Snippet #2469322

Ragdoll and the Kids

"Mr.Rags, what are you doing? I thought you wanted to be fast!" Tempe tugged on the leg of his pants, which were stiff with dried blood and resewn almost every other inch. "And not to be rude," she added as if remembering the scene at the hospital door. "But I don't think we should be distracted, do you?"

He looked down at her after a moment of looking at the bellhop. His lips pulled apart to where his teeth were completely exposed in what hadn't looked like a grin at all. If anything, it were a silent snarl. The dryness of his skin caused the corners of his lips to bleed when pulled apart. His wrist flung limply towards the door to where a crooked finger pointed to the red form bent over a pile of luggage.

"You....dist-rac-t." he rasped, his hand moving up to point at the lady at the counter behind the bellhop.

"Oh...." Tempe muttered. Her wooden lips tilted into a smile as she beamed at him. "Well okay! Brother and I are really good at that. Aren't we, Pappe?" she looked over at her brother, who for once hadn't shown the least bit of fear.

"Yeah, sis. We really are." he beamed back at her.

With a snap of his neck, the bloody man held up his wrist. His hand remained limp as he turned it upward in a gesture as though to say 'After you.'

The two nodded and skipped to the door in every literal sense.

--

"Hey, Margaret, what do you want me to do with this one case? It won't fit." A man by the age of twenty looked up at his manager with tired eyes.

"Just carry it under your free arm when you pull the cart." she answered, not looking away from her novel that she was immersed in.

"With your free arm, eh?" the man grumbled under his breath.

"Excuse me..."

Margaret looked up from her book to see two small children peeking over the counter.

"Oh hello, sweetie! What can I do for you?" she leaned over the counter to see them more efficiently. If her eyes were not fixated on the two children's angelic features, she would have noticed the movement under the lobby carpet where the strings were hidden.

The teary eyed girl clasped her hands in front of her as the little boy clutched her sleeve. "We can't find our mama, we thought she came in here."

Margaret's eyes saddened as she put her book down in its entirety and moved to the computer. "What's her name, honey?" she asked. The little girl's porcelain lids closed over their eyes and pushed the liquid down her cheeks. "Angie....I think other people call her Angela sometimes." the little girl sniffled.

"Okay, let me see if she's here." Margaret's furious clicking was followed by a weary sigh. "I'm sorry, dear. She's not in here. Did you see her come in?"

"Yeah, we're sure." the little boy piped in.

"Really?...oh my...maybe it was a different hotel. I don't see her. Do you want me to call for help?" Margaret asked. "I could get someone to help find your mama with you. It's all I can do if she's not here."

The little boys eyes shifted to the left really quick in a timid manner before looking up at her. "But she's GOTTA be in here! She's just gotta!" his hands flew to his face as he heaved forward.

"I'm sorry, honey but she isn't...I'll call for help. Just a moment. wait right there, alright?" Margaret wheeled her chair over to the phone at her desk. Three clicks of a button, and the police were on the line.

"Yes, I've got two children here that lost their mother..." she began. She looked over at the children who were staring back at her gratefully. She smiled at them before looking down at the phone again.

When she was finished with the call, she looked up and screamed.

The phone dropped and swung on its chord.

The children were gone.

On the wall next to where they stood, a near-unrecognizable lump of flesh hung naked on the wall.

Margaret shrieked and reached for the phone in a panic.

"P-P-P-Police..." she choked. Her eyes kept contact with the lifeless stare of her former bellhop. Blood leaked from the gap where his throat and arms had been.


--

"Mr. Rags, wait! We're going as fast as we can! We're not even in the same town anymore! Where are we going?!" Tempe shouted after him until he finally stopped at a clearing and slunk behind a large tree.

"Waiiii-t." his voice rasped as they heard shuffling behind the trunk.

"Fine! We need rest anyway!" Tempe fell into a sitting position. Pappe followed and rest his head on her shoulder in exhaustion.

Within a few minutes, the man stepped out of his area of hiding.

Tempe's eyes widened and Pappe's head shot up from her shoulder.

"Wow....I...that's not a look you see on a monster every day..." Pappe murmured.

"I like it! Tempe answered. "At least he found something that isn't his uniform, right?" Pappe looked up as though thinking and nodded.

Ragdoll did not answer as he carried his former outfit and continued on his way.

"We're still going?" Tempe pouted.

"S-till..." he agreed.

"Oh okay....will it be long?" she asked.

"Not...long..." he answered.

"Thank goodness!" she skipped up next to him, holding onto the red sleeve of his new bellhop uniform. "Wow, you've got the hat and everything! Those gloves won't stay white for long though." she assured him.

"I...li-ke...white." he groaned.

"He actually LIKES things?!" Pappe shouted.

"Well that's rude, Pappe! He's a person too, no matter how much he bleeds!" Tempe scolded before looking back up at Ragdoll. "Okay, well we can always find new ones when you bleed through those, right?" she asked.

"Righ-t..." he agreed.

They walked another mile or so before they came across a large building. It was aged, and noticeably crumbling in certain areas.

"Wow...what's that..." Tempe murmured.

"Tha-t..." Ragdoll answered as he pointed to a sign with all words faded but one.

"Asylum...." Pappe read. "Are people still here?" he asked.

"Nah, I don't think so. This place looks like it hasn't been taken care of in years...look! All the windows are broken." Tempe pointed at the dark abyss behind shattered glass.

"Ohhh...okay." Pappe nodded. "So is this where we're staying? It's really big. I've never had a big house before."

Ragdoll snapped his head to the side "St-aying." he groaned.

"YAY! 'Bout time we found somewhere!" Tempe skipped to the entrance and opened the door. "Oooh look, it's dark!"

"I...I'm scared of the dark..." Pappe whined as he followed Ragdoll towards his sister.

"It'll be morning soon and the sun'll come through the windows. It'll be okay!" Tempe assured him as she skipped inside.

As the three walked in, the forgotten puppeteer slowly felt his way up the stairs that led to the door.