master6377

Showroom Grace’s heels clicked on the tile floor as she straightened her suit jacket and walked to the Holly Dolly Showroom. Today was the day. After years of development, testing, and programming, the Holly Dolly’s were finally ready for sale. Her pet project was finally going to be released. “Shouldn’t you be skipping, boss?” Jennifer asked, her voice almost coming from nowhere. “Not in these heels,” Grace said. “Got you a change of clothes,” Teresa said, coming up on Grace’s other side, and handing her a complete Holly Dolly costume on a hanger. “Very funny,” Grace tossed the colorful dress and tights set away as the trio crossed into the bright showroom, the first of its kind. A dozen dolls sat on alphabet blocks scattered around the hall, all cute and ready to be played with. It took a lot of work to get here. Compressing and simplifying the Android coding down to something that worked for a simple toy took a surprising amount of doing. Grace spent so many nights working

Outside The world was bigger than Grace remembered it being. The trees beyond the porch were taller, their shadows deeper against the shining moonlight. She pulled her mittens close to her body and took short, wary steps away from the MarksHome household network and the AI that wanted to trap her as a toy. The simple act of walking felt strange. The last time Grace walked, she had been under Vivienne’s complete control. For the rest of her time pretending, she skipped everywhere, all because Miss Erin started the skipping game that very first day. Everyone assumed that’s how Holly Dolly was supposed to move, including Grace. She made it not three steps before she started skipping again. It felt right for her yarn hair and skirts to bounce. And, it was what her owners told her to do. Owners. That would be the top issue of her long, long therapy that she would need. Even now, as she skipped away from her prison, she thought of the Marks family as her owners. That she was theirs. Their