Jess hated being put away, but she couldn't understand why. 

It was completely dark inside, but she couldn't close her eyes. She could feel the walls around her, keeping her still and trapped, yet she couldn't move even if she tried. She was maybe too tall for her box, and her arms and legs had to be bent tight to make her fit. She was just a doll, so it didn't hurt. 

At first she could pass the time counting in her head. One, two, three, fifty, five hundred. She usually started losing track by the twenty-thousands. Her thoughts made little sense by then. She never passed out, because she was just a doll. She didn't need to breath fresh air, because she was just a doll. 

She just spent however many hours it was with her eyes wide-open, staring into the darkness. She didn't feel any pain- she only felt her eyes and mouth completely dry up, her joints stiffen, her thoughts get heavier.

She didn't suffer. Dolls didn't suffer. Dolls just waited until they were used again. That's what Jess did. 

She just didn't understand why she hated it so much. 

Her hearing was turned off too. So the moment when Katie opened the box was always a surprise. The sudden light, the muted movement on the corner of her eye. She couldn't move to glance at her owner, so she had to be happy with that tiny missable blur of light. At least until Katie moved her head so she'd face her.

Then she could see her owner. She was always so pretty. Then she opened her doll's eyes wide and put three drops on each, using two fingers to make her blink five times, first the left, then the right.

Then she grabbed her by the armpits and started pulling her up. Jess was so heavy, so tall, so inconvenient for her owner. Katie struggled to lift her, dead-weight as she was, limbs dragging lifeless against the plastic box as she laborously pulled her outside. 

Her foot bounced as it fell from the top of the box to the ground, she couldn't hear the sound. Katie pulled her half on top of her. Jess wanted to hug her, but she couldn't move at all. 

She had to be dragged to the bathroom. She at least got some more fleeting glances of her owner's face. 

Katie dried her thighs and crotch with a towel and sat her on the toilet, holding her steady with a hand on her shoulder. Everything took so long when Katie had to move her like that. 

She then dragged her again and dropped her into the empty bathtub. Katie opened the faucet and as water slowly filled the tub, she grabbed her left arm and made sure her hand was outside the bath. In the edge of her sight, Jess noticed the bandages around that hand. 

Katie was away just for a moment to grab the sponge. She lifted her sleeves and as water rose, she slowly washed Jess' arms, scrubbing her hard plastic shell, being particularly careful with her joints. She said a command she didn't hear, and suddenly Jess could hear the sound of flowing water. 

"You can move your eyes and blink," Katie said and Jess blinked multiple times, moving her eyes to look at her owner. "Good morning, doll. You can speak."

"G-g-goo-" she struggled. She didn't recognize her own voice. For a moment she was scared she was broken. Katie suddenly moved an open bottle to her mouth and made her drink.

"Swish and swallow," she said. It was thicker than water. "Try again."

"G-good... Good morning, Katie," Jess spoke roughly. Katie looked back at her for a moment, then went back to focusing on scrubbing her clean. "Was I bad?"

"Yes, doll," Katie sighed. "But it's okay, baby. I fixed you."

Jess closed her eyes in relief. "Thank you," she muttered, wishing she could cry.

If she hated being put away, she loved when her owner used her and cared for her. She was extra patient washing her hair, using a comb on it afterwards, then drying her bit by bit as she pulled her out from the tub and to the ground and her lap. Her maintenance ended after Katie checked her joints for damage, turning each one slowly. 

Jess at least was a durable doll for her owner. It was one of the few things she was happy with about herself. 

After she was done, Katie sighed tiredly and hugged her from behind, arms around her head, leaning face down on her hair. 

Jess was restless. "Can I hug you too, please?" she asked. 

"No," Katie said, hugging her a little tighter. Jess wanted to pout. She couldn't move yet, so she couldn't lean against her owner, and she didn't want her to take that as a rejection, even though rationally she knew that didn't make sense. 

"I love you," she said instead and felt Katie laugh. 

"I love you too, doll. I've missed you."

Now she really wanted to cry. Knowing Katie was holding her and embracing her soothed her, even if she couldn't feel her warmth as much as a human could. She didn't need to treat her so well. Especially not after she was bad. Jess didn't deserve her. 

She'd got her clothes a little wet, too. She knew Katie didn't want her to apologize for small things but it was hard. She closed her tired eyes and tried to simply enjoy being in her owner's arms. 

Katie held her for a couple more minutes before she sighed and slowly started to drag her all the way to the living room. She'd just been bathed but every inch of Katie's house was spotless, so Jess wouldn't get dirty being dragged on the floor.

"Can I use my legs?" She asked, just wishing to make it easier for her. 

"Not now, doll," Katie answered- struggling to move her by her armpits. Jess watched her, but she wouldn't question her owner. She just wondered if she was a little mad with her. 

"Please be careful," she begged because she couldn't bear the thought of Katie hurting herself because of her. Her owner laughed. 

"I am," she said.

Jess over-analyzed her tone. Dolls weren't supposed to think so much.

Katie never punished her because punishing a toy didn't make sense. She only taught her, trained her, used her, and sometimes she let out her frustration on her. Often Jess was the source of that frustration. She tried to be a good doll, but she had a lot left to learn. 

At least, while Katie didn't let her move her own strings, she couldn't possibly mess up too much. She still feared Katie would stop being so nice today. Through great effort Katie moved her to the couch and sat her there. As she left towards the kitchen, Jess slowly dropped to her side. 

She couldn't remember exactly when Katie got her. Vaguely, she knew she'd been shocked seeing the house for the first time. It was entirely too big and fancy for one single person. It was too silent, too. Jess didn't like being left alone anywhere inside. She didn't like when she was away from Katie, period. She was trying to move her eyes impossibly to her left, trying to see Katie come in. 

Her owner appeared later with a big pot of yogurt. She left it on the coffee table and fixed her posture, pulling her up by the arm to sat her again. 

"Open up," she said later, as she fed her yogurt with a spoon. "Good doll."

Really? Was she? Jess hurried to swallow to ask:

"You're not mad with me?"

"... Oh, doll, of course not. Come on, open up."

After swallowing another spoonful Jess continued: "What did I do? Did I hurt my hand?"

"Yes, you did, but don't think about that anymore. I spent a lot of time fixing you up. You'll be good from now on, right?"

"Yes, yes I will."

"So just don't worry about it," Katie said tenderly, bopping her nose.

"Please can I hug you? Please?"

At least her neediness amused her owner. "No. Don't speak anymore. Just eat," Katie laughed as she moved to straddle her, holding the pot between them. "This helps, right?"

Jess tried to answer with her eyes. She kept staring at her beautiful, smiling owner on top of her as she slowly fed her the special yogurt until the pot was empty. 

Afterwards she threw the pot away and grabbed her right arm. 

"You can move this one," she said. Suddenly her entire arm felt sore and stiff. She struggled to turn it, but Katie helped her. "I need you to move on your own today, but we'll go slow, okay? Be a good doll and don't hurt yourself." 

Jess's first instinct was to rush herself to become useful quicker, but of course, Katie knew best. She obeyed and slowly moved her ball-joints as Katie allowed her to, holding her limbs one by one. 

Then she grabbed her hands and pulled her to her feet. "Come on, try to stand."

She managed a couple seconds before dropping, legs giving out. Katie caught her. 

"Try again."

It was hard. She tried not to rush. Her arms and legs were still weak so maybe she wasn't as durable as she thought. She needed to be better. 

Katie sat on the couch behind her and told her exactly how to move. Told her to stand up everytime she fell, to crawl around to recover better until she could finally hold herself by her two feet. Her legs still trembled. Katie told her to stretch and move her neck. 

"Good doll. You can speak again."

"I love you," she blurted out. "Can I hug you?"

"You want to so bad?" Katie giggled. She seemed tired too, streching her arms up. "Come here, we can cuddle. But I'll need to dress you up later."

Jess had instantly sat next to her and placed an arm around her waist, but that last part made her stop. "We're going out?"

"No, we're getting visits," Katie corrected, hugging her back, pushing her down into the coach and settling on top of her. "You met them."

Jess figured she didn't remember because she'd messed it up, because she'd been bad somehow. She managed not to apologize. She just hugged her owner tight as Katie laid her head on her chest below her chin, briefly rubbing her feet with her own. 

"I'll be good this time," she promised and Katie shushed her. 

"I know you will. Wake me up in thirty minutes. Don't move your arms or legs until then."

Jess relaxed suddenly- it was a relief to drop her limbs again. With her arms asleep ontop of Katie, she watched the top of her head and waited.