The New Doll

  This is supposed to be a somewhat "creepy" story in the spirit of Halloween. It's my first try at a story like this so don't judge it too harshly. ;)

“Do you like your new doll, Katie?” her mother asked, smiling down at the little girl cradling the toy in her arms.

“I love her mommy,” Katie exclaimed, running her fingers down the green skirt of the shiny dress and then reaching up to smooth the doll’s big blonde curls. Her eyes were bright blue and her lips dark red. Her porcelain face was white like the snow except for two rosy circles of pink on her cheeks.

“You have to be very careful with her, Katie. Her face is delicate and it could break if you play with her too roughly.”

“I will take good care of her, Mommy,” Katie promised with a big grin.

“We should find a special place for her to stay while you’re not playing with her.” Katie’s mom looked around the room.

“What about the shelf next to my bed on the wall?” the little girl suggested. Her mom nodded.

“That is perfect, Katie. If you pull her legs up very carefully you can make her sit down.”

Katie shifted the doll’s legs into a sitting position, stood up on her bed and placed the doll gently on the sturdy wooden shelf.

“Perfect,” Katie’s mom said with a smile. “Now come downstairs for dinner.”
“Ok, mommy,” Katie answered, following her mom to the door and pausing for one last look at her new doll before leaving the room.

  That night, Katie lay in bed staring into the darkness. A beam of moonlight coming through the window landed on the shelf next to her bed and she could vaguely make out the shiny white face of her doll. She looked straight ahead through her unblinking blue eyes. After a few moments, Katie’s own eyes began to close and soon she was fast asleep.

  Her eyes opened suddenly when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Next to her on the bed stood the little doll, her face creased in a smile, one of her tiny hands waving at Katie.

“You can walk?” Katie asked in astonishment. The doll nodded her head making her blonde curls bounce.

“Come sit with me on the shelf, Katie.”

 Katie glanced at the shelf and then back at the doll.

“I am too big, I would break it,” she explained. The doll walked down Katie’s arm and pulled on her fingers.
“Come sit with me, Katie,” she repeated. Katie sat up and suddenly the doll was gone. She looked around and saw her back on the shelf, her legs in the seated position, her expression blank. The sun was shining in through the windows and Katie could hear her mother making breakfast downstairs.

 “Mommy, mommy, my doll talked to me last night,” the little girl cried, hurrying into the kitchen.

 “That’s great, honey,” Katie’s mom said with a laugh. “I love that you have such a vivid imagination.”

Katie raised a confused eyebrow at her mother’s comment but shrugged it off and asked for a bowl of oatmeal.

  Later that night as Katie’s mom tucked her into bed she reached up and patted the doll’s head.

“Is your new little friend going to talk to you again tonight?” she asked with a sweet smile.

“I don’t know, Mommy,” Katie answered honestly. “But I hope so. She has the cutest little voice and her tiny hands feel funny on my fingers.”

“I am glad you like her,” Katie’s mom said, turning off the light and leaving the room. Katie lay in bed looking up at the doll. She sat motionless now but Katie fully expected to soon feel her tiny doll hands patting her on the shoulder.

  Sure enough, in what seemed like no time at all Katie’s eyes were opening to see the doll’s blue ones looking right at her.

“Come sit on the shelf with me, Katie,” the doll insisted.

“I am still too big,” Katie said with a giggle. The doll again pulled on her hand and repeated her request.

  In the morning her face was still again and Katie couldn’t wait to tell her mother what had happened.

“She wants me to sit on the shelf with her,” the little girl told her mother while eating her bowl of oatmeal.

“That is sweet, honey. But you know you can’t sit on that shelf, right? You are far too big.”

“I know mommy,” Katie assured her. “But I wish I could. It would be fun.”

 That night, Katie’s mother pulled her blankets up to her chin and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

“Are you going to talk to your doll tonight, Katie?” she asked.

“Yes, mommy,” Katie said, her eyes lighting up. “She always likes to talk to me at night.”

“I am glad you have a new friend,” her mom said, patting her on the head. “Goodnight, Katie.”

  The little girl lay in bed looking up at the shelf. She smiled knowing that yet again she would get to converse with her new doll.

  Before she knew it, the little blonde curls were bouncing up and down as the doll pulled on her hand even harder than before.

“Katie, come sit on the shelf with me,” the doll insisted. The little girl smiled.

“I told you I am too big.”

  The doll looked at Katie and gave her a strange smile the girl had never seen before.

“It’s time to sit on the shelf, Katie.”

   The next morning, Katie’s mom stood in front of the stove boiling water to make oatmeal for breakfast. She hummed a little tune to herself and smiled wondering when her little girl would come running down the stairs to talk about the conversation she had with her doll the night before.

  “Honey have you seen Katie this morning?” Katie’s dad asked, walking down the back stairs into the kitchen.

“No, is she not in her room?”

“I didn’t see her in there and her bed is not made yet. By the way, when did you get her those two new dolls?”

“I only got her one doll,” Katie’s mom said, turning around and giving her husband a confused look.

“No there are two on the shelf above her bed. One with blonde curly hair and a green dress and one with brown hair the color of Katie’s. Its dress even looks like the nightgown she wore last night.”

“I never bought her a doll like that,” Katie’s mom said, turning back to her boiling pot of water and pouring the oats in. As she stirred them around with a wooden spoon, her thoughts went to Katie’s descriptions of the conversations she’d had with her doll and how the doll had asked her to sit on the shelf. She shook her head and laughed it off. Katie was just a little girl with a creative imagination.

 “Can you stick your head out the back door and see if Katie is playing in the yard?” she asked her husband. “Tell her she needs to come eat breakfast. And I want to find out who gave her that other doll.”