The Doll Lover

4. Alesia's secret

Ally

I scream and push it away. How the hell did that get on my foot. Oh I remember! I layed it on the bed. I step into my bed again and try to sleep. I hear a soft sound, like someones walking, behind me. I think it's a rat. I close my eyes and try not to focus on the sound, but it just gets closer. After counting to ten I loose myself and turn around. There she lays. Right in front of me, on the ground. I'm sure I kicked her away. I grab the doll and look at its eyes. They're still as black as they were. I cant see normal in this darkness but it's good enough. I look at her smile and it's more like the enjoyed smile, not the I'm a psychopath and want to kill you smile. I look at her hair and it's so beautiful blond and shiny, even with almost no light. I look at her dress and it's not even pink. It's fully black. What kind of doll wears black and has blond hair? A better question: what kind of doll creeps me out at night while a psychopath is holding me hostage to kill me? I'm not sure if I need to be more afraid of this doll or that psychopath. I lay the doll on the night stand and step into my bed again. I lay my back to the doll and fall asleep with the doll looking at me. I can feel it. And I dream it, or it's more like a nightmare.

"Hey! Wake up! Hello?" I open my eyes and close them immediately because of the light. "Oh hey you're awake good. Come on!" I mumble a little and just turn around. "You're hard to wake up aren't you?" I nod and open my eyes. In front of me stands the night stand. But no doll. Was it all a dream after all? I don't know. I yawn and look around me. I see the girl in front of me. "Alesia! What are you doing here? Wait! How did I get here? Did you do this?" I can see fear in her eyes and her eyes meet my feet. "I.. eum.. It... eum..." she looks into my eyes and starts to cry. I pull my arm around her and sit up next to her. "It's okay, just help me out of here okay?" She shakes her head and cries harder. After a few minutes of calming her down she finally raises her head and looks at me. "You know that old women that took care of your leg? She's his wife. I'm their daughter. My mom wants you to be safe because you remember her of someone. My dad wants you to be dead for the same reason, and I just want you to live." I look at her. After a long pause I grab her hand and look at her. "Do you know who I look like?" She shakes her head. "I look like you." Her eyes go from small red crying eyes to big white shocking eyes. "But... It can't be about me.. can it?"

We sit there in silent for way too long. "So.. do you have any idea why your father wants me, or you, dead?" I ask her. She thinks and then her eyes turn big again. "I might do..." she gets disturbed by her mother opening the door. Her clothes are under sweat and her face is red. "Alesia! Come home now!" She looks down and stands up. "He comes back today, the job was already done so he called me. Pretend like we never were here or you kill all of us. And Alesia, don't meet her without my permission from now on okay?" She nods and walks away. The old mother, or wife, looks at me with a disturbing look and then turns around. I'll call her granny. She closes the door and I hear it getting locked. I count to like a thousand and then listen if they're gone, I can hear the mouses in the walls and the birds outside. But no humans. I stand up and walk to the closet, move some clothes and grab the pink box. This probably is the only moment I can look at it again. I sit down on the ground and put my hand in my pocket. The silver bracelet comes out, and I turn it around in my hand a few times. Then I lay it on the ground and I open the box. I turn it around and everything falls out, papers, pictures, little stuff. I grab a paper and start reading, but it's just a letter from a little girl to her dad. What does it say? Nothing interesting. It's like hi dad I bought a doll, mommy let me ate fries and she made me look pretty with her dresses. Love you. That's it. I lay it next to the bracelet and grab another letter. Again she bought a doll, and she went to the store and bought some cookies. What an interesting letters. I lay it on the other one and read a few more. In every letter she got a doll and some sweet food, but this girl isn't Alesia. If it isn't Alesia, who is it and why does her letters lay in a pink box in a closet? I don't know. I put everything back in the box and put it in the closet again, and my stomach grumbles. I'm hungry, so I grab the food out of the closet and eat some bread. He might come back today or tomorrow, but you don't know how much food he'll give you. I grab the cup he gave me and take some water, place it on the ground and close my eyes.

A few miles away, on a road.

"What do you mean 'I can't help you?' Yes. No. Why? Just.. No. I don't have enough supplies. No. Just come and get me, it's getting dark alread- what?" He rolls his eyes and kicks a little stone away. "I understand, yeah sure. I'll just go alone then." He hangs up and steps in the car again. "Going home then." He starts the car and turns around. This road is so peaceful, no humans. Only trees, grass and- a car? On the right side of the road stands a car, no lights, much smoke. He stops and steps out. "Hello?" A beautiful young lady with black hair and green eyes pops her head up from behind the car. A light, soft voice comes out. "Hello." She smiles and puts a hand through her hair. "You need any help?" He asks. She nods and he walks towards her. He takes a look at the motor and shakes his head, tries to fix the car and shakes his head again. "I don't think your car is going to work... You need a lift?" She's looking at his car and at the road. Then she nods. "Do you have any food? I'm really hungry!" He laughs and nods. "Grab all your stuff out of your car and come with me, I have cookies and some chinese." She opens the car door and feels a huge pain in her head, then everything turns black. "Maybe It was a better idea to hit you when you sat in the car." He shakes his head and lifts her on his shoulder, closes the car door and lays her down at the back of the car. "Sleep well honey, you won't open your eyes again." And with that said he drives away, on his way to home.

At the house

I don't know how everything is connected, but it lays on the tip of my tongue.

She gets a doll every time and she gets food. On a few pictures granny and my psychopath hold her hand or smile at her. On every picture is a younger version of Alesia, so the girl probably is their little girl. So Alesia has a sister, but why didn't I see her when I was in the house? And what about the food and the dolls? I saw one doll, and it looked exactly like me. What does all of this mean? I don't get it.

My thoughts get disturbed by the sound of someone putting a key in the lock. I look at the ground and see the bracelet, jump from my bed and grab it. The person got the lock open and the door goes open, I'm still on the ground and try to put it in my pocket. "Well hello darling." I shiver and look at the ground. His footsteps echo through the room and stop right in front of me. I see his shoes en he grabs my chin. "What are you doing on the ground?" I look up, but don't answer. He throws my face away and I fall on the ground. My face burns and my hand goes to my face. I'm bleeding. "Relax, it's almost your turn. I only need to find the doll... Where did I put it?" I think about the doll and a smile fills my face. "Why are you smiling? Do you think this is funny? I need that doll." I put my head up and laugh. He hits me in the face and I hit the ground again. He grabs my hair and pulls me out of the room. I scream and cry, it hurts so much. He pushes me down the stairs and I fall, hard. He comes running down the stairs and I roll away. He grabs my hair again and pulls me up, holds my shoulders and looks me in the face. "Where did you hide the doll?" I smile and my teeth are bleeding, my mouth and face are under blood and he drops me again. I fall but catch myself before I hit the ground. He pushes me to a door and I try to stand up. He opens the door and pushes me in it, and the last thing I can see before I go out is the floor getting closer.

I wake up, don't know where I am or what time it is. My face is under blood, dry blood. My face hurts and I try to get up. The floor is cold as ice and the room is too dark. I feel pain in my leg and sit down again. I touch around and feel something from wood. I touch and touch and touch, but I don't know what it is. Might be a bed, might be a table or a closet. I push against it, but it doesn't move. Definitely not a table. I drag myself over the floor to get closer to it. I lean against it and put my head against it, I can hear and feel the wood against my head. Everything hurts, my leg, my head, my face, my back, I'm hungry and I feel dizzy.

Why is this happening to me? Why me? Why couldn't it be some other person?

I think about it. For a long time, at least I think it's a long time. I pull my legs up and lay my head on my knees, as soon as I close my eyes the tears start rolling. My nose is also getting wet, and I wipe my face against my dirty pants. I pull my head up and smash it against the wood. I put my head in my hands and start crying again. All of a sudden a memory pops up in my head, but before I can see it clear I hear something. Not something, someone. And that person is breathing. "Hello?" No reaction. "Hello...?" I ask again. I hear someone's moving. Yes there definitely is someone here. "I can hear you. Who are you?" The moving stops. I close my eyes a little bit and look into the darkness, but I can't see anything. "Hello? Who are you?" I hear some more movement and then it's silent again. I move forward but I get pulled back by an ice cold hand covering my mouth.