As Carrie made her way slowly up the stairs of the apartment complex, a brisk fall breeze brushed up past her as it knocked her hood down. Carrie stood there, bracing herself against the cold for a second before shaking it off, continuing up the stairs with a stack of boxes in hand. ‘Great day for moving,’ she mumbled to herself sardonically, delicately moving her way up the stairs as she balanced the boxes in her arms. Finally making it to her apartment, her new apartment, she clumsily balanced herself as she fumbled around with her keys, nudging the door open with her foot as she unlocked the door. Dropping the boxes on the counter, she sighed, stretching out her back as she did. ‘Christ, why couldn’t we have gotten a place without so many stairs?” she thought to herself, glancing around the living room as she did. The place was nice, much nicer than she was used to in the college dorms. The living room, though practically empty save for a couch along the wall, was fairly spacious; or rather it was for the three people that’d be living there. ‘That reminds me,’ Carrie thought to herself, peaking around the corner of the kitchen as she did. ‘Am I the first one here?’

Over the past few weeks, Carrie had been looking to get out of the dorms. After her first year of college was done, she could barely handle dorm life, the cramped setting being well beyond her comfort zone. Finally going into her second year, she practically booked it out of there, starting her search for an apartment immediately. Looking to room with some other students, she found most of her friends either uninterested or already committed living elsewhere, leaving Carrie to reluctantly look online for some roommates. In no time she found two other girls, both strangers themselves, looking for a third in their apartment. Despite not knowing them, she jumped at the opportunity, quick to sign up despite never meeting the girls. ‘People room with strangers all the time. I mean I did the same thing in the dorms anyway, it should be fine!’

Despite this, Carrie still found herself nervous as she began to creep around the apartment, checking around each corner to see if she was alone. As she rounded the kitchen, she walked down the hall, glancing to a partially open door down towards the end. Inching down the hall, Carrie tapped the door gently, letting it slowly swing open. As she stood in the door frame, her lips parting in a silent shock as to what she saw. The room ahead of her, unlike the fairly vacant setting of the rest apartment, was fully set up, but it didn’t really look like the room of a college student. Sprawled all over the shelves, desk, corners, and especially the bed were stuffed animals; plushes of all sizes placed precariously throughout the room. There was an array of animals, everything from realistic black cat spread out on the bed to a large teddy bear that was as big as Carrie against the back window. There were even a few dolls, with a few sat atop the shelves with two life sized, stuffed girls pressed closely together, leaning back onto the oversized teddy bear. Slowly walking up to them, she kneeled, examining the detail of the dolls in front of her. Despite being stuffed, the dolls looked surprisingly realistic, the only distinguished features that declared them dolls being the occasional seam down their sides and the brightly stiched expressions on their face. Beyond that the two seemed almost real, even their clothes resembling nothing different than what you’d see some of the girls around campus wearing. With a smirk on her face, Carrie reached down, lifting up one of the doll’s hands before shaking in gently. “I don’t suppose you two are my roommates, are you?” Carrie joked.   “That’d be me, actually.”

Carrie practically yelled in surprise, jumping to her feet and turning around quickly. Right behind her was a girl, maybe about a year older than herself, standing there with an amused grin on her face. She stood slightly taller than Carrie, dressed in a simple white top and jeans, her black hair pulled back into a braid. Behind a pair of small glasses sat a pair of intelligent looking green eyes, now staring back at Carrie. “I see you met the girls; they can be a bit shy at first but they’ll warm up to ya.” The girl started in a lighthearted, confident tone that helped to ease Carrie’s still fluttering heartbeat. Looking down, she could see the girl had extended a hand, which she was quick to shake. “Yeah, um, sorry for barging in, I was just looking around.” Carrie started nervously. “I’m Carrie by the way.” The dark haired girl didn’t seem the least bit bothered. “Ellie,” she said, motioning to herself, “now come on, let’s get you unpacked, roomie.”

Following her into the next room, Ellie was quick to start helping Carrie unpack, picking out one of the two still vacant rooms for her. As the two began to unload, Ellie was quick to start up conversation, getting to know Carrie as the two set up the room. After some time had passed, Carrie chimed in. “So, do you collect toys or something?” Ellie smirked to herself. “I was waiting for you to ask about that. Yeah, I kinda have a thing for stuffed animals and dolls, always have really. Most kids grow out of them, but I don’t think I ever really did. After a while you just start calling it collecting I guess.” She said with a laugh, Carrie fairly content with the answer. “Any other interesting hobbies I should know about?” she joked, Ellie hardly looking up from her work as she responded. “Magic,” she stated in a matter of fact way. Carrie smirked slightly, looking over to the girl. “You mean like card tricks and pulling rabbits out of your hat?” she said in a joking tone. Ellie shrugged her shoulders gently, seemingly equally content with her answer. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

By the time the two were done, an hour had passed, the sun hanging on the horizon as dusk slowly faded in. “Glad that’s over,” Ellie started, the two walking out into the kitchen. “Sooo, food?” she asked, holding up a pamphlet for a Chinese restaurant down the road. Quick to agree, the two headed out, grabbing food and talking all the way. Equally as fast to dip in and out of the restaurant, the girls grabbed their food. As they climbed the stairs back to their apartment, food in hand, they could see their apartment door was halfway open. Looking each other before back to the door, the two walked up up to the frame, Ellie tapping the door open intently before stepping in. Inside there was another girl, currently bent over a box as she rummaged through it in the living room. She was dressed plainly in a green tank top and black leggings, the girl stood up with a lamp in hand, slowly making her way to the room at the end of the hall. As she did, she saw the two girls standing near the door, glancing at them before continuing walking. Over her shoulder she spoke back to them, “So I’m going to assume I’m going to be rooming with you two?” she spoke in a blunt tone.

Looking to each other again, the girls stepped into the living room, standing there for a moment as the girl returned to grab some more stuff from the boxes. Glancing down, Carrie could see “Rene” written sloppily in sharpie on the box. “So you’re Rene? I’m Carrie, and this is..” Carrie stopped short as the girl didn’t even seem to notice, collecting a box and walking back to her room. “Looks like we’re living with a real charmer this year, we must have lucked out,” Ellie joked, nudging Carrie as she did. Ellie didn’t seem to mind the rudeness but Carrie stood there with a look of disappointment on her face. Ellie seemed a little odd, but nice none the less, but she could already feel herself not liking this other girl. As Rene walked into the room once again, she sat down on the couch, taking a breather before directly addressing the girls for the first time. Kicking up her feet on one of the boxes, she looked up to them with an uninterested look. “So. Which one of you is the stuffed animal nut?” she stated in the same blunt tone, motioning back to Ellie’s room down the hall. Arching her eyebrows at the comment, Ellie leaned over to Carrie, whispering as she did. “Well this should be an interesting semester at least.”

From there, things weren’t exactly ideal for Carrie, but they weren’t terrible. Despite Rene very quickly and quite deservingly earning the title the “bitch down the hall,” by Ellie, she wasn’t too horrible of a roommate. Virtually everything she said to the girls over the following weeks was typically either blunt or down right rude, but as the two learned she didn’t even say much in the first place. Typically they’d only see her briefly, sauntering through the kitchen before returning to her room with food and knocking the door shut. Beyond that she paid her bills on time, was fairly quiet, and most of the time just left Carrie and Ellie alone. All the while, the other two girls got along famously. Whenever she was bored or had nothing to do, Carrie usually found herself in Ellie’s room with her, either just lying on the bed chatting with her or toying with one of the girl’s dozens of stuffed animals. Even with the jerk living two doors down, Carrie couldn’t even really care less. She was content with how things turned out.

Now a few months in, the three settled into their new habits. With some of their classes lining up, Carrie and Ellie found themselves hanging out even more, regularly studying together or grabbing food when they could. Rene continued to stick to her hermit life and frankly the two couldn’t care. One night, after dinner with some mutual friends, Carrie and Ellie found themselves walking from campus to their apartment, joking with each other as they made their way back. “You remember that from Halloween? How could you? You were drunk off your ass that night!” Carrie joked to Ellie who laughed along with her as she responded. “How could I not remember? It was my friend’s house party, I remember all of it! Well…most of it anyway.” The two slowly climbed the stairs of the apartment complex, Carrie continued. “Remember when Jake kept on getting sat on by that girl in the ventriloquist dummy costume?” Ellie smirked back with a knowing smile. “Last time I checked they’re actually a thing now actually.” At that Carrie joked back about Jake as the two stepped into the apartment, dropping their bags on the couch before Ellie began to make her way down the hall.

Rounding the corner behind her, Carrie stopped. There in the hall was Ellie, stopped about midway to her room, kneeling over something on the floor. In her hand was a bit of stuffing, which she was now staring at with a perplexed look on her face. Walking intently to her room, she was quick to open the door, scanning the room quickly as she did. Carrie inched up behind her, glancing around as well. The room seemed fine, but before Carrie could even speak up, Ellie was already storming back down the hall, knocking aggressively on Rene’s door as she did. Carrie’s eyes shot open in confusion, quick to move behind Ellie as Rene opened the door. Looking up to her, Rene sighed, “Yeah? What do you guys want then?” Practically yelling, Ellie held up the piece of fluff, “Did you mess with my stuff when we were gone?” Rene rolled her eyes, slouching against the door frame as she did. “Yeaaah, sorry about that. My friend Trevor brought his dog over, and it wandered a bit around the house, and well…” she dipped out of sight for a second, reaching over beside her trash can before lifting up the tattered remains of the black cat doll that typically resided on the foot of Ellie’s bed. At the sight Ellie began grinding her teeth, standing there silently as her eyes shot from the remains of the toy to Rene in anger. With a frustrated sigh, she ripped the torn cloth from Rene’s hands, storming off to her room and slamming the door behind her.

Carrie stood there, still wide eyed over how quickly all that seemed to escalate. She glanced back to Rene, who shut her door as nonchalantly as ever, leaving her alone in the hall with only the tension of it all keeping her from moving. Eventually, she made her way to Ellie’s room, slowly creeping down the hall before gently nudging her door open. There inside, Ellie was sitting cross legged on her bed, eyes slightly red as she looked up to Carrie in her door frame. Carrie slowly joined her on the bed, giving her a half-hug before resting her hand on her shoulder. “She didn’t even apologize. I had that cat since I was a little kid and she didn’t even apologize,” Ellie spoke, a mix of sadness and angst lining her words as she hollowly glanced at the tattered cloth on the end of her bed where the stuffed cat once sat.. “It’s just Rene, you how she can be. Listen I know how much you love your collection, but there’s not much we can do about there now, is there?” Carrie asked rhetorically, hoping to help calm the girl down. Composing herself, Ellie sat up straight, sighing as she looked back to her friend. “Actually, I might have some ideas as to what to do.” Carrie arched her brow, confused as to what she meant. Seeing this, Ellie continued. “We’re gonna get even.”

The next day, Carrie didn’t see much of Ellie. She didn’t show up to class, and even upon coming home that afternoon, her room was empty, save for the doll’s that gazed warmly at Carrie from the corner. “I hope she’s doing ok,” she mumbled to herself, reluctantly going back to her room to get some work done. It wasn’t until later that night that Ellie came in. Hearing the door shut, Carrie’s ears perked up, popping her head out her door as she heard footsteps move through the apartment. As she did, she saw Ellie, making her way to her room with a smile on her face. As she passed Carrie’s door, she took the girl by the hand, guiding her to follow as she continued down the hall to her room. As the two entered Ellie’s room, she shut the door behind them, throwing her bag on the bed excitedly before hopping on herself and rummaging through it. Carrie was as confused as ever, sitting on the foot of the bed as she watched her friend lift something out slowly. It was a pendant; a jagged, uneven chunk of jade with strips of gold embroidery all around it, hanging from a similarly gold looking chain. “Wow, that looks…expensive.” Carrie joked. “What is it exactly?” Ellie smiled back resting the gemstone in the palm of her hand. “Revenge,” she said with a smirk across her face.

Carrie’s eyes moved back and forth between her friend and the stone in her hand. “Ok…so what you’re going to hit her with it?” Carrie joked, trying to find levity in her confusion. “Nope, this is a lot more fun than that. This,” she said, motioning to the charm, “is for hypnosis. Should make our bitch down the hall a bit more agreeable, don’t you think?” At that Carrie laughed. “Oh really now, so we’re going to brainwash her? Don’t we need like a swirly disk or a pocket watch for something like that?” Ellie didn’t seem off put by the comment, not expecting her friend to believe her right away. At that, she lifted up the stone, letting it dangle from the chain between the two of them. The jade glowed slightly, and right away Carrie’s face went blank, her whole body slumping slightly in her seat as if she was just another one of Ellie’s rag toys. “Now Carrie,” she began. “Everything I say you will accept as true. Magic is real, this stone’s magic is real as well. When I said I dabbled with magic I meant it. Sooo..don’t make things weird, ok?” At that, the glow faded, awareness returning to Carrie’s mindless stare. Blinking a few times, she came to, not overwhelmed but with a look of understanding on her face. “Holy shit, wow. Why didn’t you tell me? How did you even get that thing?” Ellie shrugged. “It’s a good rule of thumb to not tell everyone about this kind of stuff. Less mass hysteria, you know? As for this, let’s just say I borrowed it from a friend.” She spoke, dangling the stone in her grasp. Carrie sat silent, mulling the shift in perspective she had just experienced. Almost lost in thought, Ellie grabbed her hand, pulling her out of it. “Now come on, we have important things to do.”

Making her way out into the hall, Ellie walked down to Rene’s door, Carrie trotting behind her trying to keep up. With a few rhythmic knocks by Carrie, Rene slowly opened the door. Looking over the two, Rene’s expression turned to one of disdain, expecting Ellie to start yelling at her at any second. Instead, she simply lifted up the pendant, its faint glow starting up again. “Well? Aren’t you going to invite us in?” All at once, Rene’s guard dropped. Her arms drooped to her sides, her lips parting slightly as locked onto the stone. “Umm, yeah, of course,” she spoke in a timid, almost defenseless tone. She swung the door open, Ellie triumphantly entering the room, Carrie quick to follow behind her. Sitting down on Rene’s bed, Ellie made herself at home, motioning for Rene to come sit beside her. She did, sitting across from her on the plush surface as Carrie watched from beside the foot of the bed. “Now Rene,” Ellie started with a smirk, lifting the gemstone up as she did. “You’ve been a pretty bad roommate, haven’t you?” Ellie asked. Rene nodded in silent agreement with her blank expression still over her face. “Well, I think you better make up for it, especially after what you let happen to my cat.” Again, a silent nod. Carrie stood with a combination of amazement and concern on her face, looking over to Ellie as she patted Rene’s head in a patronizing way. “Well it’s ok, I’m sure I can help you make up for it. From now on, you’re gonna be our little servant. You’ll clean the apartment; vacuum, dust, the works. Plus you’re going to replace my stuffed animal when I say so, ok?” Ellie glanced back to Carrie, still smiling deviously. “Any last minute suggestions?” Carrie, still a bit nervous about it all, chimed in half-heartedly. “Maybe she could make us dinner?” Ellie giggled, turning back to her new servant. “That too. As far as you should be considered, you belong to me now, ok?” At that, she wrapped the golden chain around her finger, flipping the jade back into her hand. After a second, life slowly returned to Rene’s eyes. Glancing between her roommates, she sat in silence for a few seconds before smiling warmly, springing up off the bed and making her way to the door. Carrie glanced to Ellie before calling out to her, “Hey, Rene, where are you going?” Rene turned back to her, still smiling. “To get started on dinner of course!” she spoke in a happy tone, happier than Carrie had ever heard her. Taken aback, Carrie let her go, sitting slowly on the bed beside her friend, her eyes still locked on the now empty doorframe with a look of disbelief. “That… that’s one hell of a way to get revenge,” she said, giggling to herself over the absurdness of it all.

Later than night, dinner was surprisingly good. Despite never seeing her touch a stove in her life, Rene was a surprisingly good cook. After dinner, Carrie and Ellie were sitting in the living room, talking and occasionally laughing to each other as they watched Rene move from through the room, cleaning everything thoroughly. “Maybe we should invest in a maid’s costume for her,” Ellie joked as she watched her new servant dust the shelves. “Does that work for you, Rene?” Without a hint of insincerity, Rene responded “Of course mistress, you can ask me to dress however.” Carrie, who felt a little more at ease with the idea of her roommate being brainwashed laughed at that, turning to Ellie on the couch. “So think it’s about time to get her back to normal?” she asked with a yawn. “Well I’m going to let her finish cleaning the apartment first,” Ellie responded with a chuckle, “But after that…Maybe.” Rising from the couch, Carrie stretched, yawning again as she glanced over to Rene. “Well I’m going to bed then, just don’t leave her like that for too long, ok? Don’t want her to be stuck like that.” Ellie laughed in agreeance, saying goodnight over her shoulder as Carrie retreated to her room. Looking to her servant, Ellie smiled, toying with the pendant in her hands. “But why stop the fun here?”

The next morning, Carrie awoke groggily, surprisingly early given it was the weekend. Opening her door, she stretched her back as she threw a cardigan over her shoulders, but stopped as she smelled the air, bacon from what she could tell. Making her way to the kitchen, she saw Rene, wearing an apron as she leaned over the stove. ‘So much for turning her back,’ Carrie thought to herself, glancing over to Ellie, who sat at the counter beside the kitchen. Pulling up a seat, she could see Ellie was wearing the gemstone as a neckless now, resting against the girl’s chest. “Hey you, just in time,” she started as Rene slid two plates onto the counter in front of them. Glancing down at the food, it looked amazing, but in the back of her mind she was still concerned about hypnotized girl in front of her. “So, what happened to turning her back?” Carrie asked, lifting a fork of eggs to her mouth. Ellie smirked, calling for Rene to come sit next to them. “Well Rene just makes such a good little maid, I thought we might as well keep her like this for a bit. Besides, it’s the weekend, it’s not like she’s got anything better to do.” Carrie reluctantly nodded in agreement, watching Rene as she sat on the counter beside them, smiling as she folded her hands in her lap politely. “Well she is more likable this way,” Carrie noted. That was enough for Ellie, who smiled triumphantly as she ate her food. “Good, because I have some more plans for her, too.”

Spending most of the day in her room working, Carrie could hear Ellie giving commands here and there to Rene, who from what she could hear was happy to follow them. ‘She’s treating that girl like just another one of her toys,’ Carrie grumbled to herself, not liking how things seemed to be going. She still wasn’t a fan of Rene, but this seemed a bit cruel. After a while, Carrie decided to go out, leaving her room as she gathered her things. Glancing down the hall as she left, she could see Ellie in her room, playing with some of her stuffed animals with Rene staring blankly off beside her. ‘She’ll be fine…probably,’ she thought to herself, making her way out the door.

After a few hours out visiting friends, it was well past midnight. Glancing around as she walked she saw the occasional college party going on in some of the houses she passed. She was almost tempted to walk up and join in, but she shrugged the idea off as she made her way home through the dark. As she made her way to her apartment building, she shuffled through the door, calling out as she did. “Ellie, Rene better not still be a servant.” Dropping her coat from her shoulders, she could hear her friend call back from the living room. “Don’t worry, she isn’t!” At that she let out a sigh of relief that Ellie’s revenge was finally over, but as she stepped into the living room she found she was speechless from what she saw. There on the couch sat Ellie, and beside her laying on her head on her lap was Rene was dressed in a dog costume, a plush looking onesie that went from her feet all the way up to a hood that went over her head. The costume was light brown, with a zipper going down Rene’s chest and the occasional white spot over the fur of the costume. On the hood, which covered most of her hair, were two dangling cloth dog ears, and right above her butt hung a long, bushy tail that was sprawled out on the couch beside her. Seeing Carrie’s reaction to the costume, Ellie broke out laughing. “Ellie, this is so, so much worse.” Carrie spoke with a tone of anger in her voice. Ellie seemed nonchalant despite this, pulling Rene into a sitting positon as she hugged her from behind. “Relax, it’s all in good fun! After all Rene her is the ‘bitch down the hall,’ it’s only fair she dresses like one.” Carrie sat down on the couch beside them, looking at costumed roommate. “Besides, she likes it anyway! Don’t you girl?” At that Rene let out a slight ‘arf!’ smiling brightly as she felt Ellie pet her head. Carrie didn’t know what to say, sitting in shock for a few seconds before speaking up. “This has gone too far El, I know you’re still angry at her but this isn’t right. What even is your end goal?” Ellie giggled, toying with her pet’s hair as she responded. “To get some use out of her; she does make a much better pet than a person after all. That and getting her to replace my stuffed animal she broke, of course.” Carrie clenched her fist in frustration. “And how’s she going to do that? It’s not like she can go to the store and buy you a new one with her acting like this!” she said, motioning to the panting girl that sat across from her. In a very matter of fact tone, Ellie responded. “Who said anything about her buying me a new one?”

At that, it clicked for Carrie. She didn’t intend on turning her back, not at all. For her Rene was the new toy to replace her old one. “No, Ellie, you can’t do this! She’s a person, not your plaything!” With a mock look of realization on her face, Ellie looked over Rene, running her hand along the fur on her arm. “You’re right, she’s not just some toy. That’s going to have to change.” With a smirk on her face, she stood up from the couch, Rene sitting obediently where Ellie left her. Slipping what looked like a small wand out her sleeve, pressing it to the dog’s forehead. Rene sat still, looking innocently up to her master with her tongue hanging out slightly to the side of her mouth. “Now Rene, remind me what you are one last time.” Rene sat on the couch, knees bowed out to the side, and recited what she believed to be true. “I’m Ellie’s property, a bitch, her pet, her stuffed toy, and I’m happy to be it.” At that, Ellie smirked, flicking the wand slightly as she muttered some words under her breath. All at once Rene stopped panting, falling back in her seat as she did. Carrie could see that from the feet up, the dog costume was becoming tight around Rene’s form, showing off the girl’s figure as it moved up her waste. As the fur seemed to adhere to her chest, the zipper of the costume disappeared as it became harder and harder to tell where it ended and Rene began. Her tail took a similar plush appearance, attaching itself firmly to Rene’s tailbone. At her wrists, the costume stretched over her hands, leaving mittened paws, her fingers moving together as one. At her upper chest, the ends of the costume seemed to stich into her, with her neck and face slowly turning to cloth that matched her skin. As it did, a small dog collar appeared around her neck, with a small tag embroidered with “Rene” on it. Carrie watched as her smile slowly turned into two cloth lips, pulled into a grin as a soft cloth tongue hung playfully from the edge of her mouth. Along her face, her nose took on a dark mark on the end of it, adding to the canine aesthetic. Moving past her eyes, Rene’s already vacant stare turned to glass, two fake eyes of a toy replacing them.

In a matter of seconds, Rene had gone from a girl in a costume to little more than a stuffed animal. Reaching over to her, Carrie felt her arm. Squeezing it in her hand, she felt only the gentle give of cotton underneath the fur of the costume. Before she could speak up, Carrie watched as Rene was scooped up by her arm pits, Ellie giving little to no effort as she hoisted the girl into the air. Looking her over, she smiled to herself. “You turned out great, didn’t you cutie?” Squeezing a button inside the palm of the toy’s hand, Carrie heard a small voice box speak in a muffled tone from in Rene’s chest. “Arf arf! You did great, owner!” Carrie looked up to Ellie in shock. “Wait, after all that, she’s still in there??” Ellie smirked, putting Rene under one of her arms and letting her dangle as she responded. “Of course, I wasn’t going to kill the girl, I’m not evil. I do this all the time!” Carrie’s mouth went a little ajar at hearing those words. “All the time?!” Ellie just smirked, petting her new stuffed animal as she did. “Of course, how did you think my toy collection got so big?” At that, Ellie stood up Rene, who looked back at her owner with her head tilted to the side as she did. Flicking her wand at the doll, Rene began standing on her own, her dumb expression staying stagnant as she seemingly waited for orders. “Now if you excuse me, I’m pretty tired. I’m going to go play with my new toy for a bit and go to sleep, ok?” At that Ellie started making her way to her room, leaving Carrie sitting in silence on the couch. “Come along, pet.” She called over her shoulders, and with that Rene followed, walking on unstable legs as she followed Ellie into her room.

“And I thought Rene was the crazy one…” Carrie sat in silent shock on the couch for what felt like an hour, dumbfounded with what to do now. She never really felt comfortable with Ellie controlling Rene like she did, but this was something else entirely. “I can’t just let this happen, I can’t just let Rene end up in a pile with the rest of her stuffed animals…the rest of her stuffed animals,” Carrie thought, remembering what her roommate had said about doing all this before. She shuttered at the thought of some of those dolls, toys she’d played with herself, being people. Shaking it off, she was quick to compose herself. “No, I have to do something. Maybe grab that wand and try to turn her back? But how does that thing even work…” After a few moments of thinking, she was still lost, but all at once it came to her. “The pendant! I can make Ellie turn her back! I just need to get it from her.” Glancing down the hall to Ellie’s room, the light had been off for some time, the girl surely asleep in the room with her new doll. “Well, here goes nothing I guess.”

Inching down the hall, Carrie moved silently along the carpeted floor as she made her way to the door. Slowly cracking open the door, she stepped in, trying her best to block the light from outside. Closing it silently, she turned around, glancing around the toy filled room before her eyes landed on the bed. There was Ellie, dead asleep on her back with hugging Rene close to her stomach. Rene, who was sprawled out on top of her owner, looked to the ceiling with her blank, toyish expression, her now plush limbs laid gracelessly out around her. As Ellie shifted in her sleep, she pulled the toy closer, something around her neck shimmering slightly as she did. It was the pendant, still around her neck. Carrie cursed herself silently, almost wanting to turn back, but seeing Rene reduced to this was enough to have her push on. Gently moving her way onto the foot of the bed, she tried to move things as little as possible as she slowly made her way to Ellie. As she got closer, she found herself moving over Rene, her plush form pressed down under her weight. Finally, she was close enough to reach for the necklace. As she did, she found herself practically straddling Ellie, trying to position herself so she was right over the girl without waking her up. Leaning over her, she put one hand on the bed as she reached to unhook the necklace, but as she did, she found herself holding herself up with something on the bed: Rene’s cloth hand. The doll’s voice box rang out through the silent room. “Hey Carrie! Do you want to cuddle too?”

All at once, Carrie felt herself lock up. Her hand, still on Ellie’s neck, felt her begin to move below here as she turned to see her friend. Looking up at her, she smiled slightly, blinking a few times before groggily looking up at the girl over her. Carrie watched as Ellie dropped the doll to the bed, throwing an arm around Carrie as she pulled her down on top of her. “Oh Carrie, I didn’t know you felt this way,” Ellie said in a playful, mocking tone as she looked up at her roommate, slowly coming to terms with what she had attempted. “Well that’s too bad, really. You’re cute but I don’t really think you’re my type.” Carrie gulped as she watched Ellie’s free hand reach over to the nightstand, where she quickly pinched the end of her wand as she picked it up. “Well, at very least doggie over here did offer to let you cuddle up,” she said, running her hand down Carries back as she glanced to Rene on the bed beside them. “I think with a few changes, I could make that happen.

In a rush that went over her whole system, Carrie felt herself shift from locked up to completely loose. She felt was little was left of her support fail as she felt her arms and legs fall to the bed, her head dropping aimlessly onto Ellie’s chest. Starting in her chest, she could feel the brown, fuzzy sweater she had been wearing tightly lock to her form, feeling herself slowly bind with the cloth. At her hands, her sweater connected to her wrists, two similarly colored mittens appearing around her hands. She also felt her jeans disappear all at once, a pair of equally fuzzy shorts replacing the denim. With her pants gone, her knitted knee socks were exposed, a pair of plush fur boots appearing around her feet. With the feeling finally rushing over her face, she felt her blank expression pulled into a slight grin, her eyes becoming similarly glassy to Rene’s as her skin shifted to cloth. Atop her head, she could feel her hair shift to strands of yarn, with two cloth circular ears appearing as well.

Finally, with the magic out of her system Carrie found herself struggling to be able to move. Ellie smirked down at the girl, sitting up as she flipped on her lamp on the night stand. Sitting her up as well, Ellie looked over Carrie, giggling as she saw the girl’s new, simple form, her head tilted to the side. In front of her, her roommate had been turned into a teddy bear, her sweater now acting as her fur to go with the bear-paw marks that now adorned her mittens and boots. With bear ears to match, Ellie reached down to present a tag that now was attached to the doll’s hips. “Carrie-bear: A roommate and a toy all in one,” Ellie read aloud in a playful tone. Upon hearing it, Carrie cringed; she was done for, destined to be another one of her friend’s playthings just like Rene. A panic quickly swept over her mind , despite the gentle smile on her cloth face, but as quickly as it came on she felt it wash away. Admits her panic, she felt Ellie reach out and pull her onto her lap, playfully puppeting her arms as she did. For some reason, all she could focus on was this, the subtle way Ellie began to move her around, the way she pushed her now yarn hair back over her shoulders. Soon enough she found herself entranced with the girl in front of her, firmly sealed as Ellie leaned forward and kissed the doll’s forehead. ‘I just want to make Ellie, no, I just want to make owner happy,’ she found herself saying in the back of her mind, and at that she didn’t care that she was a toy. Little did she know, a lot of this was Ellie using the pendant to calm her down, its slight glow illuminating between the teddy bear doll and its new owner as it did. Satisfied, Ellie smirked, pulling open the covers of the bed as she kicked Rene off the bed, who bounced gently off the wall before falling between the bed and wall in a heap. “Bitches are supposed to sleep on the floor anyway, I’ve got something much better to snuggle up with now,” she said, looking to her plush’ed friend. Pulling Carrie under the covers, Ellie quickly fell back asleep, Carrie being quietly content as she felt her owner’s hand press her own chest to hers. “Why did I want to save Rene again? This…this is not so bad.”

Epilogue:

Waking up the next morning, Ellie smiled, looking over to the newly made doll in the bed besides her. Propping up the teddy bear on her bed, Ellie stepped out, half trampling the stuffed dog that was Rene on the floor as she did. Her foot catching the button in her hand, Ellie could hear the toy on the floor speak as she walked out the door to the hall. “Arf Arf! Good morning owner!” the doll called out, as happy as ever despite everything. Ellie just smirked to herself as she made her way to the kitchen. “Morning to you too, bitch.”

In the following hours, Ellie aimed to enjoy her Sunday, grabbing some coffee before returning to her room to get some work done. The whole time she was on her computer, she propped herself up against Carrie, playing with her yarn hair as she worked. She even let Rene back on the bed, if only to use her as a foot rest. After a few hours, she ended up having a friend over, another witch who she was eager to show off her handiwork to. “Wow, you did an amazing job on these two! This is some of your best work since Rachel up there,” the witch said, motioning up to a large, ball-jointed doll that stood posed on a stand on her desk. Ellie had sat up the two dolls, each on the foot of her bed where they leaned against each other for support. “Are you going to keep them? Or maybe sell them, it’s not like you don’t have a huge collection already,” the girl asked with a giggle, motioning to the room full of toys around them. “No, no, I’m going to turn them back. Well, one of them at least,” Ellie started, hopping on the bed and pulling Carrie into a hug as she did. “As for the other one, I think she makes a better pet than anything, don’t you think Sasha?” Sasha, the other witch, was reluctant to agree, lifting up Rene’s chin as she looked over the doll closer. “I don’t know, something tells me she’d be more herself as silicon than cotton. You sure you won’t let me take this one off you?” Ellie laughed, looking to her friend. “You really are a little pervert, aren’t you? You’ve got enough toys as is in that house of yours. Besides, the bitch is going to be a gift.” Almost disappointed, Sasha agreed, hopping on the bed and dragging Rene behind her.

After playing with the two as well as the rest of Ellie’s collection for a bit, Sasha left, leaving Ellie alone with her stuffed roommates. Looking over Carrie one more time, she sighed. “You do make a great doll, Carrie, but thing is about dolls, is they don’t pay rent.” Ellie laughed at her own joke, glancing over to Rene, who was propped up with some other dolls in the corner. “Can’t rightly lose both roommates in one night, can I?” Hugging the doll one more time, Ellie flicker her wand, Ellie returning to a flesh and blood girl in a matter of seconds. Blinking a few times, Carrie slowly came to the realization that she could move again, moving the digits of her fingers as she slowly bit at her lips as well. Waiting for Carrie to yell at her, Ellie sat in anticipation before she spoke out. “So you going to play with me some more now, owner?” Carrie asked innocently, Ellie letting out a loud laugh upon hearing her speak. “I wish, maybe later, ok?” After a moment Ellie lifted up her necklace, quick to make Carrie forget everything that had happened. For good measure, she made her forget that Rene was ever their roommate. Instead, Carrie found herself remembering things that had never happened. That Ellie and Carrie had been looking for a roommate since the beginning of the year but with no luck, that Rene, the cute little stuffed dog-girl in the corner, was an early Christmas present from Ellie to Carrie. That Rene was always just a doll, a gesture of kindness from her roommate that Carrie adored. As the new memories set in, the jade of the necklace slowly stopped shining, Carrie blinking a few more times before fully coming to. Looking to her friend beside her on the bed, she grew a confused look on her face. “Sorry, what were we talking about?”

From there, Carrie took Rene by the hand, dragging her doll to her room as Ellie watched from her bed. She didn’t like that she had to manipulate Carrie like that, but it was the only way really. In the coming months, things went back to relative normal. Carrie and Ellie “continued” the search for a new roommate and quickly did, a sweet girl who never gave them much trouble. As for Carrie, she ended up loving her Christmas gift, propping up Rene on her bed each morning and sleeping with her each night, never realizing the girl was anything more than a stuffed toy. She even would bring her down the hall to play with her and some of Ellie’s collection, something she found herself really enjoying these days. Occasionally, she even found herself playing along as a stuffed animal, letting Ellie move her around and treat her like just another one of her toys during the act. This became like something of a running joke between the two of them, Ellie even starting to call her the nickname “Carrie-bear” when the two were together. She didn’t know why, but in the back of her mind she loved it when she would do that, and even more so when they would play around pretending she was a stuffed animal. She shrugged it off, assuming it was just a product of them being close, but a silent passion grew with time, Carrie even slipping and calling Ellie owner during one of the play times. Carrie was embarrassed when she did, but Ellie just seemed to go with it and called her a toy before continuing to play with her with a grin.

Ellie could still see that part of her roommate. Even if she couldn’t remember it, the weekend as her toy stayed with her, something Ellie wasn’t really upset about. ‘If she wants to be my toy then so be it. As soon as we graduate, I might just see another little addition to my collection,’ Ellie thought, smirking at the thought of having Carrie as a cute little teddy bear again. For now, she just enjoyed having her as a friend and occasional mock plaything, and she liked keeping Rene as a toy almost as much. Seeing her reduced down to a plaything, especially one Carrie didn’t even recognize as being a real girl, was something of a dark pleasure of hers. One night, when no one was home, Ellie found herself walking down the hall, the doll on Carrie’s bed catching her eye as she passed. Walking into the room, she jumped on Carrie’s bed, moving up to the doll. Since she had given her away, Ellie had limited the toy’s speech box to only a few phrases, mainly playful dog noises and the occasional embarrassing generic doll phrase to make sure she didn’t seem like anything but a toy. For now, she lifted the limitations though. “Now Rene,” she asked coyly, playing with one of her costume’s dog ears as she did, “If you ask me nicely I might just turn you back into a real girl. Or better yet, a real dog, much more fitting.” At that, she pressed the toy’s button, Rene speaking out freely. “A real girl? But I’m a toy, Carrie’s puppy! Though being a real dog would be cool! I could cuddle owner back!” Laughing at the girl’s response, she knew Rene had already forgotten she was ever anything but a doll, as most do in her positon. She knocked her with her hand, letting the doll fall to her side, enjoying the helpless look of the girl as she fell into a pile on the bed. As she got up and made her way to the door, she responded to the toy. “Well maybe if Carrie ends up as my teddy bear, we could see if you make a good bitch. A stuffed dog at least.” At that, she made her way back to her room, jumping on the bed with one of her stuffed animals in hand. She sighed internally, almost wishing their new roommate was a jerk too so she would have a reason to transform her. Toying with her necklace, she smirked. ‘Well I can always make her forget, maybe this weekend,’ she thought to herself, glancing over to the wand she had beside some dolls on the shelf. ‘Maybe tonight I’ll see what kind of toy she’d make, I’m sure Carrie wouldn’t mind if I borrowed her as well.’ As she day dreamed, she heard the door open, her two roommates chatting as they entered the apartment. “Alright then, I guess it’s play time.” At that, she got up, grabbing the wand beside her dolls and slipping it into her sock, walking down to greet the two with a devilish grin on her face.