Jeff trembled at the thought of being stuck forever in unanimated form. He might have thought it could be fun to try it, but he didn’t meant it to last more than a few hours… right now he was trapped. Trapped between a doll’s life and an uncertain future… his life was now in the hands of Sarah. While she had the Chronivac and he didn’t, she could do anything from him. He started to understand the view of Fiona and why she thought Sarah was a goddess for her toys.
He had no choice but to resign for now, to play the act until he gets a chance to undo all this and get his life back.
“So, are you willing to be the doll you are suppose to be, and that you actually are in this reality ?” his sister asked. He nodded.
“Good girl !” She giggled. She looked at the side of box where Fiona had written something earlier, and looked back at Jeff. “I can’t keep calling you Jeff nor brother right ? That boy never existed here anyway. From now on, I’ll call you Barbie, Dolly, or even Princess or Lily since it seems that those are your now officials tittle and name down there… speaking of that, it’s time for you to get back to your fantasy world !”
Sarah picked him up, as long as the empty box and brought him back to the doll’s corner. There were waiting the other dolls, about a dozen. She posed him in front of them as they were bowing to his sister, and dropped the box next to the house. Jeff stayed here, still, until he heard his sister says :
“It pleases me that my dolls show their Goddess their respect”
He suddenly heard a voice in his head. Fiona’s one.
“Bow now, darling. Bow and pray the Great Sarah that made us and looks after us”
Furious but powerless, he turned to his sister and bowed. No need to start fighting now, it was too soon. Sarah giggled and Jeff, looking at the ground, heard her speak about him, or more precisely about how Lily had lost her faith and even her mind for a time, but had now accepted Her and herself, and therefore was able to go back to Sarah’s people to be the princess she was suppose to be.
“You’ll watch after her and teach her how to be who she is. Take care, Dolls, I’ll be back.” she concluded and left her room.
Jeff turned back to face the other Barbies all staring at him. A few clapped and some other came to hug him. What a strange feeling, plastic with plastic hug and yet feeling almost real. The Fairy one approached.
“I’m glad you’re back to reason, and to the glorious faith in the Mighty Sarah. If you want to tell her something, feel free to share your payers with me and be sure she’ll hear them. Are you ready to start your new life, Princess ?”
At this moment, something glowed in the corner and the empty box next to the dollhouse turned into a Barbie Castle. It looked like Sarah was playing with the Chronivac again. A few dolls went to check it and Jeff could hear them admire what it was containing.
“Check out those dresses !” “What a comfy bed !” “It say’s -Princess Lily-.The goddess is so good to her!”
Jeff sighted. “Looks like I am, Fairy” he answered, thinking that, at least, his sister had given him a few things to accommodate.
He was led to his new castle by the two Barbies that had dressed him earlier. It looked like their had been affected to his “education” as a doll by Fiona. As they were all three walking there, Jeff learned they were named Mary and Betty. Wearing matching proms dresses, they were “basic” Barbies. Not ballerinas, not fairies, not princesses or anything else. Just fashionistas.
“We are here to teach you to behave in our world” Said Betty.
“And to be a proper doll when the Goddess comes play with us” added Mary.
Jeff tried to accept this. Of course, being a doll was meaning being played with. He wondered what it was, and supposed he would found out way soon enough. Once they reached the castle, they sat around a pink plastic table and started “taking the tea” with fake empty plastic cups. Jeff wasn’t sure if the two Barbies were consciously playing at taking the tea of if they were convinced to take a real one. Looking at his cup, it seemed useless to Jeff to mimic the drinking
“Why aren’t you drinking, princess ?” wondered Mary.
Jeff realized that he was acting weird to them. Of course they were convinced to take a real cup of tea. Barbies didn’t needed food or water, they didn’t knew how it was to take a real cup of tea… this acting was the real cup to them. They surely were imagining the hot tea inside, and it was never empty unless they decided it was… It was hard for his teen boy mind to enter this imaginary world, but he had to fake it anyway until he was able to escape.
“Sorry the tea was a little too hot for me”
“Oh I can add some cold water to cool it”
The Barbie faked serving some additional water in his cup, and he thanked her, taking the cup. He started to try to imagine it was a real tea he was drinking while listening to the two others tell him about them, about the world we was now in.
“When the Goddess comes play with us, you shall remain still unless she tells you to move by your own.”
“Fiona is our leader and speaks on behalf of the Goddess when she’s not here”
“When the day is turned off by the Goddess”, sentence that Jeff translated by -when Sarah goes to bed and turns the lights off-, “you must not leave the house or, in your case, the castle. You must rest until the day comes back”.
“You must not visit a man unless authorized by the goddess or Fiona”
Jeff was listening vaguely but his mind refocused immediately when this hit him : he was a girl now. Was he expected to interact with the Ken dolls he saw earlier more than he did and which was already sufficient according to him ? Trying to refocus on the fantasy world logic, he guessed that, as a princess, he was suppose to get married with a prince.
“Is there a Prince among the men here ?” he asked naively.
“No there isn’t sadly, Princess” answered Betty.
He felt relieved. No couple for him. just needed to focus on acting until Sarah would lower her guard...And speaking of her, Jeff heard the door open. His sister was back to her room.