Broken Toys

I see the sky, clouds overshadowing the light of the moon as I can't move my body, no matter how hard I try. Am I dead? The Fowl was moving at my feet, a grotesque monstrosity gnawing away at my body. I was missing an arm and I find it on its fleshy beak, limping at the side of its mouth. It swallows it whole and now it turns its head towards me. Its long neck lowering down towards my abdomen, its wings made out of hundreds of human hands wriggling flaps in ecstatic movements. My stomach was being ripped open, the slush of my guts falling onto the ground reaches my ears. There was no pain, I felt nothing.

"I have never expected to find you looking so pathetic, Michael Graves." I hear a voice above my head but I can't be bothered to look up. If I could describe what dying felt like, it was definitely what I was feeling now. My eyes close on their own and I know that my consciousness is almost at its end. "You can't die just yet, Michael Graves. I told you I'll be watching you." I hear a loud bang as I feel the ground shake, a shriek follows which slowly dies down a moment after.

I open my eyes and I see only her, the same woman who met me in front of the manor before I entered. I didn't notice it before, but I realize that she had three eyes with the extra one found on the middle of her forehead, her skin was pale with numerous veins protruding from her skin. She smiled as she wipes the blood away from the side of my mouth. "You poor thing. I'll make sure you are used properly as my own personal puppet." She puts her fingers in her mouth, her tongue collecting the blood that was on it. "Mm, so good. You are just perfect."

She moves to crouch beside the pool of blood and flesh beside my inanimate body. Her hands scoop everything up and clumsily return it into my open stomach. I feel her moving everything inside and I hear the sounds that it makes with each movement. "There, that should fix you up." I watch her carve something on her arm and her blood mixes into the puddle that was mine. "You will obey me from now on, and you will know that you exist only to serve me." She puts her mouth on mine, her warmth invading it as I feel her tongue make its presence known. I pull away and I suddenly find myself able to move again, a huge stitch was on my stomach as I watch the wound twitch with every breath I take. There was still no pain, but I felt uncomfortable. "Rise, we have work to do."

"What… have you… done to me?" I ask, my voice was unrecognizable from what it once was. I felt my throat crackle within with each syllable. Each word I spoke was broken, and I knew that I was no longer human. "Kill… me…" I beg, desperation now welling inside of me. I'd rather die than become a monster under someone else's command.

"All in due time, Graves. But for now, I need your help with something which is highly in both of our interests." She brings out a small handheld mirror, placing it in my hands as she looks at me from over my shoulder. My eyes were black, I watch as she smiles from behind me, her mouth whispering into my ear. "All you need to do, is to make sure you'll behave. If you can promise me that, I'll make sure we get your little friend out of here before he and my stupid siblings get themselves killed." She gives me a peck on the cheek and helps me up to my feet. "Let's go."

I try to walk, which was a lot harder without my other arm. I find myself almost falling over with each step I take as I feel the stitches on my stomach stir. "Where…" I can't finish my question, my body freezes as I feel every muscle spasm. Where is the pain?! What is this?! My humanity was taken away, and I wanted to disappear.

"We're on our way to mother, Michael Graves. Your little puppy of a partner will be there as well." She walks in front of me and puts her face close to mine. "If you want to save him, you need me. Where's all the trust gone?" She then continues onwards, slashing at the air as it ripples rapidly as she does. "Then again, you don't really have much of a choice." I am dragged into the rift and I fall onto the ground beyond it.

I push myself up with my only remaining arm and I find that we are now on a balcony inside a massive chamber. There was a huge flower bud in the middle, its petals pulsating in the same way a heart would. There were gigantic vines that run across the walls, its reach spreading towards the roof. It shone a crimson red and I examine it closely. The red tinge reminded me of flesh, which made me realize that there were faces protruding from the inside of the bud. A woman stood below us, eyeing it with keen interest.

"So you have all arrived." She looked a lot older than the woman with me, but she was almost the exact resemblance to her. Her face was a bit more wrinkled, and she did not have an extra eye. Her dress was an extravagant mixture of purple and red satin which fluttered in the air as the breeze hits it.

I hear the sound of the door open and from it came Anthony, accompanied by Gretel and Hansel. Anthony! "Lovely to see that the family is back together again. It's such a shame Rheya is no longer with us, although I did warn her." She now turns around to face us as three women emerge from the branches behind her. "Now, what are we all here for?"