Lilly Lizzy

Bodies come and go, but spirits last forever 

The room was painted light pink. It occupied two young people, a man and a woman. They had been married for a few years now, and had prepared for the birth of their little girl. Too long ago it seemed to them the wife had heard of her pregnancy. The man was happy too. But as they removed the decorations the face of the woman was sad and dull. It was melted and gray now as she removed the pink decorations of flowers and butterflies. The husband, though not cheery, was still firm and emotionless. Just a month ago his wife went into labor, ten hours later they would come out of the hospital, empty handed.

“I heard her crying,” the wife whimpered to her husband, whining as well. “I swear I heard her crying. The doctors even said that she was crying too.” She crinkled the decorations in her hands

“Baby, please,” he held his wife, his face was a bright light under a thin peach colored rag as he held her close to him. His shoulder was under her chin, forcing her to not look him in the face. “It was a hallucination caused by what you’ve heard and what you’ve expected to hear. She’s gone, baby, what we need to do now is prepare for adoption.”

“But I don’t know if I’m ready,” she choked out through tears. “I can still feel the pain of labor.”

“Adoption takes a long time,” her husband tried to convince her. “By the time we get the boy here you’ll be over the other baby.”

“Lilly Lizzy,” she heaved out of her chest. “That’s what her name would have been.”

“Yeah, yeah,” her husband patted her head. “But we’ll have a young boy, repainting the room will be easy, and we can just return the girly stuff and use the money to buy boy toys and clothes. We did want a little boy, maybe this is for the best.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“What’s for the best?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“That Lilly was stillborn,” he removed her from his chest and looked her in the eyes. “I think it was God telling us something.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Maybe,” she whipped her tears away. “I can still hear her echo in my mind, her gorgeous voice, even in her brutal cry.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“SARAH!” her husband shook her. “Stop talking about her! That’s not how you get over something! Just forget her! Forget about her! Forget about her!” he shook her more and more violently.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I’m trying,” she bawled.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Hey, hey,” he held her face in his hands. “Stop crying.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">She shuddered, trying to stop her tears and her throat from squeezing, but failed.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I said to stop crying,” he became stern. His grip on his wife’s face and throat began to stiffen and his fingertips started to slightly dig into her cheek, jaw, and neck.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Okay, okay,” she looked down, her breath trembling harshly, thinking of her daughter’s cries which must have been false. ''It wasn’t real. It was a mirage. She didn’t cry. She was dead. It was no one’s fault other than God’s, and even then, at least she’s happy with him.'' Still with the decorations in her grasp, she began to fold them away.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Be careful, now, I want to be able to get as much money out of this stuff as we can, even if it means reselling it for a higher price than what we paid.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Isn’t that illegal?” she asked.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Sarah, please,” her husband laughed. “It’s not illegal to take advantage of other’s stupidity.” He looked over at a shelf. It was filled with porcelain dolls.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">They all had curly blonde hair that differenced in shapes and sizes. Some of the curls were loose, some were tight, some were long, and some were short. They also varied in size, some being as small as the palm of the father’s hand and one being the size of an average little girl. Their dresses were all different colors. Most of them had long dresses but two or three had shorter dresses. Only one of them had a dress higher than her knees. The dresses’ colors ranged from the darkest blue, to the lightest purples, to a deep burgundy, to the lightest pink, to bleach white. One thing was similar amongst the dolls, they all had blue eyes.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“God these things are disturbing!” the husband snarled.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Why?” Sarah asked. “I think they’re gorgeous. And adorable.” A smile came over her face as she stroked the dolls’ dresses slowly and delicately.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“But look at their soulless eyes!” he exclaimed. At that moment he noticed something. Something about the tallest doll. “Sarah, did that doll always have that film over her eyes like that?” he asked.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“What?” she looked at the doll. Her eyes widened upon seeing that the doll’s eyes were covered in a thin layer of white over her pupil and iris. “Oh, dear, I—I don’t know.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“What do you mean ‘you don’t know’?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I don’t know, Julian, we got them a long time ago, she might have always had that,”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Go to the computer and check,” Julian ordered.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">In fear, Sarah ran to their large old computer to see the pictures they saved of the doll. Grazing her eyes over the pictures she returned with an answer he didn’t want to hear.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“She didn’t always have that,” she stood at the door nervously.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“DAMNIT!” Julian threw down his glass bottle of water. He took deep breaths, facing the window with his back to his petrified wife. “After you clean this up, get me my tools, I’ll fix the doll.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Of course dear, of course,” she walked away. Sarah knew that a man should never treat his wife this way, nor should anyone treat anyone the way he did to her. But she couldn’t now. She just had a baby, she came from a poor family, and had very little to live on alone.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Angrily but still carefully, so he wouldn’t damage the doll but enough energy to express his rage, he ripped the doll from the shelf. He sat outside of the room on the stairs. His fingers touched the eyes to see if it was just dust, but it wasn’t. Not only was it distorting the eyes, but it seemed to be under a layer of glass, which made Julian extremely fuming.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Son of a bitch!” Sarah heard from the kitchen where she was getting the washcloths. “What is this?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Darling,” Sarah walked upstairs with the cloths. “What’s going on?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“This is impossible!” he dug his fingers into the doll’s stuffed stomach. “How did that film get in there?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I don’t know, sweetie,” Sarah tried to lift his spirits with a suggestion. “If you look it up you can replace the eyes and we can return it.” She paused for a minute. “Or we can always return it now for a slightly lower price—”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“No!” he stood up. “I’m fixing this damn thing if it’s the last thing I do!” he stomped into the baby’s room and shoved the doll on the bed.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Julian!” she ran to the doll. “Be careful with her, you could break her!” she held the doll against her chest, like a child, though the doll’s back faced Sarah while she faced Julian but more towards his feet. Her curly hair dangled slightly across her face, but just two or three curls draped over her nose, chin, and one on her lip. The other half of her hair that wasn’t hanging behind her head cloaked over her neck and a little bit of her shoulder. With every breath Sarah took, her curls bounced and changed the curls a little bit every single time, to where they never looked quite the same.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I have super glue! I can fix that later!” he slammed the bed against the wall, causing everything against the wall to shake, including the doll shelf. Afterwards he hyperventilated and calmed himself.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Sarah’s eyes stared nervously over the dolls, but she calmed when the shaking stopped. “Julian, please,” she began to cry. “Maybe we can keep them, I love dolls, and they make me think of Lilly—“

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Don’t mention that name in my presence!” he snapped. “And I hate dolls! They will leave this house no matter how long it will take!”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Sarah closed her eyes in silence, only opening slightly to look down at the large doll she held in her arms.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Such soulless eyes,” Julian murmured. “Such a soulless body, it looks like it’s looking right at me.” He stared into her eyes until he left. “I’ll be back after some research.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Still holding the doll in her arms, Sarah talked to her. “I still love you, Lilly, and I know that you weren’t stillborn, I just need to convince Julian that. I want to have someone interrogate the doctors, because I know they did something to you.” Tears came to her eyes.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">No matter how she turned the doll’s body, naturally it seemed she was looking at the doorframe, where Julian had left from.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">The same day, after half an hour of research, reading, and measuring.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Okay,” Julian cracked his knuckles. “There’s a craft shop nearby, I’ll go get the eyes from there. All I’ll have to do is take the doll’s head off.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Please be careful when you do that, okay sweetie,” Sarah looked up at her husband.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Stop being so damn emotional over some doll, Sarah,” he rolled his eyes. “I’m just going to take her head off, and if I’m so obsessed with getting all of my money back to where I basically know how to fix a doll after being shattered on the ground I think I’ll try my best to not hurt ‘her.’” He mocked his wife then left her in the house. After the door slammed, Sarah looked at the doll. She went over to her and stroked her cheek, and kissed her nose. “Good luck,” she stood up and walked upstairs, the doll looking at her swaying body as she clanked up the stairs in her hard heeled shoes.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Julian returned around ten minutes later with the same blue eyes that the doll had. He entered the house and yelled. “Sarah! Get down here right now!” he was enraged by what he saw.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Sara ran down the stairs, fearing what had happened. “Yes, dear—”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“What did you do?” the doll’s arm at the elbow was broken off, but oddly perfect. Not a single shard of porcelain was separated from the two pieces but the edges were jagged, much like a ripped piece of paper or a puzzle piece.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I didn’t do anything, I swear,” Sarah defended herself. “I left her there.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“So, she just fell, broke her arm without any shards and lay back down there?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Well, no, maybe there was a crack there to begin with and it broke off,” she suggested.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Get yourself upstairs,” he ordered his wife without facing her. Julian was looking at the doll, which was facing him, with her blue, film covered eyes.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">He went to take care of her in the baby’s old room. Before taking care of her eyes he tried to glue the arm back together. Not having the proper tools caused it to take much longer than it could and should have taken, especially since he couldn’t afford an injury to the doll that could be noticed on examination. It took him until about eleven o’clock at night and by then he was too tired to do anything that could involve possibly breaking the doll. Instead of trying to put her on the shelf he just laid her down in the baby bed.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Down the hall was his bedroom where his wife already was. He walked across the room to the arch of the door. To his surprise, he walked out of the room and turned around to close the room behind him. Creature of habit, I guess. He thought to himself. The corridor to his room seemed longer than normal. Every step he took he felt there was another step added until the end. A thump from his foot echoed, and after that he heard the echo of both of his feet. They echoed back and forth until all he heard were his feet. The noise was so loud he couldn’t even hear his own thoughts, if he had any.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Suddenly a feeling of paranoia rushed over him. Soon the footsteps didn’t sound like his, though he tried to convince himself otherwise. Something in his mind kept telling him to turn around, while the rest of him said that “there was nothing behind him, so why look?” he decided when he would get to the door of his bedroom he’d turn around. Finally after what seemed like ten minutes even though it was only ten seconds, he turned around. Everything was fine, except the light of the baby’s room was on. The door was still closed, but the light shone through the opening under the door.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I didn’t turn the light off,” Julian mumbled to himself irritably. His hand smacked himself on his forehead and he groaned. “I don’t need to take care of it now; it’ll be fine until tomorrow. I don’t want to go through that again.” By the time he got into bed, his wife was awake but only slightly leaning up.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Sweetie, pie, what are you saying?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Nothing, I just left the light on in the baby’s room,” his feet crawled to his bed as he removed his housecoat and crawled into his bed. Feeling the nice cold sheets against during the humid winter night would normally be nice, but it only sent shivers up his spine.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Why didn’t you turn it off?” Sarah asked.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I’m getting paranoid, that’s why,” he told her.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Oh, yeah, that happens late at night, or when people get tired, I’ve noticed,” she put a hand on his shoulder, which made him jump. “Do you want me to go turn it off?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Don’t waste your time, it won’t kill anyone,” he yawned. “And tomorrow I’ll turn it off and keep it off until we adopt the boy and by the time we sell all of that girl crap we could use it to pay off the energy we’d waste tonight.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Okay,” she rested against her back on the bed. Silently she stared at the ceiling, pondering and waited until Julian seemed to fall asleep so she could as well, but her thought couldn’t wait another moment. “Babe, can I ask you something?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“If you don’t know you probably won’t remember so sure, why the hell not?” he still faced the wall away from his wife with his eyes closed.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Why is it that you are so—so—determined to have a boy and get rid of the girl stuff?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Julian groaned and turned towards his wife. “I always wanted a little boy. I can’t deal with having a girl.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“But, baby, I—I wanted a girl,” she whimpered.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“No one cares, Sarah, it doesn’t matter what you think, okay?” he growled. “I absolutely do not want a girl, and that’s all that matters.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“But—but—”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Goodnight, Sarah,” he turned away from her again and stayed on his side of the bed.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Sara also turned away from the center of the bed, looking down solemnly, thinking of her little girl, Lilly Lizzy.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Julian woke up before Sarah did. He looked down on his sleeping wife. Normally on a day like that day he’d wake her up to go make coffee and dinner, but something seemed to draw him away from her. Quietly he got up out of bed and walked to the door. The morning was colder than others, and Julian noticed. Across the hall he walked. It was shorter feeling this time, but something kept hitting him like small arrows to his body’s follicles. He opened up the door and looked in. Without turning the light off; he looked in the center of the room, where the doll was, but not in the bed.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Originally the bed was against the wall, and it still was, but the doll was not there like Julian had placed her. She was resting on her stomach on the floor. Her head was facing upwards, towards the door. The arm that was broken before was broken again, in the exact same spot with the exact same line, but along with that her leg was broken at the knee and ankle. Just like the other arm, the cracks were jagged but solid shapes and didn’t have a single separated shard or edge from the glass like it should have.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Sarah was asleep, but she was awoken by Julian’s screams.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Sarah!” he exclaimed. “Sarah! Sarah! SARAH!”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">She sprung up and ran across the hall to Julian. “Julian, what is i—” she looked in and saw the doll. “What happened?” she shrieked. “What did you do?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I didn’t do anything!” he bellowed. “I came in and it was just like that! This is insane! I just fixed its arm yesterday!” he walked over to the doll, stomping his feet on the ground as he approached her. “How? Just—just—how?” he held her good arm in his hand, dangling her from it.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Sweetie!” Sarah ran towards him and took the doll from his loose grasp. “You can’t hold her like that, she’ll break!”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“It’s already broken, Sarah!” he shook his hands slightly above his head jerking towards her.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“But do you really want to break her any more than she already is more?” she held her like a child, her breast against the doll’s chest and stomach. Though the doll’s head was turned around and staring at Julian’s face.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Julian looked at her lightly powdery pale face with rosy lips and slightly blushed cheeks, though she seemed paler than before. Her smile was very tight but only slightly curled upwards. Even with her smile, her eyes looked sad looking upon Julian, or maybe that was just how he saw her.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“She looks disappointed in me,” he mumbled.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Pardon?” Sarah questioned.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Nothing,” Julian shook his head. “Anyway, give it to me and I’ll take care of this—mess.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Okay,” she handed off the doll to her husband, again, like a real child. “Take good care of her, I’m going to go to the grocery store, but I’ll leave once you’re done in case you need help?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Sure, thanks darling,” he held the child like she did, but then stiffened like before. ''Wow, the human animal is so pliable that they mirror someone in some of the smallest detail. I know that this doll is only a doll, but yet I hold her like a child. Well, she is delicate, maybe it’s not a bad idea to hold her like that? No! This is stupid! I’ll be wasting energy on something that means nothing!'' He held her like he did before and picked up her limbs. “I’ll take just a few minutes. It’ll be done in no time.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I’ll still wait,” Sarah yawned. “I’ll go make myself some coffee. Want some tea?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I’ll make it myself,” he turned away from his wife and grabbed the glue. Sitting in his chair he held the doll and lightly squeezed the glue out and rubbed it softly against her arm. With the other half of the arm in hand he softly placed it on the edge and pressed the two pieces together. He held it there until the glue seemed to harden. Then he moved to her leg and did the same thing, making sure he didn’t accidentally get glue on the tag around her ankle. Instead of putting her in the bed he put her back on the shelf. “You can’t beat me,” he pointed his finger at the doll. She was facing at the wall across the room. “I will get your eyes in your skull properly, I will return you, and you will be out of my life forever. You hear me? For-ev-er!” he walked out of the room and down the stairs. Seeing his wife at the coffee table, he sat right by her.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“You’re done already?” Sarah seemed pleasantly surprised. “Well, if that’s the case I’ll head out to the store.” She stood up and began to walk away with her lidded coffee cup.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Does it have a name?” he asked quietly.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Excuse me?” she turned around. “What did you say?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Does it have a name?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Well, no,” she thought for a moment, looking up at the ceiling then out of the window before looking at her husband. “I think there’s a tag that all of them have. Probably around her wrist, neck, or ankle.” She took a sip of her coffee.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Oh, yeah,” he pondered. “I remember seeing a tag on her ankle, it was held to her with a gold ribbon or something like that. A string maybe?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“That’s probably it, if you actually want to know just look at that,” Sarah turned around and walked to the door.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Julian leaned over so he could see her and the door. “You know, I don’t care about the name, I was just wondering if you gave it one.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I guessed that, sweetie,” she unlocked the door, went outside, and locked the door behind her before leaving to her car.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Julian rested himself on the couch while drinking his tea. With the warm tea near his mouth and running down his throat, soothing him, he began to fall asleep.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">When he woke up, he didn’t know how long he had slept, but his wife still wasn’t home. A sharp scream broke the silence and ripped him from his sleep. He sat straight up and looked around. What he heard was a distant cry, a baby’s cry. He didn’t know where it was coming from. At first he thought that it was maybe a neighbor’s baby or someone walking by, but it was much too loud and didn’t stop. With shaking legs he went over to the bottom of the stairs and looked up, towards the baby’s room. The crying seemed to get louder. His whole body began to tremble as he stepped upstairs. ''What could be up there? I mean, really? Maybe I’m just hearing things? Did I leave the television on upstairs? The radio?'' He kept on coming up with what he could have done to cause the crying. Approaching the closed door he reluctantly turned the knob.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">The moment he touched the knob, the crying stopped. It was a sudden death of the noise. Something made him want to enter in anyway, while he would normally just turn around like nothing happened. With closed eyes he opened the door and entered it. Everything was normal, except for one little thing—the doll was on the ground. When Julian saw her, he sighed of relief when he noticed that her limbs weren’t broken. That relief would be crushed when he’d turn her over and see that her nose was broken off of her face.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Julian’s jaw chattered slightly, he couldn’t control it, and he didn’t know why it reacted that way. He stared at the doll’s nose and face. Just like before, there wasn’t a single missing shard that was separated from either piece. His breathing deepened as he held the doll’s head in one hand and her nose in the other.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">A loud click broke him away from his hypnosis caused by the doll. His wife had come home.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Sweetie!” she called out. “Are you home?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Y—y—yes,” he stuttered. With the doll in hand he took her to the baby’s bed and laid her down into it. In a trance he walked over to his desk in the room, got some glue, and lightly layered the porcelain with the glue. He turned around, went over to the door, and placed the nose delicately onto the doll’s face. Instead of going downstairs he sat down and stared at the doll. “What do you want from me?” he asked. “Why are you torturing me like this?” something reflected in the doll’s eyes and he got an image. All he did in response was take a baby blanket and throw it on the doll so her face, and especially her eyes, were covered. “You know nothing, you saw nothing!” he ran out of the room and down the stairs.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Julian, what’s going on?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I’m taking a walk, Sarah,” he grabbed his hat, coat, and boots before heading out of the door without putting them on. “Deal with it!” the door slammed so hard the whole house shook.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Ignoring her husband’s odd behavior, Sarah went back to placing the groceries where they needed to be. She looked up towards the stairs. Something within her seemed to attract her like a magnet, but she didn’t go upstairs because she had many other things to do.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Julian walked through the thick and cold fog. He would normally have a scarf but he didn’t have time to grab it. The closest thing he could see was some trees and houses, which were merely silhouettes around him. Every time he breathed out he could see his breath for almost five seconds before it vaporized into the fog. Normally it would only stay there for maybe two seconds or so, but it stayed much longer this time. Outside the smell was not there, much like how sounds could be muted. Because of the cold air there was no way of smelling the air properly and describe a sent.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Thought it was about six o’clock at night, he was the only one in the street. It was very quiet, so quiet that Julian could hear his footsteps echo and bounce off of the trees and houses. He had nowhere to go, but the landscape was familiar to him. Through the fog he recognized a local preschool, one that his wife and him planned on putting their child in before, well, she died. He stopped for a while and looked at it. All he could see was the small playground and medium sized, one floor building. The sign on it would normally say “Judy Jane’s Preschool, for children aged three to five” with the children’s ages being below the preschool’s name and in a smaller font. Normally the letters would be colorful and enticing to kids and adults, but now it was all just black, white, and grey.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Julian began to feel a sinking feeling, realizing that he may not have a chance to talk to the teachers, talking about how his little girl was so artistic and they were so proud of how she was expanding in her thinking like all children would. The idea that he created it and made a difference in the world, not just with a child that he raised, but one that had half of him in their flesh and blood. Someone to add to the bloodline. With a sulk in his step, his neck bent down and he began to walk away before another noise interrupted his echoing feet.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Though it was obvious that the school was closed, he heard a little girl, laughing, playing, and having fun in her little world. It spooked Julian, but it made him happy for a second hearing such a cheerful noise after hearing the crying. The sound became less charming when it not only echoed, but rose in volume.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">He heard every little detail. The girl’s feet touching the ground and her ball bouncing on the ground as she ran to toss it to get into the basket. Then he heard the small crack and thump of the ball circling the hoop and go in. Another sound of happiness was exerted from her, but it was that of excitement and pride. She made a basket, just like the boys always did. Maybe now she’d be accepted by them the same way the girls accepted her too. He heard her clapping fast and enthusiastically and her cheers turn to laughs, but still echoed the same way his steps did.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Though it seemed like there was an obvious source, Julian heard it all around him. At first he believed that the sound was coming from the school, but after listening for a while it was hard to tell. All of the different noises and reactions to what the little girl did started to cloud his ears and hit him with many diverse distinguishable waves. He was drowning in a pool of noise that only got deeper and deeper. His body began to convulse slightly as he seemed to try to restrain himself. While he still shook his body dropped to the damp ground and curled into a ball. He accepted his death. All he was able to do was look up at the grey sky and cry. He wasn’t able to stand, he wasn’t able to move, he couldn’t do anything; he felt trapped.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Julian held his ears and bowed his head until his eyes were on his knees. He silently cried on the ground, trying to hold back so no one could hear him. Suddenly he felt a press against his shoulder.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Darling,” his wife Sarah was behind him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">He jumped up before he turned around. His vocal cords refused to work though he tried desperately to talk.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Are you okay,” his wife held a hand over him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I’m going home,” he stood up and turned around quickly past Sarah.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Dear,” before she could get out another word, Julian was off to home to take sanctuary there from the noises.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">The whole day was filled to the brim with paranoia for Julian. Every moment he felt like something was right behind him, trying to spook him or something innocent like that, but it was more to him. To him it seemed sinister. He felt like something was trying to pounce on him and kill him. About every other minute he whipped his head behind himself, just to see that nothing was there or just his wife not even facing him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Once night came he couldn’t be any less happy about going to sleep, but he knew he had to.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Are you sure you don’t want to talk, darling?” Sarah faced Julian on his left side with an arm around his stomach.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“I’m sure, dear. Now go to sleep,” he stated bluntly while he gazed at the ceiling. Lying motionless on his back, Julian breathed deeply to try to calm himself.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">The night was dead. It was silent like many other nights, but it seemed was also very still and stiff. As Julian lied on his bed, he could hear what little happened, all the way from the wind chimes on the first floor to the creaking in the wood on his bed as his wife and him breathed and moved slightly. He was wide awake and his eyes barely blinked as he looked at the bumps in the ceiling.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in">''<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Thud, thud, thud! ''<span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif""> He heard outside of his bedroom, which made him twitch slightly.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Oh, no. <span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif""> he thought. ''Well, okay. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe I’m just hearing—''

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">A high-pitched squeak and laugh was woven through the thuds. “ Daddy, Daddy, you can’t catch me! ” there was a soft cry from there.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Julian still couldn’t convince himself either way, whether he was just imagining it or not. He looked over at the window, and just thought, trying to get the voices out of his head.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">While the voice didn’t say anything, it still made noises; sounds as if it was running up and down the stairs, running on the first and second floor, and the differences between running on the carpet, tile, or wood floors. There were also laughs admitting from the presence.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Taking a deep breath, Julian sat up and twisted his body so he was sitting on the side of the bed. Secretly knowing what the noise was coming from, he entered in the baby’s room. On the bed he saw nothing. The doll was gone. What was left was the tag and ribbon he had talked about earlier with Sarah. Inching towards it nervously, he bent down over it and picked it up. On it was written:

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“ <span style="font-size: 14.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"BlackadderITC"; mso-bidi-font-family:"TimesNewRoman"">Susan doll company proudly introduces: <span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">” whatever had been the original name was scratched out, covered with the name: “Lilly Lizzy,” which would have been his daughter’s name. His fingers twitched and shook with his hand as he stood up and dropped the paper. He could feel his breathing intensify as sweat poured down the side of his face. Nearly crying, he heard the noises downstairs fade as if whatever was downstairs had started to enter the basement.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">He quietly walked out of the room and down the stairs. Once he entered the kitchen he decided to just stand there. His curiosity was driving him to do things his mind normally wouldn’t want him to do, but he wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on. In his brain he prayed that it was just some sick joke and that everything would be okay, but something deep in the center of himself knew that it wasn’t. With the room being as quiet as it was he could hear every creak of the wood floor, and critiqued himself on every little noise he made.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">There wasn’t a single noise as far as his ear could reach. No shadows, no voices, which meant that there was nothing. Though Julian knew that it wasn’t going to be over, he thought it was over for the night. As he went to go back to bed he heard a giggle out of the corner of his ear and saw something from the corner of his eye on the right side of his vision. He quickly turned and saw a small shadow by the basement door. It ran downstairs once it saw him look over. In fear he grabbed a frying pan, knowing that there was a knife near him as well, but feared what would happen if he brought it and he accidentally hurt someone. He could get arrested and put in jail for life, and if he killed a child, even if it was an accident that wasn’t proven to be so, he would not do well in prison.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">His thinking was that if he used a frying pan it would seem like he was thinking mainly of protecting himself, which made very little sense but he was tired and wasn’t thinking straight anyway.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Slowly creeping towards the door he opened it and looked down the dark hallway. Since he had been in the dark long enough he was beginning to develop a slight night vision which helped him immensely when looking down the stairs. At the very bottom was the same shadow. It ran to his left into the basement, still giggling like before. Not wanting to go down there, but needed to in his eyes, he slowly took the steps down. He decided that he’d go to the bottom of the stairs and maybe a meter or so away from them. But if he didn’t see anything or the shadow showed up but went farther, he would just go back to bed.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Finally he entered the basement area. The air was cool and crisp but still musty since neither of them had really taken care of it and it was mainly for storage anyway. Julian blinked multiple times to keep his eyes from drying up in the dehydrated, dusty area. Taking a few steps forward, he saw nothing, he heard nothing, and he most defiantly didn’t feel anything. When he was at the meter length he just looked around a little bit.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">It seemed that the area had slightly warmed up a bit, but it still felt empty. To Julian it didn’t matter, all that mattered was that he couldn’t feel anything from the shadow.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Just as he was thinking of turning around, he could feel something. A paranoid force behind him that made him feel like something was behind him. Out of instinct he swung around with the frying pan. He felt something collide with his weapon and a loud thud. After the adrenalin rushed through him and die down, he looked at what he had attacked. On the ground rested his wife, with a bleeding gash in her head.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Julian dropped the frying pan. His breath trembled and his hands quivered as they reached towards his face. With an open mouth he covered it with his unsteady hands. He couldn’t think, couldn’t act, couldn’t do anything other than look over her and feel the cold spike of realization over what he had done. Once he was out of his frozen state he ran up the stairs and called 9-1-1.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Sarah was pronounced dead at the scene.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">After an investigation they found that it was a complete accident. Julian was not sentenced to jail, and there wasn’t even a trial. He agreed to everything he’d have to pay to her family and everything. At that point he didn’t care, he just wanted to be left alone by everyone and leave his old life behind.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Once the ordeal was over he looked to contact the man he bought the dolls from. The moment he found the larger doll he’d sell them back at any price. At that point he didn’t care, he just wanted them gone. After ten minutes he found the cellphone number of the man and went to call him. In the middle of dialing the number he heard a knock at the door. Before calling the man he answered it, not knowing who it was. He looked through the peephole of the door and saw a young woman with long blonde hair and in a light blue dress. Julian didn’t recognize her but something about her seemed slightly familiar.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Hello,” he answered the door.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Why, hello, good sir,” she smiled, a small crease digging into her full cheeks. “I’m from the Judy Jane’s Preschool, you know, the place two blocks away.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Of course, of course,” Julian put a hand to his forehead in slight internal pain. “I feel like it was just yesterday I was down there.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Yes, well, I need to ask you something,” she turned around. “Is this little one yours?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">Down by her right side a little girl held her calf in fear. She was facing Julian and looking up at him, but she didn’t seem to be looking at him.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“She says she’s yours,” the woman held her head through her thick, curly, blonde hair. “She’s blind, that’s why her eyes have the film over them.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Lilly Lizzy?” Julian mumbled.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“Oh? So she is yours?” the woman looked on him warmly. “What’s your name?”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">“J-J-Julian,” he stuttered.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-family:"TimesNewRoman","serif"">The little girl lit up and hugged his leg which was close to the woman’s “Daddy, Daddy!” she looked up and faced Julian with a smile. “I knew it was you.”