Chapter Ten

"Look, I said I was- "

"When. We. Get. Home."

It wasn't the first time she had tried to apologize, and it wasn't the first time that Kinsley had shut her down. The car was quiet, no music. Lila had opted for the back seat, leaving Sabrina alone in the front. Sniffling sounds could be heard from behind her, and a glance showed that Lila was curled into Faith, who was stroking the smaller girl's hair.

Sabrina felt awful, but she also felt irritated at the same time. Nothing she said should have brought this sort of reaction. She DID act like a child and everyone knew it.

Unconsciously, she crossed her arms over her chest as she stared out the window.

The silence was deafening.

It was almost a relief when they pulled into the driveway. Faith and Lila got out immediately, heading inside and leaving Sabrina alone with Kinsley.

She spoke quickly to get her thought out without being interrupted. "I'm sorry I hurt her feelings."

"Who's at the bottom of the hierarchy?"

Sabrina sighed heavily, gritting her teeth. "I am. Whatever. Look, my fucking cat just DIED today, my dad's a homophobic asshole, and I'd really just rather NOT deal with this today."

It was Kinsley's turn to sigh. "You're right. You're right. You've had a bad day, it's understandable. We'll address this tomorrow."

With venom, Sabrina spat her words. "Thank you. I'm going to go for a walk, I'll catch you later."

"You shouldn't go off on your own." Kinsley's hand was on Sabrina's shoulder, drawing a small sneer. It wasn't a purely gentle gesture.

"Yeah well, I'm going to. I make my own decisions and I need some time alone with my thoughts. I have to think about whether this whole hierarchy is even right for me."

She didn't give Kinsley a moment to respond. She slipped from the car and closed the door behind herself and started walking, with no real destination in mind.

▲ ▲ ▲

The old building didn't loom any more. The brick pillars were familiar, the sagging roof was familiar, even the fat squirrel in the tree next door was familiar. The fact was that this odd place, the Dollhouse of Sortwell, had become so normal for her.

She stood with a hand on the doorknob and took a deep breath.

"Everyone gets mad sometimes. You hurt her feelings, you apologized. They're your friends, they took you in when you had nowhere else to go, they've made you a permanent part of the house - not just a guest, a doll. Family." Another deep, cleansing breath. "Kinsley is nice, Faith is kind, and Lila is sweet. You're just having a bad day. Tomorrow, everything will be better."

She had been walking for an hour or two, texting with Jules as she went. Bringing her up to speed on her life of late... but leaving out the whole "hierarchy" idea and the fact that she had been acting as basically a live-in servant for the house lately. The thought brought back a flash of anger, but she took another long breath. Being mad wouldn't do any good.

She had to find a way up from the bottom of the hierarchy...

Or she had to leave. It was that simple.

The thought of it hurt, however. She had only been living with the dolls for a short while in the grand scheme of things, but it was hard to turn her back on the only people who helped her out at her lowest.

Jules wasn't exactly offering her couch in Charlotte. Not for more than a couple of days.

Her furniture and her clothes had undoubtedly been pawned. She hadn't even tried to contact her old landlord.

It was just too stressful. It was much easier to relax with the girls.

She clenched her eyes for a moment and pushed the door open, to find a very normal scene. Lila, on the couch playing a video game. Faith hanging out with her, holding her soda. Kinsley was probably upstairs. Everything was normal.

Sabrina released the breath she didn't realize she was holding.

"Hey gays." It was a term of endearment, one of a million in-jokes in the house. "Sorry again I hurt your feelings earlier."

Lila paused the game and looked up, a smile on her lips but a touch of sadness in her eyes. Guilt bloomed anew in Sabrina's heart.

"Grab a controller. We're getting ready to fight the level 3 boss, we could use your help. We'll worry about the rest tomorrow. Kinsley ordered a couple of pizzas, we're just... taking it easy tonight."

It felt like a massive weight had been lifted from her shoulders. It wasn't until just then that she realized exactly how much she had dreaded having to leave the Dollhouse, having to find a new place to live with even less than she had before. She didn't even technically own any of her own clothes at this point - it was a sobering thought.

The controller felt right in her hands, even though she had really never played many games before crashing at the dollhouse. Laughter was soon following, but there was always a slight strain to Faith's usual mirth. The pizza was delicious, and the dinnertime television - an older sitcom on Netflix - was fun. They ate on the couch upstairs, basking in the glow of the sixty inch television set. Kinsley wrapped an arm around Sabrina's shoulders and planted a kiss on her temple.

It was a good night.

Sabrina went to bed with a light heart, full of hope.

Sunday.

It used to bring with it a sense of dread, a longing sadness that the weekend was over and the capitalist grind was beginning again, just to leave her aching for Friday night when she could have a moment to herself.

But for nearly a month now, Sunday had just been another day with her friends, with people who were looking out for her. Lila was apparently even going to work tonight... although the burning question was: what did she even do for a job?

The smell of waffles floated through the house - she planned on just having a bowl of cereal, but it was a nice smell to wake up to. She stretched as she walked, relieving herself in the restroom and washing her hands before emerging to the living room.

And stopping cold when she saw Kinsley on the couch, next to Lila and Faith.

The television was black. Dead.

Like the silence in the room. There were no smiles to be found.

"Hey gays... " Sabrina ventured nervously.

Kinsley stood, walking over to Sabrina and towering over her. "We need to talk about what happened yesterday."

"I'm really sorry, it was a really bad start to the day and- "

"You're being demoted."

"What?" Sabrina stared up at the fierce face of the usually bright and sunny Kinsley. Her eyes always looked like ice, but they rarely looked cold. "What does that even mean? I don't work- "

"You walked off yesterday. You were mean to Lila. We only have a couple of rules, Bree. Be kind and care for each other, and don't make Lila cry."

Sabrina's pulse raced as alarms went off in her brain. Kinsley was so close. Kinsley was so tall. Instinctively, she slid her right hand behind her back, the wrist with the bracelet.

"I wasn't mean, Lila was super rude to me and I snapped at her. I said I'm sorry. We had a good day yesterday, I'm a reasonable person- "

"You're not a person."

She said the words with such conviction, such finality. Such chill.

"Wh.. what? What are you talking about, of course I am!"

"Kneel." A finger pointed sharply to the ground.

Sabrina's eyes darted to Lila and Faith. Lila looked down suddenly, covering her face. There were tears in her eyes. Faith rose slowly, something in her hands. Panic began to rise in earnest within Sabrina.

"Wait... what are you doing? What are you talking about?"

"You're being demoted, Bree. You're not a person anymore. You have to earn it back. You just couldn't be content being at the bottom, you had to break the very few rules that we have. Do you think it was kind of you walking off like that, leaving us all to worry? What if something happened to you? What if you got hurt?" A hand rested on Sabrina's shoulders. Kinsley's words were filled with concern, but there was only frost in her tone. "On your knees."

"What are you going to do?" Instinctively, she tried to take a step back, her heart pounding. Kinsley held her fast, and moments later Faith was driving a foot into her leg, making it too hard to stand. She stared up at both of them as Faith handed over another steel band, the same she wore on her wrist but bigger. "What is that?"

"Be. Quiet."

"Stop! Wait! I don't want this! We said everything was fine, we said- "

The world exploded in a shower of stars, light beaming from every corner of the suddenly-sideways room. Her shoulder hurt, and when her vision cleared, she was staring at the green shoelaces of Faith's sneakers. Her hand went to her cheek where Kinsley had hit her. Eyes watering, she lay there, stunned.

"Y... you hit me."

It sounded like the words came from someone else, somewhere else. Bewildered, disbelieving.

It took a few beats before Sabrina realized they came from her own lips.

A few beats more before rage grew in her heart.

"You. Fucking. Hit. Me." Planting both palms on the ground, she pushed herself up and came to her feet fighting. She aimed right for Kinsley's head, swinging upward with a wild, angry hook. Her only thought was to strike back.

It was so hard for her to process what came next. There was the sound of something heavy hitting the ground to her left. A pain in her hand. The ceiling, the side of the couch, the wall. A sharp pain on the back of her head. Hands on her ankles.

Blinding pain on the back of her right thigh.

Somehow, her brain pieced it all together. In a flash, Kinsley had caught her punch and thrown her to the ground before grabbing her by the ankles and forcing her onto her back, her bottom exposed and her knees near her chest.

Three more blows fell like thunder before she had enough wits about her to cry out. She kicked her feet and screeched, a primal wail, but that only caused the violence to rain down on her even more fiercely. The fight left her quickly, overtaken by tears. Her hands were slapped many times, knocking them away from shielding her thighs.

And all of this through the fabric of her pajama bottoms. At some point, Faith had begun holding Sabrina's hands above her head, keeping them out of the way of Kinsley's punishment. Shaking, sobbing, gasping for breath and the backs of her thighs on fire, Sabrina finally rolled onto her side, coughing and begging as the women released her. She was barely able to process anything as Faith lifted her up under her arms to a sitting position. The world was blurry, partly due to the tears, partly due to the lightheadedness that came along with so much sudden crying and panting.

She only barely registered the feeling of cold metal closing around her neck, Faith holding her chin while Kinsley's hands worked.

Lila's voice floated across an infinite haze in the living room. "She scared me. She was going to hit you."

"It's okay, sweetie, everything's going to be okay."

Slowly the pain cleared, and Sabrina's hands went to her neck.

To the solid, near-seamless steel band around her throat. More than enough room for her fingers to grasp it, enough room to slip her hand through the loop, but no clasp. No latch.

Just like the bracelet.

"You're not a person until you learn to behave."