Page 41 of Everdoll
Telling her that no matter what she did, she could never escape me might have frightened her.
“Would that break your heart?”
She’d asked gently, so I murmured involuntarily. “Yes. I’d be completely broken.”
“No… don’t break, Remi. I… I’m sorry. Being a robot… must be so sad.”
My eyes flew wide open. Mina—who had always thought being a robot was cool—was saying something like this for the first time. I drew back slowly to study her face, but she didn’t seem inclined to continue.
“Why?” I asked.
“Not being able to live without your owner… must be lonely. You’d be like a toy cast aside.”
She raised her hand and pointed straight ahead. When I followed her gaze, I saw a small, miniature house.
“It belonged to my great-great-grandmother. Came from Earth, Remi. Can you believe that? They call it a dollhouse. My dad used to say that if we ever got poor, we could sell this and get rich. They’re really hard to find.”
“You want to sell it?”
“No way! I used to play there all the time before you came. There are lots of dolls inside. I love all of them.” Mina jumped to her feet and ran toward the spot she’d pointed to, and I was right on her heels.
It was a brownish house with a pink roof, made from a material I had never seen before. The roof was with white lace, and the house was split down the middle. With monster-mouth-shaped windows and every tiny room decorated with details ranging from rugs to paintings, it was a massive toy house. And there really were as many dolls as she’d said. Tiny glass dolls the size of a fist, dressed in different outfits and hairstyles, lifelike little figures… Mina smiled as she held a black-haired girl toy in her hand.
“In the past, I wished I could be like them. They all have a home and stable faces. I used to envy them, imagining what kind of personalities they had and making up stories about them. But now… I feel sorry for them, Remi. If I don’t play with them… they’ll just gather dust here.”
Her voice trembled with sorrow now, her unsteady amber eyes moved from one toy to the next, then drifted to the two-story house. “I hadn’t been playing with them since you arrived. I forgot about them. If I wasn’t so scared, I might not even have remembered this place. I feel so guilty, Remi… Without someone to belong to, these dolls… they must get very lonely. You… do you feel lonely too when I’m not around?”
With that question, I snapped out of the reverie I’d fallen into.
“Don’t worry about that.” I knelt down like her and picked up one of the dolls. Even though my hair stood on end, I tried to look at them with love, just like Mina. “You loved them once. Now they know the feeling; they won’t feel lonely anymore.”
“What about you, Remi? Once is enough for you, too?”
She asked curiously, and I ripped my gaze away from the toy, locking onto her instead.
“No. No, it’s not enough.”
Her lips parted at my whisper, her eyes widening. Clearing my throat, I looked away for a split second, then reached out to flick her forehead. “How can you compare me to them? I’m not a lifeless toy.”
She rubbed her head, pouting. “But you look like one…”
“I’m not.”
“You are!”
“How is that even possible? Are you stupid?”
Her mouth opened in shock, then she landed a swift punch right on my shoulder. “You’re so rude, Remi!”
I reached up and squished her cheeks, tugging them, but she immediately broke free from my hands, ran to the door, with the key on her palm.
“I’m leaving you here, too. You stupid Remi.”
Realizing she was actually going to leave, I shouted in panic. “Mina! Okay. Okay. I’m sorry, okay? You’re not stupid or anything. You’re not a terrible person either. Don’t feel bad about those guys.”
She folded her arms, her brows knitted together tightly. She was clearly aiming for intimidating. Unfortunately for her, that murderous glare only made her look even prettier.
I smiled, then quickly carried the doll to the roof of the toy house. “I told you. They don’t need you anymore. Who knows, maybe they get up at night while you sleep? Or maybe they’re having tea, look, they even have little cups!”
