The Story of the Doll

“Mommy, Mommy I want this one!” Little Sally Fling field was given some money to go get what she wanted. When she ran to the register and asked to buy the doll she wanted, the man at the counter said “sweetie, are you sure you want this one? This isn’t a very nice dolly.” Little Sally looked up at the man with big brown eyes and said in a small squeaky voice “I want her. She’s pretty.” The man blew out his cheeks. “Ok sweetie, you can have her, but there is one thing you should know. Never and I mean never leave her on the first step of your staircase before you go to sleep.” How’d you know I had stairs?” Sally asked in wonder. “That’s for me to know and you to find out.” With a crooked smile on his lips, the mysterious man leaves Little Sally alone with her new toy. About to explode with excitement, Sally quietly sings to her new friend on the way home. Mommy I’m in the kitchen, Mommy I’m on the floor, Mommy I want more, Mommy I’m hungry, Mommy?! Feed me!” As soon as they get home Sally run’s upstairs to play with her new doll. Around five-thirty Sally has eaten her dinner (with the company of the doll) and taken a bath, now she sits still while her mom attempts to tame the wild forest called hair on Sally’s little head. Looking at herself in the mirror Sally goes over all the freckles that her daddy calls angel kisses. There are a couple surrounding the outline of her thin yet very red lips. Then there is some creeping up her button of a nose. Following them with her eyes she sees a big puddle of them going onto her eye lids. Sally stares at her eyes noticing for the first time how pretty they were, a light brown with a hint of hazel sneaking up from the corners. She then focuses on her very curly, poofy, bright red hair that her mother is trying to put into braids. With a grunt of frustration Sally’s mom ties off the end of the braid and pats Sally’s head to let her know that she is done. Before heading off to bed Sally races down stairs to say goodnight to her daddy and older brother Nathan. Nathan, who is sixteen, absolutely adores his five year old baby sister. He sweeps her up in his arms and smothers her in kisses. Sally, giggling very hard, is handed to her daddy to say goodnight. As soon as her dad pecks her cheek Sally is lifted into the air by her brother, once again. She is rushed through the air like an airplane back up the stairs. At the top of the stairs her mother awaits to tuck her in. Distracted by all the excitement sally forgets her new doll in the hallway.

After Sally is asleep her mom gets to work on cleaning up the house. Sally’s doll wasn’t the only thing that was left in the hallway. There were pieces of a tea set, old baby blankets, and lots of Barbie dolls. Going about her day-to-day routine Sally’s mom puts all the toys in a nice little pile on the ground and first step. Being clueless to what was said to her daughter while purchasing the doll, Sally’s mom sits the doll on the first step and heads to bed. Around ten-thirty Sally’s mom is woken up by Sally crying for her. Slowly pushing herself to get out of bed she walks sleepily to Sally’s room and turns on the light. To her surprise Sally isn’t there. Starting to wake up and become more aware of things she hears her daughter crying for her again, and this time she hears it coming from downstairs. Thinking that Sally might have slept walked down the stairs and fell, she dashes through the hall and downstairs. Coming to a sudden stop at the third to last step on the staircase, almost falling, she sees Sally at the bottom step crying hysterically. She starts trying to calm her down. She picks her up and soothes her “Shhhhhh. What’s wrong baby? What happened?” Trying to figure out what happened. Finally she is able to distinguish “THE DOLL, THE DOLL!” from the hiccuping crying fit her child was having. Finally she looks over where she had left the doll on the first step. But it wasn’t there. Looking around franticly for the doll she finally sees it on the fourth step. Walking back up the stairs she picks up the doll and heads into Sally’s room. Sally had started to calm down by the time her mom puts her back in bed. When she tries to put the doll beside her, Sally freaks out and throws the doll across the room. Shocked by this reaction Sally’s mom looks at her getting ready to scold her sees that her child is sincerely scared. Sitting down next to Sally she brushes back the locks of hair that escaped the braid. “Sally what’s wrong? What happened?” When Sally calmed down again she tells her mom exactly what the man had said to her. Furious with what she just heard, she picks up the doll and takes it downstairs to put in her purse. She comes back up to tuck Sally back into bed. Not wanting to be left alone Sally begs her mom to stay with her. Agreeing to stay, she softly sings her little girl to sleep. When she is asleep her mom slowly sneaks out of the room and walks down stairs to her purse. She stares down at the beady little eyes that stare vacantly back at her. She zips her purse puts it on the table and heads back up to bed. When she is back in her room she is surprised to see that her husband is still asleep. The only person she knew who woke up to the sound of a mouse scurrying across the floor. She slowly walks over to her husband’s side of the bed. Unsure of what she was going to do, she shakes him. Getting ready to dodge a swing of his hand she steps back but nothing happens. Her husband doesn’t move a muscle. He just lays there like a corps on a cold autopsy table. Her eyes open wide when she thinks of this. Taking quick shallow breaths she slowly inches her way to the bed again. When her knees are touching the sheets that are hanging lazily over the side of the bed she bends over her beloved. Terrified that her thoughts might be proven true she hovers a trembling hand just above his neck. She takes a shaky breath in and holds it while she presses two firm fingers to his neck to check his pulse. His skin being slightly cold and clammy she holds back the urge to tear her fingers away. She finally focuses on finding a pulse. She lets out a great sigh of relief when she feels her husbands pulse beat strong and healthy against her no longer trembling fingers. He stirs slightly as she takes her fingers away. Thanking the high heavens that he is ok, Sally’s mom climbs into bed next to the love of her life and falls fast asleep. In the morning she awakes to the crying of Sally. This time she doesn’t hesitate, she bolts out of bed into Sally’s room. Thankfully this time she finds her daughter lying in bed with the covers over her head. She gently pulls the covers from her little hands and tells her that every thing is ok. Abruptly Sally jolts out of bed and slams in to her mother. Crying so hard that she starts to wheeze, Sally tells her mom that she had the worst nightmare in the world. Feeling sadness and pain for her daughter she gently asks what it was about. Sally tells her all about the doll being left on the first step of the stairs and that it sang her name and every number of steps it fell on. Her mother pulls her closely to her and slowly pets her hair unaware that it fell out of its braid. Through all the sobbing and hiccuping she hears her daughter singing “Sally I’m on the first step, Sally I’m on the second step, Sally I’m on the third step, Sally I’m on the fourth step, Sally I’m on the fifth step, Sally I’m on the sixth step, Sally I’m on the Seventh step, Sally I’m in the hallway, Sally I’m at your doorway, Sally I’m on your dresser, Sally I’m on your bed, Sally? You’re dead.” Terrified by what she is hearing her five-year-old daughter speak she picks her up and rushes downstairs. She quickly scribbles a note for her son then grabs her purse and flip-flops and heads out the door with Sally still in her arms. Arriving at the store where they got the doll from Sally’s mom pulls her out of her car seat and runs into the store. Furiously stomping to the checkout counter she asks Sally what the man that sold her the doll looked like. Pointing a tiny trembling finger towards a man restocking shelves she whispers “him” to her mother. With Sally clinging to her torso she walks over to the man clears her throat to get his attention. Before he even turns his head she loses it and starts yelling at him “WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE SCARING MY LITTLE GIRL?!” Not even alarmed by the furious mother that looked ready to beat the living crap out of him, he calmly looks at her and says nothing. Not being able to stand the silence any more she slaps him. As soon as she does this she wakes up in her room in her warm comfortable bed. Gasping for air and what had just happened, she turns toward where her husband should be and that is when the doll slits her throat and stares vacantly at her with those dark beady eyes.