She smiled, seeing a large box nestled in the corner of a pile of toys, it was out of the way and Bernadette herself had almost missed it while running past, surely those dumb pink dolls would just skip right past it. Running over she began moving a few scattered toys off the lid of the large yellow box, she should be able to fit inside, I might be tight through, pulling the lid open she found it empty and claimed inside, shutting the lid just as a Megan Dolly skipped into view.
Holding her breath Bernadette could only try and calm her breathing as she heard the doll walk around the area "Where are you?" it called out in a singsong voice. Bernadette clamped her hand over her mouth as she couched inside the box, the doll sounded right overtop her!
There was a sound of toys falling as things were moved around, the doll evidently looking through the pile, followed by the dolls clicking footsteps as she walked away. Beverly heaved a sigh of relief and lay, cramped inside the box, not daring the leave least the doll hear her and come back. A few minutes passed and the inside of the box grew more and more warm. Finally Bernadette decided she had waited long enough and tried to open the box- but it wouldn't open! She tried looking around for a latch to release it but nothing. Minutes ticked past as she tried to open it, pressing her body against the lid with all her might, but no luck.
The heat continued to rise inside the box and finally, out of options, Bernadette began to beat on the lid, calling for help, with any luck the others would hear her, for what seemed like forever she pounded calling out for help before she heard a knock in reply. "Help! Let me out!" she called, wiping the fog off her glasses for what felt the hundredth time.
"I think I found her!" came a cheerful reply. Bernadette felt her heart sink, she had been found out by the dolls after all, but at least that was she wouldn't starve to death, right?
"Ooh! Should we get her out?" an identical voice asked to the left.
"Oh! I have a better idea!" the first replied. There was the clatter as toys were moved about before something was picked up, a scrapping followed as something was seemingly pulled along the boxes side before being inserted, at first she thought it might be a crowbar and they were pulling the box apart, but then she realized that there was a large clanking sound coming from all around her. The cranking grew louder as they continued to twists and Bernadette felt the box grow even hotter, so hot she felt like fainting, the box seemed to spin around her as she moved and tried to escape once more, music sounding loudly as well now, her legs felt numb, her head seemed to weigh a ton and her arms weren't responding, the music grew louder and louder until . . .
Sproing! The lid of the box opened up and Bernadette shot out, her arms springing up at her sides, and her legs felt so wobbly. It took her a second to realize the dolls had not moved to grab her, Ha! Their mistake- Bernadette would just hop off the other way and . . . nothing happened, try as she might her legs wouldn't move, her arms stayed where they were, even her face didn't give a single twitch, and where was that annoying ringing coming from?
"ooh! She looks so cute!" one doll said reaching up and batting at something outside her vision above her head, the ringing sound started again and Bernadette found her entire body bobbing back and forth she was so confused what was going on, why couldn't she move? Then she saw it. Sitting across from her was a large mirror, she knew it was a mirror because the two dolls that stood before her were perfectly reflected in the surface, only where she was standing was now a clown, no now a clown, it had no legs, only a spring that coiled around on itself as the clown atop it bobbed back and forth. Her face was stuck in a permanent smile, teeth now just plastic, a large red nose above that and her eyes stared forward, little more than plastic features of the face of a toy. The costume itself was yellow and orange, the three pronged hat alternating colors and tipped with a bell. Around her waist a skirt with many more fells jingled as she bobbed around, and her arms now had turned into little more than simplified tubes of plastic with cartoonish three fingered gloves at the end.
"No, this is wrong, that can't be me, I'm a person, not a toy!" but the mirror revealed the troth as the two dolls stuffed her down, shutting the lid once more locking her in. she was helpless to smile inside her box as they began pushing her out of the maze back to where their owner was awaiting at the castle.
