Alan's eyes opened slowly and a dull gaze met my own.
"I… didn't mean to let you down"
I shuffled back a bit, looking up at William.
"We're going to get you out of here, Alan" he said. "Who did this to you?"
Footsteps sounded and out of the shadows of the room came a man with a double candle holder in his grasp.
"He makes a beautiful doll" the man said, his voice wavering and wooden.
I struggled to my feet. "W-who are ya!? Why would ya do this to 'im, ya bastard!? What could ya stand t' gain!?" I shouted.
"Little girls are so similar: it is not often I find a young man so beautifully worthy of becoming one of my dolls" he answered.
"You are so low in your morals that you would break him away from everything just for your own selfish desires?" William cut in. "How unusual that you should want to preserve him, yet the way you are going about it both hurts and hides his true beauty, does it not?"
"I am thinking to myself; is my work truly a selfish crime? That I cannot answer to myself"
"You doubt your own creations. The dolls in the shop are no crime, but works of art. I cannot say the same for you doing this to a living being"
The man said nothing, but held his hands out. As he did so, strings shot from his fingers, wrapping around Alan's wrists. The man shortened the string, forcing Alan up against him, controlling him. He fell like a puppet, his eyes barely open and his captor being his only support.
"Such a beautiful doll"
This man controlled him so expertly, taking it to his advantage that we could not attack whilst there was the risk of hurting Alan. The way he mocked us made me feel sick, the way he used Alan's reformed body as a marionette.
"Why can't'cha jus' let 'I'm go!? Undo whate'er ya done t' 'im!" I shouted.
The doll maker stepped back, climbing onto a table, keeping Alan standing with his strings.
"How should we get rid of you?" he mused to himself, his expression remaining blank.
Alan was staring at me, his eyes dull but lit with fear. He suddenly lurched backwards and off the floor, suspended in mid-air, and it was terrifying. Before we knew what had happened, he had been slammed down onto the table, the man holding his immobile body down.
"I did not think to myself you would cause me so much trouble"

I wanted to scream. I wanted to get rid of the silent panic attack I was suffering inside this dolls body. The man from the shop was in control now, and I was stuck immovable beneath him. Eric and William were so close; I needed them to rescue me. I wanted my body back. I wished I had returned home after work that evening. I was like the man now; a living doll. A silent gasp begged to be released as the man rested his nose against mine, looking straight into my eyes. He whispered something inaudible and a burning sensation rushed over my body, hurting me, and I heard cracking, the strings around my wrists breaking, my very body felt like it was falling apart. I felt paralysed here, screaming internally for mercy.

I stared and panicked as Alan's skin started to crack and break, his eyes closing.
"What's 'appenin' to 'im!?"
William grabbed my wrist, holding me back as the wax shattered and fell from his body. His skin looked pale. Far too pale, I thought. A choked scream tore from his lips and the doll maker leant into him. All of a sudden the man was pinned against the wall, William's scythe holding him there before he could do anything else to Alan.
"Eric!" William shouted. "Grab Alan and leave! Take him home now, and I'll finish up here, do you understand?"
I nodded; rushing forwards and grabbing hold of Alan, letting him fall weak and limp in my arms, and ported home quickly without another word.