dollface | melanie martinez

𝐬𝐢𝐱

as soon as clara woke up in her doll's house bed,

she had the unsettling feeling that something was wrong.

the moonlight was streaming in through the window,
with shadows dancing across her room.

the window was wide open, the gentle breeze nudging the curtain every now and again.

something wasn't right.

the room was too empty...

crybaby was gone.

clara threw the covers aside and rolled out of bed, her dark eyes wide with fear. crybaby had become her everything, and with that came vast separation anxiety.

cautiously, her breathing quickening, she padded barefoot over the wooden floorboards to the window.

as she stood on her tiptoes to lean outside and see if anything was wrong, she felt a something flash behind behind her, nearly knocking her out of the window with the sheer force of its movement.

clara gasped, and spun around in time to see a vague shadow slip through the crack under the door, disappearing.

a child-like giggle echoed throughout her bedroom, bouncing off the alphabet wallpaper and sending a shiver up her spine.

"h-hello?" she whispered hoarsely, fear coursing through her body.
crybaby had promised to protect her from anything; where was she now?

the shadow crept out from the crack under the door, towards clara, who had backed herself completely against the window. its laughter echoed around the room again;
when clara saw red eyes blink into existence, her breath caught in her throat. there was no hesitation in her act of turning and leaping out of the window.

she was falling,

fall-

she was going to die-

and then she was caught in someone's arms;

someone's soft,
familiar arms.

"what the fu- clara, what were you doing?" crybaby's voice hissed into clara's ear.

"t- there was a- a thing in my room," the child sobbed uncontrollably. "it was l- like a sha... shadow. and it ha- had big red eyes. it was gonna hurt me, crybaby."

she looked up at her guardian with dark, doleful eyes.

alarm briefly flashed through crybaby's eyes, but clara was too distraught to notice.

"hey, hey- it's okay now, baby. i've got you," crybaby whispered soothingly, rubbing clara's back. she continued to do this until she had calmed down.

"wh- where did you go?" clara asked after a few moments.

crybaby placed the child's feet gently back on the ground and kissed her forehead before answering.

"i just needed a little walk. trust me to have to leave at the wrong moment," she said with a tinkling laugh.

crybaby's laugh made clara smile uncertainly too, although this was quickly wiped from her face as her gaze shifted from crybaby's face to the star-dappled sky.

"look," she whispered, pointing with a slightly shaky finger. "it's the shadow thing again."

crybaby slowly turned around to see a red and black shadowy blur swirling around above them, clearly focusing upon them.

"i see," she said softly. she observed without movement as the shadow drifted closer before landing in front of them,

and becoming

not a shadow anymore

but a little boy.

"i got you!" the boy giggled. "i scared you! i got you, didn't i?"

clara blinked, and nodded uncertainly, stepping closer. "who are you?"

the boy had features noticeably similar to her own, although he looked a few years younger, and was dressed in blue-and-white striped pyjamas.

"i'm robin," said the boy. when clara had no response to this, he said it again.
and again.
"robin.
r-o-b-i-n.
robin. ro-bin. rrrrrrooooobbbbbiiiiiiinnnn."

he appeared upset by her lack of recognition. "you do remember me, right?"

"no," replied clara bluntly.

"i'm afraid we don't know who you are," crybaby rephrased more politely. "would you care to introduce yourself?"

tears welled up in the little boy's red eyes.

"ask mama and papa who robin is," he snapped before fading away into the dark.

clara stared at the spot where he had just stood;

as she turned back to look into crybaby's eyes,
her own were again filled with fear.

~~~

POSTING TO CELEBRATE K-12 MAKING A CHRISTMAS RETURN,, GO WATCH THAT SHIT