Well, here's the next chapter. Big thanks to goosebumps fan for being my first reviewer.
Roxanne seemed to enjoy playing around with Slappy, and she wasn't a bad ventriloquist, although a few consonants were still moving her lips against her will. Plus, she still had a little paranoia over Slappy's knowing smirk and lively eyes. But in spite of every setback, she was able to have fun, and she was being pressed by her parents to rehearse in front of them, which she knew wouldn't be as humiliating as singing and forgetting the words. With Slappy, she could easily improvise.
"So, Slappy," she said to the doll after two weeks of being asked to rehearse, "Are you ready to talk to Mom and Dad? Or at least to me in front of them?"
"I'm always up for talking." she made Slappy say. "That's cause you force me to."
Roxanne pretended to laugh at her own joke. "Oh, be nice. By the way, could you please tell me what those words I read out meant? I've been agonizing over it."
"How should I know?" she manipulated Slappy to ask. "I'm a poor little ventriloquist dummy. When was I supposed to learn to read?"
Roxanne grinned at herself in the mirror. "I think it's time for a performance."
So after dinner, she sat down in front of her parents. "So you wanted to see me talk to Slappy? Well, I've got him."
"I knew getting him would help you open up." her mother said cheerfully. "So why don't you start, honey?"
Roxanne brought out Slappy and got the string. "Hey, Slappy. So what do you think? For the first time, I'm introducing you to my family. Wanna say hi?" She immediately manipulated Slappy. "Hi! I'm totally not talking because Roxy is talking for me. But I kind of like her." That made Roxanne's parents laugh.
"Shall we do some kind of comedy routine, Slappy?" Roxanne continued, then made Slappy say "A comedy routine? I thought it was a casual visit! I don't know any jokes!" Roxanne went on as herself. "Well, let's start with something corny. What's black and white and red all over?"
"Paper printed and soaked in your blood!" Slappy suddenly snarled. Roxanne's eyes widened.
"Did one of you say that?" she said, looking at her parents. "That wasn't funny."
"Neither of us said that." her father said. "Have you been watching horror movies?"
"No way!" Roxanne protested. "I'm not old enough. Even when I tried watching the first twenty minutes of A Nightmare On Elm Street, I couldn't sleep for a week because I was terrified I'd end up like Tina!" (Although the movie was rated R-16, she'd sneaked it, and had ended up shaking all over as the character of Tina Gray was slashed and dripping with blood.)
"You must have said it." Roxanne's mother added.
Slappy suddenly spoke up again. "Such know-it-alls! Why don't you try a subject you know nothing about, like parenting?"
"Roxanne!" gasped her father. "That is too far. It's completely out of character for you to insult us like this!"
Roxanne had gone pale, staring at Slappy. "I-I'm sorry." she managed to stutter out.
"I'm sorry you're dumb with sound!" Slappy added. "Get smart and beautiful, stupid uglies!" Poor Roxanne was frozen in shock. She'd read the book "Uglies", so it tied in beautifully.
"Roxanne Martela!" her mother said harshly. "How dare you speak like that to us!"
"I wasn't talking." Roxanne whispered. "It was as if Slappy was alive, with a mind of his own." But she knew she was fighting a losing battle. And, clutching Slappy, she sped to her room.
"What happened?" she whispered, staring at Slappy. "I don't understand." Slappy's eyes stared into her own. They stared into hers, looking just like her own in that light. She knew his eyes were blue most of the time, but they occasionally were just like her green orbs. His smirk seemed to grow, and his eyes seemed to sparkle.
Roxanne wondered what had really happened. She looked at Slappy again. "Could you be...alive?" If he was alive, why did he have to get me in trouble by being so insulting, she wondered miserably.
"Why haven't you talked to me if you were alive?" Roxanne asked Slappy, wondering if he would answer. It was a scary thought that Slappy was alive, but really, there wasn't any other explanation. Roxanne knew her parents, and she knew that they were serious when they thought she had been saying those things.
Suddenly, Roxanne decided to look up what those words she'd read from the slip of paper that Slappy came with meant. After all, she was stuck in her room with nothing better to do.
The answer was on Yahoo. It meant "You and I are one now". This answer made Roxanne cock her head in confusion. "Why would you have those words, Slappy?" she asked, not expecting an answer. "I don't really get why a dummy would carry those words around. It's not as if anyone could be one with someone."
"That's where you're wrong, Roxanne." Roxanne's eyes widened as Slappy talked by himself, addressing her directly.
"You – you did talk!" Roxanne whispered.
Slappy chuckled. "Of course I talked. It seemed to be the best time to have a little fun with your parents."
"Fun?" Roxanne exclaimed, still scared and in shock. "You got me in trouble on purpose!"
"Of course I did." Slappy said casually. "Did you think it was the first time I'd ever gotten someone in trouble? But that is unimportant. What is important now is that you just pledged to be my slave. You read the words to bring me to life. You and I are one now, just as it says."
Roxanne couldn't do anything but stare at him, hoping this was a nightmare.
There! A new chapter already! Now just do a little thing for me in return, please? Review!