Fear Feast

What the Dolls Did: Main Course

What the Dolls Did: Main Course 

At night, the dolls often crept about, making harmless mischief while everyone was asleep. Tonight there was to be no mischief-making. They were hell-bent on a definite purpose. Cupcake was there too. Jessminda was proud of how brave the teddy bear had been. After the horrible thing had happened, Jess had used Paisley’s little sewing kit to stitch his arm back into place. She had seen the maid reattaching buttons to Paisley’s shirts many times. Jess had done a good job. Cupcake felt so much better. All the dolls tiptoed down the long hallway, single file. They had waited until half-past midnight for this, periodically checking the ladybug clock in the playroom. Nanny Malison was upstairs in one of the guest bedrooms.

Jessminda, Cupcake, Onion, Harper, Slither and the Jess-minions led the pack of dolls into the empty kitchen. Jess knew what she was looking for. They had brought one of the chairs from the tea table with them. It had taken ten dolls to push it to the kitchen. They helped Jess hoist herself onto the chair so she could reach the kitchen drawers. She rummaged through them. She seemed pleased with her findings. She passed them out to the dolls and slipped two items in her apron.

The toys walked, some skipped, some slithered to the foot of the winding staircase. The journey up the stairs proved much easier than they had anticipated. Jess was used to the stairs. She was used to every part of the house. She had been here five years. She had loved Paisley since Paisley was shorter than Jess was now. She had watched Paisley as a toddler, waddling about, giggling at everything that fascinated her.

The pack made it to the first floor. All was dark and quiet. Suddenly, a soft pitter-patter began. Rain. Rain was falling outside.

Nanny Malison kept her bedroom door ajar so she could hear if Paisley was trying to sneak about at night. However, it was not Paisley who was sneaking about, not yet, anyway.

Paisley had drifted off to sleep. In her nightmares, Nanny Malison set fire to her playroom. The fire spread throughout the room in minutes, consuming everything, all of her prized possessions, her toys, her dear little friends. The fire roared so loudly. Paisley brought her hands to her ears to block the sound out. She sat up in a flash. Awake. Safe in her room. She had to check on the dolls.

Cupcake! she thought

She stole out of her room in her bunny-slippered feet, making as little noise as she could. The guest room where Nanny Malison slept was not far from hers. 

The dolls heard a noise: the soft padding of footsteps. They knew it was Paisley. It was too  late to turn back now. They withdrew into the darkness of the first floor hallway. They were silent as Paisley crept right by them. Her mind seemed elsewhere. She kept her gaze forward, focused on where she was going.

As soon as she was out of sight and down the stairs, the dolls quickened the pace. They scampered down the hall. They reached the door. Jessminda pushed on it gently. It creaked and Jess cringed but Nanny Malison slept on, her chest rising and falling slowly. Jess could see her pointy face, her emaciated eyes closed, the covers up to her chin. Jess neared the bed and the other dolls followed her.

It was pouring now. The wind howled, drowning out the sound of the dolls’ footsteps. Jess clutched the end of the blanket and climbed up. She walked along the side of the bed, slowly and methodically avoiding Malison’s limbs. 

The other toys looked on from the floor, wide-eyed, watching and waiting. Jessminda would do it herself because Jessminda was Queen of the Dolls. The other dolls would help if necessary but Jess knew they were scared. Jessminda stood over Malison, one foot on either side of Malison’s neck. What she needed was in the pocket of her apron. She removed the item and watched it reflect a streak of lightning that had just illuminated the room. She held the handle of the butcher’s knife with both of her hands. She held it high above her head. Thunder boomed in her ears. The rainfall had progressed to a full-fledged storm.

“Do it, Jess!” whispered the green Jess-minion. Onion nodded. His white and red face loomed in and out of view with the flashing of lightning. Thunder rolled again, louder and more vengeful.

Nanny Malison fidgeted in her sleep. Her eyes snapped open, just in time to see Jess plunge the knife downwards. The blade did not make contact with her throat though as Malison tossed Jess from the bed. Jess slammed into the wall and crumpled at the foot of it. The toys gasped. The sound alerted Malison to look at the side of the bed.

There, crouching in the darkness, were just about two dozen dolls, clutching kitchen knives of various sizes. They met Malison’s stare in unison.

Malison screamed.

Some of the toys recoiled. They were going to get caught. Cupcake, who never ceased to be full of surprises, leapt into action. As Malison tried to scramble off the bed, he propelled himself onto the foot of the bed and promptly stabbed her in the foot. Malison howled. Cupcake’s actions set off a tidal wave of toys, gripping the bedsheets, pulling themselves onto the bed and plunging their kitchen knives into Malison’s flesh. Jessminda had gotten to her feet again and retrieved the butcher’s knife. She ran over to the bed. The white sheets had turned red. Jess hopped onto the head of the bed. She approached Malison from behind and, in one clean swipe, slit her throat. The screaming stopped.  

One last streak of blinding lightning darted across the sky followed by a deafening roar of thunder. Then, the lightning and thunder stopped but the rain continued. Jessminda and the dolls rolled Malison up in her bedsheets, covering her. The easy part was over. The difficult part had just begun.

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~ Joanna <3