Doll Eyes; 1.2 - No Idea...

Over the weekend Charles made the most of his new research room by getting to work on his project as soon as he had some free time, which was as soon as he woke at 3am on Saturday morning.

Everything he needed was provided without question, even his new lab partners and their assistances were as excited as he was about his ideas and what he was endeavoring to accomplish.

Carefully Charles worked long into the hours of the day and then well into the night; mixing, heating, evaporating and remixing his concoctions.

His note pad was soon completely full of diagrams, solutions, equations and footnotes over the passing hours. His research bench became cluttered with jars, boxes and containers of ingredients which he kept grabbing pinches, milligrams and spoonfuls of every now and then.

The only sounds in the room were the slightest tinkling of the glass test tubs and beakers touching each other as he carefully poured one substance into another with the hopes of creating the perfect serum solution he was looking for.

All the while, the doll sat behind him, sitting perfectly in her place in the warm glow of the light above her.

It was well past midnight making it Sunday morning when Charles poured the last of a new serum into an older mixture, now he knew that if he didn't begin testing, he would never know if he had it right or not...

Going downstairs, Charles took a small statue of his favourite Jurassic period plant with him to use as his first testing subject.

Charles sat down on the lawn by the front window of the house; he carefully slipped the statue into the somewhat large Erlenmeyer flask and then sat back to wait and see if anything happened.

After a few long minutes, the serum began to bubble and steam started flowing out the top of the flask in a thick misty fog, Charles sat up, then scrambled backwards as the flask cracked, spilling the serum out onto the ground, there was a strange groan from the statue then a low creaking sound like metal expanding on a hot day.

The groan grew louder and the remains of the flask shattered, the sound echoing sharply in the stillness of the night making Charles take a small step backwards as he let out a silent gasp of shock.

Within a few moments, before him was a fully grown, Laganaphyllis Simnovorii; or as most had nick named it, the ‘Cow Plant’.

They were thought to have been carnivores and had been suggested that since they were an advanced ancestor of the Venus fly-trap of their time, it was guessed by researchers that they had lived off any sort of food source that was dumb enough to walk by and try to eat the ‘trap’ that it laid out for its unsuspecting prey.

Charles couldn’t help but exclaim to himself excitedly as the plant rose up snapping and spitting saliva all over the place, its first time alive, but it wasn’t unaware of what Charles was.

It shook it’s head and made a low grumbling sound that shook it’s leaves in a flurry of rustling.

The ‘Cow Plant’ lowered itself to Charles who was now standing very still, he kept his eyes glued to the creature that hadn’t existed for over three million years, but was now larger than life before him.

Research had shown that they adapted to their environments all across the world during the period they were alive. This ability to adapt as it did, made it one of the deadliest creatures of its time period, next to the tyrannosaurus rex.

To Charles’s surprise the creature nuzzled affectionately against his shoulder giving a small purring like rumble.

With a small nervous laugh, Charles slowly raised a hand and petted its nose; it snorted and wagged its vine like tail, obviously very happy with the attention Charles was giving it.

“Amazing... it, it actually worked... by the Watcher...” His words came out in whispered amazement.

Charles gave the creature a more generous, firmer rub on its nose, to which it made a happy growling sound again, and then he quickly made his way back inside.

On his way back up to the attic, Charles picked up an ugly hanging parrot his sister had given him as a joke when she had come back from ‘Carnival’ in Rio a few years ago.

Once back at his research bench, Charles set up his main boiler with the same serum he had used of the ‘Cow Plant’ and hung the parrot above it so that the vapours escaping would envelope it and hopefully have the same effect as the ‘Cow Plant’.

The he waited, anxiously watching the wooden bird.

He could feel his heart beating faster and faster in his chest and his hands were sweaty in his plastic gloves.

After a few moments he realized he hadn’t blinked and his lungs felt as if they were about to burst from not having breathed out from holding an expectant breathe in.

The strong of the bird that was holding the parrot from the ceiling suddenly snapped, there was an ear piercing screech and the sound of wood splitting, again Charles jumped back slightly putting a hand up as some wood fell to the floor in front of him.

Then, there it was...

A fully grown majestic and very rare, macaw parrot, it flew around the room for a bit before Charles rose his arm up and the beautiful bird came and landed gracefully on it.

Stunned, Charles walked back into the first room of the attic and opened the cage door of a new cage he had bought up in preparations for buying a bird to experiment on later. Now he smiled at the parrot and stood still for a moment enjoying his second victory for the evening.

Every feather was in place, its feet were perfect, and talons sharp like black knives with shiny, bright eyes. A picture of perfect health.

Carefully he put his arm into the cage and waited at the macaw hopped from his arm to the perch and played with the little toy for a moment, it stopped and cocked it’s head to the side giving a low ‘Rrraaa...’

Charles smiled and gave a slight chuckle as he closed the cage door, never taking his eyes off the beautiful bird.

Looking at the bird though the cage door, Charles studied it for a few minutes, as he stared his mind raced through the tests, reports and results he would have to write up for his former-boss about his sudden successes.

‘How long will they live? Will the serum wear off over time or are the effects permanent? Are they truly living creatures the same as others? Can they breed? Oh, there’s so much to do now and I still have to research and examine... Hell I’m tired...’

Charles shook his head to half wake himself up and out of his thoughts, with a sigh he took off his safety glasses, rubbed his eyes and headed down to bed.

All the while his mind racing over what else he could test on with the remaining serum he had left, the results with major effects usually was enough to present to the ‘Bridge-Port Scientific Research Facility Board’.

When Charles woke in the bright sunlight of late Sunday morning, he wandered downstairs to the kitchen and made himself some coffee.

Whilst drinking it, he felt his stomach grumble and shook his head at himself for forgetting to do any proper shopping after work before the weekend; he had noticed that none of the shops in town weren’t open on Sundays via their door signs, unlike in Bridge Port where everything was almost always open 24/7.

After he finished off his coffee, Charles went and grabbed the paper and sat down on the back porch and began to read and see what Twinbrook had anything good on offer in the way of sporting, community events or some sort of night life.

Halfway through his reading, he heard the Cow Plant grunt from outside.

It was hungry.

From upstairs there was a screech from the parrot, it too was hungry.

Sighing and shaking his head, Charles turned to the ‘jobs’ section of the paper in the hopes of finding a house-keeper of sorts.

All he found was the dreaded global ‘Sims-Ville Hospitality Services’. However they stayed in business for so long was beyond his belief since they seemed to be in the habit of employing Sims that would clean ‘your’ house ‘their’ way whilst conveniently forgetting to do laundry, before they would then laze around which usually consisted of them helping themselves to food from your fridge or a swim in your pool if you had one.

Every single time Charles had hired one, he would end up getting angry and firing them. 

Putting the paper aside in disgust, Charles looked over the back garden. He noticed that the vegetable and fruit plants needed attention as well.

It seemed he would have no choice but to hire someone the help him around his house as he knew that he wouldn’t have time to do all of it himself.

As he got up from the chair, Charles stopped and a smile spread across his lips with an idea that grew like and out of control weed in his mind.

‘My Watcher of course, I can use that doll. It’d be the perfect ‘live-in-housemaid. And if this idea works...’

Feeling his whole body tremble with excitement, Charles rushed inside to change and head up to the attic.

Well into the evening, Charles worked on refining the serum; he focused of removing any impurities from the mixture and even rewrote the solution twice before he was happy with the new results.

He went into one of the side rooms and pulled out a large containment tank Charles had bought from his old place on the whim that he may find a use for it; now he was glad he had not given it back to his old research department.

Finally he turned to the doll; his heart was in his throat and his breathing fast and shallow. Carefully he picked up the doll and placed her inside a large solution filled tank.

As the doll sat in the bottom of the tank, Charles added the final ingredient of the perfected serum; a refined version of poison that was known to be used in hospitals to help restart patients brain waves and central nervous systems when they shut down.

Almost instantly the tank began to bubble around the doll...

Charles watched, he held his breath and dare not blink even though his eyes burned.

This time there was no cracking of glass or ear piercing screeches, the doll just suddenly began to enlarge.

Then, there she was, floating in the bubbling mixture like something from a scene of a sci-fi movie.

Charles was speechless and stood rooted to the spot staring at her, it wasn’t until she began to move that Charles quickly shook his head to snap himself out of staring and moved to get her out of the tank before she gained consciousness.

After getting her out of the tank, Charles was surprised that the remaining serum soaked up into her skin, hair and dress leaving her completely dry.

Charles started at her; then he suddenly wasn’t sure what to do and felt panic beginning to set in.

“Oh Watcher, what do I do...” He felt his chest tighten as he tried to gather his thoughts. “Hmm...” He looked at the ladder then back at the fully grown young woman he was holding in his arms. “Right... get downstairs...”

Carefully Charles put her down on the floor by the ladder, then braced himself halfway down the ladder, he then gentle pulled her to him and eased her down by carefully holding her under her arms and letting her body drop down next to his, then he gently put her on the floor at the base of the ladder while bracing his back against the ladder and one leg against wall of the room below.

With a sigh of relief, Charles came down the ladder and gently picked her up again then took her into the smaller of the spare rooms that was on the same side of the house as his bedroom.

As he laid the young woman on the bed, he looked at her face taking an unconscious gasp in.

“My Watcher...”

She was the picture of perfection, not a hair out of place and her body was perfectly symmetrical.

Suddenly with a violent, startled movement upwards, she half sat up on the bed and a series of blood curdling screams escaped from her lips.

Panic set back in again for Charles; quickly he took out a light sedative filled needle from his lab-coats pocket and gave her an injection of it. Waiting for a moment to make sure that the doll girl was completely asleep and wouldn’t wake up for some time.

Charles then rushed down stairs to his office grabbing his phone off the desk quickly dialling a familiar number.

The phone rang out, Charles tried again and on the third time a woman picked up sounding very annoyed.

‘Charles I’m in a meeting, this had better be important or so help me I’ll...’

“It is Lydia, I desperately need your help...”

‘Oh, and what exactly would you be wanting my help with? The last time you so desperately needed my help I ended up in hospital for three months...’

“No experiments this time, honest sis. It’s to do with the house...”

*silence*

“You there?”

‘Yes, I’m here... the house, alright then, but I’ll make you pay this time. My boss will kill me if I do any more ‘favours’...’

“Great,” Charles rushed feeling flustered as he spoke. “I’ll pay full fees, even your plane trip... but I need you here by tomorrow.”

‘Tomorrow, are you nuts Charles? I’ve got million simolian deal in the making here, I can’t just...’

“It’s for the national heritage society.’ Charles blurted out then cursed himself knowing that Lydia was going to be furious when she got there. “You help me with this and you’re name will be worth millions of simolians alone, please, I’m desperate...”

Lydia gave a heavy sigh, but Charles knew she was closing her eyes and shaking her head as she was about to say ‘yes’ to him.

‘If I regret one moment...’

“Sis you won’t, I promise. Full fee’s, even extra’s, anything you want, let you boss know it’s an on-going project with at least six months of work ahead.”

‘Alright, alright... send me the info I’ll need, I’ll be on the first plane tonight.’

Charles hung up and gave his own long sigh of relief glancing out the window at the cow-plant.

“Well, only two ways this can go...”

The next morning at nine forty five the familiar sound of car breaks sounded from outside Charles office window, he looked through the curtains and saw his older sister Lydia watching the taxi turn around and head back into town.

She then made her way to the front archway and came in the front yard.

Charles met her at the front steps; she was leaning on the railing looking at the cow-plant. Her face was expressionless.

“Hey sis, have a good flight?” Charles leaned on a column and looked over at the cow-plant himself.

“Good, good... Charles... there’s an extinct creature in your front garden, did you know that?”

Charles nodded. “Oh, him... yes I uh, I called him Andy.”

“Mhm.” Lydia gave a small nod pursing her lips slightly with a raise of her eyebrows. “Right then... you gunna invite me in, or are we going to stand here all day?”

Charles pushed himself off the column clearing his throat.

“Of course, yes, please, come inside. I’ll get changed then make us some coffee.” He hurried off inside and upstairs to get changed out of his lab clothes.

Charles had forgotten to change as he had been watching over the sleeping doll girl all evening. She hadn’t woken, but had stirred looking uncomfortable which had make Charles give her another sedative just before dawn.

Coming back down to the kitchen, Charles headed straight for the coffee machine.

“Latte?”

“Why not...”

He could feel Lydia watching him, her eyes burrowing into the back of his skull.

The machine ‘Schhhhed!’ sharply, Charles closed his eyes knowing that he was about to get blasted by Lydia, she had a way of somehow making the air feel like it was full of electricity.

He took in a deep breath and squared his shoulders.

“Nice job, so far. The kitchen needs to be touched up and the foyer windows are a bit plain and could do with a bit of work... but, you didn’t bring me here for that huh Charles?”

The silence between them as the coffee machines noises settled down, was enough to make Charles want to scream in frustration.

As much as he didn’t want to, finally he shook his head, his shoulders dropped slightly.

The slow tapping of Lydia’s heels across the floorboards made Charles turn as see her walk away into the dining room.

Following her, Charles found her seated in one of the chairs at the far end of the table.

In her own style, Lydia found a way to drape her body elegantly sideways in a chair so that she could still look at him while seeming unphased.

Taking a seat, Charles stared at his hands rubbing his palm for a moment.

Her eyes stayed on him for a long, few seconds.

“Is that all... or is there more?” From her voice, he could tell that she had chosen her words carefully.

He nodded, she sighed abruptly got up from the chair.

“Show me; let’s get the unpleasantries out of the way.” She sighed lightly brushing a stray hair from her eyes waiting for Charles to get up.

Taking her upstairs to the landing by the second spare bedroom, Charles showed her the bird cage he had moved down from the attic with the Macaw in it.

Lydia bent down to get a better look at the bird, she shook her head as she reached out and touched the bars of the cage for a second.

“So, the flaws even come through when reanimated huh?”

“Flaws?”

Charles looked at her and Lydia nodded side glancing at him, then looked back at the parrot giving another nod.

“Don’t you remember, you dropped it when I first gave it to you and chipped its beak... the chip is still there.” She gave a small smile and shook her head.

Charles shifted nervously and cleared his throat again.

“Well, then maybe you could take a look at one more thing for me. Out of everything, it’s the most extraordinary.”

Still looking at the parrot, Lydia nodded. She gave a small sigh and a tilt of her head before standing up and turned to Charles.

“Okay, let’s see it then...” Her eyes showed at she was upset with him, as did her snippy comments and tone of her voice.

Taking in a deep breath, Charles showed her to the smaller of the two spare rooms, he opened the door and stood aside for her to go in.

He followed closing the door behind him and took a seat while Lydia stared down at the doll girl sleeping on the bed.

“Charles... this is a...”

“An 1827, Sunset Sim Perfection collector’s edition porcelain doll. The maker was well ahead of his era with making the dolls as close to real Sims as possible. He only got to make a few collections though because they creeped people out too much apparently”

Lydia bent down to get a closer look at the girl lying on the bed.

“Well, you were defiantly telling the truth when you said this was extraordinary.” She glanced back for a moment. “Have you seen the makers mark yet?”

Charles shook his head. “No, she... she began to scream uncontrollably before I could even look her over properly. She’s sedated for now, but that...” He paused for a moment. “She is why I called you... not just for the house.”

Lydia stood up letting out a long breath still looking down at the doll girl for a moment more before she turned to Charles and tilted her head towards the door indicating they should leave her and go talk elsewhere.

Charles led his sister downstairs to the redecorated sitting room.

Lydia grabbed his shoulder and spun him about when they got into the door.

“Are completely insane or just out rightly stupid Charlie?”

“it just... I had no idea that...”

“That what Charles, that the possibility of bringing inanimate objects to life might be some sort of fucked up way of playing ‘The Watcher’? That maybe changing something from one form to another might have detrimental effects on that object when it becomes ‘alive’? Watcher Charlie, and here I was thinking that you were the brilliant scientist! Damn it, you’re still such a child!”

“I was working on a breakthrough Lydia, you wouldn’t understand.” He snapped back at her hoping to have caught her off guard.

But Lydia seemed to be ready at every turn.

“Oh I understand every kid dreams of their own unicorn or to ride a dinosaur to school; my Watcher Charlie who didn’t, but those are dreams for good reason. Honestly could you imagine dinosaurs roaming about the streets? It would be utter chaos, and now... now you've got... that upstairs to deal with.”

They both stared at each other before Charles slumped down on a couch behind him scratching his head as he gave a heavy sigh and lent on his hand looking at his sister.

As usual she had a valid point, the sensible side of the family

Lydia slumped down onto the other couch and sighed herself staring at the floor on the far side of the room.

After a moment a slight smile came to her lips and she shook her head.

“Your wallpaper sucks...”

They both gave uneasy laughs then sat in silence, birds twittered outside and a breeze picked up rustling the leaves of the trees in the garden.

Charles knew Lydia was angry at him, but he had the feeling that she knew he had been lying to her when he asked her to come with the stupid reason for helping him fix up the house.

It also was why she hadn’t stormed out, why she had yelled at him and why they were now sitting in silence together on a Monday morning in his sitting room.

The question was, now what did they do with the doll girl upstairs once she woke up again...