REXANNA
She does not flinch from the ghosts of her past, and instead she leaves the room with her head held high. She hears them, but their words slide from her without striking deep. She knows her worth. She did not ask to come here, but she has made the best of what she has been given and what she has earned. She is married to a man who loves her deeply and she has found a true family among the Ascended. She is no longer Abandoned, she is bright, and no haunted mirrors can take that from her.
The quiet when she shuts that door is welcome, though. Whatever game the girl is playing they don’t need more handicaps in finding her unknown object, or in hiding from her. She might feel sympathy for the child, but she isn’t foolish enough to think that tragic is the same as harmless. She wants out before anything else goes wrong.
The next door opens into a lovely little room. It’s a little old and worn, but there’s no dust or cracks in the furniture. A couple of lamps would make it almost cheerful, and she smiles at a doll sitting on the bed. Isn’t it? It’s hard to tell just where it is, but she’s certain that it has brown hair and button eyes and a yellow dress, and it’s almost sweet, really, if the buttons weren’t so dull and soulless. “This looks like a bedroom. It might be hers.” She calls back to where Adam is standing in front of another door. But when she looks back into the room the doll that caught her eye isn’t there anymore. She frowns before she sees it sitting closer to the dresser, and several others aren’t quite where she remembered. There are a lot more than she first thought, and she sounds a little uneasy. “There are a lot of dolls, too.” She probably doesn’t need to add that, but nothing in this house is normal and she’s certain that doll wasn’t there before. It’s hard to say exactly where it is or was, but it definitely wasn’t there. Probably.
“We can look at it together later if we can’t find whatever it is anywhere else.” She doesn’t know how long they have, but this is more than she wants to handle alone, and she eases the door shut before any of the dolls can block it. Not that they would, but it doesn’t hurt to be on the safe side. “Any luck?”
The quiet when she shuts that door is welcome, though. Whatever game the girl is playing they don’t need more handicaps in finding her unknown object, or in hiding from her. She might feel sympathy for the child, but she isn’t foolish enough to think that tragic is the same as harmless. She wants out before anything else goes wrong.
The next door opens into a lovely little room. It’s a little old and worn, but there’s no dust or cracks in the furniture. A couple of lamps would make it almost cheerful, and she smiles at a doll sitting on the bed. Isn’t it? It’s hard to tell just where it is, but she’s certain that it has brown hair and button eyes and a yellow dress, and it’s almost sweet, really, if the buttons weren’t so dull and soulless. “This looks like a bedroom. It might be hers.” She calls back to where Adam is standing in front of another door. But when she looks back into the room the doll that caught her eye isn’t there anymore. She frowns before she sees it sitting closer to the dresser, and several others aren’t quite where she remembered. There are a lot more than she first thought, and she sounds a little uneasy. “There are a lot of dolls, too.” She probably doesn’t need to add that, but nothing in this house is normal and she’s certain that doll wasn’t there before. It’s hard to say exactly where it is or was, but it definitely wasn’t there. Probably.
“We can look at it together later if we can’t find whatever it is anywhere else.” She doesn’t know how long they have, but this is more than she wants to handle alone, and she eases the door shut before any of the dolls can block it. Not that they would, but it doesn’t hurt to be on the safe side. “Any luck?”
