-I woke up with a whole new outfit sitting on the chair next to my bed, and my old outfit gone. I had taken a swift look around, my paranoia giving me a rude awakening before I inevitably calmed down, and I dropped my legs off the edge of the bed. Once again, my hands reached up for my face in attempts to remove the stress from it; and hopefully release pressure off my sinuses. I couldn't breathe through my nose and my head was crushing into itself. I've caught a cold, but at least now there was heat radiating in the room. The longer I was in this place, the more it was coming to life, and I'm assuming from a paranormal stand point, it's been feasting off of my life to do so.

-I stood up, my.head swimming upward like their was a huge bowl of water in my cranium, thick and sloppy like blood and slime. I hated the feeling, and I stepped forward, looking down at the clothes before me. Atop, sat yet another note. It was the rules, plus a schedule, rewritten in cursive handwriting and on fresher paper.

(Keep in mind I haven't seen the movie since it came out and I cannot for the life of me find out what Brahms used to study and all I recall is piano)

-Oh, so the doll has got me on a schedule now? I really got my ass dragged into spot this time around. I'm not only playing maid, I'm playing parent. I should be upset, but I'm more irritated by my cold than anything, and to be fair I don't really mind playing house with a dead kid, or whatever it is. Like I've mentioned to myself before, I'm not afraid of what's in here as much as I'm afraid of what's out there. Most people are afraid of the unknown, but everyone can always forget what they don't know. I'm afraid of what I know, and everything I know is going to kill me.. I already know how they want to kill me.

-I slowly strip myself of clothes and I replace them with the far comfier clothes that were just the littlest bit too big for me. It was cozy, and it felt like a warm hug. After forcing myself to sniff, it smelled just like the previous outfit, dusty and recently cleaned. It was an off scent, and it was weird how it mixed together. If I could explain it in any other way, I'd explain it as a glorified cleaning rag that has been used at least once on the beneath of a old stove and nothing else, and then scented with roses.. Too bad I couldn't smell it much though, my nostrils flaring up and once again being overcome with the disgust of illness.

-I walk into the bathroom, reaching for the toilet paper to the side of the toilet and I wrap it around my hand. I remove it from around my palm and then I blow into it deep, attempting to remove everything in me, but by the time I finished blowing my nose as hard as I could, my nose was nearly raw and the backs of my sinuses were so swollen that regardless of being empty, I still couldn't breathe through them. I tossed it in the trash, and I looked myself in the mirror.. I was a mess.

-I reached my hands forward, finally getting a look at the dried blood on my knuckles, and I grimaced. I couldn't remember what came of my hands; was it me fighting for my life or was it me trying to bust down the door of the room they put me in? Either way, finally acknowledging it made my hands sting.

-I twist the faucet's handles and the water pours out like a tsunami, catching me almost off guard. I wash my hands, deep cleaning the dirt out from under my nails and off of my finger tips. Once my hands are beginning to rash up due to the heat of the water and my intense scrubbing, I bring the water to my face. I rub my cheeks in, the dirt mudding up the clear water and turning it into a light brown as it seeps into the pipes. Eventually, I'm clean, or as clean as I can be. I could try to take a shower later, after I am done taking care of.. Brahms.

-I could feel my body begin to tense, and I felt like I was on a clock, time ticking by me so fast that I believed the arms of the mechanisms were going to hit me with the sound. So, I shake my hands above the sink and turn off the water. I make my movements quick as I leave the bedroom and walk through the hallway, recalling where his room is.

-I stepped through his door a little quicker than I intended, and I paused when I spotted the doll sitting upright facing the door. I clear my throat, walking forward slowly and spotting the folded clothes sitting beside him.

-"Alright, I'm here.." I crouch down in front of him, taking off his doll pants and hoping to get this over with as soon as possible.

-The transition from unclothed was surprisingly easy, yet when he was free of outfit I realized that his face was the only thing that was dirty, as his body was completely spotless. The feeling I got was eerie, staring at his cracked face and dissatisfied eyes. I bit the inside of my cheek.

-"How about we clean you up a little bit before I get you in those clean clothes? You look like you need a wash." I say, picking him up and carrying him to the bathroom. The walls shivered as I waltzed in, and I could feel a pair of eyes staring daggers into my body as I set the doll on the sink's counter. "Don't worry, I'm not soaking you in the bath or anything.. You're a doll. You'll get moldy."

-I get a small clump of toilet paper and I soak it up in my hands, using the faucet water. It wrapped around my fingers in an instant, and I clumped it up in a tight fist, droplets seeping through my fingers. I cup the face of the doll, and I can feel a sense of inquisitive curiosity coming from it. I can't tell if I was putting emotions into the doll myself or if I was just reading the vibe right.. Either way, I was wiping the specks off the side of his face. I press my lips together tightly before I have to gasp for air again, being unable to breathe.

-"Sorry for breathing on your face buddy. I've caught a cold." I speak out, mainly to mute the complete quiet as it was bringing my nerves tension. "It was all that walking outside that I did before I got here.. The cold in here. Probably the dust. My face hurts real bad. You know what it's like to have a cold at all?... I reckon you don't. Lucky you."

-I pause in the silence as I focus on the indent on his forehead, cleaning out the crevices of it. I lean my head back to get a full picture of his face and I can already tell where I made progress. It stood out like a sore thumb.. Speaking of thumbs, I press my thumbs against his face, both sides of his nose.

-"My face hurts right in those spots." I explain, then I cup the top of his head with both of my hands. "I've got a headache too.. It feels like a bunch of pressure, in my face, the headache is on the inside." I go back to cleaning his face, wiping off the corner of his mouth. "We oughta dust the house later? Maybe keep me from getting any sicker.. Probably keep you from getting sick too, huh?"

-My laugh feels awkward and fake, especially as my smile drops so quickly and I go silent.. How is it that I feel so alone now? It feels like I'm being chased constantly, and I'm never alone, my paranoia riding up my spine and causing my hair to stand to point. But now that I've had time to calm down, to sit back and really think things through, I've never been more alone in my life..

-"Y'know, I've done dumb things before." I speak back up again, venting my issues to.. Whatever this thing is. "Recently I've done something so dumb, though. So dumb that I can't fix what I did.. My family doesn't like me anymore, wants nothing to do with me, and I've got bad people who want me six feet under.. I dream about them, all the time. I dream about my parents, the people I used to live with, people who used to be my friends.. To be completely honest, what I did was an accident. But accidents can make really bad things happen. I could say that this is a good lesson in my life, pretend that this is just going to teach me to think before I act. There are consequences to your actions, y'know. Bad things can happen when you do bad things."

-Little did I know, the doll knew all too well about that. But there wasn't a response, just me. Talking.

-"I feel like I'm losing my mind." I stop cleaning and I drop my head into the lap of the unclad toy, the weight in my skull rolling around my cranium and falling with the gravity. My head was so heavy. "I don't know what to do Brahms.. I don't."

-I stood like that for a minute at least, the silence overcoming the room. The only noise that occured was the dripping of the faucet.. Eventually I move, lifting my head and wiping off the rest of his face. I pick him up quietly and take him back to the bed, and sit him down.

-"Alright, time to get you dressed."

-Breakfast was quiet, with the occasion of me talking to the doll. There are points where I don't even know why I even talk to him, knowing that I won't be getting a response. Parts of me were thinking I wasn't actually talking to anyone, that some sick douchebag was toying with me and leaving me this scary doll. Playing with me. Maybe I was in a trap, being held in place with the false sense of security; that being warm clothes, food, running water, and a roof above my head.

-"I think I ought to leave after my cold passes." I say, my voice muted a little and slightly deeper than usual. "I can't be getting caught.. I need to leave and go far away, y'know?" I pause. "I'm sorry, you're probably just a kid. Probably. Shouldn't really be talking about these things with you." I pop a fork in my mouth, my taste buds engulfing the delectable food that I made for breakfast this morning.

-I didn't say anything else, just cleaning off the plate of mine and opening the freezer to put Brahms meal in.. I froze when I saw that the meal previously was missing. But I didn't say anything, as a matter of fact I don't know if I cared enough. I just set the plate down in the freezer before I turned around and faced Brahms the doll. I pick him up off of the chair and carry him out of the room.

-It didn't take me long until I sat him down in front of the piano, on the bench, before I paused at the sight of piano notes. It was simple, hot cross buns being the song we learn today.

-"They teach this song in elementary school." I say, and I picked up the folded paper beside the sheet music. It was instructions, teaching me how to play the piano like I didn't have any idea how. "Alright, then we're learning hot cross buns."

-It's only now that I realize that I need to teach a doll how to play the piano. I press my teeth together, attempting to piece together the ideas on how. I pick up the doll and set him in my lap, putting his small hands on the keyboard. I point out the notes and I explain them to the best of my ability, spreading my fingers out and pointing out how I did it. The doll couldn't spread his fingers. I feel so stupid right now.

-"Hot cross buns," I sang in a whisper, "hot cross buns, E - D - C, E - D - C." I sing the notes as I press them, the keys being labeled by letter. "C, C, C, C... One a pen-ny, D, D, D, D, two a pen-ny.. Hot cross buns. All together now."

-I hum the song as I press each key; E, D, C; E, D, C. Then I continue with the bridge, between each chorus, and after I try the whole song twice, I stop. I take the hands of the doll and I stick my fingers into his hands, his meticulously designed hands almost curling around them.

-"Alright, your turn Brahms. You know the keys.. E, D, C." I have his hand in mine as I press the keys, feeling stupider by the second. "E, D... C..." I stop when I hear another piano off in the distance. I look around the music room, and it sounded as if it were in the walls.

-Hot cross buns, hot cross buns, one a pen-ny, two a pen-ny, hot cross buns, hot cross buns.

-I swallow heavy when the last key ended deep, and I look away, back forward at the piano. I don't have the guts to say anything--

-"Did I do good?"

-The faint voice of a young boy in the distance sounded out, it sounded far and close at the same time. I stopped breathing, my heart pounding so hard in my chest that it made my headache's pounds feel like a joke. I took a sharp inhale through my nose as my adrenaline rush freed me. There's a faint knock and I finally manage to speak.

-"Y-Yes Brahms, you did a great job.. C-Can you do it one more time?"

-Silence overcame the room, before the song played again. It was surrounding me, engulfing my mind and I could've sworn my vision was starting to go black. I really have lost my mind, haven't I? I can't even begin to think about how to run from this.

-The song ended, and I let out a shaky sigh. "Good, good job Brahms.. Wonderful." My fingers were shaking as I raise them up to the sheet music and I flip to the next page. "Let's try happy birthday, alright? Uh.." my fingers dragged along the keys the crevices being missed every time as my hands shiver above them, and I press each key as instructed, and I tell Brahms what they are out loud.

-He follows suit after I finish the song, playing it quicker than I. It feels like he knows this better than I do.. I can't be too sure if he's teaching me how to play piano, or if I'm teaching him. Regardless, this doesn't last long. Only playing the next few songs before I decide to move on.

-"I-I think we're good with piano music for today Brahms.. Let's go study in the library. It's close by, isn't it? Let's go."

-I carry him, an extra amount of care in my arms as I hug him tightly. My footsteps were too loud for me, my ears ringing in my head as I carry him. The library was furnished with nothing but bookshelves and a dusty couch, anything else that was in here seems to have been moved, and I can tell that much by the way the floors were scratched. I set him down and I look at the bookshelf, looking for something. Then the shelf shakes, and I can't stop myself from shrieking. A singular book falls out and lands on the ground, and I look down at it.

-That one. We're studying that book. Okay.

-"You're eight." I mutter to myself, sitting him down against the desk as I was picking up papers that were thrown across the ground yesterday.

-There were images of a young boy and a girl, a couple of notes from Mr.Heelshire and Mrs.Heelshire, but none of them posed as anything important. They looked to be birthday cards to young Brahms Heelshire, regarding his sixth and seventh birthday. They claimed him to be bad, and because of his behavior, he didn't get to have the things he wanted. Other notes were Brahms' letters to Santa Claus asking for off-putting things like a lighter, knives, taxidermied squirrels; or to be explicit, the items in which to taxidermy.

-"You were quite the oddball, huh?... Unique, I'd say." Serial killer in the making, but I'm not going to say that out loud. "A bit troubled, right?.. But it's not like most kids are devilish anyways. When I was in school, your age, I met another kid who was so into bugs, he'd kill hamsters to see maggots. He got help and now he's really successful. Works in a morgue, but he has a wife and kids and.. He was a great guy." I clear my throat, and I set the letter down.

-I take the toilet paper I brought in with me and I use it to blow my nose. It was a little too messy for my liking, making me groan in disgust and nearly in pain, but I clean up and toss it in the rubbish bin. I go back to sifting through the documents, and then I find newspaper articles.

-"We regret to announce Young Brahms Heelshire and Emily Cribbs were found dead earlier this evening. We could not locate the remains of Brahms Heelshire, yet we had found Emily Cribbs in ashes near the Heelshire residence. It is assumed that Emily had passed before the fire, suffering multiple head wounds. The investigation regarding these deaths will be carried on and more information will come up. Condolences to the Cribbs and Heelshire family for--

-I stopped reading after I checked the date, twenty years ago. Would it be wrong of me to assume the best rather than the worst? I don't want to outright believe I'm with a murderous ghost right now, and maybe it's stupid of me, but I'd like to believe that whatever happened to Emily was an accident and Brahms got caught up in the fire while trying to get help for it. It doesn't seem right, too many plot holes in my theory, but I don't want to think about it.

-"Twenty years ago, huh?.. This place looks abandoned, too. I can't imagine how long you've been alone in this place." I turned to look at the doll, Brahms staring forward. Head empty. "Someone must still live here though, to be apparently getting groceries still and working power and water. It wouldn't make any sense otherwise."

-At this point I'm taking to myself, but I'm finally starting to put this together. The doll isn't actually possessed, just the person who lives here is fucking with me royally. But who would I be to not play along with this game? Especially at a time like this. Where else am I going to go?? If I go out now, my cold is going to get worse..

-"Alright, uh.. Let's establish some things.. My name is (Y/N) (L/N)." I introduce myself finally, as I get on my knees in front of the doll. "If you make another mess like this, I'm not cleaning it up, you will be. If you're going to act like a child you will be treated like one.. But I'm certain you're a grown boy, and you can put your big boy pants on.. Uh.. Another thing, I don't like being scared.. I know sometimes you can't help it, but if you can, you can be nicer and.. Not do the whole, possession and throwing things, thing. I'll be nice to you as long as you're nice to me, right? Treat others how you'd like to be treated."

-I shuffle the papers into a neat stack and set them in the drawer before I reach over, picking up the doll. I stand up slowly, and abruptly my vision fades to black a little, and I stumble into the desk, my hip smacking into the wood of it and rumbling everything it holds. I put my hand onto the table and I take a deep breath, finally recognizing how weak this illness is making me.

-"Sorry." I mutter, adjusting my footing. "This cold is getting to the best of me.. Anyways, it's about time for lunch, isn't it?"