In Nightmares We're Alone Read Free Page B

Mommy’s a master tactician.
    I turn over and look at her. I already know what to expect.
    Mommy’s got a big smile on her face and she’s holding out Kaylie. Kaylie wearing a new dress. A long-sleeved summer dress that goes all the way up to her throat and wraps around so tight it’s like it’s strangling her. As though that were the problem. As though I’d love my dolls again if the only one left untainted by Mommy was suddenly just as tainted as the others.
    Lucky me.
    “I liked her better before,” I say.
    Mommy looks hurt. She puts the doll on her lap and sighs deeply. “Well I just don’t know what to say, Macie. I just don’t know what to say.” When grown ups don’t know what to say, they always say it twice.
    She doesn’t speak for a little while and I certainly don’t have anything to say, so I roll over on my back and look up at the ceiling.
    “If you don’t want your dolls anymore, that’s fine,” says Mommy finally. “We’ll give them to Goodwill or something. But you’re not getting any new toys just because you wanted to throw away your old ones. I predict in two or three days you’re going to get really bored and you’re going to wish you still had your dolls to play with.”
    I keep giving her the silent treatment so she says okay and stands up. She turns to me as she heads for the door.
    “Last chance,” she says.
    I don’t like the tone, like she’s babying me. Like I’m not a big girl and I can’t make my own decisions. But at the same time, I know I’ll miss Kaylie. I want to keep her, but not in a house with Beth. Not in a house where…
    “What color are her eyes?” I ask.
    Mommy gives me a weird look. “Who?”
    “Kaylie.”
    Mommy looks down at the doll.
    “Blue.”
    “Both of them?”
    Mommy laughs slightly, confused. “Yes, sweetheart. They’re both—”
    “I’ll keep them if you get rid of Beth.”
    The smile that was on Mommy’s face a moment ago freezes and drips away. “Oh. Oh, I see.” She comes over and takes a seat next to me on the bed. “Macie, if you want one of my dolls, maybe we can work something out where you look after it for me for a while, but Beth is… rare. She’s a special edition. You know, they only made—”
    “I don’t want Beth. I just don’t want her in the house.”
    Mommy pauses. “Why not?”
    “Because…” I look for a lie or a half-truth but I can’t find one. Mommy sits there impatiently. I can’t think of anything and I end up going with the truth. “I think she wants to hurt me.”
    For a little while Mommy just looks at me, then she shakes her head from side to side. “Oh, honey. Have you been watching scary movies? Or reading books that—”
    “No.”
    “Did Sissy give you comic books again? Where are they?”
    “Mommy, listen!”
    She turns to me and raises her eyebrows, waiting for me to explain, and I suddenly realize there’s nothing more to explain.
    “She looks at me… in a way that… Her eyes… It’s not just that they’re different colors. It’s like they’re… too human. You know?”
    “No. No, Macie, I don’t know. She’s just a doll. Come here.”
    Mommy pulls me up out of bed and out of the room. She strategically leaves Kaylie in my room so that if I want to be rid of her I’ll have to throw her out a second time and risk starting the whole ordeal over.

    * * * * *

    Walking into the doll room next to Mommy, the room doesn’t feel as cold as it did with Sissy. Maybe it’s just that I don’t think Beth will try any of her crap with Mommy here. Instinctively I know she’s going to play Mommy’s Little Baby. If Mommy can’t see the wrongness behind her eyes, if Sissy can’t see it either, I’m in this alone.
    Mommy steps up on her footstool and lifts Beth gingerly off the top shelf. “Here,” she says, stepping down. She holds the doll out to me. “Hold her.” I hesitate. “Hold. Her.”
    I take a step back. I keep my hands firmly at my sides.
    “Macie, this is not