Day: 125 (Blood Moon)

Days Left: 5355

Lives Saved: 0

Once all of the songs had finished playing, the gramophone stopped. Without music, Harmony was once again drawn to her mask.

"I just need to change the vinyl..." Corinna tried to drag Harmony along with her to the record player, but the tranced woman was already on the move in the opposite direction, taking her along with her as Harmony's arms were still tied and wrapped around Corinna.

The sudden motion caused Corinna to stumble and fall to the ground, escaping from Harmony's grasp.

"Harmony!" Corinna winced as she attempted to stand back up, her foot twinged with pain. Gritting her teeth, she staggered up, almost limping. "Harm-"

Harmony held a saucepan in her tied hands, her eyes focused on the window.

"Harmony!"

It was too late. Before Corinna could stop her, Harmony smashed the window with the pan. She dropped it then climbed onto the kitchen unit and, without even flinching, broke off more of the broken glass with her hands to create more room for her to escape.

Corinna grappled Harmony and pinned her down onto the floor. The entranced woman struggled underneath her weight.

"Please stop!" Corinna blubbered, tears streaming down her face. She saw the blood oozing out of Harmony's hands. "You're hurting yourself! If you go outside, you'll get hurt even more!"

Harmony stared with her vacant and clouded eyes, looking past Corinna to the broken window.

After sitting Harmony in one of the armchairs and tying her to it with rope, Corinna put the music back on and began treating Harmony's wounds. Other than one piece of glass being lodged into her hand, the rest of Harmony's injuries were fortunately just minor scrapes. Using what was in the first aid box, Corinna dressed the wounds, using only a tiny dab of the 'magic ointment'. Since Harmony had lost her mask, there was no way of getting more of the healing saliva, so Corinna used it sparingly.

Mesmerised by the gramophone and the two holographic dancers on top of the spinning record, Harmony remained calm and compliant, only occasionally looking towards the broken window.

"That's it," uttered Corinna through heavy breaths. Her fingers shook as she held Harmony's hands in her own. "Just focus on the music, focus on the dancers."   

The entranced woman glanced over to the broken window, her eyes almost enlarging as she pointed at it.

"No..." Corinna sucked in a desperate breath, swallowing to force back the tears. "You're not going outside. You're staying right here-"

A piece of glass shattered onto the floor.

Corinna's eyes darted to the broken window, the gap had gotten bigger. Something was trying to get inside.

Or perhaps it already was.

She grabbed her spear and stood in front of Harmony in a protective stance as she scanned the room. With the music still playing, it was difficult to hear for any suspicious movement. Corinna considered turning it down, but that would risk Harmony trying to escape.

Slowly edging her way to the centre of the room, Corinna examined every inch of the room for signs of an intruder.

She then looked up.  

Something crashed on top of her, pinning her down onto the floor. A pair of hands gripped Corinna's wrists.

Screaming, Corinna whacked her head backwards, connecting with something hard. The hands released her for a fraction of a moment, enough time for Corinna to roll over and kick her assailant.

The attacker was surprisingly light, with Corinna's kick launching it to the other side of the room in front of the door. There, it laid motionless and still, its legs and arms sprawled and angled in unnatural ways.

Massaging the back of her head to ease the pain, Corinna stumbled upwards and cautiously edged closer to inspect the apparently unconscious intruder, her spear at the ready. She gasped. Before her, laid a life-sized marionette doll, its entire body was made of wood, adorned in a baby blue dress and a white apron. Its hair was short and curly, pinned up into bunches on the top of its head with matching baby blue ribbons that were comically large.

Corinna peered around, attempting to see the marionette's face, as it was lying on its side. From her current position, all she could make out was the rosy cheeks and minuscule red lips. On either side of the mouth were two lines, which supposedly meant that the puppet could talk, or at least open its mouth. Corinna stepped closer, seeing the painted eyes that were permanently fixed to be wide in an expression of wonder. Glued on and in front of these eyes were a pair of round glasses.

Round glasses...

The short curly hair...

No... it couldn't be...

The marionette's torso rose upwards as if it was pulled by an invisible string. It rose until the puppet stood back up, its body swaying and dipping from side to side as if it could collapse again at any moment, its legs barely touching the ground, almost as if it was hovering. Creaking, its head turned until it reached back to its original position.

Then it raised its head. It stared at Corinna with those wide eyes, never blinking, never changing, just always watching. There was a small scrape of the paint on its forehead head from where Corinna had headbutted it.

Its mouth dropped open with a clattering clank of wood. "You..." said a familiar voice. "You did this to me."

Corinna retreated back, her hands trembling as she clutched tightly onto her spear. "Jessica..." she managed to splutter through gasps of air. "It's you, isn't it, Jessica?"

The marionette stared at her, unresponsive, her painted face unable to betray any sort of emotion. 

It had to be. It had to be her. The woman that she had bludgeoned. The one that had lost all of her memories because of Corinna. 

"Jessica, please! I don't want to hurt you!"

Jessica stepped forward, her leg wobbling, the wooden joints clattering.

Corinna breathed in.

She wasn't going to listen, it seemed.

Raising her spear, Corinna prepared for battle.