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When Mahogany got the package in the mail, he didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t uncommon for fans to send him packages of gifts or for small upstart makeup companies to send his samples to review on his channel. So he took it from his mother and shook it once, deciding that he would do an unboxing in his next video that evening. He tossed it onto his bed and thought nothing more of it for the rest of the day. It wasn’t until he came back and saw that the box was now sitting on his vanity that he got a little huffy. His mother wasn’t supposed to be in his room and moving his stuff. He’d lost enough pallets and brushes to various drawers and boxes that it irritated him when she got it into her mind to clean up after him.

But when he asked, she just looked at him in confusion and said, “I’ve been in the living room with your father all evening. I haven’t been upstairs today.”

Whatever. Mahogany rolled his eyes, ignoring the way she chattered angrily at her husband about “his son’s” behavior. He had a video to make.

If he was being honest, Mahogany really enjoyed unboxing videos. It was kind of like christmas or his birthday. It was why he did all of them on camera. He wanted to share the feeling of anticipation with his viewers. And so, he settled in with his ring light and the mysterious box and pressed record.

“Welcome back Beauty Bitches!” The greeting fell from his lips with practiced ease. “Mahogany Shapour here with this beautiful box. Now this arrived just today and it is from…” Mahogany glanced at the box to see who he was crediting but found nothing, oddly enough. “well… actually I don’t know…” He turned the box over and over, trying to find something, but to no avail. “There’s no return address.” He made a face at the camera with raised eyebrows and thin lips. “So I have no idea who sent this to me. If it was one of you, please drop me a line so that I can credit you. So… let’s see what we’ve got.”

Mahogany carefully slit the tape open along the top and sides of the box, mindful not to hurt whatever packaging might be inside.

“Okay, so right off the bat, I’m getting this like… really dusty smell? So I dunno what we’re in for folks.” He laughed nervously as he pulled back the flaps of the box and rooted around in the packing peanuts. His hand finally met with fabric and cool porcelain and his eyes lit up.

“Oh my gosh you guys,” he gasped, “I think this is a doll.” Excitement was clear as crystal in his voice and when he pulled out the delicate little brunette girl he squealed in delight.

“Okay, so those of you that have been with me a long time know that I am like… super weird and I love porcelain dolls. I literally cannot explain it. I just think that they are so cute and delicate and I love them. I don’t know.”

He held the doll up to the camera with a gleeful smile on his face and began to preen her with one hand.

“So, she’s got this beautiful bone white gown -- kind of a cream color, with this beautiful gold accent color and she is just -- you guys. She’s perfect. Oh my god and her hair has one giant dusty pink rose… I feel a look coming on, hang on a second… mm-hmm, yeah. I’m going to make a look out of this.”

Perfect

Mahogany set the doll down gently on the floor next to him and set to work. The colors jumped off of the pallet at Mahogany like they were alive. A shimmering gold cut crease with a cream lid. Dusty rose in the corners to add some color and match the rose. To match the daratic colors, he added dramatic black eyeliner in sharp wings that extended from the corners of his eyes all the way out to the outer corners of his brow. And of course false lashes to really blow the look out.

“And that’s how you do a cut crease -- Of course long time viewers knew that since I’m such a slut for a good cut crease. But now,” he whipped out his powder brush dramatically, “let’s carve it out, bitches.”

This was the easy part. Mahogany has been carving out his face for so long, it was basically muscle memory at this point. He finished with a glimmering gold lip, did some vanity shots, and then launched into his debriefing.

“Okay guys, so that is my… I dunno… surprise… secret santa… holiday doll look… Ohmygod, my Dolliday look, you guys! Damn, I’m good at this. Let me just grab her to compare for you, she’s… well… I thought she was right there…” He had set her under his chair right? Thinking back, he was so excited about his make up that he hadn’t really been paying attention. He just knew that he was trying to be careful with her…

“Guys, where did I put this doll? Am I blind or just stupid? Oh wait, there she is.” Out of the corner of his eye, Mahogany spied her finally, sitting happily on the table beside him. “Must not have wanted her to get stepped on. Alright girly, how’d I do?” He held the doll up to his ear as though she were speaking to him and nodded with a bright smile.

“I know,” he answered, “these colors are fabulous, and I know, my brows are in point. They always are. Well, I’m glad you like it, girly, and I hope you guys all enjoyed it as much as I did! Give this look a try, it would be fabulous with jewel tones in place of the rosey color, Maybe silver in place of the gold and use aqua tones for a super fab Atlantis look, I dunno. As usual, if you try this look, be sure to tag me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and send it to me on Snapchat! I love seeing all of you glammed and glowing it up! Until next time, later Beauty Bitches!”

Mahogany never realized how hot the ring light was until he turned it off, but now he was leaning back in his chair, the cool air on his face, it was very apparent. He sat for a long moment, letting his face cool off and enjoying the feeling of the makeup on his skin -- he could always feel it and he loved the sensation. He toyed with the hem of his new doll’s dress for a long moment before he sighed and stood, setting her safely on the dresser in the corner of his room. He would edit the video later… for now it was time for dinner.

Dinner was accompanied with the usual chatter -- persian families were always close, and Mags’ was no exception. His sister teased him about his brows being uneven and his father told them both to knock it off. His mother laughed at the good naturedness of it all. The meal was hot and spiced and beautiful. Mags enjoyed good food as much as he enjoyed good makeup. Maybe even more. Just don’t tell anyone, he would deny it until he was blue in the face. And he couldn’t help but recognize how lucky he was. His family was very Persian and very Jewish. It would have been easy for his parents to force him into a traditionally masculine role. To throw away his makeup. To disown him for not. And while the coming out was hard (he would forever remember the panic on both his parents faces when he walked down the stairs in a full face) they had come to understand. And he was blessed.

Dinner lasted long into the night and Mags still had his homework to do. Sitting at his desk pouring over math, he decided that he would have to edit the video tomorrow. It wasn’t due out until the end of the week -- he still had plenty of time. He would sleep now and edit after school tomorrow. He rose and straightened the dolls dress, though he could swear that he set her on the other dresser, right? He was distracted when he set her down, must have gotten it wrong. So he shrugged and went about his nightly routine, taking off his face, caring for his skin, and then settling into bed.

Sleep was… fleeting. Mahogany had a difficult time shaking the cool tingle of anxiety from his skin, which was odd because he was perfectly certain that he had nothing to be anxious about. He kept waking up just enough so that recuperative sleep evaded him, and when his alarm went off, he was dragging. Hard. the only jolt of energy he got was when he looked to his left and saw the doll from last night tucked neatly into the crook of his arm. He must have cried out because his sister, a room over, poked her head in, browns knit in a curious expression.

“Sorry Esta,” he sighed, scrubbing his eyes and tossing the doll to the side of his bed. “Just spooked myself.”

“Did you sleep with that god awful thing?”

“She is beautiful, her name is Gwyndolyn, and I guess yes. I must have grabbed her in the night.”

“Whatever freak.”

Mahogany threw a pillow at the closing door and set the doll back on his bedside table. Exhausted or no, Mahogany had a day to get ready for and a face to do. A “no makeup” make up look for school was easy enough, and between that and the shower he was out and done within the hour. No problems at all. Except that Esta had gone into his room and put Gwyndolyn away. God, she knew better than to mess with his stuff. And then she had the nerve to not understand why he was so pissy during the ride to school… like he was going to tell her, she knew damn well.

And truth be told, for some reason, that kind of ruined his mood for the whole day. Mahogany was irritable, short tempered, and rather rude to almost everyone that he encountered that day. He knew that he was supposed to be a good example for the students of Hillsworth -- that was why he was there, to set that example -- but he just could not keep himself in check. And when he wasn’t snapping and people, he was jittery, constantly on edge as if waiting for something to fall on him. But nothing ever did. Which only made the feeling that much worse.

And so the day dragged, interspersed with petty fights and mild, ongoing panic until he got home. It was like a weight had been lifted off of him, and every step he took closer to his room was another stone lifted from him. The first thing he did was scoop Gwyndolyn off of his pillow and hug her to his chest. He would lie like this for a little bit before he started working on editing… just a little bit… just to get his nerves in check.

His quiet meditation lasted for an hour before he finally set Gwyndolyn back into her bed on his pillowed and hauled himself out of bed to edit his video. That would take the afternoon right up to dinner as it was… he didn’t need to waste more time.

Upon opening his video edited software, he immediately pasted in his title card and then went to work splicing together a vanity montage. Behind him, his white backdrop reflected the perfect amount of light so that he hardly had to throw any of his shots away… god though, he really should smile more in these… why was he always so serious and edgy? Not that it mattered now. Once that was all done he could set to work with the real task -- making sense of the mess he’d recorded. Almost two hours of footage had been recorded and he had to sift through and pick out the best bits. At least he’d learned a long time ago to leave himself verbal cues during recording to make this part easier.

“Oh, I hate that I said that, edit that part out.”

“Make sure you add subtitles with the names of the products.”

Should he cut out the part where he places the doll on the floor? Probably, it’s not that important.

“Must not have wanted her to get stepped on.”

Wait… hold on… Mahogany clearly saw himself place that doll on the ground… right? Was he stupid? Backing up the video he tried to see where and when he had moved the doll… never quite finding it. It was just… suddenly… on the table behind him. He even slowed the footage down to microseconds but with nothing to show for it. One instant the doll was on the ground and the next…

Mahogany felt a shiver roll up his spine and suddenly felt eyes upon him. Slowly, as though to avoid spooking anything, he turned on his chair. Behind him, the doll which had been facing the wall before her, had turned her head to the severe left to gaze at Mahogany, glass eyes sparkling in the evening sun.

Mahogany moved with a suddenness of which he was not aware he was capable and flew from his seat, knocking the chair over with a clatter. Quickly, almost violently, he grabbed the doll from the bed and flew down the step and out the door, ignoring his mother’s questions about where he was going. He didn’t have time. Mahogany jumped into his car, tossed the doll in the backseat, and slammed the gas. He had to take her far… far… away.

Except for that the ride proved to be treacherous. Twice Mahogany ran red lights because his brakes seemed to not want to do what they were supposed to do. The last time his happened he was nearly t-boned by a mac truck. Looking in the backseat once everything settled, there was Gwyndolyn, smiling placidly on the middle seat, perfectly framed in his rear view mirror. Mahogany slammed the gas as soon as he could, ignoring the feeling of small, glass eyes on the back of his neck.

Finally he slammed on the brakes, sending himself nearly flying into the steering wheel. He was at the quarry, and on the very south side of the area was a dam. If he threw her in there, the water would carry her so far from here that she wouldn’t be able to come back. Right? He snatched the little demon from the back seat and clambered over the rocks of the quarry, once falling and twisting his ankle painfully. At that point, he’d even smashed Gwyndolyn’s face into the rocks to catch his fall, but to his dismay there as nothing scarring her perfect porcelain face.

Finally standing at the top of the water, Mahogany looked down at the raging current beneath him and faltered. Hang on… he was being ridiculous, wasn’t he? Haunted doll, no way. He looked down at the doll in his hand and smoothed down her golden ringlets, considering her for a long while. It was just a doll. A thing. And it certainly wasn’t haunted. He didn’t even believe in things like that, why was he suddenly acting like this? The video was probably just a trick or something. It might have stopped recording and picked back up after he picked her up of the floor. He had noticed a little skip in the playback. And the brakes could have happened to anyone. God he was being so stupid, maybe he should just throw himself over if he was going to act like that.

The water seemed closer, suddenly, in that way that vertigo warps distance. Mahogany tilted his head a little, considering the current and the way it flushed everything out to god only knew there. Maybe he could figure out where the dam emptied out. Maybe…

As he gripped the railing before him, Gwyndolyn slipped from his grip and tumbled down to the raging cataclysm beneath him. He cried out once before blinking and coming back to his senses.

“Maybe I should jump? Tch. Good riddance, b***h.”

When Mahogany finally arrived home, he politely declined dinner. Hillworth’s lunch had been abhorrent and he had to give his sack lunch to a boy who had no money left, he lied. He wasn’t feeling the best. So with a kiss from his mother and a jab from his sister, Mahogany retired to his bedroom and sat for a long moment at his computer, considering what to do with his footage.

No need to waste it, right? But he wasn’t about to become a joke channel. But it was halloween…

In the end, Mahogany settled on the title “HAUNTED DOLL MAKEUP CHALLENGE” and then pressed the record button for a quick debrief.

“Hey Beauty Bitches. I know, different make up, school uniform, it’s the next day. So you read the title and are probably like, ‘Mags. Come on. You don’t even believe this stuff.’ I know, okay? I know. But trust me when I tell you that the footage you are about to see is 100% undoctored in anyway. And when I found out I drove that b***h to the quarry where she nearly made me jump over the ledge. AND… she cut my brakes twice on the way there. Come on… what do I have to gain from lying about this?” Enough to make it seem as real as it was, but over the top enough to make people think it was a prank.

When Mahogany woke up the next morning, his views on the video were double what he normally got on the first day and he gained a healthy chunk of subscribers.

“Thanks Gwyndolyn. But also burn in hell.”