In a place far far away, long lost to both time and space lies a castle made of mechanisms, cogs, screws, and metal. None of these machines turn, they've been broken for many years now, and the emptiness of the castle only creates echos of memories and daydreams of a society forgotten. The only living thing that walks these halls is a lonely repairman, stuck in his head, he lives happily, going day by day repairing the broken machines and fixing the destroyed cogs in the attempts to get the castle to turn and function normally once more. Every day he'd get to work on this vast, empty castle, he was good at his job, by nightfall he'd nearly have the whole thing running properly again. But as he'd sleep alone in his room, the whole castle would shake and clank, reverting back to it's broken form, destroying all the work the Repairman had made.
Still though, he was happy, he'd wake up and get back to work on the same machinery he had repaired the day before. He did this for an eternity by himself, the only noise being the desolate footsteps of a man left to die in a forgotten castle that was abandoned by civilization. Left alone to his thoughts he felt a strange yet calming sensation while alone in the castle, he was relieved when he'd repair any of the broken machines that made the castle function.
Yet one day, as he was fixing the outer walls of the castle, fixing the drawbridge of the old and rusted castle, he heard an odd noise that was completely unfamiliar to him. So he went to investigate. He wandered into the nearby forest following the noise. Each step he took made him that much more uncomfortable, he didn't like wandering away from the castle that needed all his attention. But the noise was so enticing he couldn't help himself, and when he found the source of the sound, he was quite shocked and perturbed.
To his surprise, it was a small porcelain doll that had a strange resemblance to the Repairman.
"Why am I here?"
the doll would cry out. It gave him an eerie and woesome feeling that he didn't typically like. However the doll also gave him a nostalgic and comforting feeling, as he wasn't so alone anymore. So he strapped it to his belt and went back to the castle to continue his work with his newfound companion. And together they worked on the castle, comforted by each other's presence.
However, occasionally and quite spontaneously, the doll would blurt out the words
"Why am I here?"
The Repairman didn't think much of it at first, simply glad to hear a noise that wasn't the sounds of metal scraping against metal. So he'd continue his work, disregarding any thoughts to the words. But at night, after the castle had finished reverting back to it's broken down state, and the doll echoed the most throughout the empty and dark halls. He could no longer ignore the words that the doll spoke.
"Why am I here?"
The question rang through his mind, poisoning his sanity and rupturing any sense of comfort he'd have during the night. However he'd continue to ignore the doll and sleep as soundly as he could. His daily work slowed down. He no longer came close to repairing the castle each day. It started off small, he'd lay in bed during the day and get to work late. Soon he went from repairing 3/4 of the castle, to 1/2 to 1/4. Slowly but surely staying in bed and pondering the meaning of the dolls words
"Why am I here?"
It became a curse that he felt he couldn't escape from. He'd lay in bed all day, forgetting the castle and clutching the doll like it was the only thing saving him, yet it was also the only thing killing him. The dolls words went from pitiful, lonely, and sweet. To sharp, judgmental, hateful, and horrific. He began to fear the night, for the doll wouldn't stop asking that question. He couldn't sleep for it only induced terrible nightmares.
So one day, after the repairman had thought long and hard about his long and lonely life, he took the doll and went to the top of the largest clock tower in the castle, the only functioning machine in the whole castle that never needed any repairs. He stared at the menacing doll, and how it resembled the repairman almost perfectly. He thought long and hard about what he was going to do, before he went to the edge of the balcony of the tower and threw himself off with the doll.
Since that day, nobody has ever visited the castle, nothing ever came in and nothing ever left. And yet the broken machinery starting moving again all on it's own. The Repairman no longer needing to wonder
"Why he was here" for he had fulfilled his purpose and forever fixed the castle that would never function. What he never knew, was that all the castle ever needed to be repaired, was to be left by it's lonesome self. Forever lost to time and space it shall function on it's own, forgotten by everything and everyone. The only person to have ever inhabited the castle, being the only one to hold onto it's memory. And just as the Repairman was shackled by the castle, and the doll strapped to the waist of the Repairman, the castle was chained to this world and reality by a lonely, dying, and forgotten man.
