Dolly

Dolly.

By Stephen A Abell – Wednesday, 4th January 2023.

Number of Words – 300.


         “You aren’t supposed to be here!” Maria looked down at her little doll, cast forlornly on her brother's bedroom floor. “Why would Jez be playing with you?” She asked the little toy because Jez was at Daz’s on a sleepover. “Come on,” she said gaily, skipping back to her room, “time to go home. I’ve got some important work for you.”
         From downstairs, she heard the television’s low whine through her mother and father's violent voices.
         Entering her tiny room, she glanced at the clock - nearly midnight. One advantage of having uncaring parents was how much she could get away with. On school nights, she made sure she was in bed with the lights off by ten. But today was Friday, meaning she could sleep in on Saturday. It paid to remain awake at the weekend, especially if father had been drinking because father had the habit of wandering into the wrong places for the wrong reasons. But if her light was burning, he usually stayed away…usually.
         She opened up the doll's house standing in the corner of her box room. It was here she would play out her happy family fantasies. Downstairs, the mum and dad sat watching telly; she placed the figurine in the smallest upstairs bedroom. Standing the mum and dad up, she parodied her parents' argument. When Maria moved the doll into the hallway, her bedroom door swung open. Nobody was there. Next, she trotted the toy down the stairs and into the kitchen and placed a small knife in its hand. The next stop for the doll was the living room. Mother and father never heard her enter. But when the blade fell…
         …downstairs, the screams began. And in the little box room, Maria smiled. Now her nightmare was over, the dreams could begin.

For the "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge"   by Arakun the Twisted Raccoon