This page looks terrible in Internet Explorer.
don't worry. this will look pretty, someday. probably not today thooughhhh ~
7A68AE D3C8F2
haunted house
---------
At the end of a small country road lies an old abandoned shack no one ever ventures into. It's walls are crafted of several large slats of thick wood, and the roof is of the same material. Once upon a happier time, this little hut was home to a family of four. The dad died in a mining accident, the baby boy passed away as an infant - and the nesting doll claimed the souls of the last two.
Years and years later, the burnt remains of the place after the great forest fire still lie in the same spot, a blackened wreck of the shabby old hut. It is devoid of all color, and even the animals avoid it - whispered rumors and hushed tales tell of a mysterious being in the ruins, an eerily smiling spirit that had taken many of their lives.
But shouldn't it have died in the fire?
Ah. But not everything perished in the flames.
One last artifact of the household still stands, tall and proud amongst the blackened debris.
And if you were to go there today, the matryoshka doll would still be there, bright, colorful, and smiling, smiling at something far in the distance...so that the last thing you see before you die is the insane grin of a nesting doll.
matryoshki murmurs
---------
A matryoshka doll, or babushka doll is a Russian nesting doll which is a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside the other. The first Russian nested doll set was carved in 1890 by Vasily Zvyozdochkin from a design by Sergey Malyutin, who was a folk crafts painter at Abramtsevo. Traditionally the outer layer is a woman, dressed in a sarafan, a long and shapeless traditional Russian peasant jumper dress. The figures inside may be of either gender; the smallest, innermost doll is typically a baby lathed from a single piece of wood. Much of the artistry is in the painting of each doll, which can be very elaborate. The dolls often follow a theme, aside from the typical traditional peasant girls, the themes vary, from fairy tale characters to Soviet leaders.
deathly departure
---------
The matryoshka doll perched atop the fireplace smiles eerily at the child and her mother. It surveys the scene with two beady, soulless eyes, inside, while the howling winter winds wage war against the rickety old house, outside.
It'll be okay, the mother murmurs to her child, who coughs wildly on her sickbed.
It'll all be fine in the end.
But it won't be.
It won't be okay.
And the end is already here.
* * * * *
The nesting doll's features are thrown into sharp relief by the flickering candle adjacent it. Its wooden smile wavers in the dim light, and a fire lights its eyes: Someone, somewhere, is reaching the end of their life.
And the matryoshka, here, will soon have another doll to join its ranks.
A particularly fierce wind rages across the skies; the tiny little hut actually shudders from the blast of winter air.
One last, dying flame shivers on the melting wax, and then the candle is out, and the darkness now seems darker than ever.
* * * * *
Does it hurt to die?
The innocent question slides out of her dry rosebud lips, accentuated by hacking coughs and wheezes. The voice is raspy, as though its owner had not drunk for a week.
You won't die. The mother's voice is uncertain and shaky; the child must have noticed, too, for her next words were:
I'm glad I'm going to die with you next to me.
The mother opens her mouth, but her daughter continues.
I don't want to live a day without you.
She squeezes her mother's hand as tight as possible. A slight smile twitches at her lips. The mother doesn't even have time to utter a reply.
The matryoshka shudders and crashes to the floor.
The daughter's chest stops moving, and her heart stops beating.
The mother is still unaware what has happened. Then she notices-her child's hand has relaxed, and her eyes no longer blink; nor are they full of light and life: Now, they are as empty as the matryoshkas', and the unseeing pupils are directed towards something by the hearth.
The nesting doll lays there, smiling and unmoving. The mother puts it back on the fireplace, and before the tears and depression can weigh her down, she takes her own life.
* * * * *
The matryoshkas' piercing black eyes still stare at the spot where a mother and her child lost their lives. Only now, two new dolls watch the spot with her-one for the child, one for the mother, and both are now reunited in the heart of their murderer.
tombstone toy
---------
Matryoshki the nesting doll, is, quite frankly, a doll of death. Referred to as a she - after all, how many guy dolls are out there? - Matryoshki exists all over the world in spiritual form, but inhabits only the old derelict shack in physical form as a doll.
The many dolls inside of her are the reincarnations of people whose deaths she has caused. Prior to death, she may drop from her shelf, as shown in the tale above, or perhaps pop open her dolls. Either way, she will give a sign that suggests she may be capable of movement - but as humans only believe what they wish to believe, no one has ever thought that true.
Matryoshki is not mean or cruel in any way. She feasts on departed souls, and the only way to eat them, is, of course, to kill first. That way, the soul will be unprotected by a physical body, and quite easy to catch and devour.
art
---------
coming soon!
timely farewell
---------
Neomail me if you'd like to trade links. (:
credits
---------
Thank you
Vix for letting me reuse your character! ♥
Matryoshki Murmurs: The information on nesting dolls was copied and pasted from Wikipedia.
Background from
Foomanshu.
