Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Old Doll – Mad Father OST

Here I Come

Sanghyuk had a little doll

A little doll, a little doll

Brunette ringlets bobbed from side to side as the little girl sang her sweet soprano lullaby on Leo’s lap. Gently nestled in her hands was a faceless doll, featureless save for the one tuft of shimmering black hair.

Sanghyuk had a little doll

Her skin as white as snow;

“Sanghyuk had a little doll…” Leo’s voice repeated uncertainly, his voice echoed harshly off the paling yellow wallpaper and cold hardwood floors. The name attached itself to him and threaded into his consciousness, like the remnants of distant memory.  

A conversation long since passed buzzed in Leo’s ear in a constant, relentless drone: Where’s Hyuk? Has anyone heard from him? The house… search the house…

But the girl’s soft song echoed against the paling yellow wallpaper and gently washed over Leo’s concentration in the way that the tide dulled a footprint in the sand. It seemed to Leo that whatever it was that he was trying to remember should be rendered obsolete. Besides, if Leo felt like peacefully sitting with a little girl he should be able to, there was nothing wrong with that.

The little girl skipped off his lap and twirled to face him, sending her deep red petticoat swirling around her petite frame. Beneath faint, furrowed eyebrows and plush, brown eyes, painted lips of pastel pink drew upwards in the middle in distinct annoyance.

“What’s wrong, Oppa? You aren’t singing with me.” the girl asked, pouting in frustration.

A single glance and Leo’s worries were muffled by the girl’s infectious voice. All he needed to do was play with her, play with her and protect her and be with her. She’s so cute, Leo thought to himself, just like a doll. Why did I disturb her?

“Nothing,” Leo stated with a mumble, “I just think that you’re cute ….” Leo couldn’t remember the little girl’s name. Why couldn’t he remember it? He wanted to protect and play with her forever didn’t he, so why couldn’t he remember her name?

The skin around Leo’s temples wrinkled in concentration, and a drumming headache beat against his skull. He stretched his mind with great effort, focusing on the moment he had met the girl - she must have told him her name then.  Search the house.

A blurred memory of his earlier climb up a creaking staircase came to Leo’s mind, and a little girl perched on the crown of the staircase. Is that… a girl?

The little girl sighed, and instantly Leo was released from his memory. She turned to place the doll in her hands in a small doll house beside them; how Leo didn’t even notice the house before she put the doll there was beyond him. The house itself was beautiful, majestic even, it was at least three feet tall and seemed to be made with a sturdy hard wood. White French accents adorned each window of the miniature Victorian mansion.

Her doll safely put away amongst her other toys, the girl turned her full attention on Leo.

“Leo-Oppa, why aren’t you playing with me?” The girl leaned forward, no longer frustrated but concerned. Her brunette locks fell over her shoulders, in gentle curls of lush hazelnut.

Leo loved hearing her voice, it overwrote the buzzing, and it made everything troublesome float away. He liked hearing her sing, she should sing some more.

The little girl offered a small, porcelain-like hand to Leo, motioning for him to get up alongside her. Leo was happy to oblige.

“I’ll play with you…” Leo murmured.

It dawned on Leo that this was the second time that he had agreed to play with her, but the first time he had been so much more cautious. A little girl, all alone in Hyuk’s house was strange after all, but Leo always did have a soft spot for children. Hyuk himself didn’t seem to be alarmed by her when he had found them playing together, he seemed amused even. What was it that he had said?

Oh Hyung, I see you’ve found my friend, careful though. If you play with her too long…

“Do you have other friends?” Leo spoke decisively as he stood up.

The little girl tightened her grip on to Leo’s much larger hand. Her perfectly rounded nails dug into his flesh, punctured the first layer of Leo’s skin and drew a thin bubble of blood to the surface.

“Did you forget, Oppa,” the girl reminded Leo patiently, “Leo is my friend, and Ha-Na is my friend, and all the other dollies in the doll house are my friends too!”

Her hypnotic voice lulled Leo’s qualms once again but he didn’t let go quite so easily this time, “and Hyuk?”

The girl threw her head up as her face lit up with laugher.

Ha-Na had a little doll!

A little doll! A little doll!

Ha-Na had a little doll!

And now I have a dolly too!

Eyes flashing euphorically, the rounded yellow finger nails of her hand hooked into Leo’s and she tugged Leo into a quick spin. They spun faster and faster together, Leo could feel his arms being tightened as momentum pulled them apart, but still the girl’s hands held tight.

Ring around the rosy!

The room swirled around as they spun. He looked into the girl’s face, watched as her porcelain, pale skin crackled at the cheeks revealing the hollow of her lovely head. They spun faster and faster, each turn picking up speed. Leo smiled at her.

“Sing with me Dolly! Sing with me!” the girl squealed in delight.

A pocket full of posy!

Leo didn’t know why Hyuk said not to sing with the little girl, she’s so cute and adorable! He threw his head, playing to the pull of the centripetal force, and shouted in ecstasy.

“Ashes! Ashes!”

Dolly falls dead! 

The girl released the scaly claws which dug into Leo’s bloody wrists, flinging his body into the momentum of the turn, across the room, and twisting down the staircase.

Looking down on the listless body of Leo was Hyuk, whistling at Leo’s mangled corpse.

“Leo is a rag doll! A rag doll! His arms and legs are all tossed about, not dainty at all like you and me, Ha-Na,” the girl giggled in delight at the sight of her handiwork.

Hyuk picked the corpse up by its left ring finger, swinging it back and forth lazily, “well.”

“Ha-Na had a little doll,” Hyuk snickered, stepping out of the corner, “and I guess Leo is a doll now too.”