Dolly Mentalium

Dolly Mentalium is a tribute made by PoisonedPoetry. Please do not use her without permission.

Tribute Form


Name: Dolly Mentalium

District: Any, but she's more likely to be entered in 3.

Gender: Female

Age: 14

Personality: Being a ragdoll, Dolly may seem like she’s emotionless most of the time. Nothing can be read on her face or picked up in her voice. She keeps the same monotonous voice for everything, leaving everybody confused on whether or not she was joking. But there is another side to her, one that shows her in another light. Secretly, Dolly is depressed. She never had to be what she is now, yet fate was especially cruel to her in ways no one could imagine. Because of this, Dolly is very lonesome. The only friends she had abandoned her, meaning that she is used to the horrors of solitaire. Despite any harsh intentions of her, she is actually thoughtful and means well. All Dolly has ever wanted was someone who truly understands her – A friend. However, any arguments or disagreements that emerge will remind her of the dark times. Thus she will become furious at everyone in sight, including herself and any possible allies. Then her killer and fatal version of her arrives. Her soulless black eyes will change in size, her left pupil shrinking whilst her right one enlarges itself. She will induce mental sanity in anyone who provokes her, just by allowing them to stare into her eyes.

Height: 5'4

Appearance: When one first glances at her, they can immediately tell what she’s supposed to be. Her pale and almost white skin (ignore the RL for this) is made entirely from cloth. Due to this, there are many thread stitches all over her body where each quadrilateral piece overlapped one another. Her hair is a light shade of brown, usually tied into twin ponytails or pigtails. Despite this, it is not her actual hair. It’s just a wig that’s been attached to her bald scalp. It wasn’t always bald, but a certain event in her past made it that way. But her most noticeable features are her eyes – They are a pure soulless jet black colour. It’s almost as if her pupils consumed her irises. Nobody could ignore that, not even for one second. Depending on Dolly’s personality, they change size as well. Whilst her left pupil shrinks, her right one will increase in size, almost filling the white of her eyes. Anybody who sees this will be freaked out at the very least, but most who stare into her eyes at this moment will all of a sudden gain hallucinations that haunt them. However, there is a way to escape this (mentioned in strengths).

Weapon(s): Dolly’s main physical weapon is a poisoned needle, ensuring a better chance of Dolly's victim dying. Dolly has used this to her advantage a few times, yet she doesn’t seem too keen on using them. Instead she would rather use her '''eyes. '''They may not seem much at first glance, but just wait until Dolly undergoes a negative event that disturbs or angers her. When her right eye grows larger, it depicts a mutilated corpse of the person looking in it. If her soon-to-be victim looks at it for long enough, the scenery will induce the person with hallucinations after going insane. But this will not happen if they look away before 5 seconds pass. Depending on their mental strength, they may or may not have a few nightmares in the night. This will not happen, however, if Dolly is in a positive mood.

Strengths: The biggest strength of Dolly is that fact that it’s '''very difficult to be rid of her. '''She’s almost literally heartless, yet she somehow lives. It’s located elsewhere, meaning that she can surprise opponents with news of her survival. They would also be shocked at the fact that Dolly can run quite fast. Her legs are just like the rest of her body, only the cloth is stitched onto actual legs from a human being. Most would suspect that the human legs would rot away into nothing but bones, but this is not the case. Scientists injected a chemical into them so that they would never decompose. Most people would also reckon that Dolly is as harmless as a butterfly from her stature and her looks, yet she can easily prove herself to be a threat. She uses her alleged weak stature to her advantage, pouncing on those who don’t suspect a thing.

Weaknesses: Dolly has a big lack of upper body strength. She may be able to run like the wind, but she cannot lift up moderately heavy objects like swords and anything else of the kind. Were she to try, her arms would probably pop out of their sockets. This also means that she can’t climb up or down anything for her life (although falling can’t kill her unless she lands on the wrong place). But Dolly has one major weakness – If somebody was to strike her brain, Dolly would die almost instantly. Her heart has been conjoined with her brain, but a blow to her brain/heart will put her out for good. She’s always expecting something to strike her there, so if somebody was to get close to her head area she would freak out and go psycho on them. It’s not her fault she wants to live.

Fears: Fears can claim even the darkest of hearts like that of Dolly’s. This is shown whenever somebody or something touches her head. She will shriek like a banshee before her pupils dilate. She’s smart and knows that she has to protect that area no matter what. She also fears losing both of her arms, because she cannot stitch them back onto her body unless someone else was to help out. And even then, they would need to handle one of her needles with precaution. She doesn’t want to be responsible for the death of a friend, which is why she fears losing them. As mentioned in her personality, Dolly wants somebody who she can care for and vice versa. After possibly discovering them, she doesn’t want them to leave the world. But she can handle it herself… eventually. Her final main fear is fire, as she can easily set alight due to the fabrics used to turn her into a doll.

Training Strategy: Training with the other tributes will make Dolly go crazy… but in a good way. She will scour the competition and stalk any of the tributes who she’s interested in joining with. She may then reveal herself and try to speak to them, wanting to ally with them. If they accept, Dolly will then give them warnings for what could happen if things go awry between her and them. But if they decline, Dolly will try the same thing with the other groups and tributes until she either a) Finds a trusting group, or b) is left on her own. When she knows who she’s with and who she’s against, she will start training at the survival stations.

Private Training Strategy: Dolly doesn’t care at all what score she gets, but she does want to tick off the Capitol in some way. The Gamemakers already know what Dolly is capable of, so they will likely have extra protection in case Dolly goes ape and tries to lure their line of sight to her eyes. Instead, she will brutally slice and dice a few dummies here and there with her needles. Then she will do some creepy ragdoll tricks to freak out the Gamemakers a little bit. At the end, Dolly will simply walk out. Nothing fancy, just plain and simple.

Interview Angle: Dolly will likely have a blindfold on and be led to the interview in case she accidentally makes someone mentally insane. When she answers the questions, she will try to seem too innocent to be a threat. If there any questions that seem personal or could expose her, Dolly will have to lie no matter what.

Bloodbath Strategy: Even though Dolly knows it will be hard to bump her off, she wants to be on the safe side. She will run out of the bloodbath immediately if she's in an alliance with someone else. But as a loner, she will grab a backpack for herself whilst trying to stay away from smart tributes or tributes with an axe/sword/anything that could be used to decapitate her.

Games Strategy: Dolly will literally play the entire games safe, always hiding out of sight if she's alone. However, if a tribute passes she will try to sneak up on them before trying to kill them with her needles. With an alliance though, she will follow all instructions in fear of not being accepted.

If she reaches the finale, Dolly will more of her colours show. She will flee from her alliance and go off on a tribute killing spree. She will try to trick the other tributes by pretending that she's dead/dying, so that they get closer. Dolly will then strike will a needle, almost cackling as the blood shows. If she misses, Dolly will force the tribute to look into her eyes. This will continue until only her and/or her allies are left. She will likely kill herself if she sees that the rest of the competition are her allies/ally. But as a liner, Dolly will try to overcome all competition.

Alliance: She will literally accept anybody as her ally.

Token: A locket from her childhood showing who her parents were. (This will make more sense in the backstory.)

Backstory
Picture the scene: A large fairground, with many people flooding in. Most of these are middle-class, enjoying their fun to escapes from all the other woes of district three. Everybody there is either laughing and making the most of what they can afford or crying after leaving the grounds. This is the magical world of Imaginaerum. Everywhere, there are enough rides to last you a lifetime. Many competitions and games are hosted here, food can be served and there’s even a miniature circus among all of this. But that’s beyond the point. Our main focus of interest in this story isn’t the fairgrounds itself, but a small, fragile, young girl in poverty.

This unfortunate soul was Dolly. She didn’t have a surname, as her parents dumped her at the carousel due to their own situation. When she was 5, Dolly was abandoned at the carousel by her parents. They had almost no money, so a young child would be hard to feed. She was asleep at the time, but she got a big shock when she woke up. Already, Dolly knew she would have to steal in order to survive.

Whenever she looked back, she realized how lucky she was to survive. But she was glad of it for two reasons; 1) she could watch the rides and the people riding them all day. Even though it wouldn’t be nearly as fun as trying it out herself, Dolly was fascinated by how everything flowed smoothly in motion. The second reason was that she had her own cycle of guardians/friends that took care of her – The freaks of the freak-show.

The good news about the freak-show was that it was free to enter in order to watch all of the shows. Dolly would often go in and watch her friends at work. In total, there were four of them that acted like her family.

Her closest father figure was Victor, a hunchback with abnormally large muscles. He was capable of lifting ten pound weights with just one arm. But the time to mock him came when he was challenged to lie on his back. It was a horrible experience for him due to the pain. What made it worse was that the crueller people in the crowd always sneered at him. He never wanted to be a freak, but he had no choice.

The next member was Colette, a contortionist dancer. She could twist her body to fit inside tight spaces. After she finished her performance, she was often thrown confetti and flowers. Unlike Victor, she was respected and even had her own autograph-signing sessions. She even enjoyed the thought of transforming her body into a miracle. She could be slightly cocky at the best of times, but she was still considerate enough to help the others.

The final two people were Kyle and Kameron, a brother-sister pair conjoined by the hip. Of all of the freaks, they were the most pitied. Most people wondered how they got changed into their gear, but that was a secret trademark to Imaginaerum. Nobody but the twins knew, but they weren’t allowed to dish out the method to any odd person. Executions were apparently made, were someone to crack the case. ‘It’s to avoid similar scams’ He said they always said.

Dolly had managed to seek their tent as an asylum after following them once a show had finished. They were initially in surprise to see the young girl, but she calmed them down. They warned her of the consequences of the freak-show organiser discovering her there, but she remained in place. It was there that she told her tale of how she had no shelter and saw the freaks as her friends, even though they rarely interacted before then. She even admitted to dreaming about living with them, having somebody who truly cared for her. At the end of her tale, the twins immediately felt sympathetic and gave her a hug. Colette and Victor were both slightly reluctant; nonetheless Dolly was allowed to stay with them.

For a few years, the quintet lived in their idyllic settlement as a family. The arrival of Dolly may have meant the rations were less for everybody, but there were no complaints. It became a joy to the freaks when Dolly smiled. And when she smiled, they smiled back. Nonetheless, Dolly spent most of her free time looking and pretending to ride the rides at night. Her favourite one was the horse carousel, set dead in the centre of the fairgrounds. There was one downside to hanging around Imaginaerum in the dark – If you were caught by the guards around there, you would be forced out until the morning comes. Be caught a second time, you’ll be given a warning. The third and final time means you’re banned from there for a set amount of time. And if you enter then, you would be executed. The reason for why this was in place: The Capitol feared future rebels would use it at night to hold secret meetings for even more secret plans. Dolly, however, was small and nimble. She could easily escape from their sight just by squeezing herself into the shadows. However, she did get caught one time. And when she did, it led her onto a different path in her life.

It was an unusually silent night. Dolly was just doing her business, when suddenly; there came the sounds of shouts. And it came from the tent of the freaks. Thinking some kind of intruder was there, Dolly quickly sprinted to the tent. However, she was met with an even more disturbing sight – Her own adoptive family, fighting one another. Scared, she hid behind the crates just next to the door.

“How many times do I have to say Colette, it would be best for the lass if we left the circus! And it would do me some good too.” Victor debated. Colette gave a snort of contempt.

“I’ve been here for 10 years! Has it done me any harm? No. You must have wanted the job if you signed up to be made mockery of.”

“Not really! I had to come here because I needed to find the money to feed my family! But I never realized that we would be separated from our family forever. You must miss them, right?”

“No! Goodness gracious, I like it here! I’m always treated of the utmost respect. And I’m sure Kyle and Kameron agree with me!”

“Yeah!” Kyle pumped his fists, but Kameron didn’t seem impressed.

“No! We’re with Victor!” Kyle sneered at his sister. Dolly watched on, nervous of what their future actions could be.

“But I don’t want Dolly to see any more of the cruelties that happen when she’s not around! We need to keep her safe, face it!”

“Pfft. The children need to know what goes on in the real world! And besides, I don’t see why we should just kick her out!”

“Colette – She’s just a young girl! She looks just like my daughter! I wouldn’t dream of abandoning her! And I want her safe!”

“Yes, we get that!” Colette snapped. “But have you stopped to consider what I want? No! It’s all ‘Today was bad for me’ this, and ‘I want to leave’ that! Could you just shut your face for 10 damn seconds?!” And that was when the carnage erupted. Dolly quickly looked away to avoid seeing any physical impacts made. By this point, she was almost sobbing.

It was tense – All four of the freaks were strangling and battering one another. Colette had just been thrown onto the crates Dolly was hiding behind, when Victor charged ahead like a bull. Luckily for Colette, she slipped out of the way. But being quite clumsy, Victor ran straight into the crates. Dolly shrieked in pain as she was crushed against the wall. The once nail-biting commotion had died down to nothing but a silence competition. Carefully, Victor slid the crates out of the way and saw Dolly, hysteric with tears. She kept screaming in pain.

“Dolly! I’m so sorry, I didn’t see-“

“Shut up! Just shut up! How could you all betray me so badly?! You never even thought how much I’ve considered this place home! And how could you all plan to betray me?!”

“Dolly, honey. Not all of us said tha-“

“I don’ care! It’s clear you all secretly hate me! Guess what?! I hate you all too! I never want to see you again!” Before anybody could make a statement, Dolly limped away from the tent. And for the first time, she realised one of the truths of reality – Not everybody could be happy.

Dolly found her asylum by leaping on top of one of the carousel horses. There, she pretended to ride it whilst humming to the tune that would play. All the same, she was cycling through thoughts of what she would do. ''‘Can I run away from all this? Would it be worth the risk?’ ''Sighing, Dolly leaned her head against the pole. Whilst the thoughts still existed and kept flying in Dolly’s mind, she wanted to lose them. As of then, she had little energy to think. ‘Round and round like a horse on a carousel’ Dolly, now feeling slightly depressed, started to beat herself up on the inside for not noticing Victor’s sorrow.

“Aha!” Before Dolly could see what was happening, a sharp force yanked her arms behind. She started to shriek in pain. It was almost like she had broken her arms.

“Let. Me. Go!” She gritted her teeth and squirmed like a worm, but her captors laughed.

“Unfortunately not. You see, the thing is that you’ve been found in the circus even after closing time. You know what this means? You’re going to have to get out until morning falls.” Although she was clearly unimpressed with this, Dolly still allowed the guard to throw her out of Imaginaerum.

She was now static in the dark. Dolly couldn’t afford to re-enter legally. Oblivious to the answers to her questions on survival, Dolly did the only thing she could do at that point – She curled her legs up, buried her head between her knees and wept sorrowfully. She had just lost connection with her only real family. The only way to meet them again was to sneak in. And that was practically impossible.

A young group of four teenage boys passed by, laughing as they told the lamest jokes possible. Dolly watched them with eager eyes, wanting a place to stay. They didn’t seem to take notice until one of them turned around.

“Lookie here – Seems we have a little orphan. She’s not much younger than us; we could let her stay with us.” It wasn’t until the remaining members turned around that Dolly noticed how intimidating they seemed in the dark. She hugged her knees and shivered – more in fear than from the cold. She felt the air brush past her lightly as somebody perched besides her.

“It’s ok – We’re not going to hurt you.” As Dolly faced the young boy, she felt her heart flutter slightly. His smile seemed perfect enough to be genuine. He held out one of his hands. Hesitant, Dolly switched her main line of sight between his face and hand. Then Dolly made her choice – She grabbed it and held it tight.

“Th-thank you.”

“Hey – No need to thank me. Oh, but why am I acting so stupid? I should’ve asked for your name!” Dolly stared at him, slightly bewildered.

“My family said never to trust strangers.”

“But I thought you were an orphan.” He said.

“I am,” Dolly said. “But I’ve lived with the freaks of Imaginaerum for most of my life. They’re like family to me. But today, they had an argument – an-and!” Dolly allowed her dam to burst. The boy patted her back lightly. “So I ran off, but I got caught and-“She started to weep even more now. The air’s passageways tightened with every sniffle Dolly made.

“So you got locked out of the circus and you can’t afford to go back in…” She nodded. “Sounds quite tough… I might be able to help you out! But in return, you have to find us some sanctuary in there – That way, we can, err, protect you better. Deal?” Dolly could only think of one thing to say –

“Yes!” 

“All’s well, that ends well I guess,” The boy chuckled. “I’m Spike, and the others are Duncan, Karl and Douglas.” He pointed at his friends in a random order whilst saying his names. Dolly nodded in response.

“I’m Dolly!” She shook hands with Spike and she felt as safe as she was when she first banded with the freaks.

The next day came, and Duncan came up with an incredibly original idea – They would hide Dolly in one of their backpacks and sneak her in that way. When she first heard it, she ridiculed them for using something that rarely worked. When they asked how she knew, she said it was because she watched the guards from afar, both in day and at night for several years. She knew each guard and how good a job they did. Luckily for the group, it was a middle-aged man who didn’t bother with security checks.

Once they entered the circus, Dolly took them on a tour showing off every nook and cranny known to her. The boys looked at the rides disinterested. However, they seemed to perk up when Dolly mentioned horror stories and creepy urban legends surrounding the place.

Their final destination was a large tent, bare both in the inside and on the outside. Nobody had ever used it in donkey’s years… until Dolly and her new friends came around. Spike quickly thanked Dolly and reminded her that she was welcome with them no matter what.

When she returned to the tent of the freaks, everybody in there showed genuine concern. They kept asking questions about where she was and what happened.

“I sort of got found and kicked out… but I snuck back in this morning.” She lied. If she had told Victor about Spike and his gang then she knew he would lecture her on the laws of lies. They were super long. Long enough for Dolly to fall asleep half-way through.

“Oh well – The main thing is that you’re back here with us now. And we’ve finally decided to stay here since you seem to like it here so much.” When Colette said that last sentence, Dolly smiled almost as bright as the sun. Not only could she stay to watch the rides and pretend to ride them, but she could also see Spike’s gang as often as she wanted to.

As the weeks passed, Dolly begun to feel something towards Spike. Though she couldn’t quite put her finger on it, she knew that she felt a sudden urge to stick with him no matter what. Considering she didn’t see him enough during the daytime hours, she decided to invite him to look around the grounds with her.

Later that day, Dolly plucked up the courage to ask him.

“Spike?”

“Yes, Dolly?” He responded.

“I was wondering if you maybe… wanted to explore the park a bit more?”

“Hmm…”

“Please? Come, take my hand and run through playland. It will be fun!”

“Well… ok, why not?” Spike smiled slightly. “In fact, I can take you on a couple of adventures myself.”

“Oh, ok then.” Dolly nervously giggled for no reason.

“It will be fine, don’t worry!”

Merely a few minutes after, the two held hands and started to sprint past the minor areas. Spike barely had any time to process what he was zipping past. He didn’t care though – Dolly eventually stopped dragging him when they reached the centre.

“So… what kind of adventures were you thinking of taking me on?” Dolly asked. Spike responded with a slightly wicked gleam in his eyes.

“We’ll be going to the top of the ferris wheel there!” He pointed towards a large drum-shaped structure. Looking up at the top carriage often scared Dolly, yet she also had the urge to become queen of the world for a few seconds.

Spike was somehow able to pay for it – And before the two knew it, they were being lifted off the ground. As Dolly looked down, she felt slightly sick. Heights were never a problem for her until then.

“Dolly, are you ok?” Spike enquired. Dolly could barely speak – Her heart was in her throat.

“So high, too high at the carnival” She muttered to herself. It came out all shaky. To comfort her, Spike held Dolly’s hand in his own one. She sneaked one quick glance towards his eyes. Her gaze froze on there for a fraction of a second.

Once it was over, Spike took Dolly on other rides. The two had a whale of a time, laughing and smiling with one another as they won several prizes. She was humbled when Spike said they were all hers. And like the past few weeks, something inside her tingled.

Dolly later returned to the tent that day, carrying her prizes with her in a wagon Spike bought for her. She hoped that none of the freaks would be taking a break from being ridiculed. However, the moment she entered she received suspicious glances from Kyle and Kameron.

“Dolly, where did you get those prizes?” They asked.

“These?” Dolly tentatively pointed at them. The twins nodded. “Oh, well, umm… basically, I made friends with a boy and he brought me with him to go on some rides and try to win games. He said I could keep it all.” Kyle and Kameron’s jaws dropped, their eyes wide with horror. I was mystified by why they seemed surprise by it. I was just about to ask whether or not they were ok, when Kyle spoke up.

“You went on a date with a stranger?”

“Well, he’s not a stranger anymore. And it wasn’t exactly a date, but-“

“You put yourself at risk Dolly! Not all people out there are great, you know. He seems like a lovely guy and all, but you’re lucky he didn’t mug you… or attack you… or worse.” Kameron seemed to shudder at the last two words. “In the future, don’t go around talking to people you don’t know. We nearly lost you once and we’re not going to lose you again.”

“Ok, ok. Fine.” Dolly muttered, not paying any heed towards Kameron’s warnings.

“To further help out, you’re now being placed under curfew. You’re no longer allowed to sneak out in the middle of the night. Dolly was horrified.

“But Kyle!”

“No buts. And besides, it wasn’t my idea. Blame Victor and Colette. They came up with it.” Dolly silently growled inside her head. She was planning on paying the boys a visit, but she was no longer allowed to place so much as a toe anywhere outside the tent. She felt a small twinge of resentment towards Victor and Colette for not taking notice of her feelings. It was their fault she got caught – Had she not run away in fear and got distracted by the arguments, she would never have got caught… “But then I’d never have met Spike and the others.” She begun to think about life without Spike and believed she knew that she could never stand it. Her heart thumped louder. It was then that she realized something – She had feelings towards Spike. She didn’t just like him – She had a crush on him. No matter what, she had to see him.

Later that night, Dolly wound up a music box she found and let the soothing music soothe the freaks. She was nearly sleepy by the time the tune ended, but the others had failed to keep their eyes open. Satisfied, Dolly left the tent and headed towards the one that Spike and his gang resided in.

As soon as she arrived, Spike welcomed her with open arms.

“Dolly! I never thought I could see your pretty little eyes again.” She blushed at Spike’s compliment.

“Y-yeah.” There was no doubt that she was flustered. The two were staring into one another’s eyes very deeply. Dolly was about to break the silence when a shout emerged from the tent.

“Dolly!” Karl rammed into Dolly, pinning her to the ground. “Guess what? Your boyfriend here has been praying to see you ever since he overheard your curfew.”

“I bet he has. Wait, how did you know?!” Dolly spluttered.

“He sneaks over to the tent every now and then to see if he overhears anything important.” Duncan muttered from the shadows. “I’m surprised you didn’t hear Spike – He’s about as stealthy as an elephant with metal buckets for feet.” He chuckled at his lame simile before creeping over to Dolly and whispering in her ear. ''‘If I were you, I’d kiss him. He’s perfect for you, I can say that for sure.''’ Karl then left Dolly to stand there awkwardly, winking to her.

Not much happened for the first part of the night. Everybody was talking, but there was nothing too interesting going on. That was, until Spike excused himself and Dolly for a while. Duncan, Karl and Douglas nodded and muttered a small ‘ok’.

Just before the pair left, Spike blindfolded Dolly. He said he wanted to take her for a surprise. She agreed without hesitation and was directed by Spike as he held her arm.

When the blindfold was lifted, Dolly could hardly believe her eyes – She was at the carousel, her favourite ride of all time. Her knees felt weak.

“Tah-dah! I found some of the circuits, so you can ride it in the evening. The sounds have been muted to draw less attention. I’ve also placed items conveniently so that nobody can see it being used for miles around.”

“Oh my – It’s perfect!” Dolly embraced Spike in a hug, burying her head in his shoulder like a young couple would. All of a sudden, her legs buckled beneath her. He chuckled at her.

“If it helps, I could tie you to the carousel so you don’t fall off.”

“That-That would be helpful, thanks.” Dolly blushed as Spike pulled out some string and tied her hands to a pole that supported a horse. For a moment, Spike and Dolly stared into one another’ souls. Then he leaned closer.

“Good luck, my princess.” He gave her a small kiss on the cheek and then started the ride up. Dolly blushed for a second, barely noticing herself spinning around. It all seemed slow for the first few minutes, giving Dolly small concerns.

“This horse is too slow.” She muttered, looking down at the ground. All of a sudden, she saw some kind of fog spreading across the area. She wasn’t worried at first, but then noticed that Spike was missing.

“Spike…” She whispered faintly. By then, the fog was clouding her mind. ''“He betrayed me, didn’t he? ' '' 'How could he steal my cotton-candy heart and throw it into this damn coin slot? Now I’m stuck riding.” Then she blacked out.

When she woke up, she was in a white room with white clothing on. She was at first scared, but then there came a familiar sight that gave her hope.

“Spike.” She whispered. Although she smiled at him, he didn’t return it. Instead, he had a glazed psychopathic look in his eyes.

“Hehehe… you really think I loved you and came here to support you?” He snickered. “That’s where you’re wrong. You know the rebellions of the past? They’re a waste of time, effort. If we just got along, nobody would be in poverty. We need more money to reduce the amount of rebels in each district. But the thing is me and my lads are as poor as a tramp in a worn-down flour sack. Luckily, our district 8 heritage meant that we could create clothes for them to start off with for income. But after we knocked out somebody trying to steal our wears, we had a better idea. We made them into a living doll, a beauty to behold. Then we shipped them off to district 14 to have a personality transplant and thus, they became a mutt for the Capitol. That’s what we’ve been doing lately, and you’re our next project. As much as I’ll regret hurting your pretty face, it’s for the benefits of a future. A proper future.” With one last chuckle, Spike started to prepare for the experiment. That was when she saw more instruments – Needles, surgeon knives and a lot of white-ish fabric.

All of a sudden, she felt searing pain in her leg. Her screams filled the entire room. Four long slits were made in the shape of a square. Blood flowed greatly from there. Already, Dolly had tears in her eyes.

“Please, stop,” She whispering. ‘I’m begging you, it doesn’t have to have this way.”

“But it does…” Dolly let off a deafening shriek after the needle poked into her skin, sealing the square of fabric tightly. Already, she felt her eyesight go grey and gradually fade to black.

Dolly woke up several hours in a train carriage, stuck in a cage barely big enough to contain her. At this point, she was terrified of the thoughts that soon, she would become nothing but a monster. On impulse, she whimpered.

“Oh shut up! You have literally just been brainwashed into becoming a monster. You shouldn’t be afraid-“Dolly tuned out the rest of what the man was saying. She was trembling – The end of any good morals she had would soon begin. Heavens knew what the Capitol would plan to do with Dolly. What kind of tricks would they use for their new pet? ‘Speaking of which… what do I look like?’  

Her eyes slowly peeled away from the semi-rusted bars to her hands. Already, she could see one of many parts that had mutate her into a creature of pure malevolence – Instead of proper human skin, her hands were purely cotton-white cloth. Jet black stitches of thread combined each of the overlapping squares. These continued on her arms and on every inch of her skin. She was far beyond shocked – But she went even further when she looked into a mirror and saw that her once blonde hair was now a pale shade of brown. There were stitches on her scalp, allowing Dolly to know that her head was shaved clear and a wig sewn on. No matter how hard she tugged at her pigtails, not a single strand would come out. She was further appalled, but the biggest horrors lied on her face.

Surprisingly, her facial skin was almost devoid of any signs that it was cloth. There were a couple of stitches on her cheeks, but that was it. Her eyelashes were inhumanly long, drawing attention to Dolly’s eyes. One had no iris – In its place was nothing but pure white. Her pupil seemed smaller. Her other eye, on the other hand, was almost purely black. Other than a small vertical white slit near the corner, it seemed soulless. Empty of any emotion. It was enough to break Dolly.

She started to weep whilst curled up in a ball. All she wanted was love and in return she had forcefully become a mutt. They said that she was going to be bloodthirsty. Already, she wanted to consume the metallic taste of it. However, she was sorrow-ridden. She was herself, yet she wasn’t at the same time. “Along the way I find myself to be confined within me,” Dolly muttered to herself. “This should be no other place for any other’s mind to interfere.”  

“Shut up over there!” Dolly recognised the voice – It was Duncan. “If the Capitol see you as nothing more than a cuddly doll, we could be out of business. Deal with it!”

“Just tell me why!” Dolly shrieked. '“Just tell me how I can survive this time! 'All this to stop rebellions? It will definitely not work!” Quick as a flash of lightning, she reached out one of her arms through the bars and grabbed his ankle tightly. He instantly fell over, his head landing near Dolly. She was infuriated by his goals, setting off the powers of her black eye.

As he stared into there, even he seemed mesmerised by how clear and shiny it was. However, he started an onslaught of hollering saying random things. Most prominent of them all was that he saw a bloodied corpse version of him. He was jittery all over. Unexpectedly, he grabbed a saucepan and started bashing his own head in until his brains literally spilled out from his ears. Although slightly put off, Dolly didn’t care about the mess. In fact, she enjoyed the sight of gore. She continued to marvel at the fleshy organ until Douglas and Karl entered the room.

“How the f*ck did that crazy b*tch do this?!” Karl death-glared at her, only to see the same visions as Duncan. He also started screaming, but rather than bashing his own head in he grabbed a knife and stabbed himself in the heart. As the blood poured everywhere, Douglas grabbed a fork and bypassed the bars to stab Dolly 'in' the chest. However it didn't even puncture a single layer of her cloth coated skin.

“Crap, that wasn’t hard enough.” He said right before Dolly used her eyes against him again. Much like his other friends, he committed suicide. Rather than go out the glory way, he choked himself on a tea towel.

Seeing the corpses made Dolly smile roguishly. Slowly, it transformed into a small chuckle before it became maniacal laughter. The monster they said she would become had arrived. It seemed to be the only thing that existed at that moment, but inside there was still a part of her that felt pity towards them. ‘In my memories I’ll dig deep enough to know another me that yielded tears when somebody had betrayed.’ What she didn’t know though, was that the train would soon collide with another, sending her flying out of one of the windows.

She quickly recovered and found that the cage she was once ensnared in was broken. Glad at the prospect of freedom, she clambered out of it. Unfortunately, Spike was also there.

“If it isn’t the f*cking saviour.” Dolly said, her voice coming out as very snappish.

“What? Dolly, I never meant any of it at all. I just wanted to transform you into a doll to remind me of-“

“Shut up, just shut up! The only good thing that will come out of your mouth is the blood when I stab you in the back.” She growled.

“Listen to my side for one second, ok?! You clearly didn’t listen back when I was fixing you up. The world is full of cruelty, and Panem is no different. I need you to think from everybody with no homes. 'Realise the pain we live in. 'I just want to demonise the need we reel in.” Dolly was almost convinced by Spike. Despite it being realistic, she didn’t think that turning her into a walking, talking doll would’ve helped out in any way. “'Intertwine the lines beneath the dark. Every bit of pain we live in, every other solemn life.' Trawl through your sadness and you will feel better.” The advice pained Dolly even more.

“Go.”

“What?”

'“Go! I will go and decide who can come in and heal my disease!'” Her right eye begun its unusual process, but Spike quickly avoided it by staring at Dolly’s feet.

“If you wish. However, I will still follow you. Don’t be afraid to ask for my help.”

“I’m not afraid!” She sneered. “I just don’t trust a backstabbing bastard like you at all.” She quickly stormed off in no direction whatsoever.

Late in the night, Dolly saw a quick white flash from afar. In excitement she sprinted towards it. There, she came across an entrance board. Above it was a sign saying ‘Welcome to Imaginaerum!’ When she saw the name, Dolly could hardly contain herself. She just sprinted through the gates and ran towards the tent her adoptive family lived at.

She peeked through a gap in the tent and, sure enough, all of the freaks were there. However, there was something… different about them. Not that they seemed upset, but rather in the fact that they were plotting.

‘… and it has come to our attention that ''Imaginaerum is officially a rebel site. To keep messages safe, we will store them inside Kyle and Kameron’s bodies whenever they have surgery to separate and join them together. Whatever you do, keep this message safe and make sure nobody overhears. Your sincerely, -R’ ''

“Victor, are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I bet that those good-for-nothing parasites kidnapped Dolly after seeing her here! Face it Colette, Dolly will never come back! She’s as good as dead! I need to avenge her. She has been the closest thing to a daughter I have ever had!”

“Whatever you say…” Dolly just wanted to scream that she was there, that they needed to worry no longer. But she couldn’t speak or move. Something was controlling her, but what was it?

There was no time to think. Dolly just randomly walked in, receiving strange looks from her family.

“What in heaven’s name is that?!” Kyle shrieked. “I hate ragdolls! They creep the living sh*t out of me!”

“It’s probably a new freak. Come here little doll, you are not alone.” As Kameron reach her hand towards Dolly, the latter smirked a little. What happened next was next expected of from anybody.

She suddenly jumped on top of Kameron and commenced a savage attack. She plucked out Kameron’s eyeballs and started to eat them. She was still alive, but left weak. Dolly soon finished her off by smashing her head on the floor. Colette and Victor paused there in horror. But Kyle started to take off running. Dolly grabbed a knife from a nearby barrel and threw it towards him. Although she had little practice and little accuracy, it somehow managed to strike his ankle. She didn’t hesitate to suffocate him then and there. Next on the list of victims was Colette – Although she also tried to flee in a failed bid at escape, Dolly already had the edge. She soon caught up with her and slit her throat. That left just Victor.

She had him trapped in the corner, the knife still in her hand. She twirled it on her finger and chuckled evilly.

“Just… who are you?” His voice shook over the words.

“I-“ Dolly began. “Am the one person you would least suspect to be behind this.” She slashed his abdomen and looked down on him as he bled out.

‘Dolly…’ He whispered, before at last he passed on. Unlike the last set of victims, Dolly didn’t laugh like a lunatic or anything of the sort. She just stood there silently, taking in everything that she had done. Her body shivered as Dolly finally realised everything – She had murdered the only family she truly had.

She fell to her knees and broke down. It didn’t feel real. It didn’t feel real at all.

“I’ve tried to peer into the core, but could not storm the sorrow.” She only just opened her eyes to spotting that Victor did have a massive heart after all. His depressed side blocked off the truth from her eyes. Her innocence was why she didn’t understand the evils of the world.

“Believe yourself and look away from all that’s right within you.” She truly believed that she would never have her old caring persona returning from the brink of death. It would slowly sink into oblivion. “Condemn me now; send me to hell for I’m already failing.” The more she mourned the deaths of her beloved ones, something slowly flushed out of her system. Oddly enough, she no longer regretted any of the events.  The murderous side was slowly rising from the ashes, but Dolly shook her head. She couldn’t even decide who she could be. In the end though, the original Dolly won out.

“Erase the page for I’m alone and ailing.” She wanted to forget it all, to be forgiven for her actions. But she couldn’t. Nearly everybody she had known and grown attached to was dead.

In her melancholy, Dolly entered the tent and saw the note that Victor had been reading from previously. There was nothing much there except for what he had said, but there was one detail in particular that stood out to her:

''‘Be careful, for the Capitol have created some mutts to spy on possible rebel locations. They have been created purely to sniff out those who disagree with the Capitol’s way of handling life.’  ''

“So this is my life, and it can’t break me down,” She mumbled. “So much for the freedom I want.” She slumped back, giving up completely on trying to remain normal. “Why can’t I see that I need to be freed? I know I need to, but something tell me to just move on… no, I don’t have to worry. Leave all your worries at the door and drift away. Maybe I’ll figure out the answers if I get a good sleep.”  

The next day, Dolly woke up even more confused. She seemed to have two personalities – One that was kind but regretful, and the other one being psychotic and accepting of everything. She wasn’t sure which one she’d prefer. But she knew that she wanted to escape from the nightmare she had just plunged into. In order to escape it though, she had to wait a few months for the reapings of the next hunger games.

During the wait, she slaughtered a few more rebels, sometimes with remorse, other times with passion. It didn’t stop her from volunteering, however.

As she stood on the stage, most of the people there were terrified by her appearance. However, she smiled warmly and told herself that everything was going to be fine. But when she was led into a room, she let off her waterworks again. She had nobody to turn to… or so it seemed.

She was paid a visit by none other than the person responsible for all of this. She quickly turned her head and refused to look at him.

“Dolly… I know you hate me, but I want your forgiveness. I should’ve known that you wouldn’t want to be stuck killing your folks by mistake… Heck, I should’ve seen that coming!”

“Spike…” She sighed slightly. “You don’t understand what it’s like. It’s an awful thing and I’m not sure I can forgive you. However, I want you to be there rooting for me.” A part of her wanted to kill Spike on that spot, but she knew she was better than that. “Can I refrain?” She mentally asked to herself.

“I will. Can I repent?” 

“I bet you can.” That was when a peacekeeper came in to take Spike away. Dolly could feel herself in a daze again, and knew that she was still in love despite the mistakes made.

Optional - Backstory Summary
At a young age, Dolly was abandoned by her parents and had to survive in a fairground known as Imaginaerum. Everyday, she would steal just to survive until she met the freaks of Imaginaerum - Victor, Colette, Kyle and Kameron. They took her in and treated her as a daughter.

She grew up well with them until they had a massive argument over whether or not they should leave the fair. In the middle of it, Dolly got hurt and ran off. She was found in Imaginaerum and was kicked out. In the process, she met a small band of boys, the leader of which was named Spike. He offered her a deal saying that he would help her get back into Imaginaerum if she found them a spot there. She agreed.

After that, Dolly would sneak out every night to see Spike and his gang. Later, she realised she had feelings for him. Then came one night where it seemed he would return the affection. However, Dolly was knocked out by a gas and woke up in a different place. There, Spike revealed his intentions to make Dolly become a doll to stop the rebels. She was still awake by the time the surgery begun, but soon blacked out.

She awoke to find herself transformed into a doll. As the other members of Spike's gang checked up on her,she killed them by driving them insane using her black eye. Then the train she and the gang were on crashed and she was able to escape. Spike, however, was still loose.

Dolly trekked through the night and found Imaginaerum again. She rushed over to the Freak's tent where they were discussing rebel plans. Something inside Dolly snapped, causing her to go insane and kill her adoptive family. But when she finished, she was going through the two personalities she had.

To try and escape from the nightmare, Dolly volunteered for the hunger games and had some small chat with Spike. During their chat, Dolly realised that she still had feelings for him.

(Total words: 6,561)

Song Inspiration
 First Song: Carousel - Melanie Martinez

'Round and round like a horse on a carousel' -  Dolly is used to the same pattern/life routine.

'''Will I catch up to love? I could never tell' - ''Dolly wondering whether Spike likes her back.

'And it's all fun and games, 'till somebody falls in love' - Dolly falling in love was what led to her becoming a doll.

'''Why did you steal my cotton candy heart? You threw it into this damn coin slot' - ''Spike pretended to love her and she can't break free from her feelings.

 Second Song: Storm the Sorrow - Epica

'Along the way I find myself to be confined within me' - The two sides of Dolly are hidden by one another.

'No place for any other's mind to interfere' - Dolly feels like she shouldn't be a toy to experiment with.

'And dance away from any void and empty tones' - Dolly getting over everything that was missing in her life.

'Just tell me why, just tell me how I can survive this time' - Dolly having to put up with the guilt.

'I've tried to peer into the core, but could not storm the sorrow' - Dolly trying to figure out what was wrong with her family, but only saw the negatives.

'My hollow heart has bled me dry, left me to stray' - Dolly losing her heart, meaning that she has to choose what to do.

'Condemn me now, send me to hell for I'm already failing' - Dolly feeling like she cannot redeem herself and will therefore always be the villain.

'Intertwine the lines that swim beneath the dark' - Dolly combining what may not seem obvious at the time.

'Another me that yielded tears when someone had betrayed' The second side to Dolly about to be unleashed after Spike messed with her.

'''Will I refrain? Can I repent?' - ''Dolly trying to get over her mistakes and asking for forgiveness.

'Erase the page for I'm alone and ailing' - Dolly wanting to forget everything

Trivia

 * Victor was named after the novelist of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo.
 * Colette was named after the contortionist from Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Carnivorous Carnival.
 * Imaginaerum is named after the Nightwish album of the same title.
 * There is a small reference made to the game 'One Chance'.
 * Dolly is another dragon tribute.