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"Ew! It's so creepy!" Screeched one young littke girl.
"Who would even want a doll like this?" Sneered a little boy.
" My mum got the piece of junk for me. Help me get rid of it so she doesn't find out." The third child requested of his friends. The three ended up tossing him at a set of rubbish bins after a bit of walking and scampered off.
The only thing that had actually been strange about the doll, was that instead of a white schelera as with humans everywhere on the planet, it had only a bright blue for eyes. There wasn't a pupil either, just blue. Otherwise, the doll resembled a high-class nobleman with elegant blue garments embellished with golden accents and a silvery rapier. The wig glued to the doll's head was a brilliant white, wavy in texture. Overall, it was a very good looking doll if one could look past the eyes.
And it turned out, one such person existed.
Before it could begin to realize that its brand new owner just disposed of it, movement closer had brought up hope.
Standing over him was a boy of grey. Hair tied back into a flattened, low ponytail showing off the boyish features of a very skinny and pale teenage boy. looped around his ears was a whitened string, holding a cover to his face, masking his mouth and nose off from sight. Gentle grey eyes examined the doll with curiosity and some other unknown emotion to the doll. Pity maybe?
Gentle hands shakily scooped the doll in an equally gentle hold, nearly cradling the thing to his chest. Comparing the size of it, the doll is rather large for a toy, being about as tall as this boy's Mid-thigh. It was still skinny though, and very easy to grasp in a firm hold if curled up.
The gentle man, after settling the doll in his arms, further examined the now cracked face of a once lovely toy. It certainly seemed that the man was just admiring the detail of its painted face.
With that over and done with, the male stood back to his full height to bumble back the way he came.
As they shambled back, the doll took notice of many things. First of all, this boy of grey was certainly paler than everyone else. Next, everyone else avoided getting close to him, glaring at the boy as he walked by them but never stating why. Third...this man was...breathing strangely.
He could hear and feel the boy as he briefly stopped, cuffing his mask as he coughed to keep it in place before continuing onwards. He could tell that this boy grew slower in pace after that, nearly struggling to keep going at all. The cracked doll noticed the slightly higher heart rate that didn't always keep to a healthy rythym. But it did not know why these were important facts.
Maybe it was because in the shop window it used to be in, it would see plenty of young children like this being hurried into a careful hold by their mother or father, and carried somewhere that it could never go.
It wanted to understand....understand why that was so worrying
The boy of grey reached up as they approached a dark wooded building, a small sign hanging above them proclaiming the title of the place to be the 'Doll repair shop', of which the doll hadn't ever known was there before this, and pulled open the door to walk in.
Another face greeted them, a boy it would later learn to just refer to as 'Lucky'.
" Welcome back, Aesop. How was the walk?" He didn't hold that look of anger that the other's had when Aesop shambled past. Instead, this boy of brownish hair held a deep look of concern. " Did you find anything to fix up?"
Aesop gave a short, hesitant nod, walking over to the door sporting a label that stated 'employees and owners only'. Most signs only stated the first and last word, but there must be a reason for the-oh...this is like the house the lady that bought him took him to. Maybe...this is their home?
He was carefully laid on a little wooden table in the center of the living room with a medium sized container laying on the ground not too far away. The box seemed to open up from the middle, but it had yet to see what was contained within. Along the walls on a shelf were several other dolls. Some were huddled against one another whilst some stood on their own. There were some as tall as him and others at half his height. One, a strange looking spider creature, had a shelf to itself since it had length instead of height. Each doll was unique.
At the very top shelf, was a replica doll of the grey boy, Lucky, and another with a hood and a covering for their eyes. They were very small, and the replica of Aesop seemed to be the oldest of the bunch.
It was dirty, it's grey yarn hair messy and sparce on the head. The button eyes, very different to its painted eyes, were no longer as shiny as a pair normally would be. One was slipping, the stitching no longer holding. His clothes, while similar, were a bright white. It looked more like a patient for a hospital than someone able to walk around by themself.
" Aesop? Welcome home, bud. How are you feeling? " Someone emerged from a room across from the one they had emerged from, drying their hands on a cloth. This, was the man with the hood and eye covering.
Though now, his hood left off to reveal dark brownish black locks to contrast those of his companion's. He dressed near completely in blue, with a strange facial tattoo running down past the eye mask like tears.
" I-I'm fine, Eli....N-No big episodes..." The boy in grey finally spoke. He was hushed and stuttering up a mess, but he spoke. " T-The p-people left me alone today...just glared...." He explained then gestured to his find.
Eli gave a sigh, but smiled happily. " Good. Now, I'm making dinner. I'll call you back to the kitchen when I'm done. Have fun working." He seemed chipper despite the air of impending doom hanging around them. And it had to be challenging to see at all with the blindfold on.
" A-A-Alright, E-Eli..." Aesop turned back to the doll and sat down at the table in front of him. He opened the container and pulled out some sort of sealed mixture to smother into the cracked portions of the face. Eith his other hands, he removed the very well made coat, petticoats, and other clothing to make the doll bare.
Slowly, he worked the clay into the cracks, smoothing and blending it in with care. A pair of oddly shaped tweezers were employed to keep certain pieces in place for the repair process.
After a while, the cracked portions were finished, and the man returned his attention to a dofferent section of his container. Paints and paintbrushes joined the mixture of materials used for the project, blues and pinks and browns dancing in a perfect blend on the doll's face. It took time, but the doll was returned to a near perfect replica of its original state. Some would say it looked even better.
This was the time that Eli returned, glancing at the doll for a moment before returning his gaze to the pale man nearby. " Will you go get Lucky for me? I still have to set the table but the food is done."
The nice but quiet human nodded, standing to an unsteady but alright stance. The doll watched the pale boy stumble back out the swinging door, leaving the man with the eye cloth alone.
Said man released a sigh, turning to look to the doll of Aesop on the shelf with sorrow. " I hope he fixes you before he's gone."
Gone? Why was Aesop leaving? The doll promised that as soon as he was alone, he would fimd the reason.
Aesop returned with the curly haired boy, whom was smiling and giggling along the way. " Lighten up, Aesop. You'll get it finished in no time."
Aesop didn't provide much more than a hesitant nod, apparently too nervous to speak to this boy. This disheartened the ginger for a moment, but he brightened right back up. " Hey, Eli. Thank you again, for letting me stay here."
" It's no problem. What were you two talking about?" Eli returned to that smiling façade, not giving away the depressed self he carried seconds ago.
" Oh, Aesop wanted advice for how to finish up the new doll he brought in. He wants to build a camera for it. I think that's a swell idea."
" Oh. Very nice. Are you going to give him a name like you did the others?" He guided them to the dining room, where they would soon disappear behind the wooden door.
"hm-hm..." Aesop nodded, grey eyes staring back at the doll as they left the room.
" I think....
Joseph is a good name for him."
-----
Joseph stared up at the others from his place on the side table. He had yet to be placed on the shelf, as there were still a few areas that the talented Aesop was working on. His embroidered coat still had a few choice needles in place to keep it from falling apart.
The spider looking doll peaked down from her shelf, smiling at Joseph's nearly finished overcoat. " Looking stylish, Joseph~" Her childish voice called, but was still careful not to wake the humans sleeping in the rooms adjacent to this one.
" Thank you, Violetta. Are your new limbs in working order?"
" They're perfect~ I still can't wait until you join us all on the shelf up here though. Jack's excited-"
"Am Not!" The antlered doll nearly shouted, only to be shushed by every single doll on the shelf.
There were a few dolls that weren't alive to any degree of course, but that will be discussed later.
Freddy, the pompous looking doll on the shelf directly above that of Jack. " May we remind you that our owners are resting? We must not reveal ourselves to them, no matter what." He returned to his previous stance, the only doll that remained in the same position for the majority of the day. Honestly, he was too serious but it fit him very well.
" Let them be, Fred. We'll be quiet but you gotta chill." Mike played with his juggling balls, excited about his accessory that their owner decided for him. " Everyone's still excited about the new addition. It's not everyday that Aesop finds another doll to fix up and keep. We've only had a day to get used to him." He reasoned, dancing along off of his wire stand to greet the others of his shelf.
" He's correct."Jose added, but didn't elaborate on who he agreed with exactly. He probably wouldn't either.
" I still don't understand how we're alive in the first place while those at the top haven't moved an inch." Joseph retorted, pouting from his position.
Fiona, the other horned doll was the one to answer. " It is because we hold a spirit already, while those at the top haven't received them." She glanced back to her glyph that had been carefully carved from wood by the boy with the mask.
Joseph must have displayed the utter confusion as Violetta spoke up for him.
" You're confusing him, hun. Might want to elaborate on that."
" Ooo! Ooo. I wanna do it!" The acrobat expertly swung himself up a couple shelves, and pulled at the sleeves of the lucky doll. " You see how this one looks like the boy that works at the front of the shop?"
" Um, yeah?"
" Well, Fiona and Freddy came up with a theory that since these dolls haven't moved an inch and the people they look like are still alive-"
" -We believe that we are dolls that possess the spirits of those that have passed on." Freddy finished, deciding to finally join back into the conversation. " The only way we shall know for certain is when our rescuer succumbs."
" Succumbs? Succumbs to what?" Joseph moved to stare up at Freddy's shelf. He sat on his knees now, his fancy and unfinished coat resting along the wood of the table.
" His illness, of course. Had you not yet realized that that boy is sick yet? Such a fool you lot are." He glared down at the fancily dressed doll for only a moment, rolled his eyes, and returned to position.
Well, that was news to the new doll. It was only his second night, so he guessed it was alright to not understand as of yet.
The everyone saddened at the mere mentoon of it.
" The doctor...the fourth unawakened doll...she said to Mr. Eli and Mr. Lucky that Aesop wasn't getting any better, even with her best medicines and antibiotics." The newest voice is one that he rarely heard. Little Robbie the baghead doll. " He's expected to maybe last the year. But it could be worse than the doctor lady thought."
" For now, every doll here awaits the moment that Aesop Carl either joins us on these shelves, or just perishes without coming back as a replica of his former self." Fiona finished. " Though, that does not mean that we shall not mourn. We truly doubt that his memories will join him if he becomes a doll. Therefore, the man that saved us from the rubbish bins and waste piles will truly die with the human body."
Now Joseph understood the dreadful air that hung around nearly everyone in the house. While Aesop was pulling himself out of some sort of shell he had been hiding in, his body was only failing to support him.
Just how much time do they have?
-----
" Aesop, don't forget that Miss Dyer will be visiting for your checkup today. Alright?" Eli received a nod, showcasing that he had been heard.
He was about to turn away when " U-Um...E-E-Eli?"
He gestured for Aesop to continue. The boy was once again sitting in front of the table, this time working on a doll that a customer wished to be restored. " C-C-Can I-....C-Can you...get th-the ones of us down?" Slowly Aesop's head turned to the shelves of dolls, head pointed down but eyes gazing up at the top shelf. His brows were scrunched in worry, anxiously awaiting the answer. "I-I need t-t-to f-fix them..."
Eli couldn't seem to brighten up more, even if his smile was only small, it seemed as if that single request lit up his day. " Of course, Aesop. I'll have them down in a moment. Once I get them down though, I have to go back to running the shop. Okay?"
" o-o-okay...." He paused. " Th-Thank you, Eli." Every doll on the shelf was now silently rejoicing. The all wished to see how the current Aesop would now view himself. The all wanted to see what Aesop's new doll would look like.
As promised, the dolls were removed from the top shelf just before Eli left the room, now laying up against one another on the work table that the current project(that was already nearly done) was being worked on.
Though, Aesop coughed into his mask, using one hand to press it firm against his mouth. It was a loud and startling coughing fit, and one that lasted for a minute or two. Lucky came in at the noise, making a fuss over Aesop that he himself ignored.
" L-Lucky...." He rarely spoke to the ginger. " C-Can you go take this t-to Eli? I-It's the doll that I h-had to repair." He spoke as if it was a regular occurance, to which Joseph understood now that it probably was for the boy.
That didn't mean that Lucky wasn't at all worried. He was still slow to nod and get up with the doll. He hesitated, questioning "Are you sure that you're alright."
Aesops quiet reply " As okay as I'll ever be" didn't settle those nerves in the slightest.
---
It had been a solid 3 months by this point of Joseph being amongst the others on the shelf. No longer was he in the toystore window, to never be with toys that held consciousness like he himself. The group he was with now were the first ones that he had encountered out there.
Aesop was still working on repairing his own doll. He had completely finished the ones for Eli and Lucky, which had new looks to accompany them. Lucky's was the only one left without an accessory, but the boy hadn't minded when Aesop had apologized about it. Lucky's response was just " I'm just extremely lucky. That's my greatest accessory." Which was true. He was rather the complete opposite of Aesop. Healthy, confident, loud, exciteable. The list could honestly go on and on. The boy had also taken lessons from Aesop on how to make the dolls look so good and was excelling at that.
Aesop seemed to finally make up his mind on what to do with the doll that had been the most in disrepair. He stripped it down to its bare base, even removing the eyes it once had and the previously painted face. The yarn hair that coated it was stripped from its head and thrown in the trash.
The boy took a lock of fine, grey horse hair and began gettingnit ready to attach in a precisely measured way. Each weft created was applied slowly, which took hours by itself. By the end of the night, only the head of hair was done and the pieces still lay on the table, ready to be painted and blushed once more.
" He's finally working on it." Michiko noted from her seat, fanning herself despite not being able to feal heat.
The clown and the Antlered ones nodded, both excited for the fun times that they'll have with the doll version of their owner.
" Ya'll should have seen the fucker's face. He looked like he considered pulling something stupid for a second there." Of course Kevin would have something to say. He was the newest one, though having been the one with the least damage. He was made mostly from wood and really only had an arm pop off by chance when he was abandoned. The others had all had their fair share of broken pieces. " Probably would have too."
" I say...he was thinking of doing something interesting." Yidhra. She...um...she was one that Joseph didn't understand much. And she also seemed to understand too much despite being here about as long as Kevin was. " He was going to use his own hair for the doll. Considered cutting his darling little ponytail off."
How she knew that, Joseph refused to ask anymore.
Not as though there would be an answer that he could understand.
" Yidhra, please stay out of the boy's head." Another new duo. White and Black. The chinese twin guard dolls. Their given names simply Xie and Fan respectfully. " He has enough on his plate. Did you not take notice of the increased rate of his coughing fits?"
Joseph did. Before, when he had first arrived, Aesop would have them maybe once or twice a week. Now though, it had progressed to once every other day.
Aesop had definitely gotten worse. It wasn't just coughing fits either. Joseph examined him daily, as it was all he had left to do.
Aesop's breath was shallow at regular, but when under stress he would hyperventilate, which would take hours to fully recover from. His ability to walk on his own? He now had less balance to his form, constantly bumping into items he used to so easily avoid. His vision? Poor enough for the need to borrow Lucky's glasses on occassion.
These were rare occurences for now. Small moments of time of when Aesop's body just stopped functioning in certain ways. He always bounced back, being able to function once more after a few minutes or more.
But these instances used to never happen. The other dolls had agreed on that much. Aesop had never had problems getting sround the quaint little home or through doorways. He had always had perfect vision, sharper than most with an eye for fine detail. He was unfit, but not to the degree that a brisk walk across a room would leave him gasping for air.
-----
" Aesop." Emily Dyer began, voice full of sympathy for the dying man. Over 8 months had passed since the day that Joseph joined the ranks. He now shared the shelf with Violetta, as more had joined the ranks in that time as well. The progression of Aesop's doll was slower now, his accessories the last thing remaining but the most important in the true Aesop's eyes.
Aesop chose the most morbid accessory for himself. A coffin to place the doll within. There was also a smaller version of his tool case, sporting tiny paint brushes and tiny makeup containers.
But neither accessory was complete. Barely started. There were just sketches for both set to scale.
"I would recommend you stay in bed for the rest of the month. You shouldn't move around too often anymore. If you continue on like this, it may speed up the progress of it. Alright?" She sat next to him on the couch, replacing the stethescope around her neck. " At the very least, stay within the house. No more trips outside." She stood up, gesturing to Eli and Lucky to join her in the corner.
Joseph listened in to the hushed whispers.
" Under no circumstances should you allow him to exit the building if you wish for him to last another year. His body has become too fragile for any trips out there. If you can, make sure he does not stress over anything either, but this is Aesop we are speaking of."
" Alright. We'll do that." Lucky nodded, only to frown at the doctor's next statement.
" Even if you do all of this, I can only expect him to live another 3 months. Anything past that is a stretch in and of itself. I'm sorry but that is the best we can do."
And then she left.
Joseph stared down at the saddened family. That is truly the best he could call them. Aesop had fully accepted Lucky, no longer talking to him in hushed whispers or with small sounds. He would actually speak with him and occassionally would take off that mask he constantly wore.
And now they all knew the reason for that mask.
Aesop's immune system was damaged as a child, utterly destroyed along with his relationship with people.
His parents weren't good people. His mother defiled him and would force cigarette butts down his throat while his father would lock him up in windowless rooms all by himself, sometimes for days at a time, or beat him to a pulp. He was bathed in germ killing chemicals every day, effectively killing both the good and bad bacteria in his body.
It had become that way because he had asked his parents if he could play with the dolls he would always see his father making.
But anyways, the mask hid the scars of stitches that had been around his mouth, forcing it shut at the time of their use.
It is why he is quiet. It is why he avoids the others. It is why it takes time to develop connections.
He never has to worry with the dolls though.
After Miss Dyer left, Aesop walked to his work desk to begin the assembly of the small wooden pieces.
Lucky and Eli shared a look, both worried but without any way to fix anything.
" I'm going to go open up. Lucky, today is your day to go into town. Feel free to go anywhere you want." He smiled, shuffling towards the door.
Lucky didn't really comment from what Joseph could tell, but he nay have. They were already out of the door before he could confirm.
Aesop frowned at the blueprints for his coffin, taking his hands off for a moment when a severe coughing fit hit. When he pulled his hand away from his mask to return to his work, the slightest hint of red on the perfectly white mask became visible.
---
A week later, Aesop's birthday arrived. As instructed, the doll maker never left the house. He would go into the shop portion and personally give back the freshly repaired dolls, but he never went outside.
Emily Dyer joined them, bringing Aesop a doll that looked a lot like the Joseph doll he had, but with some choice differences. The eyes on this one were green and the hair didn't rest over the shoulder. The hair was short but wavy, resting against his back mostly.
She reasoned that she had seen it in a store window and recalled the similar one on the shelf. While it wasn't a repair, it was a gift.
Lucky bought Aesop a new set of brushes to replace the crusting ones he had been handling.
And Eli....he didn't get to give his gift before another big coughing fit hit.
Aesop collapsed, falling to his knees as soon as it began. 1....2....3....4...7 seconds or so of coughing alone. The red splotch on his mask now much larger than the last one as he moved his hand away.
Even as the boy recovered from the attack, he wasn't breathing properly. He didn't attempt to stand. He just looked at red peppering his glove with unfocusing eyes.
Eli hovered his hands over him, not wanting to touch the other without permission but still worried and wanting to comfort the teen now adult. Emily grabbed the antibiotics that Aesop was set on. Lucky grabbed a replacement mask.
Aesop turned to them and smiled. It was definitely more to reassure them than anything. They all knew that he wasn't okay.
" Th-Thank....y-you."
----
3 weeks had passed.
Aesop....now had to borrow Lucky's glasses to get any work done. Lucky had taken on the majority of the repairwork for dolls over that time, only lending them to Aesop when he wanted to work on his own doll.
The coffin was almost complete, put on hold after a rather long-winded attack that resulted in Aesop passing out moments after.
The dolls on the shelf gave a collective sigh, looking at the now resting Aesop lying on the couch. The newer one that looked like Joseph had briefly come to life, but that was a week ago. A child snuck in and stole it afterwards. It remained missing.
Aesop...couldn't really walk by himself either. With his vision so bad and his body weakening, it was obvious why.
Jospeh hopped from his shelf, spotting the covers slipping off of the dying boy. They would ensure that he at least had a comfortable death at least.
He hopped up onto the couch with the skinny but much larger boy, and fixed the covers for him. The clink clink clink of his porcelain body shifting each time he moved still quiet, but loud in the dead of night.
Still, Aesop did not stir.
The doll smoothed out the sweet soaked hair plastered to the boy's forehead, moving it off before he left for the shelf again.
" I hope that whatever happens next, my dear Aesop, that you at least find happiness." He whispered to no one in particular.
----
1 and a half weeks passed. Aesop...was officially bedridden.
Lucky completely took over the repair work, having learned from Aesop over the couese of him living there with him.
Eli took to taking small breaks every hour or so to check up on the two.
The doll collection was moved to Aesop's dresser after the pale man requested them there.
He would sometimes take a doll off of the dresser if he could reach, carressing it's sculpted face and telling it secrets that only the dolls were allowed to know.
Today, Joseph was the one now found in his grasp.
" You're so...lovely...I'm glad that small child didn't dump you in a different spot. I never would have found you otherwise." He was kept in a gentle hold, one that would allow him movement if he was inclined to reveal his presense to the boy. " I heard from those in town...that dolls can sometimes contain spirits of the dead...they keep them safe...provide a home... I hope that these dolls... k-keep your spirits safe...until the next life you ...may... find..." His voice slurred, fading away as his breaths evened out.
And then those faded away too.
Just as Eli came in for an afternoon check up.
Joseph watched Eli gently shake the boy once, twice, three times. Each time he shook the boy's shoulder, he would call his name out louder and louder. That evolved into panicked checks of a pulse and a call to the doctor.
Lucky was alerted as well.
They tried to bring him back.
They did not succeed.
The dolls didn't get to see if they truly were dead souls, as the doll of Aesop had shattered in the panic.
Every year, on his birthday, a random doll off of the shelf would recieve its own coffin, and be buried.
Joseph had been the last one.
He never got to be buried though.
Lucky had buried the shattered remains of Aesop's doll the same day of his funeral.
He died the same tear that he buried Kevin. only 5 years prior to this. He lived a good life, found a wife and had a family.
His doll was buried that next year, right next to Aesop's.
Eli perished before he could put Joseph in the ground. He had buried every doll, including his own, except Joseph.
Joseph wished that if he were to be reborn, that he would find everyone again...and hopefully, they could all become friends.
---------------
"Hey, Joseph! You're round is next."
" I know, mon ami. I must face off against the embalmer, doctor, seer, and lucky one."
The other hunters giggled. " Well, good luck~"
Joseph smirked, being the only one to remember the truth. His soul was never put to rest. He remembered everything.