Villainess 2: DeeDee's Curiosity Shop

Red Pill 6: Daydreams, Curiosities

Janet Fleming’s dream was a continuation of last night’s in the thoroughfares of the Student Commons Town, where the street lamps fluttered to life with a spectral green glow, and where several clones of herself appeared from various thoroughfares carrying lighted lamps in their hands. They all looked at her with expectant smiles on their faces as if they were letting an outsider in on one of their deepest secrets, all of them beckoning Janet to follow them with their lamps through the thoroughfares of the Town.

“They’re your clones,” Janet’s suicide double said behind her, and when Janet turned around, she saw the rest of her doubles behind her, all of them carrying lamps of their own. “Let’s follow them, shall we?”

Janet looked back on her silent clones, all of them still beckoning her forward with their lamps. “Are you sure?” she said, wondering if they’re just figments of her imagination. “What if they’re not really my clones?”

“This is your dream, Janet,” her suicide double said. “Whether they’re real or not, they have something for you.”

Well, Janet couldn’t argue with that, so she looked back over at her other clones waving for her to follow them and said, “I sure hope you’re right about this.”

“We’re with you,” her suicide double said, and the rest of her doubles nodded their heads and said similar assurances.

Janet smiled and joined the lugubrious procession of her silent doubles leading the way down the brick-paved boulevard bisecting the Town, followed in tow by her own clones bringing up the rear. As the procession passed the boutiques and restaurants and saloons, their shadows dancing along the walls from the glow of their lamps, Janet looked at the darkened windows that were empty of customers, empty of their chattering voices and clinking tableware and glassware and tapping footfalls. They then took a collective detour to their left into a narrow side street of antiquarian shops, one of which caught Janet’s eye, for it was the only shop with a light still flickering inside its windows next to a dead end wall closing off the street. When they closed in on the shop, Janet read the signage above the door:

DeeDee’s Shop of Curiosities.

Just as they reached the shop, the shop door swung open on its own, and one of Janet’s silent clones entered, while the rest stayed outside and gave Janet and her own clones a wide berth, beckoning them to enter with their lamps. Janet looked through the shop windows at her silent double waiting for her at a glass display case full of compasses and telescopes and astrolabes and globes by the entrance, standing there and looking back at her with her lamp on the countertop.

She looked back on her own clones, and her suicide clone said, “It’s all right, don’t worry.”

Janet wasn’t so sure, but she trusted her and stepped through the doorway into a room of musty smells from old leather bookbindings and other odors she couldn’t identify, and her clones followed behind her, while the rest of her silent clones stayed outside.

Janet peered at her surroundings: a low bookshelf by the windows full of leather-bound old tomes and grimoires; another bookshelf of small crosses and amulets and pendants and other small curios; another glass display case full of jars with monstrous bodies preserved in amniotic fluids; another bookshelf full of elixirs in bottles and flasks on the back wall; and yet another bookshelf full of sculptures and figurines and busts by the entrance. In the center of the shop stood two display cases: one a large display case in the center of the shop full of fossils and bones and full-length human skeletons; and the other a smaller display case full of artifacts and swords and knives, where a life-sized bisque doll in a black maid outfit sat atop its glass countertop with its legs dangling over the edge and its face staring at nothing from its glassy eyes. In addition to the display cases and the doll, in one corner of the shop stood a full suit of armor holding a long claymore in the gauntlets of its hands, and in another corner stood a full-length mirror on a mirror stand, and from the rafters of the ceiling hung giant tortoise shells and a large lamp lighting the interior.

After looking around, Janet headed towards her silent doppelgänger and said, “What is this place?”

Her spectral double pointed towards the bisque doll sitting atop the smaller display case, where all of Janet’s clones were crowding around and poking its cheek and inspecting its clothes and saying how cute it was.

Janet turned back to her silent double: “What do you mean?”

Her double pointed towards the bisque doll again, then put her hands together and put them to her cheek and closed her eyes like a pantomime.

“You want me to wake her up?” she said.

Her double nodded.

With that, Janet walked towards the crowd of her talking clones, who all gave her a wide berth and let her get near the bisque doll. She once again turned back to her silent double, and when that double nodded her head, Janet grabbed the doll’s shoulders and gave it a good shaking, yet it remained limp on the countertop.

Janet turned to her silent double: “She won’t wake up.”

Her double pointed at the bisque doll, then pinched her own cheek.

Janet nodded at the gesture and pinched the doll’s cheek, and it felt like an actual human girl, yet she wouldn’t wake up. She then leaned in and inspected the doll’s face up close, where the imprint of her pinch left a slight reddish hue, and lifted its bangs from its forehead to see if there was a name there.

There wasn’t.

“What are you looking for?” her suicide clone said.

“I’m not sure,” Janet said, wondering who the shop owner was, then turned to her silent doppelgänger once again. “Do you know the owner of this shop? Maybe the owner knows how to wake her.”

Again her silent double pointed at the bisque doll.

“You’re kidding,” she said. “This doll?”

Her double nodded, then raised her arm and pointed to the large lamp above their heads.

“Wait, what?” Janet blanked out on the gesture, looking up at the lamp lighting the interior of the shop, then stared at her silent double and said, “I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”

So her double pointed at her own lamp on the display case next to the entrance, then pointed at herself as a reference.

“That lamp belongs to you?” Janet said.

Her double nodded again, then pointed up at the large lamp hanging above their heads and then at the bisque doll on the other display case.

“You mean this big lamp,” Janet’s suicide double said, pointing up at the large lamp and then to the bisque doll, “belongs to this doll?”

Her double nodded again and knocked on her lamp atop the display case as if it was a door, blinking its glowing light with each knock, then put her hands together and put them to her cheek and closed her eyes as if she was sleeping, then opened her eyes.

Then it clicked in Janet’s head: “Knock on the big lamp to wake her up?”

Her double nodded again.

Janet looked up at the big lantern above her, a good three feet above her head, then down at the countertop of the display case just below the level of her hips. She peered around the room, looking for a chair or a step stool, but when she saw none available, she did the next best thing: she turned around and pushed herself up into a sitting position on the glass countertop and swung her legs around, then got up to her feet.

“Careful now,” her suicide clone said.

“I will, don’t worry,” Janet said and looked up at the big lantern that was now a few inches above her head. She raised her hand and knocked on it, blinking its glowing light with each knock. She waited for a few moments, then knocked on it again, blinking its light over and over . . .

Until a voice blinked the light of the big lantern with its words, flooding the shop with its voice as it said, “All right, all right, you can stop now, ugh! Seriously, I need a better way to wake up,” and the voice burped. “Sorry about that. I’m still a bit sleepy.”

“Do you really live in this lamp?” Janet said.

“Of course I do. It’s my living quarters, you know,” the voice said. “Just wait a little bit while I transfer,” and the light of the lamp blinked on and off in rapid succession, till the bisque doll twitched to life at Janet’s feet, and its glassy eyes flashed with a green spectral glow, and it stretched its arms and yawned and said, “All right, I’m fully awake now,” and the doll looked up at Janet. “Who are you, anyway?”

“I’m Lady Janet Fleming,” she said.

“Nice to meet you. I’m DeeDee Marionette, by the way,” the doll said, though she seemed more human to Janet than she had a moment ago, and she got off the display case. “Welcome to DeeDee’s Shop of Curiosities. Get down from there before you fall.”

So Janet sat herself back on the countertop and swung her legs over the edge and got off without much hassle.

“You came here alone?” DeeDee said.

“No,” she said, looking at her own clones crowding around the small display case inside the shop. “Don’t you see the other clones?”

DeeDee looked over at Janet’s silent clone standing beside her lamp at the other display case next to the entrance, then turned towards the shop windows where the rest of her silent clones waited outside the shop. “There’s one clone here, while the rest are outside.”

Janet looked at her own clones in the shop and said, “There are other clones of me in the shop.”

DeeDee surveyed her surroundings inside the shop but said, “I don’t see any other clones here. How many are there?”

Janet’s suicide clones counted heads and said, “There’s thirty-one of us here.”

“Thirty-one,” Janet said.

So DeeDee walked through the crowd of clones towards her full-length mirror in the corner of her shop, then turned its reflection towards the Janet and—

“Ah, there you are,” DeeDee said. “It’s just as you say, Lady Fleming. The rest of you, just stay where you are, so I can see you in this mirror,” and she ordered Janet’s silent double waiting by the entrance to bring her lamp over and place it on the glass countertop, which she did, placing it atop the display case in front of Janet and her clones.

“Yes, right there,” DeeDee said.

And the double left it there and stood sentry close by it, while DeeDee walked through Janet’s clones again towards the bookshelf on the back wall that held elixirs in bottles and flasks, then gave three hard knocks on the left side of the shelf and waited for a time.

“What’s she waiting for?” Janet said.

“Beats me,” her suicide clone said.

Then there came a small click and a heavy clank somewhere behind the bookshelf, and the shelf swung open, and DeeDee said, “No peeking now,” and she stepped inside.

Moments passed.

Then, when she came back out, DeeDee headed back to the display case carrying a small tome in her hands and plopped it on the glass countertop before Janet and her clones. She flipped through pages of redacted text and said, “All of the other pages have been redacted, meaning I can’t read them,” but when she found the one page with readable text, she added, “Except for this last page.

“‘Lady Janet Fleming,’” (she read aloud.) “‘Status: Alive. Most recent event: After getting framed by Miss Rosalie Edgeworth for ripping her dress and then losing her engagement ring over the weekend, Lady Fleming got set up by Lady Childeron and Lady Felton at school that morning and confronted Prince Donavan Blaise and then went to the women’s restroom, where she had a vision in the bathroom mirror. She found deleted copies of herself, who advised her on how to proceed, and accompanied them to her homeroom class to confront Miss Rosalie Edgeworth and Prince Donavan Blaise. Afterwards she became dizzy and collapsed in the hallway.’”

Then DeeDee turned to Janet and said, “Is this your entry?”

Janet nodded.

Then DeeDee flipped back through the redacted pages, one by one, counting each one-page entry till she reached the thirty-first entry and said, “All of the previous pages have been redacted, so I can’t read them,” and she indicated the thirty-first page away from Janet’s with a tap of her finger and added, “but maybe the rest of you can read some of them. If one of you can read the page, then come up and put your hand on the lamp and then read it aloud,” and she stood aside.

Janet’s suicide double came forward and placed her hand on the lamp and said, blinking the lamp with her words and flooding the room with her voice,

“‘Lady Janet Fleming. Status: Dead. Final event: After getting framed by Miss Rosalie Edgeworth for ripping her dress and crying over the weekend, Lady Fleming confronted Prince Donavan Blaise about it at school and then went to the women’s restroom, where she cried. Then she went to her homeroom class to confront Miss Rosalie Edgeworth and got restrained by her classmates, till Prince Donavan Blaise confronted her. Afterwards she climbed the balustraded and leaped to her death.’”

“That’s a very sad story,” DeeDee said.

“Wait,” Janet’s suicide double said, “you can see me?”

DeeDee nodded and said, “This lamp brings to light many secrets, both truths and lies. That’s why they all carry lamps when I send them out,” and she pointed out Janet’s silent clone next to her, as well as the other clones all holding their own lamps outside the shop windows. After that, she tapped on the next page over and said, “Next!”

Another clone came forward, the one in a soiled linen gown who had been beheaded in her execution, and placed her hand on the lamp and read aloud,

“‘Lady Janet Fleming. Status: Dead. Final event: After getting blamed for writing and leaving death threats against Miss Rosalie Edgeworth in the halls of the Academy, Lady Fleming tried to fake her own death with Marquess Arnold Fleming’s help, yet Prince Donavan Blaise’s spies found out and reported it to him. Afterwards she was apprehended and questioned for hours but wouldn’t admit to writing those death threats, so she was imprisoned on charges of treason, fomented by Miss Rosalie Edgeworth. As such, Marquess Arnold Fleming petitioned the high court to set Lady Fleming free, but King [Conner] Blaise denied his bail and granted Prince Blaise full recourse to prosecute Lady Fleming and behead her one week later.’”

“Ouch!” DeeDee said. “I can just imagine.”

“I know,” Janet’s beheaded clone said. “Damn that two-faced bitch!”

“All right,” DeeDee said, turning the page over to the next, and tapped it with her finger. “Next!”

Yet another clone came forward, the one wearing a ball gown with bloodstains on her bodice, and placed her hand on the lamp and read out her own harrowing experience of getting poisoned. Then another clone followed, and then another, and then another, all of them coming forward and reading out their gruesome ends from DeeDee’s tome. Throughout these hideous retellings, Janet felt a wave of nausea flooding through her, leaving her senses clouded as she began to nod off in a delirium of words. Even when she propped herself up on the display case next to her silent doppelgänger, she couldn’t take anymore and fell down through the endless free fall of eternity, only to emerge on the other side where she heard other voices.

To Be Continued