"Linda, wake up! Come on! The Robinsons' dog ran off again! Stop pretending to be asleep!"
Evelin slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was heavy, her neck and back ached as if she had slept barely three hours, and a sharp pulse pounded against her temples.
"Are you still on that investigation?" she groaned, rubbing her face. "It was probably just a coyote. I don't get why you make such a fuss… nothing ever happens in these little towns."
She straightened up gradually—only then realizing she was sitting in front of an old wooden desk. On top of it lay a list of recently missing animals and a documentary playing on the small TV nearby. The narrator spoke about suspicious deaths where bodies had their eyes replaced with sewn-on buttons. The images were so graphic they jolted her fully awake, forcing her to vomit into the trash bin beside her.
"What the hell are you doing?!" a man's voice shouted behind her. "That's disgusting! I told you to stop with those weird investigations and creepy programs. They're doing you no good—look at yourself! And anyway, those cases are for high-level detectives, not small-town police like us."
The man looked around fifty, severely overweight, sporting a thick mustache straight out of the eighties.
Evelin understood instantly:They had entered the story.
Everything was set in the early nineties, in a forgotten town called Raven's Fair. The police here dealt with domestic arguments or drunk troublemakers at best. No one was prepared for what was coming.
"I'm ready, captain. Let's go."
"Don't call me 'captain.' Just call me Garris," he grumbled. "And hurry up—those Robinsons won't leave us alone until we get there."
Evelin forced a smile. Looking at the sloppy, overweight officer made her stomach turn. She silently promised to buy her real father a gym membership when she returned home. The idea of him ending up like this gave her chills.
Meanwhile, in another world, a man chewing cookies while watching Netflix suddenly sneezed.
"Someone must be talking bad about me… It's probably Evelin's new friend. He's gonna pay for this," her father muttered without knowing why.
Evelin watched the old houses pass by as they drove: buildings no taller than two floors, tiny shops, an ancient school that was probably the only one in the entire county. Eventually, they reached the Robinsons' home.
The couple—no older than forty—waited at the door. They were financially better off than the rest of the neighborhood; their house was larger, their garden well cared for. The father was red with fury, while the mother looked as if all the blood had drained from her face.
"Officer, please come in," the woman said quickly, guiding them to the backyard. "At first we thought Lulu had just run off. Our son was devastated… but when we found her—"
In a corner of the yard, half-hidden between the plants, Evelin saw the dog. Dead. Brutally beaten. As viciously as the images she had seen earlier of the missing animals.
"Our son is destroyed," the woman trembled. "He's been crying all morning. Please, you have to do something."
"Calm down, ma'am," Garris said. "Are you sure it wasn't a coyote or something like that?"
"What are you talking about?!" the father snapped. "Do you think a coyote would break a leg like this? So… precise? This wasn't an animal! This was a kid! One of those little vandals from the neighborhood! Investigate them—I saw them lurking around last night!"
Evelin crouched next to the corpse. The smell churned her stomach. Her father had taught her to endure scenes like this, but they never stopped being nauseating.
The dog had been tortured before dying.
She remembered the movie she had watched with Urano… and an idea struck her.
"Excuse me," she asked the mother, "your son is in third or fourth grade, right?"
"Yes," the woman nodded. "We sent him to school so he wouldn't have to see this."
Evelin understood instantly.
The massacre had begun.
CUCU wasn't very violent at first—especially not with children. It was a child's guardian.But if its owner was hurt…Then it acted.
Someone had been bullying Mitch.
And CUCU had delivered its first warning.
Meanwhile, Urano stared out the classroom window, completely ignoring the teacher.
"Marco! Marco, are you listening to me?!" the frustrated woman yelled.
Urano turned his head and sighed.
"Yes, ma'am. I understood."
"Then come solve the problem on the board, if you really did."
He stood, solved the equations in seconds. Hard for a middle schooler—but he was twenty-seven. When he returned to his seat, the class fell silent, even the teacher. A student who behaved too "adult" was unsettling.
But Urano had bigger problems.
Like not dying.
He had written this story. He knew every narrative trick. He knew exactly how many days he had before the plot inevitably killed him.
Ironically, while he had only a week to avoid being murdered by his own villain… he was stuck doing middle school math.
CUCU was a cursed doll with a single function: protect its owner. Its "protection" escalated over time—animals first, then bullies, then anyone who insulted Mitch… and finally, a simple bad look was enough to justify a killing.
Everything was too calm.
Which meant one thing:
The human killings hadn't started.
The first turning point happened when Marco—his character—abandoned Mitch in the woods. The boy returned hurt and starving. They took him to the hospital.And that's where the massacre started… with Marco's death.
Urano swallowed hard.
He had to stop that scene from ever happening.
"Today I'll be the best brother in the world," he thought with determination.
When the bell rang, he went straight to Mitch's classroom. He froze upon entering. The boy sat alone in a corner, hugging his backpack. His desk was scribbled with insults.
Urano's chest tightened.
He approached and quietly helped Mitch gather his things, trying to sound as natural as possible.
"Come on, little brother. I want to take you somewhere special today."
This kid wasn't just Mitch.
He looked too much like Urano's real younger brother—whom he hadn't seen in five years.
Not because of a fight…but because he had chosen work over family.
The emptiness had grown so deep he had stopped noticing it.
That day, they spent time together—ice cream, games, a walk downtown. Mitch didn't talk much, but he smiled faintly.
"Marco… can I ask you something?" Mitch whispered, hands trembling.
"Of course."
"Why do you hate me?"
Silence.
Urano searched Marco's memories. In the movie, Marco hated Mitch—yet the reason was never explained.
"It's not your fault," Urano said softly. "I just… miss him."
"Miss who?"
"Dad."
On Mitch's fifth birthday, their father had gone out to buy a gift and never returned. A traffic accident. Marco, unable to cope with grief, had blamed Mitch.
"Did I kill Dad?" Mitch whispered.
"No... but it still hurts," Urano replied.
A group of kids on bikes rode past. Urano watched them carefully.
Then, they suddenly surrounded Urano and Mitch, hopping off their bikes and blocking the path.
"Look who it is—the little kid who killed his daddy," one of them said, with that cruel honesty only children can have.
"Aww, what's wrong? Gonna cry?" sneered another, holding his bike with a smirk.
"Hey, that's enough!" Urano stepped in front of Mitch, trying to shield him. "You're going too far."
They were completely surrounded.
"And what's with you?" asked another. "Now you're taking the crybaby's side? Since when are you such a good big brother?"
It was Kail—the boy in a yellow shirt with black stripes. One of Marco's so-called friends. He had always bullied Mitch.
"Come on, Marco. Let's go hit the arcade. Leave the loser behind."
"I'm not going," Urano said, voice steady. "I'm staying with my brother."
"Haha, looks like Marco got grounded and turned into a chicken," one of them mocked, flapping his arms.The others burst into laughter.
"Pick one—him or us. You know who's the better choice."
Urano turned to Mitch, who was barely holding back tears. His face was red with embarrassment, on the verge of crying.
Urano took a deep breath. Then, he stepped toward Kail… and shoved him.
Kail landed on his butt, stunned.
"I've made my choice," Urano said.
"What the hell is your problem?!" Kail shouted, getting up.
The others started laughing, but Kail, humiliated and furious, lunged at Urano. They crashed to the ground, punching and kicking.
Urano managed to pin him for a moment, but another boy kicked him hard from the side. In seconds, three more joined in. Now it was four against one.
Seeing Urano overwhelmed, Mitch dropped his backpack and ran into the fight. He shoved one of the kids off his brother, freeing him.
The brawl turned into chaos. Mitch had joined the fight.
No one noticed the zipper on Mitch's backpack slowly sliding open.
A soft cloth hand slipped out…
A single button eye peeked through the opening, watching the scene unfold with chilling stillness.
Later that day...
Evelin—disguised as Linda—was tending to Urano's bruises.
"Aghhh! Easy!" Urano winced as she dabbed antiseptic on a cut.
"Easy? You fought four pre-teens!" she snapped. "Seriously? Did you really think you'd win, even with Mitch? He's not even ten!"
"Sorry… this kid body makes me more emotional than I expected. I didn't mean to lose control."
Urano looked down, embarrassed.
"Be careful," Evelin warned. "You know how dangerous it is to oversynchronize with a role. I got the system alert—you synced with Marco by 25%. What if we hadn't received the warning? What if the police hadn't shown up in time?"
Urano hesitated, then sighed.
"It was late… their mother showed up. Mitch hugged me, said goodnight… I didn't want to leave him alone."
Evelin crossed her arms. While on patrol, she'd received a synchronization alert, then a call to the station about a fight between teenagers. That's how she found Urano brawling with the group.
"Anyway… how's the bonding with Mitch going?" she asked. "According to the story, he's one of the first victims."
"Do you really think I'll die today?" Urano said, smiling weakly. "I'm not sure. But Mitch always tells CUCU everything before bed. I'm counting on that. Maybe it changed how the doll sees me."
Just then, the system chimed:
🛎️ Ding Ding
The original storyline has been altered.Marco is no longer CUCU's primary target.A new target has been selected.The hunt has begun.
Urano and Evelin froze.
This wasn't in the script.
Mitch came running up to them, tears streaming down his face, his backpack hanging open and empty.
"Brother! CUCU… CUCU's gone. I think… I think I lost him!"
Urano hugged the boy tightly, locking eyes with Evelin.
They both understood the truth.
Mitch hadn't lost the doll.
CUCU had left on his own.
Elsewhere...
In a two-story house, a boy hid beneath his blankets with his dog.
It was Kail.
He was furious. He'd been punished because of those brothers.
"It's not fair… they deserved it," he whispered.
Moonlight spilled across the carpet.
Something moved. Fast.
The dog barked… whined… and crawled under the bed.
"What's wrong, buddy? Did you see something?"
A creak.
Another.
A notebook fell to the floor.
Silence.
Kail grabbed his baseball bat and ran to his mother's room.
"MOM! Open up! Please!"
Nothing.
The door wouldn't budge.
Behind him, something small moved.
Tiny footsteps.
The dog howled…
…then silence.
The bat slipped from his fingers. He collapsed against the door, sobbing.
Then—
Something cold brushed his neck.
Trembling, he slowly turned his head.
A wooden clown doll. Dressed in black and white.Button eyes. A tiny top hat.Still. Watching. Waiting.
A dry, raspy voice filled the room:
"Ke-ke-ke-ke-kee…Bad children must be punished."
Kail's scream vanished into the darkness.