Kris was making us breakfast, telling me about the developments in my case and the arrival of Agent Backstrom. His words and tone were venomous when we spoke of her.
It struck me odd, given that he generally did not speak ill of women. In his mind, he coveted them, so that fact that he hated her meant he was genuinely afraid of her and that emotion was not one that he understood.
Eloise was laid out on the table for me to rub her belly while Kris continued to rant. She and I had bonded a lot more since Kris was leaving the bedroom door unlocked.
It was such a wonderful relief to be out of that musty room. I was beginning to talk to the dolls when I was bored, which was a lot. There wasn't much to do anyway, but Kris had been letting the house go since he was away at work all day. I knew it must be bothering him that the house was such a mess, so I was cleaning up. Anything to keep him happy and relaxed. He was much kinder and more reserved when he was at ease.
He hadn't killed anyone since I'd been here. For a long while I thought my sacrifice had been in vain, but the results were enough to convince me I had done the right thing.
Kris slid the fluffy pancakes on the plate along with two strips of bacon and the hash brown patty, and set it in front of me.
Eloise hopped off the table and began rubbing against my legs. She'd become increasingly affectionate since I'd first met her. She didn't even pay much attention to Kris anymore.
"Where'd you learn to cook?" I asked.
"College, it was either learn to cook or eat cardboard." he replied.
I laughed, nodding. I lived on cup of noodles for most of my undergrad experience.
"As a kid, I had to learn to feed myself otherwise, I may have died of malnutrition. My mom wasn't very concerned with those things. I fed her most of the time, but nothing I made compared to the memory of our family dinners."
I answered him with silence. This happened often, as he didn't like to hear anything that could assuage what had happened to him.
"You make peace with your situation." he shrugged.
That was a lie, he hadn't made peace with his situation, otherwise we wouldn't be here in this predicament.
"Listen, about the FBI problem... I know that it was easy to fool the other officers because you charmed them, but the FBI isn't going to fall for that. If what you say is true, that the team is from the behavioral unit, then they are trained to find people like you. From the way you speak about her, I can see that you consider her the biggest threat. She's working out of your office now, she is on your court, and you have to get inside of her head, and inside of her pants."
My stomach curled in anxiety. I couldn't believe that I was saying this. I was asking him to prey on her weakness as a woman, but I had worked too hard to create something here and I wasn't going to let anyone ruin it. Kris was driven by anger and loneliness, with my presence, those two facets of his life had diminished.
"How does this benefit you?" he asked.
"It doesn't, it benefits you." I replied.
He held onto my gaze, trying decipher what the hell I meant by that.
"Are you here by choice, or are you not?"
"You tell me." I said.
"I believe only you have the answer. What's your end goal?" he asked.
"What makes you think I have one?"
"Doesn't everyone? Is this about wanting to be here, or are you playing a game?"
"Am I? That's a rather dangerous game to play." I told him.
"This is a game only you'd know how to play, you're the psychiatrist."
"It's not in my occupation to play mind games, my job is to unravel the damage that had been done by them." I said.
"That's why I kidnapped you."
"So you kidnapped me because you didn't want to pay for my services?"
He smiled, but I could see in his expression that suspicion was bleeding through. I tried building up a barrier to prevent him from seeing everything. Psychiatrist eyes, it was like staring into a wall.
"You'll be late for work Kris. The FBI will be watching the members of your station, it's best not to give them any reason for suspicion."
"She already suspects me for being the last person to speak to Barbara alive." he admitted.
"That is in fact your fault."
"I'll be home later." he said, rolling his eyes.
Was I wrong?
He slipped on his coat and walked out of the house, locking the door behind him. It tempted me, as it was only to keep things out, not to keep things in. My legs twitched with the urge to run straight to the station and expose him.
I couldn't it, it would unleash a fury like no other. Kris was simmering underneath his skin, even if he didn't realize it. There was no permanent repression for his tendencies, but to hell with me if I didn't try.
I picked up our dirty dishes, placing them in the sink. Out of the corner of my eye, a figure darkened the kitchen window for a split second. A sense of fear crawled down my back. That didn't feel like Kris, and he sure as hell wouldn't be lurking near his own kitchen. He couldn't have possibly gotten around the house that quickly.
I shut off the sink and dried my hands, before moving to the front door, when the kitchen doorknob began to squeak as someone on the outside turned it. I suppressed the growing fear inside me and scurried into the doll room.
Who in their right mind would break into a cop's house?
Eloise followed after me, but I shooed her out and shut the door. She'd been known to give away my location.
I could hear someone walking around outside of the room. This person was bold, I mean, Kris had just left. What if he came back? He just came right in and was exploring the house!
I rolled under the bed to the darkest corner and trained my eyes on the bedroom door.
My hearing was picking up every single movement going on in the living room. The intruder was taking furtive steps, seemingly checking every room.
Memories of the night I had to fight Kris off emerged from the confines of my mind. Goosebumps rose all over my skin and sent a shudder down my spine into my toes.
Maybe this was my chance to get out. This person could be suspicious of Kris and could help me.
My rationality halted me. If this person suspected Kris of being a danger, they wouldn't break into his house. They could also be someone that was working with him. This could be a test.
If I revealed myself, Kris would never forgive me. But Kris worked alone... maybe it was safe. It was a risk I had to be willing to take.
No! Kris would never forgive me. You took a risk with him when you met him and he almost killed you.
If I broke his trust, he would never trust anyone again, and he would absolutely kill me now.
I pushed myself deeper into the dark corners under the bed. The knob to the bedroom began to turn and someone entered the room. I clamped my hand over my mouth to keep from making a single sound or breathing too loudly.
Internal heat burned up my body and worked up a sweat. Droplets slid down the nape of my neck. It was a man. I could tell from his shoes, but telling from the type of shoes, he was a young man. I wanted so badly to edge forward and get a look at him, but again, my rationality kept me planted to the floor.
A camera shutter went off a few times, meaning he was photographing something. Based on the position of his feet, he was facing the dolls. Shit, he was taking evidence shots.
I had to do something, but what?
He turned facing the bed and dropped down to a knee. My heart nearly stopped as I realized that he was going to look under the bed.
Kris, please come back, please come back!
Suddenly, a piercing wail cut the tension. I clamped my hand tighter over my mouth.
Had that been me?
My eyes shot to the entrance of the door where Eloise was standing. Her fur was raised and another hiss was thrown at the intruder.
"Hey, relax." the guy said.
He definitely sounded young, like early twenties.
Eloise hissed a third time and lunged half a centimeter.
"Alright, alright, I'm leaving, calm the hell down stupid cat."
He walked towards the door, stepping over Eloise who was swatting at his pant leg.
The side door slammed shut after a few seconds. I rolled out from under the bed and sucked in a deep breath. The dolls were propped over me, staring down. Why was everyone so interested in them? They weren't hurting anyone. Why couldn't people just leave Kris alone?
Eloise walked up to me and rubbed up against my leg, but I was shaking too hard to pet her.
It was him, it was that new killer. He knew about Kris, he knew about the dolls, and probably knew about me.
He had the balls to walk into this house and take photos. His lack of reaction to that confirmed he was either the killer or just psychotic.
I got to my feet and timidly walked into the kitchen. He was gone, but I could still feel him.
I locked the kitchen door and closed all of the curtains. I just needed Kris to come home and I'd feel safe again.
2020 Edit:
For those confused about my end notes, this story was originally posted in 2017/2018 so the end notes are dated haha
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Totally forgot I had to post. I'm working at a hockey game rn 😅
This chapter was hard for me. I had really bad writer's block.
So my question is, how was this chapter?
I was thinking, the comments you leave, if you'd like, you can ask the characters a question and they will respond, just say which character the question is for :)
I showed my friend the summary to The Doll Collector and he goes, "No, no, I can't do scary stuff. I can't handle it." like bruh, the amount of times you're going to laugh throughout this story, does it even classify as horror? LOL
Something big is gonna happen between Kris and Maria ;)