“It all comes back to here, huh?”



Michelle’s quiet words to herself couldn’t be heard over the bustling crowd at the mall, the passerby full of energy while Michelle couldn’t help but have a heavy heart whenever she inevitably returned to what she could only see as the scene of the crime, namely in the disappearance of her older sister Sarah. She wondered how many people here were residents at the time, how many had seen Sarah in passing just hours before she vanished. The people probably remembered the investigation more than the girl herself, every possible store and security camera being scoured for any evidence once the hunt was underway.

And yet, years later, long after the police had given up, her little sister, now college aged herself, was the only one still searching. It was a dim, dismal hope at this point, but Michelle felt almost a sense of excitement over finally reaching the city that she had only heard about second hand. She had been travelling around to every spot her sister had conceivably ever visited, none of which seemed to have any air of danger around them that could have led to any sort of abduction, and Michelle knew for a fact that Sarah wouldn’t have gotten into any shady business. Her parents didn’t exactly approve of her being here, but she had saved up the cost of the trip through a part time job and booked it before they could stop her.

“Found anything yet?”

Michelle’s sigh could practically be heard through the screen in her reply as she looked down at the text message she had received from Maria and ran a hand through her short dark brown hair, Sarah’s former roommate at the time she had vanished.

“Not yet.”

The one she was texting was Maria, Sarah’s old roommate. Despite having been squeezed for every possible scrap of information she had, she was still actively messaging

Maria had felt a lot of guilt over Sarah’s disappearance, and the two had initially met at the funeral her parents had insisted on, even if Michelle still refused to give up on her older sister. It had been for their mother’s peace of mind, as the constant stress of thinking that her daughter might still be out there somewhere had been tearing her apart, and ultimately it had been deemed best to put it to rest. Maria had been the more tearful one of the two, as Michelle had never seen it as more than a ceremony for adults who had given up. The two had kept in touch, largely from Maria indulging Michelle wanting to grill her after the funeral, and had been messaging each other back and forth since.

A few seconds later, she got another response.

“Remember, don’t just check the mall. Sarah kept talking about wanting knick-knacks as souvenirs, then she complained that she could never find anything interesting in the tourist traps. Maybe look for something that looks like nobody has entered in the last ten years?”

Michelle smiled for a second as she tapped away on her phone.

“Are you calling my sister a hipster?”



“She was an art student. It’s in her blood.”

Michelle laughed. It was true, Sarah likely wouldn’t have bought anything from a franchise store, and in fact, she recalled an old complaint at the time that all of the cool stores, as Sarah had put it, were no longer around. Granted, Sarah’s idea of a cool store was probably something that sold pencils from the nineteenth century, and Michelle felt like she had been through every art store in the city in her investigation. Some of them even recalled her, or to be more precise, they recalled being questioned during the investigation. Unfortunately none of them had anything useful to say, and eventually Michelle found herself back at the start with no hints.

There had to be something here, Michelle told herself as she started to look in the more obscure side-streets and alleyways. Maria’s prevailing theory was that Sarah had been ill the day she left, having gotten eerily pale a day or two before her disappearance, and had been in a bit of a panic when she left. Maria assumed she suffered some sort of accident as a result, but that didn’t answer the question of where the body was, and was more of an extension of Maria’s guilt that she hadn’t looked into her friend’s condition before she vanished.

Finally, Michelle came across an old-fashioned store, its paint cracking and its sign old and faded, and her eye was caught by a row of what appeared to be elaborately dressed dolls. Dolls weren’t exactly Michelle’s thing, as she had lacked the artistic flair of her sister, but the intricate detail and masterful craftsmanship was obvious even to a layman like her. It did seem like the type of place her sister might be interested in, and she decided to give the shop a once-over at least once.

A gentle bell chimed as she opened the door, Michelle feeling a certain atmosphere wash over her as she entered, almost like she was walking into a museum or perhaps an art exhibition. The well-worn carpet and glass cases had an air of luxury despite the weather-worn shop exterior, which she supposed you needed when selling such a niche product. Most of the dolls however remained distinctly uninteresting to her. Impressive sure, but nothing she could ever see herself owning.

However, her eye was caught by a particularly large glass cabinet, drawing her in a way she couldn’t quite understand. She leaned in closer, marvelling at how perfectly lifelike they seemed, despite their pale porcelain skin. Dolls were, in Michelle’s honest opinion, usually creepy. They were lifelike, but not quite lifelike enough to avoid the uncanny valley, and she had never quite gotten the type of person who would collect them. But these were more like tiny humans lined up on display, with not a single blemish on the dolls themselves, even if the elaborate suits and old fashioned dresses had tiny stitch-marks to show that they had been crafted by hand rather than roughly printed by a machine.

In the foreground of the scene was what she suddenly realised had caught her eye in the first place: a particularly beautiful doll with ginger hair and a beautiful yellow and white dress, alternating ruffles in a broad skirt and elaborately embroidered top as the doll took on an elegant pose that gave it a sense of life despite its blank eyes and perfectly posed neutral expression. You could practically see the paint on the lips, the carefully applied mascara, and Michelle suddenly realised she practically had her nose on the glass, recoiling slightly in embarrassment. It must have been a ridiculous sight if you were on the inside of that glass, but she just couldn’t help but feel like she had seen this yellow doll before…

--

“We’ve got a customer!”



“Took ‘em long enough!” Sarah practically leapt up from her tiny model chair, gathering up her skirts and charging to the forefront of the glass cabinet as the other dolls got into position. “How many? Do they have friends?”



“Looks like just the one.” reported Katherine, a doll who reminded Sarah of Marie Antoinette and a long-time companion ever since Sarah had been cursed into the form of a beautiful porcelain doll. She strained her feathered hat and retreated into the background, preferring to avoid the chance of being bought.

“That’s boring.” Sarah sighed, lining herself up before the young girl she could see gawking at the display models in the front could enter the store. “I was hoping for some new gossip.”

“Better than some teenagers who call us gross.” Katherine turned up her nose, putting on a haughty pose. Listening to the various customers was the only real entertainment the dolls got, and any new person coming and going was a special occasion.

“Kids these days don’t have any taste we all know that. If they did, I’d have been bought years ago.” Sarah said slightly snootily, although without any real ill will.

“That’s what you get for asking to set your own price tag.” Katherine retorted, freezing in place. The two continued talking, knowing that they were too small for their lip movements to be made out unless the visitors were looking right up close at them, their voices too gentle to escape the glass case.

“It’s the least that old bastard can do after what he did to me.” Sarah said sourly. “I don’t know how he stays in business in the first place.”

“He doesn’t have to pay for new products.” One of the other dolls remarked.

“Maybe we should be thankful he hasn’t dropped his habit, we wouldn’t get any new company.” Sarah laughed, the contents of the cabinet being a rotating cast as some were sold, sent out to live the rest of their lives as treasured display pieces from enthusiasts who could afford their lofty price tags. Some of the dolls longed to leave their prison by any means, while others preferred to stay in the store, knowing that the magic that gave them movement only worked in the store itself. Sarah herself was of two minds. After years as a doll she had started to think like one, and privately longed to be truly treated as one, to be dressed up, and posed, and make somebody happy with her presence. On the other hand, she wanted a good owner, and had a reputation for being somewhat snobbish about her ratings of potential customers.

The chatter ceased as the young woman drew closer, quickly becoming entranced by the transformed dolls as most were, wandering over and nearly squashing her face against the glass. Sarah, able to keep a perfectly motionless face as any doll could, giggled to herself. It looked like she had caught her eye, but this girl probably couldn’t afford her. She looked like she was college age, and she had never seen her before. A tourist, perhaps? Sarah didn’t recognise her grown up sister at all, and instead gave her her usual inspection. She was quite pretty, prettier than she had been prior to her transformation. Would the shop owner try to trick her into being transformed as well? She’d make a cute doll just as-is, with a little painted makeup and a pretty dress of course.

--

“Would you like any help?”



Michelle nearly jumped, whipping around to see the shop owner and his slightly unsettling smile from the counter. He must have been in the back room when she entered, as she hadn’t seen him before. The bald old man’s expression was rubbing her the wrong way, but she supposed that any old man running a place like this had to be a little off.

“You have good taste

“Actually, I was just…” Michelle trailed off as she looked back at the yellow doll. “Actually, what’s the price tag on this one? The yellow one, with the red hair.”

The shopkeeper told her, Sarah giggled out loud at watching her eyes bug out of her head, getting a round of shushes from the other dolls.

“That’s, uh… expensive.” Michelle laughed awkwardly. “I guess that’s how you keep the lights on, huh?”



“Our usual customers prefer products of the highest quality, you see.” The owner chuckled. “All of the dolls on display there are hand-crafted, you see. That particular one is quite the piece, she was designed by an art student who intended to start her own collection, but sadly, she never came back to pick it up… What seems to be the matter, dear?”

The owner noticed Michelle’s face falling.

“Oh, sorry, I was just thinking of my sister.” Michelle explained, trying to perk up a little. “She was studying art around here, and this seems like the type of thing she’d want to try at least once. She really loved designing clothes, so it wouldn’t surprise me if she got into dolls like these at some point, it reminds me of something she would have made. Actually, you wouldn’t happen to remember a missing person case from a few years back, would you?”

“Hmm, I do seem to recall something like that.” The man scratched his chin, looking as innocent as possible. “I’m not sure if your sister ever came to my little old shop though…”

--

“Didn’t you say you had a little sister, Sarah?” Katherine whispered, Sarah already struggling to avoid breaking her pose.

“I did, and by now she’s been old enough to…” If Sarah’s porcelain face could have gone more pale, it would have. “Shit! Michelle!”

Sarah snapped out of her pose and rushed to the corner of the case to get a better look at the girl she had been snickering at just a few seconds earlier. The colour of her hair certainly lined up, although she didn’t know if her sense of fashion had changed since then…

“What do you think you’re doing? Get back in place!” Katherine urged her, along with the other dolls who were starting to panic. “Plenty of people have gone missing around here, that could be anybody’s sister!”

“Shut up! Michelle! Michelle!” Sarah began to beat on the glass, barely able to make a gentle tap from the perspective of a normal-sized human, and certainly not loud enough for Michelle to hear her.

“Don’t you know what he’ll do to you if she notices you moving!?” Katherine refused to break her own pose, even she she wanted to drag Sarah back into place. “Actually, forget yourself, there’s no way he’ll let her leave if she finds out! If she really is your sister, use your head for one second!”

Sarah grit her teeth and slowly stopped, reluctantly walking back into her old position. Katherine was right, as frustrating as it was. Everybody here was at that man’s mercy, and she could only watch with a sinking feeling as Michelle turned her head towards the commission poster.

“So she designed the doll through that?” Michelle guessed, looking at the offer to design your own custom doll hand-made by the store itself. “That’s actually kind of affordable.”

“Yes, it’s quite effective for attracting first-time customers, you see.” The man explained. “Of course, I made the price higher in case she ever returned and wanted it, but perhaps I could make something similar for you?”



“I don’t know, I couldn’t draw to save my life. My sister was majoring in art, but I’m in engineering. I guess talent isn’t genetic.” Michelle laughed, Sarah almost breathing a sigh of relief before the owner continued.

“Oh, we also do photos as well, if you’d prefer one based on yourself.”



“I think my friends would think I’m weird if I owned a mini-me.” Michelle smiled, but the man seemed almost insistent.

“Oh no, it’s just as a base, I could tune it to your preferences. In fact” He smiled, perhaps a little too hard. “Whatever hair, face, skin you want… Really, it’s just a base to work off of. I’m sure you’d like it.”

“Hmm, maybe…” Michelle said, and Sarah began to look around, seriously considering beating the glass with anything she could, anything that would make more of a noise or ruckus. Or maybe if she made a mess of the display it would be impossible for either of them to ignore! But just before she could do anything, Michelle gave an innocent smile and finished her sentence.

“...not.” She said, getting a bit of a kick out of watching the creepy man’s expression flicker in annoyance for a second. This guy was trying way too hard to make a sale, and basing a doll on herself felt egotistical at best. Really, she didn’t know where to start with the things in the first place, and some pre-made build-a-doll hardly felt like a place to start. She may as well pick a random one off the shelf at that point, and in that case…

“What’s the price of that one?” She said instead, pointing at the doll that she had no way of knowing was her sister, causing Sarah’s porcelain heart to jump, only for it to settle back into place with the sudden pragmatic thought: could her sister even afford her in the first place? She was a collector’s item, after all. The affordable prices of the custom-made dolls were just to lure suckers in, then sold at a premium.

“Well, the price is written on the-” The owner said, only for Michelle to glare at him.

“Not that, I want the price that you sold this to my sister for in the first place.” Michelle’s faux-innocent smile widened.

“Ma’am, it’s not part of our policy to-”

“That doll was designed by my sister, it’s the closest you’ll get to making the original delivery.” Michelle declared. “Plus, you don’t seem to have found a buyer since then, you should be grateful anybody’s making an offer at all in the first place. Plus, I could just ask for a custom-made doll that’s identical for the same price, couldn’t I?”

“Then why don’t you do the latter?” The owner asked, sensing that he had one last chance at convincing her otherwise. However, the bait was flimsy at best, and hardly noticed by the oblivious sister.

“Because I want the doll my sister made.” Michelle said firmly. “Take it or leave it, because you don’t seem like you get too many customers with a place like this.”

The man seemed disproportionately irritated from Michelle’s perspective, but he sighed and gave in.

“I suppose that’s only fair.” He deflated. “But if you ever find yourself wanting to add to your new collection, my offer remains. Bring the doll too, I’ll throw in free servicing.”

“You just want me back for free as well as her, you old scammer. Unbelievable!” Sarah huffed as money changed hands, but quickly broke out into an excited grin. She was going to be with her sister again! Even if she couldn’t be her real sister, she couldn’t ask for a better owner! Oh, she just couldn’t wait to be pretty for her!

Sarah settled back into her original position and was soon scooped up by the owner and placed into protective packaging, feeling herself rustle about as her sister was warned about how fragile porcelain could be and keeping her in good condition. To Sarah’s knowledge she herself was tougher than the average doll, but certainly hoped her sister wouldn’t handle her like an animal. Speaking of animals, did Michelle own a cat? She hoped not, that would be a nightmare scenario. She was so excited that she was shuffling around in her casing, until the doorbells rang and she was taking out of the store, the loss of the magical environment that had kept her animated being felt immediately.

Sarah stiffened, her painted lips sealing shut for good as she was frozen in place. Not a finger or toe could be moved, and for all intents and purposes, she was now a truly ordinary porcelain doll. She had expected it to bother her more, becoming truly inanimate, but save for some regrets about not being able to talk to her sister, she had a comforting feeling that this was only natural. Her life in that display case had been as lifeless as her body, whiling away boring days gossiping behind customers’ backs almost hoping that they would suffer the same terrible fate as her simply to distract her from her own boredom. Some of the older, unpopular dolls had become quite bitter and nasty as a result, having no empathy left for the victims, and she didn’t want to end up like that, old and unwanted in some dusty corner of the shop.

“Thank god he fell for that.” Michelle exhaled, holding up the doll in its container, Sarah able to hear her muffled voice through the protective packaging. “I guess this trip wasn’t a total waste…”

–

That definitely looks like something Sarah would have drawn, Maria responded to the photo Michelle had posted, set up on her desk. Sorry that you couldn’t find more.

It’s alright. Michelle responded, wondering if she should get a display case for that thing. It would get awfully dusty very quickly otherwise, and she put it on her to-do list. She didn’t want her last memento of her sister to look like something that sat on a shelf in somebody’s grandma’s house, after all. I actually feel a lot better now for some reason.

I don’t know if I could call that closure. Maria admitted. But at least it’s something.

Michelle sent one last message thanking Maria for all of her help before putting her phone away, focusing her attention on the doll. It really was pretty, she thought, transfixed by the immaculate details and beauty of the doll. Sarah was silently proud, enjoying the look her sister was given, knowing that she was calling her beautiful in her head. Call me beautiful more, admire me more! You can even give me a new dress if you want! Thoughts like that ran through her head, but even she couldn’t hold Michelle’s attention forever. Eventually Michelle went to lounge on her bed, Sarah having a good vantage point from the desk, merely becoming a background object in her sister’s life.

Even though Michelle didn’t particularly care for dolls, she could never seem to avoid stopping to admire her sister’s doll whenever she passed it. She constantly gazed at it, turned it around to admire all of the details, made sure its hair was perfect, brushed it to keep the dust off, and soon enough gave it its own display case.  As the days turned to weeks she began to dote on it, succumbing to temptation and ordering a tiny dress for her to put on it to mix things up, finding that it was just adorable with it. She kept her hobby secret from her friends even as she built up a small collection of alternate outfits, hats, and bonnets for it, justifying the curiosity as just something to remember her sister by whenever they saw it. Puzzling even herself, she never felt tempted to get another doll, being only entranced by this one for some reason. Her search for her sister came to a quiet end, this doll comforting her and making her feel like her sister was still by her side

Meanwhile, Sarah was quite happy with her new life. She loved the way Michelle looked at her, and even her most uninterested friends gave her delightful looks whenever they got up close to examine her. It was a doll’s job to be pretty, and she passed with flying colours, her elegance catching the eye of anybody who entered the room. The funnest days were when Michelle dressed her up, chatting with her as if asking her opinions on it and asking one-sided questions while occasionally making self-conscious jokes about just how much attention she was giving a simple doll. Even if she lived only in the background of Michelle’s life, if she could make her happy in this way, that was more than enough for her.

One night, months later, Michelle had an odd dream. She was returning to her room as always, but when she entered, her sister’s doll was waiting for her on the bed, life-sized and as immaculately beautiful as ever. And when she spoke, she spoke with her sister’s voice, and her painted face had a familiar smile on it.

“Your sister’s doing just fine, Michelle.” The doll said in an ethereal voice, Michelle unable to respond even in her dream. The doll stood up, brushing its hand against Michelle’s cheek. “You really grew up, didn’t you? Not as pretty as me of course, but who could be?”

Then, the doll couldn’t help but betray her graceful appearance with an overly smug look of self-satisfaction as Michelle remembered that her sister had enjoyed teasing her a little too much. Of course, this surely wasn’t real, but that moment felt more genuine than her distant, idealised memories of her. The doll spoke, but already she was starting to sound distant, the dream slipping from Michelle’s grasp no matter how hard she tried to cling on.

“Oh, but the next time you change my clothes could you avoid the green dress? It just doesn’t go with my hair at all. Oh, and don’t you ever go back to that store! The owner is a real piece of-”

Michelle’s eyes opened in the middle of the night, the scene already becoming blurred as any dream was, but she did her best to try to burn it into her mind as she climbed out of bed and stared at the doll, beautiful as ever in its display case. It was of course, totally inanimate as always, but there was a warm feeling to it now, as if it really were alive despite its porcelain pallor. She stared at it a little while longer then smiled, returning to her bed. She’d always treasure that doll, and maybe if she were lucky, she might have another dream like that every once in a while…