dollface | melanie martinez

𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

mama and papa had gone out.

clara had no idea where.

but neither her parents nor governess were home;

she was alone.

as she wandered through the house, crybaby was tucked under her arm;

a position the doll had immediately been given almost constantly.

since angel had left, clara felt as though there was a gaping hole in her heart that could only be filled by the doll that had been promised to protect her.

"do you think we should play some piano, crybaby?" clara asked the doll.

naturally, she expected no reply and naturally, the doll gave none.

"yes. right. piano..."

clara's house was pretty. it was perfect; like a dollhouse.

she often felt like a doll.

just a silly doll;
an unimportant, almost meaningless doll- another toy in her parents painful game.

piano.
piano...

she tiptoed in her sock-clad feet through the long floor-boarded halls to the drawing room; a smaller room where clara's governess often taught her.

in the drawing room was the piano.

it faced the window, so whenever clara sat on the piano stool her back was to the wall behind her, and she was looking out at the pretty gardens she liked to play in.

she placed a seat against the wall opposite the piano, and propped crybaby up on it.

"here, listen to me play," the young girl squeaked as she slid onto the stool.

her back was now facing crybaby.

clara was surprisingly good at piano for a child of such young age. she practiced often;

the sound was pleasing to her, and she didn't have to think about anything else when she played. her mind could wander right away, and she would be at ease.

she slipped into this peaceful mindset now, her eyelids slowly drifting closed as her fingers danced across the keys from memory.

she finished the piece she had been playing and sat in silence for a moment, soaking in the sound she had just created.

her body completely froze
as she heard a single pair of hands
slowly begin to clap behind her.