Stylish Payne

Around eight o’clock, I made my way downstairs, finding Liam still in his business suit and Harry now in black pajamas with a red robe. “We have a special guest”, Harry informed brightly, clapping his hands. I looked to Liam.

“Who is the special guest?” I asked.

“You are, silly”, Harry giggled. We walked into the dining room which featured a high ceiling and chandelier along with a 13 person table. Ten of the places were taken by dolls that hadn’t previously been there. “Darlings, this is Ginny Payne, our newest associate. She is going to help you all find loving foster homes!” Harry had me sit between two dolls, a pretty transvestite he called Renee and an amputee with the face of a bimbo named Bambi. Bambi’s torso was grotesquely stitched together where her arms were missing and her dress had blood stains from where the life water would’ve have seeped out had she been real. Renee had a battle scarred face, like he had seen hard times. Then again, I wouldn’t really expect an “exotic dancer” tranny to have a good life. Harry sat next to me at the head of the table with Liam on the other end. The guy liner wearing man was eager to give me a rundown of who was who, their back stories, and collectors tags. Bambi was part of the Bloody Hot collection, a morbid limited set of dolls who were all sluts of some sort but horrifically mutilated. Renee was part of the Lucky, Lucky collection, a less exclusive set with a few duplicates in different styles but all representing someone down on their luck.

“The doll I’d made you would be part of the Hell’s Play Things set”, Harry giggled, ignoring the salad a servant had prepared for him. “It’s my signature collection. Highly exclusive. One of a kind dolls are made for it. Only people who have that right quality to them. That quality nobody else has.”

“Can I ask why it’s called Hell’s Play Things?” I wondered.

Liam answered this question. “Harry simply creates the dolls. I name their collections”, Liam smiled. “Hell’s Play Things is sort of our take on Heaven’s Angels. Each angel in Heaven is its own being with a separate identity. Demons are quite similar. Instead of Michael and Gabriel, Hell has Zozo and Lilith, you know? Hell is a much better comparison to Heaven as our dolls are unique in a very grotesque fashion-”

“They’re still beautiful though”, I admitted. And it was true. The craftsmanship Harry put into them was amazing.

“Oh nobody’s arguing that!” Liam chuckled. “Harry’s a wondrous artist.”

“I’ll show you the doll I made for Liam”, Harry proffered. “Right after dinner!”

“And tomorrow, Harry will take you to the shop where you’ll be introducing guests to the products”, Liam added.

I nodded. Seemed easy enough. After dinner, Harry excused us and ordered us to go straight to our rooms so we could get a proper sleep and be ready for the shop the next morning. I wasn’t really keen on the idea of having a bed time but it was roughly ten by the time we’d finished eating and discussing business. By the time I showered and finally fell asleep, it would probably be one in the morning and I wasn’t sure when they’d want me up. I walked into my room (which included its own bathroom as all the rooms did according to Liam) and showered before putting on a pair of Scooby Doo boxer shorts and a cami. For a while, I tried finding something to read and eventually settled on a book called the Keep which by the first few chapters was turning into an intense story about Nazis, German soldiers, a Jewish scholar, and vampire attacks in Romania. A small tapping at my window scared me out of the fort of silver and gold crosses and back to reality. A figure loomed in my window before climbing in.

“Sorry if I gave you a fright, Miss!” smiled the gardener, Louis. “I wanted to come visit but walking past all them eyes in the dark gives me the right chills.”

“Louis”, I said, relieving myself from any fear. That’s no vampire, just goofy Louis from earlier.

“I wanted to give you a welcomin’ present”, he informed. I climbed out of bed to greet him, seeing him come forward with a bouquet of flowers. “Me nan was a florist”, he said proudly. “She taught me everything. There’s some zinnias, stephanotis, and yellow chrysanthemums. It ain’t much but it’s what we currently have in the garden and I didn’t think Mr. Styles would mind too much if I picked a few.”

“They’re lovely”, I murmured. “Thank you.”

“I know Mr. Payne’s gonna be expecting you to act like a bloody work horse and you know what they say; all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

“You’re very considerate.”

Louis beamed. “Thank you, Miss.”

“Can I ask you a question?” I wondered. He cocked his head as I patted a spot on my bed for us to sit on. “Would you happen to know anything about those doors with the eyes? Or just anything dealing with Harry’s doll making? I’m really interested.”

“I can’t say I do, Miss”, Louis admitted. “But…” He pulled his legs into a criss-cross position. “I know once every two weeks, Mr. Payne goes in and sprays stuff in there. I guess doll parts get dusty and Mr. Styles don’t like dust. He’s got asthma. Why do you ask?”

I pouted. “Like I said, I’m interested”, I sighed. “I love dolls and it’d be pretty neat for me to learn how they, especially the ones Styles makes, get made. Plus, if I’m going to be selling them, shouldn’t I know as much about them as Harry does?”

“I don’t much like them”, Louis said honestly. “They’re right freaky. Me little sis was so excited when I got hired here. You know little girls love dollies. And she asks for one but these are just freaky. I can’t bring myself to give her something so wrong.”

“They’re unique”, I pointed out.

“They are that but these things ain’t right for a seven year old.” Louis glanced away. “Tell me about yourself.”

“I’m not that interesting”, I giggled.

“Sure you are!” Louis grinned. “A bonny bird like you just showing up to sell things with no background or contract from Mr. Styles-”

“Contract?”

“Yeah, we’re contractually bound not to talk about anything that we see happen here. But I haven’t seen shite to be frank. Queerest thing I’ve saw is the delivery guy, Niall. Or maybe that detective, Zayn.”

“What?”

“Niall’s real quiet. Real down to business but he ain’t like Mr. Payne. No, Niall acts like he’s being trusted with some kind of drug deal. I wonder if that’s why that detective from Scotland Yard is here. Zayn. You’ll know him. He’s tried asking me about Mr. Styles and when they can talk but Mr. Styles always seems to know when the detective is here and flies out of the house so I always tell the man he ain’t around. I did tell him I think it’s drugs though. Please don’t tell the misters.”

“No of course not!” I gasped. Drugs? Is that what was behind all those doors? “Louis, has Zayn found anything?”

“I’d rather not talk about it”, Louis mumbles. “I got my suspicions but as long as it takes Zayn to find proof is as long as I have a job. That’s right important, you know.”

“I understand.” We changed the subject and talked about lighter things, though the drugs accusation didn’t sit well in my stomach. After a while, around two, Louis climbed back out the window and I saw he’d come with a ladder. I tried crawling into bed, tried sleeping, and eventually slipped into a not so peaceful sleep.

Notes

It's about time I updated this.