Backstitch

Chapter 8

Lou was surrounded by darkness at first. He opened his eyes and blinked to make sure they were actually open. That's how dark it was. It was cold. His back was already pressed up against something colder and solid. His hands were flat against what he assumed to be the same material. There was only enough time for him to consider the idea of getting up before a red light swirled above him, sweeping the surrounding darkness with a hue of crimson. A siren blared. Not loud enough to cause impairment, but enough to make Lou jolt from his thoughts.

The sound of metal whining was what hurt his ears. He clasped both hands over either one as another glow of reds and oranges flooded the darkness. Jagged metal teeth parted to show nothing but a glimmer of fire behind them. They slammed down, rising back up shortly after. Lou screamed as the floor beneath him moved, and it was then he realized where he was.

The recycle.

Scraps of felt and metal were discarded haphazardly around him. It was horrific. Literal pieces of dismembered dolls tossed aside and into this hellscape were around him. The machine's growl was momentarily drowned out as it consumed some of the scraps.

The blonde scrambled to his feet only to fall flat on his stomach as something pulled his ankle. He turned wildly and saw a hand holding on tightly. The doll attached to it hardly looked like a doll at all. Its leg had been consumed by the machine, stuffing ripped from its side and neck. One eye had been torn out and carelessly left as a gaping hole.

Despite all that, Lou's eyes had a mind of their own to pinpoint the smallest detail that was branded on the doll's left shoulder—whose hand currently gripped his ankle. The numbers 02 were engraved and worn but still eligible. "Accept your fate, Lou," it rasped out.

Lou screamed, tears running down his face as he tried using his free leg to kick the doll away. Another hand gripped that ankle. The owner of it was just in bad of shape as the other, if not worse. Like before, Lou's eyes landed on the mark on its left shoulder. 01. "You'll always fail," half of this one's mouth had stuffing pulled out. It smiled wickedly, "Just like the rest of us."

"No!" It was the loudest Lou could remember making his voice go. "Please! I just need another chance!" He clawed desperately at the moving belt. Figures in the pipe above caught his attention. There stood the Uglies, along with Nolan and Mandy. They watched passively, but Lou didn't take the time to assess their expressions. "Guys! Please! Th-Their—I can't move!"

"It's for the best, Lou," Mandy shrugged. "You're a prototype, and you said so yourself that you can never go to the Big World. And that's the purpose of a doll, right?"

Blue eyes widened, and her following words stabbed.

"You're worthless."

Worthless.

Trash.

A mistake.

Prototype. Prototype. Prototype. Prototype. Prototype—

"Stop!" Lou screamed at the words circling in his head. "I can't help it! I-I'm sorry! I-I didn't ask to be one! I didn't want this!"

Prototype. Prototype. Prototype. Prototype...

He could hardly hear over the chant, and the words drowned out even his screams as the machine finally slammed down onto his leg.

Prototype. Prototype. Prototype. Prototype...

The pain was sickening, yet his consciousness spared no mercy on him to black out. His other leg was quickly shredded.

Prototype. Prototype. Prototype...