Teddy Newman and the Very Strange Set of Circumstances

John doubted he’d get away with gaslighting the girl into thinking he was a lifeless doll. If her reaction indicated anything, it was that she was certain something was amiss with him. Thankfully, the girl made no attempt to seize him. Instead she just pressed her back to the wall and watched him fearfully. That was fine by John.

Figuring he would not have long before that woman with the porcelain mask came to check on Acedia, John hurriedly possessed the hair clip. He felt a slight nausea in his mind as his consciousness split between the soul gem and the paper clip. The shift in perspective from the stuffed toy to the gem had been slight, making the experience more bearable. But the hair clip was an entirely new perspective. Experiencing both simultaneously was discomforting.

John took a moment to overcome his nausea before he slipped under the doorway. The corridor he peered down was well lit. The walls had been painted a deep purple while the floor was made of maplewood with a rich caramel lacquer. Acedia’s room lay at the end of the hallway, but on the far right side, he could make out a set of stairs leading down. Several other doors, all closed, lined the left wall along the way. The right side of the hall featured several more windows with their curtains closed. Just to rule it out with certainty, John tried possessing the nearest one, but found he couldn’t. It seemed like he couldn’t just jump between objects with Possession, everything would have to be near and within sight of his actual body — or soul, whatever. Sighing internally, John continued down the hall as the hair clip.

Meanwhile, back in the bedroom, the other half of John’s consciousness, trapped in the soul gem, idly stared at Acedia. The girl had stopped screaming and was, likewise, cautiously staring at John.

“Stitch?” she voiced quietly. “I-is that you?”

The bear did not move in response. John couldn’t without ending his possession of the hair clip.

“C-can you hear me?” Acedia continued tentatively. Silence filled the room again, with John having no way to reply.

The hair clip was nearing the stairs now. As he approached, John heard movement below. The woman with the porcelain mask was floating up the stairs, silky hair trailing lazily through the air behind her.

“Acedia?” she called, passing John and nearing the bedroom door. “Acedia?” she repeated after knocking on the door. “I heard screaming. Did you have another nightmare?”

“I… ah… yes… but, uhm…” The girl struggled to formulate words.

“I’m coming in,” the woman sighed.

“PLEASE.” Acedia skittishly huddled at the bed corner, clinging to the bed sheets as if her life depended on it.

It was slightly bemusing to John to have partly been the cause of the poor girl’s terror. He felt kinda bad. But at the same time, you don’t just stick a soul gem in a teddy bear, the woman with the mask was clearly magical, and apparently the shadows liked to creep on you while you slept. John was not going to let his guard down.

The door gently began to ease open. It was an opportunity John would not waste. He immediately ended the possession of the hair clip and stirred the bear back to life. As the door swung open, Teddy Newman, still carrying the doll with the entrapped Lorelei, darted between the legs of the masked woman. He was wobbling down the stairs seconds later. He heard no pursuers but had no plans to slow down and find out for sure.

The stairs led down to what looked to be a living area. Whoever designed the house seemed to favour the colour purple, for the walls and curtains were all varying degrees of lilac and mauve. John screeched to a halt and allowed the bear to slump to the floor, as another figure crossed by the stairs.

It was a man, and he stood out brilliantly among the purple halls, wearing baggy, striped overalls sporting every colour of the rainbow. His head was shaved bald on top but the sides were grown out and gelled into a strange, donut-like shape that framed the back of his head. He looked like a clown. He might have been a clown. The man let out a lengthy fart, and something inside the man’s pocket honked in response. Disgruntledly the man patted himself down before producing a goose. A fucking goose. The man was a clown.

‘A clown and a goose… why the ever loving Christ is there a clown and a goose in this house?!’ John would have shaken his head, but he was preoccupied playing the part of a lifeless toy.

“Sorry Marcus, forgot you were in there.” The clown rubbed the bald spot on his head apologetically.

The goose honked angrily at the clown before turning its bill in John’s direction and honking again, this time with apparent confusion as its head cocked sideways. It was quite an expressive goose, apparently.

‘“The fuck?”’ the clown snorted as he followed the goose’s gaze towards the teddy bear on the stairs. He and the goose began to approach.

The goose honked in alarm, snapping its bill irritably at John.

“Quiet down, Marcus! It’s just Ace’s doll…” the clown shushed at the goose and grabbed it with one hand when it continued its snapping. “Shush, I said! Damn, stupid goose,” the clown cursed before looking back at the teddy bear. “What are you doin’ ‘ere, Stitch?” the clown wondered aloud as he began to walk towards John. Thankfully, the clown hadn’t seen him moving around or he might’ve been more alarmed. “You there, Ace? I think you dropped your- BLOODY FUCKIN ‘ELL!”

John sprung to life again, causing the goose to flail wildly and free itself from the clown’s hand, who was in the process of falling over. He ignored them both, bolting off the stairs and passing by the clown to enter the living room. He only had a moment to take in all of his surroundings. There were two potential paths of escape, one was an arch that entered what looked to be a kitchen on his left, the other was another corridor that seemed to run parallel to the wall of the living room. He couldn’t see where it went.

John chose the kitchen. It was closer — and there was now an angry goose chasing him.

“Blimey,” the clown let out a heavy sigh behind John. “You playin’ pranks, Ace? Well… at least ya’re out an’ about.”

“Otto!” the masked woman suddenly called from atop the stairs. “It seems we have an intruder masquerading as our dear Stitch. Please ensure this intruder is caught post haste.”

“Wha- OH FUCK!” the clown swore. “Sick ‘im, Marcus!” the clown named Otto encouraged the goose.

“Mind your language!” the masked woman snapped back at the clown.

“Shit. Sorry, ma’am! Oh! Ah… fuck. Shit… sorry!” the clown sighed and dusted himself off. “I’ll, uh… I’ll just chase the bear now.”

The clown began to run at John with long strides, though his speed was hampered somewhat by his baggy clothes. The goose, however, was right on John’s fluffy, round tail, chasing him into the kitchen and snapping its bill angrily all the while. They ran a circuit around the kitchen island while John gathered his bearings. The kitchen had several more windows that seemingly led out into the void. There was also another closed door, but this one had a flap built into the bottom for a cat or dog— or perhaps a certain goose. He certainly couldn’t pull open a door, but pushing open a flap was well within the capabilities of his stuffed bear body.

John made a dive for the pet door, hurriedly forcing the doll that was Lorelei through first before following himself. ‘Oh come on,’ he sighed to himself as his eyes were assaulted by more lush purple. He was not outside, like he’d hoped. ‘No, of course not, that was far too much to hope for.’ Instead, he found himself in an oddly shaped room. It was circular, with a concave roof that sloped into a pointed tip supported by scaffolding evenly spaced within the perimeter of the walls. ‘A tent,’ John realised as he began to take a closer glance around. Given the clown he’d seen a few moments ago, John was beginning to put two and two together.