A witch returns home after a long day of gathering ingredients, but when she enters she finds that things aren’t quite right.

 

All the windows and blinds have been shut tight, preventing any natural light from entering, and the entry is the only part of the house that’s currently lit up. The lightbulbs have been replaced with harsh fluorescent lights that make her home feel unwelcoming. The walls and floor are different too, now sporting concrete and tiles that are somehow already quite grimy, despite the fact that they can’t have been here for much longer than a few hours.

 

She’s on high alert, believing this to be some kind of trap put together by a rival witch, or someone even worse, but why couldn’t she tell anything was wrong? Her connection to her house means that she can normally tell right away if there’s an intruder, no matter where she is. She suddenly sees the tv in the living room turn on, revealing what’s going on here. She enters the living room, which is partially lit by the image on the screen, depicting someone wearing a strange mask. She’s already putting everything together, but before she can say anything the figure on the screen begins talking in a modulated voice.

 

“Hello Miss, this one would like to play a game.”

 

The witch sighs, and puts her hand to her temples.

 

“Damn it, Persephone…”

 

It would appear that Persephone, her doll, has been watching those movies again while she’s not home. It had been almost 6 months since the last incident, so she thought it was finally over, but this time it has taken it further than ever before. Was the only reason things had been so calm for so long because Persephone was planning this the whole time?

 

The lights in the living room turn on, revealing a plate of cookies on the coffee table in front of the tv.

 

“Before Miss is a plate of delicious cookies, fresh from the oven. Miss could eat one or two now, but then there would be less to share with Miss’s beloved doll later. Does Miss have a quick snack now, or does Miss share them all with the doll she cares so much about?”

 

The witch looks at the cookies, unamused at the entire situation.

 

“Persephone, if you don’t come out right now I’m going to eat every single one of these cookies without you.”

 

The figure on the screen gasps, and starts moving erratically.

 

“N-No, Miss wouldn’t!”

 

The witch doesn’t say anything, just wordlessly picking up a cookie and starting to munch on it.

 

“Surely miss is just bluffing? Miss wouldn’t eat all those cookies without sharing?”

 

She finishes off the cookie, and starts eating a 2nd one.

 

The masked doll starts yelling and runs off screen. Several moments later, Persephone enters the room on a tricycle several sizes too small for them, that the witch doesn’t know how it got, and the mask has half fallen off in the panic to get here.

 

“Why do you keep doing this, Persephone?”

 

“When Miss created this one, Miss ordered it to keep things interesting around the house.” It says before taking a cookie.

 

“Yeah, but I meant like putting up some new decorations every now and then, not for you to keep turning our house into the closest recreation of a horror movie that a doll like you is capable of!”

 

The witch sees that her words clearly aren’t getting through to Persephone, who is now blissfully eating the cookies on the table.

 

“Whatever, I’ve got a big day tomorrow, so I’m going to get some dinner and head to bed.”

 

The witch enters the kitchen and turns the light on, only to see that this room has received a similar treatment. The only furniture remaining in the room is a table with a tea set on it, the two teacups each have a label, reading ‘Miss’ and ‘Doll’ in crude handwriting.

 

“Persephone?”

 

“Yes Miss?” it replies, having finished off most of the cookies already.

 

“How many rooms did you convert into your little ‘death traps’?”

 

“...Everything except for Miss’s bedroom, which this one is forbidden to enter without permission…”

 

Her hand returns to her temples. “Okay, I’ve had it. I’d hoped I’d find a way to convince you to stop on your own, but this has gone too far. From this point forward you’re completely forbidden from turning the house into any kind of horror movie set.”

 

“But what about Halloween?!”

 

She takes a second to consider.

 

“You can decorate for halloween, but only in October, and only the outside of the house.”

 

“Fiiiiine, this one will find something else to keep it entertained for the rest of the year.”

 

“Good. Now when you’ve finished with those cookies, you need to show me where you put all the other food in this house, and then you need to start putting everything back to normal.”

 

Persephone helps the witch put together as much of a meal as they can without any of the appliances, and once the witch heads to bed it starts getting to work on restoring the house, humming a cheery tune the whole time. After all, horror movies have been banned, but Miss never said anything about Sci-fi…