It would be some time before I felt the box move again.
A day maybe.
Perhaps two.
After the first few hours, I realized the futility of trying to track it in any exactness. There was just no way of doing so.
When I was eventually picked up, I could feel my captor's footfalls as they made their way down the stairs to the lower floor of our house.
From what I could gather, we headed out the front door, where I was placed inside of a vehicle.
The banging and bouncing left me in the odd position of being grateful for the packaging I had so recently struggled against.
After a few moments of silence, the ignition caught, and the vibrations of the motor coursed through me.
I could feel myself pressed side to side as we twisted and turned down the roadways.
The climbing and descending roll of the engine passing through my tiny form.
I found myself drawn into it.
The steady drone pulsating.
Pushing.
Pulling.
I was actually enjoying it.
Immensely.
It would be so easy to lose myself to it.
A quick stop pressed me against the front of the crate; The jolt enough to remind me that staying focused was probably in my best interest.
Instead of picking back up again, the engine hummed for a moment and subsequently vanished from my awareness.
Again, the motions of being carried could be recognized though the layers that cocooned me.
It wasn't long before the rythmic motion stopped. A final thump indicating we had made it to our destination.
Soon after, the box was jostled as the lid was unfastened.
I could feel myself being lifted from the crate, and was set down nearby.
Slowly, the cotton was unraveled, letting more and more light peek through.
As the final layers were stripped away from my head and face, I came to realize the magnitude of the situation I was in.
The hand, that flit past my view, was not Sethra's. Was not Allie's. Was not anyone's I could recognize readily.
It was as strange to me, as the place I now found myself.
Between the uncoiling, I slowly pieced together what I was seeing.
Every wall I looked upon held a different picture.
Girl after girl being transformed into a wide variety of objects.
Statues.
Robots.
Even furniture, like me.
Their wide eyed expressions a mixture of pleasure and surprise.
As the last of the packing came away, the woman unravelling it stooped a little, her eyes meeting my own.
They took me in appraisingly, flashing a touch brighter as her lips were drawn into a tight smile.
"Yes" she said. "It is very nice to meet you Sweetie."
The smile grew slightly and played across her glowing green eyes.
"I am glad Sethra decided to lend you to us. I think you will like it here as one of the exhibits."
She fussed with my position a little as she spoke. Centering me on the table, and turning me this way and that.
"My name, if you were curious, is Monyca. And this is the Gallery Lapideus."
She turned and looked across the room and returned her gaze to me.
"Welcome to the Gallery."
Her words had a certain edge of finality to them that said I was not the first addition to it's collection.
And that I would certainly not be the last.
--Continued in Part 2.
Be sure to visit the gallery if you have a chance. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Doll%20Works/35/216/23
