The Dollhouse Asylum Read Online Free PDF Page A

lead me right to the bathroom. I spy the large mirrors, the marbled floors, and the ivory porcelain sink when Teo calls, “You should curl your hair. That is how I like it best.”
    * * *
    Thirty minutes later, I’m shined up like Mom’s collection of antique glass figurines. A black, silken robe hangs on the shower door, and since I don’t want to put my dirty clothes on again, I slip it on, making me feel like I’m at a resort. Hopefully the girl who lives here won’t be annoyed that I’m wearing her robe, not to mention using her makeup and her curling iron, but I’m not entirely sure what choice I have. Maybe I can do something to make it up to her later. Maybe Teo will have some ideas on what to do. He always does—like when everyone kept freaking out about a return of the Living Rot. Calm yourselves , he’d said. Emotional outbursts offer little help .
    Movement in the mirror tells me I’m not alone. Teo, still in his black suit, has joined me in the bathroom. “For you,” he says, flinging a white dress at me, which brushes past the side of my face. When it lands on the counter in front of where I sit, I manage to grasp it just in time before it slinks to the ground.
    He’s giving me a dress. For keeps?
    Teo sets an enormous arrangement of calla lilies on the counter, which makes me blush because it reminds me of a questionnaire I once filled out in school for prom décor. Preferred flowers? I had written calla lilies, my favorite. I love that Teo knows. And I love how he never skimps on anything.
    “Cheyenne,” Teo says, inching toward me, the tails of his suit jacket flapping up as he walks. He brushes those warm, familiar hands on my trembling jaw and cheeks, the movement so unexpected I’m not sure how to respond at first. He’s wrapping me in his arms and pulling my weary head into his chest. I close my eyes, disbelieving the embrace. Calculus is so far away. Then, it was them and us. Now, it’s me and Teo and his familiar scent: Listerine and tobacco. The first time he wrapped his arms around me, I was surprised to find how he smelled, the lingering scent of tobacco on his clothes, until he showed me how he keeps unused cigars in his suit as a tribute to his deceased dad. Rather sentimental of me , he’d said, but that’s what I love about Teo. At the right times, he knows how to reminisce over the past. At the right times, like now, he knows how to drape his arms around me like a warm, smooth cloak.
    I want to kiss him again, feel that sensation of his mouth over mine, but I’m missing the final piece of information. I need to know why he’s brought me here. We’ve danced around the issue for far too long. “Teo?” I ask. “What is this place?”
    He holds me closer, breathing in the scent of my hair. I hope he likes the cucumber-melon shampoo I used. I don’t think he’s ever mentioned not liking cucumbers or melons, so I think it should be okay.
    “Why, Miss Laurent,” Teo’s voice comes out muffled through my hair, “I have built our ideal world.”
    He’s not telling me something. Heart rate picking up in speed, I push away from him. “But what about the old one?” There can’t be something wrong with the world, with my family.
    Teo’s olive-toned cheeks flatten. His entire body sags as if in defeat. Holding his hands out to me, he says, “That is what I must show you. I am sorry, but you would have found out soon enough.”
    He’s talking about the Living Rot . But it can’t have returned. We were vaccinated, supposed to be safe. The mirrors swirl about me and I can’t seem to find the right way to hold my head. I grab the counter to steady myself, and Teo supports me by slipping his strong arm around my waist.
    The stubble of his beard bristles slightly against my quivering cheek. “Let us walk,” he says. “Fresh air might do you some good.”
    But walking is the last thing I can do right now. My heart pounds in my chest and my fingers twitch. I shake my head,