Charlotte

After those strange ghost-hunters had left, the house had been cleaned of any debris they had left, and was now back to its pristine state. Just as I liked it.

And I was sure now that whatever they had done was nothing but pointless hocus-pocus and tricks, given they had found nothing when they should have discovered something if they were the real deal.

I had to hand it to Charlie though - the house was looking much better than it ever had in the past few decades. And seeing actual improvement gave me motivation to not only do more about it, but also myself.

Charlie was out most of the time before I could even wake up, so it wasn’t a problem to take a shower before the sun rose, so I could enjoy the refreshing coolness of the water on my skin before my dress was put back on me, now clean as the day it had been made.

That said, I don’t know if it made an actual difference as it was likely my ‘scent’ was also reset with the coming morning, but it did make me feel somewhat better about myself. I did want to ask Charlie for some new clothes to possibly try on, but I knew that even with the payment from those ghost-hunters, he was not exactly in clover yet. And it seemed so unnecessary, and given all that he had already done for me, I couldn't. in good faith ask for anymore.

That said, Charlie did say that he didn’t mind the current situation with my clothes at all, but… surely he was lying to make me feel better? Could he really be satisfied with this situation in which I never changed either my outfit or hairstyle at all? If the roles were flipped, if I was told earlier in my life that the man I loved would only wear the same outfit over and over each day, I would have definitely taken issue with the same.

Who had even come up with this system? If I was designed as a doll, wasn’t the point of a doll that you could dress one up? Granted, I think that I was likely designed as one that was kept on display but still…

All of these thoughts were likely just a result of having too much time on my hands to think. I had to spend a major portion of the day, given that it was summer, just sitting and contemplating my own thoughts. If I was a monk, I should’ve reached enlightenment by now, but no such overwhelming wisdom had yet to come to me even after all these decades. Nor had I gained any further insight into my condition.

The phone buzzed- it was a message from Charlie.

‘Something came up, my sister has sort of fallen on hard times and needs a place to stay. I was thinking of letting her stay at our house, but I wanted to ask you what you thought first.’

Honestly, I didn’t understand Charlie sometimes. He seemed like a simple and straightforward man, which is something that I could appreciate, but at other times his decisions and words confused me. It was as if he was trying to say something, but also not saying the same thing - as if there was a deeper meaning to what he said, but there wasn’t - because in reality he thought there was a deeper meaning to what I said. When that happened, it was like talking in circles with him.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

This was his sister, after all, correct? And she was unmarried, so of course it made sense for him to house her if she had fallen on hard times. I didn’t even understand why he was asking, though I guess he did so out of common decency.

Siblings had to support one another, that much was obvious. I didn’t have any of my own - well, there was May, who was like a sister to me, and at one point I did have a brother. He had passed away when I was only two months old, however, and he could have been no older than four at the time. In those times, it was not uncommon for children to pass away when they were very young. I had imagined what he would have been like when I was much younger, though I quickly learned not to mention him to my parents. My mother’s eyes would be tearful for the rest of the day, if not the week, and I could see my father clench his fists in anger, though he tried to hide it. Perhaps I would have been less lonely growing up if he had still been there with me, but as it was, I had no memory of him aside from people mentioning to me that he had existed at one point. And over the decades, i had nearly completely forgotten about him, but the thought of how sibling relationships worked had brought the memory back.

I guess I should've felt saddened by his passing, and there was a time when I did. I would occasionally imagine how life would be like if he was still around, and how we would have spent time together. But, the rest of my family who I actually knew had also been lost to death's cold embrace, and those 'memories' I had of him were nothing more than fanciful daydreams conjured up by my imagination. I did not even remember what his name had been. As such, I now felt nothing more than a twinge of pity when I thought of him.

‘Sure, let her stay over.’ I sent the message back. In my day, someone like Suzy wouldn’t have even moved outside her parent’s house till marriage, though as I understood it she had a job and was working somewhere. Despite this, it appeared that she was either not being paid enough to support herself, or she had lost her job. Regardless, even if it had been Charlie's brother and not sister - I would completely understand him wanting to help out. I would've done the same, be it for May, who was like a sister to me, or in the hypothetical future where my brother had lived to adulthood, for him.

If anything, I considered whether this might be a good opportunity to reveal myself to someone other than Charlie. Though, it had only been a few months since we had known each other… was I jumping the gun? Was it the right time to try to do something like that? Or was it too soon?

Speaking of guns, with a bit of annoyance I recalled how Charlie had still refused to purchase a firearm. Now that was something I wished he’d actually listened to my opinion on, not stuff like this. I would’ve wanted to have one - even if it would’ve been difficult for me to lift a rifle given this body’s strength, not because I wanted to kill anyone, but it did pose an actual threat to anyone who wanted to invade this house of… well not just mine, but ours.

After all, the only other alternative I had to that was the fear I could inspire with my form. But, Charlie had declined citing various reasons.

My phone buzzed again as he had sent another message: ‘Are you sure you don’t have a problem?’

Again, I couldn’t see why he seemed to think that I would have an issue with the arrangement - and also that if I did, that I wouldn’t just outright tell him.

I thought I overthought things, but what was making it so complicated for him? It wasn’t like he had huge spaces of time where all he could do was think things over and over until it felt like his mind was going to explode! I repeated what I had said earlier, and began thinking of ways that I could possibly endear myself to his sister whenever she arrived.

I didn’t know much about her, so it was best to ask Charlie what she was like and if he thought it was a good idea to reveal myself to her before I did anything drastic.