Nightmares Vs Magic

After finding the living doll, Sienna gave the order for everyone to scatter to different places and follow from different directions. Normally, there would've been people out and about, but after arriving at the location, Lucas left the group to take care of that while the rest exchanged numbers for communication.

I still had no clue what he did, but it was quiet thanks to him, save for some stragglers that had to get sprayed. Joon and I still didn't use our bottles.

Joon and Dove stuck together as another order from Sienna, since they still lack experience. 

"Looking at this thing actually doesn't bother you?" Joon asked her in a whisper as they stalked the living doll from a safe distance behind it.

It really did seem like it was intentionally walking somewhere, searching...

It's just, it looks like a wooden puppet without the strings, poorly made, carved, etc, which would make sense, since according to what I've read about these living dolls from Swedish origin; they are dolls that were typically made up of whatever junk or random materials that could be found around the creator's home. Traditionally, it would be straw or broomsticks, items worthy of making scarecrows basically, but, well, with more modern items, that changes. 

"I used to see things like these a lot when I was a kid; roaming around my house, peeking around the doorframe in front of my bed at night, with their jaws open as they stared at me. You telling me you never encountered nightmares like these roaming around in your life?" She whispered back.

He shrugged, shuddering as he quickly pulled them aside to hide, right when the living doll slowly began to turn around, he could tell because every move it made was creaky or noisy. They ducked behind an abandoned construction sign still standing on the sidewalk. 

This place we were in, whoever the Sennentuntschi was searching for, was hoping that no one come here considering how beaten up it appeared, like Frankenstein designs, the road patched over, and broken, and patched over again, same with the rest of the place. Some buildings were historically old, these were just poorly maintained.

"I may have grown up in the perfect place to have a murderous doll situation, but no, I never experienced walking dolls. More like four-legged animals that stood upright, standing near my house, or like, tall, skeletal ghosts way far off in the distance, swaying and bending inhumanly, side to side."

He peeked out the corner, Dove followed him as they continued. 

I suddenly got a call during this, quickly learning that while apparently Joon and I were the only ones spying on the Sennentuntschi, turns out that not only did Sienna send Lucas to take care of witnesses, but she also had Mori sniff out any potential leads of where the doll was heading, before they would get to them. Would've been nice to tell us in advance but I guess it was that "Don't let go" with the training-a-kid-to-ride a-bike situation. 

She told us she was keeping a birds-eye-view of us. My only question was and still is- how long had she been doing parkour on all the tall buildings meanwhile Joon and I were trying to play hide and seek in the alleyways that were only getting more cramped the more we followed the living doll?

"Ok, so it looks like we're about to bump into a sketchy building that was leased out for cheap. Remember, the only job you kids have is to watch and observe, memorize, and report later. Got it?" Sienna said on the phone as she watched from a distance, standing on the rooftop of a decaying apartment building that still had tenants. 

"Yes." Dove said affirmatively. 

The old place didn't look like a motel, but it was, just the type in a cramped environment. A dusty sign reading 'Royal Motel'. Maybe it used to be reputable.

Joon became impatient after seeing the Sennentuntschi stopped in front of it, staring up at the windows with its large, plastic eyes, and its jaw that had no hinges, so it hung open, showing those nails in the wood that mimicked teeth with the right imagination. 

He began walking right up to it as soon as Mori jumped down from an incredible height, out the window of a particular floor the Sennentuntschi was staring up at. He gave this Joon a warning stare, which Joon was socially adept enough to read but willingly ignored as he began to question the living doll, tilting his head downward. 

"Hey there!" 

He was quickly snatched away in the blink of an eye by Mori, Dove watched this and continued to keep her eye on the living doll, watching it continue to stare up at the now open window, the only opened window. 

"Who's up there?" She quietly asked Mori. 

"A person for sure, a scared one at that, I was just interrogating him about this thing."

"So, is this a Frankenstein situation? Or more?"

Mori, who was holding and muffling the mouth of a kicking and flailing Joon, tilted his head side to side. 

"Sort of, I don't think I was asking the right questions, so the only thing I got was his extreme denial of being followed by anything. He had a lot of photos with him, of dead people." 

Dove looked away from him as he silently wrestled with the boy, and back to the doll. The Sennentuntschi didn't seem to do much, but then it started walking again, even though she knows it could see them at this point. 

"Don't bother stopping it, we're just watching." Sienna said, suddenly also popping out of nowhere. She stood next to Mori, who handed her the box of memory perfumes since Joon was too busy wrestling with him to carry it.

"And if it starts attacking the person it was looking for?"

"Only then do we step in, but, depending on your knowledge of these creatures, it can go in many ways." 

Dove followed the living doll, seeing it moving like some sort of shark or predator, finding the backdoor to the building. She looked up and saw some figure, Lucas, waving down at her as he leaned out of the open window, hearing some frantic and confused yelling coming from behind him, to which Lucas turned his head and pulled his body back inside, seemingly calming the frantic voice.

This weird, gut feeling whispered inside me, and I felt like taking a gamble. I looked to Sienna and Mori for approval as I pointed at the door. She just shrugged, so I took out the baton that Enzo gave me and Joon, whipping it to extend, and stabbing it like an ice pick into the lock. My instincts are, kind of weird, I usually try to ignore them.

The door opened after I stabbed a little deeper, jiggling it in until I heard this clicking sound and twisted, pushing the door open. 

These batons sure did have a lot more mechanisms and functions that I didn't know about, no wonder Enzo's looked more dangerous, even though I only saw it in its neutral state. I got a little freaked out and backed up, and I watched the living doll make its same rickety movements as it walked in, and going up the stairs. Sienna told me she'd get the baton out and that I needed to watch and follow it, so I did. Mori also let Joon go, and he came with me, which was comforting. He may act pretty young, but Joon is actually like twenty.

They went upstairs, and across the halls, Joon quickly spraying a guest who took a peek into the halls after opening his door.

"I think he was having a hangover." Dove whispered as she watched him push the slump and groggy mumbling body back into his room and close the door.

"Ah! Dang it. I could've let him get traumatized and never want to drink again." Joon snapped his fingers.

The living doll turned its head, and only its head around, pausing in its walk to stare at the two.

Joon and Dove froze in its gaze, sheepishly bowing their heads in apology as they both put a hand over their mouths.

The living doll continued, climbing all the way to the only floor left, as there were only three floors, and considering the narrow way the motel was built, not a lot of rooms to sift through. It stood eerily in front of a room labeled '320', making that knocking and scratching noise that Dove was all too familiar with, unlike the person on the other side. 

Following her gut instincts again, she too knocked on the door, a loud firm knock that no doll hands made of wood could mimic, unless maybe if the living doll was bigger, but it was only the perfect size of a wooden puppet fit for a ventriloquist's lap. Just, maybe if the ventriloquist was a bit psychotic and used to be that one kid in class who would make weapons out of their school supplies.

"Hello?" Dove said in a calm voice, knowing that the person on the other side must've jumped in surprise. 

"A doll is here to see you, and the rest of us would just like to ask some questions, if you wouldn't mind letting us in?"

"... Who are you?" The voice on the other side said. 

"Why are you seething?" She heard Lucas say, and hummed in confusion.

"... My name is Dove, and I am an intern, the others are here to prot-"

"Dove, you've got a lot of nerve you bitch!"

"Excuse us?" Joon jumped and banged his fist on the door in anger. 

"Hey! Open the door and say that again!"

If this were any other motel, the other tenants definitely would've cracked open their doors to peek out of curiosity and a yearn to see drama they weren't a part of. Thankfully, in buildings like these, most people here were trying to protect their own skin.

Sienna and Mori came up the stairs after some moments of talking to the other guests to keep their mouths shut, and tapping Joon on the shoulder with Dove's baton, the needle end having shifted into having the patterns on the end of a skeleton key. 

Lucas was too busy keeping the young man inside the room from throwing a fit while the door was being pick locked from the outside. The young man started to struggle against the bright, pale person even more when the door opened to reveal Dove standing in front of the living dolls being held together by seemingly shadows, coming out of the ground, the shadows on the ground leading to Sienna, climbing back out and shown to be falling like the ink version of a waterfall, from an opened book in her hand. 

The book looked just like the one Laurence showed me before putting it in the archives, although hers had some different drawings of nightmares inside.

Holding back the young man who looked to be about Dove's age, wasn't an issue at all for Lucas, despite his appearance being lanky. 

He had the same dirty blonde hair I remember, except now he had dust on his face and hands, still a skinny person as I remember, clawing against Lucas' arms as his eyes widened at the sight of me, almost like he was about to pop a vein.

And yet, despite his angry reaction, there was also a mixture of fear in his face. And I understand why, I know all too well. His anger is justified. I could only feel guilty for him, pity added as I saw pictures strewn about the room, of families and of a specific woman.

"Get out of my face you bitch!"

"Theo, what happened to you-"

"You know what happened! This is all your fault again, isn't it?! You're the reason why things keep going wrong!" He seemed to seethe as he threw his words at her, like a dog frothing at the mouth. 

Joon took his baton from his leg, swinging it like a bat as it extended, as if adapting to him and following his instinct, making a firework popping sound upon hitting Theo's face. 

"JOON!?!" 

He crashed into the floor with sharp impact, a red and purple, burning bruise on the side of his face.

Dove looked at him with wide eyes, concern etched on her face as she turned to look at Sienna, who was standing there, arms crossed with the opened book sitting in her free palm, keeping a studious and silent stare at the both of them. 

She gave me this look when I made eye contact with her, like she was testing me, waiting to see what action I would take for Joon breaking the rule we were meant to follow.

I assessed as quickly as I could as I looked back to the situation- 

1. Lucas wasn't hurt when Joon whacked Theo out of his grip, but he could've been. 

2. I saw Joon look in surprise at his actions, but he didn't look regretful, just staring at Theo, tapping his baton on his shoulder like a baseball player, waiting.

3. Theo is now silent, so he can be interrogated. 

But none of the field agents were moving, and I knew Theo as the scrawny type who can get back up like zombie, and his punches, while also weak, are like acupuncture needles depending on where he aims. 

Instead of waiting for the professionals to respond, she followed her own instincts, also breaking the 'observe and watch only' rule, and betting on her past connections with the boy, however angry his feelings for her may be. 

She grabbed his shoulder to turn him over onto his stomach quickly, grabbed both his skinny wrists, covered in this lint and dust that he hadn't washed off yet, and crossed them behind his back, pinning him down with her knee. 

I didn't want to hurt him anymore than I already have, but sometimes Scuba divers have to fight with panicked, drowning people in order to save them.

"Theo." Dove said with a stronger tone to get his attention after he recovered from the hit. 

"Why and how do you have connections with this Sennentuntschi? You hate the paranormal and you hated dolls." 

He turned his head against the floor, gritting his teeth as he gave her a snarl. 

"I don't have to tell you anything. You're the reason I hated all those things in the first place."

Dove sighed, beginning to lighten the pressure of her knee before Joon stabbed his baton into the floor beside Theo's head, surprising them both. 

"You don't have to answer now I guess." He said, before pointing up, reminding them of the living doll who was only being held back by the magic, moving ink from Sienna's book.

Its jaw made of wood and nails trying to claw at him from a distance. And considering its size, it was like a scary child just without the vocal cords. 

Thank goodness this doll didn't have vocal cords, for some reason.

"But, I'm pretty sure you don't want to finally face the consequences of whatever you did to anger that little guy? He's small but he's definitely gonna bite all of your fingers and toes, and then your nose and ears, and then he's just gonna claw at you until your flesh rips. right, Dove?" He looked up at her as sadistically taunted Theo, who began to tremble underneath her knee. 

She inhaled and exhaled silently, giving Theo a guilty look. 

"At least tell us how you brought this Sennentuntschi to life, we will help you, in exchange for answers to our questions."

Theo only sadistically chuckled dryly at me, or maybe his voice just always sounded dry. I don't know if he still did meth after juvie. I tried to get him out of it, but eventually learned it wasn't my business and gave up. 

"Look at you, so now you're not a poor victim but a wannabe hero this time? Acting like you care, and that you know how to help. News flash you stupid hypocrite, you don't scare me anymore, and you can't help anyone."

"I-" Dove opened her mouth to speak, but simply sighed in defeat, letting him call her whatever he wanted.

Joon glared at him before Lucas put a light hand on both their shoulders. He signaled for them both to get up as he pointed to Sienna. They both nodded, Dove lifting her knee of the young man, offering him a hand as she gave an apology for her roughness, only for him to swat her hand away. He didn't hurt her, but Joon was tempted to give him another good whack before Lucas ushered them out, and Sienna quickly manipulated the floating shadows of ink to put the living doll down.

It scampered into the room, and she shut the door, using the shadows to keep the doorknob locked as the screams started. The doorknob jiggled and there were bangs on the door, but the ghost-like ink wouldn't let it budge. 

"Let me out! Get me out!"

Dove pressed her lips together as pained expression crossed her face, she gripped her arm tightly, hearing his screams and staring at the door. 

"Shouldn't we prevent this?" She hesitantly asked. 

Mori patted her shoulder.

"Laurence told us you read a lot about these creatures." He said, trying to push the sounds of Theo screaming and crashes in the room happening, to the side as he talked to her.

"What's the most common cause you know for why a Sennentuntschi comes to life?"

Dove still felt this, emotional pain from Theo's screams so she didn't answer immediately despite her yearning to please others, but as she listened more to the screams, the more she began to frown in doubt of something. 

"Normally, based on most stories, the Sennentuntschi is commonly a doll made to resemble a woman, come to life to enact vengeance on the shepherds and farmers for abusing and raping her. It isn't always a lady doll, and the abuse isn't always sexual, nor is abuse... the only reason a Sennentuntschi would come to life..." 

Joon gave her a look before grinning proudly, Mori cocked an eyebrow as he seemed to notice the gears in Dove's brain begin to turn again, just as she turned and gently said 'excuse me' to Sienna, making her way to the door. 

"There is a story somewhere, about the concept of a Sennentuntschi but different in the lesson. A lonely princess made a figure of a man using whatever junk was lying around, her yearn for the doll to love her as she showered the inanimate statue with the affection that she wanted to give to someone, brought the statue to life as it sensed her loneliness..."

"And what do you know about this kid that can tell us about the potential cause for how he brought his doll to life?" Sienna asked her, a tone in her voice that told she was enjoying watching the scene in front of her unfold. 

"Theo, was from a family that was always disappointed in him. He was alone in school a lot and was desperate for whatever friends he could get, regardless of what hobbies his new friends would have... He always had money too, after he got a job that some kids thought was cool."

Dove put her ear to the door, listening, and her empathy turned into guilt for something else entirely.

"Sienna, could open the door please? I'm betting I know how we can handle this."

"If you're correct, you owe me a photo of the guy!" Joon smiled. 

She merely shrugged as Sienna put down her shadows, taking out her phone and opening the door, not even glancing at the screen as the camera light shuttered, she pocketed her phone and walked closer with a calmer expression, kneeling down to the young man screaming as he is desperately trying to pull the living doll off him, but the doll clutches his shirt and hugs tighter. 

She makes a repeated tutting noise. 

"Let me help you up." She tells him, offering her hand to him again while he's on the floor, having a poor time fighting back against a non-aggressive doll. 

"Hate me all you want but at least let me take you to a place that will solve your current problem."

He reluctantly takes her hand, getting up and slowly realizing, that the Sennentuntschi was never really hunting him, whereas it was more searching for him to console. 

Mori takes the boy and leads him out as the others inspect the room, and all his items. If it wasn't messy before, Theo certainly made it worse.

Clearly, he threw anything he could find at the doll. There were photos of some family in black and white, along with some of a specific woman, I felt that pang of guilt again. 

"So, how do you know that guy?" Sienna asked, intrigued as they gathered his items for his sake and for evidence. 

"I met him in high school under weird circumstances, we never hung out much though... He's not the type who needs a beating, please believe me."

Joon disagreed, helping him to hold most of the photos and papers Theo had, pressing it all down with what looked like a burner phone. I've seen him use some when he had his side job.

"I was gonna hit him anyway, I hate people who curse like that. It's just pointless and messy."

Dove threw a glance of disbelief at him, like a pot calling the kettle black. He threw his hands up in mock-self-defense.

Mori gave Theo a choice between cooperating and coming with them back to Macabre House or being stuck with his 'new friend'. 

The young man rubbed the side of his face with the bruise and groaned. 

Dove knew that while he was going to cooperate anyway, Mori only told him that just in case he felt like yelling and cursing again, which would be annoying to deal with especially on a motorcycle. 

...

Pretending that he was holding a puppet as they made their way to the building, Joon and the others were thoroughly confused on why she continued being nice to him despite his clear aggression towards her. 

She volunteered to stay by his side as they figured out how to pry the doll off of him, she tried explaining to him what was going to happen as Bence went over to see the situation with the doll's sentience, looking for a possible haunting or a spirit inside as his eyes glowed with a strong stare. 

Theo gulped, put off by the man wearing the grim suit, Dove tried to ease him, but he kept snapping at her. She suggested to Laurence to take him to the mirror room, he agreed since they were getting nowhere and the Sennentuntschi wasn't causing any harm anyway, just visual disturbance. 

It was only when Laurence called her out for a quick chat after she had Theo seated down in the room, did she finally lower her head and confess. 

"We both broke a rule, we were told to only observe and report later, but we ended up taking action. I'm sorry."

"And the bruise stretched across the side of his face?"

"Joon hit him with his baton."

"Why?" 

"He..." Dove paused, like holding herself back from saying anymore.

Out in the halls and other rooms of Macabre House, the 'Tell no lies' Policy is only effective for preventing lies. The mirror room on the other hand, is what forces the answers out, much cleaner than the usual torture and interrogation or coercion that Normals have to use. Leon and the other older coworkers thought so as well, as they never liked anything that reminded them of those torture chambers that some royal families would use.

Sienna confidently walked over to them with the orange folder of the case in her hand. 

"The boy was cursing her out, so Joon silenced him."

Dove groaned as Sienna continued talking, that confident voice of hers speaking and letting that slight New York accent leak out. 

"A lovely sight honestly, I'm not into letting the kiddos get smacked, but he just wouldn't stop, the little pothead."

Laurence turned back to Dove after listening to Sienna, who went inside the mirror room, ready to begin interrogations.

He tilted his head. 

"Do you feel guilty for him?"

".... Yes."

"Why is that?"

Dove looked at either side of the hallway for any passerby, but it really wouldn't matter. 

Her story to tell here, is long and has many plot points that many would know about eventually, but it is still her story to tell, and she decides when and how people will get to hear it. 

"Theo, wasn't born haunted like us. When I first met him, he didn't know anything about nightmares or believe in any ghosts. He used to be much braver than how he is now, but one day, he began to see them, because of me."