Chapter 11
Getting To Know You
With her big brown eyes widened in a mix of shock and disbelief and her hand (which showed a thin smear of blood near her thumb) covering her mouth, Dolores stared at what had once been the most pleasant and beautiful garden in existence, which was now nothing more but a horrific wasteland coming right out of some nightmare. It had only grown worse after Sasha, Oliver, Brie and Daniel had narrowly made their escape. Everywhere Sasha and Dolores looked from behind the glass of the backdoor, they saw the black, thick liquid covering every spot, making it impossible to catch a glimpse of the grass or at least an untouched flower petal. Like a horrendous disease, the corruption had now spread through the entire garden, having effectively killed everything within its reach and turning it into the perfect domain for those twisted doll creatures to roam free. Sasha was ready to pull Dolores away as soon as one of the dolls would leap at the backdoor, but thankfully an attempted attack didn't happen. Looking at the little girl's face, the magenta-haired woman actually felt bad for a moment for showing her this, but it was the only way to fill up that gap in her memory. A thin, barely visible smear of blood could be seen on her nostrils upon closer inspection; combining this with the blood on her hand, it became obvious that Dolores had wiped away the blood from her nose shortly after Sasha had made an unwilling trip down memory lane thanks to that damn mirror. Sasha had tried her best to hide her trembling hands when she guided Dolores to the backdoor. She could actually still hardly believe what she had seen a few moments ago... and she dearly hoped she would forget all about it and leave it behind her once more after she would get out of this insane mansion.
'My dear God...' Dolores said with a soft voice, her sight not breaking away from the decayed garden for a second. 'What happened here? Look at all this... this... chaos!'
'I haven't gotten the slightest clue, Dolores.' Sasha replied. 'That's why I searched for you in the first place. Since Daniel had told me how things are created and brought to life around here, well... I thought you might had some answers.'
'I truly wish I had those, but...' The white-haired girl frowned and stared at the tips of her shoes, as if she was trying hard to dig up whatever piece of memory, no matter how brief it would be, could give her a clue to the answers she and Sasha were now both looking for. 'I'm afraid I don't have anything. I'm frightfully sorry.'
'Well, what can you remember? You know, before those doll hands grabbed you.'
Letting out a little gasp, Dolores suddenly turned her head and looked at the magenta-haired woman, rapidly blinking her eyes in surprise. 'Now that you mention it... I... I do remember something now, Sasha! Y-Yes, it's coming back to me! I... I was about to enter the dining room when I heard Charlotte calling out my name in the living room. I was convinced that she was there. My legs felt so heavy with fright, but I knew I had to face her. After all these years... it had to happen. It had been too long. Charlotte's rage is my responsibility and my responsibility alone. When I entered the living room, I expected to see her there, but she wasn't. I wanted to walk away to continue my search, but something cold and hard grabbed my ankles and wrists. It were those hands. Sasha, they were so cold, I almost thought those hands belonged to the dead. I tried to fight back, I really did, but those hands were like iron. I was pulled to the ceiling and... that's when everything went dark. Only when I was lying in your arms, I woke up.'
Damn it. It looked like this wasn't going anywhere. Sasha almost wanted to groan in frustration, but somewhere deep inside she knew that Dolores didn't lose a big chunk of her memory on purpose to make her search for the reason of why the entire garden went to hell more difficult than it already was. She had no idea whether those eerie dolls had somehow found their way into the mansion, but she felt like there was something, no, someone much bigger behind this. She had seen the hands that had restrained Dolores and she had seen the hand of the doll that had tried to pull her into the corrupted lake. Those hands that had pinned the white-haired girl against the ceiling like a helpless bug were large enough to cover almost half of her lower arms and shins, the one from the doll in the lake was just big enough to clench around her ankle. No, whoever had grabbed Dolores in the living room wasn't your average creepy, living doll; there could be only one doll who would be monstrously big enough to be behind this and the magenta-haired woman knew exactly who.
'Brie and Oliver... where are they? Are they unharmed?' Dolores asked with a clear hint of worry in her voice.
'They're here, they got out.' Sasha replied. 'But as far as 'unharmed' goes... let's just say that Brie looks like hell. Daniel is with her, though. He gave her a potion that has to slightly improve her health for a while, I just hope it will last long enough.' Truth was, the magenta-haired woman had no idea for how long the potion would last and she was pretty sure Daniel didn't exactly know either; but she did have faith in Daniel, she knew he was one smart faun, he could find a way to prolong the effect of the potion... right?
She had hoped that these words would put Dolores more at ease, but it honestly didn't seem like they actually did. The white-haired girl stared at the ruined garden with a pensive look on her face, not saying a word for a while. Then she closed her eyes and slightly frowned, as if she was... concentrating on something. But what? Another silent moment passed and Sasha could see Dolores' face expressing growing frustration. Suddenly the little girl groaned and opened her eyes. When she turned her head to look at Sasha, she noticed that her eyes had something sad.
'I'm trying to undo the ugliness that has tainted the garden so that Brie will be healthy again, but... I can't do it.'
'Huh? What do you mean by that?'
'I'm trying to imagine the garden in its original state, but every time I try to think of a detail, there is this horrible sting in my head that prevents me of restoring the damage. Just by thinking of a clean petal makes my head feel likes it's bursting. No matter how hard I try to ignore it, the pain keeps getting worse. Like something inside my head is blocking out my powers…' Dolores glanced back at the garden. 'This is all my fault, Sasha. This has to be my fault. This corruption could've only been created because of me imagining it. But I can't even remember creating this! I would never do this, not in a million years, but still… I have imagined this corruption anyway. My goodness… Brie has fallen ill because of me!'
'You know what I think, Dolores?' Sasha slightly bent her knees, lowering herself to the little girl's level. 'I don't believe that it was you who did this.'
'B-But that can't be…' Dolores replied. 'Only I have the powers to create everything in this mansion. Nobody else here does!'
'That's not what I meant.' The pieces of the puzzle had fallen perfectly into place for Sasha. Yes, from the beginning she was convinced that for some reason, Dolores wasn't behind the tragic death of the garden and Brie's deteriorating health. And the little white-haired girl's reaction was genuine, she had a hard time believing that she was faking it. Sasha had met enough people throughout the years after high school to know when somebody was talking bullcrap (unfortunately that kind of people happened to be most of her 'friends'), it was this very reaction that sealed Dolores' innocence. 'Look… like I said, I don't think it was you. At all. You said that you heard Charlotte calling out your name in the living room, yeah? I'm convinced that she had lured you in there for a reason. Those hands that were holding you were large enough to be hers, Dolores, and I have seen her with my own eyes. And I think she somehow influenced you to imagine whatever has destroyed the garden. Charlotte was controlling you, Dolores. It wasn't you, it was her.'
The white-haired girl blinked her eyes in surprise, as if these words hadn't fully sunk into her yet to rid the guilt. 'You… really think that?' she asked with a soft voice.
Sasha nodded. 'Yeah.'
'But I know she's so mad with me… why didn't she hurt me while she had the chance? This doesn't make sense to me…'
But before Sasha could answer that question, Dolores shook her head. 'Oh, what are we still doing here?' she groaned. 'Forgive me for saying this, but I feel like I'm wasting precious time. I have to go, I have to find the gear! Please, look after Brie and Oliver with Daniel.'
Without waiting for a reply, the little girl hastily turned around and was about to run off when a hand grabbed her by her arm. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that it was Sasha. The thought of yanking her arm out of her grip instantly disappeared when she saw the look on the magenta-haired woman's face; it was a look of sheer determination.
'Hey now, you listen here, missy.' Sasha spoke with the right tone in her voice to make Dolores know that she wasn't playing around. 'Do you seriously think I let you run off to find some damn gear all on your own while that giant freak show is still on the loose? Have you already forgotten what has happened to you just a few moments ago? You could've been killed in there for all that matters! And who knows what Charlotte could do to you next when she tricks you again! You can't do this alone, I'm sorry for saying this, but you just can't. It's way too dangerous for you, don't you see that? And you can say that Charlotte is your responsibility as much as you want to, I'm still not letting you go out there and get hurt by her. Look, I want to lock her back up as much as you do. I want to make it until dawn alive so that I can get out of here and go home! If you want to search for that gear that badly, I will help you. And I won't let Charlotte harm you, she has to deal with me first.'
'But… Sasha…' Dolores said.
'No buts, Dolores. It's not safe for you, end of story. I will go with you. Trust me, if I can fight off a whole group of trashy girls who think they're invincible after two drinks in the club, then I can fight off a giant doll as well.' Even though Sasha briefly chuckled (but it didn't really sound like a happy one) at the end of that sentence, she wasn't entirely sure if she should be talking that big. Slapping, kicking and pulling the hair of five of those ratchet trash bags until their extensions came out was one thing, but would she manage to do the same to Charlotte before she would crush her with her hand like a bug? Big chance, but she didn't want to think about it.
Dolores silently glanced at the ground, unsure of what she should do. Her eyebrows curved into an indecisive frown. It was clear that she would forever regret Sasha being hurt by bringing her alone on her frightening quest if things would go to hell, but somewhere deep inside her, a voice must've told her that it would be better if someone would come along with; it did bring along a good sense of safety... something she hadn't felt from the moment Charlotte had escaped, but she hadn't minded that up until now. The white-haired girl hated to admit and was even a bit ashamed of it, but... Sasha did make a good point. She looked up at magenta-haired woman and nodded.
'Very well then.' she said with a soft voice.
As they slowly walked through the east corridor of the mansion after they had searched thoroughly through Daniel's study in the hope of finding the gear but with no avail, Sasha began to understand how Dolores must've felt like during this whole time. No matter how hard she tried to shake it off, she constantly had the feeling that a huge pair of soulless doll eyes were staring at them from behind the walls instead of dozens of beady eyes. If she had to be honest, it would be so soothing if they would encounter a group of those shapeless shadows right now, just so she could get rid of that horrid feeling that was pooling in the pits of her stomach. But what if those shadows had left already? Would they all rather jump in Kane's boiler than stay here with Charlotte on the loose? Sasha wouldn't blame, honestly. She wanted to get the hell out of here as soon as possible as well, but to jump into those torturously hot flames and burn to death in order to get away from the madness here? No, absolutely no freaking that was going to happen. She wanted to get out of this mansion alive, she wanted to live long enough to see the sun rise and melt the snow that blocked the front door. Then there was another important, but without a doubt haunting question: would Charlotte also still be alive by the time dawn would arrive?
Paranoia wasn't the only thing Sasha was feeling right now. The second emotion would be frustration, another thing Dolores must've been feeling while searching for that gear. While they searched through Daniel's study, she had expected to lay her eyes upon the gear each time she removed a book from the bookshelf or shoved a bottle aside in the potion cabinet, she had even lifted the seat of the leather armchair and rummaged through the burned wood in the now cold fireplace (the white, chipped wood immediately fell apart as soon as she touched them and allowed a few tiny cinders to escape, all of which narrowly missed the skin on her ash-stained hand), but she didn't find anything. The magenta-haired woman had hoped that Dolores would at least find it, but when she asked her how the search was coming along, the look on her face already said it all. Sasha miraculously managed to hold down a loud groan of frustration, but she could feel a headache coming up.
Where else could they look? For as far as she knew, this mansion was huge, so there would be plenty of spots to investigate. Sasha assumed that Dolores had been looking through a big part of the mansion, but if she was unable to find the gear despite this, the possibilities of where to look next were bound to grow smaller and smaller. The magenta-haired woman couldn't think of a place of where that damn gear could be, but the thought of the possibility that perhaps that thing could've been in the garden all along before it was ruined by the black ooze and the doll creatures made her slightly bite her lower lip in mild anxiety. If they couldn't find the gear anywhere inside the mansion, chances were that they were forced to go outside and had to dig through that wasteland. But would they make it out alive? That thought made her skin turn cold.
Suddenly Sasha got the feeling that another pair of eyes were locked onto her. From the corner of her left eye, this assumption was proven right. Dolores was staring at her long hair locks with a clear hint of wonder on her face, as if she was staring at something that was out of this world, but looked absolutely intriguing nonetheless. But when the little girl noticed that she had been caught, she quickly looked away, her cheeks slowly coloring red with shame. Despite everything that had happened, seeing her expression made Sasha chuckle.
'Is my hair really that interesting?' she asked.
'Uh, um... Forgive me for staring at your hair, that so quite rude of me.' Dolores replied, glancing at the floor. 'It's just that... I was curious about it. I have never seen a hair color like that in my whole life, it's so strange, but so... fascinating. How exactly did that happen? Were you born with it?'
Sasha smiled in amusement and shook her head. 'No.' she said. 'I dyed my hair to make it look like this.'
The little white-haired girl slightly tilted her head. 'You... dyed it? Why?'
'Because I like this color. It makes me stand out more and it makes me feel beautiful.'
'And will you have that color forever now?'
'Not exactly, no. My real hair color will come back again after some time, but since I want to keep this color, I will simply just reapply more hair dye and all will be good again.'
'Ah, I see... How curious.' Dolores didn't speak another word until they reached the end of the corridor, leading them back to the main hall, where they stood still. Just before Sasha wanted to ask her about where they should look next, the little girl looked back at her. 'You know, Sasha...' she said. 'Ever since you have arrived in my home, I couldn't help but wonder the whole time about how the world looks like now after such a long time. The last time I have been in the outside world feels like nothing else but a distant memory to me, like a forgettable dream. I didn't know anything about the world as it is today, I always felt like it had stayed the same, I honestly never had a real interest in it until you came here. Your hair, the clothes you were wearing... they're all something that I have never seen before. Time must have changed so much and you are the living proof of it. Now let me please ask you, Sasha... how does the world look like now?'
From the moment Sasha had set foot in the mansion, she had thought that it looked like this whole place had been frozen in time. In all the rooms and areas she had visited, from the bedrooms to the living room, she hadn't spotted one item that came close to the modern technology we have all grown accustomed to these days. Yes, the only things that came close to being 'modern' was Kane's boiler and the gramophone in the living room, but even those objects looked like they could be more than a hundred years old. Could be? No, it had to be. Everything around here seemed like they were stemming from the Victorian era, judging from the furniture, the clothing everyone here was wearing and the architecture of the mansion itself. The magenta-haired woman figured that it was time to teach Dolores about the wonders of the 21st century.
'Well, um, let's see...' she said, not entirely sure about where to begin. 'In these days, many people like to visit a place called a shopping mall. It's a place where you can find countless shops, you can buy clothes, make-up, shoes, you know, almost everything you want. No matter what you're looking for, you can almost find it in a shopping mall. We have cars that work on electricity and play music, which you can now select by simply pressing on a screen. Oh, and then there are coffee shops, which are really nice places to hang around with your friends or all by yourself. They sell all kinds of coffee there, and sometimes you can sit there and read a book while you drink your coffee. There is also this really good Italian restaurant in the city centre that I like to visit, they sell this food that is called pizza...'
'Pizza?' Dolores wrinkled her nose in minor disgust. 'That sounds like the name of a scary disease to me.'
This unintentionally remark made Sasha laugh out loud. In her mind, she could already picture it; a middle-aged doctor grimly staring through the window of his office, informing the nervous patient that he has been diagnosed with a devastating case of stage five pizza and that the poor sap only had three weeks to live. This had been the loudest Sasha had laughed ever since she was forced to spend the night in the mansion... and probably even in the time before that. The magenta-haired woman shook her head. 'No, it's not some disease, Dolores.' she said. 'It's a super delicious dish with cheese, tomato and whatever you choose. I think you would really like it if you would ever eat it, trust me.'
'I... Maybe, I guess.'
'Say, how about I show you some pictures on my cell phone? They can show you more about the world where I live in. Would you like that?'
With an enthusiastic smile on her face, the little white-haired girl nodded. 'Of course! Yes, please!'
It looked like Sasha's attempt to sound as interesting as possible had succeeded perfectly. Sasha wasn't carrying her cell phone with her and she remembered having it with her when Charlotte had attacked her, so she assumed that it was still in the pocket of her trousers upstairs... at least, she hoped so. They walked up the stairs together, heading towards the bedroom where the magenta-haired girl had brought to when she was unconscious. The magenta-haired woman never thought it would ever come to this during her forced stay, but she actually wanted to make this mysterious little girl even more excited about the modern-day world and take her away from the troubles they were all enduring now, even if it would last for a short while. When she opened the door of the bedroom, Sasha looked to her right, immediately spotting the chair in the far right corner of the room, next to the wardrobe. Her clothes were still there, thank goodness. She and Dolores walked towards the chair, where the magenta-haired woman picked up her pair of trousers and put her hand inside each pocket, hoping that her cell phone was in one of them; when she dug her hand in the left pocket, her fingers touched something hard and square-shaped. Yes! Sasha triumphantly pulled out her cell phone, but the joy was immediately dimmed when she looked at the phone's screen. She groaned in annoyance; a hideous crack had split the screen horizontally in two. That had to be the result of Charlotte's attack, no doubt about it. Sasha pressed a button on one of the sides, lighting up the cracked screen. There was only ten percent of energy left (and of course there was no signal to be found), but at least it gave her enough time to show Dolores some pictures. They sat down on the edge of the bed and Sasha's noticed the excited twinkle in the corner of the little girl's right eye.
'What a peculiar device...' Dolores said with a soft voice. 'Is this what you call a... cell phone, like you said earlier? What do you do with that?'
'Well, you can make phone calls, take pictures with it, send your friends messages... you can do a whole lot with it nowadays!'
Dolores looked at Sasha with wide eyes filled to the brink with amazement while her smile only grew wider and wider. 'So it's an actual telephone, a photographer and a mailman all in one little box? That is absolutely wonderful! How is this even possible? Not even I could've possibly imagined that!'
'You can thank the modern technology for that. Now, let me show you some pictures. I think you might like them a lot!'
Sasha pressed on the button of the app that contained all the pictures on her phone. The first kind of photos she saw were all the selfies she had ever taken, depicting her dressed in various, expensive outfits, standing in front of either the mirror of her bedroom, a bathroom of hers or that of a friend, or a dressing room in one of the many fashion stores in the mall. Now that she was looking through them, she noticed that there were more pictures of her all by herself than with friends. There were selfies of her when at one point she had dyed her hair in a gentle shade of brown and even a few of when she had her natural dark brown hair; those pictures must've been taken a couple of months before she had dyed her hair. Sasha heard Dolores softly chuckle; it was most likely that she was amused by seeing her visitor with different hair colors. After sweeping down the screen a few times, Sasha spotted some photos that were perfect to show to the little girl.
'This here is the beach.' she said, selecting the photo and showing it to Dolores. 'It's absolutely great to visit when it's hot. You can swim in the sea, relax on a towel to get a good tan and... um... when you're with friends, you can play a round of volleyball with them!' (Not that Sasha ever did that with her friends, but she thought it would be nice to add that little bit of information) The screen showed the image of a sunlit beach of a city ten kilometers away that Sasha had visited with her lousy ex in the summer, still unaware of the unexpected heartbreak that would follow in the winter and ignorant about all the girls he had been texting. When they exited a restaurant after enjoying a pleasant dinner (Sasha insisted that it was Tyler's turn to pay, which almost lead to a full-blown argument), she noticed how gorgeous the nearby beach looked with the sinking sun at the horizon; the perfect photo to upload on her social media accounts, she thought. And apparently Dolores thought the same as well. Silent, but her eyes expressing nothing more but amazement, she stared at the bright orange sun that had halfway disappearing behind the sea and the ice cream stand on the beach.
'It looks wonderful!' she exclaimed. 'Please do tell me that you have more! I want to see everything!'
'I do have more. Here, take a look.' Sasha replied with a smile. The next picture to be shown was more simplistic, but it would give Dolores another insight of the modern-day world. It was a plate of pink, green, yellow and brown macarons and a white, carton cup of fresh coffee that she ordered at a coffee shop the day after she had finally busted her ex cheating on her. (And she knew that she freaking deserved that coffee and those macarons at that moment, damn it)
'What are those?' Dolores asked. 'They do remind me of cupcakes, but they look like they are made from the berries in the garden.' The white-haired girl giggled. 'But I think they still look really tasty, though.'
'They are called macarons. You can buy them at almost every bakery and coffee shop.'
'Macarons, huh? Hmm... Do you have the recipe to make them? Maybe one day I could ask Becky to make them!' The smile she had on her face this whole time slowly formed into a flat line. 'That is... if... everyone will live long enough to see another day.'
'And they will, Dolores.' Sasha couldn't believe it, but it actually made her sad to see this little girl, who she couldn't give less than a damn about when they met in the dining room for the first time, be so saddened after being so excited about the changes of the outside world time had brought with it. But why? She cared more about getting out of here than anything else, but that thought seemed to take a backseat at that moment. The magenta-haired woman put her hand on the white-haired girl's back and gently rubbed it, trying to boost that bit of hope. 'We will find that gear, because it can't be anywhere else but in this mansion. And once we find it, we will grab Charlotte by that nasty, dry, stinking doll hair of hers and shove her back into that prison where she belongs. Together. What do you say?'
Dolores looked up and smiled at her, but even though it was a small and not very convincing one, but it was a smile nonetheless. 'Thank you, Sasha. I appreciate your concern. And now that you have mentioned the gear... there is another room that I haven't searched through yet, and it happens to be my favorite room in this whole mansion. And I would absolutely love to show it to you. Come, please follow me!' The little girl hopped off the bed, grabbed Sasha by the hand and pulled her up. She complied without saying a word. Still holding her hand, Dolores opened the door, turned right and leaded her to the end of the corridor. Sasha glanced at the girl's face and saw that the sadness had made place for growing enthusiasm, which made her glad for some reason. However, there was one question that was really nagging her right now.
'Hey, Dolores... You've said a couple of times about how long you've been in this mansion. But for how long, exactly?'
'Um... hold on, let me think.' Dolores murmured thoughtfully. 'I believe I was... um... nine years old when I arrived here, that was 121 years ago. Yes, I was nine back then. That has to be it, I remember it clearly.'
The magenta-haired woman's jaw dropped in a mix of awe and disbelief. 121 years. Did she just freaking hear that right? 121 years? She could hardly believe what this little girl just said now, those words came so nonchalantly out of her mouth, as if it was like she only came to live here just a couple of weeks ago. And how the hell was it possible for her to retain the looks of a child despite living more than a freaking century?! That had to be the most mindboggling question here. It had to be the magic, there was no other explanation for this. Nobody could possibly look like she could still be in elementary school while being more than a century old, not with all the ridiculously expensive cosmetic surgery in the whole wild world. Either it was the magic, or Sasha had been talking to a ghost this whole night, however, this theory was quickly abandoned in the magenta-haired woman's mind since she had been able to physically touch her. But as astonishing and surreal as this revelation was... it did make sense, strangely. It explained the Victorian interior that decorated this mansion, the fashion everybody was wearing and the lack of modern technology. Not only that, though; it also explained why she couldn't leave, if it was indeed the magic that kept her alive. One step outside this mansion would result into an instant death for Dolores. As soon as her shoe would touch the snow, her real age would catch up with her. Maybe for one second, you could see her as an adult woman; taller, slender, beautiful and maybe even with longer hair. But this phase would immediately disappear as she would rapidly turn into a shriveled, wrinkled, terrifying shell of a human being, with strands of thin hair sticking against her bald head and teeth falling out of her mouth like little white pebbles. In the end, all that would remain of Dolores were a pile of ashes in the cold snow... and this eerie thought made a freezing chill run up Sasha's spine. 121 years did nothing to change Dolores' youthful appearance... but it did however affect her hair color.
She somehow managed to find her voice back. 'Whoa whoa whoa... So, Dolores, let me get this straight for a second. If you were nine back in the day and you've lived here for 121 years... That makes you... 130 years old!'
The white-haired girl nodded and chuckled. 'You are correct about that! I have turned 130 years old in October, you should've seen the cake Becky had baked for me. You wouldn't believe how many candles I had to blow out.'
Both of them shared a brief laugh before they stopped at a door on their left at the far end of the corridor. With a broad smile on her face, Dolores opened the door and elegantly gestured to the magenta-haired woman to get inside. With only a tiny, easily forgettable bit in the pit of her stomach. She stepped inside the dark room, which was instantly lit up when Dolores clapped her hands, turning on the light in an instant.
Even though she was going to turn 25 years old next month, Sasha couldn't help but feel immediately amazed by what she saw around her. This room could only exist in the dreams of any child. This room with ivory white wallpaper decorating the walls and neatly cleaned floor contained the biggest collection of toys of all times. Everywhere Sasha looked, there were toys. There were dolls dressed in adorable dresses with ruffles and laces, their hair twisted into elegant curls. Plush animals, in all kinds and sizes, from teddy bears with ribbons tied around their necks, bunnies with buttons for eyes and penguins made of the softest materials, to life-sized elephants and giraffes that were so large that they almost touched the ceiling. Much to Sasha's growing amazement, she spotted a large slide, a carousel painted with warm shades of green, red, yellow, blue and a hint of gold with white horses and even a stand that had huge, spiral-shaped lollipops for 'sale'. Colorful pillows were strewn all over the floor, along with the many toys and plush animals. Various toy chests were bulging with even more toys. A gramophone could be seen in the corner on her right. The only real piece of furniture that could be found in this playroom was a large queen bed with light pink sheets, with more plush animals on top.
'Oh my God, Dolores... this is awesome!' Sasha exclaimed with a soft voice. 'Look at all this, this is crazy!'
'It's marvelous, isn't it?' Dolores smiled and nodded, her face glowing with pride. 'The best thing about being a child for 121 years is that I can forever play with toys!'
'And did you ever get bored during those years?'
'No, never.' Dolores picked up a stuffed bunny made of light pink material, smiled at it and shook her head. 'I always have had my friends around me. Daniel, Becky, Brie, Kane, Charlotte too, once in the past... they are the best friends I could ever imagine. In fact, they are much more than my friends. They are my family. They are everything to me, they are the only ones I have in my life. They're all I have.'
'And what about your parents? You do have them, right?'
The smile once again was replaced with an emotionless line; Sasha mentally slapped herself on the forehead for asking such a stupid question. Of course her parents weren't around after such a long time, Sasha, you freaking moron, she thought to herself. It was quiet in the playroom, but just for a very brief moment. Dolores looked up, the smile thankfully returning back on her face. 'I prefer to leave that one memory in the past, if you don't mind.' she said. 'But please, allow me to introduce you to some music of my time that might entertain you! I hope you will enjoy listening to it!' The little girl hastily headed to the gramophone, where she carefully put the needle on the disc. A faint rustling noise could be briefly heard, before the silence in the playroom was broken by the upbeat tune of a piano. It reminded Sasha of the soundtrack of one of those classic, black-and-white vaudeville movies that only hipsters and old people with a longing for some nostalgia would watch these days, but she had to admit, the tune was without a doubt catchy. And before she knew it, she was slightly nodding her head along with the music. Her amusement only grew when she saw Dolores twirling around and occasionally moving her hips; it became quite clear that this was her favorite music to dance on. Then, with a big grin on her face, the little girl grabbed the magenta-haired woman's hand and playfully swung their arms from left to right, perfectly matching the music. Sasha didn't struggle back, that thought didn't even cross her mind for a second. Instead, a sincere laugh escaped from her mouth. That was the signal for Dolores to let her smile grow even wider and laugh along with the magenta-haired woman.
'Come, I can't wait to show you all of my toys!' she cheerfully exclaimed.
The following moments, which almost felt like hours to her, made Sasha feel like she had gone back more than ten years back in time. She forgot that she was in fact a young woman who had absolutely no interest in childish stuff, she hadn't felt like this in years, and she absolutely loved it. All of this had to be without a doubt the most fun she had in months, hell, this was way more fun than all the dates she had with her exes and the visits at the club where she would drink the night away and get into drunken brawls. It was like she had changed into an entirely different person and she didn't care at all. She let go of absolutely everything negative, even forgetting about the will to get out of here. The first thing Dolores showed her was the big slide, that was almost just as big as the stuffed elephants and giraffes. The little girl was the first one to go down; Sasha let out a long, excited 'Woohooooo!' until she reached the bottom. Before they hopped onto the carousel, Dolores gave her a lollipop from the stand, at first jokingly charging her for a small amount of money. Sasha was surprised that the lollipop wasn't made of plastic like she had assumed at first; it tasted like oranges, with a strong taste of sugar. When they settled down on their horses (Dolores in the front, Sasha right behind her), it took another clap in Dolores' hand to start the attraction. As soon as it started, they pretended that they were in a chase, with Sasha repeatedly shouting at the little girl to 'get back here', much to Dolores' amusement. They made funny faces and spoke with cartoonish voices when they played with the dolls and plush animals, which occasionally made them laugh even more. It was so silly, but oh so hilarious, Sasha found herself unable to stop laughing at some moments. A tea set with light blue swirls painted on the cups, teapot, sugar bowl and plates was retrieved from one of the many toy chest and they pretended the dolls and stuffed animals to have a tea party. And whilst the upbeat piano could still be heard playing, they jumped up and down the bed (Sasha almost fell a couple of times due to accidently standing on top of a stuffed animal) until they ran out of breath, just for the fun of it. They fell on their backs, letting the mattress bounce once more time before they both let out another hearty laugh. At the same time, the music had stopped playing, making place for that same rustling noise to fill up the playroom.
Their stomachs were slightly aching and tears of laughter were running down their faces, but Sasha swore to God that she had never had this much fun in her life before. She had never expected to actually spend a really fun time with a 130-year old child when she left her apartment this night, not in a million years. And right now... it felt like she had made a new friend.
Dolores sat up and wiped a tear away with the palm of her hand. 'Thank you so much for playing with me, Sasha.' she said. 'I can't remember the last time I had so much fun. Hold on, I... I want to give you a little present. A token of my appreciation. I think it's lying somewhere around here.' The little girl crawled towards the pillow of the bed and lifted it up, revealing a ticket on the mattress. She grabbed the ticket and handed it over to Sasha. 'Aiden and Simon proudly present: 'The Tale Of The Little Princess'' was printed on the paper in thick, elegant letters.
'It's a ticket for a play my friends Aiden and Simon have directed.' Dolores explained. 'You can use it if you want to. Trust me, those two have such a big talent for writing plays, I think you would really like it. Don't worry about me, I can easily get another ticket.'
Aiden and Simon... so it looked like this mansion had even more residents. 'Thank you, Dolores.' Sasha said, actually meaning it. She neatly folded the piece of paper and put it in the pocket of her pants.
'But Sasha, if you don't mind... there is actually a question I really wish to ask you.'
