The Porcelain DollAshley Pettison looked at the new house. “Mommy,” she said turning her head to the raven haired woman beside her, “I don’t like it.”
“Aww, come on sweetheart,” the mother gave her little girl a smile and squeezed her hand. Ashley pouted in reply. “They have an attic,” the mother said in a singsong voice. Even though she did not understand her daughter’s odd fondness of attics, it did help in tough situations like these.
“Really?!” Ashley said looking at her mother with bright eyes. She nodded. “I’m going to explore!” Her feet clad in light up Sketcher sneakers creaked on the old wooden steps of the ancient manor. “I’m going to find something really, really cool!” She bounded up more steps and fought her way through cobwebs and dust. Coughing, she finally reached the attic door. “Yea!” Her big brown eyes shined with delight as she used all of her weight to open the big wooden door. She stared at the room for several minutes, adjusting her eyes to the dim light, the only source of which coming from an old window draped in old fashioned curtains. “Wow. Look at all the treasure,” Ashley said in awe. Ever since she was baby she could remember her grandmother bringing her up to her old attic and telling her of forgotten treasures. They would sit up there for hours as her grandmother knitted and Ashley would search the attic occasionally finding a small trinket. She grinned and began digging through the loads of cardboard boxes and white sheets. An out of place wind suddenly blew in her face. “Aiiii-!” she screamed as she fell face forward. A sheet rustled where one of her flailing arms had hit. “Oh,” she breathed and turned toward the sound. A large white sheet was covering something box like. ‘I wonder what’s under there,” she thought to herself. Her curiosity won and –with great difficulty- she pulled the large sheet down. She gasped. “Treasure!” A large blue and gold chest sat in front of her. Strange letters were written on the chest in dark black. “Eh.” She shrugged her small shoulders and tried to tug the lid off the box. “Oh poop. I think it’s stuck.” She stuck out her bottom lip and crossed her arms. “Ah!” she said. It was a very ridiculous idea but it may work. “Treasure chest,” she knocked on the chest’s lid, “please open.” Ashley was surprised with a loud creak. She clapped her hands together and then went to work on lifting the box on its rusty hinges even more. Finally, Ashley managed to open it just enough to see what lay inside. Ashley sucked in air. A beautifully made doll lay inside. White-blonde hair carelessly was strewn over the doll’s face. The doll’s pale porcelain skin was clean despite the dinginess of the attic. An old-fashioned black dress trimmed and decorated with white lace had been delicately placed on the doll’s body. She picked up the doll and smoothed down her hair, revealing two piercing blue eyes made of sapphire. “So pretty,” she breathed.
“Dinner!” Her mother’s cry ruptured her thoughts. Quickly Ashley laid down the doll in an old rocking chair. “Just like Grandmama’s,” she whispered to the doll. Then she hurried down the stairs.
“Coming Mommy!” Ashley yelled as she skidded into the kitchen.
“My, aren’t we in a hurry,” she ruffled her daughter’s hair which was exactly like her mother’s. Long and jet black and as smooth as raven feathers.
Ashley blushed a little and gave a weak smile, “Just hungry.”
“The food will be ready in a minute.” She opened the oven to check on the chicken. “Did you find any good treasure?” her mother laughed as she turned down the oven temperature.
“No,” Ashley said quickly. “Nothing but old boxes and things.” She could not bring herself to tell her mother about the doll. She knew how much she distasted dolls. Ashley could vaguely remember why. Something called a hugger doll had to do with it.
“Oh,” the mother said surprised. Her daughter usually found some old trinket when she searched through attics. “Well I guess you could look some more tomorrow.” She took the chicken out the oven. Why don’t we eat now, shall we?”
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As her mother was cleaning the dishes, Ashley got ready for bed. She brushed her teeth, scrunching her nose at the taste of the toothpaste as she did every night, took a bath, and put on her pajamas. She let out a loud yawn. “I’m tired,” she said out loud as she rubbed her eyes sleepily. ‘But I still have something to do,’ she thought to herself. She silently crept back up the stairs leading to the attic and for the second time that day she opened the heavy wooden door. She walked over to the old rocking chair and picked up the doll. She gave it a slight squeeze. “You didn’t think I would just leave you here in the dark did you?” With a bit more than a little bit of difficulty, she carried the doll downstairs and into her room. Letting out another yawn, she tugged the doll in bed beside her. “We could be sisters,” she said as her eyes closed. She wrapped her arms around the doll and held her porcelain hand. “I always wanted a sister,” she whispered as she fell asleep.
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Emily Pettison rocked slowly back and forth in her rocking chair as she attempted to knit a scarf for her granddaughter Ashley. “Darn needles,” she muttered as she stuck herself in the finger. A drop of dark scarlet blood dripped on the scarf. “Now I have to get a bandage and knit a new scarf!” she said in exasperation. “Darn needles.” She continued to curse the needles as she walked slowly down the stairs to the bathroom. “Darn arthritis. Darn needles.” Suddenly she heard a laugh, “Who’s there?” the old woman questioned into the darkness. She heard another laugh. This one was closer and she could have sworn it sounded exactly like the giggle of a little girl. “Who’s there?” She fiddled with her glasses, she was suddenly very nervous. She stepped back a little unconsciously and was surprised as a small and shockingly cold hand clutched her ankle. “Aiiii-!” she screamed as she fell down the stairs. A searing pain ripped through her leg when she finally hit the barely carpeted floor. She heard another snicker. It was definitely one of little girl. Was this some cruel prank? Emily struggled to get to her feet in vain. She grunted as she fell back on the ground after her feeble attempt. She glanced back up and now she saw a small shadowed figure in front of her. “Please. Help me,” she managed weakly through her pain. A pair of dark blue eyes and a mouth filled with rows of sharp teeth were her reply.
“Of course I’ll help you,” an eerily child-like voice said to her.
The old lady was speechless. By the time she was able to find her voice to scream, two sewing needles pierced deeply into her eyes. The figure smiled, “Such a pretty scarf.” The figure picked up the scarf and wrapped it around her neck. “I’m sorry we won’t be able to play anymore. This was so much fun~!” A laugh escaped past the figure’s lips as it vanished back into the shadows.
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Ashley yawned and stretched. It seemed pretty late, why had her mother not woke her up yet? She rolled out of bed, forgetting about the doll she was holding hands with. “Oh! Oof!” she exclaimed as the doll fell on top of her. Ashley rubbed her eyes and climbed to her elbows. “You’re heavy,” she said as she rolled the doll off of her. Ashley got up and looked down at the doll. She stared closer; she could have sworn the doll’s smile was not that big yesterday. And were her eyes always that dark?
“Ashley laughed. “Dolls don’t change.” Forgetting all about her mother’s phobia, the still drowsy Ashley stumbled into the kitchen. Her mother sat at the kitchen table sobbing into her hands.
“What’s wrong mommy?”
“Oh…Ashley…your grandma…” the mother sobbed. She looked up tearfully at her daughter. “She…she…d-…” her mother stopped midsentence.
“What mommy?” Ashley stared at her mother. She was looking at her strangely.
“T-that… That doll!” her mother shrieked and broke the silence. “Where did you get that doll!” Her mother had reached full hysteria in seconds. The mother could swear the doll’s sapphire eyes were glistening at her fear.
“T-the attic,” Ashley whimpered. Her mother was scaring her. She had never seen her mother this scared before.
The hysteric mother looked at her young daughter on the verge of tears. “I’m so sorry sweetheart,” she stepped forward to comfort her daughter, but then she saw the doll again. Those eyes were the same. Ashley could see the fear cross her mother’s face. Those eyes took her mother back to her childhood. Those same jeweled eyes. That same eerie smile. All that blood. The mother stumbled back and held onto the counter for support. She felt as if she was falling. “You have to put it back.”
“But she’s my sister,” Ashley whimpered.
“She’s not your sister,” her mother said sternly. “Put her back.”
“But I don’t want to,” Ashley whined.
“I said put it back!!!” her mother yelled falling to her knees.
Ashley’s brown eyes widened in fear. Taking the doll in her hand, she ran from the room. Why was her mommy so scared? She wipes at the tears that were in her eyes, her sight was beginning to blur. “Sorry,” she whispered as she laid the doll back in the chest. “But mommy says so.” Ashley struggled a little but less than the first time as she closed the lid. “Good-bye sis,” she said as she kissed the lid of the box.
Ashley hurried downstairs and slowly walked back into the kitchen. Her mother was still on the floor, sort of staring at the wall, as if she was remembering something. “Did you put the doll back?” she asked absently.
“Yes,” Ashley whispered.
She breathed a sigh of relief and then took Ashley into her arms. “Good. I’m sorry sweetheart. I love you.”
“I love y-…” Ashley’s eyes flickered. Her brown eyes turned to blue, “I love you too mommy,” a different little girl’s voice mockingly whispered into her ear.
The mother’s eyes fluttered open. “Wha-?”
“-ou too mommy,” Ashley said in her regular voice, that same voice her mother had known for years. “What?” Ashley just now noticed the strange look on her mother’s face.
“Nothing,” her mother said mentally shaking herself. “Nothing at all sweetheart.”
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Ashley tossed and turned in her sleep. She woke up with a start. She could sear she heard something downstairs. CLASH! She did hear something downstairs! “Mommy?” she whispered. Another clash and this time she heard a scream. “Mommy!” Ashley jumped out of bed and flew down the stairs.
“Mommy!” The kitchen was a mess. Broken dishes and glass carpeted the floor. The microwave lay on its side, unplugged, on the opposite side of the room. The silverware drawer had been ripped off its hinges and the silverware had exploded all over the kitchen. Mommy?” Ashley was quivering. She slowly and cautiously stepped into the kitchen. “Sis?” Ashley stared at the doll. A scarf with a dark red stain was wrapped loosely around her neck. The doll held a knife to her mother’s wrists as tears fell down her face.
“Mommy!” Ashley rushed forward and screamed in pain as a shard of glass pierced her bare feet. Ashley’s blood mixed with the rest of the chaos on the floor and pooled down to the doll and her mother’s feet.
“She’s my mommy too,” the doll said. The doll’s smile was huge now. All her teeth good be seen, each one as sharp as a dagger. Her eyes were such a dark shade of blue that it formed a stormy black. “We’re sisters. Remember?” The doll made a small cut right below the mother’s wrist. Ashley and her mother screamed at the same time.
“S-s-stop,” Ashley sobbed.
“No.” The doll giggled. “This is too much fun.” She grinned at Ashley. “Can’t you see we’re bonded by blood?” The doll held up the scarf. “Your grandmother’s blood… your mother’s blood… your blood.” The doll dipped her fingers in the pool of blood on the floor and licked off. She licked her lips. “And we’re sisters. We should never be separated by anyone, not even our mother.”
“P-pl-please,” Ashley choked. She had managed to stumble to her feet.
“I’m alive as long as you are,” the doll whispered. Ashley’s eyes opened wide. Her mother opened her mouth to say something but a painful cry escaped her lips instead. The doll had slit her left wrists completely. “It looks like I opened some old wounds.” The mother was sobbing as she remembered her childhood. That doll. It had promised to come back.
“Mommy!” Ashley cried. She stared at the blood that never stopped leaking from her mother’s open wrist.
“Your mother’s halfway gone.” The doll grinned and held the blade to the mother’s other wrist. “You better make a decision fast little sister.”
Ashley’s eyes watered. She turned and ran. She did not even notice the blades of glass that kept piercing her small feet. A trail of blood ran up the stairs as she ran into the attic. She quickly ripped the ropes off the curtains. Tying one end to the windowpane and the other around her neck, she jumped from the window.
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The doll laughed and soon the mother was alone in the kitchen. She desperately struggled to stop the blood spilling from her wrist. She breathed a sigh of relief when she finally found a kitchen towel to wrap around the wound. “Ashley! She’s gone! Come out now!” She stepped into the hallway. A cool breeze blew some of her mussed hair in her face. She turned. The front door was open. “Did you go outside?”she questioned. She wrapped her arms around herself and stepped outside. “Ashley?” She looked around but did not see any sign of her daughter anywhere. Her heart began to race, she remembered the doll’s words, “I’m alive as long as you are,” the mother whispered out loud. She began to run around the house. She lost her bloody towel holding her wrist but she did not care. “Ashley?! Ashley?!” When she reached the backyard she heard a loud CAW! from a dark feathered bird. “A raven,” she questioned. She looked at the sky toward the sound. She screamed.
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Loud sirens broke the silence in the once quiet neighborhood. Police rushed to the scene where there were reports of loud screams. The police could still hear them. “Ashley!!! No!!! Ashley!!!” Police finally reached the distraught mother and attempted to hold her back. She pulled away from the officers that held her and ran toward her daughter. She fell to her knees sobbing. “It was the doll. It was the doll. She swore she would come back. It was the doll,” the mother stated between sobs. “It was the goddamn doll!!” she screamed, half sobbed to the startled police officers. Her beautiful little girl swung back and forth from the attic window.
“Ashley!!!” she screamed as she tried to push herself to her feet. “Ashley!!!” she fell back on her knees. She was just too weak. She could not stand up. She could not feel her legs. In fact, she could not feel anything… not even the blood that was still falling from her wrist. “Ashley,” she whispered. The doll had taken all that she had left. IN the distance she could hear an officer whispering to another about sedatives. “NO!!!” she screamed but she still could not feel anything. Burly officers lifted her to her feet and took hold of her arms and shoulders. Suddenly shock wore off and she regained her strength. She struggled with the officers. “Let me go!!! Ashley!!! The doll!!! It took everything!! It was the do-!!” She stopped midsentence. The now childless mother heard a small girlish giggle. That same giggle that had haunted her since her childhood. The strength in her body left again and she fell limp in the officers’ arms. She did not even feel the thin silver needle pierce her skin.
“Good-night mommy,” the wind whispered into her ear as she unwillingly closed her eyes…
I have this posted in thw forums. biggrin Antygais... this is my last entry. If you want to read anything else by me clcik on the link to my deviantART account in my siggy. ^^ 
