Strings

Chapter 10

 Trying to ignore a feeling that he thought he had buried years ago, Jack suddenly noticed something quite off-setting. A worm, or a slug of some kind was crawling on the armrest to Chrissie's left. And not only that, several stains of splatters of what seemed to be gunk and filth decorated the once-clean chair as well. Jack's eyes trailed from the chair to its occupant.

"Oh God." He murmured.

"What?" Chrissie asked uncertainly, looking as if she was half-recoiling her body away.

 He hadn't noticed it when he found her in Gordon's Emporium, (since he was too encompassed with her face and eyes, and deciding what kind of dress he would make for her) but her entire body was covered in dark brown grime. Small insects and critters were crawling up and down all over her dress, arms and neck.

"Have you always been this dirty?" Jack asked reluctantly.

Chrissie looked down at herself and did a survey "Oh! Heh. I guess, I've let the dust settle way too much."

 "And you're not even bothered?" Jack added, finding it disturbing how someone, even a doll, could sit so idly, while their body was filled with filth and crawlers.

"No." Chrissie answered simply.

Jack did a small scoff and a roll of his eyes. He stood up, and without even thinking, held out his arms to Chrissie.

"Whoa.. What are you doing?" She asked quickly, trying and failing to jerk in surprise.

"We need to get you cleaned up." Jack said seriously.

Jack was never a neat-freak, never in all his years. It wasn't even part of his partial OCD condition, even if it was an occupational symptom of it. But when a mess invades any space that Jack knows is his, his mind just goes out of control. A few minutes later, and Jack has carried Chrissie into the bathroom and readied the tub.

"What are you.. What are you going to do?" Chrissie asked, almost nervously.

"You're going to take a bath.. We need to get those stains and insects off of you." He said reasonably. "Now, come on.."

 He knelt down while also setting down Chrissie on a chair that he had brought with him to the bathroom.

"But I can't take a bath. I can't even move." Chrissie protested, as Jack's hands began to chastely remove her dress.

"Why do you think I'm here then?" He asked.

 Jack wasn't sure of what he was feeling at the moment while he and Chrissie exchanged verbals with a certain degree of spirit. He didn't even notice that he was actually smiling.

 There was no malice or lasciviousness when the dress came off (Though there was a bit of curiosity when he noticed how different the colors of the skins looked between the arms and the torso, though he didn't really give it much thought). Jack had been an almost-father to know how to act around children, especially girls. And even if she was a doll, his father-like actions came habitually as he now slowly carried Chrissie into the tub.

"Whoa!" She gasped upon contact.

"You okay?" Jack asked, momentarily holding her up. She nodded.

"It's just been a long time since I've touched anything like this." Chrissie gushed with a nervous smile.

 When she was fully seated, Jack began to gently rub water on her arms and neck. "We're just going to take all the germs off." He said, professionally wiping off the grime and solidified dust along with the insects without even blinking. "This is nice." Chrissie said after a while, when Jack's produced a net sponge and began to rub it on her arms. He smiled again, and this time it doesn't come off his face. "Yeah it is, isn't it?" He said, placing one hand under Chrissie's chin and wiping off the smears on her face with the other.

 Through the bath, Jack caught sight of the almost dry scratch on Chrissie's forehead.

"Does that still hurt?" He asked, scrubbing hard around the creases of the doll's underarms, where most of the dirt and grime was collected.

"Not really. It happens all the time when I try to get up on my own." Chrissie said simply.

 Jack looked at her with an expression measly akin to worry. He momentarily got up and got a piece of band-aid from the medicine cabinet. "Let's patch that up." He said, taking the masking tape off and then neatly slicked the band-aid on Chrissie's wound. "Thanks." She said. Jack nodded, and then continued bathing her.

 Insects and grime washed off, Jack got a towel from one of the cupboards and wrapped it around Chrissie to dry her off. It felt like drying a weightless, Barbie doll. He carried her out of the bathroom, and took her into his office. When Chrissie saw the many mannequins and dresses that were both finished and half-finished, she gave a little cry of joy.

"Oh wow!"

"You like dresses." Jack stated, placing her down on a vacant desk. She didn't even answer, now that the dresses had caught her complete attention.

 Different colors, different designs. All of them looked so beautiful. Without even realizing it, Chrissie's eyes fell on one particular blue powdered dress with cute ruffles along the skirt. "Can I have that one?" She asked. She couldn't point it out, but Jack caught her line of sight, and approached the mannequin with the dress of her choice. He removed it from the model, and brought it over to Chrissie.

 It was easy to slip it on her, with her limbs being weightless. When every sleeve was in place, and the zipper was locked, Jack carried Chrissie out from the office and then took her to the living room, where a mirror hung near the doorway. Another cry of joy came out of the doll when she saw herself. Now clean, and spotless, and in a new, pretty dress, to boot.

"It's so pretty." She said, clearly astonished.

Jack's reflection smiled again, as he looked at her through the mirror. "Yeah. It suits you." He said.

 As he stood there for a moment longer, critically looking the doll over and over again, his brows knitted together after a while.

"But that hair is a total train wreck."

 Upon saying so, Chrissie let out the loudest laugh Jack had ever heard. It was so sudden, that she quickly shut her mouth again, though her body and shoulders were still shaking where Jack held her.

"Don't be mean. It's not like I could groom myself all those years." Chrissie stated in defense.

Now Jack was the one who laughed, and he didn't even stop to ponder on how long it had been since he had done so. It just came out like a soft breeze of air.

 "What do you think we should do?" Chrissie asked, getting Jack's attention.

"About the hair? Well, I think I can fix that." He said.

Jack shifted Chrissie's weight to his side to carry her with one arm. He then began to walk along the house, with the intention of looking for a comb and scissors.

 There was no question to the morbidity of the thought of the agreement that had taken place. It happened so fast, that there was no longer any room for further questioning and denial to fit in. Jack Collingwood had not only accepted a live doll into his home. But also very quickly into his heart. And as much as it could be denied, the dark and mentally disturbing acquaintanceship between a man and toy had been made known.