Welcome To The Dollhouse ~Style fan fiction~ {Complete}

22

Why would he lock a hat up? It's just a tatty ushanka, nothing special.

I pick it up and inspect it. Something tells me I should know this, I should know why this hat feels familiar, but I can't quite put my finger on it.
I flip it over a few times and look inside. I take a quick look at the label and that's when it hits me.

It's my hat.

Written faintly onto the label is the word 'Kyle'. It's my hat and he's taken it from me, but I know I can't take it back because he'd get suspicious. Reluctantly, I lock it back up in the cupboard and move to the computers.

Much to my surprise, they don't need a password to be accessed. Either Stan has nothing to hide or he is an absolute idiot.

First, I go to the computer on the left.
His desktop is pretty tidy, with each of his icons being in neat rows organised alphabetically and his background picture is set to a photograph of a cute dog with a sparkly pink bandana.
None of the desktop icons seem important, most of them are either search engines or Microsoft applications, however there is a folder labelled 'Victim #8' which could have something important in it.

I open it up and notice it's full of photo files. I click on the first one and feel a little uneasy. It's a photo of my house. The second one is just as creepy, it's a photo of the back of my house.
The next few photos are photos of two other houses, which I assume are Scott and David's houses. Why would he need those photos?
I keep clicking on the files, feeling more creeped out every second, but not enough to stop. There's photos of me in class, photos of me walking home from school and even a photo of me in David's car going to Token's party.

The last photo is the one that disgusts me the most. It's a photo of me, clearly unconscious and beaten half to death on the floor in a pool of what I'm assuming is my own blood.

"What the fuck..?" I mutter to myself, feeling as if I'm going to throw up any second.

I'm Victim #8. That's what he's named the file, that's what he's named me. He's just a creepy stalker who probably uses everyone in here for sex.

I close the file and move on to searching other files. I discover more files just like mine well hidden inside countless folders, all labelled similarly. There's similar photos inside each one, but of all the girls in the house.
The only one that's different is the quiet girl I haven't spoken to yet. Two of her photos show her on a coach with a large suitcase and backpack looking scared and the final one shows her smiling for the camera, suitcase and backpack nowhere to he found.

Suddenly, the door swings open a little and Annie's tiny hand taps on the wall four times before pulling it as shut as it can go without making a noise.

Somebody's coming.

I'm going to have to go for another childish hiding place, under the desk. Luckily it's one of those desks with a back so I can lean against it and I won't get seen from the other side.

Three taps against the wall is the signal that they're gone, so I have to listen out for that before I continue searching.
Every part of me wants to continue searching, but if I do I might make too much noise and grab the attention of whoever is outside. It's too risky.

"I was just going for a late night stroll," Annie lies, "I couldn't sleep."

"Oh alright," Stan's voice says, "do you want me to walk you back to your room?"

"No. I don't feel tired enough to sleep right now. I'd rather continue walking, perhaps go to the library," Annie's voice is smooth, relaxed. She's good at lying, "and I'd like to be alone."

"Right, okay. Well, have fun on your walk."

A few seconds later, Annie taps three times.
The coast is clear.

I quickly get to my feet and continue searching through the computer, but most of the files are just photos of a cute dog or other photos of the family.
There's one photo of the woman, who I presume is Stan's mother, on her own at the beach with the dog. For some reason, I get a feeling of familiarity and comfort from her, as if I've met her before and trusted her, yet somehow I can't put my finger on it.

I turn the computer and move onto the next one. However, this one is different. Instead of a bunch of folders on the desktop, there is a single icon. I double click on it and feel horrified by what I see.

It's security camera footage of every single room in this place, not including the bathrooms or Stan's bedroom. I can see Annie stood outside in the hallway, Bebe trying out new hairstyles at her vanity in her bedroom and Heidi lying on her metal bed.

Oh crap. That means he might have seen me and Heidi the other day.
Let's hope he didn't. That's just creepy.

I look at all of the cameras just in case there's anything interesting, but the only movement is the servants tidying up in the kitchens and then going to their rooms.

I check the hallways around Annie before calling out to her.

"Hey Annie!" I call, "come see this."

She comes over to me and peers at the cameras.

"Gross, he's monitoring us with these," she frowns, "I hope he didn't see you and Heidi that day."

"Did Esther tells you about that?"

"Oh please," Annie rolls her eyes, "I could hear her all the way from my room. Esther's cool, she wouldn't give secrets."

Annie clicks on one of the cameras and watches silently. It's just a dark room, you can't see anything, but she watches it as if she's trying to figure something out.
She taps the screen a couple of times and turns to me.

"Did you see, did you see?" She hisses, "something moved!"