by Mav Skye
DOLLS
3 Tales to Chill Your Bones, Volume Nine
Mav Skye
Contents
Copyright
Free Download
Epigraph
Epigraph
The China Doll
Simply Wicked
Poison Lip Gloss
Afterword
About the Author
Also by Mav Skye
DOLLS: 3 Tales to Chill Your Bones, Volume Nine is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living, dead, or undead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © Mav Skye, 2016
All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, please contact the author at the following email address: [email protected]
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It's all dress up and fun,
'til dolly finds a gun.
Mav Skye
the floor creaks, gently
gently in the still of night
the wind sighs because
it knows what is
inside, tiptoeing gently,
gently, carrying a blade
with razored tip
she's beside you now, breathing gently
gently, the moon shines through the window
as the doll carves a smile
into your pale skin
Mav Skye
The China Doll
A package had come in the mail. It was wrapped in a brown paper grocery bag and addressed with a sharpie in daddy’s print handwriting. It wasn’t addressed to mother or to her little brother Jeffrey, but to her very own self: Sabel Lynn Gray.
It may have been storming outside, but inside her home with the fire purring over dry logs and her mother baking chocolate chip cookies, nothing could be better than tonight. Even her little brother, Jeffrey, was behaving himself in the high chair, gurgling when mother paused from her cooking and baking, to make sure he wasn’t choking on the tiny pieces of apple she had given him.
Sabel sat at the coffee table by the couch gazing at the package. Occasionally, she’d touch it, wishing she could magically interpret what was inside the package. Every time her fingers tapped over the paper her mother would say, “Sabel, honey, wait ‘til after supper, then we’ll open it.” And she’d draw back her hands, fold them in her lap, and bounce on her knees.
Daddy had sent only two packages since he’d been gone on the big ships. He was in the Navy, but Sabel wasn’t sure what “the Navy” meant, other than it was a color in her crayon box. She asked her mother several times and she’d always reply, Daddy is away on a big ship protecting us from bad guys. And Sabel would say, How can he protect me when he’s that far away?
Her mother never answered her on that.
Sabel leaned over the coffee table reading her name on the package again, then gazing over the address in the upper left hand corner. She recognized her daddy’s name, Eric Gray, but the address looked like the ABC’s in reverse. Then the next word struck her curiosity. J-a-p-a-n. She called out, “Mama, where’s Japan?”
“Far away.”
“Is that where the bad guys are?”
“No, they are good guys now.” Jeffrey started to cry, and by the sounds of splats on the floor, he was throwing his food. Sabel heard the sink faucet come on, and the sound of a dish rag wiping, then Jeffrey crying again.
Sabel scrunched her face, thinking. She stood and walked to the kitchen. Mother had finished wiping the floor, and was rinsing out the rag. Jeffrey banged his chubby palms on his high chair impatiently. Mother hustled over to the stove and stirred the stew, then opened the oven and took out the last batch of cookies. Sabel knew that if she ate all her supper, her mother would let her have two cookies with a glass of milk.
Sabel walked over to Jeffrey and offered him her finger. He smiled and clutched at it. Sabel wiggled it around, cringing when he drew it to his mouth and slobbered all over it. She asked her mother, “If the bad guys turned good, does that mean daddy will come home soon?”
Jeffrey suddenly shoved her finger away and began crying.
Sabel frowned and wiped her slimy finger on her pants.
Her mother whisked over from the stove to Jeffrey’s high chair, soothing him in her tired voice. She slipped the baby out of the top and he waved his arms screaming like he was being pinched.
Sabel asked again. “Is daddy coming home soon?”
Mother’s voice now was sharp. “Sabel, please, we’ve talked about—” Jeffrey yanked mother’s hair, and she didn’t finish her sentence. She rushed out of the kitchen and Sabel followed her to the hallway, then paused when Mother went into Jeffrey’s bedroom and closed the door.
Sabel walked back into the living room, and sat on her knees leaning into the coffee table, the warm fire at her back.
She began to trace the letters of her carefully printed name when a big burst of raindrops nailed the living room window. Sabel leapt to her feet, ran to the window and closed the heavy curtains to the outside world. The sounds of the scary storm dimmed, and she walked back to the package. The living room was darker now. The fireplace crackled.
Once more, Sabel traced her finger gently along the sides of the paper package when she heard another frightening noise. It sounded like a scrape of a long, pointed nail. The noise wasn’t coming from outside this time. It wasn’t coming from the fireplace or Jeffrey’s bedroom. It was coming from inside the package.
Sabel paused her finger on the package and the scratching stopped. Curious. She moved her finger in one quick swoop down the brown paper, and the scratching mimicked her with a swift scrape.
The mystery of the package deepened in Sabel’s mind. Perhaps her father had put a gerbil inside? She quite liked gerbils, but mother would never let her have one because she said they tended to escape. Sabel had tried to convince mother that she would never let it escape, that the gerbil would stay forever because it would love her. And she would love it.
Mother later had bought her goldfish. Sabel had named it Orangey. And despite feeding Orangey everyday, the goldfish died. That was sad. Though mother had told her that it would make friends with other fishes, for many had been flushed down the toilet to the afterlife. Sabel had heard of this afterlife before… it was where you went after you died. Despite what mother had said, Sabel dearly hoped that the afterlife did not require being flushed down the toilet, because that was gross.
The scratching inside the package distracted Sabel from her thoughts. This time, there was a single tap inside, right under her printed name.
Sabel tapped once back.
It tapped back twice, and Sabel mimicked it like Simon Says. She went to tap on it three times to see if it would copy her, but then her finger halted over it as it made a long terrible scrape down the entire length of the package. The scraping sounded sharp like a knife.
Sabel drew her hand away. A funny feeling fluttered in her chest. She didn’t think there was a gerbil inside the package anymore. She listened intently, but the noise didn’t happen again. She scooted back away from the coffee table and sat by the fire, watching the package.
Soon the sound of her mother’s gentle footste
ps sounded in the hallway, and Sabel didn’t feel as afraid. Her mother said, “How about some supper?” Sabel nodded and leapt to her feet, keeping a good distance between herself and the coffee table as she walked to the kitchen. She set the table with two bowls, two spoons and two napkins while her mother fussed over the stew. She sat down as her mother ladled the broth into her bowl, her mouth watering at the delicious smell.
They both buttered their rolls and sipped milk while waiting for their stew to cool down.
Sabel took a bite of her roll and thought about the noise coming from inside her special package.
Mother said, “You’re awfully quiet. Are you feeling okay?”
Sabel nodded thoughtfully and continued chewing her bread.
Mother blew on a spoonful of broth and brought it delicately to her lips. After, she said, “Was there something you wanted to ask me right before Jeffrey started crying?”
Sabel remembered and said, “Is daddy coming home soon if the bad guys are good guys now?”
Mother frowned and looked down at her bowl of steaming broth. “That is a good question, Sabel. I wish I knew the answer. He could come home anytime, I guess, but he could also be gone for another six months or so. He hasn’t been told yet.”
“Oh.” It sounded much like mother’s other answers which Sabel never understood. They finished their soup in silence, then picked up their dishes and brought them to the sink. Mother smiled at Sabel and said, “Are you excited to open up your package from daddy?”
Sabel nodded yes, though in her heart, she wasn’t so sure anymore.
Mother said, “I’m excited, too. Let’s go into the living room and open it up.”
Sabel reached for her mother’s hand (though she had hardly done that since she was in the first grade now) and they walked into the living room together and knelt before the coffee table.
Sabel tapped her finger once on the package and listened.
Mother said, “What are you waiting for, Sabel?”
She said, “I’m listening.”
“Listening for what?”
Sabel glanced up at her mother. “To see if it scratches back.”
Her mother frowned at this. “Scratches?”
Sabel nodded her head. “Will you open it, mommy?”
Mother tilted her head to the side, her frown deepening. “I suppose if you want me to, honey.” Sabel nodded and sat back on her knees as her mother slipped her fingers inside the edges of the brown paper and gently pulled away the packaging tape.
They both gasped at what lay underneath. An ancient looking box with carving on top. It was about as long as a shoe box but narrower. Mother picked up the box and set it back down. “It’s awfully light. I wonder what could be inside.”
Sabel nodded and reached her fingers out to trace the symbol etched into the box. It looked like the capital letter I with a line over the top and bottom, and an additional line through the middle.
Her mother said, “I’ve seen this symbol before, but I can’t remember where. Somewhere in my studies.” She pointed to the top line. “This represents heaven.” Then she pointed at the middle line. “This is mankind. And… the bottom line means earth.”
“What does that mean?” Sabel scrunched up her face in thought.
“It means the three are united in eternal life. Go ahead and take off the lid. Let’s see what’s inside.”
“Hmmm…” Sabel didn’t understand what that meant exactly, but she was definitely curious about what was in the box. She had returning hopes that maybe it was a gerbil after all.
Nothing could prepare her for what she saw when she lifted the lid. They both gasped for a second time.
It was fragile and slender with milk skin smooth as glass and hair as black as midnight. Her body was wrapped in a crimson silk with tiny white flowers. Blue ribbons bound her dainty feet. Sabel gently touched the edge of her dress, her eyes drawn toward the doll’s hands. Long fragile fingers peeked out of the garment. The nails were painted blood red, the same color as the dress. Sabel frowned, had this been what was making the noises inside the box?
Her mother drew in her breath and let it out. “Sabel, isn’t it gorgeous? Your father bought you a China doll.” She lifted the doll gently from the box and held it in front of Sabel. “Look at her eyes, how life like they are. Why they seem to be looking right at you.”
Sabel looked from the doll’s nails to her face. Dark irises glowed within the milk of the eyes.
From the hall, Jeffrey cried lightly. Her mother handed the doll off to Sabel and said, “I’ll be right back.” She stood and left the room with quiet footsteps, and that was when Sabel saw it.
The China doll blinked.
Sabel dropped the doll back into the box and leapt to her feet. She walked backwards toward the fire, and as she did, the China doll’s eyes followed her.
Mother walked out with Jeffrey. He was cheerful now. She sat him down by the coffee table, took a pillow from the couch and put it behind him in case he fell, and handed him his three favorite toys: A brown teddy bear with its nose chewed off, a coral rubber ring that he liked to chew on, and a blue rattle. He chose the teddy bear and went to work chewing on its snout.
Mother settled back in at the coffee table and picked up the doll. “Well, she is just beautiful, don’t you think?”
Sabel nodded.
“What’s wrong, honey? Don’t you want to play with her?”
Sabel thought quickly, not wanting to disappoint her mother. “I’m afraid I’ll break her.”
“Oh,” her mother said, “I suppose she does look fragile. Look at these little fingers.” She stroked them with her thumb. “And bound up feet.”
Sabel did reach out and touch those. She had heard about young Chinese girls having to wrap their feet in ribbons. She said, “Do you think the ribbons hurt her feet?”
“She’s just a doll, sweetheart. She doesn’t feel anything at all. But back in ancient times, it was tradition to bind up young girls’ feet like this. And that did hurt.”
Sabel glanced down at her bare toes. She could hardly stand to wear socks. “Why did they make them do it?”
“Tradition. It was something that their society felt was important.” From the package, mother lifted the blue ribbon the doll had lain on, and withdrew a pole and a small oak base.
“Oh.” That was something Sabel would have to think about later, when she was lying bored in bed. But somehow, she didn’t think she would feel very bored tonight. Quite the opposite in fact.
Mother set the pole inside the oak base. “Look at this. She comes with a stand. Would you like her in your room? I think she’d look quite lovely on your dresser.” She stood and picked up the doll and the stand.
Sabel was positive she just saw the doll blink again. “No!” She couldn’t get the words out fast enough.
Her mother paused, and tilted her head. “Are you okay?”
“It just blinked at me.”
Her mother smiled. “Oh, honey, your imagination…. Okay. Not your room. How about here?”
She stepped to a short book case beside the fireplace and set the stand up, then braced the doll against it, placing its curved arm delicately around the pole. When mother looked at her to see what she thought, Sabel saw the doll’s tiny fingers grasp the pole.
Sabel didn’t answer, but gulped.
“Sabel, what do you say? I think she looks lovely there.”
Jeffrey flapped his arms and gurgled.
Mother laughed. “Jeffrey likes it, too.” She swept the toddler up into her arms. “Are you hungry, Jeff-Jeff? Would you like your supper?”
Jeffrey drooled in response, then mother said, “I’m going to feed Jeffrey now. I think I saw a note somewhere inside the packaging. What don’t you scavenge around for it.” She turned and walked back into the kitchen.
Sabel watched her leave, then glanced at the China doll atop of the bookshelf. It stared straight ahead, and for the time being, did not blink. Satisfied, Sab
el turned back to the packaging. She held up the brown paper and shook, and sure enough a folded note fell from it. Sabel carefully unfolded it and smiled when she saw her daddy’s handwriting. She sounded out every word carefully in her mind before she read it out loud.
My dear daughter Sabel,
I purchased the China doll at a store that seemed more ancient than time. They carry relics of the past, and this one is special. It is said that Empress Wu had played with this very doll as a child, and it later brought her good luck as she was the very first Empress of China!
There are instructions the shop owner gave me:
1.Put the China doll away every night (I assume to keep her in mint condition.)
2.Do not make wishes around the China doll (Old superstition!)
I’ve got another surprise for you and your mom! By the time your read this note, I’ll be on my way home. I should be there very soon, within the week.
Love you,
Daddy
Sabel was standing, and could hardly contain herself. Daddy was coming home. He was actually coming home! “Mommy!” She cried, running past the China doll (who appeared to be smiling at her) and into the kitchen.
Mother was spoon feeding Jeffrey and he was spitting it out on his bib. Mother touched up his face with a wet dishcloth as Sabel came bursting in. “What is it, hon?”
“Daddy’s coming home.”
She paused and turned to Sabel. “What do you mean?”
“Read the letter.” She shoved it in her mother’s face. “Read it!”
Her mother set down the spoon and took the letter. Her eyes racing over the words to the very end. She put her hand over her mouth. It looked like she was about to cry.
Sabel put her arms around her. “Are you alright? I thought you would be happy.”
Her mother squeezed her back, “I am, Sabel. I am! Well, we’ve got some work to do before your father is back, young lady.”
“Yes, ma’am!” said Sabel.
