The Doll Maker

“We’re moving?” I and my brother Adam looked up at our mother who was doing the dishes. Adam and I were sitting at the kitchen table. Adam was studying for a math test for school, and I was writing a story. I love writing. That’s what I want to be when I get older. I want to be a writer. Mom finished washing a coffee mug and then she grabbed the dishtowel from off of the counter and she dried her hands. Then she laid the towel back on the counter and she turned and looked at us. She had that calm look on her face that she always had. My mom is the kind of person who even when she’s angry, looks and stay's calm. She had a soft smile on her face and her big blue eyes were like blue crystals as she looked at us, her long blonde hair sparkled as the sunlight hit it through the open curtain on the kitchen window. My mother was so beautiful. She was my best friend in the whole world. Unlike some sixteen-year-old girls who don’t even want to be seen with their mom, I love my mom more than anything in the whole world. “Listen, guys,” mom started. “This whole situation with your father has just been crazy,” mom said. “And I thought it would be nice to get away,” mom said. “But why do we have to move?” Adam asked. “I mean why can’t we just go on vacation or something.” “Why do we have to do something so permanent like moving?” Adam asked. “Because guys I can’t afford to keep this house,” mom said. “I thought I could,” mom said. “But I can’t,” mom said. Mom looked down at the kitchen floor. There was a long moment of silence. I just looked at her.

Then mom looked up at us, her eyes were a little red and she looked like she was going to start crying. “I have to tell you guys something,” mom said. She took a deep breath and pulled herself together. “I lost my job last week,” mom said. “Why?” I asked. “My boss just let me go for some reason,” mom said. “I don’t know,” mom said. “So how have you been making money?” I asked. But then I felt awkward asking my mom that question. “It’s okay honey,” mom said as if she read my mind. “Grandma has been helping me out,” mom said. “But she can’t help me forever,” mom said. “So I’ve been looking for a job,” mom said. “And yesterday I found a nice job at a little hotel in a little town called Hollow Brook,” mom said. “It looks really nice,” mom said. “When are we leaving?” Adam asked.” Tomorrow,” mom said. “Seriously,” Adam said. “That is not fair mom!” Adam shouted. “What about me and Amanda?” Adam asked. “Amanda can come to visit you and you can visit her,” mom said. Amanda was Adam’s girlfriend. Adam looked really mad. “You are messing up everything mom!” Adam shouted. “You ruined dad’s life and made him leave!” Adam shouted. “And now you’re ruining our lives too!” Adam shouted as he ran upstairs to his room. Mom started crying. I just sat there being silent.” I’m so sorry,” mom said through her sobbing. I stood up and walked over to her and I wrapped my arms around her and she put her arms around me and she kissed the top of my head. “It’s okay mom,” I said. “He’ll end up liking it,” I said. Mom calmed down. “I hope you’re right sweetheart,” mom said as she rubbed my head. “Let’s get some ice cream,” mom said as she looked at me and smiled. She grabbed two bowels and two spoons, and I got the ice cream out of the freezer. She got the ice cream out in the bowels and we went outside on the porch and ate our ice cream and talked. The next day we got up and started packing. I packed everything in my room and then I helped my mom pack stuff. Adam wasn’t talking to mom and he said hardly anything to me. The only thing he said to us was that he was done packing and he was going over to say bye to Amanda. He left and mom and I kept packing. Jason a friend of ours and his brother Mark came over and helped mom and I load everything into a U-haul truck.

I grabbed my backpack and mom grabbed her purse then she locked up the house and we sat on the porch waiting for Adam. When Adam came back we left. Adam drove the U-haul truck and mom and I took the car. We drove for what felt like forever. We passed a lot of weird places on our way to Hollow Brook. We finally made it to Hollow Brook. There was this creepy wooden sign on the side of the road that said Hollow Brook in big black letters, and then under that, it said Welcome in big black letters. We turned down the old-looking dirt road and kept driving. There were creepy old dead black trees on both sides of the road and there was a creek too. The water looked beautiful. The sun was shining on the water and it sparkled. We kept going and then we finally started seeing a few houses and there was a grocery store and a hotel. I guessed that was the hotel mom was going to be working at. The houses were old and falling apart, and the grocery store was small and old-looking just like the houses. And the hotel was a little bigger than the houses but it was a little nicer looking. There was a sign on the front of the hotel that said in big black letters THE GHOSTLAND HOTEL. It was a creepy-looking place. But I think the most disturbing part of the whole thing was the man standing on the front porch of the hotel. He was so creepy. And of course, mom decided to stop at the hotel and then go meet her boss. “Mom can we just go see our new house first?” I asked. “I just want to go in real quick and meet my new boss Lindsey,” mom said. “Okay,” I said. I knew there was no way out of it. Mom opened the car door and got out. “You can get out of the car Lindsey,” mom said. “No I’m fine,” I said. “Come on Lindsey,” mom said. “It’s too hot for you to stay in the car,” mom said. “Fine,” I said. My eyes were stuck on the man, he was watching us. I got out of the car. I watched my mom walk into the hotel, the man looked at my mother and smiled at her, and said hi. My mom disappeared through the hotel door. And the man was looking at me again. The man was older, maybe in his forties or fifties. He was white, he was skinny, and he had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, he was wearing jeans, a light blue polo shirt, and brown cowboy boots. He looked pretty normal. He just kept staring at me our eyes locked on each other. Then he finally smiled at me revealing perfect white teeth. I smiled at him, even though I thought he was weird. He started walking over to me, and he was still smiling at me.” Hi,” he said. “Hi,” I said. I didn’t want to talk to him. But I knew my mom would be mad if I didn’t. “Did you all just move here?” he asked. “Yeah,” I said. “My name is Jabez Andrews,” he said. He stuck out his hand. I put my hand in his.”Lindsey Williams,” I said. “It’s really nice to meet you, Lindsey,” he said as we shook hands. We stopped shaking hands and then he looked at me again. “You should come over to my house tonight and meet my wife,” he said. “Oh, I don’t know,” I said. “Oh come on,” he said. “Please,” he said. I thought it was weird that he wanted me to come to his house at night and I thought it was really weird that he just invited me. But I thought I was just being paranoid. “Okay,” I said as I smiled at him. I would regret that for the rest of my life. “Great,” he said. My mom started walking toward the car. Jabez saw her coming and he looked at me. “Well I have to go,” he said. “I’ll see you tonight,” he said as he smiled at me and then walked away. Mom made it to the car.” Honey who was that?” mom asked. “I don’t know,” I said. “Someone who lives here,” I said. “Oh,” mom said. “Okay,” mom said. We got in the car and we went to our new house.

On the way to our new house we passed a house, it was a white farmhouse and it was old looking but it was beautiful. Besides the white farmhouse, there was an old white shack with a big green door, on the roof of the shack there was an old brown sign on the sign-in big black letters it said THE DOLL MAKER. It was creepy looking. I was happy that the place wasn’t close to our house. We finally made it to our house. We got our stuff moved in, and it didn’t take us long to get moved in. when we were finished mom started making dinner and I sat on my bed in my new room thinking about that man. We ate dinner and then we all got ready for bed. Mom came into my room and said good night to me. “I love you,” mom said before she left my room. “I love you too,” I said. She walked out of my room and closed my bedroom door. When I thought everyone was asleep I pushed the covers back and got out of bed. I took my shorts and the long T-shirt that I was sleeping in and I put on a pair of jeans, a big grey T-shirt, and a pair of white and black combat boots. My bedroom was upstairs but there was a tree outside my bedroom window. I opened my bedroom window and I climbed into the tree. Then I climbed down out of the tree. I felt bad for sneaking out. But I was stupid and naïve and so even though I had a bad feeling about it, I did it anyway. I started walking through the yard and then I saw Jabez. He smiled at me I could see him in the moonlight. I thought that was weird. I never told him where I lived. But I smiled at him and I walked over to him. “Hi pretty girl,” he said. That made me kind of uncomfortable. “Hey,” I said. “Are you ready?” he asked. “Yeah,” I said. 

We started walking down our driveway. He didn’t really talk to me on our way to his house. And when he did talk he asked me weird questions. Like how old I was if I had a boyfriend. Weird stuff like that. I told him I was sixteen years old and that I didn’t have a boyfriend. He said he thought it was crazy that I didn’t have a boyfriend with how beautiful I was. I thought that was creepy, but what he said next was even creepier. “You’re like a beautiful china doll,” he said. That freaked me out on so many levels. But I put a smile on my face and said thank you. We kept walking and then we stopped at the white farmhouse with the creepy shack. I stopped walking. Jabez turned and looked at me. “Come on,” he said. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Nothing,” I said. He smiled at me and I followed him. We walked up the steps to the front door of the farmhouse. We walked in and Jabez led me to the living room. There was a woman sitting in an old brown wooden rocking chair and she was just staring out the window she was holding a china doll brushing the doll's hair. “This is my wife Sadie,” he said. “She doesn’t talk much,” he said. “Oh,” I said. I just looked at Sadie, she only looked over at me once and her pale blue eyes looked so sad. “Get out of here,” she whispered to me. Then she started staring out the window again. Jabez didn’t hear her. But I did and I got a really bad feeling. “I want to show you something,” he said. “Follow me,” he said. I followed him and we walked out to that creepy shack. He opened the door. And we walked in.

The outside was creepy but the inside was even creepier. There were china dolls everywhere, there were little china dolls, medium china dolls, and life-size china dolls. Jabez smiled at me. “What do you think?” he asked. “It’s cool,” I said. I lied. “I made all of them,” he said. He was proud of himself. There was one life-size china doll that caught my attention. The doll looked like it was breathing, and as I took a closer look what I saw made my blood turn to ice. It wasn’t a doll. It was a human girl. But she sat so still and she looked just like a china doll. I turned and looked at Jabez. The look on his face told me that he knew that I figured it out. “I have to go,” I said using a calm tone. “My mom will be mad if she wakes up and sees that I’m gone,” I said. He just looked at me. “I hate to have to tell you this but you don’t have a home to go back to,” he said. “What?” I said. “Yeah,” he said. “Some friends of mine caught your house on fire,” he said. I just looked at him. “I’m sorry Lindsey,” he said. “Your mom and brother are dead,” he said. “I’m so sorry,” he said. He wasn’t sorry you could tell. He was smiling when he told me all of that. I was in shock I couldn’t even talk and I don’t know if I was breathing.

Finally, I pulled myself together. “Take me home,” I said. “I want to see it,” I said.” I’m sorry Lindsey,” he said. “I can’t do that,” he said. “Why I asked. “Because your mine now,” He said. “You are my new beautiful doll,” he said. He came at me and tried to grab me I ran out the door before he could grab me, and I could hear his footsteps behind me. I kept running until I didn’t hear him anymore. I made it to my house. It was gone, but there were no signs of a fire, you couldn’t even smell any smoke. In fact, there weren’t even any signs that a house had ever been there. I got on my knees on the ground and I started sobbing. “Mom,” I said through my sobbing. I apparently ended up falling asleep and when I woke up I was lying in the grass beside the creek we passed on our way there. I rubbed my eyes and sat up. I looked around there was no hotel, no houses, and no sign that said Hollow Brook, there wasn’t even a road. There was just a field and a creek. I was so confused. Then I looked down and I was holding a white folded piece of paper, I opened the piece of paper and inside it said: “I’ll be back for you my beautiful china doll.” On the front of the piece of paper, it said the Doll Maker.

I stood up and shoved the piece of paper in my pocket and I started walking. I just kept walking, my feet hurt so bad. I felt like it was never going to end. And then finally I came upon a small town and I saw a library. I walked into the library. I didn’t know what I looked like and honestly, I didn’t care. A woman approached me, she was an older woman. “Honey can I help you with something?” she asked. “Are you the librarian?” I asked. “Yes I am,” she said. “What can I help you with?” she asked. “Do you know of a small town called Hollow Brook?” I asked.” No honey,” she said. “I’m afraid I’ve never heard of it,” she said. “Where did you hear of it?” she asked. “It’s a few miles up the road,” I said. “I’m sorry honey but there’s no other town around her,” she said. I was so confused. “Are you okay honey?” she asked. “Um, yeah,” I said. “Do you have a phone I can use?” I asked. “Yes,” she said. She gave me the phone. There was only one person I knew I could call, my aunt Kathy. I dialed her number. “Hello?” Aunt Kathy answered. “Hi Aunt Kathy,” I said. “Lindsey is that you?” Aunt Kathy asked. ”Yeah,” I said. “Listen, Aunt Kathy, I have some bad news,” I said. “Okay,” Aunt Kathy said. I took a deep breath. “Aunt Kathy's mom and Adam are dead,” I said. There was a long awkward silence. And then what Aunt Kathy said next made my heart stop. “Lindsey honey,” Aunt Kathy said. “Your mom and Adam have been dead for three years,” Aunt Kathy said. “They were in a car accident three years ago sweetheart,” Aunt Kathy said. I dropped the phone and I fell onto the floor and the world went black, the last thing I saw was Jabez leaning over me he was smiling.”Let’s go home my beautiful china doll.”