Before I jump in, some content warnings. The following entries will touch on the topics of isolation, gaslighting, abuse, animated Victorian dolls, “but I’m a nice guy,” and related areas. There will also be spoilers here for any short story which comes out of this process.
Spoiler Space:
In my readings, I learned a few techniques for building a horror antagonist. One was to create your protagonists first, and then build the antagonists as a dark mirror, one that challenges the protagonist. The other was to look at the way others have handled antagonists and try to twist expectations. Having the ‘monster’ be the law enforcement officers and not the gill-man just trying to live quietly in his swamp.
That meant developing the red herring monster first. The Doll. As I mentioned back in the earlier entries, I looked at that doll and thought, “It has seen things.” It had a thousand-yard stare.
Victorian dolls are already creepy enough, especially En Masse. A friend’s mother had an entire room filled with those dolls. You waited for them to come alive and hunger for the blood of the living. It also didn’t help she seemed to care for the well being of those dolls over her own family, but that’s another horror story.
Coming alive and going full Puppet Master on people at the bidding of some demon is exactly what folks expect from Doll stories. There’s also the ‘whispering to kids and telling them to murder daddy’ aspects. It’s a tired trope and often just used as an excuse for lurid cover art or giving some practical effects artists room to play.
I didn’t want my story to be that way. Also, for every person spending money on doll restorations to the neglect of their children, there was someone like Robin, who was making taking these broken dolls and giving them new life. One of them may end up being loved by a child…
This led me to the doll’s history. I imagined she had been passed from family to family. Some were loving. Some were neglectful. And in some cases – a lot of case – she saw abuse. She saw gaslighting. Saw everyone ‘keep it together’ for appearances. In the last house she – other dolls – decided to do something about it. She and the other spirits in a house back in the 70’s engineered a fire while a long-suffering mother and her kids were away at a school recital. The abusive father decided to stay home, get drunk, and see if anyone in his black book was still picking up.
The doll’s picked up by one of the demolition crew and kept in storage. When he passes away in his sleep and his home is picked up by a B&B crew doing some hard-core renovation, the collection of salvaged toys, etc. is discovered by our real antagonist.
His name is Nate.
He’s a ‘nice guy.’ They called him “Woodworking Bae” because on his YouTube channel was cute, rugged, sensitive, and showed people how to use small scale tools to make some great pieces of woodworking out of his garage just east of Altoona. He stepped out of a Hallmark movie, ready to convince a woman to give up her career in the big city for a small town life. When Robin was starting to broadcast her work sessions on Twitch, and compile them into videos for YouTube, he was part of the ‘community’ there. When Robin was feeling especially vulnerable after some anonymous complainers were demanding she show more boob on the channel, Nate stepped in and offered some suggestions.
They started talking. He was a fellow PSU grad. He would offer her honest criticism about the state of her on-line presence while boosting her up afterwards. They met up one summer and began a long-distance relationship. When she took over the house, he’d fly over more often to help her care for it. When she heard he was on the verge of losing his loft space, she suggested he move in. And he did.
This whole story probably sounds familiar to far too many people. Nate’s public persona was well crafted and hid a lot of abusive behaviors. He ‘negged’ Robin, and only really started showing an interest in ‘collaborating’ when she showed off her renovation plans on the video. But what he really wanted was the Workshop she had built.
After a year together, the first cracks in the relationship were wider than she could fill. He gaslighted her about his plans, about how much he really contributed to the relationship, about his cheating and drinking. He could still charm the pants off most of the town (Not Sheri, though. Sheri warned Robin). But things were getting ugly.
The Doll was a ‘birthday present’ he got her while working demolition at a BnB. He used to make her things, but that was before she gave him her old workshop as the base for his new channel identity. Now he spends his time there, making a few things, doing short broadcasts that coattail off the work Robin is doing, drinking, and cheating.
Winter is changing things. Before, he would be able to get out, carouse, and then come back. Now, chances to do that are fewer and fewer as heavy storms and ice keep them stuck on the farm. There’s a record blizzard on its way. It’s going to snow them in. And he’s going to remind Robin why he’s the best thing she has going.
The Doll, though, sees where this is going to end up. She’s trying to warn Robin, but she’s a creepy doll. No one listens to her. It’s time to take things into her own hands.
I think I have a good idea of what to do and where to go. Now, just to write it.
Biomechanoid Blues 