All Dolled Up (Closed for Mephistophelily)

"…Hoodooism, anythin' da' chew do is de plan of God, undastan'?
God have somepin to do wit evah'thin' you do.
If it's good or bad, He got somepin to do wit it . . . Jis what's fo' you, you'll git it."​

--Harry M. Hyatt’s “Hoodoo,” Vol. 2, page 1761.​

The full moon was a blind eye staring down as Chris lay on the rooftop of their three-floor brownstone, the wind ruffling his jacket, his dark brown hair, and the small slip of paper he bit between his teeth. “What a bother,” he muttered.

The bit of paper was last semester’s grade slip where Chris found he’d gotten an Asian B in Math. Just great, he thought. GPA skewed. It wasn’t a problem that his grade was too low –in fact, the problem was that it was too high. As a challenge to himself, Chris had decided to have straight C’s through every year of college. Now that’s the real challenge, he told himself. Toeing the line between pass and fail, the razorline of never too high and never too low.

Miss Marks had caught him in his game, realizing a brilliant mind hid behind the lazy, devil-may-care attitude, and created a pass-or-fail final exam that led to this fiasco. His mom (who lived now all the way in Rio-by-the-sea-o with her new husband) routinely monitored his grades, and would no doubt discover he’d been holding out on her and expect a better grade from now on. Over the break, he’d agonized over sending the grade slip to his mom as is, or doing a bit of photo editing before emailing her the scan. The woman’d even gotten Jenna (who rented the apartment next to his and was his classmate to boot) to pester him into sending them as well.

Perfect little Jenna Lee. Chris groaned inwardly in disdain. Always got good grades. Always had everybody’s eyes fixed on her pretty face and her flawless curves. She probably took care of him back then, when he got a really bad case of food poisoning, just to rub the fact of her perfection to his face. I’m Jenna, and I love eeeeverybody!

Christ.

Well, you’re not that perfect, Chris thought. Their bedrooms seemed to have a shared wall, and through that, more than enough times, he’d heard the muffled “Oh-oh-ohs” of sexual release. Virginal little Jen with her dirty little thoughts. Even in a rut, the mental image of Jenna in the throes of cumming struck a chord in him, and Chris found his cock stirring.

His thoughts, however, were interrupted with a loud cawing and the repeated thunderclap of flapping wings.

“Shit!” Chris said, the grade slip blowing away from his mouth as he bolted up. A large black bird –crow? raven?– dove at him from God knows where. He raised his arms up defensively over his face, bracing against the impact, and found himself relieved and surprised at the light thump that hit his arms.

“Eh?” Chris muttered in confusion as he picked up the small toy the bird had tossed at him. He held it up against the moonlight –it was a wooden doll, fitting comfortably in his hand. Despite the doll being undetailed, Chris was surprised to find it had realistically articulate joints. Must be one of those poseable artist’s dolls, he thought. He noticed that one side of the doll was carved with some weird writing.


Realizing what had happened, Chris, let out another expletive. The damned bird had made him lose his paper. He knew his mom wouldn’t rest without seeing it. She’d probably call up the dean and ask for a copy directly –a copy Chris wouldn’t be able to tinker with.

A flicker of white in the night black caught his eyes, the piece of paper flitting over the rooftop wall to the fire exit he and Jen shared. He chased at it, and as he grabbed the emergency ladder and slid down, the doll fell free from his grip and hit the fire exit’s metal floor with an oddly loud thump. Managing to grab his grade slip, Chris noticed the doll lying in front of Jen’s open window.

Reaching out, Chris felt a jolt (Of surprise, he decided. Although surprise oddly felt like a few volts of electricity, it seemed.) as another set of fingers brushed against his even as his fingers brushed against the wooden doll.

Grades had come out earlier that day. Jenna sat on her bed, legs curled up under her, staring at the papers strewn around her with a frown as she sipped some tea. There was a frown on those lips as they pressed to the cup's rim, the free hand reaching out to pick up one of the papers. Her last essay. It was this thing's fault. If she had just done a bit more research, spent a little more time... It could have been an A. B+ was just... disappointing.

She glanced up toward her ceiling as she heard the thumpings above, sighing again and rolling her eyes. He was on the roof again, wasn't he? What was that boy's fascination about up there? She was terrified of heights; the mere fact her cat had run out onto the fire escape weeks ago had her in a panic. To chase the thing? Eek. Thankfully she coaxed him back in before he headed up any further.

Try explaining a feline face peering into his room to Chris.
Or HER face peering in, for that matter.

More noise. What on earth was he doing? Tossing the papers aside, she set her cup on her nightstand, going to her window in annoyance. Throwing it open, she started to lean out onto the escape, hands planted firmly on the frame in an effort to see exactly what her neighbor was up to.

Instead, something flew down and nearly hit her. Was he throwing things at her?!
She frowned, starting to pull back into her room, then reconsidered. Maybe taking his weapon as some proof for the morning- Yes.

She reached out again, trying to find the object on the step.
Instead, she found a hand.

Jenna quickly looked up, finding Chris on the lower rungs of his own half of the escape, plucking the item from her stoop. She gave him a quizzical look, then spied the item in question. "Are... you throwing dolls- excuse me, action figures- at me? Aren't you a bit old to be doing things like that?" She still managed to smirk with it, shaking her head.

Wait, that in his other hand-
"I see. Throw your grades off the roof, mom can't find out about them. Nice try." She leaned out a bit more, a frightened grimace as she saw the ground through the grates. "Nnn.... Y-You know she'd get them anyway...." She backed into the room a bit more, not liking that view at all. "Why not just be honest about it? From what I saw in the classes we share... You've been doing incredible. Why toss it?"

"Right," Chris sneered. "Like you care. How much does my mom pay you to keep tabs on me?"

He would have said something else, but Chris found himself staring at the curves of Jenna's body that were hardly hidden by the clothes she had on now. Even in the less-than-ideal moonlight, he could clearly make out her hardened nipples, and there was the briefest imagined idea of him sucking softly at them as she moaned. His cock twitched, half-erect now, in his jeans. He hissed a "Shit" at his lack of control, and turned his body away from Jenna, hoping she didn't notice, pretending he was about to walk off.

"And for your information, princess," he accented the word in mockery. He dangled the doll by an arm in front of her. "This isn't an action figure. It's an artist's manikin. What, they don't have artists in your perfect world? Oh, right...." Chris said in mock contemplation. "It isn't perfect anymore, is it?"

Pocketing the doll and his grades, Chris sneered at her, "Heard you got a B, princess." Jenna looked like she'd been slapped across the face. Instantly feeling guilty, Chris turned his face away from Jenna's. "It's just a grade, Jen. Don't let it define you. I'll let you see my grades when I want to, okay?"

As he walked back to his room, Chris muttered a half-audible. "See you in class tomorrow."

He knew Jenna wouldn't believe it, but he actually looked forward to seeing her in every day.

***** *** *****

"Midnight is the Hoodoo Hour, when the gates come crashing down between Good Magic and Bad Magic.
In that hour's span, everything is possible. To the willing and the ready the very fabric of reality itself is mutable...

...It has always been of great argument as to whether one should or should not allow their subconscious to run unchecked within this potent time.
One truth can be definitely said, though: Unconscious Will and Untempered Eagerness often twist Reality in the most interesting of ways."​

-O. Durai's "Extended Treatise on Conjure and Hoodoo,"
page 1116, 1899 Edition​

Jenna hovered over Chris's bed, her naked body glowing with an inner light as she slowly lowered down onto him. Her fine red hair streamed around her head, a halo of fire.

When she was close enough, Jenna extended a glowing fingertip to Chris's lips. In a voice of a thousand bells chiming, she said, "Let me clean you... Let me burn your hate away..." Chris growled in agony --it burned like hell. But after the pain ended Chris felt himself grow lighter --unbearably so. He felt like his soul would float away, never to return.

"Let me love you..." Jenna said. Her body lay heavily on Chris, preventing him from drifting off to endlessness. Her lips touched his in a passionate kiss he couldn't help but return, his tongue pushing inside her mouth, against hers. Then she broke off the kiss, and her tongue traced a path of fire down his neck, his chest, his belly, his... Jenna's mouth devoured his cock eagerly, sucking, biting. She took him all the way into her throat, her tongue flicking against the underside of his hardness and he wasohhewascumminginhermouthhewasdyingcummingcummingcummingohjennajennajennaoh...

Chris came conscious to the fact that he had screamed... something. As the grogginess went away he became acutely conscious of a spreading wetness on his thighs, the smell of bleach, and a raging erection that had not lost potence with his orgasm. Christ. Twenty-two and still having wet dreams.

He'd barely slipped into a change of boxers when he heard an insistent knocking on his door. In a funk, Chris glanced at his bedside clock where the device silently answered the first question in his mind.

"Who the hell goes around knocking on people's doors at midnight?" would have been the second, but it was rudely displaced by "What. The. Fuck?"

Before he slept, Chris clearly remembered placing the wooden doll beside the clock. But it was, of a sort, not there anymore.

What was there was a small unmoving figure who looked eerily familiar, from the physical features, to the hair, to the clothes he'd seen that very same night.

Jenna.

Incredulous, Chris gingerly picked up the thing expecting it to jump at him or something, some indication that it was no normal toy. It lay immobile in the palm of his hand. Fucking. Weird.

The knocking was heavier now, more insistent, and Chris said, "Yeah, yeah," as he wrapped a towel around his waist and walked over to the door. Not really thinking about it, Chris swung the door wide open to find...

Jenna. The real one, this time.

His words lingered after he stormed back to his own apartment, Jenna still shocked and hurt by the angered snap of Chris. Ok, yes... His mom HAD talked with her before. The woman's insisting tone about her son almost had her giggling, but she stifled it down and nodded along. It was one of her first encounters with him... And somehow, she ended up as his mom's "cohort", deemed by both Chris and his mother. One seemed happy with this. The other, not so much.

It was getting late. Chris' furious snarls would be something for tomorrow. Right now, she just wanted sleep... To get over the stress of the day. Still, one thing he said stayed with her... Don't let her grades define her. Maybe he was right.

Sure. Tell that to Dad.

With a heavy sigh, Jenna crawled into her bed, reaching out to turn off the little light. She attempted to sleep, but her mind just wouldn't let her. Something about the way Chris had looked at her-

Oh god. The window. The thin cami shirt.
"That damn pervert-!" She tossed over in her bed, wrapping the sheet even tighter to hide herself from the unseen eyes she suddenly feared.


Her dreams...
Broken, confusing images.
Chris.
An unknown face... No, a blank, figureless form.
Someone calling... Calling for her. Begging, howling...

It dragged her from her bed. Beckoned her, though she didn't control it. Was she sleepwalking? Can you sleepwalk while awake? That was just- walking, wasn't it?

"Hey... Bed..." She was grumbling to herself, growling at her own feet.

Still walking. What type of dream was this?

Another image. Two people; a man, a woman... His hands entangled in her hair, her head buried in his lap...
Was- was that... Her?

Her hand raised, knocking on the door before her.
Door?
When had she left her room?
"Please be Carol's place, please be Carol....," she prayed, unsure what was going on anymore.

Heavier hits, her head reeling from the confusing cloud in her mind. She was scared now. Not a dream. What was this?!

Chris.
Oh god.

She stared at him, her mind totally overwhelmed by an unending confusion. Her lips parted, but no sound. Another try. Just a little lost whimper.

Her body, however...

After the lapse of control, it moved on its own- her hand reaching out, a finger on his lips. She stared at it, horrified... Only to have her entire body lurch forward, the hand falling to his shoulder as she kissed him, her lips pressed tight to his, parting to pass her tongue along his skin.

What. The. HELL?!

Time seemed to stretch in the moment Chris returned Jenna's kiss eagerly. Jenna's lips and her invading tongue, was turning him on like crazy, and he pressed his body against hers. Chris' hard-on brushing against Jenna's crotch. However, he came to his senses and pulled away...

Chris grabbed Jenna by the wrist, pulled her into the room, and kicked the door shut. He sat her on the bed, ran off for a second to turn on the lights, then went back to look Jenna over. "What the heck is wrong with you? Are you drunk?" he growled, genuinely concerned. Her eyes were glassy, like she was hypnotized. He checked her wrists, the soft skin inside her elbows. He pried open her mouth --she tried to suck at his fingers sexually, and he had to fight that off-- checked under her tongue, trying to find something, some fucking thing, to explain what she'd just done. "Did you do drugs? Is this about that fucking B!?!"

He sighed in exasperation. Kneeling down in front of Jenna, Chris ran his hand along her hair to guide her face to his. "Well? Talk for fuck's sake! Tell me what's going on in that fucking smart brain of yours!"

That seemed to do the trick. Her eyes suddenly seemed to focus, and suddenly conscious, Jenna said, "Chris? What..? What are you doing to me?"

"Me?!?" Chris said, standing up indignantly. He tossed the Jenna doll onto the bed, not noticing how the tension left Jenna's body as soon as the doll left his hand. "You're the one who comes knocking to my door in the middle of the night and fucking kissing me..."

Chris sighed again, bit his lip. "Jenna... You're stressed, maybe. Don't... Don't worry about my mom. I'll take care of that shit." He took Jenna's hand and led her to her room's door. She was sobbing now, and Chris, feeling guilty, avoided looking at her. "Just try to rest, okay. We've got class tomorrow."

He went back to his room and sat on his bed, leaning against the wall he shared with Jenna. He listened, satisfied at the muffled click of her door locking.

Casting his eyes about the gloom of his own room, Chris noticed the Jenna doll again and thought about his weird dream and what just happened. He picked up the doll. It was slightly warm to his touch, almost as if it was a real human body. Chris found the doll's crotch slightly wet and sticky. He sniffed. Cinnamon? Tentatively he stuck out his tongue. It tasted like... a girl's pussy.

Chris carefully pulled down the doll's boyshorts and was surprised to find the doll anatomically correct. He pushed his little finger in between the doll's legs and began to stroke it. The thing was getting even wetter, and Chris could swear the doll's face now had a sex blush.

The realization hit. He had done something to her. Somehow, the wooden doll he picked earlier that night had been imprinted with Jenna's soul, or whatever...

He had complete control over her now.

Scared at the implications, Chris took the doll to his desk. He contemplated locking it in his drawer, but reconsidered after imagining Jenna suffocating mysteriously in his room, so he just placed it where he'd put it before, beside his clock.

Chris drifted into a fitful sleep, alarmed at the fact that his heart raced at the thought of practically owning Jenna. What scared him even more was that that very idea was making his cock rock hard.

He was yelling at her! She had no idea what was going on either, and was becoming even more confused, frightened, worried as he grabbed at her. Jenna knew something was up with her, but she couldn't tell what or why or-

Don't put your fingers there- WHY AM I SUCKING ON THEM?!

It wasn't until he yelled at her to talk that she finally blurted out words, the heavy weight inside of her lifting up seconds later. He was still going, Jenna unable to keep back and suddenly starting to cry. She didn't understand it either. Some type of bad walking nightmare, that's what it was. People did that, didn't they? Sleepwalk, do the weirdest things- but... but did it work like this?

"I'm so sorry, I really am. I don't know what came over me... Please, forgive me Chris. I swear... I- Maybe it was the grades, I don't know..." She was rambling now, trying to keep more tears from falling as she shook her head, his hand on her arm guiding her to his door. "Rest... Y-yeah..."

What if he said something about this to her friends? To his friends? Jenna came pounding on my door, she totally wanted me- I had to fight her off- she's some type of sexual freak. The grade would be the least of her worries then. The thought of it made her start crying even harder.

Making her way back to her own room, she quickly opened the door and let herself in, locking it behind her. Afraid of the whole sleepwalking thing, she decided to slide one of her chairs in front of it... Just in case.

As she returned to bed, a strange shiver passed over her, one that stiffened her and caused her to quickly shove a hand against the wall. What was that about? "Knock... it off..."

It felt like someone touching her, caressing her. Exploring against her thighs, against her sex- What the hell was going on?! She whimpered softly, trying to keep her legs together, trying to regain her composure. This had to be because of what had just happened. Her mind playing tricks on her and-

"Hnaaahhhh...."
Her hand slipped straight off the wall, sending her crashing against it.
That was more than an implied touch. It felt... it felt like....

"Gahhh!" A hand; stronger than her own, caressing at her mound, rubbing against her, making it nearly impossible to pull away from that wall. She moaned again, biting her lip and starting to cry once more.

"Holy... shit..." She reached up, rubbing her cheek with her palm to wipe away the tears, the other clutching to her abdomen. This was insane. Was this her body's way of saying she needed sex? To attack CHRIS like that? Make her think someone was fondling her?!

Sleep. Just go to sleep. Try to sleep.
She lay in bed, simply staring at the ceiling, for an hour before she finally fell asleep.




Jenna's alarm went off at 6.
She snoozed it.
It went off at 6:15. Snoozed then, too.
6:30.
Damn it.

She couldn't face him.
Not after last night. Not after... that. Slowly, she drifted out of the sheets, forcing herself into the shower.

Chris came out of a dreamless sleep at the shrill cry of his alarm clock. Jesus Christ. That was the weirdest fucking dream, was his immediate thought.

He turned away from the wall to shut off the alarm and paused mid-action in shock.

The doll.

Jenna.

It was all true.

Suddenly awake, Chris sat up on his bed and stared at the Jenna-doll. It was naked, moist --as if sweating, and the doll's red hair was plastered wetly along its back. Through the dividing wall, he could hear, faintly, the sound of running water. A shower. Jenna was showering.

Chris screwed his eyes shut, his fists tightening, fighting an urge.

He lost.

Just this one time, he thought. One last time, then I'll figure out how to stop whatever this demented shit is.

Hungrily, guiltily, his heart hammering in his chest, Chris picked the doll up by its wrists, held it up against the wall. He kissed the doll's belly softly before flicking the tip of his tongue along the pencil-thin neck, against the two pert breasts he suckled hard for a few moments. God, they were so soft... His cock went to full hardness.

Chris's mouth left the miniature mounds of doll-Jenna's breasts and he let his wet tongue flick against the doll's pussy again, hungry for that cinnamon taste he had first gotten last night. It wasn't as wet now as last night, but after a few minutes of his tonguetip working against the doll's pussy lips, the doll was soaking again.

With his other hand, Chris pushed his middle finger up between doll-Jenna's legs, gently resting its weight against her (It was her --Jenna. He could no longer think of it otherwise.) afraid of using too much weight and accidentally crushing the real girl.

There wasn't any penetration this way, of course, but he could still rub against doll-Jenna's pussy and clit. Besides, even if he figured out something that could penetrate her, rumors were that Jenna was a virgin, at least, physically, and he didn't want to take that away from her.

Chris began to thrust his finger up and down, in long strokes that made his finger brush all the way along her belly, her breasts, to her face. Jenna, Chris thought, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. His finger began to grow slick with doll-Jenna's juices and Chris began to lick at the doll's wet flesh while his finger spread it. After a few more minutes of thrusting, the doll gushed. Jenna had cum.

With a ragged breath, Chris took doll-Jenna to a corner of his desk, away from the sun, and laid it gently on a small cloth towel he put there. Stepping into his bathroom, he took his throbbing erection in the hand soaked with doll-Jenna's cum and jerked himself and came hard.

He turned on the shower and stood there, unmoving.

Rape. He'd raped her.

Shower done, Chris dressed in a morose mood, trying to avoid looking at the doll-Jenna at the corner. But he finally snuck a glance, saw the doll was dressed. He didn't hear her door open. She must still be at home.

Leaving his room, Chris walked over to Jenna's door and knocked. He felt like he was going crazy, guilt tearing him up inside. "Jen, it's Chris," he'd managed without having his voice crack. "If you want... we could... you know... go to school together."

She opened the door, her eyes puffy with an obvious bout of tears, a fake smile on her face.

Wash it away. Try to forgot... What she had done- she still didn't understand. "What the hell is wrong with me?," Jenna whimpered into the water's stream, washing her arms slowly. She had horrified Chris, horrified herself.... She just didn't understand it at all.

"I'm going crazy. I have to be."
Talking to herself in the shower certainly wasn't losing her any crazy points.
"...Virgin madness."

Some guys back in high school had joked about it. "Gotta lose it by the time you're twenty, Jen. No, really. You, like... go crazy. No matter how much you do, try to take care of it yourself... But it'll never be enough. You just get worse and worse and then one day... One day, you'll like... you're trapping the Pizza Guy in your apartment and you fuck him til... til he DIES."

A bit exaggerated from a couple of drunken football players, but enough to leave an imprint.

Virgin madness.

"So stupi-"
Her words were cut short by the sudden strong unseen grip of-someone... on her wrists, slamming her back against the wall of the shower, pinning her so that her toes danced to touch the floor. Panic and fear quickly set in, unsure of what was going on. They grew still as a warm rough wetness flowed over her skin, different from the water, tracing against her neck, down her collarbone and trailing still to her breasts. The sudden sucking against her nipples caused her back to arch, her hands still high above her head as the pinning pressure held them, leaving her to the mercy of this unseen attacker.

Jenna moaned, shaking her head. She was crazy, wasn't she? There was.. no way...

Oh god. Oh god oh goddd-
Her thighs trembled as the same feeling as last night returned; the brief, passing trace of someone's tongue against her... but this didn't stop as quickly. The warm trace against her flesh, drawing her moans to a higher, more earnest groan that echoed in the tiny shower.

Stroking. There was no mistaking it, someone stroking at her mound, her body shuddering against the wall as she tried to pull away. What was going on here?! What the hell was this?!

Her body didn't care. Amazing. More, god, more-

NO!! Stop it!!

She was crying now, confusion and arousal conflicting inside her. Her pussy throbbed, aching for more as the feel of... someone against her, caressing her, pressing their form against her...

"Please, stop... Whatever this is, just- just stop...," she begged to the empty bathroom, screaming out as her request was ignored, instead complying with her body's want, her legs spreading and the feel of the earnest tongue once more.

"Oh... G-God... Gnn... S-stop... Please, sssOHMIGOD!"
Her body gave in, the warm of her own fluids creeping down her legs, the now-cooling water mixing with it. The pressure holding her suddenly released, Jenna simply sliding down the wall and collapsing in a less than perfect pile. She hugged her knees, sobbing softly under the cold water.

What had just happened?


Too cold to stay in here. Finish, get out.
It's all your head. You sick thing. What the hell is wrong with you? Don't say a word to Chris. He'll think you some disgusting pervert... Get up! GET UP!

Forcing herself to stand, she turned off the water, wrapping herself in a towel and going back to her bedroom. A pair of jeans, a black bra with little pink hearts, a little pink thong and a black tee. No time for breakfast. She'd wasted too much time.

Wasted?
She started to cry again. It just didn't make sense.. What had happened in there?!

Her head shot up as she heard Chris' voice, calling to her from outside her door. Hesitantly, she made her way to it, cracking it open slightly to look at him.

She didn't say anything. Just stared at him through the opening, then closed it for a moment to undo the chain. As she reopened it, she just nodded, pulling her bag over her arm before wiping at her eyes. "Y-yeah. Let's... let's go."

Chris spent the travel to school in guilty silence. He avoided at looking at Jenna's face for a while, afraid of giving away his guilt. For the rest of the day, though, he hung around her as much as possible, making small talk, opening doors for her. Perhaps the only thing that kept him from being the perfect gentleman was the occasional muttered expletive.

Lunchtime came --he actually sprung for the tab. Jenna seemed to notice his uncharacteristic niceness and called him out on it, laughing. She smiled, finally, and it was a bit weak, but it was the first one of the day. After lunch, Jenna paused a bit at the bulletin board, and Chris noticed her picking up a flyer calling for part-time employment.

All day Chris was like this, and once, he'd heard one of Jenna's friends ask: "You're not going out with him, are you?" Suddenly conscious, Chris moved away before he got to hear the answer.

They went back home together as well. As they walked the final few meters, Chris had blurted out defensively, "I'm just trying to make sure you're okay. You got me worried, you know." Back at their floor before they went to their separate rooms, Chris, now utterly self-conscious, muttered, "I'll take care of dinner, okay. You just... relax."

She started to relax, slowly, as the day went on. The strangely uncharacteristic kindness shown to her by Chris confused her at first, especially with what had taken place the night prior... Was this his way of trying to get past it? She felt so ridiculous, so ashamed... so confused...

But he made her feel somewhat better, finally managing to crack a smile by midday. "You're going to do something mean to me tonight, aren't you?," She asked softly, smiling at him from around her soda can. He didn't say anything, just a quick glance and then back at his own food. "Hm. Don't think I'm not on to you, mister...."

She had hoped he hadn't noticed the paper she snagged from the wall as they passed. She had been eyeing it the last few days; some help needed downtown, someone who could help out after classes. Jenna had been using the remains of her dad's "allowance" to make it through lately- Which left her grocery shopping rather bland by the end of the month. Just a few hundred bucks a week would help out...

He was looking at her. Did he see her grab it? Oh, great. Now he'd find some reason to make fun of her. Think she was broke, or start in on her about losing her dad's help, or-

Or not say anything. Just a look like she was holding him up... but nothing about the paper. Maybe he didn't see it...

It was one of their last classes that struck a chord. Not from him, but from Andrea, one of her friends. "You've been hanging out with him all day. It's really... weird." Andrea was never good at whispering, even if she thought she was. "You're not going out with him, are you?"

Jenna didn't even turn around from her seat. "I had a rough night last night, okay? He.. helped me out." At least she knew how to keep a quieter tone...

Her with Chris.
What a ridiculous idea.
He wasn't even her type. Curt and angry all the time. Treated her like she was below him. Yelled at her, sneered at her...
And looked at her like...
Like...
Like he's in love with me.

Ridiculous.


But the time he insisted on spending with her that day was not only confusing. It had her seeing him in a slightly different light. He wasn't a complete jerk, it seemed. That surprised her. He actually seemed to... care.

"I'm just trying to make sure you're okay. You got me worried, you know."


So that was it.
She had scared him with... all that.

"Oh. O-okay." She stared at the ground as they walked. She was worried too. She really didn't get what happened. Of course she had scared him. At least he wasn't out rambling away about it... He was trying to help her.

That kind of scared her too, in a way.

"I'll take care of dinner, okay. You just... relax."

"Chris, really. It's okay. You've done enough for me today. I-I should be doing something for you. After what happened..." She trailed off, her key in hand for her door, a smile given to him. "You're a good guy, Chris. You really are. You kind of- You surprised me today..." Her door opened. "I had no idea."

"Yeah, whatever," Chris smirked, suddenly pissed as his mind focused on the rejection instead of the compliment. He walked away without looking back to Jenna, slamming the door as he entered his room.

Probably thinks she's too fucking perfect for even a dinner, he continued to think, simmering. He cooked and ate his dinner in dejected silence. Why does her opinion even matter? Chris thought. His parents, his classmates... Jenna. They were all the same."Like fuck, it matters," he hissed. "I own her."

He tossed his plates in the sink and immediately went to the doll. Even staring at it now was giving him a buzz. He hesitated a bit, the last vestiges of guilt and... whatever it was he imagined (Yeah, it's all my fucking imagination.) he felt for Jenna withering in the heat of anger. He grabbed doll-Jenna together with the towel she was on, and with his other hand, took a Q-Tip and jabbed it between doll-Jenna's legs, expecting to hear her wail to pierce through the walls.

Nothing.

Did it again.

Still nothing.

A wave of curiosity and more than a twinge of relief washed away whatever anger Chris had. Was the... magic... over? But if it was, why did the doll still look like Jenna? What had changed?

I'm doing the same thing I did the other day, holding...

Realization.

He wasn't exactly holding the doll. It was on the towel, and he'd poked at it with a cotton swab. Touch then, maybe, was the key. Maybe his skin had to make contact with the doll's.

Chris considered, for a while, having another go at the Jenna doll, but now that his anger had burned away, he decided to just let her be.

She ordered out. Just a pizza, a thing of soda.
Virgin madness.

The thought came to mind as soon as she hung up. Pizza guy.
Jenna groaned, shaking her head before burying it into her hand. "So, so stupid. There's no such thing. Those guys were morons, pure and simple..."

When the food finally came, she was rather happy to see a girl as she opened the door. "Hey. It'll be $8.25."

"Um... Yeah, yeah. One sec." Jenna reached for her purse, pulling out the Ten.... The last free cash for the week. "Here. Uh... sorry."

The woman stared at the bill, then back to Jenna with a frown. "Gee. Thanks so much. Have a GREAT night."

She frowned, closing the door as the lady walked away. Maybe she should've taken Chris up on that offer...
Why? So he could get mad at her again? Find some reason to start snapping at her? "Oh, screw him," She grumbled to herself as she cracked the top of the soda. "I try to be nice to him, I get bitched out. He suddenly decides to be nice to ME, and I get bitched out. What the hell does he want from me?"

She sighed, sitting at her desk and nibbling a slice. The more she ate, the more annoyed she became. It wasn't her fault. Well, maybe earlier had been her fault- but he got mad at her for wanting to stay home. What the hell?! "What an ass," She hissed again, glaring at the shared wall.

Probably over there grumbling about her again.
Calling her names.
God, probably had some little- little drawing of her or something that he threw darts at. Some little doll he made up to burn or poke things into...

"Right." She sighed, staring at the cup in her hand. The rest of the bottle sat on the counter, the remaining pizza still in the box.

He had tried to be nice.
With his usual attitude toward her, it really was a surprising thing. Getting declined- it was probably not helping the effort he was putting into it, even though she hadn't meant to upset him...
But still. He didn't have to be a JERK about it.

Maybe third time was a charm.
She picked up the box, the soda tucked under her arm as she left her apartment. Arriving at his door, she knocked lightly, drawing a breath. "Chris? I... I come baring peace offerings...," She called, hoping he'd come to the door.

Chris was already readying himself for bed. He'd already dressed down to his boxers and was lying down, staring up at his ceilling, when Jenna's soft voice came through the door. Surprised, Chris was jolted into wakefulness, and he grabbed some sweatpants as he said. "Waitwaitwait. I'm... Not decent."

He was almost at the door when he realized something. Quickly running over, he grabbed the Jenna doll, making sure it was wrapped in the handtowel. He threw it into a drawer that he elbowed nearly closed. He cried out a "Fuck!" as he hit his shin on the way back to the door.

What the heck is wrong with me? Chris thought. I'm acting like a fucking klutz. He threw the door open, gasping at all the rushing he'd done, hopping the one foot that wasn't throbbing with pain, and trying to grin as nonchalantly as he could. God, I must look like an idiot. "Hey," he said. His words were interrupted by a few deep breaths. "Anything I could... um... help you with?"

She waited for him, a nervous little hop between feet as he called out.... Then the curses tossed out... Jenna sighed, rolling her eyes slightly. Never had to question if this was the wrong apartment, that was for sure. Sometimes she thought his vocabulary was 90% expletives...

The door finally opened, Chris peering out at her. Had he been in bed? What time was it? She hadn't even thought about that-

"Pizza." She held the box out. "For you. For... Everything earlier. Sorry I made you upset."

Getting him out of bed for a half box of pizza probably wasn't helping.

"I just... Um. Sorry. You were trying to help. I feel stupid about all that, everything that happened... Yesterday too." She frowned, finding this to go further and further south by the second. She shook her head again, looking to her feet. "Ugh. This is hard. I don't even know what I did..."

The reference was meant toward the previous evening, a grumble of words uttered to the floor. That whole thing was so confusing...
"Virgin madness, my butt." She cleared her throat, looking back at him. "Anyway. Enjoy that. Night..."

She felt like a complete idiot as she turned away.

"Uh... Yeah... Thanks," Chris said as he took the box. He shook it a bit. "I guess half a pizza is better than none," he deadpanned. Then he laughed softly. "Kidding."

Jenna tried to apologize for the things that happened, and Chris, feeling another twinge of guilt, avoided looking into her eyes. "It's nothing... You're probably just... tired or something."

She turned away to go back to her room, and Chris called "Jen, wait..." Walking up to her he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck and muttered, under his breath: "You... maybe... wanna hang out or something tomorrow? After class, I mean..."

She laughed lightly, shaking her head, and walked back to her room.

Well, what the fuck does that mean? Chris said. Tch. Women. what a bother.

His offer mulled in her head for the rest of that evening. He hadn't shot down her gift, so that was a plus. A chance to hang out together, maybe fix this whole problem between them that always seemed to creep out of nowhere. He really did seem a nice guy- when he wasn't trying to be a jerk...

She sighed, staring at herself in the mirror after brushing her teeth. He'd be waiting for her after class... Probably even meet her in the hall now, most likely. He had sainded pretty honest on the whole prospect of hanging out. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea after all. "Yeah."

A fairly quiet walk in with him, but she was used to that. he wasn't a big talker anyway, not without the proper subject matter- or her managing to find something that made him upset. She needed to stop that. Think first on if something MIGHT just cross into Chris-angering.

The afternoon went by fairly well, Jenna mentioning at lunch in as-casual-as-she-could a manner that she was up for seeing him later that night. "Sounds fun," She added, smiling at him around her water bottle.

They were sitting together again.
Kelsey's head looked ready to explode at the next table.

She cornered her in the hall afterward, nearly blocking her into the wall with that LOOK on her face. "Jenna, what the hell?"

"Hi to you too."

"No, seriously. Him. What the hell?"

"What? It's Chris. My god, you act like I'm spending time with the devil himself. What's your issue?"

"He's just... I mean, y'know. It's just. Not. Good."

Jenna stared at her blankly at first, then forced a smile, shoving past her. "Yeah. Thanks for the in depth analysis of my personal life. Maybe you're right... I should reconsider a few of my friendships...," She added, annoyed.

What did she care? It was Jenna's life. Maybe this wasn't such a bad thing after all. Since she'd started talking to him more, that whole... problem... had stopped...

Chris tried to keep the smile inside his head from creeping onto his face when Jenna accepted his offer to hang out. And she'd smiled --at him! He knew he was such a fuckup at times, but he genuinely wanted to see Jenna happy as much as possible.

Before lunch was over, Chris asked Jenna if she wouldn't mind walking home alone --he had a few errands to run. Now that class was over, he went over to the supermarket to buy dinner ingredients: chicken breasts, portobello mushrooms, Grand Marnier, white wine and oranges.

After bringing the stuff home, he knocked at Jenna's door. "C'mon," he said, joking obviously and pretending to be his normally surly self. "You can't cook me a good dinner in that crap kitchen of yours."

Chris had fun cooking up the dinner with Jenna, teaching her all the fancy tricks he'd learned on his own. He'd even flambeed the chicken for her as a final flourish.

Over dinner on his couch the two had a generally good time making small talk, each discovering the strangers who had lived for so long just on the other side of the wall. Chris never knew when he'd been this content to spend time with someone else.

It was close to midnight when the talk had dwindled down to intermittent easy silences over wine, and Chris, with a satisfied sigh, said, "Let me just put these dishes in the sink, and I'll take ya back to your room." Jenna had moved to help him, but he stopped her. "Nah, you're my guest. Just relax."

Dishes in hand, Chris moved into his kitchen, leaving Jenna alone to explore his place.

She'd taken the time alone to get a few things dealt with- a little cleaning up, a little attempt at her homework... and a quick shower. Jenna had just finished getting changed when Chris' knock came from the door, answering it with a smile... though it faded slightly with his comment. It took a moment, a mock scowl coming to her face as she rolled her eyes. "Don't be a snot," She said flatly, shoving his arm as she stepped out of her apartment. "Or you'll totally regret it..."

She'd never made anything like he was showing her. The most she could manage on her own half the time was making noodles- and even then, she tended to forget about the boiling pot. The fact he set it on fire... on purpose... She laughed at that, amazed at just how much she hadn't known about her neighbor. This amazement grew as the night went on, a few more glasses of wine, and some interesting conversations.

They were laughing.
Together.
Without fighting... Amazing.

"Let me just put these dishes in the sink, and I'll take ya back to your room."

"Mm." She sipped at the remaining wine in her glass, nodding and starting to get up, pausing as he shook his head and waved her back down.

"Nah, you're my guest. Just relax."

Jenna shrugged, curling up on the couch for a brief moment, only to glance around. His decor wasn't at all what she had figured. Typical college guy had been her expectations: Random band posters, some type of gamer pinup, random been references. All in all, it was actually... nice in here.

She peered over at one of the hangings by his desk. A painting? Had... he done that? She got up, going to peek. "Oh wow...," She breathed. No wonder he had picked on her about art. God, she could barely draw a stick figure. Taking a step back, she yelped as she collided with the desk, spilling her wine slightly onto some of the books stacked on the side of it. "Fuck-!," She hissed, glancing around in a panic. Tissues. Somewhere. In the drawer?

Peeking back to be sure he wasn't coming (rooting around in his desk- great way to end the night...), she quickly opened the top drawer, trying to find something to clean it up. A towel. Perfect! She pulled it out, blotting at the mess...
Until something fell out.

A doll?
She stared at it a moment, the red haired thing face-first against the rug. Stooping down, she plucked it back up. Jeans. Black tee. The same little single pearl necklace- It was dressed exactly like her. She had changed since classes...

"Chris... wh-what is this?"

Had he been spying on her?
Was there some type of pervert's hole in that wall they shared?! Why the hell did he have a doll he dressed like her?!

Chris felt a sharp twinge of panic at Jenna's question and rushed back into his living room, wiping his hands on his jeans. "What--?"

The Jenna doll lay in the real Jenna's hands.

Fuck. Fuckfuckfuckfuck... "Jen, I can explain this," Chris said, annoyance creeping into his tone. He rushed up to Jenna to take the doll back but she had stepped away from him, fearfully. "Don't touch that! Give it back!" A little too pushy now.

Damn it. The whole night was going so well! Why the hell did he forget to hide the fucking doll somewhere she wouldn't look? He could have hidden the damn thing in his underwear drawer or something and been safe!

He attempted, again, to come close to Jenna, but she avoided him this time as well. She was shaking now and he could see tears welling in her eyes. "Jenna, please, put the thing down. You wouldn't want anything to happen to it..."

He came in, saw her, and became angry. Loud. Yelling.

Jenna clutched the doll tightly in the towel, backing away from him. He wanted it back. Yelling at HER about it. What was this thing? Some weird fetish or something? She shook her head as he demanded it, shoving it behind her back. "It looks like ME, Chris-! Why? Why the hell do you have this?!"

He was scaring her. She pushed to the wall as he tried again, trying to fight off her frightened tears. This had all been too good. Too nice. He was after something, she should have known...

He demanded it again, but...
Was... Was he threatening her?

"Why?" She looked at him bitterly with that, clutching the wrapped figure tightly. She glared behind her, to the window between their fire escapes. Her eyes widened, moving over to it and starting to open it. "I should just THROW this sick thing! You were spying on me, dressing your little doll like me... What else, huh? I- oh, god... God, Chris..."

She was crying now, the towel resting on the window's edge as she sobbed.
"I thought.... I thought we..." She shook her head, trying to stop her tears. "I don't get it..."

"Nonono... Jen!" Chris exclaimed, panicking even more as Jenna began to open the window. His heart broke now that Jenna was right here in front of him, but at the same time he felt that familiar buzz of anger building up at his nape.

What would happen if the doll broke while it was... still Jen? Would it lift whatever spell it had on Jenna? Or what if she died instead, breaking sympathetically along with her doll-twin? He couldn't risk that!

"Jenna, calm down," through grit teeth, edging ever so slowly through her as she cried. "Calm..."

THERE!

Taking the chance, Chris rushed at Jenna again, managing to grab the doll back from the sobbing girl. Jenna managed to make a single step in an effort to run away from him, out of the room, maybe.

Dropping the towel, Chris held doll-Jenna in his hands, hissed a "Wait," and gestured with the doll. Jenna was flung into the couch, her eyes wide with realization and fear....

So confused, so unbelievably confused...
Jenna continued to cry, a scared shriek as he tore the doll from her hands. Afraid he would take his anger on her, she tried to get out. Get back to your own room, get away from him, get out, get out-!

He yelled.
She ignored.

No. No stopping. No staying.

He hissed something behind her, her legs seeming to stop cooperating with her and finding herself plowed against his couch. She was shaking now, throwing herself back around to sit upright. He just stood there, watching her as she gasped for breath in her sobs.

His hand...
That doll...

Her eyes widened, fear growing even further. "What did you... What did you do? What did you do?! What is that thing?!" She was screaming at this point, jabbing a finger at the doll. "What did you do to me?! I-"

She froze.
All those... Things...
"...you."

She shifted on the couch, trying to climb on the back of it like a terrified cornered cat. "You did all those things to me somehow... Made me go crazy, made me- oh god..." She looked at the door again, her want to run returning.

"Jenna... I..." Chris began... Her tone, accusatory, was starting to rile him up. He knew she was right, he did... things... to her. But he hadn't meant to, not at first anyway, and hadn't he been trying to fix things up? Frustration mixed with the anger at the thought.

You fuckup. You stupid little fuckup, he thought, mocking himself. He was good for nothing but ruining people's lives... Killing his dad in that accident... Raping Jenna... You can't even do a thing as simple as tell a girl... Chris screamed in frustration and punched the wall hard. He felt a knuckle break.

He sat down in front of Jenna, head down as he hid his face, his eyes, from her. He tasted blood, realized he'd bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. Stupid. Little. Fuckup.

Chris began to laugh, a harsh sound totally different from the soft laughter he and Jenna had shared only minutes ago. Fuck this. I'm going crazy. I'm going fucking crazy.

Damned for a dime, he thought. Might as well be damned for the whole dollar. "Yeah. Yeah, I did it, Jen," he said, painting his face with a fake grin he wanted to scare her with. "It sounds really crazy, but I found this ancient voodoo book in the public library. I thought I'd try it out for kicks." He picked up the doll's hands and held them up, watched satisfied as Jenna involuntarily did the same. "Ta-da. See why I didn't want you to throw it away? It'd be awful for you to become street pizza on my account."

Chris stood up, turned away from Jenna, and pocketed the doll, knowing Jenna would be freed from his control now that he was no longer touching the doll. "I'll make you a deal, Jen," he said with a deep, tired sigh. "I'll make you my toy for... a month. And after... after I'm through, (another sigh) I swear, I'll get rid of this thing...

"And don't bother telling anybody or trying to do something to me. If I... if something bad happens to me while we're liked to the doll, you're... going to suffer three times the pain, princess."

He'd been lying about most of these things, of course, but Jenna didn't know that. And there was one kernel of truth in everything he'd said. Chris intended to find whatever it was that could break the damned spell and fix this. Hopefully he could find it within the month --he just had to make sure Jenna wouldn't drag anyone else into the mess. That would complicate things even more.

Chris began to walk back to the kitchen. His knuckle was starting to hurt bad, needed some ice on it maybe. "Go back to your room and change into something... sexier. I know you've got that short skirt of yours," he told Jenna without shooting her so much as a glance. "You're going to be my girlfriend starting tonight."

She jumped again as he punched his fist into the wall, staring in horror as he pulled it away. She had heard the noise from his hand- and he didn't seem to care. As he slumped down in front of her, Jenna slowly slid down from the back of the couch, crouching herself on the cushions.

What had happened? This night had started to seem so nice... Except for that thing. Now she was terrified of him. Afraid of what it was used for. What it had already done.

That noise. What was that?
He was laughing. Not a happy laughing. A scary, deep, throaty sound that reminded her of a cartoon villain. She whimpered softly at the sound escaping him, looking for a way to escape herself.

"Yeah. Yeah, I did it, Jen."

She stopped, looking back at him. God, that smile. So different from earlier. The handsome, shy smirk... replaced with- with this. He explained it, a questionable background on the doll that she wouldn't have believed until he proved it... The doll's arms were raised, Jenna's own suddenly taking the same pose high above her head without her effort. Her eyes widened, staring at the figurine as he continued, especially his point on the window.

Her arms fell as he turned away, her hands coming up to be inspected, fingers wiggling. They were hers again, but her body continued to shake. Exactly like before. Moving without her, feeling things that simply weren't there... She had felt his warmth, his grip.

His deal.
It sounded insane.
"You're crazy...," She whispered, but her eyes couldn't remove themselves from that doll. He had already shown what he could do with it. The troubles that could come from it, the ways he could control her. If he had it, he could do anything.
And from the sounds of it, he was the only one who could make it stop.

If anyone else got ahold of that-
She shivered, wrapping her hands against her shoulders and staring at the floor.
"Shit.... What do you want...."

"Go back to your room and change into something... sexier. I know you've got that short skirt of yours. You're going to be my girlfriend starting tonight."

Jenna glared after him, then back to the floor. "Yes, dear."
She stood up, avoiding eye contact with him as she left his place, slamming the door behind her as she went back to her own apartment.

Part of her didn't want to do it. Don't change. Don't go back.
Stay in here. Hide.
Call someone... anyone.
And who would listen? She had seen what it was herself and didn't believe it. But he really had her as his puppet without a string.

She was still standing behind her door, her back pressed against it, trying to think.
"I almost...," She choked out, shaking her head. "I almost started to fall for you too..."

Did he know what she was doing? That she was questioning on doing anything at all?
If she took too long... what then? She flexed her hand again, biting her lips together.

"Damn it."
Pushing off from the door, she headed to her bedroom, looking for the skirt he had requested. The little black skirt with the slit on the side, a covering that barely seemed to fit the classification. Exchanging her jeans for it, she found the shirt she usually wore with it; a bright pink halter top with a low draping neck. A heavy sigh left her as she picked up her shoes, dropping onto her bed to slip the black thick heels on.

As she got up, she started to look toward the mirror- then changed her mind. No. Don't. Don't even bother. Just... get back.

Returning to his door, she knocked hesitantly, biting her lips again.
"Happy?," She stated flatly as the door opened, glaring up at him.

Why the fuck did it have to come down to this?

Chris held his hand under ice water as he mentally dragged himself over coals. The night had been going so well. He'd started to entertain the idea that Jenna might even like him now... But the doll! The damned fucking doll!

He wanted to destroy it, burn it, bury it, throw it in a landfill and do a million other things he could to get rid of the doll. But even with each idea, he also thought of a million things that might go wrong if he disposed of the doll while Jenna was still linked to it. He felt as bound by the doll as Jenna was.

Chris was in the middle of hiding the doll, wrapped up in a towel, in his cupboard, when he heard the first tentative knocks on his door. He opened the door and was shocked to find how different this Jenna looked from the one in his room just a few hours ago. Her jaw was taut, eyes blazing with hate --even dressed the way she was, the only thing Chris felt was a massive amount of guilt. He was ruining her.

"Get in," he said. Emotionless tone masking the utter despair that grew inside.

Jenna stood in the middle of the room, glaring at him defiantly while he took a seat on the couch in front of her. "Well?" he said with a smug sigh. "Aren't you going to kiss your boyfriend, princess?" Jenna leaned in and made a half-hearted effort, and Chris, playing his role, grabbed her before she could stand up again and hissed, "Like you mean it."

Jenna kissed him again, differently this time. Taken unawares by the ferocity in this kiss Chris lost a modicum of self control, his good hand gripping Jenna's waist. It could have been like this, he thought. And it could have been real.

The thumb of Chris' other hand brushed lightly along the sensitive skin of her inner thigh. Was that a moan he felt, sending a tremor through the connection of their lips?

Chris broke away from Jenna's kiss. "Kneel on the couch and face the wall, princess," he said as he stood up, not making any effort to hide the hard-on tenting the crotch of his pants. His good hand plunged into his pocket. Bluffing. Wishing she wouldn't call his bluff and actually force him to use the doll. "I could make you do it, you know."