Gathering Armies and Hatching Plans

The Willow is at my door. I hear her weep and I hear her branches rustle at the walls. It's driving me insane but I can't cope with her terms. Not at all. It started when I was just finishing up with the last post. God, I saw her face. ...she doesn't have a face. It's not that it's just a layer of skin, no... it's not even there. Only parts of the nose and cheeks remain but most of it is a black, endless spiral. A vortex that drew me in then tortured my soul with hatred and dejection. I could only barely draw my eyes away from it long enough to close the curtains.

I asked Blood who that was. She said, "Mother," in an eerily choked whisper. She didn't make a move for the door. Neither did the Willow. I wondered why. The tree people that flanked the Willow were staring at me with faces scarred with self-injuries and wrinkled in contempt of me. Neither of them had eyes, just blackened weeping pits. Blood called them "the Criers", couriers and guardians of their mother.

The saplings created by the black blood from Blood's wounds started growing. I think the Willow might use them somehow. It's been almost two days and four hours ago Blood told me what the Willow wanted.

"Mother wants me returned to her so she may fight the Doll without worrying."

I asked her if it would stop the weeping.

"Nothing stops the weeping."

I said okay.

"And she wants something else too."

I could feel the inevitable answer but it hit me by surprise even though I was prepared for it.

"She wants you. You've survived an encounter with the Doll and you've shown yourself to be betrayed and depressed. Mother can help you. She can be your mother too."

I shook my head, gave her a glass of orange juice and told her I'm not going.

"Then I'm not going either. Mother doesn't like only meeting a negotiation in the middle- besides, you're a nice person and you deserve Mother's embrace."

I shut the door on her. It hurt. It's been a few days stuck in here and we've started talking about stuff. Hell, I even dusted off the old Scrabble and Clue boards and started playing those. But we are running out of orange juice, and while I have a good stockpile of canned goods and water (I... I enjoy having backup food in case of emergency) it's not going to last forever, while the Willow probably *can* last forever. Oh God, what do the Willow's tree people drink? Her tears?

God.

To make matters worse, the screeches and skitters that I all-too-horrifyingly remembered of the Doll came back, and the moans and shrieks of the porcelain statues out there grew to a full fortissimo. Blood shot upright and started shivering. I consoled her while the Doll skittered around and even ducked its face into the window. It tapped on the glass, but surprisingly nothing more. Now that's strange. I know the Willow and her servant tree things might be polite enough to negotiate, but from what I can tell the Doll is a "torture-everything-and-fuck-hospitality" kind of creature. So this surprised me. I had about three guesses, and one included the idea that the Willow was holding the Doll back. Maybe as a ploy to bully us out to her, or maybe to keep it away from us because- oh fucking God I hope not- maybe the Doll wants us just as much as the Willow does.

So that's it. Two armies of eldritch creatures are at my front door arguing over who has first pick. It couldn't get any worse. But I thought of something. And I told Blood. When she asked why I told her what I thought about the Willow. I said that the two would eventually start fighting and if they're too preoccupied killing each other then they won't notice our escape.

Of course, Blood refused. Not only did she refuse, but she almost went over to the door and opened it. I saw through the paned windows the faces of the Doll and the Willow both looking towards us as she neared the doorknob. I pulled Blood away. She screamed and kicked at me and yelled at me. "Why would I do such a horrible thing?" I tried explaining that the Willow is as evil as the Doll thing and that she would be dooming us both to suffering in self-loathing for all eternity but she just laid down on the couch and cried. And I realized how horrible I was being. I know that the choice I made was probably the right one, but it hurt to think that I might be the fault for Blood's misery.

But... I don't know. What do you guys think? God... was I this horrible to Danny? When I look back I could have just let him be a normal kid. He had Edvard's Syndrome, yes, but he really wanted to fit in but I pulled him back. God, maybe my wife was right. Maybe the Willow is right. Fuck, maybe my own mom was right.

...goddammit I can't think about that right now. Philosophy and emotion can be saved for later. For now we have to find a way out alive.