***

Despite the dolls looking creepy and scary, Tao couldn’t necessarily say that they were malicious. Even though Chanyeol was ready to unleash his fire on the morbid things, Tao felt like perhaps they could help them.

He carefully walked towards them and knelt down.

“Tao! What are you doing? Get back here!” came Chanyeol’s panicked outcry.

“No, it’s okay, hyung. I don’t think they mean us any real harm…” Tao his lips and looked at the little dolls.

“You’re trapped here, aren’t you? We’re trapped like you, too. Do you think you can help us find our friends and get out of this place?” he asked as politely as he could, trying not to shudder or show how afraid he really was.

They all abruptly stopped moving, as if they understood what he had just asked them. Then, the clown doll with the one eye approached him and nodded.

“Yeah? You’ll help us? Thank you!” Tao said with much gratitude, though Chanyeol didn’t seem entirely convinced just yet.

“We’re looking for a girl, her name is Jae. Do you maybe know where we can find her?” he asked the dolls as the clown moved towards the door and pointed at it. A group of them moved forward, climbing on top of each other to open the door for them. Then, the clown pointed towards a warm light at the end of the hallway. Tao could even hear music coming from it.

“Over there?” he asked for good measure, the dolls chattering and nodding their heads, if possible.

“Great. Thank you,” Tao nodded, gesturing for Chanyeol to follow him.

However, the dolls stopped them in their tracks, vigorously pointing at Chanyeol.

“Eh? Why are they pointing at me?” Chanyeol questioned, worryingly stumbling back into the room when the dolls had started pushing him back.

“Hold on! He’s my friend, he has to come with me,” Tao quickly explained, but the clown doll turned his head 180 degrees and shook it.

“We don’t like fire,” it said in a tinny voice.

“But he won’t harm you!” Tao argued as another doll had appeared before them. Chanyeol was kept back in the room, a porcelain doll, the shape of a demon, sprinkling a strange substance over Chanyeol.

“Yah! What are you doing? Hey, let me go!” Chanyeol struggled and sneezed as Tao rushed in to help him.

“No, don’t! He won’t hurt you!” Tao pleaded, but it was too late. The dolls seemed to be chanting and a blinding light threw Tao all the way out of the room, hitting his head against the wall.

When he looked up, the world seemed bigger, and worse, Chanyeol seemed smaller.

“Taozi! Hurry, run!” Chanyeol cried out to him, his skin a glimmering porcelain, his size no bigger than the dolls.

Tao did as he was told and ran towards the light. It seemed like he was running a marathon, just to get to the end of the hallway. By the time he got to the entrance, he was a little amazed at how big the doorway was.

Had the house grown bigger? Or, was this simply a bigger part of the house?

“Wow…” he looked inside of the new room, where loud, elegant music was being played. Unlike the rest of the house, the ballroom was a beautiful place to behold. With the mirrored walls and marbled floors, it didn’t seem to fit inside of the haunted house at all. The ceiling was draped with red velvet curtains and crystal chandeliers, the light shimmering against the gold in the crown moulding. Tao would have loved being in this place, were it not for the other visitors that were holding a party here.

The music, led by a violin, played a merry waltz and the ghostly partygoers danced happily to its melody. Laughter roared through the room, the clinking of wine glasses ringing around him. Tao was shaking, wondering how his muscles could possible handle all of the trembling. What was even worse, was that it seemed that all the ghosts here were absolutely gigantic. If he wasn’t careful, one of them could trample him–that was, of course, if ghosts could touch people.

He looked around in frightened awe for a moment, wondering why the dolls would point them this way. He didn’t see Jae anywhere, nor any of his brothers…

Wait.

There, amongst the dancers was a young woman, dressed in a beautiful red frock, dancing with a ghostly suitor. Tao blinked his eyes a few times, even rubbing them just to make sure that they weren’t deceiving him.

“Noona?” he muttered, attempting to get a little closer. “Jae-noona! Jae-noona!” he then called out in pure glee, running towards her. He struggled getting to her fast enough and suddenly he wondered why.

Out of breath and panting, Tao had barely even reached the middle of the ballroom, but the moment he gazed at himself in the mirror, he realized why he was so tired and slow.

“MY FACE!” he shrieked in absolute horror, gawking at his doll form, how wooden his movements were, how hard his porcelain hair felt– heck, even his dark circles under his eyes were painted on his face and he was mortified. A doll? He was changed into a doll, just like Chanyeol-hyung! He’d cry, but no tears came from his porcelain eyes, just resulting in him sobbing out loud.

How was he going to save Jae-noona and the rest of his brothers if he was a freaking doll? An ugly one at that…

Tao startled when someone had appeared behind him and he quickly turned around. “N-noona!” Tao stammered as Jae knelt down to look at him. She was beautiful in her red dress and her dark hair tied elegantly up, but her eyes, which were always filled with emotion and warmth were empty now. Dulled, even. Did these ghosts do something to her?

“Jae-noona!” he called out, suddenly feeling self-conscious for his appearance. “I-it’s me, Taozi, I know I look ridiculous but I can explain all that!” he quickly said, but there was barely a reaction on her face.

“T-Tao…” she repeated, staring at him without actually looking at him. He nodded, worried about her condition.

“I’m sorry it took me this long to find you, noona, but I’m here now. Are you okay? Are you hurt?” he asked, examining her.

“Tao…zi…” she whispered, barely audible over the waltz that was playing in the ballroom.

“Yah, noona… this isn’t good. We have to get out of here, noona,” he urged.

“You…are…a doll…” Jae then muttered, scooping him up in her hands. Tao steadied himself and held on as best as he could.

“I know, noona, it’s because of these dolls who were alive! They got Chanyeol, too, but don’t worry, I’ll figure something out, I promise!” he swore solemnly. “We have to leave first, though. We have to get away from this weird, creepy place.”

“Leave…? Yes…” Jae’s movements were slow, her blank eyes not betraying a single emotion. Tao tilted his head as he looked at her and it didn’t feel right. Why was she behaving this way? Was she under some spell? And, why were her hands so cold?

“I know where to go,” Jae suddenly spoke, her eyes looking clear for the briefest of moments, but the spark disappeared as soon as it had appeared. “You’ll have to follow me…Tao… Will you come with me?” she gently held out her other hand, as if she was waiting for him to officially take it.

Tao was more than willing to accept, were it not that he felt like something was off. He felt bad that he was doubting Jae, but something about her didn’t feel right to him. She was so close to him, but why didn’t he smell her scent?

He stared at her hand and then looked up at her face. “Noona…”

>>> GRAB THAT HAND AND NEVER LET GO! IT'S JAE-NOONA! <<<
>>> SMACK HER HAND AWAY LIKE A DRAMATIC ANIME SCENE! THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG HERE... <<<