Authors Note: I do not own any of the characters in the SVM Universe, all rights belong to the author Charlene Harris.
"Hey, girl, open the walls, play with your dolls
We'll be a perfect family.
When you walk away is when we really play
You don't hear me when I say"
~ Dollhouse – Melanie Martinez ~
Chapter 1 Cora and Elisabeth:
Sookie stared out of her window, lying in bed. The gentle breeze softly touched her white curtains, as the moonlight filtered through. Sookie looked at the decaying tree outside her window. Why they don't just take that down, she thought, it's so creepy. Sookie sat up in her bed, glancing around her dimly lit room. I can't sleep, she muttered softly to herself. Another gentle breeze blew softly through the open window once again from Sookie's right, her shelf of dolls on the left. Sookie examined them, slightly smiling. Her dolls helped comfort her when she felt stressed or depressed.
It was close to midnight, just a few minutes away, if I just be quiet, they won't hear, she thought to herself. She sat at the edge of her bed, quietly standing up, grabbing two of her dolls, Cora and Elisabeth as she did so. They were the O'Riley sisters. Cora wore a long white dress with a soft pink ribbon tied neatly around her waist. Elisabeth was the antithesis to her sister, wearing a long black dress, finished with a black lace sash and shawl finished with red beading at the bottom. Their ash blonde hair hung in loose curls that fell to the middle of their backs. Sookie sat back down with the two dolls on her bed. Not too long after that, Sookie had to use the bathroom. She propped Cora and Elisabeth up against her pillow and hopped out of bed, quietly cracked open the door and left .
Sookie soon came back with a cup of milk, sipping on it as she went back to bed. As she set the glass down on the counter, she noticed something different about the dolls. They had switched places. "It's late, probably just my imagination." Sookie whispered to herself. She took a step closer towards the dolls, picking up her glass to take another sip of milk. Her mother taught her that it was dangerous to drink out of a cup and walk at the same time.
Sookie once again put the glass down again, before looking back to the dolls. Cora had her head slightly tilted and Elisabeth was sat, head turned towards Cora. Sookie froze, a chill slowly seeping down her spine. "Just my imagination, it's just my imagination." She tried to convince herself that what she was seeing was merely a figment of her imagination, but unfortunately no matter how many times she closed her eyes, the picture in front her remained the same. Sookie placed the now empty glass of milk on her dresser, positioned next to her shelf of dolls. She glanced once again back at the two dolls that lay innocently on her bed, both dolls now looking straight back at her. Breath momentarily escaped her as she hastily rushed towards the bed, grabbing the two dolls and placing them back on the top shelf from whence they came. Sookie took a step back, examining the shelf. Cora and Elisabeth looked just like the rest of the dolls now. I knew it was just my imagination, Sookie thought; the corner of her mouth quirked up slightly as she took in her collection, before turning around and climbing back into bed, facing the window, the cool breeze soothing her heated skin. She sighed and shivered, as the lingering nervousness slowly faded from her system. Sookie didn't like the fact that her back was to the dolls, but she knew looking at them wouldn't help either.