Distorted Wonderland

Shinra

Halo Four: Shinra:

Shizuo's been stabbed again. Shinra did a successful job of stitching him up and now the debt collector lay sound asleep on the couch. In the hall, the doctor looked at Celty's phone.

"I'm getting nothing on here too," he said shaking his head as he handed back her phone. He leaned back again the wall. "I don't know why our cell phones are out."

"From what I hear it's not just us," Celty typed.

"It seems that way," the doctor said, "My boss complained about the same thing yesterday at work." A sudden thought crossed the dullahan's mind.

"Do you think it has something to do with those dolls all over the place?" she typed on her phone. In the other room, Shizuo slowly awoke to find one of dolls sitting on the counter staring at him. Her soulless piercing blue eyes complimented her black and dark blue dress. The color brought out the paleness in her skin. Despite the crack across her face, she still looked rather elegant. Shizuo sneered at her empty gaze. In the hall, Shinra took a second to ponder his girlfriend's question.

"It's possible," he said, "Nothing like this has happened since the dolls first appeared around the city." He looked up at his headless girlfriend. "I don't even know what exactly they are. If I could just find some clue, then maybe..." A loud crash in the living room interrupted his thoughts. The couple raced inside to find the cause. Shizuo stood over the fallen doll glaring at it. Judging by the bits of broken porcelain on the floor and the torn clothes and hair of the doll, it didn't take much to figure out just what had transpired.

"Shizuo..." the doctor said with a gasp. The ruffian snorted over the damage he had created.

"I couldn't stand the way that thing kept staring at me," he muttered. Shinra was about to speak when his cell phone rang.

"Excuse me," he said. The doctor picked up his phone and headed into the hall. "Hello?" he asked.

"Kishitani?" his boss asked on the other line, "It's been three days and we're swamped with patients in the clinic here. Where the hell have you been?!" A puzzled look came over the doctor's face at that question.

"Three days?" he asked, "But I just let the clinic hours ago. What are you talking about? Is this some kind of a joke?" His eyes darted around for a calendar.

"No," the other man insisted, "This isn't a joke. Why haven't you been in for work these past three days? Did something happen at home?" A sharp sense of dread filled the doctor as he looked over to the broken doll on the floor.

"Kishitani? Are you still there?" the boss asked, "Hello? Hello?"