Sold (Part 6 of 8)

Three of the dolls wanted to remain permanent dolls rented out using the website. One of the dolls, Mary, wanted to get back to her life. Funds taken from the kidnapper were used to help her get back on her feet. The other four dolls became part time dolls, spending between thirty and eighty percent of their time as dolls rented out. Dave, Jacob, and Ron, with the help of a few of the others, continued the rentals.

Nora would talk to some of the dolls once a week. Other dolls asked to cut back to a month or three. She laughed and complied.

*****

A few weeks after taking control, Jacob made a special delivery on a Tuesday.

“I didn’t order a doll,” Rexx said. “You are the new doll guy, right?”

“Correct, you didn’t order a doll,” Jacob said. “A doll ordered you.”

Evelyn stepped out from behind the wall of the house into the light cast onto the porch. “Hi.”

“Evelyn? Is this a prank? Is that really my doll Evelyn?”

“In the flesh.”

Jacob stepped off the porch. But he didn’t leave. Ron was waiting in the car. Just in case.

“I don’t understand. How are you a person?”

“I’ve always been a person. I’m also a doll. I’ve been doing the doll thing for like sixteen months.”

“That’s crazy. Do you want to come in?” He looked at Jacob. “You can come in as well. I understand you might not trust me.”

“I’ll be in the car over there. You might want to take the young lady out to dinner.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea. Do you like Portuguese? There’s a great restaurant a few blocks away. We could walk over,” Rexx said.

“Okay,” Evelyn said. “Jacob, why don’t you pick me up at the restaurant in a couple hours? What’s the name?”

“Alfonso’s.”

“Okay.”

“You aren’t staying the night?” Rexx asked.

“I’m not that kind of girl.” She heavily emphasized the word ‘girl’.

The three of them laughed.

“I don’t know what I want,” she said. “This is mostly a first date from my point of view,” she continued.

“That’s completely fair. At the moment you are far more talkative then I’ve experienced before.”

“Let me leave before you two make any more dolls comments,” Jacob said.

“At least I don’t have to carry you around tonight,” Rexx said.

“I knew being human had some downsides.”

They walked the four blocks to the restaurant and were seated immediately. Rexx was surprised how well Evelyn knew him.

“I’ve spent hours looking at the sports stuff on the walls and hearing you talking to your friends about movies. People will say anything in front of a doll. I even asked them to take me here today because you’ve told me you don’t do much on Tuesdays.”

“But I know nothing about you. Why did you want to be a doll?”

“That’s a long story,” she began. “If we do this again, I’ll give you the long version. The short version was a game I used to play with a dear friend. We would take turns being the doll for one another. I’ve always suspected it meant a bit more to her if you know what I mean. But her family moved away and no one else would play doll in that manner with me. I grew out of playing with normal kid dolls. Later, I found weird stories on the Internet about people being dolls and a flood of wonder memories returned.”

“But, you were a doll doll.”

“Magic exists. I met this guy in a chat group. He had a friend of a friend who could cast spells. I met him and he could just tell I wanted to be a doll immediately. I think I avoided him for a month before I finally tried out the spell. I was completely hooked.”

“That doesn’t explain the sex part.”

“That might require the long version,” she said. She was looking around the restaurant.

He apologized. “I forgot where we were. I don’t think anyone heard me. Second date.”

“Bold.”

“You are far more wonderful alive than dolled so far. That’s on top of being amazing as a doll.”

“Such a charmer.”

He laughed. “Yeah, it was a weird thing to say. But tell me. When you get rented, don’t you spend most of the night just lying somewhere ignored?”

“Yeah. Usually the –” she looked around “– sex euphoria lasts a while to make up for it. It’s not for everyone. But, having a carefree existence should be easy to understand.”

“I suppose so.” Rexx said. He was a little quiet for a few moments.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m hoping you aren’t humoring me.”

“What do you mean?”

“You are such a lovely young woman.”

“And you are a handsome man.”

“Older man. I’m sure a few people here think I’m your father.”

“Let them,” Evelyn said. “Let them think you’re my sugar daddy if that’s what they think. It’s not our problem. It’s the fact that you are older that attracted me to do this. You aren’t wild. You think ahead, you plan. And even as a doll, I could feel that you were respectful. I have literally seen how young guys are when they don’t think anyone is watching. If you did, you’d understand why I’m here with you and not one of them.”

“This is another reason why you’re better alive.”

“If I could be a doll and alive like putting on a hat, I would.”

“That would be interesting. I suppose someone else would have to take that hat off.”

“That would be divine.”

“Note to self, by Evelyn a hat.”

A few hours later they were sipping coffee and sharing a plate of natas. The phone she’d been given vibrated. “Oh!”

“What?” he said.

“I haven’t had a phone in a while. Jacob says they’re ready for me whenever I’m ready. I should tell them I received this.”

“I had a wonderful time with you.”

“More fun than the time you went three rounds with me? That was an amazing time for me.”

“Different fun,” he winked. “We’ll recreate that some other time.”

“So bold of you.”

Rexx paid the bill and they chatted another fifteen minutes before he said, “I should let you go back to your stand.”

“Oh, I forgot I mentioned that.”

“Let me walk you out.”

Jacob was standing outside of the restaurant with a smile on his face. “Let’s go, Evelyn. Do you want a ride back to your home, Rexx?”

“No. The walk we do me some good after eating.” He held her arms near her shoulders and leaned in for a kiss.

She kissed him back.

“Good night, Rexx.”

“Good night, my precious Doll.”

Rexx walked away, only looking back at her twice.

“Come on, Doll.”

“You can’t call me that.”

“Why not?”

“I’ll give you a reason when I have one.”

He led her to the car. Ron still waited there. “That was some kiss,” he teased.

“It was. The former rent guy said he had been putting money away for me. Did he?”

“He did. I don’t know how much. We’ll have to talk to Dave.”

*****

“I have how much?”

“You might be able to buy a new model car. Though I have no idea what a doll would do with a car,” Dave said.

“I’ll think about that later. I don’t really want to pay rent on an apartment. That was part of why I was full time as a doll.”

“Can’t you just give yourself to Rexx?” Ron said.

“You only think of that because Lauren basically gave herself to you,” Jacob said.

“Exactly. I mean he likes you as a doll. You love being a doll. What’s the issue?”

“Two things that I can see, not to put words in your mouth, Evelyn,” Jacob said.

“I’m curious about the second thing,” she said.

“One, it seems like Rexx likes when his doll can talk back. The five-minute spell isn’t really a cheap option.”

“It makes me nervous, too,” Evelyn said. “I feel like I’m not worth the cost. Or not living up to the cost.”

“Never feel that way,” Jean said. “If someone is paying to speak to you, you’ve already exceeded the value of the cost in their eyes.”

“Nice,” Ron said.

“And two, Lauren living with you has a distinct advantage over Evelyn living with Rexx: ready access to Nora. Nora comes here rather frequently and so do you. If Evelyn was permanently with Rexx, how does she ever turn back? In strictly business terms, we lose Rexx as a customer. Nora obviously wouldn’t care about that. It would be harder to manage overall.”

“I think you are overestimating Lauren’s value to Nora.”

“Not really. I only said Ron is closer to Nora. I didn’t say Nora would drop everything for him. It’s just more likely Nora finds out Lauren and Ron need help. When would Nora find out Evelyn needs help? How would Rexx even know Evelyn wants to change back?”

“That’s the important reason, Jacob,” Evelyn said. “Even as inconsistent as the former rental arrangement was, I was physically in this vicinity. Rexx can barely afford the rental fees.”

“I think we need to talk to Nora,” Dave said.

“What if this caught on?” Ron said. “Dolls retiring to live with their favorite rentals. Maybe we add a private feature to the website.”

“We’d have to rethink a lot of things if Evelyn were to become the norm and not the lovely outlier she is now.”

“I’m taken.”

“Owned?”

“That remains to be seen.”

Jean put her arm around Evelyn and herded her into the doll room. “Do you want some doll time to think?”

“That would be great if I could.”

“You can use my necklace for a while.” She took the necklace off Lauren, who had been listening to this entire exchange.

“I was using that,” Lauren said. “But given the circumstances, take your time with it.”

“Too bad I couldn’t get my own necklace.”

“Yeah, me, too.”

*****

“I can’t believe I’m asking this. How many?” Nora said.

“Three more, at least,” Lauren said.

“I can’t make one of Rachel’s necklaces.”

“Yes, you can. We believe in you,” Jean said.

“And we have her spellbooks. I’m sure Eddie could help,” Dave said.

“I can’t even reliably control turning people into a doll directly.”

“Nora, you turned Jean into a doll three hundred miles away. And that was before you tore that asshole a second one of himself.”

Nora snorted a laugh. “That never gets old. But that’s beside the point. I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“Eddie. Rachel’s books.”

“Both of those sound like they’d take years.”

“We’re dolls, Nora,” Lauren said. “Patience is our main virtue.”

“And being firm and pliant but strong enough to enjoy rough handling,” Jean said. Nora laughed. Lauren and Dave were staring at Jean. “What did I say so wrong?”

“Nothing,” Nora said. “Let’s back up a bit. You two haven’t had any trouble sharing Jean’s necklace. And you can use my necklace to talk to the dolls. Maybe I could use a weaker spell to turn them into dolls. Then my old necklace would break the spell.”

“Then we can’t turn them back into dolls without having to you do it.”

“Let me think about it. Where are those books?”

“Can’t you talk to Madame Livanté?”

“Only if I want to talk to a wall. That’s something else I hope to work on. But while I know a lot about fucking, I know nothing about the mental fucking that was done to her. And she wasn’t a mentalist either.”

“She’s the wizard who helped Nora, right? What happened to her?” Lauren said.

“The asshole convinced her to kidnap me and she ended up one of his rental dolls. When I cast the talking spell on her, she’s mad at me for ruining the asshole’s business. I have no idea what he did to her.”

*****

Eddie gave Nora a few more magic lessons, mostly in the form of dismantling the traps on Livanté’s old apartment. He also got her a primer on making magic devices.

The business was a huge distraction. She mentioned this to Eddie.

“So leave.”

“Leave? What about the dolls?”

“What about them? They’re like a million times better off than they were with that shithead. You can take a vacation. You shouldn’t be at their beck and call.”

“But…”

“No buts. When was the last time you saw your family?”

“I have no idea.”

“There you go. Call your sister, I remember hearing you have a sister. Call her, tell her you want to crash on her sofa for a month.”

“We’d kill each other.”

“Would you?”

“She has been asking when she can see me.”

“How far away is she? I’ll book you a flight if you need one.”

“I don’t want to owe you money.”

“You know I’m not into charity. But, I’m also not into someone burning themselves out. Go.”

“Fine. Maybe if I’m there I can wrap my head around this doll necklace thing.”

“Necklace? Don’t make a necklace. Necklaces get lost. Make something bigger to do the transformations.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. The business doesn’t need a bunch of transformation necklaces. It needs a… a transformation station. Something anyone there can operate and does doll to human and human to doll changes.”

“You actually are useful.”

“See. Now heed the wisdom you’ve discovered within me and disappear for a month or two.”

*****

The airplane was the weirdest thing she’d experienced in a long time. So many people on the plane were horny and frustrated. Four couples and too many solos fucked in the bathrooms. She was fully aware of each of them. It took all of her willpower not to unleash an orgy on the plane. She could imagine the headline that couldn’t happen: Plane crashes as passengers, crew endlessly fuck.

She arrived at the airport. Her sister and her mother called out to her as she stepped out of the luggage area. After the three of them shared a tearful hug, Laney stepped back, “Don’t you dare do that to us again!”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Don’t yell at your sister. She’ll turn you into a doll.”

“I would never do that until she asks.”

“I won’t ask.”

“Of course not.”

“We should head to the car,” Mom said. “Only one suitcase?”

“I actually don’t have a lot of stuff any more.”

The drive from the airport to Elaine’s home was about an hour. Their mother practically lived with her because she babysat for Elaine’s son, Ryan, frequently.

“You didn’t tell me the arrangements while I’m here,” Nora said.

“I’m finally moving out of Elaine’s house.”

“You never moved in.”

“I have a bedroom. Most of my clothes are there.”

“Your house is twenty minutes away. It was your choice to move in.”

“Ryan’s toys are at your house. If he had to spend time after school at my house he’d consider it a prison sentence. Or I’d have to cart his toys back and forth.”

“What really happened to you, Nora?” Mom said.

“I told you everything I’m ever going to tell you.”

“It’s a crazy story. But no crazier than you being a witch,” Elaine said.

“Wizard.”

“You can really turn someone into a doll?” Laney said.

“You still don’t believe it?”

“It is a bit far-fetched, dear,” her mother said.

“Well, I hope it’s true,” Elaine interrupter. “Ingrid wants it bad. So, I hope you don’t disappoint her.”

“Ingrid?”

“They’re dating,” her mother said.

“Congratulations, Elaine.”

“It’s just dating,” Laney said.

“More than I’ve got.”

“Just put off indulging Ingrid for a few days. I don’t want to be around for it,” Mom said.

Elaine had a decent sized four bedroom home that she'd acquired as part of her divorce settlement five years ago. Her ex had cheated on her from the start. He had a six-figure salary and while they didn’t get along, Elaine could admit he was a caring father to their son.

“Mammaw,” shouted the young boy as they entered the home.

“Has his priorities straight,” Nora joked as the boy gave his grandmother a hug.

“Hi, Mommy,” he said. “Who’s that?”

“Don’t you remember your Aunt Nora?”

“No.”

“That’s okay, kid,” Nora said. “You were very little the last time I saw you. Like the size of an ant.”

“I was never that small.”

“How do you know for sure?”

“Mommy, was I that small?”

“Your Aunt is having fun with you. Calling you an ant when she’s an aunt.”

“That’s right,” Nora said. She stood up taller and held her hand above her forehead. “You’ve never been this big. My mistake.”

“You’re silly.”

“I am. And this must be Ingrid.” Nora bent down and whispered to Ryan. “Psst, kid, is she silly?”

“No. But she’s okay.” He whispered back.

“Good to know.”

“Nice to meet you.” Ingrid said. “And I’m glad I got the Ryan seal of approval.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Drat.” She said as Ryan ran off. “I started dinner.”

“Oh, good. Let me show Nora her room,” Grandma said. “I’m already packed. I’m leaving after dinner.”

“I think you’ve been keeping her away from something,” Nora said.

“My boyfriends miss me.”

The women laughed. But Nora had a feeling her mother wasn’t joking.

*****

She stayed until after Nora and Ingrid put Ryan to bed. After a few good byes she reminded her daughters she’d be back the next day.

“You look like you want to ask a lot of questions,” Nora said to Ingrid.

“I do. But I won’t. Unless you let me.”

“Fire away.”

“I realize it didn’t go as you planned. But the guy who did turn you into a doll, was that initial part what you hoped it would be. The stuff before the bad stuff.”

“I guess. Frankly, he got caught by his ex before he really did anything useful with me. But, if you want to know if I liked being a doll. I did. Still do.”

“And you could just turn anyone into a doll.”

“Pretty much.”

“Just ask her, Ingrid,” Elaine said.

“Can I?”

“When it’s closer to bed time.”

“Okay. I had a few other questions. What happened to the other dolls?”

“The guys who rescued me took over the rental business. Many of the dolls are still working there full or part time.”

“Really? Did you ask them?”

“Of course. There were some like me who were glad to be rescued. And wanted nothing to do with it. We gave them some of the money the dollnapper had accumulated.”

“Dollnapper?” Elaine said.

“From we could find out, he never turned anyone into a doll. He just acquired people who had been transformed.”

“Wait. How many people just wind up turned into dolls?”

“At least nine that I know of,” Nora said. “Twenty-three if you count the folks who we changed during my second rescue.”

“How did they get turned into dolls during the rescue if he couldn’t do it?”

“He stole my magic and used it against them.”

“Backup. People get turned into doll that frequently? That’s… How is that a thing?”

Nora shrugged. “Most of the dolls didn’t want to stop being dolls but also didn’t want to be dolls all the time. I’ve been rotating them in and out of service the past few months.”

“So they’re stuck while you’re here.”

“Well, I did give them warning and I hope they’re all human if they wanted to be or doll if they wanted to be. And there were three dolls who haven’t been human at all, content to be rented out and enjoying not being part of the rat race that is modern life.”

Elaine looked at her girlfriend’s face. “I think you broke her.”

“There is a certain appeal to it,” Nora said. “I think she needs the deep end treatment.”

“The what?” Ingrid said. The last word turned into a squeal before being cut off. She was a doll.

“It… it just happened. You didn’t have to do anything.”

“You just couldn’t see what I did. Pick her up and put her on your bed. Then come back out here.”

“What’s the deepend?”

“I can tell she is flying among clouds right now,” Nora said. “And now she’s dying to know how I know what she’s thinking. In any case, just let her experience dollhood by itself before you play with her later.”

She picked up the doll. “What makes her think I’m going to do anything but dump her in a chair and get the whole bed to myself tonight.”

Nora laughed. “That’s one way to play this. It’s not like I have to change her back any time soon.”

Elaine returned and sort of whispered. “What was she thinking?”

“You tell me.”

“I’ve told her before you were just like me when it came to needling a loved one. She’s probably assuming you didn’t mean it.”

“Did I?”

“Oh, I know you did.”

The sisters laughed.

“I’m sure you also left her on a chair to emphasize it.”

“Of course. I also know you won’t push her too far,” Elaine said.

“Now that’s she’s disposed of, dish. How’d you meet? When did you switch sides? How did Walter take it?”

They talked for hours.

“It’s a good thing I took tomorrow off from work.”

“Oh, what’s today?” Nora said. “I’ve forgotten about work schedules. Will Ingrid need to go to work tomorrow?”

“It’s Thursday, well, Friday now. And she also took the day off.”

“Oh, she can look forward to a weekend as a doll.”

“And it’s a good thing. I’m really tired. I didn’t plan to leave her hanging tonight. But she might not get the full treatment till tomorrow.”

“She’ll live.”

“Only when she’s alive.”

“That’s the spirit. Good night, Laney.” They hugged.

“Night, Nora.”

*****

“Jacob? And Evelyn’s a doll?” Rexx said with confusion as Jacob stepped past him to put the doll on his sofa. “I thought she said she’d be human tonight.”

“Yeah, our wizard is unavailable. So, Evelyn is still a doll from another rental.”

“Sometimes I forget we aren’t doll exclusive.”

“I’m not here to judge but does that mean you are human exclusive with Evelyn?”

“Yes. We promised one another two weeks ago. It’s not like I was seeing anyone anyway. And I couldn’t deny her her job.”

“Well, I have some good news or it could be bad news if you enjoy having me visit.”

“Your visits either bring joy or take it away.” Rexx said with a laugh.

“I suppose that’s my lot in life. But this sounds like a joy then. I will not be here to pick up Evelyn tomorrow.”

“Ron’s coming.”

“No. Evelyn is yours until next Monday. Until then, you won’t see my smiling face.”

“Really?”

“I do tend to smile.”

He snorted. “I meant she’s staying here that whole time and I’m not getting charged?”

“Exactly. Same reason. The wizard isn’t available. And we felt bad that Evelyn wouldn’t be able to say hello tonight.”

“I’m sure she’s thinking it.”

“That’s the spirit. Bye, Rexx.” He looked at the doll. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, Evelyn.” The door closed behind Jacob.

“And Jacob complains when we make doll jokes.” Rexx said to the doll. “I haven’t eaten so forgive my absence.” He came back with an instant dinner and ate it as he talked about his life since they saw one another.

Before he finished, he said, “I guess we aren’t going to the movies.” He didn’t expect a response. “I suppose we can still watch a movie together.”

Rexx arranged the doll on the sofa. He cleaned up dinner and got himself a drink. He sat next to her and said, “I suppose I get to pick the film. Although you mentioned you like romantic comedies.” He brought up a list of films and said, “I’ll go with one you probably haven’t seen because you’ve been a doll for the last year or so.”

The movie started. It bored him. He sat through it, holding the doll’s hand the whole time. He managed to laugh in a few places. He had never enjoyed this kind of film before. He could imagine Evelyn enjoying the film. He didn’t talk through the film. When it was over, he made a few comments about some of the plot points and characterization. He’d loved a scene where the guy hung out with a friend and the two sounded like guys he’d known.

Rexx carried the doll out of the living room. “I hope you don’t mind. Once you’re on the bed, you aren’t my date. You’re my rented doll. I don’t want to worry that I’m treating you less than your used to as a doll since that was part of what attracted you to me.” He lay her down on the bed and in his mind she became an it he would have his fun with soon.