The Replacement Doll

Snow fell from the dark, cloudy skies, falling heavily onto the city of Bath. It was a Friday night in late November. The streets were dark, the only light came from the lamp posts. A lady stood in her house, staring out the window watching the snowflakes fall swiftly. Her eyes held a sad look, but upon her lips was a sweet smile.
            "Oh Basil, have you seen the snow? It is so beautiful. Little Johnny use to play in the snow until his fingers were blue," the lady turned her head and said softly to her unmoving dachshund that lied by the fire, his nose curled up into his chest. She looked away with a sigh, "My little Johnny, my Doll." She continued to watch the snowflakes, memories of her son filling her mind.
            The sound of the train gained the attention of the lady. She always watched the people leave the train, with a single hope that her son would one day leave the train station and come home. For many years has she waited for her son, but he had yet to come. Not many people had been on the train that evening, due to the late hour.  She watched the people, her heart slowly breaking as she realized that none were her son. The lady lowered her eyes and started to break her eye contact with the window. Once she did, a feeling overwhelmed her. This was a new feeling to her, something she had never felt before. She could not figure out what this feeling was, but it felt like it was pushing her to look back at the window. Once she did, a figure caught her eye.
            A young man trudged through the winter snow, his body eloped with a large, black overcoat. His shoes left deep prints in the snow, but were swiftly covered up by the falling storm. A suitcase was in his hand as he traveled up the street that the lady's house was on. His face was hidden by the darkness of the night, until he stopped under a street lamp.
            Once his face was exposed, the lady saw the face of her son. She swore it was him, he had finally came off the train to come home. She turned to face her unmoving companion on the floor. "Basil my dear, little Johnny is here! He has come home!" The lady sang as she rushed to the door and ran out, not even bothering to put a coat or shoes on before leaving. She moved quickly towards the figure under the lamp post, her heart filled with hope. Within seconds, she reached the man and embraced him in her arms. "My little Johnny, you have come home!"
            She felt the man in her arms tense up, and slightly wiggle around. "Excuse me Madam, but you have the wrong person," the lady heard the man say to her, before removing her arms from around his upper torso. She looked up into what she thought was her son's eyes, as tears started to swell up in her own. "Are you alright Madam?" The lady wiped the tears from her pale cheeks as a small sniffle escaped her lips.
            "Yes, I am alright. I thought you were my little Johnny, my apologies." The snow started to come down harder, and the wind howled in the night. The two still under the light of the lamp post, the cold targeting them. "Please come inside, you will freeze out here in the cold," the lady said as she pointed him towards her house on the side of the street.
            "Thank you for the offer Madam, but I am heading for the Bell and Dragon for the night," The man said as he turned to head toward the other way. Before he could move a foot, the lady grabbed his wrist and faced him towards her.
            "You must stay at my house for the night, the Bell and Dragon is way too far for you to walk, and much too expensive," the lady said, hoping to persuade the young man. He looked unsure, and politely denied. "Oh please stay my dear," the lady begged the young man. He places a hand on his chin and held it there for a minute before replying with a yes. The lady guided the man into her house, a wide smile plastered on her face. She opened the door and walked in, the man following her footsteps. She took his coat and placed it on a coat hanger. "Please follow me, I will show you to your room," the lady moved up the stairs up to the third floor of her house, then opened a door. The room was perfectly organized, not a single hair out of place. There was a single bed, big enough for one person to sleep on. The window was slightly open, giving a small view of the falling snowflakes.
            "You are too kind Madam, thank you," the young man said as he walked into the room and placed his suitcase on the side of the bed. The lady watched him and walked out of the room, allowing him to settle in. She walked down the stairs, passing by a mirror as she walked. She stopped and turned to face the mirror. She saw herself, but something was different. That feeling had come back to her, but it felt stronger. She stared in the mirror trying to see if anything was different. She could not find anything, but she could feel something. Footsteps were echoing from the top of the stairs, breaking her concentration on the mirror. She blinked a couple of times before continuing her trip down the stairs. She walked into her living room and her guest joined seconds after.
            "Are you all settled into your room? Is there anything else that I can provide for you?" The lady asked her guest as he sat down on the couch that laid in the middle of the living room. He replied to the lady with a no. The lady walked over to the couch with a tray with tea, sugar and milk. "My dear, you have never said your name?" The lady said as she poured a cup of tea for herself and her guest.
              "Christopher Mulholland, Madam. I am here to visit my girlfriend for the weekend, but she told me I could not come over tonight," Christopher told the lady as she prepared a cup of tea. "Thank you very much Madam," she smiled as she watched him sip his tea before facing her once again. "Your house is very beautiful," he commented to her as he looked around.
            "Thank you very much dear," She said as she stirred sugar into her tea. "This used to be a Bed and Breakfast, but I closed it after my little Johnny went to war. You look a lot like my little Johnny, very handsome and polite, just like a doll." Memories of her son came back to her mind, causing a single tear to swell up in her eye. Christopher gave her an empathetic look, as he put a hand on her shoulder. She wiped the tear from her eye with the back of her hand and put a smile back on her face. "My dear, you must sign the book! I am so forgetful," the lady stood up and strolled around to a box that laid on the other side of the room. It was a small wooden box, covered in a thin layer of dust. She blew off the dust and opened it. Her fingers fumbled around the many books that were in the box. She finally found the one she needed, and she shut the box closed. "I am very sorry my dear," She placed the book in front of the man, grabbing a pen for him to use.
            "It's no problem Madam," Christopher said as he picked up the pen and swiftly glided it over the lines on the page, putting his information down. He finished up and handed the woman the book and the pen. "How much do I owe you Madam?" Christopher asked the woman as she sat back down in her place next to him.
            The lady gave a soft laugh as she picked her tea up once again. "My dear, you do not to worry about that, you are too sweet. This night is free of charge," The lady sipped her tea and cut off Christopher before he could persist her about the payment. "My dear, how old are you? You don't look a day over twenty," the lady commented before finishing the last sip of tea.
"I am seventeen Madam, I am a Cambridge student," Christopher replied to the lady proudly, as he lifted up his cup to his lips and drank the last of the tea. After putting the cup down, he looked into the eyes of the woman that sat next to him. "Is Johnny your son? What happened to him, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Oh my dear, you may ask any question you wish. My little Johnny was my beautiful son. Polite and handsome like you. He was my perfect doll. He went out to serve in world war two, but sadly he has yet to return," she tries to hide her tears as she continued to tell Christopher about her son. "I have kept everything ready for his return home, but his Basil has passed on a couple of years ago, so I stuffed him so my little Johnny could still see him when he gets home." Christopher looked at the lady with surprise coated on his face. He asked the lady if he could touch it. With a nod of her head, she stood up and gracefully walked over to the kitchen to prepare more tea as Christopher inspected the stuffed dachshund. As she prepared the second batch of tea, the feeling had come back to her for the third time, but not as strong.
"This is astounding, it looks completely alive," Christopher commented to the lady as he awed over Basil. "It's just like a doll."  The lady looked up and over to the young man in her living room. The feeling became very strong and somewhat over powering once the word 'doll' had come from Christopher's lips.
"Yes," she said softly, "Just like a doll." Her arms went to reach for a cupboard, one she rarely ever opens. Inside was many bottles filled with various types of liquids and subsistence, but there was only one she was looking for. One single bottle, filled with a white powder with the taste of bitter almonds. As she grabbed it and brought it over to her tea, she thought about what she was even doing. Her conscience was telling her to turn around and put it back, but the feeling told her to keep going. Within a minute, she finished with the tea and put it in the two tea cups, but only putting the white powder in one.
She walked back over to the living room with the two tea cups in her hands. "Here you are my dear," the lady gave the young man one of the two tea cups, which he thanked her for. She looked over Christopher from head to toe. "You remind me of my son a lot, you both look just the same. Having you here makes it feel like he is still with me," her eyes locked with Christopher as she continued her speech about her lost son. "For years, I wished that he would come home, but having you here makes me feel like he is here." She sat down on the couch in her original spot as she let a smile come onto her slim lips. Her eyes held a mixture of sorrow and joy, slightly shined with the tears that started to build up once again. Christopher stood up to walk over to the lady, but started to wobble as he walked over until he fell to the floor.
"I feel like my head is spinning," he said as he struggled to pull himself from the floor, but fell back down, "I can't feel my arms and legs." The lady stood up and walked over to Christopher, his body against her living room carpet. The smile was still on her lips, but now wider and not giving off her usual kind aura.
"I can't have you leave, I need you here," she stopped in front of Christopher, a soft, sweet sounding laugh left her lips. "You remind me too much of my little Johnny," Christopher look at the lady, horror starting to take over his eyes as the lady continued. "You will make the perfect replacement doll."
"Please, no," Christopher tried as hard as he could to get out the woman's grasp as she grabbed him by the arms. He struggled for a couple of seconds before his eyes started to droop, before closing for the last time. The lady laughed once again, but this time it was not sweet. Her laugh had a dark tone to it, not matching her personality at all. She pulled the young boy from the floor and held him up, putting one of his arms around her neck. Step by step, she pulled him up the three flights of stairs. Once she successfully pulled Christopher up the stairs, she moved across the hall, passing the guest room that held the possessions of the young man. Right across from the guest room was another door. The lady opened the door, pulling Christopher inside, then closing the door. On the outside of the door, words were carved into the front of the wood:
Little Johnny's Room.