The Doll

The wind blowing through the trees feels good on Lucy’s face. She lets out an echoing laugh at the sight of her doll’s hair blowing in the breeze. Lucy throws her doll in the air like she remembers her mom used to throw her. She catches her doll and falls to the ground laughing. She thinks to herself how much she loves this area after it rains; it makes her think of a fairy tale. Sometimes she would pretend that Susanna, her doll, was a princess. Susanna was bossy but always let Lucy have her way. 

Lucy’s parents always hated when she ran off to play in the forest. Lucy was smart though; she had waited until they fell asleep for a nap to leave. Her dad had been snoring, and he would occasionally snore loud enough that it nearly woke him up. Lucy almost laughed when she was leaving, her dad’s mustache always reminded her of a caterpillar when he slept. His facial movements made it move like it was inching along his face. 

Lucy laughs for a few moments after catching her doll before deciding to roll down the hill in the clearing with Susanna. The hill is small, even to Lucy, but she giggles the whole way to the bottom with glee. As she starts to get up, the damp grass sticks to her socks and stains the knees. She hadn’t expected to get so dirty today but she could always say she fell in the yard. Lucy loved rolling down the hill and so did Susanna; she always asked Lucy to take her down the hill with her. 

“Do you want to go again?” Lucy asks excitedly. Of course Susanna did. She likes rolling just as much as Lucy does. Lucy rolled down the hill a few more times, each time with as much excitement as the last. Before long, however, the sun began to shine into Lucy’s eyes through the treetops. The shining light is enough to make her realize that she needs to get home; her parents won’t be asleep much longer and she doesn’t need a repeat of last week. 

Anne, Lucy’s mother, delicately uses her wrist to itch the bridge of her nose. Her hands are covered in flour, courtesy of the bread she is currently making. She looks up from the bread and out the window just in time to see Lucy clumsily running from the forest. A small smile creeps its way onto Anne’s lips. She knows she should be upset that Lucy disobeyed her and went into the forest again, but finds it difficult to scold Lucy. After all, hadn’t she been the same as a child? Always playing in the creek near her house. She had even had her own imaginary friend, too. Her name had been Lauren.

Lucy had started talking about Susanna a few weeks ago when she had found an old doll in a chest in Anne and Daren’s room. Daren had resisted letting her play with it at first, saying she was too old. Anne suspected that the doll meant something to Daren from his travels, but eventually he gave in and let her play with it. Now Lucy is spinning the doll in circles in the yard like a dance partner in some elaborate, fast spinning dance. She soon gets dizzy and comes to a giggling crash on the ground. Anne finishes forming the dough and places it over the coals in the oven. 

“Lucy!” Anne calls out the window. Lucy looks up from the ants she and Susanna are looking at. Soon she is bounding across the yard toward the door.

“Mommy!” she calls, bursting through the door. “Do you want to play with me and Susanna?” Anne laughs and touches the tip of Lucy’s nose. “Do you two want to help me make some jam while papa sleeps?” Lucy laughs sheepishly and hugs her mom before agreeing to help. Anne reaches for the jars on a high shelf and feels a strain in her back. She stops momentarily to rub her back and laugh at how old she feels even though she is only in her thirties. Daren always joked that her body couldn’t decide if it was thirty or eighty. 

Anne sets the jar on the table and brushes Lucy’s cheek lovingly. Lucy has a thinking expression on her face. “Mommy?” Lucy asks. Anne crouches to Lucy’s level. “Yes, sweetheart?” Lucy starts absentmindedly playing with Susanna’s dress. “What will happen when you and daddy die?” Anna’s face sobers slightly, not expecting this question from her daughter. 

“Oh, honey,” Anne says, bringing Lucy into a hug that is perhaps a tad bit harder than was her intention. “You don’t need to worry about that okay? Me and your dad aren’t going anywhere.” Anne pulls back to look Lucy in the eyes. Lucy doesn’t look convinced by her words, which worries Anne. “Susanna says everyone dies,” Lucy says quietly. Anne considered what she should say now. She didn’t want to discourage Lucy from having an imaginary friend, but she was too young to be thinking about death and blaming it on her imaginary friend. She wished Daren was here, he always knew the right things to say.

“Then you’ll stay with Mandy and Chris,” Anne said. She hadn’t really thought as she said it, it was almost instinctual. Mandy and Chris were their closest friends so of course that’s who she would want Lucy to go to. And Lucy seemed to like them. 

“Can I smush the berries?” Lucy said, cutting through the silence with her characteristically big smile. Apparently that had been enough to satisfy her. Anne briefly considers asking why Lucy had asked about death, but then thinks maybe she would wait for another night. She had been caught off guard by her questions and soon it slips from her mind as Lucy smashes the berries with delight.

A few days later, Lucy is playing in the forest with Susannah. Lucy has brought a book along this time. Susanna wanted Lucy to read her a story from one of her dad’s dusty books. Susanna said the books were magical and some could even make sweets. Her dad had told her about magic before. He said that in Trenidalle there were people who did magic tricks in the street and one man could even blow fire. Lucy always wanted to see magic. She was a little scared of the sound of blowing fire but maybe she could make sparkles. Susanna was very interested in magic too. She told Lucy about it sometimes. 

Lucy turns the pages of the book until Susanna finds the right one. Lucy doesn’t know how to read but she often likes to pretend. She thinks of all the times that she saw her dad reading and how she started picking out books and “reading” with him. Not being able to read never stopped Lucy from enjoying a book. Susanna said she could read, though. All princesses can read, Lucy thinks. After Lucy finds the right page, Susanna starts reading from the book. Lucy starts to giggle at the strange words Susanna is saying; they don't sound like words at all. Susanna was silly like that sometimes. Finally, Susanna finishes reading from the book and asks Lucy to play Simon Says. First, she asks Lucy to draw a funny circle with shapes inside. Then she tells Lucy to throw a few items into the circle that Susanna had Lucy grab in the prior days. As Lucy throws in the last item, some dried sage, the circle starts to glow and spark dramatically. Lucy, taken aback at first, begins to laugh and clap at her friend’s magic. Susanna was so talented, Lucy thinks to herself. 

Anne and Daren were resting in the yard. Daren had made lemonade and it felt good to drink on such a hot day. The sun shone brightly in Daren’s eyes but he thought he saw Lucy coming out of the forest. Daren sighs. “Do you want to talk to her, or should I?” Anne lets out a weak groan, not wanting to yell at her daughter on such a fine day. Daren knew Anne struggled to scold Lucy when she gave her a sheepish grin or quivered her lower lip; Darren did as well, if he was being honest with himself. My turn then, Daren chuckles to himself. He gets up and starts walking in the direction he had seen Lucy. He had expected to have to walk to the forest edge to find her but before he got far, he noticed she was coming up the path to meet him. The sun was still mostly blinding him but he could see her enough to see she was carrying her doll and a shiny object he couldn’t quite make out; probably some old trinket she found in the forest.

“Honey, where did you get that?” Daren asks. He can see the object more clearly now and begins to move a little more quickly, trying to avoid scaring Lucy. “Honey are you okay?” Lucy has a zoned out look on her face and gives Daren a smile that seems exaggerated and uncharacteristic. Daren’s face loses all expression and the color leaves his face as Lucy begins to speak in a voice not entirely her own. “It’s good to see you again, my old friend. I hope you haven’t forgotten your debt.” 

Anne shields her eyes with her hand to better see Daren and Lucy. Daren approaches Lucy quickly and crouches down. She thinks for a moment that something is wrong but Daren seems to have it under control if there is. 

A cloud briefly covers the sun and Anne is able to see the shiny object Lucy is carrying. She can just make out the shape of a small knife Lucy must have found in the forest. “I’ll have to look around the forest tomorrow to make sure there aren’t more dangerous objects,” she thinks to herself. She is about to yell to Daren when he makes an unusual move backwards away from Lucy. Why hasn’t he taken it from her yet? She starts walking toward them when Daren turns toward her. His expression makes her start, is that fear she sees on his face? Whatever the expression is, it doesn’t last long. There is a flurry of movement from Lucy. Anne freezes in shock as the expression on Daren’s face changes from fear to that of pain. The sun, once again shining brightly, shines off of the small knife as it sticks from Daren’s neck. Blood begins to gush from his neck and his face goes slack. In her head, Anne goes into a flurry of panic and shock. 

The haunted expression on Lucy’s face seems unaffected by her own actions. Lucy is in front of Anne before she can react. Her once innocent daughter seems to have developed lightning fast reflexes. She tries to block the knife as Lucy swings it but she is too slow. The knife hits an artery in her leg. She can tell from the amount of blood. She lets out a short whimper but finds herself too far in shock to really process what is happening.

Lucy begins to speak, her voice now raspy and short. “Your daughter won’t be harmed; die knowing that.” Lucy begins stroking Annes face, smearing a trail of blood across her cheek. “I should thank you, I think. Without you, I never could have gotten Lucy to free me from that blasted doll.” Anne closes her eyes, her tears sting her lips as they roll down her face. “Don’t cry mommy, I’m a princess now,” the raspy voice says as Anne sinks into the darkness.