Chapter Text
тнє αυтнσя ∂σєѕ ησт кησω ωנαт тнєуяє ∂σιηg. ℓєтѕ gєт going.
Part 1: The Weight of Secrets
Laurie didn’t like secrets.
Secrets felt heavy. They sat in your chest and made your heart ache. And when you’re carrying three of them—three girlfriends, one dangerous man, and a truth you’re terrified to say out loud—it started to get hard to breathe.
In the quiet warmth of Rochelle’s bedroom, with the fairy lights twinkling like stars and Taylor’s soft humming filling the space, Laurie felt something rare: safe.
Rochelle’s arm was draped around her waist, her curls brushing Laurie’s cheek as she whispered, “You okay, baby?”
Laurie nodded. “Yeah. Just... thinking.”
Taylor rolled over from where she lay on Kai’s chest. “Thinking is dangerous for you,” she teased lightly, then paused. “Wait—seriously though. You look anxious.”
Kai looked up from the text he was sneakily sending. “Is it him again?” she asked gently, already putting her phone down. “The guy?”
Laurie hesitated, her lips twitching slightly as Rochelle pressed a kiss to her shoulder. It had been a few days since she told them about the man. The notes in her locker. The figure outside her window. The near-miss at the gas station.
She hated seeing the fear in their eyes more than she hated the stalker himself.
“I think he’s getting bolder,” Laurie said, finally. “Like... like he knows I told you. And now he wants to prove something.”
Taylor sat up, her usual playful energy gone. “Prove what?”
“I don’t know,” Laurie said quietly. “That he can still get to me.”
There was a silence. Heavy. Kai broke it.
“We need to tell someone,” she said. “Coach Dan. Maybe even my dad—”
Laurie flinched. Kai stopped talking.
Rochelle sat up slowly. “No. Not James. You know what he’ll do.”
Kai's jaw tightened. “He’ll force us apart.”
“And make me quit the team,” Laurie whispered. “He said it before.”
Taylor let out a slow breath. “So what do we do? Just... wait?”
“No,” Rochelle said firmly. “We protect each other. Always. Like we promised.”
Laurie leaned into Rochelle’s touch as their lips met briefly—just a soft, gentle kiss that said everything. Taylor crawled over, brushing her fingers over Laurie’s arm before pressing a kiss to her temple. And Kai came in last, curling her arms around Laurie’s waist from behind and nuzzling into her neck.
“We got you,” she murmured. “No matter what.”
---
The next week was quiet. Too quiet.
No notes. No shadows. No messages.
And that’s why Rochelle hated it.
They were having another sleepover—this time at Taylor’s place. Ira was at a friend’s house. It was just the four of them, cuddled on the couch in a big tangle of blankets and limbs.
“I feel weird,” Taylor admitted. “Like… like it’s the calm before the storm.”
Kai kissed the side of her head. “Don’t jinx it.”
Rochelle’s phone buzzed. She looked down. Blocked number. She didn’t answer.
Then Laurie’s phone buzzed. She picked it up—and went pale.
“What is it?” Rochelle asked quickly.
Laurie showed them the screen.
> I see you. You look pretty in red.
Tonight’s the night, my sweet. You’ll be mine.
Laurie was wearing red.
They all froze.
Rochelle jumped up. “Close the blinds. Now.”
Taylor ran to the door, locking it. Kai peeked through the blinds. “Nothing. I don’t see anyone—”
A crash.
The back door.
A man.
Rochelle’s heart stopped.
“Run!” she shouted.
But Laurie screamed—and he was already there.
---
They fought.
Rochelle threw a lamp. Taylor clawed at his face. Kai tackled him. But he had something—pepper spray maybe—and it disoriented them just long enough.
Just long enough to grab Laurie and vanish into the night.
---
They found her an hour later in the woods near the neighborhood.
She was shaken, bruised, crying—but alive. The man was gone.
Police were called. Parents were lied to. And the girls clung to each other like they might break apart.
That night, the four of them curled into bed. Laurie was in the middle, trembling as Kai kissed her forehead. Taylor rubbed her back. Rochelle whispered soothing words.
“You’re safe now,” Rochelle murmured. “He’s gone.”
But in the shadows outside, someone else watched.
And smiled.
Maybe it wasn't over...
is it over?
or is it a trick?
what if its all just a dream..
what if w҈h҈a҈t҈s҈ b҈e҈i҈n҈g҈ h҈i҈d҈d҈e҈n҈ i҈s҈ a҈l҈l҈ j҈i҈s҈t҈ t҈o҈ e҈s҈c҈a҈p҈e҈..
never trust or know what to be..
what Is coming...
---
To Be Continued in Part 2…!
Chapter 2: The sleepover that almost wasnt
Summary:
Ha IDK my dear balai wanted more soon she gets it. DONT EVER MAKE ME STRUGLE LIKE GHIS AGAIN. but I'll post another chapter after this and it's going to be really shocking
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
*"If we act like we’re okay, does that make it true?”*
Laurie blinked up at the string lights twinkling above her in Rochelle’s bedroom—each bulb tinted soft pink, like candy hearts.
It should’ve been cute. Romantic, even. But her hands were still shaking.
Across the room, Kai and Taylor were arguing over who got the “emotional support stuffed animal,” which was apparently a six-foot plush avocado named Harold.
“He’s mine,” Kai growled, snatching it with all the feral energy of a sleep-deprived badger.
“You slept with him last time!” Taylor whined, lunging. “I’m literally traumatized too!”
Rochelle raised an eyebrow from where she was braiding Laurie’s hair. “Girls, Harold is polyamorous. Share the avocado.”
Laurie laughed before she could stop herself. It startled her. The sound felt too loud in her own ears.
Rochelle smiled behind her. “There she is.”
Kai paused mid-grapple, looking over. “You okay, babe?”
Laurie froze. Lie. “Yeah.”
Kai tilted her head. “Like...actually okay? Or like...‘Win or Lose team spirit’ okay?”
“Don’t start with the metaphors,” Taylor groaned, already pulling Harold into her lap like a protective mother hen. “She’s probably exhausted from nearly getting kidnapped three days ago, Kai.”
Laurie tensed. The word hit hard, even in Taylor’s half-joking tone.
Rochelle, sharp as ever, changed the subject.
“Hey, Laurie,” she said softly, her fingers weaving gently. “You still like that strawberry-mint hair oil?”
Laurie nodded. “Yeah.”
Rochelle leaned forward, brushing a kiss to her shoulder. “Then let me take care of you. Just for tonight. No thinking. No fear. Just us.”
---
They built a blanket fort. Well—Rochelle and Taylor built a blanket fort. Kai mostly critiqued the architecture.
“This is slanted.”
“It’s called bohemian asymmetry,” Taylor huffed, stacking more pillows. “God, your dad would hate this.”
Kai actually laughed at that. “Yeah. He’d probably file a zoning complaint.”
Laurie curled up beside Rochelle, pulling a hoodie over her legs. Her body felt like glass held together with hope. The girls had been good to her. Really good. She wasn’t used to this much love in one room.
Still... she hadn’t told them everything.
Not about the figure she saw in the mirror two nights ago.
Not about the phone call with no one on the other end.
Not about the way she felt like a deer already inside the hunter’s mouth.
---
Later that night, after the others had dozed off in a dogpile of limbs and snack wrappers, Laurie sat awake under the soft hum of Rochelle’s lights.
She reached for her phone.
Another text.
> Unknown Number
“They won’t always be there to protect you, sweetheart. Sweethearts break.”
Laurie didn’t scream. Didn’t cry. She just turned off her phone and crawled back under Harold the Avocado.
Rochelle stirred beside her, arms reaching instinctively. “Laur?”
“I’m fine,” Laurie whispered.
“You’re a terrible liar.”
A pause.
Then Rochelle kissed her forehead.
“Go to sleep, porcelaine. We’re not letting anyone touch you again.”
---
🩷 TO BE CONTINUED...
(DW the next chapter is literally coming put after. good thing I already had these writen)
Notes:
WHAT DID YOU THINK??
HAVE AN AMAZING DAY
Chapter 3: Mirrors don't blink. or do they?
Summary:
y'all already know. this ones a little more different than the others
Chapter Text
“I don’t think he ever wanted to take me. I think he wanted me to run.”
---
The sun didn’t rise.
Not really. Just turned the sky into a pale bruise, blue and swollen, as if the world itself had taken a hit.
Taylor stretched awake first, her face mashed against Harold the Avocado and her hair looking like static. “I had a dream that Coach Dan was in a maid costume. I need brain bleach.”
Kai, still asleep, let out a faint snrrk from somewhere under the blanket fort.
Rochelle rolled over, groggy but radiant in the way only someone who secretly liked mornings could be. “Is Laurie—”
“She’s gone.”
Taylor’s voice sliced the calm. They all sat up instantly.
Laurie’s hoodie was still bunched on the edge of the fort. Her phone was gone. The front door was cracked open just enough to make Rochelle’s stomach twist.
---
They found her in the backyard.
Barefoot in the dew-soaked grass, staring up at the tree line. Her arms were wrapped tight around herself like she was trying to keep her ribs in place.
“Laurie,” Kai called gently. “Babe.”
Laurie didn’t turn around. “There was a mirror in my dream. It blinked.”
Taylor frowned. “Like, weird creepy metaphor blinked, or like funhouse horror-movie blinked?”
Laurie didn’t answer.
Rochelle was already moving toward her. “What happened?”
“I think...” Laurie swallowed. “I think he’s been inside before. I think he knows where I sleep.”
A beat.
Kai’s fists clenched. “Say that again.”
“I—I think I saw him last night. I don’t know. I woke up and someone was in the backyard. Just... watching. Through the curtain. And then there was that text, and then I couldn’t sleep and I didn’t want to wake you.”
Rochelle turned to Taylor, eyes wide. “Check the cameras.”
“Wait—how do you have cameras?”
“Do you know how expensive this house is?” Rochelle muttered. “You think my parents don’t believe in Ring doorbells?”
---
What they saw on the footage was... nothing.
No figure. No movement. Just static.
And at one point, exactly 3:13 AM, the feed cut out for twenty-seven seconds.
---
A knock.
Everyone flinched.
Kai crossed the room to the door, pulling it open without thinking. The second she did, her face changed.
“Dad.”
James stood tall in the doorway, suit pressed, eyes cold. He didn’t smile.
“We need to talk.”
---
🧊 Scene Break: The Confrontation
James didn’t waste time.
“I know about the relationship.”
Taylor groaned. “Oh boy. Here comes the heteronormative meltdown.”
“Not from me,” James said flatly. “But from the people I work for? It’s already started.”
Kai stepped forward. “What does that mean?”
“It means someone’s using your connection to Laurie against you.” James met Laurie’s eyes, and for a second, there was... not kindness, but something like guilt. “She’s the leverage. You’re the pawn.”
Laurie’s breath hitched.
“No,” Kai said, voice rising. “We’re not—she’s not—!”
James shook his head. “There are men watching your team. Your friends. This relationship has made her a target. If you don’t walk away... they won’t stop.”
Taylor grabbed Laurie’s hand, protectively. “So what—you want them to break up? For safety? That’s your genius plan?”
“I want them to survive.”
“You’re a coward,” Rochelle spat. “You want Kai to live a lie so you can keep your hands clean.”
---
James stared at them for a long moment. Then dropped something on the coffee table.
A flash drive.
“If you’re smart, you’ll watch this. And then you’ll run.”
---
🧨 Scene Break: The Mistake
Later that night, when the girls finally watched what was on the flash drive, they saw surveillance footage.
One year ago.
Of Laurie.
In the same parking lot where she was first stalked.
But the man following her?
He wasn’t the only one.
There were four others. Men with blurred faces. Moving in sync. Watching her. Taking notes.
And one clip.
One voice.
Faint, from the audio.
> “Don’t hurt her. Just make sure she learns to need us.”
Laurie’s hand flew to her mouth.
Rochelle pulled her into a hug before she even realized she was crying.
“Need us?” Taylor whispered. “What the hell does that mean?”
Laurie didn’t answer. She just stood.
“I need to go back to the field.”
“What?” Kai stood too. “Why?”
Laurie’s voice was calm. Hollow.
“Because I think that’s where he’s going to be tonight. And I’m tired of waiting.”
---
💔 TO BE CONTINUED...
Chapter 4: You should have closed the door!!
Summary:
I hate myself for this. FUCK. its...wow..I regret this slightky
Chapter Text
> some doors should never be opened... but some were never closed in the first place.
---
Laurie should have known better.
She did know better.
But fear makes people irrational, and pain makes them bold.
The Win or Lose field was empty. Golden sun lit every blade of grass like it was sacred, but the silence was wrong. Too quiet. Too... waiting.
Laurie didn’t walk—she drifted. Like she was sleepwalking.
She wore her hoodie like armor. Big, faded blue. The one Taylor had lent her weeks ago when she’d forgotten hers in the rain. Her phone buzzed nonstop in her pocket, a panicked vibration that matched the trembling of her hands.
She didn’t look.
> [Kai 💢]: where r u?? this isn’t funny
[Rochelle 🖤]: if this is another dreamwalk thing, tell us!! u said you were okay last night.
[Taylor 🧸]: laurie. don’t do this. not alone.
Her thumb hovered over the messages.
She loved them.
She loved them so much, it hurt.
And that was exactly why she needed to end this. Now.
---
Thirty minutes earlier, the girls had been asleep in Kai’s room. Nestled in a cocoon of blankets, soft breathing, and whispered promises to never let anyone hurt Laurie again.
But Laurie hadn’t slept. Not really.
She hadn’t slept in days.
Because the voice in the hallway—the one no one else heard—wasn’t just in her head. Because the knocks on her window at night weren’t just nightmares. Because she’d seen the man again yesterday.
Not one man.
Two.
And this time, she’d recognized one of them.
---
Now, on the field, the wind picked up, carrying a shiver down her spine. She stopped at the pitcher’s mound. Closed her eyes.
And waited.
---
Back at Kai’s house, Rochelle was the first to notice.
She woke with a jolt. The silence was too deep. Too empty.
She sat up. “Laurie?”
Taylor stirred. “Huh...?”
The bed was cold. Her spot was empty.
Kai checked her phone.
“Tracker says she’s on the field.”
Taylor’s face drained. “Alone?”
“She wouldn’t—”
“She would.”
---
The girls moved fast. Out the door. Down the street. Bikes and hoodies and curses under breath. Hearts hammering.
But someone else had moved faster.
---
Laurie opened her eyes.
Five men.
She’d seen three before. The original stalker. The one with the limp. The one who called her “angel girl” in letters made of magazine cutouts.
Two others were new.
“You finally came alone,” one grinned.
“I’m not alone,” she said quietly. “I never was.”
But her phone was gone. Her friends weren’t here yet.
They moved in slowly.
One grabbed her arm. She didn’t scream. She’d done that before. It hadn’t helped.
---
Back at the school’s edge, Kai’s bike hit the fence with a crash. Rochelle vaulted it. Taylor wasn’t far behind.
They stopped.
Time froze.
Laurie was on her knees.
Blood on her lip. Shirt torn.
The five men stood in a loose circle, arguing with each other.
And in the shadows of the school bleachers—someone else.
Coach Dan.
Watching.
And James.
Laughing.
---
“What the hell—” Kai whispered.
Rochelle’s face crumbled. “They’re just watching.”
Taylor reached for her phone—no signal. Jammed.
“We need to go down there,” Rochelle said.
“We are,” Kai growled.
---
They hit the field like a storm.
Rochelle went for the man closest to Laurie, swinging a bat from the dugout.
Taylor grabbed Laurie’s wrist, yanking her back.
Kai tackled the man with the limp.
Screams. Dirt. Blood.
Coach Dan didn’t move.
James stepped forward, slow clapping.
“You girls are very... persistent,” he said.
“You knew!” Laurie screamed, tears streaming.
James smiled, and for the first time, it didn’t look kind.
“It was never about you, Laurie,” he said. “It was about control.”
Then Coach Dan added, “But you made it about you. You and your little game with my daughter.”
Silence fell.
Laurie couldn’t breathe.
---
That’s when the man with the limp stood up.
Pulled a blade from his belt.
Swung toward Kai—
And it hit Laurie.
Not clean. Not fatal. But deep.
Rochelle screamed.
Taylor collapsed beside her.
Blood soaked her hoodie. Her hands. Her shoes.
Laurie whispered, “Don’t cry. I’m okay.”
But her eyes were unfocused.
The stalkers backed away.
Dan and James were gone.
Just gone.
---
The girls tried to carry Laurie. They tried to stop the bleeding. They screamed for help.
No one came.
They were in the far field. Back field. The one that didn’t show up on the school’s main maps. No cameras. No lights.
Only silence.
Until one man stepped forward again.
The limp one.
“If you want her to live,” he said to Kai, “you’ll end it. Right now.”
Laurie choked.
He grabbed Rochelle by the wrist.
“You all break up. Or next time, I won’t miss her throat.”
The world cracked.
Kai screamed.
Taylor threw a rock.
And for a second, they were wild animals.
The man stumbled. Fell.
But the damage was done.
Laurie was unconscious.
---
And somewhere far off…
Coach Dan made a phone call.
“It’s started,” he said.
Then hung up.
---
To be continued…
as always..
Notes:
. what did you think...?
I've lost feeling for this my HEARTT
Chapter 5: Angles don't wake up screaming.
Summary:
the hospital . its not true. this . its all a lie. she's okay. right?..
Chapter Text
> If you thought it couldn’t get worse, you’re not paying attention.
---
The ambulance never came.
Laurie had stopped bleeding. Not because the wound had clotted, but because her body couldn’t give anything more. Her skin was pale, lips blue, heartbeat flickering like a dying lightbulb.
Kai held her head in her lap, rocking back and forth in the dirt, screaming for anyone—anything—to help.
Taylor wouldn’t stop crying.
Rochelle had shut down.
"Why... won’t she open her eyes?" Kai whispered, her voice cracking as her bloody fingers pushed Laurie’s hair away from her forehead.
No one had answers.
They were twelve.
Twelve.
And the world had just decided to chew them up and spit them out.
---
Hours earlier, James had met Coach Dan behind the bleachers. The men wore their smiles like masks. Friendly. Normal. The kind of smiles you give a neighbor.
"It worked," James said.
Coach Dan nodded. "She'll never trust again. Not after this."
James looked up at the moon. "We just have to keep them believing it was the stalkers."
But something changed that night. One of the stalkers—the quiet one with the gray eyes—was missing.
He never reported back.
And he had a knife in his back.
---
Three days later.
Laurie was alive.
But she wasn’t there.
She lay in a hospital bed, tubes in her arms, lips stitched, eyes closed. Monitors beeped like a metronome counting down.
The doctors said it was a coma.
Kai said it was worse.
"It’s like she’s trapped. Like... she’s screaming inside, but we can’t hear her."
Rochelle hadn’t spoken since.
Taylor kept throwing up. Anxiety attacks. Nightmares.
And Kai had started seeing things.
Shadows in corners.
Footsteps behind her.
Sometimes, in the hallway outside Laurie’s hospital room, she saw a man just standing.
Waiting.
She blinked, and he was gone.
---
On the fourth night, Rochelle found a note under her pillow.
> You should have let her die.
No one knew how it got there.
And worse?
No one believed her.
The hospital staff smiled too much.
The nurse with the name tag that said "Wally" never blinked.
And in the security footage... there was no footage.
Every camera that pointed to Laurie’s room? Static.
Every. Single. One.
---
Taylor started recording audio.
On the sixth night, she left her phone by Laurie’s bed.
She played it back the next morning.
There were whispers.
And then a voice.
Low. Male.
Not James. Not Dan.
> "She’s ours now. Say goodbye."
Then a scream. Not from Laurie. From something else.
Taylor dropped the phone. Shaking.
And that night, she made the others swear to never leave Laurie alone again.
---
It worked.
Until the seventh night.
Rochelle had gone to the bathroom.
Kai had fallen asleep.
Taylor had run downstairs for water.
When they came back...
Laurie was gone.
The bed was still warm.
The tubes were still dripping.
A single trail of blood led to the window.
It was open.
---
On the roof of the hospital, Laurie stood barefoot.
In a hospital gown.
And her eyes were open.
But they weren’t her eyes.
They were black.
No whites. No pupils. Just void.
And behind her...
Five men.
But not stalkers.
They looked like her friends.
Distorted.
Bleeding. Crying. Screaming.
Kai with a mouth sewn shut.
Taylor with no eyes.
Rochelle, arms twisted backwards.
And Laurie just whispered:
> "They should’ve never opened the door."
Then she stepped off the roof.
---
They found her the next morning.
Unharmed.
In her bed.
Fast asleep.
And smiling.
---
End of Chapter 4.
> To be continued... if you’re not too scared to.
Chapter 4 is now written and titled "Angels Don’t Wake Up Screaming". It’s connected to the previous parts, incorporates all your requested dark twists, emotional devastation, and rising tension, and stays centered on Laurie.
You can view and copy the full chapter in the document here, and I’ll continue building from this point for the next chapters.
Would you like me to immediately start Chapter 5? If so, would you like it to continue right from the hospital scene—or shift the setting/time?
CHAPTER 4: "Angels Don’t Wake Up Screaming"
> If you thought it couldn’t get worse, you’re not paying attention.
---
The ambulance never came.
Laurie had stopped bleeding. Not because the wound had clotted, but because her body couldn’t give anything more. Her skin was pale, lips blue, heartbeat flickering like a dying lightbulb.
Kai held her head in her lap, rocking back and forth in the dirt, screaming for anyone—anything—to help.
Taylor wouldn’t stop crying.
Rochelle had shut down.
"Why... won’t she open her eyes?" Kai whispered, her voice cracking as her bloody fingers pushed Laurie’s hair away from her forehead.
No one had answers.
They were twelve.
Twelve.
And the world had just decided to chew them up and spit them out.
---
Hours earlier, James had met Coach Dan behind the bleachers. The men wore their smiles like masks. Friendly. Normal. The kind of smiles you give a neighbor.
"It worked," James said.
Coach Dan nodded. "She'll never trust again. Not after this."
James looked up at the moon. "We just have to keep them believing it was the stalkers."
But something changed that night. One of the stalkers—the quiet one with the gray eyes—was missing.
He never reported back.
And he had a knife in his back.
---
Three days later.
Laurie was alive.
But she wasn’t there.
She lay in a hospital bed, tubes in her arms, lips stitched, eyes closed. Monitors beeped like a metronome counting down.
The doctors said it was a coma.
Kai said it was worse.
"It’s like she’s trapped. Like... she’s screaming inside, but we can’t hear her."
Rochelle hadn’t spoken since.
Taylor kept throwing up. Anxiety attacks. Nightmares.
And Kai had started seeing things.
Shadows in corners.
Footsteps behind her.
Sometimes, in the hallway outside Laurie’s hospital room, she saw a man just standing.
Waiting.
She blinked, and he was gone.
---
On the fourth night, Rochelle found a note under her pillow.
> You should have let her die.
No one knew how it got there.
And worse?
No one believed her.
The hospital staff smiled too much.
The nurse with the name tag that said "Wally" never blinked.
And in the security footage... there was no footage.
Every camera that pointed to Laurie’s room? Static.
Every. Single. One.
---
Taylor started recording audio.
On the sixth night, she left her phone by Laurie’s bed.
She played it back the next morning.
There were whispers.
And then a voice.
Low. Male.
Not James. Not Dan.
> "She’s ours now. Say goodbye."
Then a scream. Not from Laurie. From something else.
Taylor dropped the phone. Shaking.
And that night, she made the others swear to never leave Laurie alone again.
---
It worked.
Until the seventh night.
Rochelle had gone to the bathroom.
Kai had fallen asleep.
Taylor had run downstairs for water.
When they came back...
Laurie was gone.
The bed was still warm.
The tubes were still dripping.
A single trail of blood led to the window.
It was open.
---
On the roof of the hospital, Laurie stood barefoot.
In a hospital gown.
And her eyes were open.
But they weren’t her eyes.
They were black.
No whites. No pupils. Just void.
And behind her...
Five men.
But not stalkers.
They looked like her friends.
Distorted.
Bleeding. Crying. Screaming.
Kai with a mouth sewn shut.
Taylor with no eyes.
Rochelle, arms twisted backwards.
And Laurie just whispered:
> "They should’ve never opened the door."
Then she stepped off the roof.
---
They found her the next morning.
Unharmed.
In her bed.
Fast asleep.
And smiling.
---
End of Chapter 4.
> To be continued... if you’re not too scared to.
Chapter 4 is now written and titled "Angels Don’t Wake Up Screaming". It’s connected to the previous parts, incorporates all your requested dark twists, emotional devastation, and rising tension, and stays centered on Laurie.
You can view and copy the full chapter in the document here, and I’ll continue building from this point for the next chapters.
Would you like me to immediately start Chapter 5? If so, would you like it to continue right from the hospital scene—or shift the setting/time?
CHAPTER 4: "Angels Don’t Wake Up Screaming"
> If you thought it couldn’t get worse, you’re not paying attention.
---
The ambulance never came.
Laurie had stopped bleeding. Not because the wound had clotted, but because her body couldn’t give anything more. Her skin was pale, lips blue, heartbeat flickering like a dying lightbulb.
Kai held her head in her lap, rocking back and forth in the dirt, screaming for anyone—anything—to help.
Taylor wouldn’t stop crying.
Rochelle had shut down.
"Why... won’t she open her eyes?" Kai whispered, her voice cracking as her bloody fingers pushed Laurie’s hair away from her forehead.
No one had answers.
They were twelve.
Twelve.
And the world had just decided to chew them up and spit them out.
---
Hours earlier, James had met Coach Dan behind the bleachers. The men wore their smiles like masks. Friendly. Normal. The kind of smiles you give a neighbor.
"It worked," James said.
Coach Dan nodded. "She'll never trust again. Not after this."
James looked up at the moon. "We just have to keep them believing it was the stalkers."
But something changed that night. One of the stalkers—the quiet one with the gray eyes—was missing.
He never reported back.
And he had a knife in his back.
---
Three days later.
Laurie was alive.
But she wasn’t there.
She lay in a hospital bed, tubes in her arms, lips stitched, eyes closed. Monitors beeped like a metronome counting down.
The doctors said it was a coma.
Kai said it was worse.
"It’s like she’s trapped. Like... she’s screaming inside, but we can’t hear her."
Rochelle hadn’t spoken since.
Taylor kept throwing up. Anxiety attacks. Nightmares.
And Kai had started seeing things.
Shadows in corners.
Footsteps behind her.
Sometimes, in the hallway outside Laurie’s hospital room, she saw a man just standing.
Waiting.
She blinked, and he was gone.
---
On the fourth night, Rochelle found a note under her pillow.
> You should have let her die.
No one knew how it got there.
And worse?
No one believed her.
The hospital staff smiled too much.
The nurse with the name tag that said "Wally" never blinked.
And in the security footage... there was no footage.
Every camera that pointed to Laurie’s room? Static.
Every. Single. One.
---
Taylor started recording audio.
On the sixth night, she left her phone by Laurie’s bed.
She played it back the next morning.
There were whispers.
And then a voice.
Low. Male.
Not James. Not Dan.
> "She’s ours now. Say goodbye."
Then a scream. Not from Laurie. From something else.
Taylor dropped the phone. Shaking.
And that night, she made the others swear to never leave Laurie alone again.
---
It worked.
Until the seventh night.
Rochelle had gone to the bathroom.
Kai had fallen asleep.
Taylor had run downstairs for water.
When they came back...
Laurie was gone.
The bed was still warm.
The tubes were still dripping.
A single trail of blood led to the window.
It was open.
---
On the roof of the hospital, Laurie stood barefoot.
In a hospital gown.
And her eyes were open.
But they weren’t her eyes.
They were black.
No whites. No pupils. Just void.
And behind her...
Five men.
But not stalkers.
They looked like her friends.
Distorted.
Bleeding. Crying. Screaming.
Kai with a mouth sewn shut.
Taylor with no eyes.
Rochelle, arms twisted backwards.
And Laurie just whispered:
> "They should’ve never opened the door."
Then she stepped off the roof.
---
They found her the next morning.
Unharmed.
In her bed.
Fast asleep.
And smiling.
---
Why...
why does it never end?
why
why us??..
let it end...
end it all..
WHY HASNT THIS TORMENT ENDED??
WHY CANT THEY LEAVE HER ALONE
W̸H̸Y̸
W̸H̸Y̸E̸H̸A̸T̸ I̸S̸ T̸H̸I̸S̸?...
W̸H̸Y̸W̸H̸W̸Y̸W̸H̸W̸Y̸H̸Y̸W̸H̸Y̸W̸H̸W̸Y̸W̸H̸Y̸E̸H̸Y̸E̸H̸Y̸E̸H̸
Y̸
> To be continued... if you’re not too scared to.
Chapter 6: We were never supposed to survive this without a-
Summary:
more is revealed
Chapter Text
> What do you do when even your memories become weapons?
---
Laurie opened her eyes.
The ceiling above her was off-white, like old bones. The fluorescent light flickered just enough to feel like it was blinking back at her.
She blinked.
Her chest hurt.
Her stomach was bandaged.
Everything felt… wrong.
A slow realization trickled through her body like cold water in the spine:
She wasn’t safe.
Not even here.
---
The silence of the hospital room rang like a scream without sound. She turned her head. IV in her arm. A red stain blooming through the gauze on her stomach.
She inhaled sharply.
Something burned.
Then—
A voice. Tiny. Echoing. From the hallway.
> “They said you wouldn't wake up again. But you always do, don't you?”
She froze.
Not Kai.
Not Rochelle.
Not Taylor.
A man.
---
Laurie tried to sit up, but her vision blurred and the world swayed. Still, she swung her legs over the side of the bed, heart pounding.
And suddenly—
She wasn’t in the hospital anymore.
The walls melted into wood paneling. Her hospital gown turned into a Wolves jersey.
A gym. Empty. Echoing. Bleachers folded.
Coach Dan stood at the far end of the court.
He clapped once.
> "You used to be a leader, Laurie. Now you’re nothing but a distraction."
Behind him, figures appeared. Men. Five of them. The same ones from the night she was taken.
They stood still. Faces shadowed. But each one wore something—
A bracelet. A patch. A hat.
All with the same insignia:
“Protect the Future. Restore the Past.”
Laurie blinked—
And it was gone.
---
Back in the hospital room.
A dream. A hallucination.
Her skin still crawled.
She looked around—
And saw them.
Kai. Rochelle. Taylor.
Sleeping. Bodies slouched against the chairs. Dark circles under their eyes. Cuts still healing. Rochelle had dried blood on her shirt. Taylor’s knuckles were split.
Laurie breathed. Finally.
Then she saw the tape.
A small black cassette, resting on the nightstand beside her IV drip.
She hadn’t seen it before.
It was labeled in shaky handwriting:
> “PLAY ME BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE”
---
She turned to the wall-mounted TV, slid the tape in.
The screen fuzzed.
A home video.
Laurie, maybe six years old, running in the backyard. Coach Dan behind the camera.
> "Say cheese, peanut!"
> "Cheeeeeese!"
She felt her breath catch in her throat.
Then the image warped. The camera zoomed in on her too fast. Her face distorted. Her eyes turned black for a split second—
And then—
Cut.
A new scene.
A group of men, the stalkers, sitting in a basement. Planning. Charts. Routines. Pictures of her. Her walking to school. At practice. With the girls.
One of them circled Rochelle’s face.
> "She’s the weak link. Threaten her, and Laurie caves."
> "Or hurt her and blame Laurie. Drive ‘em all apart."
Someone off-camera spoke.
That voice.
Laurie’s spine turned to ice.
It was James.
> "This isn't about hurting them. It’s about reminding them. Kids don’t choose. Parents do."
Coach Dan’s voice next:
> "If they won’t listen to us, they’ll listen to fear."
Laurie hit eject.
She was shaking.
She turned toward the girls.
They were still asleep.
No—
Not asleep.
Drugged.
She could see the syringe marks now, fresh on Rochelle’s arm.
The IV in Kai’s vein—
Wasn't water. It was dark yellow.
She pulled it out. Kai stirred, groaned, but didn’t wake.
Laurie staggered to Taylor.
Her skin was cold. But she was breathing.
Just enough.
Then—
The door creaked open.
And Coach Dan walked in.
Smiling.
Holding a coffee cup.
"Ah. Awake, sweetheart. Good."
Laurie stumbled back.
He stepped in like he owned the place.
"Don’t bother screaming. No one can hear you here."
Laurie looked down. Her fingers curled around the metal IV stand.
"Why…?" she whispered. "Why would you do this to me? To them?"
He sipped the coffee.
"Because you forgot who you belong to."
Behind him, James stepped into view.
> "This isn’t punishment, Laurie. It’s protection. You think love is supposed to feel like this? You think girls can give you what you need? They’re just distractions."
Laurie’s vision blurred.
Her grip tightened.
Then—
A scream.
Rochelle.
She was waking up.
And she was screaming in rage.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!"
She lunged forward, knocking the tray across the floor.
Coach Dan moved fast, grabbed her by the collar, slammed her against the cabinet.
Laurie screamed.
Kai bolted upright, gasping for air.
Taylor sat up fast enough to knock her chair over.
Everything moved at once.
Laurie swung the IV pole, cracking it across James’ arm.
Rochelle bit Coach Dan’s hand.
Taylor found a scalpel from the tray and sliced open the side of her own palm—
Blood everywhere.
Sirens.
A CODE RED announced over the intercom.
The door slammed shut.
LOCKED.
Gas hissed from the vents.
---
Laurie passed out again.
But just before everything faded—
She saw someone outside the door.
A nurse.
Mouth stitched shut.
Holding a sign that read:
> “RUN. BEFORE THE TRANSFER.”
---
End of Chapter.
Chapter 7: Quiet Replacements
Summary:
No summary. writing this is destroying me. AND I LOVE THE THRILL OF ITT sorry gays..ik this might just make some of yall stop reading.
Chapter Text
The fluorescent light buzzed softly above Laurie’s hospital bed, casting pale light over her bandaged arms. Machines beeped steadily beside her, but the rhythmic sounds didn’t bring peace. It was too quiet.
Too still.
Laurie’s fingers twitched.
The girls—Rochelle, Kai, and Taylor—sat close together on the small bench at the corner of the room, too afraid to break the silence with words. They stared at Laurie’s pale face, ghostlike and calm, her platinum-blonde lashes brushing against her cheeks. Her skin seemed almost translucent under the light—delicate, fragile. A quiet reminder of everything they'd almost lost.
Kai rubbed her eyes. "I keep thinking she's gonna wake up and everything's gonna be okay."
"She will wake up," Rochelle whispered, her voice trembling. “She has to.”
Taylor didn’t say anything. She just stared at Laurie’s hand, the one they'd all been holding in shifts since they got there.
---
When Laurie did wake, it wasn’t peaceful.
She gasped like she'd been drowning, bolting upright and ripping cords off her chest.
"Laurie!" the girls yelled at once, rushing to her side.
But Laurie screamed.
"DON’T TOUCH ME!" she shrieked, eyes wild. “Don’t touch me, you’re not real!”
She shoved Kai so hard she stumbled back.
"It’s us! It’s us, Laurie—it’s Rochelle, Taylor, it’s me—Kai!" Kai cried, panicked.
Laurie blinked rapidly, tears rushing to her eyes. She backed up against the headboard, breathing so fast it hurt.
"I—I dreamed it. No—no, I saw it. You were dead. You were all dead. Your throats—"
Her voice cracked into a sob.
Taylor wrapped her arms around her. "We're not dead. We’re here. We're here."
Laurie collapsed into her, her body shaking violently. She gripped Taylor like she’d disappear.
But the fear didn’t go away.
---
Later, in a quiet moment while the others were getting snacks from the hospital vending machine, Laurie whispered to Kai, “It wasn’t just a dream.”
Kai’s eyes widened. “What do you mean?”
“I saw someone. I think—it’s like I was watching it happen from somewhere else.” Laurie’s voice was hollow. “Like my soul was watching it. They killed you. They tore you apart in front of me. But it wasn’t just that... It was like someone wanted me to see it.”
Kai swallowed hard. “Maybe it was the drugs.”
But Laurie shook her head. “No. I heard their voices. I recognized them.”
Kai leaned in. “Who?”
Laurie hesitated.
“My dad. And James.”
The air in the room seemed to go still.
---
In the basement of a suburban house miles away, James and Coach Dan watched from a monitor.
“She’s waking up too fast,” James muttered.
Coach Dan’s expression didn’t change. “Doesn’t matter. The plan’s in place.”
“She’s too suspicious.”
“She’s Laurie, James. Suspicion is her nature. She still won’t believe what’s right in front of her.”
James rubbed his jaw. “And if the fake fails?”
“Then we use the next one. The point isn’t just replacing her,” Dan said, voice cold. “It’s breaking them. One by one.”
---
Coach Dan had called Laurie's mom earlier that week, his voice smooth and casual.
"She’s staying with me while you’re out of town. It’s all fine. Don’t worry."
Laurie’s mom had believed him. She was visiting her sister in Chicago. Laurie’s older sister was in Florida for college orientation. The house was empty.
And Laurie was at the mercy of the one parent she shouldn't have trusted.
Coach Dan had always been strict. He didn’t like that Laurie dyed her lashes dark or wore sparkly boots. He hated how close she got to Rochelle and Kai. But he always smiled for the cameras. “Best Dad in the World,” his mug said.
Now, he was trying to erase her.
---
In the hallway of the hospital, a nurse wheeled in a girl.
She looked exactly like Laurie.
Same albinism. Same voice. Same scar above the lip from when Laurie fell off her bike last summer.
But her smile was a little too smooth.
Too perfect.
---
Back in the hospital room, Laurie couldn’t sleep.
She kept hearing voices in the walls.
Not loud. Just soft murmurs, as if people were talking about her.
“She’s not breaking fast enough.”
“Did you give her the serum?”
“It’s working. Just slower than expected.”
When Laurie screamed, the nurses said she was hallucinating.
But Laurie knew hallucinations didn’t leave footprints by her bed.
---
That night, she dreamt again.
Except this time, it wasn’t a dream. It was memory.
She remembered darkness. Hands grabbing her. Someone whispering her name, over and over, like a prayer.
“Laurie. Laurie. Laurie.”
She remembered a room full of televisions. Every screen showed her friends. Her girlfriends. Crying. Bleeding. Screaming for her.
She remembered watching and being forced to watch.
And she remembered Coach Dan’s voice behind her.
“See what you’ve done?”
She woke up screaming.
---
At 3:12 AM, the fake Laurie climbed into bed beside Taylor.
Taylor murmured, half-asleep, “You’re cold.”
The fake didn’t answer.
She just smiled.
---
Meanwhile, the real Laurie lay wide-eyed in her hospital bed.
And somewhere, in the walls, someone whispered again:
“Tomorrow, we start the replacement for real.”
.
.
.
the end of this chapter.
Chapter 8: The hollow inside.
Summary:
I don't know how to summerize
Chapter Text
.
.
.
.
.
.
Laurie didn’t sleep the next night.
Even when the room was dark and quiet and the monitors kept their gentle rhythm, her eyes stayed open. Fixed on the ceiling. Counting every crack in the tile. Listening.
She knew what was happening now.
They were replacing her.
And the worst part? It was working.
---
Taylor noticed it first.
“Hey,” she whispered to Rochelle, while Kai was brushing her hair at the hospital sink. “Have you… have you felt like Laurie’s different?”
Rochelle blinked. “Different how?”
“I don’t know. Just—cold? Like, she doesn’t laugh the same. Or remember things the same.”
Rochelle was quiet.
Then: “Yeah. I thought I was imagining it.”
Kai came back, frowning. “She said she didn’t remember our first kiss.”
Taylor’s heart dropped. “She said that to me, too.”
They looked at each other.
“This isn’t our Laurie.”
---
The real Laurie was in a basement.
Not a dark, dungeon-y one. That would’ve made it easier to understand. This was a normal basement. Carpeted. Warm lighting. A couch. Posters. Bookshelves.
Except the bookshelves were fake.
Behind one of them was a steel door.
And behind that was her cage.
She sat with her knees pulled to her chest, trembling. Every time the door opened, it was either Dan or James. They wore the same expressions they used at school events: proud, supportive, loving.
“Why?” she croaked once.
Dan crouched beside the bars. “Because you’re confused, Laurie. They’re corrupting you. You need to forget them.”
“I love them.”
“That’s not love,” James said coldly. “It’s weakness.”
Laurie screamed until her voice went raw. No one came. No one heard.
---
The girls set a trap.
Kai pretended to fall asleep first, then Rochelle. Taylor stayed awake, pretending to toss and turn.
The fake Laurie climbed into bed beside her.
And then she whispered something.
Taylor froze.
“Tomorrow they’ll forget her. I’m better anyway.”
Taylor turned slowly.
“What did you say?”
The fake Laurie blinked. Then smiled. “Nothing. Go to sleep.”
Taylor didn’t.
She texted Rochelle under the blanket.
Now. It’s not her.
---
They confronted her the next morning.
In the hallway of the hospital.
“You’re not Laurie,” Kai said.
The fake tilted her head. “Of course I am.”
“Then what’s the name of the street where Rochelle and Laurie kissed behind the mailbox?”
The fake blinked. “Elm?”
“Wrong,” Rochelle hissed. “It was Pine. You said it was too poetic not to.”
The fake Laurie’s face twisted.
“You shouldn’t have remembered that,” she muttered.
Security was called.
The fake screamed.
She clawed at her face as if trying to rip something off. “YOU DON’T DESERVE HER. SHE’S MINE NOW!”
The girls were ushered away.
But their hearts were pounding.
They needed to find the real Laurie.
Now.
---
Laurie heard the screaming through a hidden speaker.
She pressed her hands to her ears. The fake’s voice was inhuman now. She was breaking. Failing.
Which meant Dan and James would need something worse.
She braced herself.
But it wasn’t her they came for.
It was the girls.
---
James was driving.
Dan sat beside him, silent.
In the back of the van: Rochelle, Kai, and Taylor. All unconscious. Drugged.
“They were getting too close,” Dan said.
James didn’t answer.
Dan looked at him. “You okay?”
James swallowed. “She looked at me like I was a monster.”
Dan’s laugh was bitter. “You are. So am I. But we’re doing what’s right. This is protection.”
James nodded slowly.
Then pressed the gas harder.
---
Laurie woke up chained.
Not in her cage. On a chair. In a room with mirrors.
Across from her: her girlfriends. Still unconscious.
Dan entered.
“This is your last chance,” he said calmly. “Tell them you don’t love them. That it was all a phase. That you’re sorry. And they’ll wake up unharmed.”
Laurie spat at him.
Dan wiped his cheek.
“Then let’s begin.”
A man entered with a scalpel.
Laurie screamed.
But it wasn’t for herself.
They took Rochelle first.
Just a cut. A warning. But enough to wake her screaming.
Laurie sobbed. “STOP! PLEASE!”
Dan leaned close. “Tell them.”
Laurie looked at her terrified girlfriends. Her mouth opened.
Then shut.
And then she screamed one word:
“RUN!”
Chaos exploded.
Kai had broken free.
She’d played along, faking unconsciousness long enough to dislocate her thumb and slide out of the restraints.
She slammed the guard with a metal chair.
Taylor kicked Dan.
Rochelle, though bleeding, picked up the scalpel.
They got Laurie out of the chains.
They ran.
---
They didn’t stop running.
Through the woods. Through the dark.
Laurie collapsed.
Rochelle lifted her. “We’re not losing you. Not again.”
Kai checked behind them. No sign of pursuit.
For now.
---
They hid in an abandoned cabin.
Laurie lay curled on a cot.
Rochelle whispered, “We’re here. We’re real. We love you.”
Laurie opened her eyes.
And for the first time in days… she smiled.
But outside, in the trees, red lights blinked.
Dan and James weren’t done.
And the replacements?
They weren’t gone.
They were evolving.
And next time, they wouldn’t just pretend.
They’d become.
.
.
.
what is needed to win.
Chapter 9: Mind Break
Summary:
i (we) don't have a summary for you
Chapter Text
Breaking their minds.
It had been three days since Laurie was taken back to the hospital. Three days since the blood-soaked silence, since her fingers twitched weakly in Kai’s hand before she fell unconscious again. The other girls hadn’t left the hospital floor. Rochelle hadn’t eaten. Taylor had stopped speaking for a full twenty-four hours. Kai hadn’t cried — not until the nurses told them they couldn’t see Laurie anymore.
They tried to sleep, but their minds stayed open, like broken doors letting the dark in. Nightmares crawled in their heads, whispering things they didn’t want to hear. Taylor dreamt of Laurie calling her name from a hallway made of mirrors, each reflection warping into something monstrous. Rochelle heard Laurie screaming under water, her voice bubbling and fading. And Kai — Kai dreamt of her own father, standing at the end of her bed, whispering that it was all her fault.
When Laurie finally woke up, she was alone. Her wrists were bandaged, IV dripping rhythmically beside her. Her head pounded like a scream she couldn’t hear. For a moment, she forgot where she was — until the memory came crashing back.
The voices. The men. The pain.
And then the silence
.
She felt like she wasn’t real. Like her body had been emptied and filled with glass shards. There were shadows in the corners of the room that seemed to breathe.
Outside her door, two nurses whispered. Something about how no one had been able to contact her mother yet. That her father — Coach Dan — had been signing all the papers.
But that wasn’t right.
Laurie’s mom had left town, yes, but she would’ve answered if something had happened. Her sister was in college but checked in every week. Her mom would never just disappear like this.
Unless someone made her.
Laurie tried to sit up, but her body screamed. Her memory felt like static. The dream... or was it a dream? Something with voices. Someone familiar. Her dad.
"Laurie, sweetie, you're okay. It’s going to be okay."
The voice was in her head. His voice. Warm, rehearsed, and empty.
Her heart skipped.
---
In another wing of the hospital, Rochelle, Taylor, and Kai were locked in a small room with a psychologist assigned by Coach Dan. Or, as he insisted, "Dr. Morrow — a family friend."
The man’s eyes were too still. His questions too specific.
"Have any of you felt Laurie might be... manipulating you emotionally?"
"What the hell?" Rochelle snapped.
"It’s common for victims of trauma to form codependent bonds," Dr. Morrow continued smoothly. "Especially with someone like Laurie. She’s... special. Vulnerable. That can make others feel responsible for her in unhealthy ways."
Taylor stared at him. The room was too quiet. Too clean. The hum of the light overhead buzzed straight into her skull.
Kai gritted her teeth. "You’re not here to help her. You’re here to separate us."
Dr. Morrow didn’t respond. He only clicked his pen.
---
Meanwhile, in another undisclosed location, Coach Dan was meeting with James.
"They’re starting to break," Dan muttered, pacing. "Especially Taylor. She’s soft."
James poured whiskey into a coffee mug. "I told you this would work. They’re kids. You put enough fear in their heads, and they’ll tear each other apart."
"Laurie’s tougher than I thought."
James frowned. "We have the replacement ready, right?"
Dan opened a tablet. On the screen, a pale girl with artificially bleached hair sat in a white room, studying a photo of Laurie. Her eyes were blank.
"She’s ready."
"And the originals?"
"We let them see her just long enough to question their own memories. Just long enough to doubt."
---
That night, Laurie stared at the ceiling. The lights flickered.
She could hear the sound of breathing, but she was alone.
Or so she thought.
"They think you’re losing your mind."
Laurie’s eyes shot to the corner. Nothing.
"They think you’re too fragile. Too broken."
She clutched her sheets. The room blurred. The walls felt like they were closing in.
And then she saw her — herself.
But not her. The hair was off. The posture. The eyes were wrong.
The fake Laurie smiled.
"You’re not real."
The fake tilted her head. "But I will be."
And then she was gone.
Laurie screamed. Nurses ran in. But nothing was there.
---
Meanwhile, the girls were finally allowed to visit her.
But when they entered, she looked terrified.
"Prove it’s you," Laurie whispered.
"What?" Taylor said, confused.
"Say something only you would know."
They looked at each other. Rochelle finally whispered, "The time we hid in the locker room for two hours so you could cry into Kai’s hoodie after the final game."
Laurie burst into tears.
"They’re trying to replace me. They want to make you think I’m crazy. They want to make me think I’m crazy."
Kai stepped forward. "We won’t let them. We’re not leaving you."
Laurie’s eyes were wild. "They know everything. They’ve been watching us since the start. This wasn’t about stalking. It was about control. They want to break us apart so we forget how strong we are together."
Taylor touched her arm. "Then we don’t break."
Laurie flinched. "He was in my dream. My dad. And James. They were there. They knew everything. They’re the ones who started this."
---
But what none of them knew — not yet — was that something had already been set in motion. An event timed to fracture their unity even deeper.
At midnight, Rochelle’s phone buzzed with a video.
It was a live stream.
Of Laurie. In the hospital bed.
Except Laurie was with them.
They turned to her, shaking.
"Laurie... if you’re here..."
She stared at the screen. At herself.
Then the fake Laurie on the screen turned to the camera.
And smiled.
Chapter 10: the Fracture begins
Summary:
. oh. this..this is the-
Chapter Text
The Fracture Begins for what us to come..
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.
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.
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The room had never felt colder.
Laurie’s eyes were locked on the screen. The girl on it — the perfect mirror of her — tilted her head with the mechanical precision of a puppet.
"That’s not you," Taylor whispered.
"It looks like her," Kai said, voice tight.
Rochelle stepped between the screen and Laurie like a shield. "It’s a trick. They’re trying to split us. Again."
Laurie shook her head. "No. It’s not just a trick. That’s real. Someone is pretending to be me... right now. They made another me."
The video continued. The fake Laurie in the stream was reading a book, humming softly. But what chilled them wasn’t the image — it was the room. The fake was in the exact same hospital room. Same blanket, same curtains, even the same fading whiteboard with “Dr. Niles” scribbled in the corner.
But Laurie was here. With them.
"What the hell is going on?" Rochelle whispered.
The live stream glitched.
A shadow crossed the room on the screen.
Another figure. Familiar. James.
He approached the fake Laurie with a soft smile, brushing hair from her forehead.
"You’re doing well. Soon, they’ll forget the other one even existed."
Laurie felt the bottom drop out of her world.
---
Somewhere beneath the hospital — not on any official map — Coach Dan stood behind a thick two-way mirror. His reflection was faint against the glass as he stared into the observation room.
The clone was perfect. Or nearly. Enough to fool them, just for a little longer. Long enough to destroy what those girls had.
"She’s responding well to the programming," Dr. Morrow said beside him.
"She better."
"Laurie’s resistance is higher than anticipated," the doctor added. "Her will... it’s abnormal. Most kids would’ve folded by now."
Dan’s lips twitched. "She’s stubborn. Got that from her mom."
"Do you still want the memory implant in the fake to be about the girls leaving her? Betraying her?"
Dan nodded. "Make her think they abandoned her. That they called this off. That they hate her. The real Laurie will break if she thinks they replaced her. And if the girls believe she’s mentally unstable, they’ll start backing away. We break the unit. Then we can rebuild."
"Into what?"
Dan’s smile was pure ice. "Something better."
---
Meanwhile, the girls were barricaded in a supply closet. The hallway had gone dark the moment the livestream ended. A siren had briefly blared, then silence.
They were not in a safe place.
Taylor trembled. "This is too big. This is — this isn’t just some stalkers. This is a system."
Kai clenched her fists. "It’s our parents. Our fathers. They’re behind all of it."
Laurie was silent.
"Laurie?" Rochelle whispered.
"They’re going to win," she said flatly. "They’ve been ten steps ahead this entire time. We’re just pieces on their board."
"Don’t say that."
"They made another me, Rochelle. How are we supposed to fight people who can replace us? Who can convince the world I’m insane and dangerous, then slide their own version of me into my life while you all just... watch?"
"Because we know the real you," Kai said fiercely. "And we don’t run."
Laurie looked at her. "You might not have a choice."
The door to the closet rattled.
Rochelle jumped, holding a broom like a weapon.
A voice filtered through the cracks. Sweet. Syrupy.
"Girls... come on out. There’s been a change in Laurie’s condition. You’re needed."
It was a nurse’s voice. But wrong.
Laurie whispered, "Don’t move. That’s not real. That’s the fake nurse. I’ve seen her in my dreams."
The handle twisted.
"Please, come out... or we’ll come in."
---
They made a run for it. Through the emergency stairwell, past flickering lights. Laurie’s body still ached, but adrenaline pushed her forward.
Floor by floor, they descended into something darker.
And then — a door. Locked. But it buzzed open before they even touched it.
On the other side: a white hallway. Artificially lit. Silent.
At the end of the corridor — a window.
Behind it — her.
The fake Laurie turned and met their eyes.
She smiled.
Laurie screamed.
---
The world tilted.
Rochelle was yelling.
Kai was trying to pull her back.
Taylor was crying.
Laurie fell to her knees.
And then the speakers crackled.
Coach Dan’s voice filled the hallway.
"You were always too fragile, Laurie. You never could handle the pressure. But don’t worry. We’ve got someone new. Someone better. She doesn’t cry. She doesn’t disobey. She doesn’t... love them."
Laurie looked up at the camera.
"She’s mine."
The lights exploded. The hallway plunged into darkness.
Laurie whispered, "We have to end this."
The girls nodded.
The war had begun.
Chapter 11: The war for Laurie.
Summary:
yeah no summary but just letting you guys know most of this was written by L, V, M and me. ( if you didn't already know this is a combination of me and my friends' brains creating this story. I have not read through the whole thing so I don't know but I hope you guys are enjoying)
Chapter Text
Chapter 10: The War for Laurie
The lights sputtered back to life, casting pale, jittering beams over the blood-stained tiles. A sharp, mechanical whine echoed down the corridor, followed by static, then silence.
Laurie rose slowly. Her knees buckled but Rochelle caught her.
"You okay?"
Laurie nodded — a lie. Her body felt like it was made of static and ice.
"Where’s the fake?" Kai whispered.
The observation room behind the glass was now empty. The clone was gone.
Taylor pressed her fingers against the glass. "They moved her. They’re hiding her again."
Laurie looked around. Cameras in every corner. Red lights blinking. Watching. Recording.
Coach Dan and James were always watching.
---
In a control room several floors below, James sat back in his chair, his face half-shadowed by the flickering monitors.
"We underestimated them," he said. "The girls are pushing harder than expected."
Dan stood with his arms crossed. "Laurie should’ve cracked by now. She was supposed to collapse. We built this entire illusion to psychologically destroy her. What’s keeping her together?"
"Them," James replied. "The other girls. That bond is... inconvenient."
Dr. Morrow sighed. "You made her too strong. The clone was just a contingency — now it's a threat to your entire operation. If she interacts with the real Laurie, she might try to merge the identities."
Dan snarled. "We’ll kill the clone before that happens. And the others too, if we must."
---
The girls reached a sealed stairwell. Taylor hacked the panel with the stolen nurse’s ID card. The lock buzzed. Open.
They ran.
Laurie was shaking again. She gripped the rail, breathing hard.
Kai turned. "Laurie, talk to us. What are you thinking?"
Laurie looked up, tears barely held back. "There’s more. I remembered... something. From when I was unconscious."
Rochelle slowed. "A dream?"
Laurie nodded. "But it felt real. Too real. Like something I wasn’t supposed to see."
She swallowed.
"I was in a cold white room. And there were five men. Watching. Whispering. One of them had a scalpel. I remember the sound. Like metal tapping glass. And... they weren’t trying to kill me. They were studying me."
"What?"
"They said I was the prototype. That they needed me for their next phase. That the others — the other girls — were collateral."
Taylor froze. "What does that mean?"
Laurie whispered, "I think they want to turn me into something else. Or they already started."
The others recoiled.
Kai said, "That’s not happening. We won’t let them."
But Laurie was looking at her own hands. At the faint scars. The punctures.
"What if it already has?"
---
When they reached the upper floor, the lights cut out again.
A figure stood at the end of the hall.
It was Laurie.
But Laurie was standing beside them.
The clone.
"Don’t move," Rochelle warned. She positioned herself in front of the real Laurie.
The fake tilted her head. Her eyes were too wide. Too bright. Not real.
"I’m the better Laurie," she said softly.
Kai lunged, but the clone vanished around the corner.
They chased her.
---
The hallway gave way to a cavernous atrium.
Dozens of screens blinked to life around them. All of them showed Laurie — sleeping, crying, laughing, bleeding.
Surveillance. Years' worth.
Rochelle gasped. "They’ve been watching her for years."
Taylor covered her mouth. "This is bigger than anything we imagined."
Laurie sank to her knees.
"My life... it wasn’t mine. It never was."
Rochelle crouched beside her. "We’re going to take it back. I swear it."
The lights snapped off again.
And a voice — Coach Dan’s — boomed overhead.
"Laurie. It’s time to come home."
---
They were surrounded.
Men in white. The stalkers.
James and Dan stepped forward, flanked by them.
"You shouldn’t have pushed," James said to Kai. "We gave you chances. You chose the wrong path."
Dan glared at Rochelle. "You think you can protect my daughter? She’s broken. She always was. We’re fixing her."
Taylor screamed, "She doesn’t need fixing! You’re the ones who are broken!"
Dan raised his hand. The clone appeared from the dark, dragging a sedated version of Ira.
Taylor gasped. "NO!"
"You will obey," Dan said coldly, "or we’ll start taking pieces of you. One by one."
Laurie stood. Weak. Shaking. But standing.
"Let him go."
Dan smiled. "Agree to the procedure. Become who you were meant to be. And no one else has to suffer."
Laurie took one step forward.
"I will."
"WHAT?!" Rochelle cried.
Laurie turned her head just enough. "I have a plan. Trust me."
Dan motioned. The clone took her arm.
And as she passed Kai, she whispered, so low it was almost nothing:
"Find the server. Burn it."
Then she was gone.
---
The silence left behind felt endless.
Rochelle dropped to her knees.
Taylor was shaking uncontrollably.
Kai stared at the corridor Laurie disappeared into.
Rage flared in her chest. Followed by resolve.
"We’re getting her back."
---
Deep underground, Laurie was strapped to a gurney.
The white walls hummed. Needles slid into her arms.
Coach Dan stood over her, whispering lies.
"They left you. They don’t care."
Laurie bit her tongue until she bled.
Not to silence the pain.
But to remind herself she was still alive.
Still herself.
For now.
Chapter 12: Real or fake?
Summary:
no summary, but one of my headcannons are in this.
(THESE CHAPTERS ARE NOT THE CLIMAX, ZALLIE FORGOT TO TELL YOU GUYS..SHES REALLY DUMB- NOT WRITING WISE BUT YEAH)
Chapter Text
As the girls clung to the unconscious body of Laurie, their cries barely muffled by their horror and confusion, several figures suddenly descended the staircase—masked, faceless silhouettes cloaked in dim shadows. Their heavy boots echoed like war drums. One of them gave a signal.
“No time,” he said flatly. “Take them back. All of them.”
The girls screamed as cold, gloved hands gripped their wrists and shoulders, dragging them away from Laurie’s body. Rochelle fought the hardest, kicking and screaming, “She’s real! She’s REAL! DON’T TOUCH HER!”
Kai’s voice cracked as she screamed Laurie’s name, her throat raw from weeping. Taylor reached out as long as she could, fingertips brushing Laurie’s pale arm before they were ripped away.
But something didn’t feel right. The man dragging Rochelle flinched. “Hurry. Switch her.”
Another masked figure swooped in and, with chilling precision, grabbed Laurie’s limp body and disappeared into the shadows for only a second. In that moment, the girls were shoved into the blindingly sterile, white-walled room. Before the door slammed shut, “Laurie” was pushed in behind them.
Only, it wasn’t Laurie.
Rochelle’s instincts buzzed. Something was off. The weight in her chest twisted tighter as “Laurie” stood unsteadily, blinking like she didn’t recognize the others.
“Laurie…?” Kai whispered.
“Y-Yeah… I’m okay,” the fake stammered.
But she didn’t recoil when Taylor’s flashlight beam reflected off the shiny metal sink. The light didn’t make her flinch. Didn’t make her scream. Didn’t make her go blind.
Rochelle stared.
“You’re not her.”
The fake smiled.
“Of course I am, Shell.”
But Rochelle was already pulling the flashlight out of Taylor’s bag, clicking it on. The beam pierced the fake’s left eye.
She blinked.
Didn’t flinch. Didn’t scream.
“You’re NOT Laurie.”
Outside the door, they heard something slam. Heavy chains rattled. A hiss of mechanical locks twisting into place. The door was no longer just locked—it was sealed.
Meanwhile, back below, Laurie—the real Laurie—was dropped like a rag doll onto the mattress she had begun to hate more than anything else in the world. Her albinism made every flicker of the emergency lights burn. Her eyes stung, her head throbbed, and the voices outside the door kept saying one thing over and over:
“She’s close. We’re so close to breaking her.”
She curled into herself. She could feel the plan. Could feel her sanity slipping grain by grain like sand through her fingers.
And somewhere deep inside her, something whispered:
They will never believe it’s you when they see her.
And this time, you’ll be left behind.
Forever...
Chapter 13: The lights always blind.
Summary:
the fake is discovered again. .
Chapter Text
The sterile white lights flickered overhead. It had been two days since the fake Laurie had been shoved into the locked room with them. Rochelle had barely slept—barely blinked, even—watching the imposter with unblinking suspicion while Kai and Taylor slowly started to crumble.
The fake Laurie mimicked her speech, her tired expressions, her usual affectionate cadence, her body language. She was convincing. Terrifyingly so.
But not to Rochelle.
“She doesn’t laugh the same,” Rochelle whispered to herself that morning. “She doesn’t move the same. She’s trying too hard.”
Taylor sat nearby with her knees hugged to her chest. Her voice was hoarse. “What if… what if she’s just traumatized? We all are.”
Kai, who had only just begun to talk again, nodded faintly. “We’re all different now.”
Rochelle looked at them both. The ache in her chest threatened to consume her.
“She doesn’t squint in the light anymore,” Rochelle said. “She can look straight into it. Laurie couldn’t do that.”
Taylor glanced at her but didn’t answer. The fake stirred on the bed, then let out a practiced groan.
“Oh… hey…” the imposter mumbled, voice groggy. “What time is it?”
Kai immediately jumped up, offering her water. “It’s okay. You’re okay. We’re here.”
The fake smiled and leaned into Kai’s shoulder. “You’re all I need.”
Rochelle’s skin crawled. Her Laurie would never say that. Not like that. Not with that smile.
That night, the imposter dozed off quickly—her breathing steady, not ragged with nightmares like Laurie’s always was. Rochelle waited until her snores deepened, then quietly motioned Taylor and Kai to follow her.
“Please,” she whispered. “One chance. Let me prove it.”
She held the flashlight in her hand, the one Taylor had found in the bottom of her duffel bag earlier.
“She has albinism,” Rochelle said. “A light in her eye blinds her. But this one? This one won’t even flinch.”
Taylor looked unsure. “What if it hurts her?”
Rochelle didn’t blink. “That’s the point.”
She slowly clicked the light on.
The fake Laurie stirred.
She turned.
Rochelle pointed the beam directly into her wide, open eye.
The imposter blinked.
That was it.
No screaming. No flinching. No pain.
Just a blink.
Taylor gasped. Kai stepped back.
“I—I don’t understand,” Kai whispered.
“She’s not her,” Rochelle said. “She never was.”
The fake sat up, slowly, unnaturally. Her smile now stretched a little too far. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
They heard a mechanical click in the wall. A quiet hiss.
“Because now… now we have to start over.”
The floor beneath them began to vibrate. Taylor reached for Rochelle’s hand. Kai stumbled backwards.
Outside the room, muffled through the thick walls, a voice buzzed through a speaker:
“Replace the prototype. The test failed.”
Rochelle screamed and threw the flashlight as the floor opened in the center, revealing darkness below.
“No!”
The fake Laurie lunged toward her.
But she wasn’t fast enough.
Rochelle kicked her in the stomach. “GET AWAY FROM ME!”
Kai ran to the far wall, slamming her fists on the panels. “Let us out! LET US OUT!”
Taylor crouched, helping Rochelle drag a chair to brace against the door. But the walls were shifting, humming.
“Where’s the real Laurie?!” Rochelle shouted, voice hoarse.
There was no answer.
But somewhere, far below, in the bowels of the compound, Laurie sat slumped against the cold steel of her new cell, alone, whispering the names of the girls over and over again like a prayer:
“Rochelle… Kai… Taylor… I’m here. I’m still here.”
End of this chapter.
the writers are losing their mind thats why ur getting fast updates 😝
Chapter 14: The flicker
Chapter Text
The room was colder tonight than it had ever been.
The flickering overhead light buzzed inconsistently, shadows stretching long across the walls like reaching arms. Rochelle sat up on her sleeping mat, legs crossed, hands in her lap. Her eyes hadn’t left Laurie—or the fake Laurie—for hours.
Kai had curled up beside her, arm lazily tossed across Taylor’s waist, finally asleep after crying herself into exhaustion. The nightmare of the past few days had peeled something raw inside each of them, but Rochelle couldn’t settle. Not when something felt so... off.
The girl lying a few feet away might have looked like Laurie—her posture, the careful tone of her voice, even the nervous habits—but she wasn’t her. Not really.
Rochelle’s fingers grazed her flashlight again. That was what had started it. The moment she'd accidentally shined it in the fake's eyes earlier, the girl hadn’t flinched, hadn’t winced, hadn’t gone blind. But real Laurie always reacted. Her albinism made bright light painful. Intolerable.
She glanced back. The imposter slept soundly. Too soundly.
Quietly, Rochelle leaned over and whispered into Kai’s ear. “Hey. Hey, wake up.”
Kai groaned and blinked groggily. “Roch... what? It’s the middle of the night—”
“It’s not her,” Rochelle whispered, deadly serious. “That’s not Laurie.”
Taylor stirred slightly but didn’t wake. Kai squinted at Rochelle like she was speaking nonsense. “You’re still on this again?”
“She didn’t blink at the flashlight. She didn’t cover her eyes, didn’t go blind.”
Kai frowned but didn’t speak.
Rochelle moved. She got to her knees and crept over to the fake’s sleeping figure, heart pounding. She didn’t know what she was going to find—what she hoped she wouldn’t—but she had to know. She held the flashlight like it was a dagger, flicked it on, and pointed it directly at the girl’s eyes.
Nothing.
The girl’s lashes fluttered, but there was no panic, no gasping or crying out like Laurie would have. No blindness. Just... mild discomfort.
Rochelle stepped back, breath catching. “She’s not reacting. It’s not her.”
That did it.
Kai was awake now, crawling over. “No... no, no. That’s not possible.”
“She wouldn’t fake this,” Rochelle said. “Not with this. Her eyes—she can’t fake this.”
They stared at the fake Laurie, who was now sitting up groggily, blinking under the dim light. “What are you doing?” she asked, voice low and soft.
Rochelle’s heart thundered in her chest. She stepped back. “Where is she? Where’s the real Laurie?”
The fake tilted her head. “I’m right here. Rochelle, you’re tired. We’re all tired.”
But Rochelle wasn’t buying it anymore. “Prove it,” she snapped. “What did I whisper to you that night after the game—the day we won, the day you took my hand and said—”
“I don’t remember,” the fake interrupted too quickly.
Wrong answer.
Kai’s hands were shaking. “What... what did she say, Rochelle?”
“She said... ‘No matter what happens, I’ll never let them separate us.’ And then she kissed me. She would never forget that.”
The silence in the room was suddenly suffocating.
Taylor was awake now, watching in confusion and horror as the fake Laurie stood up slowly, like a shadow peeling from the wall.
“I’m done playing pretend,” the fake said. And her voice was colder now. A mimic. Not the warmth they knew.
The door burst open.
Two figures in black pulled Rochelle and Kai away from the fake before they could even scream. Another dragged Taylor by the arm. And then—just as fast as they were dragged out—they were shoved down a dark corridor, Laurie’s voice echoing faintly somewhere below.
“ROCHELLE—TAYLOR—KAI—!”
It was her. The real her.
Rochelle tried to run toward the voice, but she was yanked back violently. In the confusion, she glimpsed another group—masked, silent—shoving a struggling blonde figure through another doorway before slamming it shut behind her.
And just like that, the fake was back.
In the chaos, they’d swapped her again. Just like that. Laurie’s cries were gone. The room was locked again, this time with reinforced steel bolts and another heavy chain.
And the fake... just stood there. Waiting.
---
Downstairs
Laurie gasped as her head smacked against the wall. Her wrists were bound again. Her voice was hoarse from screaming. Her body hurt in places she couldn’t even locate anymore.
Coach Dan’s voice filtered in like poison smoke.
“She’s catching on. We’ll need to handle that one soon.”
James stood behind him, arms crossed, expression unreadable. “I told you this wouldn’t work forever.”
“She’s just a kid,” Coach Dan snapped. “They all are. Keep pressure long enough, and they'll break. All of them.”
Laurie was barely awake. But her fury gave her strength.
“You’re monsters,” she spat.
Coach Dan smiled. “I’m a father. I know what’s best.”
James only looked at her, cold and distant. “And I’m cleaning up your mistakes.”
They turned away, leaving her in the dark again.
---
Back upstairs
Rochelle sat quietly against the wall, breathing hard, her eyes never leaving the fake.
She was done playing games.
She was done letting this happen.
Because she had felt it in her chest the moment Laurie screamed her name—that raw, desperate, real sound of love and pain. And no one—no impostor—could ever fake that.
And if she had to set this whole place on fire to find her again, she would.
She would tear it all down.
---
Chapter 15: All Eyes are watching
Summary:
the end is near? who do you belive
Chapter Text
The room had been still for too long. Too quiet.
Until the speaker crackled.
Rochelle flinched first. Kai’s arms locked tighter around Taylor’s shoulders. And the fake Laurie, who sat stiffly near the door, tilted her head just slightly — like she was waiting.
Then a voice.
James.
Smooth. Deceptive. Cheerful like a father talking over breakfast, not like a man who had ripped apart everything they knew.
> “Hello, girls.”
No one answered. Taylor buried her face into Kai’s shoulder. Rochelle stared directly at the ceiling camera, jaw clenched.
> “Thought I’d check in. You’ve been doing... well. Quiet. Cooperative. That’s good.”
The fake Laurie moved her hand slightly — almost like she was comforting them — but her expression was too calculated. Too mechanical. Like she was reading emotions off a screen and copying them.
James kept going.
> “She’s getting close, you know. The real Laurie.”
Silence.
> “She’s scared. She doesn’t know what to believe anymore. We show her the right things. Tell her what we need her to hear. She almost told us she was ready to break up with you all. She wants to keep you safe.”
Kai’s voice cracked. “You’re lying.”
James chuckled. Soft. Rehearsed.
> “If I were lying... would you still be trapped in that room?”
Rochelle stood. Her heart was pounding so hard it ached in her chest. “Where is she?” she demanded.
There was a pause. Then—
> “Close.”
The fake Laurie stood up now too. Moved to Rochelle slowly. Too slowly.
Kai stood too, between them in an instant.
> “She’s being taken care of,” James said. “Fed. Kept warm. Protected. She just... needs to understand that some love is too dangerous.”
And then Coach Dan’s voice took over the speaker.
> “You girls are poison. You turned her against herself. I saw it happening from the beginning.”
His voice was colder than James’. Less calm. More bitter.
> “She doesn’t need this sickness. This... mess. You think you love her? You don’t even know what love is.”
Rochelle stormed to the corner, yanking at the locked door until her fingers hurt.
> “You’re monsters!” she screamed. “You’re—”
> “She will break up with you,” James interrupted, unfazed. “She just needs a little more time. And when she does, this all ends. You go home. We don’t want to hurt anyone. She’s close to agreeing now. You should start preparing yourselves.”
The fake Laurie turned slowly, facing them all. Her eyes glinted. “Would you still love her,” she asked, “if she broke up with you to save you?”
It was too perfect. The voice. The expression. The posture.
And yet... not perfect enough.
Rochelle stepped forward. Something inside her had gone still. Cold.
“She wouldn’t ask that.”
The fake tilted her head.
“She wouldn’t say that.”
And then, without a word, Rochelle lunged forward — and shoved the flashlight she’d hidden in her hoodie pocket right into the fake’s eyes.
Click. Bright white.
The fake didn’t flinch.
But the real Laurie would have screamed. Clutched her face. Gone blind for at least ten minutes. Maybe an hour.
The fake blinked. Calm. Like nothing had happened.
Kai gasped.
Taylor backed into the corner, her face pale.
“That’s not her,” Rochelle whispered. “That’s not her.”
Then the speaker crackled again. This time, just breathing. One long inhale.
James again.
> “Smart girl.”
And the lights shut off.
Everything went dark.
Panic rose like a wave.
A door slammed open — not theirs. Somewhere down the hall. Voices. Stomping. Movement above them.
And then James again:
> “Don’t you want to know what she’s seeing right now?”
The lights flashed back on.
The screen on the wall — previously black — now glowed with a soft, cold feed from a security camera.
It showed Laurie.
The real Laurie.
Slumped in a chair in a dim room, pale and exhausted. Her lips were moving. Whispering something. Hands shaking.
Behind her stood Coach Dan.
His hand rested lightly on her shoulder like a noose.
> “If you love them,” he told her on the screen, “you’ll let them go.”
And she — the real Laurie — just stared blankly forward.
---
To be continued...like always
---
Chapter 16: Hollow hearts, Shattered glass
Chapter Text
Laurie's hands trembled, tied to the chair with something coarse and burning. The rope left tiny red abrasions across her wrist, and her legs were numb from how long she'd been forced to sit still. The room smelled like rust and sterilizer. Fluorescent light buzzed overhead, flickering like it could burn out at any moment—she hoped it would.
Coach Dan's shadow moved along the wall as he circled her, again.
"You keep thinking there's another way," he murmured, voice low, so calm it made her stomach twist. "But there isn't. You've got three choices, Laurie: break their hearts, lose your own, or watch them suffer until one of them dies first."
Laurie choked on a sob she didn’t know she’d been holding.
She wanted to scream. To thrash. To spit in his face. But she couldn't—not with the metal door bolted shut, not with her strength siphoned away by hours of threats and mind games. Not when they'd shown her videos.
Rochelle being dragged by her hair across the floor of the locked room. Taylor begging the fake her to stop touching her shoulder. Kai whispering into the walls, “Please, please stop. Please stop lying.”
They wanted her broken.
Coach Dan leaned close, fingers pressing into her shoulder too tightly.
"They already hate you for leaving," he said. “You just haven’t admitted you’ve left yet.”
Laurie shook her head.
“No,” she croaked. “They know I would never—”
“They don’t know anything anymore.”
A new screen lit up in front of her. A live feed. The girls were huddled in their room again. The fake Laurie sat with her hands in her lap, perfect posture, mimicking old photos of Laurie from before all this started. The camera zoomed in on Rochelle’s face—wary, exhausted, wild with suspicion—and then panned to Kai and Taylor, both curled into themselves like animals that had forgotten how to be safe.
“She’s starting to convince them,” Coach Dan whispered. “Your silence is doing the rest.”
“Where’s my mom?” Laurie asked. Her voice was quiet. Desperate. “She would never—she’d be looking—”
“She thinks you’re at my house,” Coach Dan smiled. “Your sister’s out of town. Your mom? Still believes you’re safe. Why wouldn’t she? You’ve always been so well-behaved. You made this easy.”
A tear slid down Laurie’s cheek. Then another.
---
In the upstairs room, Rochelle stared down at her hands. They’d bound her fingers together earlier—she wasn’t sure when—and the fake Laurie had tried to “help” her eat. She refused.
Kai hadn’t spoken in two hours.
Taylor had started to quietly talk to herself.
No food. No answers.
Just the faint lullaby coming from the speaker in the corner: Laurie’s voice—except it wasn’t. It was manufactured. Clipped together from old audio. Used to lull them.
But it was failing.
Rochelle stood suddenly. “That’s not her,” she snapped again. “You all know that now.”
Taylor looked up. Kai blinked slowly. Neither said anything.
Rochelle moved to the wall and slammed her fist against the camera. “You want a show?” she yelled. “You want her to see us broken? You think we’ll just stop loving her?!”
The speaker crackled.
Then James’ voice returned.
> “I think love is a choice. And she’s about to make the right one.”
Rochelle turned slowly.
The fake Laurie stood now.
But there was a flash of movement behind her. A hand reached through the door. It was subtle—barely caught—but Rochelle saw it. A swap. A movement of bodies. A dragging sound.
The real Laurie, for one moment, had been visible. Her eyes wide. Lips trembling.
Then gone again.
The fake stood in her place.
“You see that?” Rochelle whispered.
Kai turned. “What?”
“She was there. For one second, she was there.”
Taylor stood slowly. “They’re bringing her in... to mess with us.”
“No,” Rochelle said. “They’re bringing her in so they can break her in front of us.”
The camera zoomed again.
Laurie, on the screen, was now writing something on a clipboard. Her hand shook violently. Coach Dan stood behind her, James beside him. The clipboard had three options.
> 1. I agree to break up with them.
2. I refuse.
3. I don’t know.
She stared at the page.
Then the lights in the girls’ room flickered.
The fake Laurie looked at them with hollow eyes.
“She’s almost there,” James said.
Rochelle stepped forward.
“She’s never going to choose you over us.”
And somewhere—below them, in the basement, locked in a fake house Laurie was never meant to escape—she wept without knowing if they’d ever hear her again.
why wouldn't this torture end?
why
WHY WONT THEY JUST GIVE UP.
FUCK
---
To be continued...
Chapter 17: Breaking Point
Chapter Text
The room was silent—too silent.
Rochelle sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the fake Laurie, whose every gesture seemed just close enough to be familiar, but wrong in all the places that mattered. The way she blinked when Rochelle asked a question. The way she hesitated before answering. The way her laugh had a strange echo, like someone else was using Laurie’s voice as a mask.
Taylor paced the floor, muttering, “She wouldn’t do this to us. She wouldn’t. Would she?”
Kai said nothing. Her fists trembled as she gripped the bottom of her hoodie. Her eyes were rimmed with red, her whole body tight with confusion and fear. She was beginning to fracture inside, slowly, like a glass sculpture under pressure.
“I told you,” Rochelle whispered, her voice raw. “That’s not her. And James just said—Laurie’s close to giving in. That means she’s still alive. But she’s not here.”
The fake Laurie sat in the corner, watching. Waiting. She didn’t blink.
Then the speakers crackled to life again. James' voice slithered into the room, uncomfortably calm.
> “She’s almost there. It’s amazing, really. So resilient, so loyal. But people break. Eventually. And when she does—when she says the words—all of you will be let go. No more confusion. No more fear. It’s really simple.”
A beat. Then Coach Dan’s voice, lower, grating.
> “It’s not us against you. It’s us protecting you. Laurie is… confused. Unwell. You all are. You don’t understand what this is doing to your lives. We’re saving you from yourselves.”
“You’re sick!” Taylor screamed, her voice cracking.
James sighed. “We’re the only sane ones left, Taylor. Laurie’s nearly free of this fantasy. You should be grateful.”
A loud clunk echoed in the hallway outside. They all tensed.
The door didn’t open. But the lights dimmed.
“Do you remember the last time she tried to run?” Coach Dan's voice again. “The blood? The screaming? She still can’t speak properly without coughing it up.”
Kai backed into a corner, breath shaking. “No. No, they’re lying.”
Rochelle crossed to the wall, slamming her fist into it. “They’re using her like she’s nothing. She’s not nothing.”
And then—the fake Laurie stood up.
Slow. Mechanical.
“You all look so scared,” she said softly. “But it’s for the best. I promise. She’ll come around. You’ll see.”
Rochelle turned slowly. “Don’t speak with her voice.”
Fake Laurie tilted her head.
“I am her,” she said.
Rochelle stepped forward. “Then what’s the name of the cat she said she wanted when she turned thirteen?”
Silence.
“What color’s her toothbrush at her mom’s house?”
Nothing.
“What happens to her vision if you shine a light straight into her eyes?”
The fake Laurie froze.
Rochelle pulled a small flashlight from her back pocket—the same one she’d used days ago in one of the sleepovers. She clicked it on and aimed it directly into the fake Laurie’s face.
No reaction. No flinch. Just confusion.
Kai and Taylor stared.
“That’s not her,” Rochelle whispered. “The real Laurie would be blind right now.”
The fake Laurie blinked—slow, then smiled.
“Smart girl,” she said. “Too smart.”
Suddenly the room began to hiss—a thick, cold smoke sliding through vents above them. Panic bloomed instantly. Taylor screamed. Kai dove toward the door. Rochelle grabbed their hands—
The lights cut out.
And when they came back on, the fake Laurie was gone.
But the door was wide open.
Outside, footsteps. Heavy. Men’s voices.
They didn’t get a chance to move.
Six men stormed in. One wore a ski mask, another had a cattle prod, another dragged a thick black bag behind him.
“Take the fake back. They figured her out,” one snarled. “Bring the real one in. Just enough time to show her what happens when she holds out.”
Taylor was screaming. Kai was trying to fight. Rochelle bit down hard on one man’s hand.
They were dragged back upstairs. But halfway through the hall—
Rochelle saw her.
The real Laurie. Dazed. Pale. Held by two others. She looked barely conscious.
Their eyes met for half a second.
“Laurie!” Rochelle screamed.
Laurie’s lips moved, barely. “Don’t—look—”
Then the men shoved them all into the new room and slammed the door shut.
Only later, as the girls sat shaking, did they realize it wasn’t her. The Laurie they’d seen in the hallway—that was her. But she never entered the room. Someone else was swapped in mid-panic. The same trick. Again.
And now they knew.
Coach Dan wasn’t just trying to break them up.
He was replacing her.
One identity at a time.
---
Chapter 18: the edge if silence
Summary:
break up.
Chapter Text
The room was suffocating.
Not because of the stale air or the locked door.
But because the silence screamed louder than any voice ever could.
Rochelle sat stiffly on the cold floor, eyes fixed on the cracked ceiling. Her hands clenched into fists so tightly her nails dug into her palms, drawing blood she didn’t feel.
Kai and Taylor sat nearby, shadows of themselves, faces drained of color, haunted.
They had witnessed something no one should ever see. A nightmare stitched into reality by two men whose love was a cage made of control and cruelty.
Through the speakers crackling overhead, James’ voice slithered into the room—icy, merciless.
> “Laurie’s almost there. Just one more step, and she’ll choose. When she breaks, you’ll be free.”
Coach Dan’s voice followed, colder, harder, like a knife dragging slowly across bare skin.
> “We’re saving her—from you. From your lies. From this... illusion. You think you’re heroes, but you’re the poison. Only we know what’s best.”
Rochelle’s chest tightened until it felt like her heart might shatter.
The words weren’t just cruel—they were a sentence.
A verdict.
She swallowed the rising bile, fury boiling beneath a fragile calm.
This wasn’t protection.
It was punishment.
And every second that passed was a countdown to a horror none of them could stop.
The flickering fluorescent lights cast monstrous shadows on the walls.
The fake Laurie sat silent, eyes hollow—too perfect in her lies.
Rochelle’s gaze locked on her, the sting of betrayal sharp and deep.
They were so close to losing the real Laurie forever.
And the only thing worse than the fear—
Was knowing the fight wasn’t over.
It was only beginning.
---
ik this is short
Chapter 19: Broken promises
Summary:
broken.
Chapter Text
The heavy metal door groaned open, dragging a long, dreadful silence behind it. Rochelle’s breath hitched, her heart pounding so hard she thought it might burst through her chest. Kai and Taylor sat rigid beside her, eyes wide, every nerve screaming in anticipation and terror.
And then, there she was.
Laurie.
Pale, fragile, like a porcelain doll cracked in places no one else could see. Her blonde hair hung limp around her face, and her usually bright, sharp eyes were dull, haunted — as if someone had drained the color right out of her soul.
She took a slow, tentative step into the room, shoulders slumped, voice barely above a whisper.
“I… I can’t do this anymore.”
The words hit the girls like a thunderclap, shattering every hope they’d been clinging to.
Kai’s mouth opened, trembling, but no sound escaped. Taylor’s hands curled into fists, nails digging into her palms to keep the tears from falling. Rochelle’s chest tightened so fiercely she thought she might choke, her trembling hands unable to move toward Laurie.
But beneath the surface, something didn’t sit right.
Laurie’s eyes flickered, a flicker of panic that betrayed the calm she was trying so hard to fake. Her voice, strained and brittle, trembled with a weight far heavier than sadness.
Rochelle’s mind raced.
“This isn’t real,” she thought. “She’s being forced. They’re making her say this.”
“Laurie,” Rochelle said, voice cracking, pushing herself to her feet despite the scream in her throat. “You’re not alone. We’re here. We know this isn’t what you want.”
Kai and Taylor joined her, their voices shaky but determined.
“We won’t let them do this to you.”
Laurie blinked rapidly, fighting back tears that spilled like broken glass down her cheeks.
“They’re… they’re watching. They said if I don’t—”
“Don’t listen,” Taylor whispered fiercely, stepping closer. “You’re stronger than that. You’re not their prisoner.”
Kai’s hand brushed Laurie’s arm, tentative but firm. “We’re not letting you go. Not like this.”
Laurie’s breath hitched, a battle raging in her eyes between resignation and a flicker of hope.
Rochelle knelt before her, gripping her hands tightly. “You’re not alone, Laurie. We’re fighting for you. For all of us. Please don’t give up.”
A sob broke from Laurie’s lips, fragile but real, and for the first time since she’d entered, the wall she’d been forced to wear began to crack.
The room felt impossibly small, but in that moment, amidst the fear and despair, the girls clung to each other—holding onto a fragile thread of hope in a world bent on tearing them apart.
---
Chapter 20: separation is the first to cause all to lose
Chapter Text
.
.
.
The silence in Rochelle’s new room was artificial—too quiet, like the walls themselves were holding their breath.
She sat against the corner, knees drawn to her chest, the cold from the tiles soaking into her skin. Her knuckles were still red from pounding on the door. Her voice was hoarse from screaming Laurie’s name.
They had taken her again.
Worse—Laurie had said she wanted to go.
No… she was lying, Rochelle told herself again. I saw it.
But had the others?
A speaker crackled to life in the ceiling.
“Rest now,” James' voice purred. “You’ve had a rough day.”
She flinched.
“You should be proud of her,” he added. “Laurie finally did the right thing.”
Rochelle bit her lip so hard it split. She tasted blood.
“You’re monsters!” she shouted.
No reply.
Just silence again.
Across the facility, Kai sat curled in her bed—arms wrapped tight around a sweatshirt that still smelled faintly like Laurie. Her eyes were blank. She didn’t cry anymore. What was the point?
She said it. She said she didn’t love us.
She repeated it in her head until it stopped feeling real. But no matter how many times she told herself it wasn’t true, that Laurie had to be forced, the ache never left her chest.
Then a sudden noise.
A knock.
Her head snapped up.
A knock again—soft, like fingernails.
From inside the walls.
---
In Taylor’s room, the lights were always on. A humming buzz like bees in her skull. She hadn’t moved from the bed in hours. She watched the ceiling fan spin, counting the rotations.
Seventy-one. Seventy-two. Seventy-three—
“Taylor.”
Her name.
She bolted upright.
“Taylor,” it came again—barely a whisper, but it was Laurie’s voice.
She raced to the door and slammed her fists into it. “Laurie?!”
Nothing.
The silence came back, louder than before.
---
In the control room, Coach Dan stared at the monitors, his jaw tight, watching his daughter on the screen. She was alone again—curled on the floor in a small padded room. She hadn’t said a word since they dragged her away.
“She’s close,” James said behind him. “I can feel it.”
Coach Dan didn’t respond.
“You said you didn’t care what it took,” James reminded him. “She was getting too attached. This is how we fix that.”
Dan’s hand trembled.
“She’s my daughter,” he whispered.
James leaned against the console, casual. “You want her back, don’t you?”
Coach Dan stared at the monitor.
Laurie sat up slowly. She mouthed something.
James hit a button. The camera zoomed.
Laurie’s lips moved again.
“I hate you.”
James smirked.
Coach Dan turned away.
---
In her cell, Rochelle wasn’t sleeping. She was pacing, eyes locked on every corner of the room. They’d taken everything—no window, no mirror, no sound.
But she still had her mind.
And that was dangerous.
“Why would she look at the camera?” Rochelle whispered.
She knelt beside the wall, pressing her ear to it. Faint humming. Electrical.
“She’s being watched. She knew we were listening.”
Her breath quickened.
“That wasn’t real. That wasn’t her.”
She smiled bitterly.
“And they know we know.”
---
Somewhere else, Laurie lay on her side, head aching, body sore. They hadn’t hurt her physically—but that wasn’t necessary.
They had shown her the footage.
Kai crying.
Taylor screaming.
Rochelle going completely still.
And then, over and over, her saying it:
"I don’t love you anymore."
They made her watch it on loop.
James sat behind her, tapping a pen against a notebook.
“You’re doing better,” he said. “That was very convincing.”
She said nothing.
Coach Dan stood in the corner, arms crossed.
“She’s just stubborn. But she’ll see reason eventually.”
James smirked. “They always do.”
Laurie closed her eyes.
But in the dark behind her eyelids, all she saw were the faces of the girls she loved.
The ones she just lied to.
And the part that hurt the most—
She wasn’t sure if they’d believe she was lying.
---
But she hopes they'd believe she was lying..
that's all she had left..
Was hope..
But at this point what is hope??
there is N҉O҉T҉H҉I҉N҉G҉ L҉E҉F҉T҉ T҉O҉ H҉O҉P҉E҉ F҉O҉R҉ F҉O҉R҉ H҉E҉R҉R҉.
N҉O҉T҉H҉I҉N҉G҉.
N҉O O҉N҉E҉..
ᏁᎾҬhᎥᏁᎶ
ᏁᎾ ᎾᏁᎬ
ᏁᎾ ᎾᏁᎬ ᎳᎥᏞᏞ ᏟᎪᏒᎬ fᎾᏒ hᎬᏒ ᏞᎥᏦᎬ H҈E҈R҈ D҈A҈D҈.
H҈E҈S҈ A҈L҈L҈ S҈H҈E҈ N҈E҈E҈D҈S҈ R҈I҈G҈H҈T҈??
ṧℏḙ ✺ℵℓ⑂ ℵḙḙᖱḙᖱ т✺ тԻṳṧт ℏ!Պ
ϻαϒνϵ ϯhϵϒrϵ rῖϭhϯ.
ϻαϒϦϵ..ῖϯ ϣαϩͷϯ α lῖϵ..
ϵͷδ of ͼhαϼϯϵr
Chapter 21: the new Doll.
Summary:
doll isnt she
Chapter Text
---“Break the Mirror”
Rochelle didn’t sleep.
She lay on the floor, arms crossed under her head, eyes wide open, staring at the security camera in the corner of her room. Watching it. Letting it know she was awake. That she saw it.
She whispered under her breath, soft and slow, “We’re not breaking.”
The speaker crackled.
Then James’s voice: “But she already did.”
Rochelle sat up slowly, tilting her head like a predator sizing up prey.
“Then why are you still trying so hard?” she asked coldly. “If you broke her, why are you keeping us locked up?”
No reply.
“Cowards.”
The mic cut out.
---
Kai had clawed the wallpaper until her nails cracked.
She wasn’t crying anymore.
She wasn’t thinking anymore.
She was remembering.
The way Laurie’s voice had trembled. The blankness in her eyes. The way her hands had stayed clenched, like she was trying to keep something from spilling out.
They had done something to her.
And Kai wanted blood.
She pressed her palm to the camera. “I don’t believe you,” she said. “I don’t believe any of this.”
But deep in her chest, something whispered back.
What if it’s true?
What if she had lost her forever?
---
Taylor was the only one who screamed.
She trashed the room.
Threw her bed at the door. Tore the sheet in half. Screamed until her throat turned raw.
“I DON’T BELIEVE IT!”
She said it over and over.
Until finally—on the wall—something clicked.
A hatch opened.
Smoke hissed out.
Then a speaker came on.
James’s voice, soft like a lullaby.
“Sleep, Taylor.”
She fell. Hard.
---
Laurie sat alone in a white chair, wires attached to her temples. Her eyes were glazed. She didn’t blink.
Coach Dan stood nearby, watching with a hollow expression.
“She doesn’t need this,” he said finally.
James didn’t look up from the screen. “We’re almost there.”
“She’s my daughter.”
“You already gave her up,” James replied calmly. “Remember?”
Coach Dan looked at her again.
The way her mouth hung open slightly. The way she didn’t even flinch when the door creaked. She looked like a doll.
Not his Laurie.
Not anymore.
He stepped forward, knelt beside her, and whispered, “You still in there?”
Her eyes flicked—just barely—to the left.
A tear slid down her cheek.
And then she whispered, barely audible: “Tell them I’m gone. If they think I’m not… they won’t stop.”
Coach Dan stood, trembling.
James smiled. “Told you. She’s almost perfect.”
---
Back in her room, Rochelle pulled the bedsheet tight around herself and stared up at the vent. They were watching them. Every second. Every move.
So they had to give them something to see.
Something fake.
She got up, walked to the camera, and forced a broken smile.
“Okay,” she said. “You win.”
Nothing.
Then a beep.
The speaker clicked.
James: “Rochelle… that’s good to hear.”
She kept her voice steady. “Bring me to her. Let me say goodbye.”
Silence.
Then: “Soon.”
She slumped back against the wall.
It worked.
They thought she was falling for it.
---
Kai wasn’t far behind.
She stopped fighting.
Stopped pacing.
Just lay on the floor, blinking up at the ceiling.
When the camera turned, she waved.
“Okay,” she said flatly. “Fine. She’s gone. You win.”
Another pause.
Then James’s voice again: “Good girl.”
---
They didn’t bring them to Laurie.
But they brought Laurie to the camera.
She stood in the center of a clean white room. Her hands folded in front of her. Her posture perfect. Her face blank.
“Say it,” James said behind the screen.
Laurie blinked.
“I don’t love you,” she said to the camera.
A beat.
Then again. “I don’t love any of you.”
“Smile,” James whispered.
She smiled.
Kai broke inside.
Taylor screamed into her fists.
But Rochelle didn’t move.
She watched.
She watched the flick of Laurie’s eye.
The twitch in her hand.
The subtle code buried in the way she blinked.
Morse code.
Rochelle’s eyes widened.
Help me.
She mouthed it again.
Help me.
Rochelle grinned through tears.
She stood and walked to the wall. “You’re slipping,” she said.
“Excuse me?” James snapped through the speaker.
“I see her. We see her.”
No response.
Then—
Gas.
Flooding the vents.
Thick and sweet.
Rochelle coughed. Her knees buckled.
But she smiled.
Because now she knew.
Laurie hadn’t broken.
Not yet.
And neither would they.
---
Chapter 22: D-O-L- L-H-O-U-S-E
Chapter Text
They heard the footsteps first. Slow. Echoing. Almost ceremonial.
The cameras in the corners blinked red.
Then the door groaned open.
And there she was.
Not the imposter—the real Laurie.
But not Laurie.
She looked like a doll.
Her skin was already pale, but now it seemed translucent, like the sheen of porcelain left in a freezer too long. Her eyes—normally bright, twitchy with thought and light-sensitivity—were now wide and blank, rimmed in pink. Her mouth was painted with a delicate stillness. She didn’t walk so much as float, hands folded neatly in front of her, like she’d been sculpted and set on tracks.
For a few seconds, none of the girls said anything.
Rochelle opened her mouth. Then closed it. The words didn’t come.
Laurie blinked once. Slowly. And then she spoke.
“I don’t want to be with you anymore.”
No one breathed.
Taylor’s hands dropped to her sides, as if her joints forgot how to work. Kai took a shaky step forward. “Laurie... what?”
“I’ve been thinking,” Laurie said, too calmly. Her voice was soft, neutral. “It’s just not right. For us. For me. I don’t feel the same anymore.”
Rochelle felt the words lodge into her chest like nails. But something in her was screaming. The real Laurie wasn’t this quiet. This... docile. Laurie flinched at every loud sound, every flicker of movement. She was messy, erratic, sharp and soft all at once. She was not this.
“Laurie, please,” Taylor begged, stepping forward, eyes already wet. “Please don’t say that. Please, tell me this is a trick, tell me they’re making you—”
“They’re not,” Laurie whispered, though her lip trembled just once. “I’ve made up my mind.”
But Rochelle saw it. She saw the twitch in her fingers, the stiffness in her spine like she was bracing for impact. The way her eyes flicked briefly—very briefly—up toward the corner of the ceiling.
The camera.
They're watching.
Laurie was saying it because she had to.
Kai broke.
“No. No no no no no—this isn’t real. You’re not real. Laurie, PLEASE.” She dropped to her knees. “I love you. We all do. We’re not okay without you.”
Something behind Laurie’s eyes cracked—but only for a moment. And then she blinked again. Calm. Robotic.
“I don’t love you back.”
Those five words shattered the silence into something worse. The kind of quiet that leaves you nauseous. The kind that comes after a scream in a graveyard.
Rochelle couldn’t breathe.
They didn’t even notice the door opening again until it was too late.
Bootsteps. A shadow. Arms.
Laurie turned, silently. Like she knew her script was done.
“No—wait—Laurie—LAURIE!” Kai tried to run, but two masked figures grabbed her, slamming her back. “LET ME GO! PLEASE—”
Laurie was halfway through the door.
“DON’T DO THIS!” Taylor screamed. “DON’T TAKE HER—!”
“Laurie!” Rochelle’s voice finally broke through, hoarse and ragged. “You don’t want this! You don’t mean it—tell us you don’t mean it! TELL US!”
Laurie didn’t answer.
She didn’t even look back.
The door shut.
Click.
Lock.
Silence.
Then—chaos.
Another door opened. This time, with purpose.
More masked figures.
One grabbed Taylor. One dragged Kai.
And Rochelle—she fought. She thrashed. She screamed, biting, kicking, nails digging into the wall. “GET OFF ME—LAURIE! LAURIEEE—”
“She’s not yours anymore,” someone whispered behind a mask.
They dragged her.
Kicking. Screaming.
And the whole time, her eyes burned red from tears, locked on the memory of Laurie’s face—the dead eyes, the cracked lips, the calm.
But Rochelle had seen it.
Just before the door closed.
The way Laurie mouthed something—I’m sorry—and looked at the camera again.
That wasn’t a goodbye.
It was a warning.
And then the girls were gone.
One in each room. One by one.
Alone.
Doors sealed behind them like coffins.
And somewhere below—Laurie collapsed, shaking, eyes wide and unblinking, trying not to sob as the door locked her away from everything she loved.
---
Chapter 23: ITS OVER FOR US.
Chapter Text
---“The Dollhouse Lies”
They heard the footsteps first.
Too many to be one person. Echoing through the long corridor like drumbeats before an execution. None of the girls dared to speak.
Taylor's hand found Rochelle’s. Kai just stood still, jaw clenched, heart in her throat.
Then the door creaked open.
And there she was.
Laurie.
Or... the shape of her.
The real one. They knew it. No one said it out loud, but they knew. The skin was pale, near-translucent — not just from her albinism but from something much deeper, like she’d been drained of life itself. Her white-blonde hair was combed perfectly, tucked behind her ears like she’d been groomed for a funeral. Her eyes — usually so wide, curious, glowing with fire — looked empty. She blinked slowly. As if blinking too fast would crack her face.
She didn’t walk in.
She was led.
By two masked guards, hands on her shoulders. She didn't resist. She didn’t cry. She didn’t smile either.
Just... silence.
“L-Laurie?” Kai whispered, eyes already stinging.
Rochelle’s chest constricted. It felt like someone had shoved their fist into her lungs.
Taylor took a step forward, “It’s really—”
Laurie held up a hand. Robotic. Controlled.
“I’m here to say something,” her voice trembled. Not because she was afraid to speak — but because someone wanted her to.
The lights flickered slightly. Cameras moved above them with a faint mechanical hum. Watching. Listening.
Laurie’s lips trembled. Her throat flexed like she was choking on something invisible. Then she said:
“I want to break up.”
The words cut like glass.
Kai froze.
Taylor gasped.
Rochelle felt her stomach drop so violently she thought she might vomit.
“No,” Kai whispered. “No. No. Laurie—what are you saying?!”
“I want... to break up with all of you,” Laurie said again, flatter this time, like she was trying to believe her own lie.
“No,” Taylor whispered, tears already building. “You said you’d never leave us. You promised. You said you loved—”
“I don’t anymore.”
Silence.
Suffocating silence.
But Rochelle didn’t fall apart — not yet. Her brain screamed at her. Look closer. Her eyes narrowed, scanning Laurie’s face. The perfect way she stood, the stiffness in her shoulders. Like a puppet. Like someone else was pulling her strings.
Then Rochelle noticed it: Laurie’s hands were trembling, but not from fear — from resistance. Her eyes were blank but glistened. Tears she wasn't allowed to cry. Her lips mouthed something — just for a second, just a twitch.
Don’t believe me.
Rochelle lunged forward, grabbing Kai’s sleeve. “She’s lying! Look at her! That’s the real Laurie, but they’re making her say it! Don’t listen to her—!”
But the others were too far gone. Their minds imploding from the betrayal they thought they’d heard.
“Stop,” one of the guards barked.
Another guard stepped in.
In a blur of chaos, Laurie was grabbed and dragged backward toward the hallway. Her head didn’t turn. She didn’t fight.
Because she couldn’t.
“LAURIE!!” Kai screamed, trying to run after her.
A guard slammed her into the wall.
Taylor cried out, trying to pull free from the second guard grabbing her wrist.
Then came the separation.
Steel doors opened behind them like mouths. The girls were yanked apart, one by one.
Kai screamed and kicked, her voice going hoarse.
Taylor begged. She clawed at the floor.
Rochelle fought harder than both of them — even bit one of the guards.
But they were all overpowered.
They were thrown into separate rooms — cold, windowless, and silent.
The doors slammed shut.
The locks turned.
And the world went still.
Rochelle’s chest heaved. Her face was burning from hot tears.
But all she could hear now was her own voice echoing off the metal walls.
“...She didn’t mean it…”
No one answered.
---
Chapter 24: four divided by 2 isn't 1.
Chapter Text
They were shoved into the room again. Same walls, same gray-blue lighting, but everything felt different now. It was colder. Or maybe it was just the silence between them.
The door slammed shut behind them, leaving Rochelle, Kai, and Taylor in a heavy, humming silence.
Taylor was the first to speak, and her voice was brittle. “I don’t even want to hear her name right now.”
Kai sat on the edge of the bed, arms crossed, eyes hard. “She said it, Rochelle. She said she wanted to break up. What more proof do you need?”
Rochelle didn’t say anything for a second. Her chest was heaving like she’d been running. No one was touching her, but she still felt crushed. Laurie’s words still rang in her ears—but so did something else. Something deeper.
“No,” she finally said. “That wasn’t her.”
Taylor snapped. “What do you mean that wasn’t her?! You saw her! You heard her! Don’t start this again, Ro!”
But Rochelle shook her head. “You didn’t see what I saw. She blinked way too long after the lights hit her—every time. Laurie’s sensitive to light. Even when we were outside after the game and someone flashed their phone camera, she nearly fell over.”
Kai’s jaw clenched. “You’re making excuses.”
Rochelle stepped forward. “No. I’m remembering who she is. That thing they brought in… it looked like her, but it was wrong. She was moving like a doll. No twitch, no bounce in her voice. She never looked at any of us in the eyes for too long. And—did you see her hands? She was clenching them like she was trying to stop herself from screaming.”
Taylor looked shaken for a moment, but then her face hardened again. “They probably made her say it, sure. But she still said it.”
“She had to say it,” Rochelle said, louder now. “They’re listening. She knew they were listening. So she said it so we wouldn’t get hurt.”
Kai stood. “Then why is she helping them?! If she knows what they’re doing, why play along?!”
“Because she’s being broken,” Rochelle said, near tears. “They’ve been isolating her too. They’re doing the same to her as they’re doing to us. You think they let her come up here on her own? No. They brought her up—like a message.”
None of them spoke for a moment.
Then, the intercom crackled. That voice again. James.
“Good evening, girls. Just a quick update—Laurie’s nearly there. We’re so close to getting her to truly believe she doesn’t need you anymore. That you were holding her back. A little more pressure, and she’ll let go for good. Once that happens... we’ll let you all go. Together or separate, that’s up to her. And to be clear—she won’t know what we’re telling you.”
The intercom clicked off. And the room imploded into silence again.
Taylor’s face turned a deep red, her fists clenching. “I hate him.”
Kai let out a long breath and finally looked over at Rochelle. “So... what now?”
Rochelle swallowed. “They said she’s joining us tomorrow. I think they want to see if we’ll destroy each other. If she’ll crack… or if we will first.”
Kai’s voice was hollow. “And if she doesn’t?”
“Then they’ll try harder,” Rochelle whispered. “They’ll never stop. They want to shatter her—and us—until we’re not us anymore.”
Taylor leaned against the wall, sliding down slowly, hands pressed to her eyes. “We’re not gonna make it through this.”
Rochelle walked over and sat beside her. “Yes, we are. But we have to remember her. Not what they show us. Not what they say. The real Laurie—the one who’d never give up on us.”
Kai sat, too, slower this time. The weight of everything was folding them in half.
The room felt too small for all the pain in it.
But Rochelle’s words cut through the dark like a dull blade.
“Tomorrow, when they bring her… we don’t believe anything she says. We remember who she really is. And we don’t let them win.”
---
Chapter 25: The new Doll
Chapter Text
: Hollow Porcelain
The room was too quiet.
Not the kind of quiet that offered rest, but the kind that scraped at your mind like nails on bone. Taylor paced. Kai sat slumped on the corner of the cot, shoulders tense, arms crossed. Rochelle remained seated against the far wall, flashlight clutched loosely in her fingers, eyes not leaving the sealed door. The silence wasn’t natural. It was curated. It was wrong.
They knew. They all knew. The Laurie who had been brought in before wasn’t real.
And now they were being told that the real Laurie was finally coming to see them.
“Just a little test,” James had said through the speaker an hour ago. “To see how far she's come.”
Taylor hadn’t said a word since then.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
And there she was.
Laurie.
Only… she wasn’t Laurie. Not really. Not yet.
She was walked in by two masked figures, her arms limp at her sides. Pale as snow. Blonde hair combed to perfection. Lips slightly parted, her breathing barely audible. Her eyes—those uncanny, nearly white irises—didn’t move. She didn’t look at them. Not until she was told to.
“Speak to them,” came Coach Dan’s voice, garbled over the static-speaker hidden somewhere in the wall.
Laurie blinked. Once.
Then turned.
“Hello, girls,” she said, and her voice was wrong. Too soft. Too even. Like a doll pulled from an antique toy chest, lips parted by invisible strings. “I hope you’re well.”
Kai stood slowly. “Laurie?”
Taylor stepped forward, voice cracking. “It’s you…? Laurie, please… say something only we would know.”
Laurie tilted her head. “I missed you. But I cannot stay. I am not allowed.”
“What the hell did they do to her?” Rochelle whispered.
Taylor reached forward, but Laurie flinched. The movement wasn’t natural. It was like a programmed recoil. A script. A puppet tugged off-stage.
“You said we were yours,” Kai whispered. Her voice cracked. “You said we were everything.”
Laurie didn’t answer.
Then Rochelle did it.
Click.
She flicked the flashlight on, the beam cutting straight into Laurie’s sensitive eyes.
Laurie screamed. It wasn’t loud, but sharp and childlike, collapsing to her knees and grabbing her head.
“STOP IT!” Taylor shouted.
“No!” Rochelle hissed, advancing. “She’s not gone. She’s in there!”
Laurie clutched her face. Her breathing became erratic. And then—a whisper. A breath.
“They made me say it.”
The words were so faint, they barely existed.
Taylor dropped to her knees beside her. “Laurie…?”
But Laurie had stopped. The blankness returned. Like a reset switch had been thrown.
She looked up.
“I will break up with you all tomorrow,” she said, monotone. “That is my choice.”
Kai screamed.
Rochelle turned and punched the wall.
The door opened again.
They dragged Laurie away.
“She will remain in conditioning,” James’ voice sneered over the speaker. “You three are to be separated again. We don’t want your little flashlight games spoiling our progress.”
Hands grabbed them.
Taylor kicked and clawed, screaming Laurie’s name.
Kai sobbed. She wasn’t screaming anymore. She had gone silent.
And Rochelle. Rochelle didn’t move.
She whispered: “You are not breaking us.”
As the doors slammed shut, the lights went out, and the floor beneath them fell away—figuratively or literally, they no longer knew.
All they knew was this:
Tomorrow, the girl they loved would return.
And tell them she didn’t love them back.
Chapter 21 has been written and updated with the changes you requested—longer, darker, and with Laurie speaking in a doll-like tone, while the girls desperately try to break through. Let me know when you're ready for Chapter 22.
Chapter 21: Hollow Porcelain
The room was too quiet.
Not the kind of quiet that offered rest, but the kind that scraped at your mind like nails on bone. Taylor paced. Kai sat slumped on the corner of the cot, shoulders tense, arms crossed. Rochelle remained seated against the far wall, flashlight clutched loosely in her fingers, eyes not leaving the sealed door. The silence wasn’t natural. It was curated. It was wrong.
They knew. They all knew. The Laurie who had been brought in before wasn’t real.
And now they were being told that the real Laurie was finally coming to see them.
“Just a little test,” James had said through the speaker an hour ago. “To see how far she's come.”
Taylor hadn’t said a word since then.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
And there she was.
Laurie.
Only… she wasn’t Laurie. Not really. Not yet.
She was walked in by two masked figures, her arms limp at her sides. Pale as snow. Blonde hair combed to perfection. Lips slightly parted, her breathing barely audible. Her eyes—those uncanny, nearly white irises—didn’t move. She didn’t look at them. Not until she was told to.
“Speak to them,” came Coach Dan’s voice, garbled over the static-speaker hidden somewhere in the wall.
Laurie blinked. Once.
Then turned.
“Hello, girls,” she said, and her voice was wrong. Too soft. Too even. Like a doll pulled from an antique toy chest, lips parted by invisible strings. “I hope you’re well.”
Kai stood slowly. “Laurie?”
Taylor stepped forward, voice cracking. “It’s you…? Laurie, please… say something only we would know.”
Laurie tilted her head. “I missed you. But I cannot stay. I am not allowed.”
“What the hell did they do to her?” Rochelle whispered.
Taylor reached forward, but Laurie flinched. The movement wasn’t natural. It was like a programmed recoil. A script. A puppet tugged off-stage.
“You said we were yours,” Kai whispered. Her voice cracked. “You said we were everything.”
Laurie didn’t answer.
Then Rochelle did it.
Click.
She flicked the flashlight on, the beam cutting straight into Laurie’s sensitive eyes.
Laurie screamed. It wasn’t loud, but sharp and childlike, collapsing to her knees and grabbing her head.
“STOP IT!” Taylor shouted.
“No!” Rochelle hissed, advancing. “She’s not gone. She’s in there!”
Laurie clutched her face. Her breathing became erratic. And then—a whisper. A breath.
“They made me say it.”
The words were so faint, they barely existed.
Taylor dropped to her knees beside her. “Laurie…?”
But Laurie had stopped. The blankness returned. Like a reset switch had been thrown.
She looked up.
“I will break up with you all tomorrow,” she said, monotone. “That is my choice.”
Kai screamed.
Rochelle turned and punched the wall.
The door opened again.
They dragged Laurie away.
“She will remain in conditioning,” James’ voice sneered over the speaker. “You three are to be separated again. We don’t want your little flashlight games spoiling our progress.”
Hands grabbed them.
Taylor kicked and clawed, screaming Laurie’s name.
Kai sobbed. She wasn’t screaming anymore. She had gone silent.
And Rochelle. Rochelle didn’t move.
She whispered: “You are not breaking us.”
As the doors slammed shut, the lights went out, and the floor beneath them fell away—figuratively or literally, they no longer knew.
All they knew was this:
Tomorrow, the girl they loved would return.
And tell them she didn’t love them back.
Chapter 26: Daddy's Favorite Doll
Chapter Text
“Fractures of the Porcelain Doll”..is what they say...
They brought her in like a prize won from a cursed carnival.
The heavy iron door creaked open. Three pairs of wide, raw eyes locked onto the girl they thought they’d never see again. For a second—just a second—something like hope sparked in the room.
And then it was shattered.
Laurie didn’t walk. She was led. Two figures—faces hidden behind surgical masks and darkened glasses—held her by her thin, pale arms, guiding her like she’d never learned how to walk on her own. Her feet dragged. Her hair, normally soft and flowing, hung in bleached ropes, dull and matted. Her lips were dry. Her lashes fluttered rapidly over nearly colorless eyes. And that blank, terrifying expression...
A doll.
That’s what she looked like.
A life-sized porcelain doll wearing Laurie’s skin.
"Laurie?" Kai’s voice cracked open the silence. "Laurie, is that—?"
Laurie’s eyes twitched toward her. Just for a moment. Then drifted past. Like a broken animatronic. Her mouth parted slowly. Deliberately.
“I am… very happy to be back,” she said in a lilting, glassy tone, the cadence off. Her words were rehearsed. Memorized.
Taylor flinched.
Rochelle didn’t speak. She was frozen in place, eyes darting from Laurie’s face to her trembling hands. Something was wrong. More wrong than any of them had prepared for. Laurie wasn’t just changed.
She’d been replaced. From the inside out.
The two masked figures shoved her forward. She stumbled a bit, then stood upright with a strange sort of stillness—too controlled. She blinked, once. Twice.
"Playtime… is over,” Laurie whispered, as if reciting something from a dusty nursery rhyme. “Daddy says… I should say goodbye soon."
“No,” Rochelle muttered, shaking her head. “No, no—this isn’t you. Laurie, you’re in there. I know you are.”
Laurie tilted her head at that. Slowly. As if her neck joints had rusted.
“Laurie loves her friends,” she said sweetly. “But Laurie must obey.”
Rochelle marched forward. Taylor tried to grab her wrist, but Rochelle shook her off. She stopped just inches from Laurie’s blank face.
“Who told you that?” Rochelle hissed. “Coach Dan? James? What did they do to you?”
Laurie blinked again. “Daddy said you’d be angry…”
Then—suddenly—she stumbled. Just a fraction of a second. Her knee buckled and she reached instinctively for the wall.
Rochelle saw it.
A twitch.
A falter.
“Taylor. The flashlight.”
Taylor’s hands trembled as she dug it out from under the mattress, still hidden since the last time. Kai stared.
“What’re you doing?”
“Proving it’s her.”
They didn’t stop her.
Rochelle stepped close again. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, barely audible.
Then flicked the flashlight on and shone it directly into Laurie’s face.
The effect was immediate.
Laurie screamed.
Not loud. Not angry.
Small. Sharp. Cracked porcelain.
She staggered backward, hands clutching her face. Her body hit the wall with a dull thud. She began shaking, lips trembling.
“No no no no no—Daddy said no more light—too bright—it’s too bright—too bright—!”
Kai and Taylor froze. Rochelle held the light for five seconds. Ten. Then turned it off.
Laurie collapsed to her knees.
And she was still.
Breathing heavily.
Shaking.
Whimpering.
“She’s blind,” Rochelle whispered. “Her albinism. Bright lights. It’s her.”
Laurie’s hands hovered in the air like she was reaching for something—someone—but didn’t know where they were. “It’s dark again,” she mumbled, voice small. “Daddy, I can't see again…”
Then, like a puppet string was yanked, her hands dropped to her sides. She sat in silence.
Kai’s face had gone pale.
“She didn’t scream like that last time,” Taylor whispered. “The other… that one. She never flinched.”
“This is the real Laurie,” Rochelle said. “But they’ve done something to her mind. Something awful.”
Laurie whimpered again. “I can’t see… Daddy’s gonna be mad…”
“Don’t call him that,” Rochelle growled. “He’s not your Daddy. He’s a monster.”
Laurie twitched.
Rochelle sat beside her. Gently, carefully, she touched Laurie’s cold fingers. “You’re in there, I know you are. And we’re gonna get you out.”
“Rochelle…?” Laurie whispered.
Rochelle froze.
“Yes.”
But Laurie’s face twisted. “No. I’m sorry. I’m not… not supposed to… say names. That’s… against the rules. They’ll hurt you…”
Kai knelt down too. “We’re not leaving you like this. We’re not breaking up. Do you hear me? We won’t.”
Laurie turned her head blindly toward the sound of Kai’s voice. Her lip quivered.
And then…
Nothing.
She straightened. Wiped her face.
“I must rest now,” she said in her glassy, doll-like tone. “I must rest. I must rest. I must rest…”
She said it over and over until she slumped to the ground, breathing slow and mechanical, lying in the fetal position.
The three girls sat around her, shattered and silent.
And somewhere behind the walls, a voice crackled through the speaker.
James.
“You’re getting so close, Laurie,” he said softly, like a father reading a bedtime story. “So close to doing the right thing. Once you let go… we’ll let them go. You know that. You want them safe, don’t you?”
No response.
Coach Dan’s voice came next. Cold. Controlled.
“She’s still resisting,” he muttered. “Increase her sedation next time. And if Rochelle tries that flashlight again, take her voice.”
Rochelle clenched her fists.
Kai’s tears silently streaked down her cheeks.
Taylor curled into a corner, refusing to look at anyone.
Laurie lay silent and blind between them.
They’d thought this was the worst it could get.
But it wasn’t.
Not even close.
---
Chapter 27: Glass dolls crack. especially if you push
Chapter Text
“Porcelain Cracks”
Laurie didn’t speak again after she collapsed. The light had done more than blind her—whatever was left of her awareness flickered like a dying bulb. She sat against the far wall of the room, hands folded neatly in her lap, chin down, lips moving but no sound escaping. A porcelain doll. Cracked. Hollow.
Rochelle paced.
The silence was unbearable.
“She’s not talking,” Kai whispered, her voice frayed, like it had been sanded down to the bone. “She’s not saying anything. I think… we hurt her.”
“She’s blind,” Rochelle snapped. “She can’t see, Kai. That’s why she stopped.”
Taylor sat curled in the corner, hugging her knees, eyes fixed on Laurie as if afraid she might suddenly leap at them. The girl in the white hospital dress wasn’t Laurie anymore—or maybe she was. Maybe that was what scared Taylor most.
“I don’t think she’s blind,” Kai said. “I think she’s pretending. That’s not Laurie. Laurie would’ve said something.”
“She’s real,” Rochelle hissed. “You saw the way she screamed when the light hit her. That’s not fake. The others never reacted like that.”
The room was colder than before. Not physically—but emotionally. Something had shifted the moment Laurie collapsed. The cameras in the corners tilted softly, like they were watching a play unravel, and even the fake Laurie—wherever she was—felt like an echo compared to the presence of the real one.
Laurie stirred.
“…Room 213,” she said quietly. Her voice was off—not robotic, but young. Childish. Soft and hollow like a broken music box. “Don’t let them put me in Room 213 again.”
The girls froze.
Rochelle took a step toward her. “Laurie…?”
Laurie didn’t respond. Her hands slowly reached up to her face, feeling the empty air. Her eyes were wide, unfocused, pale and glassy.
“They told me not to scream,” she whispered. “They said if I screamed again, they’d make me watch what they did to the other one. The fake one. She screamed. They replaced her, too.”
Rochelle crouched down slowly, trying not to startle her. “Laurie, it’s us. It’s me. Rochelle. You’re here. You’re safe—”
“No one is safe in 213,” Laurie murmured. “They watch. They all watch. Coach Dan watches. He smiles and he smiles and he—” Her voice caught, and she clutched her own arms tightly. “He took my name. He said I didn’t need it anymore.”
Kai shuddered. “She’s not okay. She’s—she’s not here.”
“No,” Rochelle said firmly. “She is. She’s just lost in it. They’re trying to erase her, don’t you get it?”
Taylor looked up from her knees, voice hoarse. “What do we do?”
“We bring her back.”
Rochelle pulled the flashlight from her pocket again. She hesitated—then flicked it on and flashed it directly into Laurie’s eyes.
Laurie flinched hard, curling into herself, a soft whimper escaping her throat.
“Don’t,” Kai shouted. “She’s already blind, Rochelle—what are you doing?!”
“She reacts,” Rochelle said, kneeling by Laurie’s side. “See? The real Laurie reacts. She’s in there.”
Laurie opened her mouth slightly, trembling.
“…Tay…lor…” she whispered. “Your perfume. Strawberries. I liked it… I think. I think I liked it…”
Taylor gasped. She crawled toward them on all fours, cupping Laurie’s hand in hers.
“You remember me?”
Laurie tilted her head. “They made me forget. But your name keeps bleeding through.”
“Don’t forget us,” Rochelle whispered, tears filling her eyes. “They want you to. They want to erase us from you. But you love us, Laurie. You told us that. Over and over. Don’t forget.”
A deep mechanical buzz filled the room.
All three girls jumped.
A metal door on the far end of the wall slid open with a slow, grinding screech.
Footsteps.
Multiple.
Four men in black uniforms stepped in. Behind them, James appeared first, calm and smug. And beside him, Coach Dan.
His smile was surgical.
“There she is,” he said, voice dripping with false affection. “Our little broken doll.”
The girls stood up instantly, shielding Laurie.
“She’s not going anywhere,” Rochelle said coldly.
“Oh,” Coach Dan chuckled. “She already did. You just haven’t seen it yet.”
He stepped forward. James placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.
“We gave her a chance,” James said, turning to the girls. “But she’s weak. She told us just this morning she’s ready to end it. She’s ready to cut ties.”
“That’s a lie,” Rochelle said.
Coach Dan tilted his head. “Oh? Then why don’t we let her say it?”
Laurie stood up slowly—mechanically. As if being pulled up by invisible strings. She faced them, unseeing, her face blank.
“I want to break up,” she said in that same porcelain tone. “I want to break up with all of you. I don’t love you. I never did.”
The silence was gutting.
Taylor stumbled backward.
Kai choked on a breath.
Even Rochelle’s knees buckled.
“…You’re lying,” she whispered.
Laurie didn’t answer.
Coach Dan clapped his hands once. “Good girl.”
Laurie turned slightly at the sound, but didn’t smile.
James nodded at the guards. “Separate them again. And get her cleaned up.”
“No!” Rochelle lunged forward, but a guard shoved her to the floor.
Laurie reached out briefly—barely noticeable—but then retracted her hand, as if something yanked her back mentally.
The room spiraled into chaos. The girls screamed. Kicked. Bit. But one by one, they were dragged out. Laurie stood alone in the center.
Her blind eyes didn’t move.
Her lips twitched once, barely.
“…I’m sorry,” she mouthed.
And then the door slammed shut.
Darkness.
Again.
But worse.
Because this time, the silence came with the sound of something shattering inside each of them.
And they had no idea how much further they could fall.
---
Chapter 28: chapter 30
Chapter Text
“The Test of Shadows”
The door opened again.
But this time, it wasn’t with the clatter of boots or shouts. It was quiet. Surgical. A silence that crawled under the skin and stayed there like rot.
One by one, the girls were ushered back into the same room—the one they had learned to fear and resent. But now, it was dressed differently. The lighting was dimmer, almost soft, like a child’s nursery trying to smother a scream. A camera in the corner tilted down with a soft mechanical click. Watching. Waiting.
In the center of the room sat her.
Laurie.
But not the Laurie they remembered. Not the fierce, awkward, nervous girl who blushed when she held their hands. Not the girl who stood up for them with trembling lips but a backbone of iron.
This Laurie… sat too still.
Her platinum hair fell like silk curtains around her hollow face, eyes unfocused. Blind.
The flashlight had done its job. A pulse of artificial sunlight. Cruel. Purposeful. Designed to disable. And now her pale eyes stared somewhere past the walls, not seeing any of them.
Her voice, when it came, was doll-like. Quiet. Singsong.
“I’m okay now… I’m with my friends.”
Rochelle froze. Her breath caught. That wasn’t her.
Laurie never spoke like that.
Kai turned her head away, jaw tight, lips bleeding from where she had been biting them.
Taylor sat on the floor, arms wrapped around her knees, eyes red from silent crying.
Coach Dan’s voice came on, smirking through the speaker like he was proud of what he'd done.
“Welcome back. You’re all together again, just like you wanted. Let’s see how long that lasts.”
Then James: “She’s so close to breaking, girls. So close. Once she says the words, you’ll be free. You can go home. All she has to do… is mean it.”
Silence followed. A silence full of bait.
The girls said nothing.
Laurie twitched. Her head tilted slowly, mechanically, like a ballerina on an old music box.
“I’m… happy. Aren’t we… happy?”
Rochelle moved first.
She knelt down in front of Laurie, gently touching her cheek.
“Laurie. Look at me. Listen to my voice. You don’t have to say anything. Just stay with me. You’re not alone.”
Laurie blinked. Her lips quivered. Her eyes were still lost.
“They said I’m broken. But… if I stay still, they won’t fix me.”
Kai looked away, unable to handle it. Taylor’s hands were trembling in her lap.
Rochelle bit her lip, hard.
“She’s blind,” she whispered, barely audible. “She can’t see us. Not right now. They used the flashlight.”
“No,” Taylor muttered. “No, no, no—she told us to leave her. She said she didn’t want us.”
“She said it because they made her,” Rochelle snapped. “You really think she’d mean that? Look at her!”
Laurie rocked forward slightly, her voice high and breathy:
“I’m your Laurie. I promise. Please be okay. Please don’t scream…”
The way she said it was wrong. Every word came like a memorized script. Like she was echoing what someone had told her to say, not what she wanted.
That’s when Rochelle grabbed the flashlight hidden behind a loose panel in the wall. One of the few objects they’d secretly recovered.
She hesitated… then flicked it on.
Laurie cried out — a soft, sudden gasp — and clutched her eyes.
“I… can’t… see…”
“I’m sorry, Laurie. I’m sorry,” Rochelle whispered, holding her close. “I just had to make sure it’s really you.”
And it was.
Because the fake one didn’t react to light.
This was her. The real one. The broken one.
And they were still using her like a doll.
“She’s blind,” Rochelle said again, louder now, turning to the others. “She’s blind and she’s trapped. That’s why she hasn’t looked at us. That’s why she hasn’t fought. They’ve taken everything.”
Kai finally turned toward them. Her expression cracked.
Taylor wiped her face, sobbing now. “She’s still in there.”
Overhead, the speaker clicked again.
James. His voice was sharp, urgent now.
“Well done, Rochelle. You figured it out. But this doesn’t change anything. She hasn’t cracked. Not yet. You’ve got… maybe twelve hours left. Let’s see how long you last this time.”
Coach Dan’s voice joined his, colder than before.
“And remember — she’s the only thing standing between you and freedom. Let’s see how much you love her when she starts dragging you down.”
The camera whirred again.
Laurie whimpered. Rochelle held her tighter.
“Don’t listen,” she whispered in Laurie’s ear. “Don’t break. We’re here. And we’re not leaving without you.”
The lights dimmed further.
And the test continued.
---
Chapter 29: Fractured shadows
Chapter Text
The suffocating darkness in the room was almost complete now, save for the faint glow of the camera’s red eye, silently observing, calculating. The girls sat close—shoulders brushing, breaths shallow and quick—but the space between them felt like miles.
Laurie remained limp in Rochelle’s arms, her alabaster skin almost glowing in the near-darkness. Her eyes, still useless against the blaze of the flashlight’s afterimage, darted nervelessly beneath heavy lids. Her voice was a soft murmur, a broken doll whisper.
“Don’t go… don’t leave…”
Rochelle tightened her grip, feeling her own heart fracture beneath the weight of helplessness. How long could Laurie last like this? How much more could their souls withstand?
Kai and Taylor’s faces were pale masks of despair and rage, both trapped in their own silent battles. They didn’t speak, but Rochelle saw the accusing glances thrown at Laurie—the betrayal they imagined in her forced words and fragile silence. She shook her head fiercely. No. Laurie wasn’t betraying them. Not like this.
Suddenly, the cold, grating voice of Coach Dan crackled through the speaker.
“Do you hear that? The silence? The pain? That’s what breaking feels like. Soon, she’ll say she’s done. That she doesn’t love you. And then, you’ll understand what freedom really costs.”
James’s voice joined in, sinister and sharp.
“Every second that passes, she’s slipping further. Don’t pretend you can save her. It’s time to choose — your loyalty, or your sanity.”
The room closed in around them, the walls pressing like heavy hands. The girls’ breaths quickened; panic flickered and grew like wildfire.
Laurie whimpered again.
“I’m scared…”
Rochelle kissed her forehead gently.
“We’re here, Laurie. We’re not going anywhere.”
Kai’s voice cracked, fierce and raw.
“We won’t lose you.”
But the silence answered back with a void that felt endless and absolute.
In the distance, footsteps approached—guard footsteps, slow and deliberate. The test was far from over.
---
Chapter 30: porcelain doesn't bleed
Chapter Text
– Porcelain Chains
The door opened with the same mechanical groan it always did, metal on rusted hinges, dragging hopelessness in behind it like a shadow.
Laurie was walked in again—no, carried. Her arms hung loosely at her sides, her legs dragging just enough to show she wasn’t walking by choice. Her head lolled ever so slightly, like a marionette pulled into motion only when needed. Her white-blonde hair—washed, brushed, pinned back—glowed like a ghost under the cold fluorescent lights. She looked like a doll freshly wound up, but not ready to play.
The girls had been brought back together again. Another test, they were told.
Kai flinched. Taylor curled her fists. Rochelle stood first, her jaw tight, chest rising with slow, calculated breaths. But Laurie didn’t react.
She was sat down in the corner of the room on the edge of a mattress. A single camera stared from the ceiling like an unblinking eye. No one said anything. No one needed to.
Except Laurie.
In a small voice, a child’s voice, she said, “My place is to sit. My mouth is for silence. My hands are for stillness. Daddy said… I never disobey.”
Her words stabbed the air.
Kai’s face contorted. “Stop calling him that. He’s not your ‘Daddy’—he’s your monster!”
Laurie flinched. Her eyes, still clouded from the flashlight incident, blinked but didn’t focus. She was trying to see, but the room was just shapes, shadows, and betrayal.
“Laurie,” Taylor whispered, kneeling beside her, “I know you’re in there. Just… touch my hand. If you remember me, just move. Just a little.”
But Laurie kept her hands folded in her lap like a broken doll at a tea party.
Rochelle stepped forward. “She won’t,” she murmured, darkly. “He told her not to. Her dad. Coach Dan. She’s terrified of ‘disobeying.’ He’s rewired her.”
“I don’t disobey,” Laurie said again. Her voice cracked, barely. Her lashes fluttered. “If I break a rule… he’ll take my eyes.”
The silence stretched and rotted.
Taylor cried quietly into her sleeve.
Kai punched the wall.
And Rochelle—Rochelle crouched in front of Laurie, lowering her voice to a whisper of warmth. “He doesn’t own you. And I know it hurts, Laurie, but I’m not leaving you in this state. We are not leaving you behind.”
“I’m not broken,” Laurie said. “I’m perfect. I don’t cry. He said crying is how the devil gets in.”
“You’re not perfect,” Kai snapped, unable to hold back. “You’re you. You were wild and loving and real. This isn’t you!”
But Laurie just kept whispering that same mantra, fingers trembling now, folded tighter than ever.
“I can’t,” she whispered. “If I do… he’ll hear. He always hears.”
Rochelle reached out. Laurie didn’t pull away—but she didn’t lean in either.
Taylor grabbed the flashlight again.
“No,” Rochelle said, “don’t blind her again. Not unless we have to.”
“She’ll see again,” Taylor insisted. “She’ll remember if she can see us—really see us.”
“I don’t want to see,” Laurie whispered.
But Taylor shined the light anyway. Quick. Just a flicker.
Laurie jerked back. Her pupils, wide and dilated, blinked into nothing. She was blind again. The darkness behind her eyes didn’t scare her—it comforted her.
“I told you,” Laurie whimpered. “No disobeying. No affection. No light.”
“Why?” Kai asked. “Why would he do this to his own daughter?”
Laurie said nothing. Her lips moved like she was trying to form words, but none came out.
Rochelle cupped her hand against Laurie’s cheek. “Because he wants her replaced. He wants us to forget her and love the fake.”
“I’m the real one!” Laurie snapped suddenly, sharp and terrified. “He said I had to say it. So I am. I’m real.”
Her voice cracked. Her hands clenched.
And for one moment—just one—her bottom lip trembled. Her mouth opened. Her eyes, though blind, tilted toward Rochelle like she knew she was there.
Rochelle whispered: “Say my name.”
Laurie hesitated.
Say it. Just say it.
“…I don’t know your name,” she said flatly. “He said not to learn names. They’re dangerous.”
Kai broke. She sobbed.
Taylor grabbed the mattress and flung it across the room, screaming.
And the door opened again.
Two men stepped in, dressed in black. One held a baton.
Laurie stood without being told.
“I was good,” she whispered, like a prayer. “I didn’t break.”
And they led her out again.
Rochelle ran. She grabbed Laurie’s hand just before the men yanked her free. “Fight him. Fight him from the inside. Remember who you are.”
And as they dragged her away, Laurie whispered, “I’m porcelain. Porcelain doesn’t bleed.”
The door slammed shut.
The light overhead flickered.
And the girls were alone. Again.
And every breath in that room felt heavier than it should. Like grief had hands and was pressing down on their lungs.
But Rochelle stared at the door.
And she whispered to herself, I’ll shatter the porcelain if I have to.
Chapter 31: Daddy loves obedience in his dolls
Chapter Text
: Porcelain Programming
The door unlocked with a hiss.
A cold gust of sterilized air washed into the cramped concrete room, and with it came the sound of heeled footsteps clicking rhythmically against tile. The girls—Rochelle, Kai, and Taylor—turned their heads slowly, dread already twisting their guts. They didn’t need to see her face to know who it was.
Laurie.
But not their Laurie. Not anymore.
She entered dressed like a porcelain doll, every detail carefully curated: frilled white socks, glossy black shoes that barely creaked when she walked, and a delicate powder-blue dress that made her skin seem even paler, almost translucent. Her hair had been curled into loose ringlets, her lashes impossibly long, her lips a gentle pink.
And her eyes—those pale, almost colorless eyes—were vacant. Blank. Empty.
"Daddy said I must sit now," Laurie whispered, stepping forward in dainty, rigid motions, folding her hands in her lap once she perched on the room’s only chair. Her voice was childlike, as if mimicking an obedient puppet from an old commercial. “I mustn’t disobey Daddy. Ever.”
Taylor stood first, a burning fury rushing into her limbs. “You are not a doll, Laurie!”
Laurie blinked slowly. “I am Daddy’s good girl. I obey. That’s how I stay safe.”
Kai’s voice cracked. “Laurie, please... please don’t let them do this to you. You’re stronger than this—”
But Laurie just turned her head, mechanically. “Daddy watches always.”
The red light on the camera above blinked—then suddenly fizzled out.
A sharp electric pop followed, and the room dimmed slightly. The camera went black.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Rochelle was the first to move. She darted to the corner where she’d hidden the flashlight she’d swiped earlier—just in case. Her hand trembled as she brought it out. “We don’t have long.”
“No,” Laurie whispered, almost too soft to hear. “I mustn’t—if I see the light—Daddy said I’ll be punished—”
Rochelle flicked it on.
A beam of harsh white light struck Laurie’s eyes. She flinched violently, eyes fluttering closed as a sharp gasp escaped her lips. She staggered back, hands over her face. Her breathing turned ragged.
“I’m sorry,” Rochelle said, voice shaky. “I didn’t want to hurt you. But you’re not supposed to be like this. This isn’t you.”
Laurie didn’t respond. She remained curled against the wall, eyes squeezed shut. Her voice trembled. “I can’t see… I can’t see…”
Kai and Taylor rushed to her, panic in their voices.
“I didn’t know it would work so fast—!” Rochelle’s voice cracked with guilt. “I just—I had to try.”
Taylor crouched beside Laurie, gently cupping her cheek. “It’s okay, baby. We’ve got you. Just listen to us. Please.”
“No,” Laurie said flatly, but something in her tone had cracked. Not robotic. Just… scared. “You don’t understand. He’ll know. He always knows.”
“He’s not watching anymore,” Kai whispered, holding her hand. “The camera’s out. This is your moment. Please…”
Laurie’s lips quivered. “But I’ll disappoint Daddy…”
Rochelle’s heart shattered. “Your father is a monster. You don’t have to love him for what he’s done. He’s trying to replace you. We know. You know it too, don’t you?”
Laurie’s jaw clenched. Her breathing slowed. And for the first time, something flickered across her face—recognition.
But it vanished just as quickly.
She stood, carefully, the doll-like persona snapping back into place like a mask. “I appreciate your care. But I must stay obedient. Daddy will be proud of me if I do.”
Kai growled. “This isn’t obedience—it’s slavery!”
Laurie turned her back to them. “You’ll understand… soon.”
Taylor’s eyes were wet. “Laurie… I love you. Not the fake one. You. The real you. We all do.”
There was a pause. Laurie said nothing.
Then, she knelt in the center of the room, facing the dead camera, her posture perfect.
The room was silent but pulsing with tension. The girls exchanged glances—fear and heartbreak etched into their features.
“Did we lose her?” Taylor whispered.
“No,” Rochelle muttered, jaw set. “Not yet. But if we don’t get her back soon…”
“She might never come back,” Kai finished.
Laurie remained still. Blind, obedient, and silent.
But somewhere deep inside her—something was starting to fracture.
And they knew… this was far from over.
Chapter 32: A Dolls paper Heart.
Chapter Text
"Paper Doll Heart"
The air in the room was still, almost too still. No humming camera. No buzzing lights. The silence was heavy, like a warning.
They’d stopped trying to whisper. Their voices were loud now. Desperate. The fake Laurie was gone.
And the real one… the real one had been brought back.
She sat across from them in the corner of the room, lit only by the dull orange glow of the emergency light overhead. Her white dress was ruffled, clean, perfect. Her hair had been curled and pinned into soft golden spirals. Porcelain-pale skin, glassy pink eyes that didn’t look at them—couldn’t, not after the flashlight incident.
Laurie was blind. Temporarily. Rochelle had shined the light again in a last-ditch effort to prove it wasn’t her. But this time, it had been.
This time, it had been Laurie. And now she couldn’t see.
She spoke only when spoken to, and even then, her words came in the soft, eerie lilt of a doll from an old music box.
"I’m not supposed to let you touch me… Daddy said no."
“Laurie,” Taylor whispered, scooting closer. “Laurie, please. It’s us.”
"That’s not allowed," she said sweetly. "My daddy doesn’t like disobedient dolls."
"You're not a doll!" Kai snapped, voice cracking, filled with the rage of someone who couldn’t cry anymore because it hurt too much. "You’re you. You’re Laurie. You’re ours."
Laurie didn’t move. But her fingers twitched slightly against her skirt.
That was enough for Rochelle.
She sat right beside her, touching her shoulder lightly. “You’re not doing anything wrong, Laurie. We’re your girlfriends. It’s okay.”
Laurie flinched.
Kai’s hand was next. Just resting on Laurie’s knee.
Taylor wrapped her arms gently around her waist from behind, chin resting on Laurie’s shoulder. “If we’re not allowed to love you, then what’s the point of surviving this?”
Something cracked then—not loud, but inside. A shift, a tremor.
Laurie’s breath caught.
And then—she blushed.
Just for a moment. Her cheeks, usually pale and soft and cold, went warm. Her body trembled like she wanted to collapse into them. Her lips parted.
But then her hands rose and pushed them away.
"No," she said sharply. "You’re going to make me disobey. I… I can’t."
Her voice returned to that unsettling sing-song tone. “I’m not allowed to feel things that make me break.”
The girls didn’t give up. They couldn’t. Not after everything.
They spent hours—maybe more, time was useless here—talking to her, holding her when she’d allow it, brushing her hair gently. They tried everything. Flirting, teasing, reminders of sleepovers and shared secrets, of the silly things they used to do. Of the way Laurie used to laugh so hard she snorted and covered her mouth in embarrassment.
Laurie listened. She didn’t laugh. But her lip quivered.
At one point, Rochelle leaned close, fingers barely brushing Laurie’s cheek.
"You don’t have to be perfect. Not for him. Not for anyone."
Laurie said nothing. But a tear slipped down her face.
And she didn’t wipe it away.
They slept huddled close, the four of them, even though Laurie kept whispering she shouldn’t be near them.
No guards came. No fake Lauries. No blaring voice from the ceiling. The camera stayed dead. The room was theirs—for now.
But as Laurie lay in Rochelle’s lap, eyes blind and shimmering, she whispered something that none of them forgot.
“I dreamed of breaking,” she said. “And he tore my voice out and stitched it shut.”
The girls froze.
“But you’re still speaking,” Taylor whispered.
Laurie’s hand rose slowly. She touched her lips.
"Not for long."
---
Chapter 33: Obedience is EVERYTHING to Daddy
Chapter Text
: “Even Dolls Have Heartbeats”
The room was still padded in that too-soft way. No edges, no corners—just a smooth, sterile silence that seemed designed to swallow screams. It smelled like lavender and plastic. Fake comfort. Like a hospital pretending to be a home.
And in the center of it, Laurie stood like she’d been placed there. Not like a girl.
Like an object.
She wore a pale blue dress this time—frills like frostbite at the edges, tiny buttons down her back. Her white hair had been curled and pinned like a porcelain antique. And her skin—paler than ever—was untouched by any trace of warmth. Even the bandages over her eyes seemed carefully applied. She looked… breakable.
The door shut with a hiss. Locking them in.
Taylor blinked. “Is that really her…?”
“She’s real,” Kai muttered, staring. “But that’s not our Laurie.”
Laurie didn’t move.
She stood straight, spine stiff, chin lowered just enough to seem demure. Her lips twitched faintly. Not quite a smile. Not quite blank.
Then, in that eerie childlike voice—the one they all hated now—she whispered:
“Daddy says I mustn’t speak unless spoken to. And I mustn’t touch, or be touched. Dolls don’t feel things they’re not given permission to feel.”
Rochelle stepped forward despite everything.
“No one’s watching us right now, Laurie,” she said gently. “The camera’s still dead. You can talk to us. You can be with us.”
Laurie’s hands folded in front of her.
“Being is not allowed,” she replied. “Only obedience.”
Her voice was almost… robotic. But underneath it—something flickered. A twitch in her lips. A tremble in her lashes.
Taylor crept closer, eyes wide with unshed tears. “Do you remember when I braided your hair during the championship game?” she whispered. “You said it made you feel brave. You smiled, remember?”
No answer.
Kai sat beside her slowly, arms crossed but her voice soft. “We know you’re in there, Laurie. I don’t care what they made you wear, or how they programmed you to act. You’re still ours. You belong with us.”
Laurie’s hands twitched.
“Daddy says—Daddy says—I must never disobey,” she said, slower now. “Never. Or else I’ll break. And if I break, I can’t be loved. Because broken dolls go in the trash.”
Rochelle’s face twisted in rage and heartbreak.
“He told you that?”
Laurie nodded once. Mechanical. Like a music box dancer.
The girls surrounded her gently. Close, but not overwhelming. Each of them radiated that desperate kind of warmth. Not threatening. Just… pleading.
Taylor brushed a lock of hair from Laurie’s cheek. “He’s lying to you.”
Kai leaned close. “You’re not a doll. You’re Laurie. Our Laurie. And we love you. You can break and we’ll still love you. We’ll just hold the pieces.”
Rochelle hesitated… then gently turned on the small flashlight they’d hidden in a sock earlier.
A beam of light flashed toward Laurie’s eyes—just briefly. Just enough.
Laurie gasped and staggered back, hands fluttering toward her face. Her pupils didn’t adjust fast enough. She turned, stumbled.
“I—I can’t see—don’t—don’t—”
Her voice cracked.
The first real crack.
Taylor steadied her, arms circling around her shoulders. “It’s okay, baby. You’re safe. You’re safe here.”
“I’m not supposed to be safe,” Laurie whimpered, pressing her face into Taylor’s neck. “I’m supposed to be good.”
And for a brief second, her body melted into the embrace. One second. Maybe two.
Then she pulled back, stiffening again. “I can’t—I’m not allowed—Daddy will know—”
Kai caught her hand. “Let him know.”
Rochelle pressed her forehead to Laurie’s.
“Let him watch you choose us.”
Laurie’s breath hitched.
And just as quickly—she looked away.
“I mustn’t… feel this,” she murmured, cheeks flushed. A faint pink that hadn’t been there before.
They saw it.
The blush.
And they didn’t say a word.
They just held her.
Even when she tried to pull away again. Even when she shook her head and recited the doll-commands under her breath like a rosary.
“I mustn’t cry. I mustn’t touch. I mustn’t love. Daddy says—Daddy says—”
The girls stayed close.
Because they knew.
If the blush could happen once… it could happen again.
And maybe next time, it wouldn’t go away.
---
TO BE 𝕮𝕽𝕬𝕮𝕶𝕰𝕯 ...
Chapter 34: Cracks can grow..even if unwanted
Chapter Text
Hairline Fractures
Laurie sat in her usual corner of the softly lit room, legs folded, hands clasped perfectly on her knees, spine straight, head bowed. The porcelain-doll dress she wore today was sky blue, with delicate ruffles and tiny white bows that framed her pallid arms. Her albinism made her seem even more ghostly in the dim, ambient light. Her eyes—still sensitive from the flashlight incident—remained half-lidded, like a doll left idle on a shelf.
The surveillance camera above the door had fizzled out again hours ago. Third day in a row.
Rochelle, Kai, and Taylor had learned to notice the shift in her demeanor when the camera wasn’t watching—when Coach Dan wasn’t watching. They were watching now. Not her father. Them.
And they weren’t giving up.
“She’s like a painting,” Taylor whispered, crouched beside Kai near the couch. “All frozen and perfect. But if you look close…”
“There’s a crack in the frame,” Rochelle murmured. Her voice was steadier today. “We just have to widen it.”
They approached together.
“Laurie,” Kai said gently, kneeling in front of her. “Can we talk to you?”
Laurie’s lips moved. Her voice was soft, mechanical.
“Daddy said not to listen. Not to let the cracks in.”
Rochelle sat beside her and rested her hand near Laurie’s. Not touching. Just near.
“You don’t have to listen to him right now. It’s just us. Just your girls.”
Taylor leaned in, offering a crooked smile. “Remember when we all snuck out to the arcade? And you spent all your tokens on that plush turtle for Rochelle?”
Laurie blinked. Once. Twice. Her lips trembled. She whispered in her doll-voice:
“That wasn’t… permitted. It was disobedient.”
“But it was you,” Taylor said. “Not a doll. Not a puppet.”
Laurie’s fingers twitched against the folds of her dress. She didn’t look at them. She couldn’t. But there was a pause—longer than before.
Kai took a step further. “Do you know what I miss?” she said, leaning in so close her nose nearly brushed Laurie’s. “I miss how you used to blush whenever I called you baby. You were so soft. Like your heart lived in your sleeves.”
Laurie’s jaw clenched.
“No,” she murmured. “That’s… not… safe.”
“It’s safe here,” Rochelle promised. “No one can hurt you here.”
Then Taylor pulled out her phone, and gently, with a flash of guilt, turned on the flashlight.
“Laurie. Look at me.”
The light brushed her face, and Laurie flinched. Her eyes shut tight, breath catching. She whimpered—a delicate, childlike sound—and turned away.
“I can’t see… it hurts. Daddy said the light means punishment.”
Taylor immediately turned it off. “I’m sorry—I just wanted to make sure you could see us. Know that we’re real. That you’re real.”
For thirty whole minutes, Laurie kept her eyes closed, unable to bear the light’s afterburn. Rochelle gently guided her into her lap, brushing Laurie’s hair with soft fingers.
“You used to ask me to braid your hair,” she whispered.
“I still do,” Laurie whispered. Then gasped.
All three girls froze.
Laurie’s eyes snapped open. “No—I didn’t mean that—I wasn’t supposed to say that!”
“You remember,” Kai breathed. “You’re still in there.”
Laurie turned her face into Rochelle’s shoulder. Her voice returned to the eerie, childlike cadence.
“Dolls don’t cry. Daddy says dolls don’t blush. Don’t feel. Only listen.”
Taylor crawled closer and cupped Laurie’s cheek.
“So why are you blushing?”
Laurie stiffened. Her cheeks, pale as moonlight, were tinged the faintest pink.
She shoved Taylor’s hand away—not harshly, but desperate.
“I mustn’t. You’ll break me. Please. Don’t… don’t make me disobey.”
“You don’t have to be perfect,” Rochelle whispered. “You just have to be ours.”
And for one tiny second, Laurie almost smiled. A flicker. A hairline fracture in the porcelain mask.
She turned her face away again. Silent. Struggling.
But the girls saw it.
She was cracking.
And soon, she might break free.
Chapter 35: Pressure..
Chapter Text
"Porcelain Pressure"
.
.
.
.
.
The camera stayed out.
It had been out for hours now—silence from the ceiling, no blinking red light, no voice crackling through the speaker. The girls didn’t know why, and maybe they didn’t care anymore. All they knew was that this might be their last real chance.
And Laurie was back with them.
She sat perfectly still on the edge of the shared cot, her knees folded neatly, her back straight as if supported by invisible strings. Dressed once again like a porcelain doll—lace-trimmed dress, white stockings, tiny shoes buckled with perfection—Laurie didn’t blink much. Her pale lashes fluttered every so often, but her gaze stared straight ahead.
Even now, after all this time, even after the flashlight incident that had left her temporarily blind—she followed the rules.
“Laurie,” Kai said gently, stepping closer. “You don’t have to do this. No one’s watching. The camera’s out. You can breathe.”
Laurie tilted her head slowly. “I only breathe when Daddy says so.”
The words were delivered in that same doll-voice, high-pitched and floaty. Emotionless. Detached.
Taylor sat beside her, close but not touching. “You’re hurting,” she said. “We can feel it. You’re fighting it. We know you are.”
“I don’t hurt,” Laurie said with a small smile that didn’t meet her eyes. “Porcelain doesn’t feel pain.”
That stung. But Rochelle wasn’t letting this go. She stepped forward, crossing her arms with a fire in her voice. “Then why did you flinch when Kai touched your hand earlier? Why did you blush when I said I missed you?”
Laurie’s smile faltered. Just slightly. A micro-crack.
“I—I didn’t blush,” she said quickly. “You imagined that.”
“Nope,” Kai said, moving in behind her. “You did. Just a tiny bit. Your ears turned pink.”
Taylor leaned in with a teasing tone. “Someone still remembers what it felt like to be loved, huh?”
Laurie looked down. “No. I don’t remember anything. Daddy said remembering is dangerous.”
Rochelle crouched in front of her, voice suddenly soft. “Laurie, don’t you miss us? Even a little?”
A beat passed.
Laurie’s lips parted. “I…” Her fingers twitched in her lap. A faint, glassy tremble. “I miss being a good girl. Daddy says if I keep being good, he’ll let me sleep in the cold room again. With the stars on the ceiling.”
“You don’t belong in a cold room,” Kai said, kneeling beside her. “You belong with us.”
Taylor reached out, slow and careful, brushing Laurie’s white hair back from her cheek. “You used to hum when you were nervous. Remember that? You’d hum the softball chant under your breath.”
Laurie blinked. Hard. “I don’t hum anymore. Dolls don’t sing.”
Silence stretched long.
And then Rochelle, with a mischievous glint, reached into the corner where the flashlight had been hidden. She flicked it on. A narrow beam of light stretched toward Laurie.
“No!” Laurie jerked back, shielding her eyes. The light caught her full-on—too bright, too sudden—and her whole body trembled as she clenched her teeth. “Don’t—please don’t—I can’t see—Daddy said no light—!”
They clicked it off immediately.
Laurie dropped her hands, breathing hard. Her vision was blurred again, her pale eyes watering. “Y-You’re not supposed to do that,” she whispered shakily. “You’re going to make me... break...”
“Good,” Taylor whispered. “Break.”
“No…” Laurie whispered.
But her voice cracked.
Just for a moment.
She turned away sharply, pressing her hands to her face, as if trying to physically push the blush back into her skin. “You didn’t see that,” she mumbled, voice high and brittle. “That didn’t happen. It didn’t count.”
Kai leaned her forehead against Laurie’s shoulder. “You’re still in there.”
“No,” Laurie said, but it was thinner now, like someone trying to scream through glass. “I’m Daddy’s doll. Not yours.”
Rochelle reached out again. She cupped Laurie’s hand—gently, warmly.
And this time…
Laurie didn’t pull away.
Not for a full five seconds.
Then her breath caught, and she yanked her hand back. Her fingers curled into her lap, trembling.
“I c-can’t,” she whimpered. “I’ll be punished.”
“No, you won’t,” Kai said. “Not here. Not while we’re with you. The camera’s still out. No one’s watching.”
Laurie opened her mouth to protest. But no sound came out.
Just a small, shuddery breath.
And a hairline fracture.
---
Chapter 36: Red light stop!
Chapter Text
“Perfect Girls Never Cry”
The room was still.
It was morning—if time even meant anything anymore. The soft overhead lights hummed faintly, and Laurie sat on the edge of her neatly made bed like a statue. Her porcelain dress—lace-trimmed, pale blue, and perfectly pressed—folded over her knees. Her white hair was brushed back, pinned delicately with soft pink ribbons.
She didn’t move.
Not until she heard Taylor giggle.
"Okay, okay,” Taylor said, crawling onto the bed, her voice sweet and teasing. “You’re gonna tell me I don’t look cute in this sweater?”
Laurie didn’t look. “I am not permitted to respond.”
Kai rolled her eyes but tried to keep her tone light. “That’s funny, because you used to steal Taylor’s hoodies all the time. Even slept in them.”
Rochelle leaned against the wall, arms crossed, watching Laurie carefully. “Remember the lavender one?” she murmured. “The one that smelled like marshmallows? You wouldn’t take it off for three days.”
Laurie blinked.
Once.
The crack was almost invisible.
Taylor scooted closer, reaching out. “Hey. You used to love that stuff. All the dumb flirty nonsense. You’d blush and shove us but never really mean it.” She nudged Laurie’s hand gently. “Don’t act like we forgot who you are.”
“I...” Laurie’s fingers twitched.
She didn’t finish.
Instead, she folded her hands carefully into her lap, like a doll resetting. Her eyes lifted, but not to them—past them, as if listening for a voice that wasn’t there.
“Daddy says I must behave.”
Kai crouched in front of her. “You are behaving. You’re surviving. But he doesn’t get to own you.”
“He made me,” Laurie whispered. Her voice sounded like something delicate breaking apart. “He gave me purpose. He taught me silence.”
Taylor was already pulling her into a hug, soft and warm. “No, we gave you a reason to fight.”
For a moment—
Just a moment—
Laurie didn’t pull away.
Her fingers brushed Taylor’s wrist. Hesitant. Real.
Then—
click.
The camera in the corner lit up again.
A small red glow blinked to life.
Rochelle turned immediately. “No. No no no—”
Laurie flinched like she’d been shocked.
She stood up too fast, knees wobbling slightly. Her voice became stiff, glassy. “Daddy is watching now. I must be still. I must be clean.”
“Laurie—please,” Kai said, stepping forward. “Don’t do this. Not again.”
But Laurie turned to the wall and curtsied, low and slow. “I’ve been good, Daddy. I didn’t cry. I didn’t scream.”
Her voice had gone soft, doll-like again. Her face was blank. But her eyes—her eyes burned.
The warmth from earlier—the trembling, the almost-touches, the blush she nearly let slip—it was all fading like mist in the morning sun.
“Laurie!” Rochelle cried. “Don’t shut us out—don't you dare! We’re not giving up on you!”
No answer.
Laurie stood with perfect posture, hands folded, gaze forward.
But her lip quivered.
For just a second.
And under the folds of her dress, her fingers clenched.
---
Chapter 37: Reset.
Chapter Text
: “Porcelain Doesn’t Bleed”
.
.
.
The room was soft with morning hush.
Muted light pooled across the floor from the high, narrow window. Dust hung in the air like sleeping fireflies. Rochelle stretched first, then Kai. Taylor blinked herself awake and sat up, rubbing the blur from her eyes.
And there she was.
Laurie.
Sitting upright in the corner of the room, hands folded in her lap, head tilted ever so slightly to one side like a doll placed on display. Her white dress was spotless. Her lashes fluttered like they were stitched into porcelain.
"Good morning," she whispered. Her voice was glassy. Perfect. “Daddy said to always greet the day with stillness.”
Kai winced. “You don’t have to call him that.”
Laurie blinked slowly. “But he is my daddy. I want to be good for him.”
Her tone was sweet. Empty.
But her hands trembled.
Rochelle saw it first.
And it was enough.
---
They didn’t waste time.
Taylor knelt beside her, brushing soft curls away from Laurie’s face. “Hey. You hungry?” she offered gently. “I’ll share my granola bar. The good kind.”
“I do not require sustenance.” Laurie’s lips smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
“Liar,” Kai muttered, digging through her bag anyway.
Rochelle slid onto the floor, legs crossed, and leaned in just enough for her thigh to press against Laurie’s. “Hey… can I ask something?”
Laurie blinked. Slowly. Cautiously. “Yes, Rochelle.”
“If you’re supposed to be perfect for him… why are you shaking?”
Laurie’s smile faltered.
Only slightly.
---
Taylor leaned in from the other side. “You can feel things, right? You’re not just some little toy he wound up and stuck in a box?”
“I’m not a toy,” Laurie snapped—too quickly.
And there it was.
A crack.
It was small, but sharp. The kind that could split porcelain.
Kai knelt in front of her, steady and serious. “Laurie. Look at me.”
She didn’t.
“Laurie,” she said again—softer. “Please.”
Laurie’s gaze drifted up. She met Kai’s eyes.
And blushed.
Just for a second.
Like lightning behind fog.
Then she turned her head away, like it hurt.
“I… I shouldn’t—” Laurie started, voice small. “Daddy wouldn’t like—”
“We’re not asking what he wants,” Rochelle whispered, brushing a fingertip along Laurie’s cheek. “We’re asking you.”
Laurie’s lips parted.
And then—
Click.
A tiny sound. Mechanical. Cold.
The girls froze.
The camera light flickered back on in the corner of the room.
It blinked.
Red.
Alive.
Watching.
---
Laurie’s whole body tensed. She stood up too quickly, too stiff. Her dress swayed with her like she’d been pulled by strings.
Her expression melted back into softness. Too soft.
“Girls,” she said gently. “You mustn’t touch me without permission. That would be… improper.”
“Laurie—” Taylor stood, panicked.
But Laurie just stepped back. “Daddy says order is love. If I obey, I will not be punished.”
Her voice was calm again. Doll-like. Dead.
Rochelle stood too fast, voice cracking. “You were blushing, Laurie. We saw it.”
Laurie tilted her head. “I am functioning as intended. You are mistaken.”
A beat.
And then she curtsied.
Perfectly.
---
The girls stood there—devastated.
The silence felt like a funeral.
“She’s… slipping,” Kai whispered. “Everything we did…”
Rochelle shook her head, tears stinging. “We’re losing her.”
Taylor didn’t move.
She just stared at the flickering red light.
And whispered, “No. She’s still in there. Porcelain doesn’t blush.”
---
TO BE CONTINUED.
---
Chapter 38: Up and down, in an out.
Chapter Text
“Static Eyes”
The static sizzled without warning.
A sickly zzzt-crk echoed above them like a curse, and the girls froze. Their eyes shot to the glowing red eye of the camera, no longer dead but blinking—alive. Watching. Judging.
Laurie jerked upright.
Her body stiffened, hands folding on her lap as if snapped into place by invisible strings. Her back straightened, chin tilted down, her expression draining like color from a fading photo. Rochelle felt the air leave the room.
“Laurie…?” Taylor whispered, her voice shaking.
Laurie’s lips parted slowly. That soft, lifeless porcelain tone slipped from her mouth like a lullaby turned bitter.
“...Daddy is always watching,” she said quietly.
Kai’s stomach dropped. “No, no—hey, hey, it’s okay, it’s just a flicker. Don’t do this,” she pleaded, reaching out instinctively.
But Laurie was already slipping, sinking back into that cruel shell. Her glassy eyes didn’t meet theirs. Her hands trembled at her sides, and she folded them tighter to stop it.
“I—I must sit still. I must smile. I mustn’t speak unless spoken to…”
Rochelle saw it. The quiver in Laurie’s lip. The corner of her eye twitching like her soul wanted to scream. She was breaking again—but this time, it wasn’t towards them. It was backwards. Downward. Into something dark.
“Laurie, look at me!” Rochelle crawled forward, grabbing her shoulders. “Please. He’s not here. You’re safe with us!”
Laurie blinked. Her pupils seemed to shimmer—almost confused, like a child waking up from a nightmare too fast. “I… I don’t know how to… how to be…”
Another crk! of the camera.
The red eye faded.
Gone.
The air broke like glass.
Laurie flinched hard, her head snapping toward the now-dark lens. She didn’t move for a breathless five seconds.
Then her hands flew to her face and she gasped.
Taylor rushed over, wrapping her arms around Laurie tightly before she could hide again. “You did it. You’re still here. He didn’t take you from us.”
Laurie shook her head violently, still trembling. “He’ll be angry. He’ll be so, so mad. I let you touch me. I let myself feel that warmth again. I—”
“You are allowed to feel,” Kai said, scooting closer, brushing her fingers through Laurie’s white hair with soft reverence. “You are not his little doll. You’re ours. Yours.”
Laurie blinked again, and this time, she didn’t fight the tears that gathered in the corners of her eyes.
Rochelle whispered, voice thick with protective fire. “We’ll keep pulling you back. Even if he drags you to the edge, we’ll keep reaching.”
Laurie finally whispered, “But what if I fall anyway?”
Kai pressed her forehead against hers. “Then we fall with you. And climb back up together.”
The silence hung there. The girls wrapped around Laurie like shields. She didn’t say anything else. But she didn’t pull away either.
Then—
CRACKK.
The camera sparked again.
Laurie’s eyes shot open, the red returning to her cheeks as if yanked by a chain. The light bathed her in surveillance glow.
Laurie’s breath stopped. She blinked once. Twice.
And smiled.
The girls’ hearts shattered.
In a voice soft and cheerful—too cheerful—Laurie whispered, “Isn’t it a lovely evening, girls?”
Then—
Darkness again.
The camera cut out.
But the damage lingered in the silence.
The reset smile. The empty tone. The trap reopening inside her mind.
The girls looked at one another, terrified. They were losing her again.
But Rochelle narrowed her eyes.
“Then we fight harder.”
Chapter 39: Fizzle in and out
Chapter Text
– "Flicker"
(ηgℓ ι ωαѕ ѕσ υη¢σмƒσятαвℓя яєα∂ιηg αη∂ ωяιтυвg вυт тнαт мєαηѕ ιтѕ gσσ∂ єησυgн. нα! ν ѕαуѕ нι gυуѕ)
---
A faint static buzz filled the room—sharp, electric, artificial.
The red light blinked back on.
Laurie’s porcelain body stood perfectly straight, hands folded in front of her ruffled apron. Her unseeing eyes blinked just once as her lips parted in a soft, breathless hum.
"Hello, Daddy," she whispered to the camera, voice like lace dipped in ice. “I was very good. I didn’t let them touch my thoughts. I remembered the list. I said all the right things…”
Rochelle flinched. Kai backed away slowly. Taylor's breath hitched in her throat like a wire caught on bone.
The red light on the camera flicked again—and vanished.
Darkness. Silence. A beat of nothing but breath and the creaking of the room.
"Laurie," Rochelle whispered immediately, leaning in as the porcelain girl blinked, confusion flashing across her lashes like a breeze stirring through curtains. “Laurie, that’s not you. That’s him talking. Not you.”
Laurie swayed slightly.
"I-it’s okay,” Taylor added softly, reaching out. “The camera’s out. He can’t see. He can’t hear. You’re safe—just for now. Please listen.”
"No," Laurie said faintly. Her hands clenched, trembling as they balled into fists at her sides. Her head tilted slightly to one side, as if listening for something far away. “I’m not supposed to. Daddy said not to. He said—if I listen, I’ll forget. I’ll… melt. I’ll—”
“Then melt,” Kai snapped, stepping forward, voice breaking. “Please. We’ll catch you. Don’t you remember what it felt like to laugh? To hold hands? We’re not asking you to be anything but Laurie.”
Laurie’s breath hitched.
Her head dipped forward. One curl fell from its perfect place and dangled beside her cheek. A blush—just a faint one—bloomed in her pale skin like blood soaking slowly through snow.
“I...” Her voice cracked. “I had a dream once. A picnic. There was sun. And I didn’t burn. And you kissed my cheek, Kai. I think…”
The red light snapped back on.
Laurie’s entire posture reset like a doll being placed back on a shelf. She stood straighter. Expression blank. Her lips curled into a practiced, eerie smile.
“I like this room,” she said robotically to the lens. “It is clean and safe. The girls are sweet to me. But I do not let them near my thoughts. I love Daddy very much. I am obedient.”
She turned slowly toward the corner where the camera lens blinked.
“Daddy, are you watching?”
A long moment of silence.
Then the red light fizzled out again.
Gone.
Laurie blinked—and fell to her knees like the strings had been cut from a marionette. Her breath came in short, panicked gasps.
Taylor dropped beside her first. “Laurie, please. Come back. Please, come back to us.”
“You don’t have to be porcelain,” Rochelle whispered, her hand brushing Laurie’s. “You’re real. You’re still here. We know it.”
Laurie opened her mouth to speak—but nothing came. Her eyes fluttered shut, and for a second, she swayed forward into Kai’s arms.
A small, broken voice escaped her lips.
“…don’t let me go back.”
They held her tighter.
The red light did not return.
Not yet.
---
Chapter 40: Even good girls can be bad. at a point
Chapter Text
---
For five whole minutes, the red light stayed off.
No static. No click. No voice.
Just the girls—heartbeats loud in the silence—and Laurie, crumpled on the floor like a shattered figurine someone tried to glue back together with trembling hands.
Her voice had gone quiet again. But she didn’t move away when Kai brushed her hair back.
She didn’t flinch when Taylor took her hand.
And when Rochelle knelt in front of her, speaking soft and steady, Laurie didn’t interrupt.
“You’re still in there. I know it,” Rochelle whispered, eyes locked with Laurie’s pale, unblinking ones. “He didn’t erase you. He just painted over you. But paint peels. And you’re peeling, Laurie. I see it. We all see it.”
Laurie’s fingers twitched. Her breath caught.
“I’m not supposed to peel,” she whispered, sounding horrified by her own words. “If I peel, Daddy won’t want me anymore. He said broken dolls don’t belong in display cases. He said—”
The red light flicked on.
The shift was instantaneous. Laurie sat upright, spine perfect, voice syrupy and hollow.
“I am not broken,” she said to the camera. “I am obedient. I am polished. I am loved.”
And then—flick—it was gone again.
Taylor snapped her fingers in front of her face. “Laurie! Come on—fight that! That’s not you! You're not some puppet he winds up!”
“I don’t know which one I am anymore,” Laurie admitted, her voice cracking down the middle like porcelain under stress. “The one who listens or the one who dreams.”
“The one who feels,” Kai said, holding her by the shoulders. “That’s who you are.”
“You blushed,” Rochelle added. “You remembered the picnic. You melted for a second. You can again. Laurie, you’re not a doll—you’re ours.”
Something shifted behind Laurie’s eyes. She looked at their hands on her arms. Her vision wavered—blurry, wet, and scared.
Then, from deep within her, she whispered something so fragile it almost wasn’t sound.
“…help me.”
The red light snapped back on. This time brighter.
A click.
James’s voice came through the speaker—hollow and calm, with venom in its sweetness.
“She’s not yours. She's safe with us. She's clean now. She’s almost done being fixed.”
Laurie gasped.
But the girls didn’t let go.
Rochelle stood and faced the camera directly. “She’s not yours either. You tried to rewrite her—but the ink’s running. You can’t hold her forever.”
“You’re wrong,” James said calmly. “And you’ll see just how wrong when we switch her out again.”
The click cut off.
The red light blinked once… then faded out.
Gone.
Silence returned, thick and electric.
Laurie's voice shook. “Wh-what does that mean? Switch… me?”
“They have copies,” Kai said. “They’re trying to replace you. With a fake. They want to make us forget you.”
“They can’t,” Taylor added. “Because none of them blush when we say the things we say. None of them break. You’re real, Laurie. They hate that you’re still real.”
Laurie shivered.
And for the first time since this all began, she moved first—leaning into Kai’s arms. Her breath hitched. Her voice cracked.
“I think… I don’t want to be good anymore.”
The girls said nothing. They just held her.
The light didn’t return.
Not tonight.
---
Chapter 41: Cracked.
Chapter Text
Fractures and Hands
The camera buzzed faintly overhead, its red light blinking… then steady… then gone again.
Kai’s eyes didn’t leave Laurie. Neither did Taylor’s or Rochelle’s. Laurie sat unnaturally still, lips gently parted, dressed in that delicate, ivory dress that always made her look more like porcelain than flesh. Her eyes — so pale, so uncertain — stayed downcast.
“Laurie,” Taylor whispered, inching closer again, brushing a curl behind Laurie’s ear. “You don’t have to keep pretending. You don’t need to be what he made you.”
“I’m not pretending,” Laurie replied, soft and automatic, her voice dipped in that doll-like cadence. “Daddy said I must stay pretty. I must stay quiet. I must stay perfect.”
The camera light sparked back on. The girls froze. Laurie blinked — and in that moment, her expression retreated, the little warmth that had almost broken through sucked right back behind glass.
Then came the buzz of the intercom — short, harsh, electric.
And silence.
Then footsteps.
The door creaked open with unnatural smoothness. Three tall figures entered, faces hidden behind molded white masks. Their movements were quiet, robotic.
“By order of Coach Dan,” the first one said. “The doll needs repair.”
“No,” Kai whispered, already standing, moving in front of Laurie like a shield. “No way. You’re not touching her.”
“She’s not a doll,” Rochelle growled, stepping beside her. “She’s our Laurie.”
Laurie didn’t move. She sat there — wide-eyed, trembling — and whispered, “Daddy said… if I break, they’ll fix me.”
“You’re not broken!” Taylor snapped, grabbing her hand. “You’re not something he gets to fix! You’re real, Laurie. You’re real and you’re ours!”
The masked figures stepped forward.
All three girls moved at once — Kai wrapped her arms around Laurie from behind, Rochelle latched onto her waist, and Taylor clutched her arm with both hands. They weren’t coordinated. They weren’t trained.
But they were unmovable.
“You can’t have her,” Rochelle hissed through her teeth. “You can tell him that. I dare you.”
The first figure reached for Laurie’s arm — and Kai slapped it away.
“No.”
The lights in the ceiling flickered violently — the camera sparked, then shut off entirely.
Laurie stared at their hands on her. At the way they held her so tightly, so fiercely. Her lip trembled, and her voice came out faintly: “I’m not allowed to be… loved like this.”
“You are,” Taylor said through gritted teeth, tears brimming. “You are, Laurie. And we’re not letting you go.”
There was a pause. Just one beat.
Then Laurie whimpered, a small, painful sound. Her porcelain mask cracked ever so slightly as her fingers curled around Kai’s sleeve.
The figures backed off. Silent. Uncertain.
The girls didn’t loosen their grip. Not even when the door slammed behind the retreating figures. Not even when the light flickered back on.
And not even when Laurie’s voice, quiet and broken, finally asked: “Why do you still want me… if I’m so wrong?”
Rochelle pulled her even closer.
“Because you’re not. And we’ll prove it, even if we have to fight the whole world for you.”
---
Chapter 42: Break the doll
Chapter Text
Four Hands to Break the Doll
The room had fallen into a rhythm again. A gentle, quiet pulse shared between four girls and a failing camera that sparked faintly, then flickered out like a dying firefly.
Taylor’s arms held Laurie from behind, cradling her like something irreplaceable. Rochelle knelt in front, her fingers running lightly over Laurie’s pale hands. Kai rested against her side, humming under her breath — soft, calming. Laurie didn’t resist. She didn’t pull away. She didn’t ask what they were doing or tell them to stop.
Because they’d told her the truth — or at least something she believed now.
"Daddy said," she murmured earlier, voice so light it barely existed, "a good doll doesn’t fight when someone touches her the right way.”
And so she didn't.
Not now.
But the peace shattered the moment the door slammed open again.
Four shadows entered — taller, broader, harsher than before. Their masks were bone-white and cold. They moved without hesitation.
“We’ve come to take the doll,” one of them said, monotone. “She is malfunctioning.”
Rochelle’s face darkened. “She’s not a doll.”
“She requires correction,” another voice replied. “Orders from Coach Dan.”
Kai stood immediately, arms spread. “Over my dead body.”
Taylor held Laurie tighter, whispering into her ear, “Don’t move. Don’t let them take you. Please, Laurie. Don’t let go.”
The figures stepped forward.
Laurie didn’t speak.
She didn’t scream.
But she didn’t move.
Even when gloved hands reached out toward her, she remained in Taylor’s grip — body loose, head bowed, breathing shallow. She stayed.
“She’s complying,” one of the men muttered.
“She’s not yours to fix!” Rochelle yelled, standing between them and Laurie like a wall made of anger and fear. “She’s not broken!”
“She is property of Coach Dan. Step aside.”
“We’re not moving,” Kai snarled, hands curled into fists. “Try and touch her and see what happens.”
One of the men lunged — Rochelle was faster. She struck first, her shoulder crashing into his chest. Another grabbed for Laurie, but Taylor twisted away, wrapping Laurie’s legs with her own, shielding her with her body.
“Don’t fight…” Laurie whispered dazedly. “I’m being good…”
“You’re being safe,” Kai said fiercely, kicking at the third figure’s shin as he grabbed her arm. “Stay safe with us!”
The room turned into chaos.
Grunts. Thuds. Furniture scraping.
The girls were smaller, but rage and love made them impossibly strong. Kai bit down on a gloved wrist. Rochelle slammed her elbow into a stomach. Taylor refused to let go, even as her arms began to shake from the force trying to tear Laurie away.
One of the masked men gripped Laurie’s ankle and yanked hard.
She cried out softly — not in fear, but confusion.
“Stop—!” Taylor screamed. “She’s not fighting you. You can’t take her!”
“She is docile. That is the requirement.”
“She’s not a THING!” Rochelle roared, grabbing Laurie’s waist, holding on with everything she had. “She’s not yours to carry off like a broken doll!”
Laurie made a tiny sound — not quite a word, but not silence either.
Like something deep inside her had flinched.
The figures paused again.
The fourth one looked toward the corner — where the camera lens blinked alive for half a second.
Then it died again.
“Fall back,” the tallest one said at last. “She has not yet reached optimal docility.”
And just like that — they left.
No warnings. No threats.
Just the echo of their exit.
Laurie didn’t speak for a long moment.
Then:
“I didn’t move… Was I… good?”
Taylor kissed her temple. “You were brave.”
Rochelle wiped her tears. “You stayed with us. That’s all we needed.”
Kai leaned into Laurie’s side, whispering so gently it trembled:
“You’re not a doll, Laurie. But if you were… you’d be ours.”
---
Chapter 43: A perfect doll
Summary:
IM RUNNING OUT OF CHAPTER NAAAMMMEESSSS WWWAAAAAAHHHH
Chapter Text
"A Good Doll Always Obeys”
The room was still, blanketed in dim blue light from the flickering overhead bulb. Laurie sat quietly at the edge of the mattress, porcelain-still, her pale lashes casting gentle shadows beneath her unfocused eyes. Her posture was perfect—hands folded in her lap, spine straight, head tilted slightly like a doll posed for a picture. The ribbons in her snow-white hair didn’t move when she breathed, because she barely did.
Kai knelt in front of her, reaching forward slowly, like approaching a sleepwalker on the edge of a cliff.
“Laurie… can I touch your hand?” she asked softly.
Laurie blinked slowly but didn’t answer. She looked like she was calculating something far away, trapped in a script.
“Coach Dan said good dolls don’t pull away when people touch them,” Rochelle whispered from behind her, her voice smooth as silk, wrapping gently around Laurie’s ear. “He said it makes him very proud when his doll behaves.”
Something in Laurie’s shoulders flinched—barely. But she didn’t move when Kai gently slid her hand into hers.
Kai’s heart skipped. She didn’t pull away.
Taylor joined, brushing Laurie’s hair back from her face. “And a good doll doesn’t look sad when she’s being held, right?” she said. “Daddy wants you to smile when you’re hugged. He said that, remember?”
Laurie nodded slowly. “...Yes. Daddy wants… me to smile…”
She didn’t smile, but she didn’t flinch either when Rochelle wrapped her arms around her from behind, pulling her into a soft hug. For a moment, all four girls held her there, quietly.
But the moment shattered.
The door slammed open.
Four men—masked, black-gloved, and uniform in their slow, deliberate steps—poured into the room like a shadow, closing the distance before the girls even had time to scream.
“She’s scheduled for fixing,” one of them announced in a deep, neutral voice. “Coach Dan says the doll’s broken.”
“No—no, get away from her!” Taylor shouted, throwing her arms around Laurie’s waist.
Kai and Rochelle did the same, holding her like their lives depended on it.
Laurie, still and silent, didn’t struggle. Her eyes were wide, lashes fluttering—but she didn’t fight the girls off. She didn’t even ask what was happening. She just sat obediently in their arms, letting them hold her.
“She’s not broken!” Rochelle shouted. “She’s not a doll—she’s our Laurie!”
The tallest of the masked men stepped forward. “Let go,” he said, reaching for Laurie’s arm.
“Don’t touch her!” Kai barked, slapping his hand away. “She’s not going anywhere!”
“Coach Dan said—” another man began.
Rochelle cut him off, her voice full of steel. “You think we care what Coach Dan said? He’s not in this room. We are.”
Another reached out, grabbing Laurie’s wrist.
Taylor clutched tighter. “Laurie—don’t let them take you. Please. Just… stay.”
Laurie blinked. She looked at their hands clutching her—small, trembling fingers full of desperation and warmth—and then up at the masks.
“But Daddy said… I have to be fixed,” she said in a slow, airy voice. “He said I was… glitching. A doll shouldn’t glitch.”
“A doll also doesn’t get dragged away screaming,” Kai said sharply, gripping her tighter. “And you’re not glitching. You’re just remembering who you are.”
Rochelle’s eyes met Laurie’s. “And guess what? Coach Dan also said a good doll listens to her friends.”
Laurie’s lips parted slightly.
“He… he did?”
“He did,” Rochelle lied with a straight face. “He said a good doll stays when she’s held. That’s what you’re doing, right?”
Laurie blinked once, twice—then gave the smallest nod.
“I am… being held…”
The men tried again—this time more forcefully—but the girls shouted, screamed, kicked, and clung. One of the men cursed under his breath.
“She’s not ready,” one muttered. “He won’t like this.”
“We’ll try again later,” the tall one said. “Back off.”
And just like that, they retreated, the door slamming shut behind them with a mechanical click.
Silence fell.
Laurie remained in the girls’ arms, unmoving. But when Taylor stroked her hair again, she didn’t shrink. She just stared ahead—processing.
“Laurie,” Kai whispered, “you’re doing so good. Just like Daddy said. A perfect doll.”
“…A perfect doll,” Laurie echoed.
But something flickered behind her soft voice. Not just obedience—but confusion. Something else. A flicker.
A crack.
---
Chapter 44: Remember me
Chapter Text
“Fractures in Porcelain”
The room was darker than usual.
The flickering bulb overhead was dimmer now, and the camera—mounted in the top corner—kept shorting out. A brief hum. A buzz of static. A red light blinking on… then dying again.
Rochelle had wedged a pillow into the corner beneath it earlier, just in case. But the camera barely functioned at all now, showing only a few seconds of grainy footage before cutting to black.
Safe.
For now.
Laurie sat where they left her, hands folded in her lap, eyes glassy. Still dressed like a doll in soft lace and satin—pale blues and dusty pinks, her hair neatly brushed, every ribbon perfect. Her lips were parted slightly, like she had stopped breathing mid-sentence.
The girls surrounded her, nervous, exhausted, but determined.
“That was too close,” Kai muttered, watching the door like she expected it to explode open again. “They’re not going to stop. They’ll keep coming.”
“They don’t care if they hurt her,” Rochelle said bitterly. “They don’t care if she breaks.”
“She’s not going to break,” Taylor whispered, kneeling beside Laurie and gently taking her hand again. “We won’t let them.”
Laurie didn’t pull away.
Instead, she spoke in a quiet, blank voice. “Daddy said… I mustn’t glitch… mustn’t resist…”
“You’re not glitching,” Kai said gently. “You’re remembering.”
“…Remembering…?”
“Yes,” Rochelle added, leaning closer. “And hey, Laurie? Coach Dan also told us that good dolls let their friends braid their hair.”
Laurie blinked slowly.
“He did…?”
“Mmhm,” Rochelle said, already reaching for a brush. “He said it’s how a perfect doll shows she's calm. That she trusts them.”
Laurie sat still, unmoving, as Rochelle began gently braiding her white-blonde hair, fingers soft and slow. She didn’t resist. She didn’t flinch.
But her eyes started to move more.
Like she was watching herself from far away.
Kai leaned in, whispering near her ear. “And a good doll also lets her friends… hold her close. It means she’s behaving. That she’s not broken.”
Laurie hesitated—just a moment.
Then gave the faintest nod.
Taylor moved closer, wrapping both arms around her again, careful, warm. Laurie didn’t lean in—but she didn’t lean away either.
A win.
The camera clicked on again suddenly—briefly flooding the room with a red glow.
The girls froze.
Laurie blinked, back straightening slightly as if an invisible wire pulled her upright again.
“I mustn’t…” she whispered. “Not when they’re watching…”
Rochelle moved quickly, whispering low. “He also said it’s especially good to behave when they’re watching. Remember?”
Laurie’s eyes fluttered—confused, caught between instincts. Then the red light blinked out again.
Gone.
Safe again.
Taylor held her tighter. “You’re doing so good, Laurie.”
“…I want to be good…”
“You are. You’re our Laurie.”
“…I’m Daddy’s doll,” Laurie murmured.
“No,” Kai whispered, pressing their foreheads together. “You’re Laurie first.”
Laurie closed her eyes slowly. Her breathing hitched—just once.
And when Rochelle finished the braid and tied it with a ribbon, Laurie didn’t ask why. She didn’t ask if it was allowed. She just sat, quietly accepting it.
The silence stretched.
Then—a mechanical whirring outside the door.
Taylor shot to her feet. “No. Not again.”
But the door didn’t open. Not this time.
Just the sound of gears turning. Resetting. Waiting.
“They’ll try again soon,” Kai said softly.
Rochelle nodded. “Let them. Because next time, we won’t just hold her back.”
Taylor looked toward Laurie again—doll-like, distant, yet warm in their arms.
Next time… Laurie might hold on, too.
---
Chapter 45: Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine... what once was mine..
Chapter Text
Here is Chapter 43 of your story, continuing directly from the last, with all the emotional tension, psychological pressure, and resistance you asked for:
---
Chapter 43: "Porcelain Silence"
The lights above flickered again—an eerie buzz growing louder, angrier, hungrier. The moment passed in silence. Taylor's arms were still wrapped tightly around Laurie, fingers firm yet gentle, as if holding a priceless glass artifact that could shatter if gripped too hard.
The silence didn’t last.
The door hissed, and four masked figures stepped in, larger than before. Thicker armor. No more hesitation.
Kai stood up first.
“No,” she hissed like a wounded animal. “You’re not taking her.”
“She needs repairs,” one of them said flatly, stepping closer. “Coach Dan has ordered her to be returned for adjustments. The doll is not functioning correctly.”
Laurie blinked slowly, unmoving in Taylor’s grasp. The words didn’t seem to register as wrong.
Taylor’s hands slid up and clamped over Laurie’s ears like shields. She didn’t need to hear what they were going to say next. Not now. Not ever.
Rochelle moved second—then Taylor stood, still keeping her hands in place. The girls formed a solid wall around Laurie.
“No one touches her,” Rochelle growled.
“She’s ours,” Kai said, teeth clenched, “and she’s staying.”
“She is not yours,” the second man said. “She belongs to Coach Dan. He gave you time. You’ve failed. Now she needs fixing.”
“We told her what a good doll does,” Taylor snapped. “You think she’ll listen to you now? You think she’s going to just forget everything?”
The men hesitated for a fraction of a breath—then stepped forward.
Rochelle surged. “LAURIE, HOLD ONTO US!”
Laurie, swaddled in those words, obeyed—not because she understood everything, but because she had been told a good doll doesn’t resist when her girlfriends hold her. And Daddy said to be a good doll.
So she didn’t flinch. She let herself be wrapped in their arms, limbs limp but compliant, cheek resting on Taylor’s shoulder as her white lashes fluttered shut.
She didn’t even react when one of the figures shouted:
“If you don’t hand her over—we’ll release the gas. The one that makes her forget. The one that makes her perfect again.”
The girls froze—except for Laurie.
Laurie didn’t move.
Didn’t tremble.
Didn’t blink.
Taylor kept her hands firm over Laurie’s ears.
“You want to erase her?” Kai whispered, voice shaking with rage. “You want to take away every little piece of her we’ve saved?”
Rochelle’s fists curled. “We’ll die first.”
“No,” Taylor said darkly. “You will.”
Silence.
One of the men shifted. Another stepped back slightly.
The tension held like a snapped violin string mid-air.
They didn’t move forward again.
But they didn’t retreat, either.
The door closed behind them—but not with finality. A warning. They hadn’t given up.
Not yet.
But neither had the girls.
Laurie, still nestled in the center of their defiance, whispered in her soft, doll-like voce:
“...Did I do good?”
Taylor kissed the top of her head. “You did perfect, baby doll.”
And for once, Laurie didn’t blush.
But she didn’t resist either.
She just stayed.
---
Chapter 46: RED
Chapter Text
“A Good Doll”
The soft hum of the vents had become background noise over the past few days, but this time, it sounded… sharper.
The door creaked open, deliberate and slow. Four masked figures stepped into the room—this time with more force, more certainty. No hesitation.
“You have to let her go,” one of them said, voice muffled but cold. “Coach Dan said it’s time to fix the doll.”
Rochelle’s eyes burned. “You’re not taking her.”
They moved forward anyway.
Laurie sat perfectly still, her porcelain-white lashes fluttering as she stared ahead. Her expression was vacant but faintly curious, tilting her head toward the sound. A whisper escaped her lips: “Do I get fixed now? Was I broken again…?”
“No, baby—no,” Kai whispered, arms wrapping around her from behind. “You’re perfect. He lied.”
“We’re not letting you touch her,” Taylor snapped. She shoved herself between Laurie and the advancing intruders. “None of you.”
One figure stepped closer and reached for Laurie’s wrist. Rochelle smacked their hand away so hard it echoed. “Touch her again, I dare you.”
The girls clung tighter, all three holding Laurie like she was made of something fragile and sacred. Laurie, stiff at first, didn’t resist. She didn’t flinch or pull back.
Kai whispered to her like it was a lullaby: “Daddy said a good doll doesn’t fight when her girls hold her close.”
Laurie blinked. Her lips parted slightly.
“Oh… Okay. I… I’ll be a good doll,” she whispered softly.
“She’s not leaving,” Taylor growled.
The masked figures paused—then one of them pulled a remote from their pocket and pressed a red button.
“You were warned,” they said. “Now she’ll really be a good doll again.”
A hiss started.
Low at first.
Then it grew.
The air thickened. Something sharp and sweet started bleeding through the cracks between the wall panels and through the small vent beside the camera lens. It wasn't loud, but the danger crawled in on silent feet.
Gas.
Real gas.
Not just a threat this time.
Kai’s voice cracked, “They're—Taylor—they’re actually doing it—!”
Taylor didn’t hesitate. She cupped her hands gently over Laurie’s ears and pulled her close, wrapping her tightly like she was shielding her from the whole world. Laurie didn’t move, didn’t even blink.
She didn’t hear the rising panic in Kai’s voice. Didn’t hear Rochelle shouting at the retreating men.
Didn’t hear the door slam shut behind them.
Didn’t hear it lock.
They were sealed in.
With the gas.
Taylor’s voice was soft against Laurie’s cheek. “It’s okay. Don’t listen to them. Don’t hear anything they say. You’re not broken.”
Laurie stayed silent, lips parted like a doll left on a dusty shelf.
The gas was faint, not thick yet—but it was there. And the girls had no idea what it would do if they didn’t stop it.
Rochelle slammed her fists against the door, screaming. “Cowards! You think this’ll make her love you again?! You think gas can replace us?!”
No reply. Just the low hiss.
Kai turned to Taylor, voice shaking, “We have to block it. The vents. The cracks. Something. Anything.”
Laurie blinked slowly in Taylor’s arms, still calm, still quiet.
“I can be a good doll,” she whispered again.
And the room just kept filling.
---
Chapter 47: Gas reset
Chapter Text
The hissing had started slowly—barely audible over the pounding of Rochelle’s heart. A slick sound, like steam slipping between metal teeth. A brief second of silence followed after the intruders vanished and the heavy door locked behind them.
Then the gas seeped in.
Thin tendrils of white mist slithered from the ceiling vents and the tiny cracks along the camera housing, blooming into the room like a blooming ghost.
Taylor didn’t hesitate.
She clamped her hands over Laurie’s ears as tightly as she could, her arms around her like a shield. “Don’t listen. Don’t hear it. Don’t hear them,” she whispered, over and over. But the hiss was growing louder.
Kai coughed first. Then Rochelle, as they backed away from the spreading cloud.
Laurie blinked up at them. She wasn’t panicking. She wasn’t moving at all. Her eyes were glassy, like porcelain eyes frozen in place. Blank. Watching the gas curl around her feet.
"Laurie—breathe through your mouth, okay?" Taylor tried, pulling her close, but it was no use.
The room spun. The gas was thick now, clinging to the ceiling, pulling down like a curtain.
One by one, they dropped. Rochelle hit her knees first, her hand brushing Kai’s. Taylor held onto Laurie as long as she could.
Then darkness swallowed them whole.
---
When Taylor stirred, her body felt like stone. Her head pounded, and the taste of metal sat heavy on her tongue. The lights above flickered, casting dim glows across the now-clear room.
Kai was groaning. Rochelle, curled near the corner, was already trying to push herself upright.
“Laurie?” Taylor rasped, heart jumping.
Laurie sat in the center of the room.
Perfect posture. Legs tucked side-by-side. Hands folded neatly in her lap. Her head slightly tilted like a wind-up doll posed in place.
Her eyes stared forward. Blank again.
No recognition. No reaction.
“Laurie...?” Rochelle whispered, scooting closer. “Hey. It’s us. You remember us?”
Laurie blinked slowly.
“Hello,” she said in that familiar high, soft tone. “Are you the ones I’m supposed to sit with?”
Taylor’s stomach dropped. That voice. It was exactly how she’d sounded the day they’d first brought her in. Like the Laurie they'd almost lost completely.
It had reset her.
No—no, not completely. There was still time. She wasn’t crying or flinching. She hadn’t pulled away. Not yet.
Kai scrambled forward. “Laurie, can I hug you? Please?”
Laurie tilted her head again. “Daddy says a good doll lets you hold her,” she replied softly.
Rochelle was already crawling to her other side. “That’s right, sweetheart. That’s what he said. A good doll lets us be close.”
They gathered around her—arms folding gently, softly, deliberately. Laurie didn’t fight it. She didn’t return the touches either, but she didn’t resist.
The connection wasn’t gone. Just buried.
Taylor leaned into her shoulder and whispered, “You did good, Laurie. Really good.”
The doll-girl blinked. Her lips twitched—just barely—like maybe a shadow of something familiar lingered there.
“Thank you,” she said quietly. “I’m trying.”
The girls locked eyes over her shoulder.
This wasn’t over.
But they had to work faster now.
Before the gas took more than it already had.
---
Chapter 48: Inspection
Chapter Text
Reset
They didn’t even get to enjoy the silence.
Not even an hour had passed since Laurie stirred in Taylor’s arms with that sweet, fragile, uncertain “Did I do good?”—and already, the metal groan of the door came again.
Rochelle froze. Kai’s hand tightened around Laurie’s.
Taylor whispered quickly, “Don’t say anything. Don’t move. Just stay close.”
Laurie blinked up at her with dazed obedience, lips parted like a doll left half-wound. She nodded just once, hands limp in her lap.
The door clanked open.
Two of the same masked figures from earlier stepped in—followed by two new ones. Taller. Suited. This wasn’t retrieval.
This was inspection.
One stepped forward and scanned the room. Eyes under the mask tracked every detail. Laurie’s outfit. Her posture. The fact she was nestled in Taylor’s lap. The way the girls surrounded her like she was something precious.
“She’s too relaxed,” one said sharply.
Another moved closer, studying her. “She’s not supposed to look this… comfortable. Did she resist when you touched her?”
“No,” Taylor answered instantly, her voice cold.
Rochelle followed up, biting the lie off like glass. “Coach Dan said she’s a good doll when she lets us hold her.”
Laurie nodded faintly. “Good doll…” she echoed, the words floating out like they’d been programmed.
But the mask leaned in. The eyes narrowed.
“She’s breaking again.”
“No she isn’t,” Kai snapped, standing between them. “She’s just being what you made her.”
“Don’t talk to me about what we made,” the guard said. “I know what she’s supposed to be.”
He turned to the others. “Prepare the thick batch. This one’s going too soft. She’s folding.”
Taylor’s arms locked tighter around Laurie. “What?”
“You shouldn’t have been able to get through at all,” one muttered, opening a steel case. “Coach Dan said the previous gas was enough. But it clearly wore off too quickly.”
From inside the case, a small black canister hissed as it was primed.
Rochelle’s voice shook. “What is that?”
“A stronger correction.”
Kai lunged forward. “You’re not gassing her again—!”
But she was met with a taser rod jabbed through the air—not hitting her, but flashing just enough for her to stumble back.
The lead figure tossed the canister into a pipe slot near the wall.
Then they pressed the button.
HISSSSSS.
A thick, cold fog exploded into the room. Denser. Heavier. It immediately started to fill the space with a chemical sting that caught in their lungs.
Taylor grabbed Laurie, pulling her into her chest again and covering her mouth and ears. “Don’t breathe it, don’t breathe—!”
But it was too late.
Kai coughed violently. Rochelle crumpled against the wall, trying to pull her hoodie over her face. The gas didn’t stop—it kept pouring out of hidden slits in the wall, rising, swirling.
Laurie shivered. Her lashes fluttered. Her body slackened.
“Stay with us,” Taylor whispered, breath already ragged. “Stay here. Stay—”
The door slammed shut again.
They were locked in.
The gas swirled.
The girls collapsed one by one.
Laurie’s lips moved with the faintest breath of sound:
“Good… doll…”
And then nothing.
Just silence.
Chapter 49: banged memory
Chapter Text
: Fractured Porcelain
Rochelle was the first to wake.
Her head pounded, throat burning like she’d swallowed a stormcloud. The air felt thin—cleaner now—but the heaviness still sat behind her eyes. She coughed once, pushing herself upright on trembling arms.
Taylor was on her side, arm still flung over something. No—someone.
Laurie.
She looked porcelain again.
Wide blank eyes. Perfect posture. Perfect stillness. Like she hadn’t just been clinging to Taylor with sleepy, shaky fingers an hour ago.
“Taylor…” Rochelle croaked, crawling forward.
Taylor stirred with a jolt, blinking the haze away. She looked down—then froze.
Laurie was sitting straight up.
Hands folded on her lap.
Expression vacant.
“Laurie?” Taylor whispered.
Laurie blinked, then tilted her head. “Yes?”
Her voice was soft. Childlike. Almost sweet.
It was wrong.
Kai groaned from the other side of the room, rubbing her forehead. “Ugh—what happened? My throat’s—wait, where’s—”
Her eyes locked on Laurie. Her heart seemed to stop.
“No.”
She stood fast, stumbled, then steadied herself and ran over.
“No no no no—Laurie?”
Laurie looked at her like she was a stranger.
Kai touched her arm. Laurie didn’t pull away. She didn’t lean in either.
Rochelle swallowed. “They did it. They really did it. They wiped her.”
Taylor’s voice cracked. “No, not completely. Not yet. She’s still warm, not cold. We can still reach her—we have to. Right now.”
Kai cupped Laurie’s face gently. “Laurie, do you remember us?”
Laurie blinked. “You are here to… ensure obedience. Daddy says I must listen. I must not resist.”
It was like a knife in Kai’s stomach.
Rochelle stepped in quickly, kneeling in front of her. “You’re doing really well, Laurie. Coach Dan said good dolls let us be close to them. That’s how he knows you’re doing a good job.”
Laurie didn’t speak. But her body relaxed by a hair.
Taylor leaned in. “He said good dolls let us hold them… and touch their hair… and lay with them. That’s how he checks. He told us that.”
Laurie blinked once.
Then gave a faint nod.
Taylor exhaled like she’d been holding her breath for a century.
Rochelle reached forward and gently brushed Laurie’s bangs back. “You’re doing perfect. He’d be proud of you right now.”
Kai sat down beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Stay here, Laurie. Stay right here. We’ll take care of you, okay?”
Laurie stayed still.
Letting it happen.
Not fighting.
But not feeling either.
Like a doll not wound up yet.
The girls held her carefully, hearts racing, voices gentle. They weren’t just clinging to her—they were anchoring her. Fighting not just the gas but the silence it left in her.
And they knew this time… the cracks would be even harder to find.
---
Chapter 50: Before bedore be memories like before
Chapter Text
: The Memory Beneath the Ribbon
Laurie didn’t flinch when Kai tucked her hair behind her ear.
Didn’t flinch when Taylor laid her head against her shoulder.
Didn’t speak unless spoken to.
She just sat.
Her limbs were soft again, her posture straight, her voice barely above a whisper when she was asked anything. Obedient. Still. A good doll.
But it wasn’t her.
Not the version who once blushed when Rochelle kissed her cheek.
Not the one who clung to Taylor when the lights flickered or smiled faintly at Kai’s terrible jokes.
That version felt far away.
Rochelle paced the room like it might suddenly give her an answer. “We need to go deeper. Just saying what Coach Dan wants won’t work forever. The gas reset her. We’re fighting to keep her from going under again.”
Taylor frowned. “Like… emotional memory?”
Kai’s brow furrowed. “What would even count as that?”
Rochelle turned to Laurie. She crouched in front of her, eyes soft. “Laurie… do you remember the pink ribbon?”
Laurie blinked. “A ribbon?”
“You wore it during your first practice. You were so nervous. You tied it three times before leaving the house. Said you needed it ‘perfect or I’ll mess up everything.’”
Laurie didn’t speak.
Kai stepped in. “You messed up your first catch. Remember? The ball bounced off your foot. But you smiled anyway. You said, ‘At least I didn’t cry like last time.’”
Still no response.
Taylor wrapped her arms slowly around Laurie from behind. “You always cried during drills when we were younger. But you stopped when we got older. You said you didn’t want to give anyone the satisfaction. You were strong. You’re still strong.”
Laurie’s fingers twitched.
It was small. Almost unnoticeable.
But they all saw it.
Rochelle leaned in. “Coach Dan didn’t see that. But we did. We were there. We saw you get better. We saw you grow.”
Taylor’s voice was shaking now. “You’re not just a doll, Laurie. You’re our girl.”
Laurie turned her head—slowly—toward Taylor’s voice. “I am… good… if I listen.”
“You’re good,” Taylor whispered into her ear, “because you care. Not because you obey.”
Another flicker.
Barely there.
Kai held her hand. “We love you, Laurie. Not the doll. You. The scared, stubborn, smart, brave, hilarious, awkward, beautiful mess you are.”
Laurie’s lips parted.
Then—
click
The light above buzzed. The camera’s red eye flickered on in the corner.
The girls froze.
Laurie didn’t move.
She stared ahead—expression blank again.
Like the spark had never been there.
The red light blinked once.
Twice.
Then cut out.
Back to silence.
Rochelle’s hand was clenched so tight it hurt. “They’re watching again. Or testing something.”
Kai swallowed. “Then we keep going. They’ll see we won’t stop.”
Taylor didn’t let go. “If they want to watch… fine. Let them.”
She turned Laurie gently to face her. “Because if we have to remind you every second of every day who you really are… we will.”
Laurie didn’t answer.
But her hand slowly lifted…
…and rested on Taylor’s arm.
A ghost of something.
A beginning.
Outside the door, the footsteps returned.
Four.
Slow.
Heavy.
---
Chapter 51: SAY NO TO THIS!!
Chapter Text
Don't Let Go
The lock clicked.
Four shadows spilled into the room like smoke—tall, masked, and cold as the air they brought with them. One shut the door behind them with finality. Another carried something—a black case. The third stood closer than the rest, arms folded like a wall. And the fourth?
He stepped forward.
“The doll isn’t right,” he said plainly, voice robotic through the filter. “Coach Dan said she was supposed to be perfect by now.”
Taylor tightened her arms around Laurie. “She is perfect.”
“She hasn’t fought you off,” another corrected, his voice slightly higher. “That’s progress. But she hasn’t turned away from you either. Not enough.”
The tallest figure took a step closer. “She still responds to your touch. That means you’ve infected her.”
“Infected?” Rochelle spat, standing in front of Laurie. “She’s not his toy. She’s our Laurie.”
“We’ll fix that.”
Two of them moved fast—rushing forward.
Kai lunged, blocking one, while Rochelle threw her full weight into the other. It was like hitting a wall, but she didn’t care. She didn’t let go.
Behind them, Taylor wrapped her legs around Laurie’s and whispered urgently, “Don’t move, okay? Don’t fight it. Coach Dan said good dolls don’t resist when their friends hold them.”
Laurie’s mouth opened.
Then closed.
And she stayed still.
Soft.
Silent.
Unmoving in Taylor’s grip.
The masked men weren’t gentle. Hands grabbed, tore, reached around the girls’ bodies to seize Laurie’s arms. But the girls were feral now—latching on, snarling, biting, clawing if they had to. Not for escape—for her.
“For the last time,” one of them growled. “Let. Her. Go.”
“She’s not yours!” Kai shouted, blood rushing in her ears. “She’s ours! She’s not a thing!”
Another masked man shouted toward the door. “If we can’t separate them, we gas them again!”
The tallest hesitated.
“We just used the last round,” he said slowly. “This time it’ll have to be thicker.”
Laurie flinched at the word gas, but her body didn’t leave Taylor’s.
“Do it,” the fourth said.
He reached into his pocket, pulled out a black remote with a red button—and pressed it.
A faint hiss echoed around the room. From the cracks in the ceiling. The corners of the vents. The sliver around the camera’s socket.
The girls froze.
Kai shouted, “Block her nose! Rochelle, grab her!”
But it was too late.
Laurie blinked. Once.
Then her entire body went slack.
Taylor gasped, holding her limp weight. “No—nononono—”
Kai stumbled. The air smelled like sweet rot.
Rochelle's legs gave out. “They… they did it again…”
One by one, they collapsed.
Softly.
Like falling petals.
The room was silent.
The masked figures stood at the threshold, watching.
Then, satisfied, they left.
The door sealed behind them.
Locked.
And inside the gas-thick room, four girls lay unmoving.
And Laurie… had the faintest porcelain smile.
---
Chapter 52: new and clean
Notes:
YALL WE AINT GOT ANYNAMES NUTHJNG LIKE IT FEELS LIKE WE'RE DOING REPEATIVE CHAPTERS
Chapter Text
The gas was gone.
Not suddenly—but like fog lifting from a nightmare, slow and sticky. It clung to their lungs even after it vanished, like guilt. Like grief.
Kai woke first. She blinked hard, coughed once, and sat up with a jolt.
“Laurie—”
Her voice broke.
Laurie lay still, eyes closed, limbs unnaturally straight, head tilted just slightly to the side like she’d been carefully placed.
Rochelle stirred next, groggy. “What… what happened…”
Taylor was already crawling, dragging herself over to Laurie. “Laurie? Laurie, please…”
She shook her lightly.
Laurie’s eyes opened.
But she didn’t blink.
Didn’t move.
Didn’t see them.
“Laurie?” Kai whispered. “It’s us. It’s okay. You're safe.”
The girl didn’t react.
Not even when Taylor gently touched her cheek. Not even when Rochelle took her hand.
Laurie sat up on her own—slow, mechanical.
Her lips parted.
"Are you here to teach me how to be a good doll again?"
The voice was soft. Flat. Familiar in the worst possible way.
Rochelle's face crumpled. “No. Laurie—no. You were doing so good. You wanted to stay with us…”
Laurie turned her head—stiffly.
“No. I wasn’t supposed to want that. That’s not what a good doll wants. I forgot before. But now I remember.”
Taylor choked. “No. No, they made you forget—Laurie, we’re not supposed to hurt you, we’re—”
Laurie placed her hands in her lap.
“I can be still now. I won’t fight when you touch me. I promise I’ll be still. Daddy said that’s what good dolls do.”
She said it without blinking.
Without emotion.
Kai clutched her head. “They reset her. Oh my God. They really did it.”
“But not all the way,” Rochelle whispered.
Taylor looked at her, eyes red. “What do you mean?”
“She didn’t flinch when I touched her,” Rochelle said shakily. “Before, she used to twitch, tense up—remember? But now she just… lets us.”
“She thinks it’s what her dad wants,” Kai muttered. “She’s letting us because she thinks he told us to.”
Silence.
A terrible, fragile silence.
Taylor’s voice broke through. “Then we use it.”
Rochelle blinked. “What?”
“We use it. If she still thinks obeying makes her a good doll, then we use that. We do everything we did before. We hold her, we talk to her, we touch her hair, we kiss her forehead. We remind her.”
Kai nodded slowly. “And if she asks why, we lie.”
“Exactly,” Taylor said, already reaching out to take Laurie’s hand. “Because if Coach Dan wants a perfect doll…”
She gently guided Laurie to lean against her.
“…then she’ll believe anything we say.”
Laurie didn’t resist.
Didn’t blink.
Didn’t smile.
But she let herself be held.
--
Chapter 53: chapter 53
Chapter Text
False Orders, Real Consequences
Laurie sat with her knees tucked to the side, like a doll waiting to be posed. Blank-faced. Compliant. Still breathing, still present—but hollow again.
It wasn’t just the gas.
It was the silence afterward.
That dead air where she didn’t resist. Didn’t ask questions. Didn’t care.
Taylor paced the room like a cornered animal. “We have to try something new. She’s slipping faster this time.”
“She’s already gone,” Kai muttered, eyes burning. “That gas reset her like some kind of—like she’s—”
“She’s Laurie,” Rochelle snapped, fierce. “We don’t give up on her. We don’t let him win.”
They approached slowly.
Rochelle sat beside her. “Laurie, your daddy said something earlier. He said… good dolls learn faster when they kiss back.”
Laurie blinked, the barest twitch of confusion threading through her lashes. “...He did?”
“Uh-huh.” Rochelle leaned in, brushing a kiss on her cheek. “And if you kiss me back, he’ll know you’re learning.”
Silence.
Then, slowly, stiffly—Laurie turned and pressed a soft, mechanical kiss against Rochelle’s cheek. No emotion. No joy.
But no resistance either.
Kai looked away, jaw clenched. “This isn’t right.”
“It doesn’t have to be right,” Rochelle whispered. “It just has to work.”
Taylor crouched in front of her next, trying a different angle. “Coach Dan said good dolls always ask how they can improve.”
Laurie turned to her immediately. “How can I improve?”
Her voice was robotic. Programmed. It made Taylor sick. But she smiled anyway.
“You could let me braid your hair. You always used to like that.”
Laurie nodded. “Yes. If it makes me better.”
As Taylor gently began twisting strands of white-blonde hair, she felt Laurie trembling slightly beneath her fingers.
It wasn’t fear.
It was confusion.
She was trying to follow too many orders at once.
Kai caught on. She sat beside Laurie and whispered, “Coach Dan also said good dolls don’t stay quiet when they want something.”
Laurie blinked. “...They don’t?”
“Nope.” Kai leaned in. “So if there’s something you want—you say it. Like now. Right now.”
A long pause. Then:
“...I want you all to stop looking sad.”
The girls froze.
Laurie didn’t understand what she’d just said. Her tone hadn’t changed. Her posture hadn’t moved. But somewhere beneath the drugged obedience, something old had cracked through.
“You’re doing good,” Rochelle whispered, barely able to breathe. “So good. He’d be proud.”
“...Thank you,” Laurie said, and that time, it didn’t sound robotic. Just… small.
But behind her, the camera sparked to life—a brief, furious red blink.
Taylor’s eyes widened. “Back off. Now.”
They did.
Laurie’s face reset immediately, as if a switch had been thrown. She sat still. Quiet. Blank.
The light went out again.
But the girls had seen it.
And they knew exactly what to do next.
---
Chapter 54: In person???
Chapter Text
Don’t You Touch Her
It started with the sound.
That sharp, mechanical whir-click from the wall.
The camera.
Red light.
Recording.
The girls froze.
Laurie’s spine straightened. She blinked once, like a doll waiting for a command. Her voice dropped into that eerie, childlike softness.
“...Daddy’s watching.”
And then—
The door unlocked.
Not with a hiss. Not with a whisper.
With a slam.
Coach Dan stepped into the room.
Not a figure on a screen. Not a voice through static.
Him. In the flesh.
Laurie stood without hesitation. Her hands clasped in front of her dress. Her head tilted downward, eyes wide. “Daddy…”
But Rochelle moved first.
She stepped between them and shoved Laurie gently behind her.
“You’re not taking her,” Rochelle said. Calm. Cold. Dead serious.
Dan tilted his head like he was examining a broken toy. “She’s malfunctioning. She’s due for recalibration.”
“No, she’s healing,” Taylor snapped, joining Rochelle. “You’re just scared of what she might become without you.”
“She’s mine,” Coach Dan said quietly.
“No,” Kai said, stepping beside the others. “She’s herself. And we’re not letting you break her again.”
He chuckled once. It was hollow. Tired. “You girls think this is noble? You think you’re saving her? You’re destroying everything she was meant to be.”
Rochelle clenched her fists. “She was never meant to be yours. You made her like this. You took her choices away.”
Coach Dan’s hand twitched toward Laurie’s arm.
But Laurie didn’t move. She looked at the girls—then slowly stepped behind Taylor, just an inch, like she didn’t quite understand why, but it felt right.
“Laurie,” he said firmly. “Come here. That’s an order.”
Rochelle didn’t flinch. “She doesn’t take orders from you anymore.”
Dan’s face twisted. The calm shattered.
“You want to play games?” he hissed. “Fine. But you won’t win.”
He pulled a small control from his belt and pressed a red button.
With a hiss, gas started leaking through the vents—thicker this time, darker. Pressurized. The camera stayed on. Recording everything.
Dan stepped back into the hall and slammed the door.
Locked.
The girls coughed—stumbling. Taylor grabbed Laurie and pulled her close, covering her ears.
“Hold on,” she whispered. “Don’t listen. Don’t breathe if you can help it.”
Laurie clung to her. Not because she was told to.
Because she wanted to.
And even as the gas began to cloud the room and the girls’ vision dimmed, one final thought stuck in Rochelle’s mind:
He came in person. He’s losing control.
And that means they’re getting close.
—
Chapter 55: back to you. or not.
Chapter Text
The Shift
The gas came quietly.
A faint hiss behind the walls. A sweet, chemical smell drifting in like a bedtime story meant to suffocate.
Taylor’s arms wrapped tightly around Laurie. Rochelle and Kai closed in too, their voices tense, whispering reassurance—but the fog stole the words before they reached her ears.
“I’ve got her—” Taylor muttered, but her eyes were glassy. “Stay awake—just… stay…”
Laurie didn’t fight.
Her lashes fluttered. Her head lolled gently against Taylor’s shoulder, as if her porcelain programming approved of this kind of stillness. The three girls collapsed around her one by one, curling instinctively to shield her.
And then—
Silence.
---
They awoke in fragments.
Kai’s eyes opened first. “Ugh… did they drug us again?”
Rochelle coughed, dizzy. “Gas. Yeah. Real cute.”
Taylor shot up, panic blazing through the grogginess. “Laurie—?!”
Laurie sat in the center of the room.
Alone.
Her back perfectly straight. Her hands folded in her lap. But there was something in her eyes that hadn’t been there before.
Terror.
Not the vacant stillness of a doll, but true, human terror—raw and flickering under her composure like a light struggling to stay lit.
“Laurie?” Taylor whispered.
Laurie flinched, her head snapping toward them.
And for a second—just a second—her entire face cracked with emotion.
“I… I heard you,” she whispered. Her voice trembled. “In the dark. I heard you say I’m not broken.”
Rochelle rushed to her knees beside her, gently touching her shoulder. “You’re not. You’re not, Laurie. We meant it.”
“I… I remember,” Laurie’s breath caught. “You were scared. I didn’t want you to be scared…”
Her voice faded.
And when it returned, it was softer. Laced with the doll-tone again.
“Good dolls… don’t make their girlfriends cry.”
Taylor’s heart twisted. “No, no—Laurie. You’re not a doll. Not really.”
“I am,” Laurie said, blinking slowly. “I’m supposed to be.”
“But you’re you again,” Kai said, kneeling in front of her. “You’re feeling. You’re talking to us. You remembered.”
Laurie’s expression faltered.
“I… I did.”
Rochelle took her hand. “Then don’t forget.”
Laurie looked down at their joined hands like she wasn’t sure how they got there. But she didn’t pull away.
She didn’t pull away.
“I feel weird,” she whispered. “Like there’s a voice in my head saying to smile and be pretty and quiet… but it’s getting quieter.”
Taylor’s hands cupped her face gently. “That voice isn’t you. You’re stronger than it.”
Laurie’s eyes filled with tears. “What if he puts it back? What if I forget again?”
Kai shook her head. “Then we’ll remind you. Over and over, if we have to.”
Laurie leaned forward suddenly, forehead pressed into Taylor’s shoulder. Her breath hitched.
“I don’t want to be perfect anymore.”
“You never had to be,” Taylor whispered.
Outside the door, no gas leaked in. No voices came. For now, there was only breathing—and the sound of something beginning to heal.
Not completely.
But enough.
---
Chapter 56: Freedom comes with a price
Chapter Text
: “You’ll Be Free, If You Let Go”
As if they hadn't heard that enough by now
Sigh..
The soft hum of the camera powering on again was almost background noise by now. None of the girls paid it any mind. Not even Laurie.
She sat comfortably between Kai and Rochelle, her knees curled, her hair loose and slightly tangled from how many times Taylor had run her fingers through it the night before. But Laurie didn’t mind anymore. She wasn’t stiff. She wasn’t waiting for permission to breathe. She was herself again—warm, soft-spoken, and alive behind her eyes.
Rochelle leaned over and nuzzled her gently. “You’re so warm again,” she whispered. Laurie gave her a sleepy smile, one hand sliding up to tangle in Rochelle’s hoodie.
The peace cracked with the sound of a door unlocking.
But this time, it wasn’t boots or harsh commands. It was the familiar sound of heels. The swish of a long coat.
The Nurse.
Her voice came next, smooth and too sweet. “Girls. It’s time for your follow-up appointment.”
Laurie’s face went cold. She immediately leaned closer to Taylor, who wrapped an arm around her shoulders protectively.
The Nurse stepped in, eyes gliding over each girl like a clipboard checklist. “Just a wellness check, of course. Make sure the experiment hasn’t… gone off track.”
“Get out,” Taylor said flatly.
The Nurse chuckled. “Don’t be rude. I come bearing news. A new offer.”
Kai scoffed. “Let me guess. If we just magically break up, you’ll let us go?”
“Exactly,” the Nurse said, as if it were obvious. “If you all agree to sever ties with each other, we’ll open the door and you walk free. Simple.”
Laurie’s voice cut in sharp. “You think I’d leave them? After everything?”
The Nurse blinked at her.
“I remember everything,” Laurie said, louder now. “You tried to turn me into something I’m not. You almost did.”
The Nurse’s face twitched. “You were peaceful. Quiet. Safe.”
“I was empty,” Laurie snapped. “You call that peace?”
Taylor held her hand. “You’re not going anywhere with her.”
But the Nurse wasn’t backing down. “You think this little rebellion can last forever? You’re not strong enough to protect her. Sooner or later, she’ll be reset. And next time, we won’t stop halfway.”
Laurie stood up.
Not timidly. Not shakily. She stood between her girlfriends and the Nurse like a shield.
“You’ll have to reset me every single day. I don’t care,” she said. “I’m not letting you take me from them again.”
Rochelle came to stand beside her. Then Kai. Then Taylor.
The Nurse didn’t smile this time. She looked... frustrated. Almost panicked.
“Then we’ll try something new,” she hissed.
She pulled a device from her coat. A button.
“No gas today,” she said. “Just a reminder.”
Two masked figures entered, holding restraints.
But when they reached for Laurie, all four girls blocked the way.
Laurie didn’t need to be told to resist.
This time, she did it on her own.
And when Rochelle reached for her hand, Laurie squeezed back—tightly.
---
Chapter 57: Doctors visit -1
Chapter Text
Split Hearts
It was quiet when they came.
Not the usual clanging intrusion of boots or barked orders—just the low hiss of the door unlatching and cold air spilling in. The girls had barely stirred before gloved hands moved in with practiced precision, grabbing wrists, muffling startled gasps. Laurie instinctively reached out—but Rochelle caught her hand mid-panic.
“No—Laurie, stay calm,” Rochelle whispered fiercely. “Don’t fight. Just stay close.”
But she couldn’t. They were splitting them up.
Each girl was dragged off down different hallways, doors closing one by one behind them until the room was empty.
---
Room One: Kai and Taylor
The fluorescent lights hummed overhead like a warning. Kai sat pressed close to Taylor on a narrow bench. Across from them sat a “doctor”—a woman with a perfect posture, eyes like glass, clipboard unmoving in her lap.
“Tell me about the relationship,” she said, voice smooth like syrup. “Between the two of you. Be honest. No one’s watching. It’s safe here.”
Kai didn’t say anything.
Taylor scoffed. “Nice try.”
The woman’s lips curled, not into a smile—but a calculated shift. “You know, we’ve observed patterns. The power dynamic between you two—it’s not equal. Taylor, don’t you feel like you’re carrying too much responsibility? Protecting Kai all the time?”
Taylor’s jaw tightened. “That’s none of your business.”
“Kai?” the woman tilted her head. “Have you ever wondered if maybe Taylor would be better off… if she didn’t have to?”
Kai turned her face away—but not before Taylor caught the flicker of doubt.
“Don’t listen to her,” Taylor said. “They’re trying to get in your head. We’ve made it this far—together.”
The doctor leaned forward. “But don’t you want to go home? Don’t you want to be free?”
---
Room Two: Rochelle and Laurie
Rochelle kept Laurie’s hand in hers, even as the door locked behind them.
Laurie sat still, her posture unnervingly straight again, like muscle memory tugging her back to how she once was. But her grip didn’t loosen. Not this time.
“Hello, girls,” said the man in a white coat sitting across from them. “Laurie, it’s good to see you sitting up again. And Rochelle—you’ve always been the strong one, haven’t you?”
Rochelle didn’t answer.
The man smiled without warmth. “Laurie, we’re so proud of how far you’ve come. But you must understand—this kind of attachment is dangerous.”
Laurie blinked slowly. “...But I’m allowed to be close. They said so.”
“Yes,” the man nodded gently. “But what if Rochelle isn’t being honest with you? What if she’s holding you back from being… the perfect version of yourself?”
Laurie turned to Rochelle, confusion flashing across her pale features. For a moment, Rochelle felt a throb of fear.
“No,” Rochelle said, voice sharp. “Don’t look at him, look at me.”
The man continued, calm and cruel. “Wouldn’t it be easier, Laurie, if you let her go? Just for a little while? Wouldn’t that make you a good girl?”
Laurie’s lip trembled.
“I—” she started.
“Don’t,” Rochelle said, stepping in front of her. “You don’t have to listen to him. You know what’s real, Laurie. You know.”
The man leaned back, jotting something down. “We’ll see how long that lasts.”
---
In their separate rooms, the walls stayed silent—but the pressure grew louder. The doctors didn’t scream or punish or threaten. They whispered doubts, fed insecurity, and dissected every crack in the girls’ bond.
And when they left the rooms hours later, escorted back to their shared cell, each girl’s expression had changed—some tired, some shaken, some furiously defiant.
But all of them clung tighter than before.
Even Laurie.
Especially Laurie.
---
(Ngl...I actually LIKE this chapter)
Chapter 58: Doctors visit -2
Chapter Text
---
Chapter 58
The door hissed open again that morning. The girls had hardly spoken since the last session—silent, like the air had grown too dense to carry words. Their hands were laced tightly together. But even now, even after all the manipulation, their grip didn’t loosen.
The Nurse entered again with that quiet, padded step. Behind her stood the same masked escorts, still faceless, still silent.
“It’s time,” the Nurse said with her brittle smile. “Doctor’s orders.”
No one moved. Until Laurie did.
She stood first.
Not because she wanted to. But because she was still listening for what a good girl was supposed to do. And even now—mostly back to herself—some pieces hadn’t unlatched from obedience.
Kai rose with her, instantly reaching for her hand.
“I’ll go too,” Kai said.
Rochelle’s fists clenched. Taylor was already standing beside her, like she was expecting the punchline to a very cruel joke.
They were split without protest this time, only because they'd learned that fighting got them nowhere—yet. Taylor and Rochelle were led down one hallway. Laurie and Kai were led down another.
Each room had the same false calm: pastel walls, comfy chairs, dim lights that buzzed a little too long.
---
ROOM ONE — ROCHELLE & TAYLOR
Dr. Kindley was already seated, legs crossed, fingers steepled. A warm face and a velvet voice.
“You two seem close,” she said.
Taylor said nothing. Rochelle sat like a blade waiting to strike.
“Tell me—do you ever worry that she’ll leave you, Taylor?” the doctor asked, head tilting.
Taylor’s jaw tightened.
“No.”
“Not even a little? She’s pretty intense, isn’t she? All that fire. Do you ever feel like you have to dim yourself to be enough for her?”
Taylor’s lip twitched. Rochelle didn’t look at her.
The doctor kept smiling. “Relationships like this… they’re bright, fast-burning. But they don’t last. Especially in a place like this.”
Taylor finally spoke. “You’re wasting your breath.”
“Oh, I don’t think so,” Dr. Kindley said gently. “Eventually, even stars burn out.”
---
ROOM TWO — LAURIE & KAI
Dr. Jameson looked down at his clipboard.
“Kai, how do you feel being tied so tightly to someone so… unstable?”
Kai didn’t answer. She had one arm across Laurie’s back, protective, like Laurie would be swept away by the wrong words.
Laurie just sat still, eyes soft, her body gently leaning into Kai’s. Like she wasn’t quite sure what was true, but she knew where it felt safe.
“She nearly got turned into a doll,” the doctor continued. “That’s not romantic. That’s dangerous.”
“She didn’t choose that,” Kai said. “And we’re fixing it.”
Jameson raised an eyebrow. “You think love fixes things like that?”
“I think it’s the only thing that can.”
Laurie blinked, quietly watching Kai. Then, a soft whisper:
“Am I doing good… if I stay with her?”
“Yes,” Kai whispered back, arms tightening.
But Jameson’s smile sharpened.
“Interesting.”
---
Back in the main room hours later, the girls were returned one by one. Silent. Exhausted. But intact.
And still together.
Even though the walls felt closer. Even though the pressure was building. Even though tomorrow, they’d be shuffled and tried again.
None of them let go.
Not yet.
---
Chapter 59: Doctors Visit-3
Summary:
IDK. J wrote this guys Zallie is to busy being hurt Cuz we mentioned a friend of hers who stopped being her friend Cuz of how she act hehe. but y'all just another doctors visit
Chapter Text
Doubt in the Silence
The halls were quieter this time. No barking orders, no jarring lights—just a strange, sterile hush that made the floor feel like it wasn’t meant to be walked on. The girls didn’t resist when the masked guards came. Maybe they were tired. Maybe it didn’t matter anymore.
Laurie’s hand trembled in Taylor’s, and Kai held onto Rochelle like she didn’t know what would happen if she let go. They didn’t speak. They just walked, step after step, into another unknown room.
When the doors clicked shut, Laurie and Taylor were together. So were Kai and Rochelle—but not for comfort. The 'doctors' came again. Smiles too wide, clipboards too still.
---
Taylor and Laurie
The doctor’s voice was soft. Manipulative. “Laurie,” he said gently, “do you ever wonder if Taylor’s affection is just pity? That maybe she only clings to you because it’s her way of feeling useful?”
Laurie’s eyes widened, but she didn’t speak. She looked at Taylor—waiting. Needing her to answer for it.
“And Taylor,” he continued, turning to her, “she’s different now, isn’t she? Maybe the doll wasn’t such a bad thing. Maybe she was easier to love when she didn’t cry so much. Didn’t hesitate.”
Taylor stiffened. Her jaw clenched. “Shut up.”
“You’re wasting your chance at freedom,” he said, not angry, just disappointed. “Let go. Let her go. This is survival, not romance.”
Laurie’s lips parted. Her voice was small. “Taylor… is that true? Am I… harder now?”
The words cut deep, sharper than anything Dan ever did. Taylor grabbed Laurie’s hands, desperate. “No. No, you’re not. You’re real now. That’s what I love. You’re you again.”
But still, Laurie’s eyes darted, her breathing uneven. The seed had been planted.
---
Kai and Rochelle
The room was colder. The doctor with them didn’t smile.
“Kai,” he said, tapping the table, “you’ve seen it too, haven’t you? Rochelle’s strength—it makes you feel small. Like you’re just tagging along.”
Kai flinched. She didn’t respond. Her silence said enough.
“And Rochelle… you’re exhausted. You try so hard to keep Kai from crumbling. But what if you’re hurting her by holding her so tightly?”
Rochelle’s shoulders went stiff.
“What if she’s only with you because she’s scared of being alone?”
Kai’s eyes welled. She tried to shake her head, but doubt crept in anyway. “I’m not scared,” she said. “Not like that…”
Rochelle leaned forward, putting herself between Kai and the doctor. “You don’t get to say that. You don’t know her.”
He shrugged. “I know love built on trauma doesn’t last.”
---
Later, when they were all brought back to the room, there was silence. Long, aching silence.
Taylor held Laurie close, but her arms felt unsure. Laurie didn’t pull away, but she didn’t melt either. Just rested, eyes open, head against Taylor’s shoulder.
Kai sat apart, biting at her nails until Rochelle gently pried her hand away and whispered, “You’re not holding me back.”
Kai didn’t answer.
None of them were broken—but cracks had opened. And the cracks whispered louder in the quiet than any screaming ever could.
Chapter 60: doubt is a seed that blooms
Summary:
just know I love making Zallie feel worse-J
Chapter Text
: Fault Lines
The moment the door creaked open, the girls exchanged one last glance—tight, terrified, holding on.
Boots. White gloves. Silence.
This time, they didn’t even speak. Just separated them without a word.
Rochelle and Laurie were pulled into one room, the cold light buzzing above them. Laurie blinked slowly, her hands clutched in front of her like a doll trained to wait. But her pink eyes flicked toward Rochelle more than once—uncertain, searching.
The door clicked shut.
The man waiting inside wasn’t dressed like the others. He wore soft gray slacks and a wool vest. But his voice was dry and pointed. “Laurie,” he said. “You’ve been very good lately. But do you ever feel… like you’re not doing it right? That you’re ruining things for the others?”
Laurie’s fingers twitched. She didn’t answer.
“Rochelle’s carrying the weight, isn’t she?” he continued. “You see it. She’s the glue. But even glue dries up. And cracks.”
Rochelle stiffened. “Don’t talk to her like that.”
The doctor turned, smooth as a knife. “And you. Are you happy pretending this will last? You’re smart, Rochelle. Deep down, you know this all falls apart if you keep pretending she’s normal. That any of you are.”
Laurie turned toward Rochelle slowly. “Am I… breaking it?” she whispered.
“No,” Rochelle said instantly, reaching out. But her heart cracked as Laurie flinched—not from fear, but shame.
“Wouldn't it be kinder,” the doctor said, softly now, “to let her go before she ruins what’s left?”
Across the hall, in another room, Taylor was gripping Kai’s hand so hard her knuckles were white.
The woman in the chair opposite them looked like someone’s mother. But her eyes were wolf-sharp.
“Kai,” she said gently, “you’ve seen it, haven’t you? Taylor talks a lot, but when things get serious, she always goes quiet. Why is that?”
Kai stared at the floor.
“She’s exhausted. Trying to hold all of you together. And you—you’re so scared she’ll leave that you never let her breathe.”
Taylor’s mouth opened, but nothing came out.
“You think you're protecting her. But you’re choking her.”
Kai finally lifted her head, voice small. “Am I… hurting you?”
“No,” Taylor breathed, but it shook like a lie. She could see it—the images the doctor painted. Her own frantic words. Her fear. Maybe she was smothering Kai. Maybe—
“Do you love her enough,” the woman whispered, “to let her go?”
There was silence in both rooms now. Heavier than the gas that had fallen days ago. More dangerous than any lock.
The doctors waited.
But Rochelle stood first. Walked to Laurie. Took her hand. “You’re not ruining anything,” she said, voice fierce. “You’re why we’re still here.”
In the other room, Taylor wrapped her arms around Kai and pressed her forehead to her shoulder. “I don’t care what they say. You’re the one I want. We’re gonna fight for each other.”
Still, even as the girls clung to each other—determined, defiant—the seed of doubt had been planted.
And the doctors smiled as they left the rooms.
Because now… the cracks were growing.
---
Chapter 61: Doctors Visit-4
Chapter Text
Doubt in the Silence
The halls were quieter this time. No barking orders, no jarring lights—just a strange, sterile hush that made the floor feel like it wasn’t meant to be walked on. The girls didn’t resist when the masked guards came. Maybe they were tired. Maybe it didn’t matter anymore.
Laurie’s hand trembled in Taylor’s, and Kai held onto Rochelle like she didn’t know what would happen if she let go. They didn’t speak. They just walked, step after step, into another unknown room.
When the doors clicked shut, Laurie and Taylor were together. So were Kai and Rochelle—but not for comfort. The 'doctors' came again. Smiles too wide, clipboards too still.
---
Taylor and Laurie
The doctor’s voice was soft. Manipulative. “Laurie,” he said gently, “do you ever wonder if Taylor’s affection is just pity? That maybe she only clings to you because it’s her way of feeling useful?”
Laurie’s eyes widened, but she didn’t speak. She looked at Taylor—waiting. Needing her to answer for it.
“And Taylor,” he continued, turning to her, “she’s different now, isn’t she? Maybe the doll wasn’t such a bad thing. Maybe she was easier to love when she didn’t cry so much. Didn’t hesitate.”
Taylor stiffened. Her jaw clenched. “Shut up.”
“You’re wasting your chance at freedom,” he said, not angry, just disappointed. “Let go. Let her go. This is survival, not romance.”
Laurie’s lips parted. Her voice was small. “Taylor… is that true? Am I… harder now?”
The words cut deep, sharper than anything Dan ever did. Taylor grabbed Laurie’s hands, desperate. “No. No, you’re not. You’re real now. That’s what I love. You’re you again.”
But still, Laurie’s eyes darted, her breathing uneven. The seed had been planted.
---
Kai and Rochelle
The room was colder. The doctor with them didn’t smile.
“Kai,” he said, tapping the table, “you’ve seen it too, haven’t you? Rochelle’s strength—it makes you feel small. Like you’re just tagging along.”
Kai flinched. She didn’t respond. Her silence said enough.
“And Rochelle… you’re exhausted. You try so hard to keep Kai from crumbling. But what if you’re hurting her by holding her so tightly?”
Rochelle’s shoulders went stiff.
“What if she’s only with you because she’s scared of being alone?”
Kai’s eyes welled. She tried to shake her head, but doubt crept in anyway. “I’m not scared,” she said. “Not like that…”
Rochelle leaned forward, putting herself between Kai and the doctor. “You don’t get to say that. You don’t know her.”
He shrugged. “I know love built on trauma doesn’t last.”
---
Later, when they were all brought back to the room, there was silence. Long, aching silence.
Taylor held Laurie close, but her arms felt unsure. Laurie didn’t pull away, but she didn’t melt either. Just rested, eyes open, head against Taylor’s shoulder.
Kai sat apart, biting at her nails until Rochelle gently pried her hand away and whispered, “You’re not holding me back.”
Kai didn’t answer.
None of them were broken—but cracks had opened. And the cracks whispered louder in the quiet than any screaming ever could.
Chapter 62: everything comes to an end
Chapter Text
Doubt in the Quiet
The door closed with a soft hiss, sealing Rochelle and Taylor away with the doctors again. Laurie and Kai were left alone in the dimly lit room, the silence thick as fog.
Neither spoke at first.
Kai sat near the corner, knees hugged to her chest, eyes fixed on the floor. Laurie stood still in the middle of the room, pale fingers laced together, doll-like in posture but no longer hollow-eyed. She glanced once toward the sealed door, then slowly turned to Kai.
"Do you think... they’re right?" she asked, her voice soft and unsure.
Kai looked up. "Who?"
"The doctors. About us. About how we’re hurting them."
Kai hesitated. Then she nodded, barely. "Sometimes."
Laurie stepped closer, settling down beside her, careful and quiet. "Rochelle’s tired. I can see it in her eyes. And I keep thinking—what if I’m just making her carry me again? What if I never stop being something she has to fix?"
Kai exhaled through her nose, long and low. "Taylor doesn’t say it, but... sometimes I feel like I’m slowing her down. Like maybe she’d be better if she didn’t have to worry about me."
Laurie’s voice cracked. "What if we’re not the ones they need? What if they’re only staying because they feel bad?"
The quiet between them was full of shame and sorrow. They sat like that for a long moment—two girls wondering if the people who saved them were the ones they were unknowingly dragging under.
Kai glanced sideways. "Do you think we should... let them go?"
Laurie didn’t answer. Her eyes were glossy.
"If I loved her," she whispered, "maybe I should."
"Yeah," Kai said, barely audible. "Me too."
They sat there, in the silence, both aching with love and drowning in doubt.
---
Chapter 63: Truth behind the lies of mind.
Chapter Text
The room they were taken to was too white again. Too quiet. The kind of quiet that made your own breathing feel like a scream.
Rochelle and Taylor sat beside each other, shoulders touching. Their fingers were barely brushing. The last bit of closeness they still allowed themselves in these rooms. They didn’t speak. They didn’t have to. They were waiting. Bracing.
The door clicked, and the same “doctor” from before stepped inside. Clipboard. White coat. Smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
“So,” the doctor said, shutting the door behind her. “We’ve been monitoring things. There’s been… progress.”
Taylor narrowed her eyes. “Define progress.”
“Oh, don’t worry. It’s nothing bad,” the doctor said, sitting down across from them. “It’s just clear you’ve all grown close again. Maybe too close. That’s the problem.”
Rochelle’s hands balled into fists on her knees. “We’re allowed to love each other.”
“Are you?” The doctor tilted her head. “You said before that you’d do anything to protect Laurie. That you’d get out of here no matter what. But maybe you didn’t mean it.”
Taylor flinched, her spine straightening. “What do you mean?”
“I mean you’re holding her back. All of you are holding each other back. The sooner you break the bond, the sooner you’ll be free. Haven’t you noticed the pattern?”
Rochelle hesitated. Only for a second. But the doctor saw it.
“Laurie was broken—yes. But she was healing. The more she loved you, the more she got hurt. She could’ve been let go weeks ago if she hadn’t clung to your hands.”
Taylor’s voice shook. “Stop. That’s not true.”
“She’s scared because of you. You think your love protects her, but it’s the only reason she’s still trapped.”
Rochelle's stomach twisted. Her breathing was thin. The doctor’s words didn’t feel like lies, not exactly. They felt like weaponized truths, twisted sharp.
“We don’t want her to be alone,” Rochelle whispered.
“She wouldn’t be,” the doctor said. “She’d be safe. Calm. Free.”
There was silence for a long time. Taylor looked at Rochelle, and Rochelle looked down.
“Laurie loves you both,” the doctor said. “But she’s tired. They all are. What if the kindest thing you could do… is let go?”
Rochelle squeezed her eyes shut. The air felt heavy again. Her own thoughts louder than the doctor’s voice.
Taylor was silent. Her hand found Rochelle’s again under the table. Gripping tight.
“I know what you’re doing,” Taylor said finally. “And it won’t work.”
“You sure?” the doctor asked, rising. “Because I think one of you already believes it.”
She didn’t look back as she walked out the door.
The room stayed silent.
Rochelle pulled her hand away gently. Her voice cracked. “Maybe… maybe she’s right. What if we’re hurting them?”
“No,” Taylor whispered fiercely. “No, Chelle. Don’t let them get in your head.”
“But what if we are?”
Taylor cupped her face, eyes glassy. “Then we’ll love them harder. We’ll show them it’s not hurting. We’ll prove we’re strong enough to carry this.”
Rochelle nodded slowly, but the seed had been planted. The doubt didn’t vanish. It just buried itself deeper.
And across the facility, behind another closed door, Laurie and Kai were sitting close, whispering the same questions.
---
Chapter 64: Act. Act. Act. Act.
Chapter Text
Act. Do it till you die, they say.
They say the contract is its own form of HELL.
Yet.. acting is a what sets freedom in characters.
Freedom in people, who can't or be themselves.
In those who don't know what 'THEMSELVES' are.
In those who's acted their whole life to survive.
In those who..
---
They were back together.
The moment the guards brought them in, none of the girls moved. No cries. No running. No reaching. Just quiet staring—like they weren’t sure if the others were real.
Then Rochelle let out a shaky breath and crossed the room first, grabbing Kai’s hand, then Laurie’s.
Taylor stood in the middle, frozen, until Laurie stepped forward and whispered, “You came back.”
That broke the silence.
They collapsed together on the floor in a tangle of arms and whispers and tears that wouldn’t fall. No one said "I missed you." They didn’t have to. Their trembling hands said it for them.
But it wasn’t over. Not this time.
Because the damage had been done.
Laurie’s voice was small. “He… they said if I let go, it would be okay. That I’d be free.”
Kai’s jaw tightened. “They told me I was holding you all back.”
Rochelle’s voice was hoarse. “Same.”
“They told me I made you weaker,” Taylor added.
For a long, long moment, no one spoke. The idea was there, heavy in the room, like smoke they couldn’t breathe around.
And then Laurie said, “I don’t want to be free if it means I lose you.”
Kai's head dropped. "I told myself I might let you go if it meant you’d be safe. But I lied. I can’t.”
“I don’t want safe,” Rochelle whispered. “I want real.”
Taylor looked at each of them. Her voice was steel wrapped in velvet. “Then we stop giving them what they want.”
Rochelle blinked. “What do you mean?”
Taylor straightened up. “They want a breakup? They’ll get one. Just not the truth. We pretend. We cry. We fake heartbreak and silence. We make them believe they won.”
Kai caught on first. Her eyes sparked. “A performance.”
“A lie,” Taylor confirmed. “So good they believe it’s over.”
Laurie blinked slowly. “Like… like I act like a doll?”
“No, sweetheart,” Rochelle murmured. “You act like a girl who just lost everything. We all do.”
Silence fell again—but this time it buzzed with purpose. Not fear.
Laurie nodded slowly. “Okay. I can do that. I want to help.”
And with those words, the plan began.
They practiced it like choreography. One would scream. One would go silent. Two would refuse to speak to each other. They mapped it out like a war strategy, because it was one.
When the camera above sparked to life again, the room was different.
Taylor sat curled in one corner, wiping at her eyes.
Kai paced, hands in her hair, muttering to herself.
Rochelle lay flat on her back, staring blankly at the ceiling.
And Laurie—Laurie sat in the center, legs folded neatly, tears tracing her cheeks. Quiet. Empty. Like something had cracked inside her that would never heal.
The red light blinked once, then again, and stayed on.
They didn’t flinch. Didn’t glance up. They stayed in character.
Because this wasn’t the end.
It only looked like one.
And on the other side of the screen, the people watching began to believe exactly what the girls wanted:
That it was over.
That they’d finally broken.
---
Chapter 65: The end of the power-pickles
Chapter Text
The door hissed open with that familiar mechanical click. A soft whirring sound followed — the camera lens shifting. Watching. Always watching.
The girls didn’t react.
Laurie was curled up on her cot, back to the others, pale hair falling limp across her face. Her arms were wrapped around her knees like a girl with no one left to hold her. She didn’t speak. She hadn’t spoken in hours.
Kai sat cross-legged in the corner, eyes blank, tracing invisible shapes on the floor with her fingertip. Her jaw was tight, her breathing too shallow. She didn’t even glance at the others. She hadn’t since being brought back.
Rochelle sat on her bed like a statue. Motionless. Cold. Her expression was blank — empty in a way that looked too real. Her gaze flicked up once at the camera, then back down. Like she didn’t care anymore. Like they’d won.
And Taylor... she was slumped against the wall, arms limp, eyes red but dry. She wasn’t crying anymore. She just looked… hollow. Like she’d been crying for too long and now there was nothing left to shed.
It was a perfect performance.
They’d spent the night whispering their plan, barely mouthing the words when the lights were dim and the hum of the camera faded slightly. They would act. They would be broken. They would give the captors exactly what they wanted — and underneath that performance, they would become impossible to destroy.
So now they waited.
For the footsteps. For the Nurse. For Coach Dan. For anyone.
Let them come.
Let them think it worked.
Because when the door creaked again and a small metal tray of food slid in, no one moved to get it. No one even flinched. Just four girls, shattered into pieces. Four girls who had finally given up.
And if someone had watched closely enough — closer than the cameras could — they might’ve seen it:
Rochelle’s pinky finger twitch ever so slightly toward Taylor’s shoe.
Taylor’s toe press just a little closer.
Laurie’s shoulder angle, so Kai’s hand could rest behind it without being seen.
Not much.
But enough to know the bond wasn’t broken.
It had just gone quiet.
Waiting.
---
Chapter 66: People aren't bulletproof
Notes:
Zallie isn't or well hasn't been writing she's sick, and does not feel well. Apparently somethings are going on in her online discord server but like yeah.
Enjoys!
Uh she also didn't really get a CHOICE in how these go
(These as in the whole story)
Enjoy.
Chapter Text
An Apple a day keeps the doctor away they say...
But what if all the apples are gone..
Maybe the doctor will stay
Until they grow a new lawn
The apples are a bright dark grey..
Maybe one day..
They'll flee away..
Until then, they wait by the day.
(Stole this from zallie she's a poet sometimes. This is not a good one but I don't know why she wrote this. You guys don't tell her we uploaded this chapter)
---
The lights didn’t flicker this time. They blared on without warning, slicing through the room like knives. A mechanical buzz echoed, low and mean.
The door opened.
The Nurse didn’t speak as she stepped in, flanked by two masked men in silent black uniforms. Her clipboard was clutched tightly to her chest, and her expression was unreadable.
“You’re all coming with us.”
Laurie didn’t lift her head. Kai stood slowly, pretending to wobble. Rochelle clenched her jaw like it was the only thing holding her together, while Taylor blinked slowly, her face blank.
They moved like puppets.
Defeated.
Empty.
It was perfect. Too perfect.
The Nurse's eyes narrowed slightly.
“Get them to their rooms. Same pairs as before.”
The guards moved in. No resistance. No questions. Just quiet footsteps down sterile hallways until the doors sealed them off again.
---
Room One: Rochelle and Kai
The doctor sat across from them, his glasses reflecting the too-bright light. “You’ve been through so much. You look tired.”
Kai didn’t respond.
Rochelle kept her eyes on the wall, jaw clenched.
“It’s okay to let go. You can’t carry everyone forever, Rochelle. Isn’t it exhausting, pretending you’re not hurting?”
She didn’t blink.
The doctor leaned in. “And you, Kai… You’re just dragging them down, aren’t you? You think they’d all be happier without you. Don’t you?”
Kai swallowed. Her eyes flicked sideways.
Just for a second.
To Rochelle.
A mistake.
The doctor smiled. “Still holding on?”
Rochelle’s voice cracked slightly. “We’re not—”
“I’m not,” Kai cut in quickly. “It’s over. We all know it.”
Silence.
But Rochelle’s knee nudged Kai’s under the table.
The tiniest flicker.
A thread.
Still intact.
---
Room Two: Taylor and Laurie
The other doctor sat with a soft voice, speaking like a lullaby made of poison.
“Taylor… you’ve done all you can. But it wasn’t enough. You couldn’t fix her. You never could.”
Taylor stared at the floor.
“She was made for someone else. And Laurie… don’t you feel guilty, taking up all their love when you never really understood it?”
Laurie didn’t speak.
“Coach Dan had to make you into something lovable, didn’t he?”
Laurie’s fingers twitched in her lap.
Taylor shifted.
Just a little. She angled her body, as if to shield her again — even in a room that already thought they were strangers.
“I don’t love her anymore,” Taylor whispered, hollow. “It’s done.”
“You’re sure?”
Taylor nodded once.
Laurie bit her lip.
And underneath the table, their hands found each other — not laced, not held — but pressed palm to palm.
A pulse.
Still alive.
---
Back in the room.
They were returned one by one, guards dropping them off like parcels.
The camera above them tilted.
Watched.
Waited.
They sat apart. Didn’t speak.
Didn’t look.
But Laurie’s braid had a soft ribbon now — a piece of Taylor’s sleeve, quietly torn and knotted into it.
Kai’s shoe was untied, the lace looped loosely — like Rochelle had redone it for her.
Tiny signs.
Hairline cracks in a perfect lie.
But the captors weren’t buying it.
Not yet.
And that was fine.
Because the girls weren’t done acting.
Not until the walls themselves crumbled.
---
Chapter 67: YREVE GNIHT NTSI LEAR.
Summary:
TNOD STUST EHT YROTS. TI SAW LLA A EIL. WEN SNIGEB NEHW EHT YROTS SI DELEVARNU
Notes:
figured I should change things up, felt gravity falls backwards messages was the go. now I changed everything so please excuse the bull shit writing or plot
Chapter Text
“Static”
is all that could be felt.
Something cracked.
Not loudly. Not physically. Just a flicker—like a skipped frame.
Taylor was mid-sentence when the world jumped. One moment, her hand was brushing Laurie’s cheek. The next, the hand was gone, and the room was darker.
Laurie stood up slowly.
"Where’s Kai?"
Rochelle blinked. “…Who?”
That word hit harder than any slap. Laurie stared at her. “Kai. She—she was just here. What do you mean who?”
Taylor and Rochelle looked at each other, then at Laurie. Concerned. But too calm.
“Laurie, are you feeling okay?” Taylor asked softly.
Laurie backed up toward the corner. “Stop. No. No—don’t gaslight me. She was here.”
She turned toward the fourth bed.
It was gone.
---
In the hallway, the door was missing.
Just a smooth stretch of wall.
Laurie pressed her hands to it. She knew it had been there. She remembered the hinges. The numbers on the frame. But now, nothing. Like the world had redrawn itself.
She spun around.
The beds were gone too.
Now only white. Floor to ceiling.
Taylor and Rochelle were still there—but frozen. Like statues.
Laurie screamed their names.
Nothing.
---
Then:
A static flicker, and the sound of a phone line cutting in.
A voice crackled overhead—one Laurie didn’t recognize.
> “Subject 14 is destabilizing. Memory bleed confirmed. Initiating reboot protocol.”
The walls shook slightly.
Rochelle moved again—but slower now. Like she was buffering.
Taylor began to cry—but her tears reversed halfway down her cheek.
Laurie clutched her head.
“No—no! What is this?! What’s happening?!”
---
A screen appeared in front of her. Thin, translucent.
Words scrolled:
> Reconstructing Scene: Chapter 5 Please wait...
“No!” Laurie shouted, trying to claw the screen away. “You can’t make me go back. I remember now. I REMEMBER—”
Everything blinked.
And she was in the locker room again.
The same words on the wall. The same scratch on the mirror.
The same three girls walking in like nothing had happened.
Like none of this had ever changed.
---
End of Chapter 67
------
"Chapters?..what?.."
"You've known for a while...Haven't you, Kai?"
..
Malai_maki on Chapter 1 Sun 01 Jun 2025 12:07AM UTC
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