Playing Dolls (2/2)
When Santana finally gains consciousness she blinks her eyes rapidly to try and get rid of the darkness. She realizes that wherever she is, its pitch dark. Her arms are sore and when she looks at them she realizes they’re tied to one long piece of wood, and her legs are dangling. She has to stretch out her legs to stand on her tip toes to relieve some of the pressure on her arms. She feels like she’s hanging from a cross. “Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck!”
“Master will not appreciate those words.”
Santana feels full-fledged panic swell up in her chest. “Who are you? Who’s there?” Her eyes strain to try and pick up anything through the dark.
“My name is Tina.”
“What the fuck is going on here? Let me go!”
“Please, p-p-please keep your voice down or you will anger the Master.”
Santana is confused and hurt but she lowers her voice. “Master?”
“Yes. She is our master. We are her dolls.”
“You have got to be fucking kidding me. I’m a human being, not a fucking plaything.”
Suddenly the lights turn on and Tina comes into vision. She’s dressed in dark clothing and her hair has blue highlights but she’s not tied to anything. She’s merely sitting in an arm chair. “We do as we’re told. We play the characters we are given. In return Master takes care of us.”
“You’re brainwashed, you crazy bitch.”
“Master will not appreciate those words,” Tina repeats.
“Listen, gothic princess, get me the fuck down right now.”
“I can’t. You’re in training. Dolls in training must stay tied up until they prove their loyalty.”
Santana closes her eyes and counts to ten to try and calm herself down. This can’t be fucking happening. I’m dreaming. This is a dream. She knows it isn’t a dream, but the words calm her anyway. Maybe pretending for a moment would ease her fears so she could figure out what to do next.
She opens her eyes and says calmly, “Okay, Tina. Tell me more about this doll thing. Where are my friends?”
“They’re upstairs with Master. She’s chosen Rachel to play the baby, and the two blondes are playing the mommies.”
“Well at least this psycho is for gay marriage,” Santana replied sarcastically.
“It depends on Master’s mood.”
“Tina if you get me down, I will help you escape.”
Tina goes to reply when they hear a loud crashing noise, then the sound of a struggle. Santana can feel her adrenaline kicking in again as she listens to see if she can recognize the sound of her friends.
Silence.
Until the door of the basement busts open. Santana strains her neck to try and see up the stairs to catch a glimpse of the ‘Master’. She can’t see a thing until something flies down the ten steps and lands in a heap on the floor. The door slams shut.
She recognizes it immediately to be Quinn. “Quinn! Quinn!” She yells loudly, trying to stir the blonde dressed up in an oversized 50’s styled dress. “Quinn!” Santana looks at Tina pleadingly, “Please! Please help my friend. She’s hurt. Please.” Santana’s never begged a person before in her life like this.
She sees a flash of humanity through Tina’s eyes. She knows she wants to help, but this guy must have brainwashed Tina well, because she doesn’t move from her chair. “I’m sorry. I can’t help you. Master does what Master wants with his dolls. If we do not listen, he throws us away.”
Throws us away? It’s then that Santana understands Tina isn’t only a brainwashed freak. She’s fearful for her life. Well if Tina won’t help, I’ll do this myself.
Santana starts struggling violently against her restraints. A minute later and she’s still stuck, Quinn’s still unmoving on the floor, and Tina is just staring indifferently. Her muscles feel like they are on fire and she didn’t even manage to loosen the rope.
“Tina,” she says while trying to catch her breath, “please. I’m begging you. That’s my best friend and she needs me.” Suddenly it clicks, and Santana realizes Tina couldn’t have come here alone. “Don’t you have friends? Don’t you have family? Are they here?”
Tina looks down and frowns deeply. “I…I once had a boyfriend here. Master threw him away for trying to escape.”
“What was his name?”
“Mike.”
“Mike must have been a brave guy to try and escape. I bet he was trying to get help for you, right? Come on, Tina; don’t let his death go in vain. You need to get out of this place just like the rest of us, and I’ll help you do that. Just let me down.”
Tina looks indecisive, but that was better than the vacant stare she was sporting earlier. Reluctantly she gets up from the arm chair and starts tugging at the knots in the rope. “Thank you, Tina! Thank you, thank you.”
When she’s finally free of the restraints she falls down to the floor, her legs not ready to steady her weight. Her arm muscles are aching and her wrist is still throbbing from injuring it in the car accident. She slowly gets the feeling in her legs back and crawls over to Quinn. She pulls the girls head into her lap and is frightened when she sees how bloody Quinn’s face is from the fall. “Q, Q? Wake up, Quinn.”
Quinn murmurs, “S…”
“I’m right here, Q. I’m right here.” She gently strokes Quinn’s hair, careful not to create anymore damage.
“I can’t move my body.” Quinn’s voice comes out soft but panicked.
For a split second Santana fears that she’sreally paralyzed, but Tina speaks up, “Sometimes Master uses needles to paralyze us when we disobey.”
“Will you just shut the fuck up about the Master?” Santana practically spits at Tina. Her chest is heaving as she continues to try and comfort Quinn. “I’m sorry, Tina. I didn’t mean to yell at you.” And she hadn’t. The situation is just so overwhelming that it was hard to keep herself under control. But she knew if she wanted to get out of this place, she needed Tina on her side. “Will this shit wear off?”
Tina nodded. “Slowly.”
“What happened, Quinn?”
“I don’t know. We managed to get into the back door and the room was so creepy. It was plastered in Barbie posters and there were dolls and houses all over the place. Brittany thought it was amazing so she stayed there while Rachel and I-”
“You left Brittany alone?!”
“-continued through the house. Then someone stabbed me with a needle. I felt them changing me but I couldn’t open my eyes. I heard Brittany and Rachel, it was so scary Santana. I thought I was going to get raped or killed or something.”
“Are they okay, Q? Are Brittany and Rachel okay?”
“I don’t know. I think I heard Rachel crying.”
Santana feels like she’s going to throw up, so she gently places Quinn’s head back on the floor and stands.
“Santana? Santana don’t leave me!” Quinn pleads. She can’t move and she hasn’t felt so vulnerable in her life.
Santana grabs the closest box she can find and dry heaves into it. There’s nothing left in her system to puke. “I’m right here, Q. Just give me a second.”
A flash of lightening brightens up the whole room from the window, and Santana gets pissed that there’s a storm going on now of all times. She blinks and rushes to the window. “Holy shit, there’s a window! The fuck, vampira? There’s a window in here and you didn’t think of breaking it?”
“The Master wouldn’t-”
“Fuck the Master! We’re getting out of here.” She runs over to Quinn again and kneels down. “What do you say, tubbers? Can your fat ass make it through the window?”
“I can’t move, Santana! And I had that baby years ago, let it go!”
Santana sits back down to impatiently wait for Quinn to start getting some feeling back. “The second you can move your legs we’re going.”
---
“Stop pinching me, Santana! I can feel it now!”
“Just double checking. Let’s go.” Santana pulls Quinn up into a standing position and helps guide her over to the window. She shoves a box underneath it for them to stand on. “Quinn we have to move fast, okay? I don’t know if they’ll hear the window breaking or not, so we need to move quickly.” Quinn nods in understanding so Santana grabs the nearest piece of wood and slams it against the window as hard as she can. It shatters on the first swing and breaks into pieces on the second. She quickly rotates the wood around the window to try and get most of the fragments out of the way.
She puts out her linked hands for Quinn to step on, pushing her up and out the window. Quinn gets about half way before she feels stuck. “Goddamn it, Q, I knew your ass wouldn’t fit.” She puts both hands on Quinn’s ass and pushes. Quinn is able to crawl the rest of the way out by grabbing the burnt grass and pulling. Santana climbs easily out after her.
“You just wanted an excuse to touch my ass.”
“As if.” Santana leans down and holds out her hand to Tina. “Come on, Tina.”
Tina shakes her head. “I can’t leave.”
Santana knows she doesn’t have time to argue, and if Tina wants to stay that’s her business. Her priority is her and Quinn. She begins running at a full on sprint away from the house, only turning to look back when Quinn calls out to her.
“Santana!” Her friend is sprawled out of the ground, looking like a pathetic puppy with a broken leg.
“For fucks sake.” Santana runs back and helps Quinn up again. “Get on my back.”
“You can’t carry-”
“Get the fuck on my back!” Quinn cringes but immediately gets onto Santana’s back.
Santana walks as fast as she can from the house, praying hard that whoever is inside didn’t hear them break out. She manages to get them into the woods and collapses onto her knees, dropping Quinn down into the brush. “I need to go back and get Brittany.”
“And Rachel!”
“Yeah whatever I need to go back and get Brittany and the midget.”
“You can’t just leave me here, S. What if they find me?”
“Then play dead. I don’t know what to tell you, I can’t just leave Brittany in there. And you know there is no fucking help around here for miles. By the time we get help they could be dead. No fucking way. We all leave or none of us leave.”
Santana helps prop Quinn up so that she is sitting against the tree and hands her a tree branch. Quinn looks like she’s in disbelief that Santana is actually going to leave her there. “What, Quinn? You’ll be fine, and you’ll be able to really move soon. Just stay here and I’ll be back. If I’m not, just get the fuck out of here as fast as you can.”
She doesn’t give her a chance to respond and runs out of the woods and back towards the house.
---
She kneels in front of the back window and peaks inside, her heart hammering in her chest again. She doesn’t have a plan, so this is the most idiotic thing she could ever do. Her instinct is telling her to go back to Quinn and run the hell away.
But her heart is telling her that Brittany is in there. There’s no way she is leaving without her. And even though she mostly hates Rachel, she does love her too.
So she takes a deep breath, opens the window, and slips inside, her decision made. She tip toes room to room until she can make out the sound of voices. She manages to peer into the room, and she has to bite down on her lip to stop herself from making a sound.
Rachel is sitting in a crib, a bonnet on her head and a bib around her neck. She’s sucking a bottle of milk, looking absolutely distraught. Santana knows nothing about this is funny, but it will be once they get out of here. She’ll have a million jokes on Berry now. Brittany is sitting in a rocking chair, holding a baby doll and pretending to feed it. Santana’s eyes scan over to what she can only describe as a monster standing and watching.
The monster is human, but looks like a cavewoman. Her hair is a mess; her face is longer and wider than it should be. Her eyebrows are bushy and thick and her mouth is hanging open, drool sliding down the side of her lips. Her arms are huge and disproportionate to her stubby legs. The monster claps when Brittany burps the doll, and Santana moves back into the kitchen and away from the room to look for a weapon.
She picks up the nearest kitchen knife and moves back towards the room, waiting to make her move. Brittany makes eye contact with Santana from her chair, her eyes light up and she says, “San?”
The monster instantly looks her way and growls lowly, “Bad doll.” She charges at Santana, and Brittany screams as Santana is thrown into the wall.
Brittany’s frozen in fear and Rachel jumps out of the crib to pick up the knife Santana dropped. “NO!” The monster shouts and swings at Rachel, just missing her. Rachel swings her own arm and slices the monster’s arm. She howls in pain, “bad doll! No!”
Rachel backs away in fear, “I’m sorry. I-I’m sorry, Master.”
The monster is angry and still approaches, but seems less mad at the apology. “Good doll?”
“Yes, Master, I’m truly sorry.” The monster moves to hug Rachel, her baby, and Rachel whispers, “I’m not your baby. I’m just a great actress.” She pushes the knife as hard as she can into the carotid artery of the monster, knowing that will be the most fatal spot. The monster looks so betrayed as it backs into the wall and slides down it.
Brittany finally has the courage to stand up and runs over to Santana. “Santana! Sanny.” She picks up the broken girl bridal style and carries her outside. Rachel follows, talking a mile a minute.
“Where is Quinn? Santana, where is Quinn? Is she okay? Please tell me she is okay!”
“She’s okay, Berry, shut the fuck up.”
---
They make it back to the road they crashed on. They walk for miles, Santana sleeping in Brittany’s arms while Quinn and Rachel lean on each other for support.
They see a car coming in their direction in the far distance, and tears spring to all of the awake girl’s eyes. They are finally saved.
“San, wake up.” Brittany nudges Santana awake gently, and she smiles when she sees the truck. “It’s over. It’s finally over.”
Rachel sighs happily and kisses Quinn’s cheek, “I for one never once lost my hope-”
“Berry we’re leaving you and your diapered ass behind.”
END