The Human Puppet | Stories Untold

Mika Ninja

The Human Puppet

“Tia!!” That is her name. Or, at least, she assumes it is her name. It’s the last thing she heard before she died, after all. She can’t remember anything else. She simply woke up on a cold metal table in a dark room and learned to survive on her own. Of course, this did not bother her. Why would it?

It’s a chilly morning in her hideout; the walls are damp from the overnight rain and the halls are pitch black, lightly stained with mold. She scuttles through the dark corridors, passing by many rooms that have been left abandoned. She heads down a set of concrete stairs, hopping along each step from memory alone, and reaches a large room.

She flicks on the lights, or rather, a single bulb that hangs from the center of the room. She stands there for a moment, stretching her arms above her head. Snap! Something rips. She hears the distinct sound of rotted, dried out flesh tearing as her arms stretch upward. She huffs and looks over herself, spotting the issue. The stitches connecting her right arm to the rest of her body had snapped. She pouts. “I just used that thread. Hm…. It looks like I need a…replacement, hehehehe!”

She skips across the room and checks one of the many shelves lined across the walls. She inspects every single item; clumps of hair, rows of teeth, bones, patches of skin set in trays of alcohol and torn pieces of clothing. All of her collection has been meticulously organized and displayed proudly. She is indeed quite happy with her collection, all items that she personally gathered. She brushes her bluish tongue over the set of teeth, all in various stages of rot, screwed into her jaw. “Hm…maybe later, hehe!” She moves further along into the room, gazing eagerly over her collection of scalpels, scissors, forceps, retractors and more. “Hehehe! My favorite toys!” She bounces a little on the balls of her feet. “Well, time to get some more…parts! Hehehe!”

The sun has yet to rise from the horizon. The air is chilled and moist, with a thin layer of fog covering the streets. Tia surveys her surroundings carefully, carrying a large discolored bag over her shoulder. She positions herself against a brick wall, right next to an alleyway. Despite her vision being limited by the dark, fog-lined air, she knows exactly what she’s looking for. Several minutes pass by…nothing. Then, she hears it; the delightful sound of footsteps. She slinks into the alleyway and sets her bag aside, an eager grin on her face. She waits…and waits….and waits. A slim, feminine figure enters her line of vision and she makes her move, dragging the now panicking woman with her.

She throws the woman against the nearby brick wall, letting out a muffled giggle upon hearing her yelp in pain. She stares down at her catch, taking in the look of horror on the woman’s face. Her gaze soon travels down her victim’s body. She has such fine caramel skin, soft bushy brown hair and well-toned muscles. Oh yes, she would do perfectly. She’s so enraptured by such beauty; she nearly misses the woman’s panicked question. “What the hell are you?!”

She stares at the woman, an amused glint in her mismatched eyes. She slowly reaches up, trailing her cold fingers across her sewn together lips until she finds the thread bows tied at either side of her jaw. Once the bows are pulled, the threads jutting through her lips loosen and her jaw drops open. She lets out a child-like giggle and smiles. “I’m just like you, silly!”

The woman backs herself further against the brick wall, trembling. She stills as her captor lets out another giggle. “Aww, don’t be so shy, sweetie. My name is…” She pauses. What was her name again? Something with the letter ‘T’. Tee…Ti…Tick…Tink… “Tia! That’s it! Hehehe!” The anxious woman shifts in place and looks around as if she could find a way out. How cute. “P-Please don’t kill me…” The woman whimpered. Another childish giggle, Now, now…don’t make such a silly accusation! I’m not going to kill you, sweetie.” Her eyes roam across the woman’s body, “I just…need a few things from you, and then we’ll both be on our way.” She reaches for the yellowed sack and searches through it, an excited smile on her face.

She pulls out the first tool she requires; a pair of pliers, rusted and old from years of use. “Now, would you be kind enough to open your mouth for me?” The woman freezes in place. Tia snorts and giggles, “Come on now, I only need a few of your teeth. They’re so perfect! Sparkling white and…oh.” Tia reaches forward and trails her fingers through the woman’s hair, even as she jerks her head away. “Your hair is so soft too. Hehe…hehehe! W-well, I might need a few more things from you.” The woman attempts to bolt past her, only to be shoved back to the ground. Tia straddles her waist, pulling her bag of toys closer. “Aww, don’t be so nervous. It won’t take long.” She pulls a long strand of fabric out of the bag and ties the still struggling woman’s wrists together. “Now, open wide, dear.” She presses down on the woman’s throat with one hand, forcing her to comply. She then shoves the rusted pliers into the woman’s mouth. She takes delight in hearing the roots tear followed by the woman’s pained shriek as she pulls the tooth out. One, two three. That should do just fine. She admires the bloodied teeth in her hand. “Absolutely perfect! Hehehe!” Tia places the teeth and pliers into her bag, then pauses. She looks at the woman beneath her, who is crying and spitting out blood. She smiles at her and reaches back into her bag, pulling out a scalpel and a pair of scissors. The woman cries out upon seeing the rusted medical equipment.

Tia strokes her hair and shoves a dirty cloth into her mouth. “Shh…don’t cry, my dear. I’ll make this quick.” She holds the scalpel steadily in her hands, making her cuts as deep as she can. The old blade slices its way through skin and delicate tissue. She huffs a little when the blade isn’t enough to get through all of the tough muscle. She fetches the scissors laying next to her. She ignores the woman’s muffled wails and screams, though her constant squirming did prove to be a bit distracting. “Don’t move so much, dear. You’re making a mess! Hehe!” She drives the scissors through the exposed muscle, burrowing all the way to the bone. Blood spurts onto her already filthy white dress, though she doesn’t seem to mind. Cut. Snip. Tear. With a few harsh tugs, she rips the woman’s arm off and giggles from the resulting scream. “There we are! One less arm for you, one more part…for me! Hehehe!” Tia grabs a fistful of the now unconscious woman’s hair and chops it off with her trusty scissors. She then tosses her new parts in the bag along with her toys and skips along.

Once she returns to her cold, seemingly abandoned home, she sets her new parts on the medical table in the center of the basement room. Oh, she’s so excited to try on her new arm, but first… She looks at blood-soaked instruments and giggles. “My, my, we certainly made a mess today, didn’t we? You fellas deserve a good bath! Hehe!” She fetches a bucket filled with water from the night’s rain and dumps her toys in. She meticulously cleans each and every one of the instruments, scrubbing off the blood, scum and bits of tissue stuck to the blades.

She pulls the scissors out of the bucket, now glistening in the dim light. She stares at the light’s reflection for a long moment. For a brief moment, she feels herself being somewhere else. An empty street. A bright light appearing before her eyes. A man reaching out for her. She blinks and the images are gone.

She shrugs and places her clean toys on the appropriates shelves. “Now, time for the fun part!” She unfastens the thread bow resting atop her right shoulder and pulls the array of strings loose. Within a matter of seconds, her arm, blackened and rotted, falls off with ease. “No need for that old thing anymore!” She skips to another set of shelves, not paying any mind to the discolored fluids dripping from the exposed socket in her shoulder. She hums a chipper tune as she gathers a set of thread and a suture needle. She starts with the new arm first, securing several lines of thread through the blood-soaked flesh. Once the limb is sutured all the way around, Tia takes a moment to admire her handiwork.

“Not bad! Hehe, not bad at all!” For only having one working arm at the moment, she certainly knows how to stitch with one hand. She sits on the cold metal table and begins the long work of pulling the new threads through her shoulder. She almost wishes she could feel the sharp needle pierce her skin, or the thread pulling through her flesh. All she could feel was a cold numbness throughout her body. A constant emptiness filled only with the parts of others and vague flashing memories. She was naturally curious about these memories. What was that bright light? What does it mean? Who was that man- and why does he seem so…familiar? Everything is still too fuzzy.

Tia sighs; only time will tell. She looks at her arm. Almost done! Just a couple more steps. She digs into her exposed shoulder and finds a set of metal strands tied around the bone. She loosens and connects them to the new arm, fastening them through the muscle. She pulls the thread through her skin taut and finished her stitches with a tied bow. She waits a few moments, then slowly moves her new fingers. One, two, three, four, five. She bends the arm and lifts it up, giggling. “Success!” Hopefully, this one will last longer.

Now, onto the teeth. She loosens the threads through her lips until her jaw hangs open. Tia takes in a breath, though she knows she doesn’t need to, and carefully maneuvers past the threads with her fingers. She trails across her teeth, pressing down on each one until she finds them. Three of her older teeth have turned black and unusually squishy. She plucks them out easily, revealing the metal screws drilled into her jawbone. She fumbles around a bit, finding the sharpened screwdriver on the tray next to her. Tia smiles inwardly; at least she remembered to replace her toys.

She holds each tooth up to the single light hanging from the ceiling, then carefully drills a hole into them. She then slowly slides her fingers back into her mouth and tightens her new teeth into place, counting aloud as she does so. “Oooone….toooo…..thleee!” She giggles and tightens the threads back up. Only one thing left. She grabs the clump of soft brown hair and ties one end together with a strong rubber band. She then grabs a small bottle of skin adhesive from the shelf and glues the band onto her scalp. Perfect. It should fit in with the other bands glued to her shaven head just fine.

Tia hops off the table and twirls about. “Hehehe! Much better! I wonder if Joseph will like it?” She stops mid-twirl. “Joseph? Huh…I wonder who he is?” She shrugs and sits on the floor. “Oh well, it doesn’t matter. I’m here, and that’s what he wanted!”

She frowns. Why? “Why do I know that?” She lays back and huffs. The single light bulb shines into her eyes. She rolls onto her stomach and rests her head on her arms. Maybe those answers will come. Tia hums to herself softly and slowly drifts to sleep.

She wakes up the next morning…or was it a day after? She giggles to herself. Always such a heavy sleeper, aren’t you Tia? She remembered someone saying that to her before. Maybe it was that ‘Joseph’ fellow. Who knows? She stretches again and giggles when she hears her back pop. An odd snapping noise stops her, and she sits up. She checks every inch of her skin. Nothing. Maybe it was from the inside?

Tia sits on the metal table and lifts up her dress. She then unfastens the two thread bows at her collarbone, followed by another below her navel, and carefully pulls. Her entire front slowly pries open and her intestines spill out. She watches them dangle and fluids drip to the floor. She giggles, “Oh, I’m such a messy girl! Hehe!” She reaches inside and soon discovers the issue. She pulls her hand back, grasping the rotted lung that came loose. “Hm, well that’s unfortunate.” She tosses the old, discolored organ aside and gets up, not minding that her intestines were still hanging out freely. Why should that bother her?

She makes her way to the steel door in the back of the room and pulls it open with a soft grunt. The door squeaks as it opens, revealing a cold storage room inside, illuminated only by the light in the main room. Various sets of entrails are hanging from hooks on the ceiling. Spare parts ranging from limbs to fingers are arranged orderly on a cold metal rack. She moves into the storage room, playfully poking at the squishy intestines above her. “Let’s see…liver, kidneys, stomach…found it! Hehehe!” She picks up the lung she had collected a few days ago. “Still pink. A few spots, but that should be fine!”

With her new part in hand, Tia heads back into the only lit room and sits on the table. She gathers her needle and thread, then begins the work of carefully suturing her new lung into place. One stitch here. Another there. Two, no, three further up. Done! Tia smiles and takes in a deep breath, watching as her lungs inflate, then slowly deflate. She gathers up her intestines in her arms and giggles from the odd sounds they make as she pokes them. Once she has her entrails placed neatly back inside, she carefully pulls the threads together and ties them back into three bows.

She stands up and squeaks when she hears a loud clang. For her tidiness and organized habits, she always forgets to put the instrument tray away. Tia huffs and starts to clean up her mess. “Oh dear…now where have you all run off to? Hmm… Oh! There’s the thread; can’t lose that! Found my little scalpel too, hehe! I even found my favorite scissors!” She seems to find all of her toys, except… “Where’s my suture needle? I can’t lose that! It goes perfectly with my thread!” She searches the room frantically, crawling on all fours to check every little crevice she could think of. Under the table? No. Under the shelves? Nope. In the discarded pile of organs? Still no luck. Tia whines in dismay after searching for several minutes until something shiny catches her eye. She smiles widely as she picks up her suture needle. “Thank goodness! Hehehe!” She bounces up and down eagerly, holding the sharp needle close to her. She looks down at the spot where she found her beloved toy and notices something…peculiar.

A door? She doesn’t remember a door being there before. Tia kicks the piles of folders and manages to push the overflowing filing cabinet out of her way. The door itself seems insignificant. If anything, the cheap wooden exterior makes Tia wonder if it’s just another old room filled with papers she can’t even read. Still, she’s always been a curious girl. She pushes down on the handle and the door relents after a few firm tugs, opening with a loud creak.

The room itself is surprisingly sparse, only containing an old television and tape player inside. Tia wanders in and inspects the tv, pressing all of the buttons randomly like a small child would. The tv flicks on and she jumps. The room illuminates from the solid blue color emitting from the screen. She looks at the tapes stacked next to the player, each labeled with words and numbers she can’t read. Tia grabs the first one sitting on top of the stack and tries to push it into the player. The tape player makes an odd noise and freezes after a few moments. Well, that didn’t seem to work. Maybe flipping the tape over will help? The screen flashes and a horrid buzzing sound fills the room. For a split second, Tia can see the bright light again, followed by a screech and…glass breaking? She blinks and the images are gone. Bummer.

Tia turns the tape around and tries again. Success! The video finally starts playing and a large room came into view on the screen. Wait… “Is that my room? Huh…weird.” She watches intently as a very familiar man enters the room, pushing a metal table. Something strange is on the table too; a figure wrapped tightly in blue sheets. Large red stains cover the sheets, indicating that whatever is inside isn’t very clean. The man moves the table to the center of the room, then approaches the camera placed on one of the shelves. The man pulls his surgical mask down, “This is Joseph Sullivan. The date is January 18th and it is 12:10 a.m. I have successfully retrieved the cadaver…” He pauses and clears his throat, as if overcoming a sudden swell of emotion. “The cadaver of my wife. I am fully aware my actions are deemed immoral to some…and if anyone discovers this, my career will be terminated. My intentions are…to bring my wife back to me.” The tape stops.

Tia sits still for a moment. “Joseph…? Why is he so familiar? He certainly looks handsome! Hehehe!” She pulls out the tape and inserts the second one. Joseph appears again on screen, standing next to the covered body. He writes a bit frantically on his clipboard as he speaks. “The subject is female, age 31. Her height is five foot, two inches and her weight is one hundred thirty five pounds. Skin color is white, hair is brown and eyes are blue.” He stops writing and Tia thinks she could hear him sob quietly. “Cause of death…fatal car accident, leading to severe lacerations to extremities and blunt force trauma.” He lowers the clipboard and wipes his eyes. Tia feels a bit of pit towards this Joseph fellow. The tape stops after a few moments of silence.

She sits there quietly. “Hm…car crash?” Her eyes widen as a bright light fills her mind. The headlights from a car…a negligent driver…a horrific pain before complete numbness. A man shouts her name. “Oh. I was in a car crash?” She thinks about the body on the examination table. No. No, that’s silly. It can’t be. She pops in the next tape. The body is turned over and the covers are partially removed. Tia watches Joseph cut delicately into the body’s exposed back. “I am now attempting to expose the cadaver’s spine. From there, I shall work my way up to the brain. In order for this procedure to work, I will need full access to the spinal cord and brain stem. Since I am the only neurosurgeon in the city, my availability to work on her will be limited at best. This will take a while…”

Tia hums and smiles, “He seems to know what he’s doing. He looks kinda nerdy with those glasses, hehehe!” She moves onto the next tape and it stutters for a few moments before starting. Joseph has the body strapped down and tilted the examination table upwards. “The date is January 21st and it is 2:15 a.m. I’ve had to clear out the cold storage room for the cadaver. I have made a fair amount of progress. The spine is now exposed, and I will open the skull next. I will need to shave the head first.” His voice drops to a softer tone, “I’ll make it up to her when she wakes up.”

Tia huffs a little. The body seems like it has really nice hair. Such a shame that she can’t keep it for herself. She skims through the stack of tapes until she finds one marked with a highlighter. Curious, she pushes the tape in. The screen flicks on and Joseph is near the body again. It appears to be spread out awkwardly. “The date is January 25th and it is 3:45 a.m. I have successfully implanted the chips into the cadaver’s brain. I have been spending the past week away from work to program these chips and I’m certain they will work. The brain and spine have been lined with wiring and I’ll continue to add more. She should…no. She will wake up.”

Tia removes the tape. Chips and wires, huh? That seems pretty…weird, even for her. She moves one hand to her shoulder, remembering the copper wires she always attaches to her new limbs. Just a coincidence is all… She picks up the next tape and notices that the label is written sloppily. Joseph appears on screen again. He seems worried, his hair a bit disheveled. Tia noticed the body is turned over and the abdomen sliced open. “The date is January 27th and it is 4:30 a.m. There’s been a setback. The cadaver’s body is deteriorating. I was hoping the organs would hold out a bit longer, but they are already unsalvageable. I refuse to give up. I can get her new organs.”

Tia stares at the screen, raising an eyebrow. For a very successful and seemingly moral man, that statement is rather…out of place for him. Well, besides using the corpse of his wife for experiments. Tia rocks back and forth, giggling, “He’s definitely an odd man. I wonder how long it’ll take until he gives up, hehehehehe!” She skims through the tapes again until she randomly picks one. Joseph seems even more disheveled this time. His mask is missing, his hair oily and his uniform all wrinkled. “The date is…February 6th, 5:05 a.m. I have secured new organs along with a new eye for the cadaver. She always said she liked the idea of having green eyes. I’ll let her decide if she wants them both to be green when she wakes up.” Tia frowns and inserts the next tape. Joseph is rather…fidgety this time, looking around the room anxiously as if someone were to walk in at any moment and discover his little secret. “February 10th. I managed to get new breasts from a recently deceased patient. I think she’d look better with them.” Tia feels a strange surge of…was that discomfort? “Well, I suppose that would be unsettling for a lady to hear, hehe…” She peeks beneath her dress. She never thought about the precise stitches around her breasts. Just a coincidence. Definitely.

Joseph seems to be acting even more unusual and his glasses are missing. “February 15th…” He looks around nervously, “I have new arms and legs for the cadaver. They’re much better than the ones she already has. She won’t mind.” Tia squirms in place, “She didn’t get to decide. That’s not fair!” She rips the tape from the player and throws it across the room, giggling with delight when she hears it smash against one of the filing cabinets. She shoves the next tape in, and it makes a horrid beep as it starts. Joseph is pacing back and forth, occasionally glancing at the body. Everything looks…too familiar. Tia doesn’t like it. “I’m so close! Damn it, what am I missing?! She’s not perfect yet. She has to be!” He shakes his head and sighs, wiping the sweat from his brow. “I’m running out of time. I’ll activate the chips soon…and I’ll finally have my perfect woman back.” Tia grumbles and smashes the tape onto the floor. “Hehehe! I like breaking his stuff!”

She notices one final tape and she hesitates briefly. The tape itself is illegible, with heavy scribbles on the front made with permanent marker. She reluctantly puts it into the player and Joseph appears on screen. “It didn’t work. I’ve activated the chips and…nothing! The brain seems to be functional, but she won’t wake up. I don’t understand! I did everything perfectly! I’ve rebuilt her into the perfect woman! Why won’t she wake up?” He knocks over one of the medical trays and his surgical instruments scatter across the floor. His breathing grows shaky and he takes a few steps back, staring at the lifeless body of his wife, rebuilt out of the bodies of others. “I…I need to get out of here. If someone finds this…no. I’m leaving. Forget the experiment. It’s hopeless now. There’s no worth in trying to bring her back.” He gathers a few documents and shoves them into the folder as he faces the body once more. “Goodbye Tia.”

The tape stops and the screen turns blue. “Tia…” She stares blankly at the screen. “Tia…hehe…that’s me. Hehehe…I’m the hopeless experiment.” Her body starts trembling and her vision blurs. Is she…crying? She moves one hand up to her face and rubs her eyes, pausing as she sees the wet drops appear on her skin. An odd smile spreads across her face. “He did this to me. Joseph did this…and he left! He just left! Hehehehehe!” She slowly stands up, her hands shaking. “I hate him….I hate him!!” She grabs the tape player, ripping all of its cords out. “He did this to me! Hehehehe! Why did you do this to me, Joseph?! I hate you, hehehe! I hate you!”

She smashes the player against the tv screen repeatedly until it falls apart and clatters to the floor. She giggles more and runs into the main room, knocking the medical table over. “Hehehe…hehehehehehehe!” She throws all of her favorite toys across the room and pulls everything off the shelves. “Not worth it! Hehehehe! Not worth it…!” She yanks the intestines off of their hooks in the cold storage and throws them into a pile. Blood spatters onto the walls, decorating the room in a macabre display.

“Hehehehehehe! I’m Tia! Joseph didn’t ask me! Nope! He did this to me!” Her smile grows wider, the threads running through her lips pulling harshly at her skin. “I’m gonna find you, Joseph…hehehehe!” She gathers up her favorite toys and thread, placing them almost lovingly into the blood-soaked burlap sack. She slings it over her shoulder, a murderous look flickering in her mismatched eyes. “Oh Joseph~ Your wife is coming to see you! Hehehehehehehe! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” She sneaks out of the cold, abandoned hospital and disappears, her chilling shrill laughter echoing into the night.

-The End?