¨Quickly, quickly...before the little anker-bitter wakes,” the young woman coaxed. The sound of a plank of wood hitting the floor echoed throughout the house with each step she took.
¨ Guess...UGHHHHH...where we...UGHHH...found this one Vi,” white tufts of hair came undone before the woman's eyes as the three women helped to lift the child up the stairs.
¨ The alley way or Pops Diner? Vi inquired. She turned her head back, worried the ruckus they were making would wake up the girls in the dead of night. The third woman hesitantly let go of the girls leg with a quiet thud and reached for her gloved hand, the white satin stained scarlett.
“ Winceton Road...right by the old asylum.” She slid the glove off the young girls hands, revealing disfigured fingers. “ Lobster claws... I'm guessing Misty was trying to pull off one her ‘miracles’ again...hence the blood,” she whispered. “ It’s getting worse, girls are dying Vi, and I don’t know how long we can keep this up.”
Vi’s jaw clenched, she couldn’t stop the images of what could have happened to the young girl before her if she hadn’t run.
“ We’ll deal with it in the morning Pepper, let’s just get her upstairs.” She bent down to grab the girls arms, her hair parting off her shoulder to reveal a light pink tattoo. The chime of the grandfather clock upstairs keeping them company for the rest of the night.

Blood...there was so much blood. Why? The pain, unbearable. Drip. Drip. The room dizzily dancing. Drip. Drip. Angels….angels dressed in white. So beautiful, they're gonna fix me...fix me. I'm not broken...no...no..no. My hands, my hands they hurt so much please don't.
“NOOO!” screamed the girl, thrashing the blanket off from over her dampened body. Her heart was pounding out of her chest, everything felt so real she could almost feel the pain of her hands. The pain...why wasn't it going away? She looked up and let out a scream. Before her was a small hurdle of girls, kneeling at the edge of the bed. Panicking, the girl scrambled off the bed and hit the floor with a loud thud.
“ Where am I? Who are you people?” she shouted at the small faces staring wide eyed at the spectacle. She winced in pain as she used her hands to get her back up, as she looked down she took in a sharp breath at the site. Her one gloveless hand was covered in open cuts and dark black stitches. “ No...the dream….the dream it was real, “ she cried out. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?”
A puff of smoke found its way over to the girl, it came from a red headed woman leaning against the wall puffing on a cigarette. She tapped the ashes to the floor, pushing herself off the wall towards the open door.
“Vi, the little ankle-bitter's awake!” she shouted down the hall. The red headed girl gave a soft look at the girl, her heels clicking as she made her way back to the wall and took another drag of her cigarette. The sound of heels clicking and a heavy drag of wood filled the air. The door opened to reveal a white haired girl and another beautiful woman, her gentle blue eyes offered a welcoming before she even spoke.
“Get that damned thing out your mouth, Pepper!” said the white haired girl. Anna removed the stub that was left, she took the lit end of her cigarette and put it out with the palm of her hand. A burning impression was left on her reddened skin.
“Who are you people? Why am I...why am I here? I want to go home!” the young girl drew her knees to her chest and started to rock back and forth as tears streamed down her eyes. The woman, Vi, approached her. Each step of her right foot let out a heavy thud followed by the click of a heel. She gently slipped her hands through the young girl's arms and tilted her chin up to look at her. The young girl was memorized by the woman before her, so gentle yet strong were her features. Her smile was that of an angel, her brown curls surrounding her face was now honey gold under the sunlight that slipped through the curtains.
“My name's Vi, can you tell me your name?” questioned the woman. The girl looked around the room at the faces that were still quietly staring at her.
“Em-Emma. My name's …. Emma.”
“My friends, Pepper and Teddy found you like this. Do you remember what happened?
“Seriously, it was straight out of a horror movie, your hands were just bloody and you were pale, like, ghost pa-” Pepper was waving her hands in the air gesturing the story to the girl that was slowly losing the color in her cheeks. “Yeah you looked just like that!”
“Pepper, put a cork in it,” Teddy whipped her head around to scold the older girl. A thud hit the floor as Emma went unconscious.
“Someone can't hang, Jeez.” Pepper reached into her back pocket for another smoke. The girls that were still huddled by the bed got up as Vi approached them. One girl approached Emma's limp body and swung her over her body with one hand, walked over to the bed and tucked her back in.
“Alright ladies, shows over. Get back to work my loves, it's a busy day,” Vi gestured the girls out the door and gently closed the door behind her.
“ Emma's the only girl I know that's ever gotten out of the old asylum in one piece and alive for the most part. Misty must be pissed.” Pepper stated as she was getting ready to light her cigarette.
“ I don't know if I trust her just yet, Misty would never let a reject outsmart her like that.”
“ Lobster girl over there could do some damage, don't let her hands fool you.”
“ Vi, we need to get more girls before Misty does. There's some of us she can 'fix’ but most of us are gonna end up dead just cause she wants to play God.”
“ Once Emma wakes up we'll figure out or next moves. Make sure the girls are okay. Teddy, make sure Pepper doesn't go up in flames again,” Vi said as Teddy snatched the cigarette once again from Pepper.
“Oh come on!”
The girls were busy throughout the house and backyard. The cries of the pigs outside signaled it was time for them to be fed. Off in the distance trees were being cut down onto the secluded property, a flock of crows flew off as another tree hit the floor.
“Damnit!” a scream came from inside the barn. Teddy ran inside to check on the girls. Betty and Dee turned around, their dress soaked.
“What happened to you two?” asked Teddy.
“Something scared the horses pretty bad, they kicked the water on-”
“-to us. And they won't calm down.”
“Dee just because you're attached to me doesn't mean I need you speaking for me”
“ Jesus, Betty. What's your problem?” Betty poked at their belly, tickling her sister. A smile appeared on both faces.

Upstairs inside the house, all the ruckus throughout the house woke Emma.
“Ugh,” she slowly sat up on the bed and rubbed her temple. Her head was pounding, the haze finally left her vision after a few seconds. The curtains were now drawn open, the sunlight drowning the room. She decided to go figure out how and why she was here in this strange place, with such strange girls. She wasn't sure if her memory was deceiving her but she remembered a girl with just one eye, another that was barely 2 feet tall but wasn't a child by the looks of it. She remembered blue eyes, kind eyes...and white tufts of hair from someone beside her. Girls that shared the same body had two completely different heads...such oddities much like herself. She got up from the bed anr peered outside the woman, the site before her left her speechless.
“ Oh God, it's all real,” she finally managed to say. The twin girls walking out the born was enough proof, and now the white haired girl walking up the steps of the house. Barefoot, she walked out the room and searched her new surroundings. She passed a seemingly normal looking girl working on a bunch of metal scraps that zapped her. The girl let out a yelp and that's when she saw it… the bulge of a tail protruding from the girl's back. She decided to keep moving. After a couple of minutes she managed to find her way to two giant oak doors, the handles designed in gold with the initials V.M. Before she made contact with the door, a voice came from behind the door.
“Come in.” Emma opened the door peeked inside before fully making her way in. The woman before her was so familiar but she couldn't make out the face. Beside the woman was a wooden leg propped up against the desk that she was sitting at. Emma made her way inside and closed the door behind her. The woman looked up and she recognized those kind blue eyes that offered her solace before she went unconscious.
“You're finally awake. Now we can talk, come sit,” the woman gestured to the wooden chair before her. She grabbed the wooden leg and began to fasten it to the stump of where her leg used to be. Emma wanted to ask what happened but she found it to be quite rude seeing as that she wasn't exactly perfect herself.
“ Those girls out there...they're just like me”
“They are. You girls are special, I hope you know that. No matter what you were taught out there about what makes you different...you have so much to offer the world. Come take a look at this.” The woman stood up and made her way to the open window in the room. “ These girls were rejected from their homes, society, the world and were taught that they were of no use. Just mistakes. Take a look up there by the trees. My twin girls built a power line all on their own, from scratch. Every dress and sweater on their backs made by hand by another one of my girls, born without one of her arms. I teach them to independent, to not rely on anyone just because they weren't dealt the best hand in life.” They made their way back their seats.
“Um..” Emma studied the woman's face trying to remember her name.
“Vi,” she smiled at Emma encouraging her to speak freely.
“ I think I remembered what happened to me but there's some things that are still blurry. I know what happened to me wasn't my decision.”
“It's okay, take your time.” Emma stared down at her hands as she started to remember snippets of the ordeal.
“ One minute I was home, the next I was in some kind of hospital tied up. There were other girls, so many more...strapped down. I don't remember much except a white room, they were like angels hovering over me. One of them kept saying she was going to make me perfect and I didn't understand until now. She was talking about my hands, I think she was trying to cut them off. After that things are still blurry, I keep picturing the woman in a doll mask but I know that probably wasn't real, “ Emma said. She turned her head away as a tear rolled down her cheek.
“No, that's real. I'm going to tell you a few things and I know it's a lot to take in after everything that happened but I want to make sure nobody is in danger. Vi studied the girl carefully, the emotions coming from Emma were genuine. “ The woman you're talking about is Misty. She takes girls just like you and tries to “fix” them. To make them perfect. You were one of those girls but I can't understand how you managed to escape.
“ I don't know either.”

Teddy walked into the kitchen while Pepper was busy cooking. She was too busy reading her book to notice that Pepper's sleeve and hand had caught on fire, her hand resting on the lit stove.
“PEPPER! JESUS CHRIST!” Teddy grabbed the bucket of water by the kitchen sink. Pepper bolted her head up from inside the fridge as Teddy screamed her name and dumped the bucket of water onto her hand.
“ Damnit! Not again. I'm sorry Teddy.” Pepper looked down at her seared shirt and blistered hand.
“Maybe the person that can't feel pain should stay away from fire and anything pointy,” Teddy said as she placed all the knives back into the holder.
From around the corner, a girl made her way to kitchen. Teddy could tell from the floor length dress and coverage that it was Dot. She was ashamed of her vitiligo hence the head to toe coverage.
“ Oh Pepper not again. I'll take care of lunch don't worry about it. We don't need you burning the food and the house,” Dot laughed.
“Ha ha ha, yeah very funny. You guys can starve then. Does that sound good?” Pepper snapped back.
“ Alright calm down hot head. Let me take care of these burns for you. I swear these children can be left by a fire pit and still wouldn't manage this.” Teddy guided Pepper up the stairs. As Dot watched the girls make their way up the stairs she set the table for lunch.

Pale faces made an appearance on each girl during lunch. The food Pepper prepared was amazing, each girl  taking a cup of water to wash it all down. An uneasiness settled amongst them as they grew more nauseous, chugging down more water.
“Uh, Pepper...you cooked this chicken correctly right? Don't get me wrong it was amazing but I seem to be feeling a bit sick.” The girls at the table all chimed in, their faces alternating between an array of colors...green...white...red.
Vi dabbed at her mouth with the napkin and slowly stood up, she wobbled for a moment as her vision grew blurry.
“Perhaps, a quick rest is in order. We might have all just came down with something. Off to your rooms ladies, rest easy.” Within minutes the table had been cleared and silence rang throughout the house.

Bright white lights flooded the room. Emma squinted her eyes, as blurs appeared in her vision. She knew this place but her head was spinning too much to make out any clear faces or voices. The air had a scent to it, disinfectant wafted through the room. As she brought her head up, the world went black.
“Ugh...AHHHHH!!!” Vi screamed as she tried to grab her leg, in the place of where her stump used to be was a slightly tanner leg. She continued to scream out in pain, her vision finally clearing to reveal Dot and Misty wearing white covers over their body. Misty's face was covered with the mask of a porcelain doll, hiding the disfigurement that made her just like the rest of them.
“Why are you doing this?” Vi yelled out. She struggled to look around the room, she managed to lift her head up enough to see Betty and Dee, Pepper, Emma, Teddy and the rest of the girls all strapped down on surgery tables. Misty approached Vi, slowly lifting her mask with each step. Her face rubbery and peeling from an accident 10 years ago...never the same.
“ We're all on the same team here, Vi. I just want you to be perfect. Don't you want to fit in? Don't you want to be perfect?
“ We're fine the way we are Misty. There's nothing to be ashamed of, we don't need to fit in when we were born to stand out.”
“ You're not perfect to me. I'm gonna fix this. You're all going to be perfect...so perfect,” she said, the sound of the small saw she picked up sounded throughout the whitewashed room. She made her way to Emma and put the saw onto her disfigured hand.
“Perfect….”