As she snuggles into her pillows and pulled the covers over herself at night, she heard her mum calling for her. Puzzled, Josephine rose from her bed and walked out of her room.
“Yes, mum?” No replies. Josephine had no options but to check on her mother. Walking silently down the stairs, she can already hear her mother’s loud snores halfway down it, proving Stephanie’s fast asleep mode. “Mumbling in her sleep again,” Josephine reckoned and went back to bed.
Esme, she noticed, is not near the edge of the desk, a bit far from where she’d initially placed it. “Maybe I forgot to place it back,” Josephine shrugged and put it back before going to sleep.
That night, Josephine tossed and turned in her bed, finding it ever so hard to fall asleep like how she usually does. Nightmares haunted her; Esme’s eyes seemed to glow brightly red at her, then more and more eyes appeared around her.
Closer, closer… they’re going to get her! Josephine was breathless, and finally sprang up on her bed, gasping for breath. Moisture soaked through the fabric of her nightgown.
Something then pounced onto her bed. Josephine let out a shrill scream before realizing that it’s just her cat, Mimi. She took a short while to recover from her shock and then patted Mimi.
“How did you get in here?” Josephine asked, mostly to herself as her pet purred under her touch. It didn’t take long to notice that the door to her room is ajar.
Josephine frowned. She’s very certain that she’d closed the door before going to sleep… Letting Mimi out of her room, she closed the door and locked it this time, double checking on the door bolt and the handle.
What she saw next startled her. Esme is at the edge of the desk again. Remembering her dreams, Josephine felt goose bumps rising on her skin and shivered. Never bothering to put the doll back again, Josephine hid under her blanket and continued her uneasy sleep.
The next morning, Josephine woke up with dark eye circles. Even after tossing and turning in her bed for several hours last night, she found it hard to fall asleep, never minding getting enough sleep. Meanwhile, later in school…
“I’ll be going to the public library after school with Jake. You guys want to join us?” Alicia asked. Though bespectacled and plainer compared to her two friends, she has a boyfriend while the duo didn’t. Obviously, it’s Jake. Josephine could still remember how the couple met and got together from the cinema.
Mary agreed to following, but Josephine simple shook her head. “I’m sleep deprived today, if you haven’t notice,” Josephine stated before adding in her mind, “Not to mention being sort of disturbed by the paranormal activities going on in my house,”
“Well, then you ought to get back home and regain the sleep and rest that you really need!” Mary exclaimed, concerned about Josephine’s conditions. Even without the ‘panda eyes’, Josephine looked fragile and under the weather. Josephine smiled at her friends. At least, they care about her.
Whether or not it’s just coincidence that her classmates’ topic of conversation for the day is about dolls and supernatural stuff, she did not know. She could hardly believe what went on last night, although it’s just something mild and not worth worrying about. Perhaps the whole thing had been a fragment of her imaginations after all.
Didn’t her mother chide her every so often about being an air-head, mind full of nothing but silly imaginations? Maybe that’s gene inheritance as well.
A small part of her daredevil self however, wondered about what might happen next at home when she’s back there. What could possibly Esme do, if all that happened wasn’t her imaginations? She’d like to find out…
YOU ARE READING
The Doll Maker
Teen FictionWhen Josephine, Alicia and Mary had stumbled upon a porcelain doll in a second-hand shop, they had not known that it could be so dangerous. Neither had they known that it can cause them so much fear, loss and tragic. Their friendship is barely hangi...
