Day 3

The mid-afternoon sun was low in the sky and Togusa was sitting in the living room, reading the paper and watching the local news. He watched the aftermath of the LOCUS SOLUS mission and the downfall of the company. He was just glad it was all over.

Out of nowhere, he felt a small hang tug on his pant leg. He shifted his newspaper a bit too quickly and had almost jumped at the feeling but when he saw that it was his daughter, he relaxed.

"Hey, Sweetheart." He sighed in almost relief, "Are you doing okay?"

She nodded, "Marion and I want to play in here."

"Alright, just play quietly so I can watch the news."

"Okay!" She carried Marion to the center of the floor and told the doll, "You sit right there, I'm going to grab the tea!" The young girl skipped out of the room.

Togusa's eyes wandered over the newspaper and towards the small doll sitting on the floor. It gazed at him with its glossy glass optics and toothless grin.

Finding it too unsettling but not wanting to give in so easily, he stood and left the paper on the seat as he headed for the kitchen in the other room. He went to the coffee maker and poured himself a cup as he simply wanted to keep himself busy. As the hot brew filled the mug, he looked over at the living room and to his surprise, the doll's head was turned so it was no longer looking at Togusa's chair, but now at the television screen. Knowing that his daughter was still absent, the mere position startled him; so much so that he over filled his cup and the hot drink spilled onto his human hand, causing him to drop the mug. It broke on impact.

"Shit!" He cursed as he seethed in pain and was upset over breaking his favorite mug.

His wife had heard the break from upstairs so she began to rush down the stairs.

"Togusa!" She called, "Is everything alright? What broke?"

"Everything's fine, Honey." He waved her off, not wanting her to worry even though he was compressing his hand with the other as a way to sooth the pain, "I accidentally dropped the coffee mug."

"Oh no, not your favorite one!" The disappointment was clear to hear.

"Yes...my 'favorite one'..." He sighed.

"I can buy you a new one tomorrow!"

"There's no need to. Really."

He hesitated but eventually looked back into the living room once again.

There he saw his daughter standing with a look of worry on her face as she had her arms wrapped around Marion's upper body.