dollface | melanie martinez

𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞

there comes a knock at the door.

angel stands up, her wooden chair scraping against the tiles of the kitchen floor as she sighs. who would be at the door at this time of night?

she trudges down the hall to the door, ignoring their scruffy little terrier blue who's sat by the door wagging his tail hopefully, and then opens it.

there's no one there.

she rolls her eyes, assuming it's silly children playing tricks, and is about to close it again when something on the doorstep catches her eye.

a small suitcase, with 'for an angel' inscribed on its lid.

frowning, angel picks it up and nudges the door closed behind her, the dog trotting by eagerly at her ankles as she heads back along the hall and places the suitcase on the kitchen table.

she runs her fingers admiringly over the careful inscription of words for a moment, before gently undoing the clasp and lifting the lid.

angel's eyes widen as they take in the contents.

two beautiful dolls,

one bigger and one smaller;

both dressed in matching pale layers of petticoats,

both staring with brown eyes back up at angel.

angel exhales as it clicks in her head,

and she understands everything.

"i was so worried about you both," she breathes to the dolls before hurrying out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her daughter's bedroom.

"marnie, i have a present for you."

"isn't it late, mama?" asks marnie sleepily, rubbing her dark eyes.

"yes, very. but this is more important than you'll understand for a long time. see these two dolls here? they're gonna take care of you, at times when nobody else can."

"okay," marnie nods. "what're their names?"

"th- crybaby. their names are dollface, and crybaby."

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thank you for reading dollface !! naturally this story doesn't perfectly follow the adventures of crybaby in the album, since i guess this is set after her adventures, but this book is heavily inspired by it

i appreciate you reading ! feel free to check out my other books <3

-es