Doll
Isn’t she the prettiest thing you’ve ever seen?
“Mom, it’s creepy,” Cynthia groused as she tried to keep her phone pressed to her ear and unload the bags of groceries at the same time.
“She tried to kill him and he’s got a life-sized doll of her sitting in his living room.”
“You know that he’s sensitive,” her mom sighed and Cynthia rolled her eyes so hard she swore she saw her brain for a second.
“Sensitive is never wanting to talk about her, it’s not make a replica of her and talk to it instead. That’s creepy and you know it.”
“Cynthia…”
Her mom’s tone was pissed off and Cynthia huffed because it wasn’t like she was the disappointment in the family.
The thing was, Josh hadn’t always been like that.
He’d been a successful architect once, one who was climbing the ladder to the top so fast it was dizzying but then he’d met Lucille.
Sweet little Lucille who was everything Josh had wanted in a woman.
The rest of the family had accepted her with open arms but Cynthia had kept her distance.
Her actions had caused more than one argument between her and her big brother and Lucille had always conveniently been there to soothe Josh’s pain.
Cynthia had clung to her anger, realizing much too late that all she’d been doing was pushing Josh further into Lucille’s web.
Their wedding had apparently been beautiful. Cynthia wouldn’t know because she hadn’t attended it, despite the invitation.
She’d just sat back and waited for her family to see what she did.
It wasn’t until Josh started to get sick that any of them realized that something was seriously wrong.
Lucille had almost gotten away with it too.
If Cynthia hadn’t visited her brother just in time to watch Lucille drop something into Josh’s drink, she’d probably have gotten away with murder.
Instead, her reward for her efforts was a prison cell, one where she hadn’t even stayed for two months before she was hit by a mysterious illness that put her in a coma.
That was six years ago and Josh had never been the same.
He refused to leave his house.
He gave up his job.
And he’d made that doll.
It was creepy, no matter what her mom said.
The thing was an exact replica of his ex-wife down to the extravagant fake eyelashes that decorated its dead eyes.
Cynthia hated it but she wasn’t willing to upset Josh by saying so.
She’d caught her brother talking to the thing once, berating it for what Lucille had done and Cynthia hadn’t stuck around after that, unwilling to watch Josh spiral further into his madness.
“Just give him the groceries, tell him you love him and leave.”
Her mom’s voice snapped Cynthia back to the present and she huffed as she opened the door.
“Sure mom, whatever you say,” she groused, quickly ending the call before her mom could snap at her for being rude.
The house was quiet and Cynthia sighed as she dropped the bags in the foyer.
“Hey, Josh, you want to come and give me a hand?” she called out but the only response to her words was the heavy silence.
Toeing off her shoes, she peeked into the living room, grimacing when she caught sight of the back of the doll’s head.
Shaking her head at her brother’s foolishness, she checked the kitchen before climbing the stairs.
“Josh, get your lazy…”
Her words trailed off when she stormed into Josh’s room.
Her brother was fast asleep, curled up under his sheets.
Cynthia sighed, watching his chest rise and fall before she headed back down the stairs.
She wasn’t cruel enough to wake him up just for some groceries.
Instead, she unpacked the bags and gave the house a quick tidy, following the trail of Josh’s messiness until it led her into the living room.
She shot the doll a filthy look but the thing just stared back at her.
Cynthia was about to turn away when something caught her eye and she stepped closer to the doll.
There were two trails of water on the doll’s cheeks.
If the thing had been human, Cynthia would have thought the doll had been crying.
Shaking her head at herself, Cynthia quickly finished tidying up and headed out of the living room.
She was in the doorway when something made her pause and when she glanced back, the doll was looking right at her, fresh tears rolling down its porcelain face.
