Page 50 of Dollface

The Creator

His dice rolls in my hand, the edges still sharp. After all these years, he still holds such fondness for them, clinging to the memory of a lonely boy who tried to befriend him.Fool.A grunt escapes my mouth as I chuck the red dice across the ground, watching as they roll to an eight.

“Spider lady!” The insipid clown minion of his barges into the room, twirling a neon-painted circus hammer in her hands, smiling as her razor-sharp teeth reflect the nearby light. I can’t help but roll my eyes at her vexing, shrieking voice. She’s insufferable, a loose cannon in every sense of the word, but a useful tool nevertheless.

“Yes, Havoc?” Her name is quite fitting. “Any news?”

“Zip!” She slams her hammer down, the loud noise grating on me, before sitting on the face of it like a chair. “Bug is still glowing with sadness. Dolly blue as always.” She kicks her platform shoes, shaking her head.

“Excellent. Let them suffer in their dingy cells, withering away as they listen to the other’s screams, helpless, slowly succumbing to madness and starvation. It will be a fitting punishment, don't you think?” I sneer, my eyes blazing with savage satisfaction as I stare into the flickering flames of my fireplace.

She tilts her head, staring at me as if frozen in her eerie position. I’m always left to wonder what goes on behind hereyes, in that colorful little brain of hers. Havoc plays them both, despite her apparent deep fondness of the two. She offered her eye for me to spy with yet has defended herbossin battles she nearly didn’t make it out of. She doesn’t seek power or retribution; instead she simply wants to raise the stakes of my game, adding new twists and turns. It’s impressive, really, watching her play them all. Entertaining, yet slightly unnerving. How does one grow so close and yet is still able to flip so quickly?

She blinks. “Is spider lady bored now that the game is over?”

I flinch at her words.Bored? How dare she.

“Of course not!” I grip the arms of my elaborate chair, my needle-like fingers digging into the wood, releasing a satisfying crack as I lean forward. “I have won my game after all these centuries, with the added bonus of watching yourbug’sheart shatter in the process.” I grin, revealing my own sharp teeth. “It’s something I have waited to taste for far too long.” I lean back, my smile fading away. With the game ended, now what?

“He wouldn’t love me, yet he chose to fall for a toy, and not even a proper one. Blue isn’t even complete, made from scraps. It’s such an insult.”

“Spider lady seems sad.”

“I am not sad!” I snap at the imbecile. “I am angry. He should’ve accepted the truth of his creation, taken his seat at my side, and spent eternity as my king here in Dreadmoor. Instead, he chose to disobey me, choosing to side with those wretched children, casting himself into that dreadful world they call Nightmare, planning all the ways he could kill me—his creator. My own creation, made in my image, has plotted my death for centuries.” I release a short, cold laugh. “It’s rather exhausting, really. It seems we were destined to never be. If I cannot have him as my own, then I shall break them both. Let’s see just how strong those traitorous toys are when they rot away, listening asthe other dies a slow, painful death, unable to help. Always just out of reach.”A poetic end to it all.

The clown presses her lips together in a thin, firm line. “But with bug dead, the game is over.”

“Precisely,” I growl under my breath. “I have won.”

Havoc hops from the hammer, pacing back and forth, as if contemplating something. I pick at my fingers, exhaling as I wait for whatever nonsense she’s about to spill. I wonder if I pluck her button out and send her back to Nightmare if she would stay there. I have what I need. I have won the game, and I do not need her anymore.

“Havoc has it!” She snaps her fingers. “What if spider lady gives bug one last chance?—”

I can’t help but scoff. “I am in no mood to see him ever again, clown.”

“Havoc wasn’t finished!” She stomps her foot, reminding me of the bratty children I’ve lured in over the centuries. Such a temper.

The tiny terror doesn’t threaten me, but I’m intrigued by her odd passion, morbidly curious as to what she may suggest. I won’t admit it out loud, but she is correct about one thing; the game is over, and soon, I will grow bored. My greatest opponent, the man I created to love, has been had, leaving me with no challenge or threat to oppose. This feeling is something I’d prefer not to experience.

“Go on. I’m listening.”

“What if spider lady,” she crawls around, retrieving her boss’s set of dice, “gives bug one last chance?” She crawls to me, offering the dice up as her head cocks to the side. “Let him roll his fate for old time’s sake.”

I stare at the red dice, tapping them with the pointed tip of my fingernail. “If I did allow such a thing,” I drawl, “what would be the stakes?”

“Odds, boss wins. He and dolly live happily ever after. Forever.”

“I don’t think so?—”

“Boss rolls even,” her face darkens with her voice, “then boss must do what needs be done. And spider lady wins a bloody game and her toy.”What needs to be done, hmm? Intriguing.

“Interesting proposal, Havoc, but the chances of me losing are just as high as him winning. I do not like it.” I push her open hand away.Too high a risk, I refuse to lose him again.

“Don’t you see?” she shrieks, shooting to the edge of my seat, standing close. “Boss always wins the rolls. The only way to be together forever,” she leans even closer, her mouth moving next to my ear as she whispers, “is death.”

I see. If he wins, they both die. If I win, then the doll dies. There is no loss on my part; it’s simply a trick of words, meant to confuse—something my little creation would so easily catch on to if he wasn’t being led by his dick.

“If he thinks there’s a way to save that wretched toy, he’ll take it.” The clown nods quickly, eager and excited by me entertaining her idea. “It would make the shortly ended game a bit more interesting—for the time being.”

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