Short Stories

PORCELAIN

"Regina!" Rose called out into the dark, ominous forest. It was nearly two thirty in the morning, and she and Klaus were searching diligently for their 7 year old daughter, who had gone missing over three hours ago.

"Regina, can you hear me?" Klaus hollered to the best of his ability. His voice was beginning to fade away, with words only coming out as meer squeaks.

"Come back, Sweetpea!" Rose strained her voice as she yelled, causing it to turn into nothing but air. She tried desperately to call out to her daughter once again, but she had no such luck. She fell to her knees and began to weep as she came to the realization that she may never see her daughter again.

"Hey, hey..." Klaus said soothingly, kneeling down beside her. "It's going to be okay, Honey. We're going to find her. I won't stop searching until she's back in our arms, I promise."

Rose could not respond, as her voice had completely faded away from the continuous straining that came with yelling. Her vocal chords were destroyed, and she had many conspicuous scrapes and abrasions all over her legs from climbing over dead fallen tree limbs and crawling through bushes. At this point, she had nearly given up hope completely, and didn't know that she'd ever feel the warm embrace of her only child again.

Klaus didn't know what else to say- he wasn't a very empathetic man. He was sure they would never find their daughter again, but he knew he couldn't say it, because it would only make his wife feel worse.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Klaus saw a small girlish figure leaned against the root of a large weeping willow tree in the distance. "Rose." He said, breathlessly. "Rose, Honey, look."

Rose wiped her tears and sniffed as she turned her head to see what it was that her husband was talking about. "What-" She stopped abruptly as she saw what Klaus had pointed out. "Regina?" She stood and clambered over a fallen log to reach what seemed to be her daughter, but when she got closer, and her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she soon realized that this was not at all what they had perceived.

Leaned against the bottom of this tall, looming tree, was a rather large porcelain doll with long, shiny blonde hair and oddly luminescent blue glass eyes. There were tears in its 1840's style dress, and a large, deep crack reaching from its left eyebrow to the right end of its mouth.

Rose jumped back and landed in a large thorn bush, startled by the sight of this doll. "Regina?" She stuttered, her voice cracking. "No... it can't be..."

Klaus caught up with Rose and stepped in front of her. "I'm here." He said.

"What is it?" Rose asked. Klaus didn't answer- he didn't know what to say. "Klaus?"

"Shh." He shushed her.

The doll twitched.

"Klaus." She gripped Klaus' arm, peering over his shoulder, afraid, but curious.

The doll twitched once again, and fell over into the dirt.

"Don't... move." Klaus instructed Rose.

"Klaus, I'm scared."

"I know, Honey. Just- don't move."

The doll began to inch toward them, gathering dirt and leaves with it, and leaving a trail of dripping blood behind. As each drop of blood fell to the ground, there was a sound of an old grandfather clock ringing. Rose and Klaus then heard a soft, eerie sound of humming start in the distance. Clouds began to cover the bright yellow full moon, and they felt a cold breeze blow through their ears. As all went dark, there was no more noise.

Suddenly, a piercing scream filled the air right before the clouds rolled away from the moon, and Klaus found himself alone in the middle of the wood. "Rose? Rose!"