Night of the Living Dolls

by Joel A. Sutherland

  “I’ve missed you, Grandma,” Lucy said.

  “I’ve missed you too,” Sadie replied.

  Lucy appeared to accept that our grandmother had possessed Sadie Sees, but the thought was so crazy that I had trouble coming to grips with it. I wanted some sort of proof that she was who she said she was.

  And then I had an idea.

  “If you’re really Grandma,” I said, “tell me what you hid in the trunk in the attic.”

  There was a gleam in Sadie’s eyes. “Dolls,” she said. “Six dolls.”

  That was a start, but it wasn’t good enough.

  “Anything else?” I asked.

  “Did you find the secret compartment in the very bottom?” she asked.

  I held my tongue and waited for her to elaborate, not wanting to give away any hints.

  Sadie nodded and said, “Clever girl. That’s where I hid my yearbook and journal.”

  I felt a mental wall crumble and I was overcome with emotion. Tears ran down my cheeks and I wiped them away quickly. “I miss you so much too, Grandma.”

  “Sweet, sweet girls,” Sadie — Grandma — said. “But don’t be sad. Now that you know I’m not truly gone we can still be together … and I need your help.”

  “With what?” I asked.

  “Pick me up and I’ll show you,” she said, raising her arms in the air.

  I picked her up and tried not to think about how weird it was to be carrying my grandma. “Where do you want to go?”

  “To the attic.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  As we passed Grandma’s room, she held a finger up to her lips to keep us from waking Mom and Dad then pointed up to the attic. Lucy and I crept up the stairs as quietly as possible.

  The room was one big pool of shadows. The thought of wading into the darkness of the attic, with the creepy collection of old dolls in the trunk and my grandma’s ghost in my own doll, gave me the creeps. I sped to the centre and pulled the string. The overhead light made me feel a little more at ease.

  I grabbed Lucy’s hand — her palm was sweaty and her fingers were shaking — and gave it a gentle squeeze. As weird as the night was turning out to be, at least we were together, and I wanted to spend more time with Grandma, even if she was a doll.

  “Okay,” I said, “we’re here. Now can you tell us how we can help you?”

  I put Grandma down. She paced around the attic, peering around boxes and looking under piles of her own things. “Where is it?”

  “Where’s what?” I asked.

  “The trunk,” Grandma said without looking at me or slowing her search. “The one with the dolls, of course.”

  I frowned. “It’s right over there,” I said, pointing at a corner of the attic. “Right where it’s always been.”

  Grandma looked at it but stayed where she was in the centre of the room. “Open it,” she said.

  “Why?” I said. That was the last thing I would’ve expected her to say. She’d gone to such lengths to stop me from opening it when she was alive.

  “I’ll tell you why,” Grandma said reassuringly. “But first, open the trunk and then everything will make sense.”

  Lucy started toward the trunk, but I put my hand on her shoulder and stopped her.

  “What are you doing?” Lucy asked, confused.

  “Yes, what are you doing?” Grandma said, a hint of annoyance creeping into her voice.

  More than anything I wanted to believe that Grandma hadn’t moved on, that she was in Sadie Sees and speaking to us at that moment. But everything felt wrong. Everything felt off. Grandma wasn’t speaking the way she usually spoke. She’d always been direct and to the point, but she’d never been impatient or rude.

  “Why didn’t you know where the trunk was?” I asked.

  “What?” Sadie Sees snapped. I was through thinking of her as Grandma.

  “This was your house, right?”

  “Of course it was, you silly girl.”

  If I had any lingering doubts, that made up my mind. “Then how’d you forget where the trunk was, you … whatever-you-are?”

  “Stop it, both of you,” Lucy said. She sounded close to tears.

  “Lucy,” Sadie said, “don’t listen to your sister. She’s confused, which is understandable. This is confusing for all of us. But please, open the trunk.”

  I tightened my grip on my sister’s shoulder. “She’s not going to do that.”

  “Ow!” Lucy said.

  “You’re hurting her,” Sadie said. “Let her go.”

  I shook my head. Why didn’t Sadie open the trunk herself? Why did she need us to do it for her?

  “She’s not our Grandma,” I told Lucy.

  Lucy shook her head in confusion, but when she looked at me again she appeared to believe me.

  Sadie uttered a frustrated groan. “Fine,” she said. “We’ll do this the hard way.”

  Her head swivelled to the side and she looked intently at the overhead light bulb. It started to glow impossibly bright and then, after a moment, the coil inside the bulb popped, and the attic plunged into darkness.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “Where are you, Sadie?” I said. I could hardly see a thing.

  Sadie didn’t answer.

  Lucy squeezed my hand. “Don’t leave me,” she said.

  “I won’t,” I assured her. “Sadie, where are you?” I asked again, a little more forcefully.

  Still no answer.

  “Who are you? Why did you pretend to be our grandmother?” I demanded anxiously.

  “Why, my dear girl, I’m the headmistress.”

  “Miss Ashton,” I said. “What do you want with my grandma’s trunk?”

  “Not the trunk,” she said, her voice suddenly coming from our right. “What’s inside. The souls of the six girls who once owned those dolls have been trapped inside them since they died in the fire. But if they’re released from the trunk and returned to the spot where they died, they’ll be able to escape the dolls and … well … I wouldn’t want to be you if that happens.”

  “Why not?” I asked.

  “Because they aren’t too fond of your grandmother,” Sadie said.

  Lucy gasped and her hand was yanked out of mine. There was a thud a short distance away.

  “Truth be told, neither am I,” Sadie said.

  “Lucy?” I called. “Where are you?”

  “I’m here,” Lucy said, her voice travelling from the corner where the trunk was stored. “She knocked me down.”

  “And now do you feel that pressed against your neck?” Sadie asked my sister.

  “Yes,” Lucy answered.

  “That’s a pair of scissors, and a rather sharp pair too, I might add. If you do anything foolish, Zelda, snip-snip.”

  She must have taken the scissors out of Grandma’s scrapbooking supplies. I pictured Miss Ashton cutting Lucy and closed my eyes tight in an attempt to rid myself of the image.

  “And if you don’t open the trunk soon, Lucy, I might lose my temper and do something I’d regret. Well, something you’d definitely regret. Understand?” Miss Ashton was quick to add, “If I were you, I wouldn’t nod.”

  “I understand,” Lucy choked out.

  “Why are you doing this?” I asked frantically, not daring to move. I had my doubts that she’d actually do anything so extreme, but I couldn’t afford to take the chance. “And what do you have against our grandmother?”

  “Two different questions that are linked by the same sad story,” she said. “Ever since the day I died I’ve been unable to move on. I’ve been trapped here, in the small area around the school. And to make matters worse, I haven’t even been granted the dignity of retaining my human form.”

  “The shadow near the hedge,” I said, thinking of the dark form that Lucy and I had seen. “That was you.”

  “It was indeed,” Miss Ashton said.

  That’s how she knew what was hidden in the trunk. She must’ve overheard Lucy and me talking about it.

 
“All these years — these long, long years — I haven’t been able to take shape, possess anything or even speak. All I could do was watch and think. But when you opened the trunk yesterday, that changed, if only a little. I felt a touch of my old strength flow back into my veins. It was as if some of the girls’ remaining shred of life was freed into the atmosphere and found its way to me, giving me the ability to take possession of your silly doll.”

  “But why?” I said, trying to think of a way to release Lucy. This had gone on far too long. “What do you hope to gain by possessing Sadie Sees?”

  Miss Ashton laughed with a condescending tone. “I’m going to free the souls from the six dolls in your grandmother’s trunk, and by releasing them, I’ll gain the favour of the Wisp.”

  “What is the Wisp?”

  “An immortal being, older than time, and a harvester of lost souls. She’s the mother of the Netherrealm — the afterlife world — and she’s the only entity with the power to grant me what I desire. I will reach out to her through a seance so she can witness the girls’ transformation from dolls back to spirits. I have no doubt the Wisp will then turn me back into the woman I once was, or at least shepherd me on to whatever plane comes next.”

  Very little of what Miss Ashton had just said made sense to me, but I didn’t feel like that mattered half as much as the other question I’d asked, so I asked it again.

  “What do I have against your grandmother?” Miss Ashton repeated with a spiteful laugh. “Open the trunk, Lucy, and I’ll answer your sister’s question.”

  There was a silent pause that seemed to go on forever.

  “I. Said. Open it,” Miss Ashton ordered.

  “Do it, Lucy,” I said.

  The trunk’s old hinges creaked as the lid swung open, and I dreaded what might come next.

  I heard the quiet whispers of six excited young girls.

  “Thank you, Lucy,” Miss Ashton said. “And as I’m a woman of my word, I’ll enlighten you about your grandmother. But first … Girls! This is your headmistress. Come out here and join me once more.”

  I heard a series of small rustling sounds and knew the dolls were standing up in the trunk. This was followed by a brief, whispered conversation I couldn’t fully make out. I caught the word “two,” and then Miss Ashton told the dolls to “wait until there’s one.”

  Miss Ashton continued speaking to me and Lucy. “Where was I? Oh, yes. Your family is responsible for me being in this predicament. Your beloved grandmother, Edith …” She spat the name out as if it was a mouthful of venom. “She killed me.”

  I shook my head. “That’s insane.”

  “Is it?”

  “Of course it is. You died when the school burned down, and Grandma was only eight years old at the time.”

  “Eight is plenty old enough,” Miss Ashton said, “to start a fire.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  I tried to imagine Grandma setting the school on fire. It was laughable, ridiculous, and not just at eight years old, but at any age. She was the kindest person I’d ever known. There was no way.

  I heard what sounded like six sets of small feet landing on the attic floor, then a soft whimpering from my sister. I felt frozen, unable to do a thing.

  “I don’t believe you,” I said.

  Miss Ashton laughed. “You don’t? That’s fine. Honestly, I didn’t think that you would. But don’t take my word for it. Take your grandmother’s.”

  “Is she here?” I asked hopefully.

  “No, she was fortunate enough to pass on,” Miss Ashton said with a jealous sigh. “The only way you’ll see her anytime soon is if some unfortunate circumstance befalls you. Tragic.” Miss Ashton shook her head and tsked in an overdramatic way. “I was referring to her journal. I saw you with it. Why don’t you see if she shared her deepest, darkest secret in there?”

  I removed the journal from my waistband and looked at the cover. It was far too dark to read.

  I heard footsteps — small, hollow, plastic sounds — run across the attic from right to left, and then something scraped across the floor and came to a stop when it hit my foot.

  “A flashlight,” Miss Ashton said. “To help you read.”

  Although I didn’t like Miss Ashton’s friendly tone — it was too forced — I bent down and picked up the flashlight and turned it on. But instead of reading the journal, I aimed the light at the corner where the footsteps had led, just as Lucy — now free — rejoined me.

  Miss Ashton was at the attic door. The six dolls surrounded her, three on each side. All seven glared at me and Lucy. The sight of them — moving, sneering, and staring fixedly at us — was disturbing.

  Miss Ashton pointed the scissors at us.

  “If either of you follows us,” she said, “I’ll cut you up into so many pieces that you’ll end up looking like this.” She hit the anatomy doll, the one labelled Virginia, on the back with the handle of the scissors. The faceless doll’s torso popped open and all of her organs — lungs, stomach, kidneys and heart — scattered on the floor.

  Virginia got down on her hands and knees and collected each of the organs, then placed them back inside her chest and sealed the flap up again. She didn’t even seem to mind. The other dolls chuckled.

  What sort of headmistress had Miss Ashton been? I suspected she had been a pretty awful one. Or had she turned awful after she died?

  “Come, girls,” Miss Ashton said. “We have work to do.”

  The big-eyed doll, Lois, left the attic first, making muffled thumps on the stairs as though she were sliding down the steps on her bum. The baby doll, Mary, was next. Then Dorothy, the old woman, Ruby, the wooden doll, and finally Virginia, the anatomy doll, all followed.

  Hattie — the perfect, sweet-looking doll — hesitated, then took a step toward us. “Why don’t we just do it now?”

  “Hattie?” Miss Ashton said, notes of confusion and concern in her voice.

  Hattie took another step as if she hadn’t heard her headmistress. “Why bother with the needle and thread?”

  “Hattie!” Miss Ashton shouted sternly. “That is enough. Don’t you dare say another word.”

  Hattie finally clued in and blinked as if she was remembering where she was, then turned and followed the other dolls out the door.

  Miss Ashton frowned and drew her lips tight, managing to make Sadie Sees’s face, always so bright and cheerful, appear annoyed and angry. Who had gotten deepest under her skin? My sister and I, or Hattie?

  “As I’ve already warned you, girls,” she said, “don’t get any crazy ideas to follow us. And don’t bother telling anyone about what you saw tonight either. After all, who would believe you?”

  She turned to leave, but paused and added, “Pleasant dreams.” Then she stepped into the darkness of the stairwell and was gone.

  ***

  It took Lucy and me a few minutes to remember how to do something as basic as walk — it’s not every day you speak to a bunch of deranged dolls. Finally, after agreeing that was the craziest thing either of us had ever experienced, we crept quietly back to our bedroom and looked out the window. We arrived just in time to see Miss Ashton holding open a passage in the cedar hedge as the other dolls passed through.

  “What are they going to do?” Lucy asked.

  “You were there. She said she wants to impress some powerful ghost, something called the Wisp, so she can return to her human form,” I said, trying to remember everything Miss Ashton had said. It wasn’t easy, seeing as it was off-the-wall nuts. “And the six dolls need to return to the field where the school once stood so that Wisp thing can free them from the dolls.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” Lucy said with a shake of her head. “What do you think they’re going to do once they’ve done all that?”

  “I don’t want to think about it,” I admitted. “I think we should listen to Miss Ashton and stay away from them. Let them do whatever it is they want.”

  “But she said Grandma started the fire. What if
they take their anger out on us once they’re able?”

  “Hopefully we’ll be gone by then.” But that hope didn’t give me much confidence. There were still a few days until the funeral.

  “Do you think Grandma actually started the fire?” Lucy asked. “They were probably lying, right?”

  “Probably,” I said, no longer sure about anything.

  Lucy sighed. “Why don’t we do what Miss Ashton said and check for ourselves?” She pointed at the journal.

  Did I actually want to know? What if I didn’t like the truth? I nodded in agreement anyway. My stomach felt heavy and tight, like I’d eaten a bowl of lead for supper. My fingers didn’t want to co-operate, but my brain eventually got them to open the notebook and flip through the pages until I landed on an entry that caught my attention.

  “Oh, no,” I said.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “What is it?” Lucy asked. She peered over my shoulder at the journal.

  I didn’t answer. I didn’t know how. After reading the first few sentences, the words couldn’t find their way from my brain to my mouth, or maybe my brain couldn’t form the words to begin with.

  Lucy and I read in silence together.

  Dear diary,

  I have tried to write this many times but it is so hard. I dont want to say what I did or even think it. I did something really, really, REALLY bad.

  I burned down my school.

  You know I wanted to be frends with Hattie, Mary, Dorothy, Virginia, Lois and Ruby even if they were sometimes mean to me. And eventho I tattled on them about the cookies (Miss Ashton didnt beleve me when I told her what the girls had done, but Miss Ashton is not very nice) I stil wanted to be frends.

  So three nights ago I took Daddy’s keys and snuck into the school when everyone was asleep. I lit a candel so I would not need to turn on lites and wake someone. Hattie and the other girls were fast asleep in the dorm and did not hear me at all. I just wanted to take something from them so when they were looking for it I could give it back and tell them I found there things in the bathroom or something and maybe they would thank me and be happy.