It was a quiet Saturday afternoon. Ranga, Emma and Victor were out which allowed Shadow to have some time to work on her experiment. As far as her family was concerned she was meeting with some friends to watch a film or two. Today was the day all her planning would come to fruition. She would succeed in creating living dolls.

Shadow laid her prototype and the main design out on her work bench. Their forms were covered by a linen sheet like bodies in a morgue. Her body was wrapped in her scrubs and she had undergone the necessary cleaning processes to minimise the chance of bacterial infection in her specimens. She talked to herself as she prepared the tools and ingredients for the final act.

“Alright, already set up the skeletal system and stuffed them with muscle fibres… that should allow them enough organic material to create themselves once incubated.” Shadow unscrewed the lid of one of the containers, within was a glowing chunk of Snowflake Obsidian.

With a pair of forceps she picked the stone up and looked at it in curiosity. In her world, it was simply a decorative stone. Jet black yet flecked with silvery grey patches. In another context, this gemstone was a giver of life. She pulled the cloth away from one of her specimens, the prototype.

It was no bigger than a toddler. It looked like a twisted ragdoll sewn from tatters of brightly coloured and patterned fabrics. The doll had two wide unevenly shaped buttons from eyes and two horn like shapes on opposite sides of its head. A red swirl was stitched on its belly. The skeleton Shadow had used for this doll had supposedly come from a race of hyper intelligent midgets.

“Maybe the knowledge will come once I bring it to life.” said Shadow as she pulled the stitching around its chest back. Within was a pod for the stone to fit perfectly. She had already spent hours preparing and treating the muscle fibre stuffing in various unknown chemicals. The fibres had now contorted and remained taught to fit the dolls’ bodies.

The stone was lowered into the pod within the doll’s chest. The heart of this creature was now in place. Shadow then picked up the doll and wrapped it up in a plastic sheet. She went over to a new device in her laboratory. An incubator that resembled the furnace you would find in a human crematory. She gently slid the doll inside and turned on the device. Twisting and adjusting the various nobs and levers to optimal levels.

“I wonder how long it takes for something to come alive?” wondered Shadow as she picked up her digital encyclopaedia “All living animals here take different amounts of time to conceive offspring… is that what I’m doing now? Am I just creating offspring in an unnatural way?” She wildly shook her head “No, I’m just doing an experiment. I’m not claiming to be a god. I’m just a scientist in training who’s converting what’s around me into a different form. If I were really a god, I would be able to do this without sacrificing materials to begin with!”

She gazed across to the other doll, her actual experiment. The bones set in it were from an Umbra. Much to Shadow’s surprise when she examined them, they were charcoal instead of white. She then said to her digital encyclopaedia “Set up a search for anatomical qualities of an Umbra.”

“Search complete.” answered the book.

“Summarise the main qualities.”

“Umbra species; average lifespan of eight hundred years. Notable physical qualities include bizarre eye colour and development, uncommon or double hair colour, four lungs, repairable neurons, bones with high resistance to physical damage yet incapable of regeneration and a triple helix present in their DNA.”

Shadow was amazed. Her new found knowledge only strengthened the idea Ranga was definitely an alien of some sort. She asked “A triple helix? What does it do?”

“Triple helix controls growth pattern and extended life span. Minimises physical aging and maintains form regardless of mutating factors or radiation. It is highly responsive to healing, catalysing powerful levels of energy within body and capable of retaining memories of the individual after death.”

Shadow’s mind was interrupted as the timer went off. She had been so caught up by her search results she had forgotten about the incubator. Running over to the machine she quickly switched it off and waited for it to cool. Using necessary safety equipment she opened the door carefully. Within something was struggling against the plastic wrapping. Shadow retrieved it and pulled the tray forward.

The doll burst from the plastic abruptly like a child on a sugar high. It sprinted around the floor of the laboratory in a hyperactive stupor. Amazingly, it didn’t knock anything over.

Shadow told herself sternly “There is no way I’m chasing after that thing.”

She sat up on the bench so she wouldn’t get in the way. Given the speed the doll was running at it would probably knock Shadow down if it crashed into her shins. Finally the doll stopped. It skidded to halt and stood on the laboratory floor. It looked up to Shadow with its button eyes.

“What?” asked Shadow as she regarded the harlequin doll with suspicions “I’m sorry I left you for too long in the incubator. It really has fried any chance of you developing a brain.”

The doll continued to blankly stare at Shadow. It didn’t breathe or pant despite the amount of running it had just done. It couldn’t, specimens of this nature did not require respiratory or circulatory systems.

Shadow coldly said again “What do you want?”

The doll raised its arms up like a child.

Shadow raised an eyebrow as she understood the gesture “You want a hug?”

It nodded in response to her question. The human got down from the safety of her desk and knelt down to the doll’s level. She timidly reached out for it. The doll leapt forward as it hugged her tightly around the neck.

“Alright! Alright! Lighten up!” choked Shadow as she tore the doll away and threw it to the other side of the room. ‘Is it trying to kill me?’

The doll stood up and went back to her. It bounded over in an almost puppy like manner. If it had a mouth to open it would probably be grinning with a tongue drooping forward ready to lick your face.

“Maybe it’s not malicious… probably just dumb.” sighed Shadow as the doll hugged her shin. She smiled “Alright, fine. I’m happy to see you’re alright. Now then, what to call you?”

Shadow nodded enthusiastically as she decided a name for the strange doll “Stitches, you will be called Stitches.”

The doll danced around in circles happily.

Shadow turned to the real deal. She pulled the cover away from her actual experiment as Stitches kept dancing on a nearby workbench. It was a boy the same age as Ranga (physically). Shadow had run tests on the DNA and identified the Umbra material to have come from a male. Knowing this she had constructed the appropriate genitalia on the canvas doll. The last thing her creation needed was mental problems over gender identity.

He had no nose and only one empty socket that would serve as his left and only eye. The other eye was a giant cross shaped stitch of red and grey cloths. A line of stitching ran down the middle of the front of his face, body and limbs. His shoulders had pins sticking out of them. His hands were like oven mitts with no real finger separation and his feet resembled socks. The canvas fabric that made his skin was a greyish white.

Shadow inserted the second chunk of Snowflake Obsidian like she had done before. This piece was much bigger as it had to go into a larger specimen. She covered the body up in adequate sheeting before placing it into the incubator. She turned on the timer and said to herself “Alright, don’t overcook this one. Otherwise I’ll have two dumb living dolls out of this experiment. I wonder if I’ll have to exterminate them if that’s the case.”

The timer went off and Shadow raced over to the incubator. She quickly opened it, a sick fear that she had screwed up again was already set in her mind. She slid the tray forward. Whatever it was, it was moving beneath the plastic. Retrieving a scalpel she cut open the plastic in a one swift movement.

The plastic fell away to reveal a voodoo boy. His eye wide with fright as he growled “You almost stabbed me!?”

Shadow retorted “No I didn’t, stop being a chicken shit.”

“Why the hell didn’t you go ahead with it?”

“Wait, you wanted me to stab you?”

“Well, why not!?” the voodoo boy sat up. The Umbra DNA had taken effect during the incubation. He now had a fully formed eye in his left socket and the iris was a brilliant red. His hair was jet black and a spiky mess of ragged locks.

Shadow sighed “Because that’s stupid. I just brought you back to life, be at least a little grateful.”

“No, I wanted to die! I have no point in living!”

“Why do you have no point in living?”

“I… um… I don’t remember. But… I have this urge to… kill myself.”

“What can you remember?” Shadow thought as she gazed at him ‘I never expected the DNA to react like this. This is phenomenal!’

“I know I’m an Umbra, I know how to talk, walk, act like a normal member of society… but… I can’t remember anything else… I don’t even know how I died.”

“Well, from what I can gather you were killed in a massacre of some sort. That’s about all I know, sorry.”

“And who are you?”

“I’m Shadow, I’m a mad scientist in training and you are the first experiment I’ve completed.”

The voodoo boy eyed the busty teenager “A mad scientist? That’s a weird profession. What species are you?”

“Human.”

“A lower species?” the voodoo boy gazed at his new body “Well, this is probably the best you can do with your inferior mind.”

“Don’t make me put you down again.” Shadow threatened as she held up a syringe filled with an unknown toxin.

“How will that affect me?”

“It’ll shut down the muscles fibres of your body effectively paralysing you.”

“I’ll be good.”

“This body has the muscle and thanks to your reactive genetic material, the nerves to function normally. However, you don’t have a proper respiratory, lymphatic or circulatory system. Even your digestive tract lacks a few components so you don’t even really need to eat on a daily basis.”

“What about my reproductive system?”

“Um… I don’t know. But I doubt you’d be able to produce any sperm whatsoever.”

“At least I won’t need to use protection. Besides they can do all that fertilisation stuff artificially these days.”

“Who the hell do you plan to root anyway?”

“Oh yeah… sorry, it’s-”

“It’s just something guys worry about?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

The door of laboratory burst open abruptly. Ranga bounded in cheering “Hey Shadow! What’re ya up to?” she stopped dead in her tracks.

“So anyway Perseus is running for his life before his horse starts raping him…” Emma was telling Victor a story from her life in Odyssey as she slithered in. The alchemy doll looked confused and perplexed by the peculiar tale.

Emma was interrupted as she noticed her surroundings “Holy crap! What the hell is that Shadow?”

“That doll has a penis…” stammered Ranga “It’s scaring me.”

The voodoo boy snapped as he waved his genitals in their general direction “Take a picture it’ll last longer!”

“It’s got a bad attitude too.” Noted Victor

Ranga smirked “Let’s call it Ted! That’s a cool name for a doll!”

“I’m not a doll!” exclaimed the voodoo boy.

“Ted, yeah, that’ll work” Shadow pointed to the voodoo boy and said “From now on your name is Ted.”

Emma chimed “Nice to meet you Ted!”

“Don’t I get a say in this!?” whined the voodoo boy as he jumped to his feet.

“No, not really.” Victor admitted as he gestured to the girls “They’re very headstrong so just go with the flow.”

Shadow quickly shoved Emma, Ranga and Victor out the door. She said “Uh guys, can you go outside for a moment? I need to clear a few things up in here first.”

Emma laughed “Why are you asking? We don’t have a choice with you pushing us.”

“Here, play with Stitches. He likes hugging things.” Shadow quickly threw her prototype doll out into the other room to entertain her comrades. She closed the door and took a deep sigh. Life in a place like this was never peaceful.

“Cool! We got a pet out of this!” cheered Ranga from behind the door.

“What a bunch of freaks,” growled Ted as he picked up a nearby scalpel “At least it’ll be over soon.”

Ted raised the scalpel and plunged it deep into his gut. He tore wildly in vicious movements. He wanted to die. Feeling no loss of life he snapped “Why isn’t this working?”

“Because you have no blood now,” informed Shadow “Stabs won’t kill you at all. Now hold still while I repair you.”

“Then what will kill me?”

“I’m not telling you.”

“Fine, I’ll just have to perform every act of suicide possible until I find a way that will kill me!”

Shadow said as she started stitching the cuts across his gut up “Yeah, whatever.”

‘Stupid bastard, how can he think suicide is the answer to anything’ thought Shadow as she kept stitching. She mindlessly ignored Ted’s protests and rants. ‘But I can’t be too judgemental, I was once like him… I once believed suicide was an answer.’