For the longest time, the only sounds echoing in the dark room were the sound of the grandfather clock ticking and the sound of the crackling fire. Her eyes never left the man as she silently sipped her milk, watching his eyes roam across the room the best they could, finally resting on her. She suddenly became embarrassed as she quickly looked down into her glass.

She never had her own doll before. Her mother had made many dolls before, Seok-jinnie being the newest one, but she never had a doll to herself before. She looked back up to see him still staring at her, and she whimpered. “Please don’t stare at me ahjussi, you scare me.” The man’s eyes widened as he glanced down towards his mouth, confusion crossing them when he realized he didn’t speak. She tried to smile reassuringly at him, though it only seemed to scare him. “You only speak when I talk to this,” she held up the doll, “so don’t worry.”

She finished her milk and leaned over to place it on the edge of her mother’s table, making sure to avoid touching her needles. “Are you thirsty? Mommy did make some tea. If you want, I can give you some before she comes back.” He didn’t answer, he couldn’t answer, and she gasped embarrassedly again. She bent down over the doll and ran a finger over its mouth, at the same time the man gasped as if from holding his breath.

She looked up to see him panting, his head still frozen in place but now his mouth open and under his control. His eyes turned back to her. “You…what’s going on?”

She hugged the doll closer to her as if a barrier and the man winced as he felt a sharp pain across his entire waist. “You don’t realize it yet, but you’re a doll now.”

“What the hell does that even mean?”

She flinched at his curse. “Please don’t use curse words ahjussi. Mommy doesn’t like them.”

He closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath, the annoyance in his eyes almost palpable. “What… what does being a doll mean?”

She raised the doll up so he could see, delicately lifting an arm and watching as his arm did the same. “You and the doll are the same now. You’re my doll now.” She squeezed the doll to her chest and the man violently bent at the waist, unwillingly mimicking the movements. Even now, the idea of having her own doll was exciting, amazing.

“How…how are you doing that? What did that do to me?” She winced at the curse, no longer wanting to correct the bad man who constantly swore at her. She turned away in favor of the fire, the flames roaring with life. She curled her knees to her chest as she pet the doll’s head lovingly, feeling the tufts of hair stitched to its head.

“I…have a question.” She looked up in surprise to see him staring at her pleadingly. “That bi…woman said my brother was here. Have you seen him? His name is Seok-jin-”

“Seok-jinnie?” The man started at that, panic and worry written all over his face.

“You’ve seen him?”

She nodded. “He’s in the base-” She hurriedly stopped herself, slapping lightly. Her mother was going to be furious.

“The basement? He’s there now? Can you take me to see him? Please-”

“I’m not allowed down there. Mommy only brings Seok-jinnie up to play with me sometimes.”

“But you know where they come from, right? Just take me there, and I-”

“No!” she said alarmingly, hastily running her fingers back over the doll’s mouth, silencing the man once again. Her heart beat erratically, the man’s questions and her betrayal to her mother weighing heavily on her mind. Punishingly, she grabbed the doll’s arm and slapped its mouth, watching as the man slapped his own mouth. “Bad! Bad bad bad!” She angrily threw the ragdoll to the ground, the thump of the man falling following after. “You’re a bad doll!”

She turned around the table, ready to run away, but felt her feet freeze the moment she saw the tears welling in the man’s eyes, his eyes puffy red. His mouth trembled slightly, the tears falling down his cheeks, and her eyes trailed down to the blood stain growing at his side. Her eyes widened as she ran to his side, pushing away his arms and lifting his shirt. Her cheeks reddened embarrassedly at seeing his stomach, so she focused only on the large wound in his side.

Her mother must have stabbed him very hard; she couldn’t see how far the wound traveled. “You’re bleeding a lot,” she said uselessly, her mind racing as she tried to think of what to do. The man was dying; if he died, what became of her doll? She looked down at her white bandage and ran to the cupboard near the fire, pulling out her mother’s kit. She hurried back to his side, flipping it open and staring in confusion at the mess of bandages and needles. “I don’t know what to do!”

He looked at her in fear, his mouth still trembling, and she knew he was scared of her. She lifted a needle and his whole head shook, and she noticed her own hand shook too. She threw it back down, too scared to stitch him up like her mother. So she just grabbed a white towel, laid it over the wound, and then taped it with the white tape. “Does it still hurt?” she asked, pressing down on the wound. He gasped in pain and she panicked. “Here, take this!” she pulled out a bottle of pills and uncapped it, dropping out a handful.

She pressed one of the pills to his lips, frowning when he refused to open his mouth. “This will make you hurt less.” When he didn’t obey, she frustratingly ran over and grabbed the discarded doll, running a finger over his lips. He gasped as his mouth suddenly opened wide, whipping his head over to glare at her.

“Don’t you come a step closer to me!”

“But these will make you feel better! I promise!” She made a move to step forward and he shouted again.

“Stay away! Don’t give me those pills! I won’t let you poison me!” He hissed at her when she stepped forward again, though that was the exact moment when her mother came back, the door creaking as she pushed it open. She looked up with dread as she was caught red-handed with her mother’s medicine kit out and her sloppily placed bandages. She abruptly dropped the pills and watched them scatter across the ground.

“What are you doing?” her mother shrieked, dropping her bags to the ground and running over, hurriedly picking the pills up. She dumped them back into the bottle and tiredly pushed her hair behind her ears, looking at her exasperatedly. “What were you doing with this?” She drew in on herself, frightened by her mother’s ferocity, something her mother seemed to notice as she quickly changed her tone. “Was the cut on your arm hurting you?”

Hesitantly she pointed over to the man who now had his eyes squeezed shut tight as if in pain. Her mother sighed again at the sight of him, her eyes trailing over the bandages. “Was he bleeding?” She nodded. “Well, we can’t have your special doll hurt, now can we? I’ll stitch him up for you.” Her mother reached out and took the medicine box, pulling out a needle and string. “Could you pull the bandage off for me?”

She flinched when the man screamed out as she ripped the bandage clean off, the towel soaked in his blood. Her mother looked up at her in surprise before continuing onto stitching the man’s large wound. “You let him speak?” They ignored the sound of the man crying and whimpering as she slid the needle through his skin. “Well, I can’t tell you what to do, he’s your doll.”

“Stop with this doll bull! I’m a human being!” He cried out when she deliberately stabbed him with the needle, begrudgingly shutting his mouth.

“Do not curse in front of my daughter. I let you before because I was busy making the doll. But now you’re not allowed to again. Understand?” She purposefully tugged on the string tightly, and the man pitifully made a noise in the back of his throat, agreeing. Her mother finished stitching the wound and expertly applied the bandage, patting it warmly. “There you go, all better.”

She leaned over and picked the doll back up, slowly sitting him up so the man could sit up. The man winced, she let him grab his side, and he let out a large gasp.

“Sorry about it being so deep. I just wanted your blood. Once it heals you’ll be fine.”

“Why…? Why are you doing this?”

“Hmm?”

“Why did you do this to me? Why did you use that thing to take my body from me?”

“Don’t think of it that way, your body is still yours. No, think of the doll as an extension of yourself. What happens to you happens to the doll, and vice versa. This doll is you now.” Her mother turned to clean up the mess she had made, fixing up her medicine box. “But you’ll get used to it. Once you and the doll start to synchronize, you’ll be able to move more freely. You won’t always be so stiff.” Her mother got up, and she scrambled to her feet, unwilling to stay with the man any longer than necessary.

“Now you,” she said, now addressing her, “need to be careful with that doll. You can’t just throw it around or forget about it. He’s yours now, so be extra careful.” She nodded before sneaking a glance over at the man, hurriedly looking away when she locked eyes with him. “Now go wash up. Mommy needs to start making dinner for the lot of you.”

She started to leave but her mother swiftly grabbed her wrist, stopping her. “Where do you think you’re going, leaving the doll? You need to have that on you at all times.” She bowed her head apologetically, taking the doll before running off to the bathroom.

When she came back, she could hear her mother’s voice speaking to the man, and she hid just behind the corner of the hallway. She knew eavesdropping was bad, and her mother would be very angry if she found out, but she wanted to listen.

“What is your name?” her mother asked casually as she pleasantly chopped the meat laid out on the table, her needles and thread having been put away. She peeked out slightly to see the man glaring at her, his face so tight and scary. It didn’t seem to bother her mother. “You can glare all you want, but it’s not going to help you. You might as well just answer my question.” When he didn’t answer, she lifted her knife up, her finger running over the dull edge of the blade. “Just think, if the doll is the same as you, what would happen if I ran this over-”

“C-Cha Hak-yeon,” he whimpered, his face suddenly full of fear.

Her mother smiled as she went back to cutting up the meat. “That’s a lovely name. We’ll need to change it.”

“W-why-”

“It’s not a good idea to know a doll’s real name. It’s bad luck. Now, let me think…what letter was I on? Hmm…ah, yes, N. Do you know the English alphabet?” He opened his mouth to answer but she only cut him off. “Of course you do. You look like a smart boy. You’re the fourteenth, so we’ll just call you N.”

“Why such a demeaning-”

“How old are you?” He didn’t answer, though it only took her waving the knife to make him talk.

“N-nineteen.”

“You’re only nineteen and you talk like that? What kind of parents did you have? I would never let my daughter speak like you.” She finished cutting and scooped the meat into a bowl, moving on to seasoning.

“What…what about my parents? They don’t know that I came here, they’ll be looking for me-”

“You don’t have to worry about them. They’ll never find you here.” She flashed him a wide smile, though he looked far from returning it.

“What about Seok-jin? Your daughter said he was in the basement. When would I be able to see him?” Both she and the man jumped when her mother slammed the bowl onto the table, her eyes fierce.

“She said what?” She gasped and both the man and her mother looked over to her; she tried to get as small as she could. Her mother wasted no time making her way over to the fire and pulling out the iron rod. “Get over here! Now!” She let out a small whimper as she padded over, looking up through her bangs at her mother’s tight face. “You know better!”

She yelped when her mother snatched her wrist and held fast as she wailed on her with the rod. She didn’t dare cry or yell out, that would only make her mother angrier, but she couldn’t help the stinging tears that dripped down her face. Her whole backside burned, and her mother’s screaming fell on deaf ears. She really couldn’t hear what she said; only that she was mad and was hitting her.

“Stop it! What are you hitting her for?” She forced her eyes open in between spanks to see the man staring at her in worry. She weakly lifted her hand holding the doll and brought a finger to her lips. It was best not to talk when her mother was angry.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, her mother let go of her wrist and threw the rod to the floor. “Don’t ever speak of the basement, do you understand?” She nodded weakly and that seemed to appease her, her mother huffing as she went back to cooking.

She waited until her mother was distracted before shifting enough to lift the doll up. She had the man lift up very slowly, her burning eyes watching to see if her mother reacted. When she didn’t, she had him stand up all the way. He winced, though this time she didn’t pay attention as she had him walk up to her and kneel down, his hands, which were surprisingly soft, cupping her face. She made him gently lift her up and place her in his lap, his back to her mother.

She burrowed her face into his side, her whole body still throbbing. “Are you okay?” he whispered, and she looked up to see his eyes full of worry. “I didn’t mean to get you hurt.” Her only response was to make him hold her tighter.

“Don’t try speaking with her,” her mother voiced out; she stiffened at the sound. “She doesn’t speak much.” She looked up to see the man open his mouth to speak, and she speedily made him cover his mouth. She held a finger to his lips, and only a few seconds did she finally pull his hand away.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he whispered again, but this time she wasn’t able to stop him.

“I told you not to talk to her!” Her mother shrieked as she stalked over, grabbing the discarded iron rod and slamming it on the man’s back. His face contorted in pain as he shouted out painfully, his body stiff as he wasn’t able to move. Tears flooded his eyes as he cried out. “Both of you get out of my sight. No dinner for either of you.” Her mother threw down the rod angrily, unmoving as she waited for them to leave.

Even though her body burned and she didn’t want to move, she forced herself to stand up, her legs wobbling. The man made all sorts of noise as she made him stand up, taking his hand in hers. “Sorry,” she said quickly before dragging the man out before either of them could be punished further.