Baby Doll

Prologue

 

Officer: "Ma'am, please calm down. We will find your daughter."

Woman: "How can I calm down when my baby girl has been taken from me?!"

Officer: "Look, we are doing all we can to find her. But you need to tell us what you know."

Woman: "What am I supposed to know?"

Officer: "Just tell us everything that happened before the incident."

 

The Officer

 

     "It was around 9:15 P.M. I was reading a book in my room when I heard her begin to cry. I yelled, "Lily? Are you okay?" I climbed up the stairs and found the door to her room locked. I guess I panicked because I was suddenly screaming. I guess that was what the neighbors heard. So, I got a hammer and started pounding on the doorknob until it broke. All that I could see was a tall man dressed in black holding her. He was beginning to climb out the window. Then something hit my head and I fell asleep. The window was open and my baby was gone.", the woman said. Her name was Eviee. Her breath was shaky and her face still wet from tears.

    

     "Ma'am, I promise we will find your daughter. Why don't you go home and get some rest?" Later that week we found her in an old shed's underground tunnels. The two men responsible for the two-year-old's kidnapping were found in the adjacent house and immediately arrested. We had a hard time figuring out how to get to the toddler. It was becoming a problem. Remembering the mother's slight figure, we called her and asked if she could try and fit throught the small entrance. We all waited for her to come out. An hour later, she had not, the S.W.A.T team was forced to break down the trap door. Thankfully no one inside was injured.

    

     Lily was located as soon as they trap door was destroyed. She was happy as ever. I held the child in my arms as the entire police force searched for the mother throughout the web of tunnels beneath the shed. After four hours of searching, she surfaced with doll in the exact likeness of her daughter. S.W.A.T attempted to separate the doll from her because of the possibility of a bomb threat. The woman wailed and wailed and wailed. She sat there rocking the child back and forth as if she had gone entirely mad. The case died down for a while until the psychiatric report on the mother's mental health was complete. Once that was released, the town was in a complete uproar.

    

     The psychiatrist had shocking news. In his report it noted some very disturbing content. What she had apparently "seen" down in those tunnels were frightening. "The patient reported seeing her daughter speaking to her in Latin. She has no idea how she understood but it was very clear. The child said that her life was contained inside the porcelain doll, and that she must protect her at all costs. The patient was repeating throughout the appointment with doll clutched in hands 'Never drop my baby. Never drop my baby. My baby is the world'. Near the end of the session, the patient suffered a nervous breakdown which was so severe I was forced to administer  tranquilizer narcotics. Once the patient was subdued, she returned to speak of 'containers' and how they would bring the 'end'. This patient has been diagnosed as clinically insane and unfit to care for an adolescent. Therefore, the custody of Lily shall be revoked where she will be placed in the care of foster caretakers."

    

     I was floored to read this. She was completely sane when I interviewed her. I couldn't help but wondering if she had really seen those things. The case was dismissed without trial. The woman now resides mental hospital. Thirteen years has passed since the kidnapping. I haven't heard anything about mother nor daughter since then. Until today. The mother strangled a fellow patient to death because he touched the doll. The nurses were appalled at their discovery. She was admitted to solitary confinement. I was assigned to her case since I had previously worked with her. She was a nervous wreck. A frazzled little thing. It appeared that she had barely eaten a morsel in weeks. I felt pity for the fragile woman.

    

     Hours of interrogation passed; we had no luck with her. She was constantly whispering under her breath. To make it worse, I receive word that the psychiatrist who worked with her had committed suicide at the exact moment. It had to be a coincidence. Somehow it seemed connected. I knew there was something deeper we were missing. But whatever information we could get out of the mother wasn't helping. "Doctor! Doctor! Don't let them take my baby! Please!!!", screamed the woman. We all jumped as this was the loudest outburst she had made all day. Her body slumped into a faint.

I was frustrated. We were getting nowhere. I decided to bring in the daughter, Lily. She is fifteen now. According to recent reports, she is living in a foster home waiting adoption. When she arrived I felt a wave of relief wash over me. Yet, there was a hint of uncertainty that laid heavy in my heart. She sat across from me. Smiling warmly, I said, "Hello Lily, how are you?"

Lily: "Umm. I'm fine. What am I being called here for?"

Me: "It is about your mother."

Lily: "Oh.." Her face darkens.

Me: "Listen, I am going to make this simple. Your mother has taken her obsession with the doll too far. She strangled a man this morning. He touched the doll and she lost it."

Lily: "Oh."

Me: "I know it is hard for you to even visit your mom. But we need you to try and break the emotional connection with the doll. All you have to do is get her to give you the doll. Do you think you can do that?"

Lily: "Yes, I'm just scared. Do you think she will have a fit like last time?"

Me: "We will do everything in our power to prevent that. You have nothing to worry about."

Lily: "Okay."

 

     I take Lily into the room where her mother is talking to the china doll. "Wait! I don't think I can do this. The doll. Why does it have to look like me?", Lily whines. I calm her down, "You can do this Lily." With an uncertain glance she enters the room and sits across from her mother. I can't hear what is said, but I can tell Lily is getting angry. She is crying. It only infuriates her more when Eviee stares at her with a blank expression. In a fit of rage Lily steals the doll out of her mother's hands. The woman screams and chases after Lily. It takes six men to subdue the woman so neither are hurt.

    

     Tears rushing down the teenager's face she races down the hallway with the doll in her arms. I chase after her. I stand at the corner and watch as she idles in the doorway, gazing out onto the busy street that lies before her. Lily shrieks and throws the doll into oncoming traffic. Time slows, the doll slowly proceeds towards a car. Lily's mom crashes down the hallway evading officers, a wild look in her eyes. The foot of the doll hits the pavement and slowly starts to shatter. The woman screams in agony and crumples to the floor. I turn back around to see Lily's foot breaking into shards as if glass.

    

     A look of shock flashes upon the face of the sweet Lily. Her body makes a tinkling sound as it hits the floor; with the movements identical to that of the doll's. Times returns to normal. The mother crawls toward the doll and tries desperately to return the pieces to their original state. Tears rush down her face as blood trickles down her fingers. She holds the remains of her daughter wailing in grief. "I told them so many times! They wouldn't listen! Please!!! Please Lily! Come back to me! I was only trying to protect her!" I feel guilt wash over me. This is all my fault. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Three Weeks Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    

     The newspaper didn't help my spiraling depression. They cleaned out her room at the mental hospital. It was filled with baby toys. She was comforting the doll. She thought that if she cared for the doll, it would be the equivalent to caring for her daughter. She was taking care of her all along. She wasn't insane. She was just following her motherly instincts. Now my fate follows that of the psychiatrist. I'm sorry Lily.