Chapter #26Barbie Roleplays as Mom by: Nostrum   You see Barbara waking up, only to be hugged by a teary-eyed sister. “Barbie! Tell me you’re alright...!”
“Ash?” the middle of the Wright sisters asks, perplexed. “What’s going on?” She looks at you and gasps. “Who’s that guy?”
“He’s David – one of my neighbors.” (You took off Tessa and are wearing one of the goons’ pants and jacket, with a small clean towel covering your thing.) “He decided to help me rescue you.”
“Rescue!?” She looks around, seeing the aftermath. The goons turned into skins, alongside Cassie, Quentin, Ross and Tessa, fill her with dread. “Ash, what’s going on? What are those?”
“Barbie, let me explain. I know this’ll sound ridiculous, but you’ve been out for... I dunno. A year, I guess.”
“Don’t tell me that’s--!” She looks at her deflated mother and sister and screeches, trembling. “This is a dream, this is a dream...!”
“More like a nightmare,” you say, “but we’re gonna try to fix this. You’re safe now.”
She looks at you, angrily. “What tells me that I am? You might be trying to fool me!”
You hand her the brown pen; she hesitates at first, but your mother’s tender touch eases her nerves. “Touch that guy and use the pen,” you say as you point at Ross. “As long as you keep touching it, you can ask them.”
“Ask them what?”
“Whatever question you want. But I’d recommend asking why he turned you into these,” you say as you point to her deflated mother and sister, “and what he did as you. Then we’ll be able to explain.”
--
Barbara is shellshocked after you finish your tale. You conveniently kept mum about your mother replacing Ashley, but you came clean about the rest, including using the pens to fool “Tessa” by posing as Cassandra and her. (At least you know how to deal with Cassie once she wakes up.)
Her first reaction is to empty her guts on the nearest trash bin. “Oh God. This isn’t happening.”
“It is,” your mother claims, channeling Ashley. “If it weren’t because David saw me getting turned into these by someone else, I would’ve been used just like you.”
You try to stifle your snort. That’s bold of you, Mom – you're doing the same thing and worse.
“If I hadn’t...” She chokes, crumpling into your mother’s arms. “If I hadn’t touched that guy and heard him telling everything...”
“Do you believe us now?” your mother asks, grabbing her by the shoulders. “Barbie, what that guy did is unforgivable. He ruined your life. I need to keep you safe until we can figure out how to fix this.”
“Call the cops!” she shrieks. “Or the FBI, or someone!”
“We’re gonna try,” you tell her, “but it’ll be complicated. Who knows what they’ll do when we tell them about the pens.”
“Do what you did with me! Have them touch them, let them ask as many questions as they need!”
“And what if they’re in on it?” you remark. “We need to make sure whoever we contact can be trustworthy. While we do so, we can’t risk having the cops or the FBI arrest you – we need to know how careful Ross was with his dealings.”
“Oh God, I’m gonna lose my job.”
“You can start again,” your mother tells her. “The sister I know wouldn’t give up that easily. And I got your back on anything you need.”
“I know, but what will I do until then?”
“We need to hide you,” you tell her as you move behind the counter, grabbing one last skin. “So that no one can find you.”
“Who’s that?”
“That’s...” You try to channel grief – with difficulty, because it’s based on a half-lie. “This is my mom. It’s the reason I'm here – they turned her into this, and when we tried to wake her up, she... She’s off.”
“Oh, God...! But how?”
“She’s, like... Robotic. If my dad and my siblings know what happened...” (As if you were to tell them.) “That’s why you need to pose as her. Until things clear up.”
“But, I don’t know how.”
You grab the brown pen while handling your mother’s old skin to her. “Just put her on. This’ll let you know everything you need to pass off as her, as well as let you imitate her. It’s just like when you touched the guy.”
“I see... And Cassie?”
“We’re gonna revive her soon – we need to sort some things out before doing so. We tried with you first to see if this’d work.”
“What do you need to check?” she asks.
“There are a lot of skins downstairs. They’re your dad’s handiwork. If we get them, we might figure out what he did to Mom.”
“And because Dad’s inside Mom...” She chokes again, trembling. “I always wondered why Mom and my father hated each other. But to feign his death and ruin her life... God, how can someone be so monstrous!?”
You glance at your mother, seeing her flinch. “That’s why we can’t revive her – yet. We need to sort things out before we can attempt to revive her – and we need him out first.”
“Yeah, I get it.” The terrible experience has shocked her into compliance, at the very least. “So... what now?”
“We'll leave you to change...” Though you’re not grieving, you’re confused enough to wonder if you are. “Into Mom. Check if your mom’s clothes fit her; we’ve got nothing for her.”
“Gotta buy David some as well. We figured that, once this was over, we’d do something like this.”
“Alright...” Barbara grabs your mother’s old skin, wrapping herself with it. “I’ll need some space.”
“Sure.” You hand her the brown pen, giving her instructions. “Once you’re fully inside her, point the pen and click. You’re gonna faint, but you should wake up quickly – like what happened with Ross.”
“And what about them?” she asks.
“We’ll try to find something to hide them, Sis. In the meanwhile... I know this is odd, but do this for him. He’s going to need his mother now more than ever – even if she’s not the real deal.”
“Alright,” she accepts timidly. “But this better not last for a lifetime, Ash. No offense, kid, but I don’t expect to live like a forty-something for the rest of my life.”
“None taken, Ms. Wright. I don’t wanna burden you with living as my mom forever.”
“Good. And...” She grabs your arm, sighing. “Thanks. I guess this is what little I can do to thank you for saving us.”
--
“Well played,” your mother says. “I never thought Barbie would agree.”
“This wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t choose to be her, but I can’t change your mind.”
“David, stop trying to nag me about it. I know you’re not happy with it--”
“Mom,” you stop her, keeping your voice low. “I don't like it, but I’ve never seen you as happy as you’re now. I just wish it wasn’t as complicated.”
“I told you I’d be responsible with her. This will be my life now, Davey.” She hugs you, rubbing her chin in your cheeks. “And thanks for understanding. Even if it’s hard for you."
“Mom, you’re making this weird!”
“Get used to it,” she tells you, partly in jest. “I’m feeling quite affectionate nowadays.” She follows you to a door in the basement, hidden under a heavy cupboard with a secret latch that unlocks the sliding mechanism. “Now what?”
“This should take us to the other houses.” You grab a key and open the door, leading to a short tunnel below ground. As you open the other door, you get the feeling of being in a storeroom, though the faint stink of brine permeates it.
That’s not what shocks you, though. Inside, and as you turn on the lights, you see racks of skins hanging like clothes. You deduct there must be almost a hundred – all women, of different ages and races and shapes, their shoulders placed on top of hangers while their deflated heads hang limp before them.
“Oh God...” Your mother gives a queasy look as she witnesses this. “This isn’t real.”
“It is,” you tell her. “This is the escort service Marvin built.”
“He turned all these women into skins too!?”
“Clones, according to him. The real ones should be out there. Since they’re basically sex dolls, he just needed to wake up the ones that had to work.”
“Good Lord... He exploited them.”
“They’re like this most of the time, so they’re 'low-maintenance'.” You glare, bug-eyed, at your mother while rectifying the comment. “His words, not mine.”
“At least we don’t have to worry about missing women,” she says. “We still need to deal with them.”
“I asked him if he had a plan for them in case of emergencies.” You move towards a chest, holding lots of empty garment bags. “We could place them here.”
“And where would we hide them?”
“In the basement,” you tell her. “I mean – sure, we’ll have to convince Tina, but--”
“At least until we find someplace else to move them – a storage room or something.” She sighs, wiping her lips. “That man was so depraved... Creating clones to exploit them as sex workers?”
“It seems so.”
“Though now that I think of it..” She grabs the skin of a thick Black woman, admiring it. “Maybe if I knew about this before, your father wouldn’t have resorted to cheating”
“Mom?”
“I’m not planning to go back with him, Davey. It’s just that...” She grabs another skin – that of a petite Asian with short black hair – and examines it carefully. “Our marriage was growing stale. I never realized it until it was too late. If I could’ve been someone else before he thought of that – if I roleplayed as his mistress – maybe we’d still be together.”
“But like you said – too late. Plus, that mean we wouldn’t have saved them.”
“Very true." You see her face draw a big smirk. “I’m curious. Would you consider it wrong if we wore them?”
“I dunno, I...” You try to hide your desire, but your mother has already read your face – better come clean. “No?”
“Maybe we could keep this as our little secret. Choose any one... No. Choose a couple of skins you want. They’re yours.”
You open your eyes, in shock. “What!?”
“You turned my life around and saved my new sisters. You deserve a reward.” You have the following choice: 1. Continue |
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