that she was still in the staff’s quarters, though there were now candles lighting the room. She got to her feet and looked around for her friends, but she was all alone. The only thing of note she could see was a prim and proper maid’s uniform neatly laid out on a made bed - the same bed she had slept in.

“Hello? Tsu? Sean? Marty?” She got no response.

Raja left the room and looked up and down the corridor. There were no longer any windows in the hallway looking outside, merely solid walls. There were no lit candles either, but nonetheless she turned back in the direction she believed they had come from earlier that night. A walk turned into a run as she tried to find the intersecting corridors, but she never arrived there.

“Hey, where are you guys!?” She called out, then dropped her voice. “God, where the hell is it? It was just up here!”

After sprinting full speed, Raja finally had to stop and catch her breath. There was an open door just ahead that cast a gently flickering light out onto the carpet in the corridor, so she slowly approached and peeked inside: it was the very same room she had woken up in! The beds and dressers were all in the exact arrangement as the room she had just left, and there on her bed, the maid’s outfit was still waiting.

“What? Is this just a big circle?” The woman looked forward and backward, but the corridor did not appear curved from what she could tell. Still, it was too dark to be certain.

Determined to find her friends, Raja pressed on in the same direction she was just travelling. As soon as the light from the staff’s quarters behind her faded away completely, a new light became visible just up ahead. When she reached the source, she found that it was once again the same staff’s quarters.

“You have got to be shitting me…”

This time, she turned around and walked back the way she came while pressing the tips of her fingers to the wall opposite the doorway. Hoping to feel her way through and find the intersection, Raja pressed on again.

Once. Twice. Thrice. Thrice she passed by that same doorway to that same lit-up room. Thrice she passed by that same doorway in a perfectly straight corridor without finding any other direction to travel.

“I’m dreaming.” Raja slapped herself as hard as she could. “SON OF A-!! Nnng, not dreaming. But this… It can’t be, it’s…”

“‘Impossible?’” A monotonous voice called out from every direction. “Think again.”

“Who’s there!? Tsu? Marty, is that you? Sean I swear to god I will drop you from the roof if I find out this is just you being a shithead!” Raja looked around frantically, but saw nobody.

“Tick tock, maid. You wouldn’t want to be late for your shift, would you?”

Tick, tock.

An intrusive thought appeared in Raja’s mind: a thought akin to a clock’s ticking.

“No, I have to be dreaming. I’m hearing things like Marty was.” She slapped herself again, and again, and once more for good measure. Still, her situation had not changed.

Full of adrenaline, Raja rushed down the hallway in hopes of finding herself anywhere else. Now it felt like the distance between one doorway and the next (or rather, the next of the same doorway) kept shrinking. Each time Raja passed by that room, she couldn’t help but see that maid’s uniform in the corner of her eye.

It was practically calling to her. She knew it was her size without even having to check, but she didn’t understand how she knew. The sensation of the soft fabric touching her body kept creeping back into her imagination, along with that intrusive thought.

Tick, tock.

Eventually, her run through the cursed corridor became a slow and steady march. She’d decide to sneak a glance at the maid’s outfit, then shut her eyes the next few passes before inevitably taking another peek. Raja began to count each of her rhythmic footsteps as a way to try and clear her mind, but that just seemed to accomplish the opposite.

Tick, tock.

“Nnng, I can’t tick straight… I-I mean, think straight. Ughhh, what’s tock’n into me… g-gotten into me…?” Raja muttered and held her head. “Wh-what the hell is happening!? What am I even doing!? I’ve been tocking for ages! Walking for ages…”

Tick, tock.

Even her heart seemed to be beating in time with some mysterious tempo built deep in her core. Every step she took felt more stiff and mechanical than the last until eventually she was moving on autopilot.

Tick, tock.

Then, the doorway once again appeared, but this time Raja walked right inside. “Wh-what!? Why am I-!?” Try as she might, she could no longer control her own movements! “Nnnh, c-can’t tick- can’t tick- can’t t-tick tock… Tick, tock…” The woman’s head involuntarily jerked to the side with every tick.

Raja robotically removed her clothes, neatly folded them, then placed them into the dresser at the foot of her bed. Without even hesitating, her body donned the frilly white panties set out with the rest of the maid outfit.

“N-n-no, not that! P-please! Tick, t-tock…”

Tick, tock.

“Tick, tock…”

By now, Raja couldn’t escape the feeling that there was a new presence lurking inside her body. She denied the possibility that she was being possessed out of principle, but beyond that, it just didn’t feel like there was another person sharing her body; there were no thoughts or feelings, just that infernal ticking seated deep within that had her moving like a puppet on a string.

Her body carefully adorned the frilly bra, black stockings, aproned dress, and white gloves. All that remained was frilly headwear, but her body simply left it on the bed for now. Once she was fully dressed, everything began to feel cold. A numbness formed everywhere below Raja’s neck, until finally she couldn’t feel her body at all anymore.

“S-stop it! Tick, tock. I c-can’t t-tick it anymore!!”

At that moment, she felt a pair of gloved hands grab her head by the sides and begin to twist! Her head was turned five hundred and forty degrees - one and a half full rotations - then pulled off with a little pop! Next thing she knew, Raja was just a disembodied head that had been placed on the bed!

“AAAAAAAAAAAHH!!! WHAT THE FUCK!?”

All she could do was watch in horror as her decapitated body stood there as it began to transform. Its skin solidified into porcelain as its elbows and knees gained visible ball joints. Its height decreased further and its proportions shifted to a subtly less curvy figure. Finally, from the flat, bloodless area between its shoulders grew a new head: it had no facial features at all, just a smooth, flat porcelain surface; it wore a black wig styled into a long, straight bob; and finally, the figure reached onto the bed and donned the maid’s headpiece. Standing before her was a body that was no longer her own; a body that wasn’t even biological anymore.

“Clockwork Maid is ready to serve.” It spoke in an androgynous, robotic voice.

“G-give me my body back! It’s not yours, you can’t have it!” Tears were streaming down Raja’s face, dampening the blankets beneath her. “W-wait, the ticking! It’s gone!! S-so it was you… You were inside me, hijacking my body! You kicked me out of my own body!!”

Clockwork Maid didn’t respond, simply lifting Raja’s head and carrying her away.

“Where are you taking me!? I want this nightmare to end! P-please!!”

Now when Raja and the maid left the room, everything seemed back to normal. The corridor had its windows, and the intersection Raja had desperately searched for was right where it was supposed to be. Clockwork Maid turned towards the entrance foyer, and before she knew it, Raja was staring directly at the main entrance to the mansion.

The snap of someone’s fingers echoed through the room from somewhere out of Raja’s field of view, and the front doors magically opened themselves. The maid stepped out onto the veranda, where a crow had perched itself on one of the handrails.

“P-please don’t kick me out without my body! I need it!!”

Then, that monotonous, disembodied voice returned. This time it was coming from right behind Clockwork Maid, but Raja still couldn’t see the voice’s owner. “You shouldn’t have broken into our home and disrespected our dead.” The venom in the voice was almost tangible. “You shouldn’t have come to hurt us. Never return.”

At that, the crow took flight and landed on Raja’s head. It sunk its talons into the woman’s skull and flew off into the stormy night.

—

A low, sorrowful sigh roused Tsuya from her slumber. “I wish Miss Esme were still with us…” A short pause followed. “That’s right Dolly, she was a true friend.”

“H-huh?” Tsuya rubbed her eyes. She was sitting on an outdoor bench in the mansion’s backyard.

Just ahead of her, a woman clad in black was standing in front of a solitary gravestone under a nice pine tree. She was wearing the iron necklace Sean had stolen, and was holding something with both arms.

The rain had finally ceased, but it was still a dark and overcast night.

“Ah, welcome back to the waking world.” The woman’s voice was sultry and warm. Tsuya thought she should probably be more afraid of this stranger than she really was. “My name is Meralda, and this is Dolly.” She gestured to the doll she was holding to her chest.

Tsuya curled up a bit, averting her gaze shyly. “I-I’m sorry… I didn’t mean t-to disturb you…” She shut her eyes tight. “I won’t fight. P-please just… l-let me have a moment before you… b-before you… kill me…”

“You won’t be harmed here, I promise. I’ve looked into your heart and found no malice or ill intent. What I saw was a poor, lonely soul… Something we understand all too well.”

Tsuya slowly opened her eyes to look at the woman, and that’s when she noticed it: the birthmarks on the woman’s face were identical to Martin’s.

“A-are you…?”

“Yes… A friend.” The goth woman smiled and extended her hand invitingly. “Would you like to join our family here?”

Tears welled up under Tsuya’s eyes. She gently took Meralda’s hand, who carefully helped her to her feet.

“Th-thank you…” Tsuya gave a tender hug to Meralda and Dolly, sending a warm sensation throughout her body.

‘Yay, a new friend!’ Dolly cheered gleefully as she was lightly pressed between the two humans’ bodies.

“I… I can hear you! I can hear you, Dolly!” Tsuya grinned excitedly. “Hee hee! It’s nice to meet you!”

‘It’s nice to meet you too, miss friend!’

“O-oh, I’m sorry, I haven’t even told you my name! I-I’m Tsuya!”

Meralda once again took Tsuya’s hand while holding Dolly in the other, leading her back to the mansion. “Welcome home, Tsu~”