The Doll (standard:fantasy, 786 words)
Author: Iwakurasan	Added: Apr 19 2004	Views/Reads: 3132/2119	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A short, weird piece

The Doll 

"What do you mean?" asked the little girl. She stood in the center of
the narrow passage, alone, her doll clutched in her arms. Its pale, 
blank face stared up at her, and her eyes widened in horror as she 
looked at it. 

"No!" she cried suddenly, in a surprisingly powerful voice, pulling the
doll sharply away from her. "No! You're wrong! That can't be true!" 

She gasped sharply, suddenly, and threw herself against the wall of a
nearby building, clutching the doll, hiding its face against her so she 
couldn't see it. She heard footsteps. 

"W-what is it?" she asked. "Who's there?" 

She saw something move in the shadows, and a joyful thought rose into
her mind. Was it...? 

"Daddy?" she called timidly. "Is that you?" 

The figure in the dark stopped and looked at her - she couldn't see it,
but she could feel it, she knew it was looking at her. She clutched the 
doll closer. 

"Is it?" she whispered to herself and the doll. "Is it daddy?" 

"No," said a voice from the dark. "I'm afraid it isn't. What are you
doing out here, child?" 

The voice came from the dark, but it was gentle and coaxing. The girl
held her doll closer and tried to hide herself from that unseen 
presence. 

"I-I'm just walking," she said. "I'm waiting for my daddy." 

"He left you here?" the voice asked doubtfully. 

"N-no," said the girl, starting to shake a little. "But he'll come. He
has to come! I don't know where he is!" She started to cry then, over 
the head and mask-like face of her doll. 

The figure came out of the darkness; it was a man, dressed in black so
that she could barely make him out in the shadows. She backed away as 
he came closer to her. 

"It's all right," he said gently, stopping. "I won't hurt you. Can I
help you find your father?" 

The girl stood and stared at him, then slowly looked down at the small,
expressionless face that stared up from her arms. 

"She said..." she began, in a harsh whisper. 

"What?" asked the man. "What did she say?" 

The girl's face twisted, and her grip on the cloth body tightened. "She
said it was all over. She said he'd gone away forever." 

The man knelt down in front of her. She could see his face, calm and
pale. "The doll said that?" 

"She says that," said the girl. "She's saying it right now." 

"Why is she saying that?" 

"B-because," said the girl, "because daddy went away. She doesn't know.
She doesn't kn-know he'll be back soon." 

The pale human face was bent downward, while the pale doll's face stared
up at her with cold and knowing eyes. She whimpered and hugged the doll 
to her. The man looked up, and two pale, luminescent eyes looked at the 
girl's frightened face. 

"Why don't you give me the doll?" he asked. "Come on. It's all right." 


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