WE GOING TO TALALA WITH A DOLL? PART 3
Summary: The first day all on your own with Brahms, things were good. It was fine until Malcom showed up. "Maybe you were better off getting a different grocery boy.", Brahms thought as he wreaked havoc on Malcom.
TW: Brahms making creepy moves, stalking, obsessive behavior, LORE BECAUSE THE FIRST FILM MADE ME FEEL EMPTY, I spelled Malcolm wrong, but I don't really care
Word Count: 3.1k
The day the old couple left for their trip, you were oddly uptight, as if the silence proposed an unwelcome presence rather than isolation. You held Brahms at your hip, ensuring to have finished all the tasks left in the handbook before you decided to relax. Even though the old couple had left early in the morning, most of the chores were attended to by then. It wasn't long before you finished everything that needed to be done without breaking a sweat.
Brahms in one hand, you sat on the couch with a huff and relaxed your shoulders. You gazed at the phonograph that played loudly on your left as the weight of Brahms leaning onto you provided a sort of comfort from the isolation inside the mansion. It hasn't even been a full day alone, yet you've done all the chores and had time to spare. The reception or internet connection did not exist within the Heelshire estate, which was another factor you were curious about, but never had the guts to ask the couple in person. With the boredom eating you up, you decided to explore the mansion with Brahms.
Yes, you have already explored portions of the estate to fulfill the tasks in the handbook, but that doesn't mean you had the luxury to explore all of it without your hands tied up with work. So while you had the chance, you stood up with Brahms and headed up the staircase that connects to the second floor, where the bedrooms were situated. The music settled down as you ascended the carpet-furnished stairs. Steps creak along with the wood of the handrail, demonstrating the senility of the mansion growing alongside the Heelshire family. The sounds fill you with slight excitement with what's to expect from the second-floor rooms.
You glanced at Brahms and made a comment
"Brahms, I'll be exploring some rooms upstairs, okay? I'm bored and I want to learn more about this place while I can; is that okay, Brahms?"
You slightly moved the hand holding onto the doll, making it seem like a nod of approval.
You smile, "Thank you, Brahms!"
As you giggle at the childish display you enacted, you fail to notice the creaks of the mansion walls following you. The echo in the mansion made it hard for anyone to tell where any noise could be coming from; that was all that Brahms could thank for living inside the dingy display of his current location.
He had kept his eye on you ever since he spotted you entering the mansion doors all those days ago. His parents had already given up after countless nannies ran from his hauntings within the walls, but he applauds his parents' persistence to at least ease themselves of the guilt of having their child living among them in secret.
Brahms was impatient and wanted you now, but he backed off when he remembered his obsession with past nannies and how it led to disastrous outcomes. Sure, he may have displayed serious obsessive tendencies toward his nannies to provide him with love his parents could not admit giving him, but it's been years since he last remembered an authentic interaction with another person. So he settled to test your determination to stay within the mansion with his immoral tactics. Gifts he'd already started working on to give you and, at the same time, small scare tactics to prepare you when he does show up.
What great luck to find you still as kind as ever even when left alone with him. His previous nannies all left him alone on a chair, covered up sometimes to dismiss his stare. He hated that and punished them with loud bangs in the walls and shredding their belongings into pieces. He felt no remorse for his actions when they cried, but soon fell into a depression period when they left the estate. During those times, he'd need at least a few months to recover before he started to shake the mansion with his tenacious cries for another person to come over.
He sighs dreamily as you hold his doll tight in one hand and even make a silly gesture with it as if it were him you were talking to. He followed you up to the second floor, his footsteps making intentional noise to scare you slightly but just sounding off right as you made your own noise on the stairs. He doesn't want to spook you off the face of the earth, surely. He only wants to prepare you to not run when he appears to you in person.
As you reach the second floor, you pass by the family portait. Pause in your step, you glance sadly at the little boy in the picture. Stories about Brahms weren't always discussed in the estate; the couple talks as if he's still alive and neverchanging. It breaks your heart knowing the doll in your hands was to cope with the Heelshires' dead son
You continue to walk and soon reach Brahms' room. His room was kept in a fraction of time, no matter how many years have passed. The toys and trinkets on the walls age in trend among the generations. The closet holding onto clean clothes fit for a boy of one age, always washed and returned inside, but never added with more or disregarded in numbers.
His toys and books filled the room as if it were always in use, but you know the only thing that keeps them in motion is because the couple made sure that you always had some time to play with Brahms, either by reading or playing with him. What was most surprising about the room was the title of the books. While everything was meant for an eight-year-old, the page contents that littered the shelf were worded for adults of at least 20 years of age.
You take out a book and open it to a random page. A fake gasp of surprise leaves your mouth
"Brahms, you shouldn't be reading this!" You jolt slightly at Brahms and return the book
"Those books will fill you with weird ideas, Brahms. Next thing you know, you're acting like Erik Destler." You snort at your own joke before one of the toys caught your attention
The toy plane on the drawer was facing towards the door and not at the wall. You were sure the toy moved places, since the Heelshires had made it adamant for you to play with Brahms and his toys. Therefore, you always tried to appease them by ensuring the play things were arranged the same way you saw them the first time you arrived at the mansion.
Behind your fixated eyes, Brahms watches your observation. He was the one who moved the toy for you to notice, which he thought you'd notice later this evening during your nightly routine with his doll form. He was already excited to make his presence known and love you with all his might, but he was also refraining to do so due to past experiences. You see, Brahms was already desperate for attention from other people; his parents knew all too well why. Isolated from society and even the few people of this mansion has pushed him to crave for attention with his growing desire to be loved.
Yes, his parents do love him, but the pride and guilt has set boundaries within the family from ever truly presenting their love for one another authentically. So when their guilt started to weigh more, just as the walls groan when they treat the doll with more love than their own son, they decide to find a replacement to fill the void. Though to keep their image from further harm, they were looking for nannies to accustom their lives within the mansion and for Brahms to do what he wishes to them. It was sickening knowing that their son was neglected even by the very people they hire and train to care for his dummy version. Brahms retaliated each nanny's treatment with even more sickening outbursts.
He huffs at the memories of anger towards his previous nannies, but soon shakes off the loneliness they gave him when he glances back at you. A smile finds its way on his face as your reactions to just a small detail was better received than he expected. At first, he was prepared you would start to freak out and call or even invite visitors to calm your nerves, but you only sighed in understanding? How strangely interesting you are
You're not gonna lie, you're fucking scared
You agreed to the job out of sympathy and the easy pay, but isolated here with a doll resembling an old couple's son and their habits with it? You really want to book it out of here. At the same time, it was somehow endearing in a way that if for some odd reason the mansion's hauntings were caused by Brahms in some way, it was oddly nice that he was interacting with you. I mean, it's not always when you're haunted by a deceased person, especially not one from a mysterious and odd couple. Nevertheless, the haunting noises scare you slightly (to some point to literally run out of the estate), but never enough to see yourself out. So what to do? Well, you decided to make it less scary, through forced comedy.
"Brahms, have you been playing without me?" You cover your mouth in shock
The hand on Brahms moves the doll like a puppet, enacting the reaction of being caught
"Oh Brahms, did you grow impatient? I promised to play with you after the chores, didn't I?" The doll bows its head in guilt and you let out a giggle
"That's okay Brahms, we can play later after we explore the mansion, okay? Wouldn't you like to introduce me to your nice home?" Brahms nod in excitement, just as the real man nodded behind the cracks.
"Good, we still probably have a few more minutes to explore before Malcom comes over." At this, you make Brahms look away to scoff
If only you knew that the real Brahms is literally repeating your own actions in real time. Brahms was impatient as is setting his gifts and scares for the long run, but the grocery boy? Well, even a second with him makes him infuriated.
What better way to deal with a problem with violence? Well, not brutal harm, at least. Brahms was aware that the food and sole transportation in the house was the grocery boy, so killing him off would make it hard for both you and him to survive. Besides that, he believes the vehicle could be of use for interesting scenarios he planned out for both of you.
As Brahms gets lost in his thoughts, you've exited the room and walked through the hallway. Besides the intricate design of animal heads littering the walls, the small door leading to the attic catches your eye
You weren't supposed to enter the attic until later tonight. Brahms scrambled from his position behind the Ram's head and makes way to the attic with quick and quiet feet. It took him a few years to find the creaks in every position of the house, but it was worth it to memorize and avoid the unnecessary fright he could give you.
You hummed in curiosity before you placed Brahms on top of a table, facing him towards the attic door.
"Brahms, you wouldn't mind if I go up there right?"
The unmoving doll just stares in silence. You smile and start looking for the attic hook. The attic was never explored or mentioned by the Heelshires, so your growing curiosity stayed as is whenever you passed by the close contraption.
Once you've found the hook, you start tinkering around the latch to let down the ladder. With one pull, you already anchored yourself away from where you believe the ladder could hit you.
It didn't though? The door seems to be stuck for some odd reason. Which would still be an odd reason if you knew that Brahms was fighting against your weight pulling the stick and gravity from opening the door.
His mask starts to build up with moisture as you soon start to jump with the stick with all your might. Regardless of your strength, Brahms was victorious when he heard you huff in defeat.
The disappointment latches on to you when the door refuses to budge at all. It was no joke that you were putting your trust out there for the Heelshires to see your determination to keep their own in good grace, but if such a place like the mansion could operate well even after decades of housing the couple, just what kind of secret does the attic hold to be stuck? It doesn't help that the attic hook was clean and used; why would it still be accessible to others if the attic was always this stuck shut?
Before you could ponder some more, it dawned upon you that the blaring sounds of a car horn and the jangle of the gates rang in your ears.
Placing the hook back, you grab Brahms and start rushing down the stairs. On the other side, Brahms scrambles alongside you when he realizes who was outside.
Just as you reach the last few steps, the carpet turns with your heel and soon you're falling with Brahms in your protective grip.
A yelp and groan escaped your lips as the pain resided on your left shoulder. The ringing from the fall is still present as you get up, not aware that Brahms yelped with you. His hands gripped the edge of a hidden door, but he refused to exit when his plan for you flashed before him. Never blinking eyes follow your every move, and just the stare alone was probably why your nerves were steeled even after the fall.
Just outside the mansion was Malcom who's been trying to get your attention to open the gates. In his front seat, a small bouquet of flowers lay. He was already taking his chance to shoot his shot with you, even when your interest was solely on the money.
"Hello? ____?" He shakes the gates to make more noise of his known presence.
Just as he went back to his car to honk again, he heard a scream from the mansion. He looks back to the doors and sees your form rushing towards him. Letting out a sigh of relief, he gets in his car and start the engine.
"Malcom! I'm so sorry, did you wait long? I was busy exploring and I kinda lost track of time." You explained in a hurry, huffing for air every few seconds
"Oh it's fine, love. I didn't wait long at all." Malcom reassures you and waves at Brahms by your hip.
The kitchen was rather unique for the Heelshire mansion. It was furnished in light and white color, a large contrast compared to the main rooms. If the mansion felt like an upper class delight, the kitchen was homey in its entirety than any other room.
"Besides the bread box to your left, the cupboards will brim with these fellas over here." Malcom gestures to the bread buns in your hand and to the table with canned goods.
"Oh okay. Would that mean these go here too?" Your other hand rests on the crackers and points at the ceramic cookie jar
"Oh no, those belong in the larder."
Turning on your heel, you scrunch your eyebrows at Malcom
"Sorry love, I meant the pantry." Malcom smiles and motions to the closed door near the fridge.
As you and Malcom work in silence with the occasional flirty comment from him, Brahms sits idly on the counter you placed him on; just right beside the real man glaring daggers at Malcom. The flowers Malcom gave you were crushed under Brahms' grip. The vase that held the flowers was replaced with flowers Brahms personally picked himself. He may be stuck in the mansion for over two decades, but that doesn't mean he never learned from the books and his dad on what kind of flowers a person like you would enjoy.
In all honesty, the flowers Malcom got you made you feel uncomfortable. Not just the fact that it was out of romantic interest, but you were also scared if you rejected his advances, you'd be in the same position Greta was in with her abusive ex-boyfriend. Malcom ranted about something to do with a harsh rain storm coming soon and advised you to prepare for a blackout during those times. You nodded in agreement, already thinking about how to cozy up the mansion and clean where daylight cannot reach.
"I can help board up the windows around here, if you'd like. The Heelshires call me up sometimes when a storm comes along. You wouldn't believe how updated they are about the weather; they always came prepared to protect their home from the ceiling to the smallest pebble on their land!" Malcom joked
"Oh, if only you witnessed them last spring-" He points outside the window to the garden wall next to the mansion, "Those plants rooted near the wall keep the flood water from entering the walls."
"Oh, you did all that?" You asked in surprise, and Malcom nods at your words
The mansion was huge, no question. To secure all that to keep their home intact was a lot of work, but to make one man work alone? That's weirdly questionable. Could they not have hired more people? Besides Malcom, the driver and gate men were the only people you noticed throughout your time here.
Your concerned look gets a word out of Malcom
"It wasn't all bad, love. The Heelshires love this home, they'd do anything to keep it in tip-top shape." He gives a thumbs up
As you exit the pantry, Malcom slowly starts to make even flirtier comments. Brahms watches the entire fiasco happen, the flowers thrown away into a molded mass of goop. He moves to another section in the kitchen out of your sight, opening a compartment on his end to grab the ice pick near the freezer. If Malcom can't take a hint, he'd give him a reason to stop coming by.
With quiet steps, Brahms exits the Manor and approaches Malcom's car. Lifting the hood of the car, he spots the coolant expansion tank. Ice pick in hand, he stabs the plastic container with force as his other hand grips the ridge of the car from jolting along. Liquid oozes out of the tank and Brahms huffs in satisfaction, closing the hood. He quickly bolts back into the kitchen walls to find you gone.
