Pretty Dolly

Chapter Two

"I love her!" McKenzie squealed in delight after opening my present. "Isn't she so beautiful mummy?" She ran over to our mum and shoved the doll in her face.

"She really is." Mum smiled and patted Kenz on the head. Then, in a blur, I was flattened by Kenz as she wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tightly.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" She squealed as she continued to squeeze me.

"It's no problem Kenzie." I smiled, knowing that the doll was by far her favourite present.

"What'll you name her McKenzie?" Our Aunt Tiffany asked, our dad's youngest sister.

"Hmm..." Kenz' face scrunched up in thought as she tried to come up with a name, "What about... Annie?" She gave herself a few seconds to think if she liked that name, "Yeah! Annie!" She then hugged the doll close to her and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, earning a few "awws" from our aunts.

Kenz then did something that I thought was slightly strange at first but then I decided to pass it off as just her 8 year old imagination, she held Annie to her ear and nodded with a happy smile, then looking up at the rest of us saying, "Annie says that she really likes her name."

"That's good sweetie." Our dad smiled as he gave her a kiss on the forehead. The rest of the day was spent of us eating the party food that mum made, and McKenzie none stop talking to her doll before holding Annie up to her ear again and listening to her as if she was talking to her.

At around 8 at night everyone left and went back to their homes leaving me to help mum clean up all of the dishes while dad picked up all the wrapping paper that Kenz threw around when she unwrapped her presents. At the end of the day, Kenz ended up with mostly clothes, the odd jigsaw here and there, a new stuffed tiger teddy from our parents and of course Annie from me.

At around 10 at night we were finished cleaning and it was time for bed. McKenzie and I carried all of her presents upstairs to her room and dumped them all on her pink unicorn chair in the corner of her room, except for Annie though, she was kept safely under Kenz' arm as she jumped into her bed and pulled her covers up around her and her doll.

"Nighty night Cammy." She said in a sleepy voice with a yawn.

"Night Kenz. I kissed her on the forehead and was about to leave the room when Kenz spoke again.

"What about Annie? Doesn't she get a goodnight kiss?" She held her doll up to me and pouted slightly, causing me to turn around and kiss the doll's forehead.

"Night Annie" I said, giving Kenz one of my biggest smiles to make her happy.

Kenzie held the doll's mouth to her ear again and nodded, then looked at me with a smile, "Annie says 'night Camilla' and 'sweet dreams'."

I looked at the doll then back at Kenz and smiled slightly before leaving the room and closing the door.

That was creepy.

Kenzie never called me by my full name. It was either 'Cammy' or 'Cam'. However, I shrugged it off and decided to think nothing else of it.

After saying goodnight to mum and dad, I climbed into bed and closed my eyes, trying to fall asleep. But not before hearing Kenz do the same thing to mum and dad about making them kiss the doll. However, instead of saying that the doll said "goodnight mummy and daddy" like Kenz would say, I heard Kenz say, "Annie says 'goodnight Amber and Jack'."