Assalamualaikum
Walaikumussalam :)
I took this story from a forum and I think it is very greedy of me if I don't share it with every one else. So, please seat back and enjoy this masterpiece. This is just a copy and paste story. All credits should be given to chocochoissa :)
D o l l h o u s e
➻
“When will he spare me a glance?” she slouched on her desk as she asked her two confidants.
“Stop crouching, dear” one of them replied while dignifiedly fanning herself, “Or the governess would engulf you in her endless badger. You know she’s not fond of lousy postures. A bad posture will affect your lovely voice.”
“B-but… Minho would not even look in my way,” she sat up straight and fixed her wrinkled skirt.
“It is because of how you look! You look unsuitable, dear,” the other confidant confessed, “Your hair is always tousled and you run around like a school boy who just got out of school.”
Silence managed to reign in their little afternoon tea.
She knew better. She knew what her friends are trying to point out.
She is not lovely. She is not beautiful. She is unappealing.
Why would someone like Minho spare a glance at her? She is mundane – her hair always disarranged, her nose surrounded by a colony of freckles and her eyes, which can never be compared to the stars on midsummer nights, hidden within spectacles.
“I know,” she whispered, trying to hold back her tears so much that her throat started to hurt, “I know that I am not beauteous.”
“Whatever you desire, my friend, if you earnestly wish for it, you can achieve it. You can win his heart. Yes! You can win his heart through your sweet voice,” the second confidant empathized with her.
“Or you could ask for a little intervention of someone I know,” the first confidant stopped fanning herself and sat properly, “His name is Key. He grants the ardent desires of damsels in romantic distress.”
She took a carriage went to town to meet him – the one who could help her attain Minho’s fragile heart. From what her confidant had said, he is a doll maker who runs a doll shop in the farthest side of the city near the woods.
She roamed her eyes around her surroundings. She has never been in this remote part of the city. But then again, she never ventured out her own shelter.
Everything looks abandoned – from the dead oak trees to the rundown establishments. The place looks so gray and dull that it sent an eerie feeling of loneliness and depression. She cannot see a single living creature on the road. The only thing she can hear is the sound of the clattering of the hooves of the carriage’s horses.
“We’re here, young miss,” her chauffeur brought her back from her reverie while opening the carriage’s door.
She took a shaky step towards a shop that seems to have stopped in time. In front of her is an old-fashioned manor surrounded with unattended array of flowers and bushes.
“Are you sure we arrived at the correct place?” she doubted.
“Yes, young miss,” the chauffeur nodded.
She gulped. The place’s metal windows are covered in rust. The manor’s garden is unattended. The place looked more like a neglected house rather than a doll shop.
She took small steps towards the door – still unsure whether to ask for his help or just leave. When she reached the front porch, she opened the door.
The bells chimed causing a man with an idiosyncratic fashion to gaze at the door. He was stitching a lovely doll’s broken arm when she arrived.
“U-uhmn,” she mumbled, “Good afternoon, sire.”
He looked at her. She looked at him. An eerie silence follows. She roamed her eyes around the shop. There are hundreds of Victorian dolls displayed on the place’s floor to ceiling shelves. She shivered. The dolls are lovely, yet, a sinister feeling is emanating from them. She put her eyes back on him.
“You need my help,” he stated rather than asked. She did not answer, “I can help you with your romance but it comes with a price.”
“How much do I need to pay?”
“I need not your money,” he continued working on the doll, “I need something else.”
She examined him. He has a hair that shines upon contact with the sunlight. And the way he dresses is unusual. He is wearing a black coat draped over his tall stature. His eyes are deep; one look at them would probably drown you.
“Will you do everything to win his heart?” he gazed at her as if measuring her sincerity.
“Definitely,” she raised her chin in defiance.
“It is a deal then,” he held out his hand. She took it.
➻
She woke up when a ray of sunshine hit her pale pallor. She looked around her and realized that she was in an unfamiliar room.
“You’re awake,” Key went near to her bed while holding a mirror, “Meet the new you.”
He held the mirror in front of her face – she gasped. It was the same face, yet something feels different. Same face but different aura. Her spectacles were nowhere to be seen while her hair was neatly tied into a bun. It was a different her.
“H-h-how?”
“My name is Key, remember?” he said nonchalantly, “I am the key to unlock you."
“What is the price I have to pay for this new face?” she asked him nervously.
“Your voice.”
➻
She cannot sing – not even a single line. He reminded her that she should not sing – not even a note – or she would be broken. Even speaking seemed so hard for her but she does not mind as long as she can win Minho’s favor.
“I really like you,” Minho kissed the back of her right hand while kneeling, “I cannot seem to get you out of my dreams every night.”
She remained silent.
“But you talk so little,” Minho chuckled, “I would like to hear your heavenly voice. Rumors say that your voice can bring shame to the songbirds.”
“My throat is not in its best condition,” she croaked and took her hand away from Minho.
Minho stood up and went behind her, “Stay put, my lady.”
She felt him lifting her hair and encircling his arms around her. Then, she felt a cold string dangling from her neck
“This is my present,” he gently turned her around to face him, “Never lose it or I would be cross.”
It was a silver necklace with an infinity pendant. She touched it and felt the chill of the silver chain. Warmth crept into her heart. She did it. She won Minho’s heart. She smiled.
“Would you sing a single line for me?” Minho requested as he put his arms around her waist.
She thought about it. She had not tried singing since she went to the doll shop. She can speak, so she can sing right? It is just a line. Key might just be overreacting.
Should all acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Her sweet voice filled the air.
She felt the pang of the wind.
She felt her throat burning.
She was broken.
➻
“I told you not to sing even a note,” he mumbled while fixing her throat, “Look at what happened to your throat.”
He got his needle and pierced it through her neck, “Now, I have got to fix you.”
While stitching her, he noticed a silver necklace with an infinite pendant dangling on her, “He got you a necklace? It fits you.”
The bells chimed.
“Another customer, huh?” He said while mending her neck.
“U-umn,” the customer stuttered, “Hello?”
The customer went to him and glance at what he was doing, “The doll’s lovely.”
“She is, isn’t she?” Key smiled at the customer, “But her throat’s broken.”
“Why?”
“She broke it while singing,” he continued working on her.
“The doll sings?” the customer was astonished.
“Yes, she does,” he placed his needle and thread down and held her lovingly, “Want to hear her sing?”
The customer nodded.
Should all acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Her sweet voice filled the air.
“She’s so pretty and I love her voice,” the customer said enviously.
“I could make you like her,” he gazed at her.
“How much do I have to pay you?”
“I need not money,” his dark orbs stilled onto her, “I need something else.”
“What do you want?”
“Your eyes.”
Little girls’ dreams are often evanescent and pure. The young are always passionate when it comes to achieving their goals that they forget the greater things in life – the things that they should value.
Let us not be the dolls of our desires.
Desperation is different from determination.
Be on guard, lest all your dreams come true as well.
“Be careful with what you wish for, because you just might get it all,” Key said while working on her eyes.
A/N (11/08/13)
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=1rCZduGdax8 - my favorite version of Auld Lang Syne. Hear it if you want
Auld Lang Syne translates into 'time's long past' - TanTanTan
"You only miss the sun when it starts to snow."
- amira_hasrori -
