Ragdoll Maker

Chapter Four: Tea Party

Toby would be lying if he said that he wasn't scared or nervous to meet up with Sally again. But he had made a promise, and he was a man of his word. Moreover, he was afraid of how she would react if he failed to show up. He hoped that he could somehow convince her to cut ties and go their separate ways. Even if he had given her a doll, she wasn't worth the effort of making her his best friend anymore.

This time, Sally was the one waiting for him with an expectant smile. "Yay! Toby, you made it!" she cheered, running up to him to grasp his hands. She noted that he no longer wore anything to cover up his eye and his several stitches. He smiled nervously. "Uh, yeah! Listen, I—"

"Do you wanna come over to my house?"

"Huh?"

"So we can play!"

"I don't know about—"

"We could have a tea party! And I promise it wont be like our last game!" she swore. "You're too much fun! And you didn't like our last game, so we should play something we both like this time! You do like tea parties, right?"

Toby thought for a minute. Though he was fairly sure she had been trying to harm him yesterday, he had no way of truly knowing. Besides, she had been nothing but friendly to him ever since. Maybe she really was trying to be nice? "Alright," he accepted her offer with a warm smile. "We can have a tea party. But just the two of us, okay? I'm shy around new people."

Or more like he didn't like his friends' families interfering with his friend-making.

Sally nodded quickly. "Yay! Let's go!" she cheered, leading him away into an area of the forest he had never seen before. Even if he lived here, he never spent much time wandering around. He liked to stay closer to either his shack or to the more densely populated town, never finding any reason to venture out too far in the forest.

It took a long while, and Toby's legs were beginning to ache. Has Sally really been walking all this way just to meet him? The poor girl! He had to apologize to her. Toby looked up and gaped as a huge manor came into view, with intricate designs and breathtaking architecture. "You live here?" he gasped. "Yep! That's my room!" Sally giggled, pointing to one of the windows. She was about to lead him into the manor when he froze. She looked back at him with confusion and mild concern.

"Ah... how about we go straight to your room? I am really shy, after all..." he chuckled. In reality, he just had no idea how he would deal with Sally's family and wanted to avoid that by any means possible. Sally looked into his eyes for a moment, and he stared back. "Sure, okay!" she suddenly chirped, accepting the excuse. "How are we gonna get up there, though?"

"Just stay on my back and leave that to me!" Toby winked. Sally nodded and climbed onto his back, wrapping her limbs securely around his frame. While he had never done so with a child on his back, he has spent years climbing into children's windows and was sure he could manage to do so with a little extra weight. He huffed, standing up and walking over to the window. Then, placing his hands and feet wherever he was sure they could hold, began his ascent.

It proved to be more difficult than he had anticipated, but he managed to climb up to the window and crawl through into the girl's room. At that point, Sally let go and sat on the floor while waiting for Toby to catch his breath. He smiled down at her and sat across from the girl before taking in his surroundings. It was a cute room, with faded pink wallpaper, a little bed with a desk next to it, and a soft beige rug. The doll he had made her was sitting on the desk, next to her teddy bear as she had promised.

Sally beamed at him, standing up. "You stay here, I'll get the tea set!" she chirped, walking around the room. She first seated both the teddy bear and her doll at the table, before setting several plastic tea cups and a tea pot at the table.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Toby shot up and whipped his head around in a desperate search of somewhere to hide. He settled for underneath the bed, folding himself in to the best of his ability and hoping that he wouldn't be seen. Sally raised an eyebrow before walking over and opening the door.

Toby couldn't see much from his hiding place, but he could see black pants and an orange-brown jacket. "Hi Masky!" Sally chirped affectionately. "Hey Sally! When did you get home? I didn't see you come in through the front door..." the stranger, dubbed "Masky", trailed off. There was a brief moment of silence, and Toby tensed, feeling that she would reveal him and his location.

"I got home earlier, I guess you just didn't see me pass by."

"Ah, alright," Masky seemed to accept this explanation, and Toby relaxed, letting out an inaudible sigh of relief. "I heard you talking, so I wanted to check up on you," he explained. "So you're having a tea party, huh? Do you want me to join?"

Sally shook her head. "Not today. You usually don't want to, and I wanted to play with just Teddy and Sally #2 today," she stated. Masky shrugged and stepped back. "Alright, then. Call me if you need anything," he said before closing the door.

As soon as he heard footsteps getting quieter, Toby crawled out from beneath the bed, beaming at Sally with gratitude. "Thanks!" he chirped, bending down to hug her. Sally giggled and hugged him back. "No problem! I realized you probably didn't want to meet him yet since you're super shy. But maybe one day you can meet them!" she responded thoughtfully.

Toby pulled away. "Maybe," he shrugged. "Anyway, what are we doing? We have a tea party to get to!"

The little girl nodded in agreement and shuffled back to the table, where they continued their tea party. Toby realized that, even if her previous actions had been terrifying, she was of no threat to him. He could trust her.

He just had to be careful.

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[A/N] Small introduction to Masky! Don't worry, he and the others will show up soon.

I really hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Vote! Comment! Please?

~CakeEater4