Parents in Training

CHAPTER FOUR: HOW TO NOT FREAK OUT IN CASE OF DOLL TURNING ALIVE

I remember waking up as I laid on my side, facing the wall filled with polaroid pictures of Kate, Gabe and I from several ocassions over the years of our friendship. It was a normal Saturday morning with the clock above my closet door ticking quietly and the sun just barely seeping through the rattan blinds, casting light against my bedsheets. Stretching my legs and arms, I laid against my back, now facing the ceiling.

Sitting up, I rub my eyes as they settle with the view in front of me. My clothes from last night discarded across the floor and the beanbags in the corner were toppled over from the little argument Kate and Gabe had about whether the dress was white and gold or blue and black (I thought they were blue and black though) last week. My books were still just as disorganized as I left them by my study table and all the other novels were placed on the shelves, still left unopened (I had this book shopping and I still have yet to find time to read them).

Reaching for the side table of my bed, I took a hairtie and tied my hair up into a messy bun. Hopping off my bed, I walked towards the door when I caught the baby carrier in the corner of my eye. In my peripheral vision, the doll was just sitting there as it did last night. Without even looking at it properly and taking my towel, I muttered a small 'good morning' to the fake baby.

What I didn't expect was a small giggle as a response.

I dropped the towel in my hand and slowly turned around to really see the doll.

I had only one thought that morning. I was thinking that even though I possessed zero idea on babies - hell, I would become a horrible mother - I was very sure that baby dolls aren't made to turn alive overnight.

My mind went completely blank as I stared at it. It sat where I left it in the pink baby basket. The big blue eyes were blinking and the cheeks were redder than when it was plastic. Sounds were coming out of it this time. The longer I stared at it, I felt myself going insane by the second. It was probably a dream. Maybe I was so tired from yesterday and was so stressed out by Leon, I went into a spiral of unbelievable dreams.

Maybe if I pinched myself, I would wake up and the baby would be plastic as ever.

I winced at the pain and the baby giggled at the red mark on my arm. My breath picked up its pace and I could hear my heartbeat drumming in my ears. My pulse was going out of control. It was too early in the morning for this. I tasted metal in my mouth and my visions began to blur. The baby kept laughing and I could hear the sound echoing in my head, bouncing off inside of my skull.

This had to be a dream.

How could a plastic baby turn real overnight? That's scientifically impossible. And illogical!

But it was moving its hands and making bubbles from its saliva!

Maybe I've gone mad.

My breath hitched as the baby crawled out of the basket with a wide smile on its chubby face. Slowly and clumsily, it crawled and attempted to stand up but fell back onto its own bum. It started giggling madly. It was either laughing at me being delusional or laughing just because it could.

"Mama!" it squeaked with its small hands reaching out as if it wanted me to pick it up.

My visions got blurry and my bedroom looked woozy. Everything around me began to look distorted as if Picasso decided to rebuild my room. Soon enough, my eyes rolled back and the last thing I remember happening was my back hitting the floor with a loud thud.

----

Once I regain my conciousness, my head was pounding and felt a pair of small hands touching my face. Suddenly remembering how I ended up passing out on the floor, I quickly stood up and saw the now alive baby doll staring up at me, smiling with its chubby cheeks all rosy. I screamed at the top of my lungs as I tried to move further away from it but it kept crawling towards me. It looked exactly like the doll with its bright blue eyes, it's sparsely spreaded blonde hair, the round rosy cheeks and its pink onesie it was wearing - or she, perhaps now it was alive and breathing. And human.

It -- I mean she -- started to crawl towards my feet and before it could reach me, I rushed out of the door and slammed the door closed. Running through the house, I called out for my parents. Maybe they knew what to do and maybe, and I hoped, had an idea how the doll was gone and how an actual baby ended up in my room as a replacement.

"Mum! Dad!" I ran down the halls, carefully trying not to knock out expensive vases out of their place. There were a bunch of guests rooms down the hall and I even kicked the doors open to see if my parents where there.

"Bella, they're off to Ibiza! They went off this morning!" Will's voice came from the other end of the hall, where he was standing by his bedroom door with his hair in a mess. He squinted his eyes at me, "You look like a madwoman. Well, you always do, I guess this isn't new." He shrugged and turned around, just about to close his door.

"Wait, Will!" I screamed out loud and dashed down the hall. He halted himself from closing the door and sighed as I reached him. Will looked like a dead person who had reincarnated himself into somewhat a zombie.

"Will you stop screaming at me? I snuck out last night and I'm starting to regret all those tequila shots." He ran his fingers through his hair, his eyes looking cloudier than usual. A stupid grin slowly made it's way to his face, "I don't regret the girl last night though. Remember Louisa? Who betrayed Middlesbrough and moved to Alton school? Well, might I say she's quite the lay."

"William, there is a baby in my room." I said under my breath as I intently watched his face. My heart was pounding and I could hear the beat in my ear. I leaned closely, whispering to him, "And I think the baby doll I brought home somehow magically turned real overnight."

His eyebrow arched as he held onto his door, slowly about to close, "And to think Walker was high as a kite last night, wait til' the boys hears about this. I can't believe we're even related."

"I am not bullshitting you right now!" I yelled at him, "I swear to God, if mum finds out she's going to go balls nuts and I don't know what to do and I don't even know what to do with the baby, like should I give it to someone? Should I hand it in to the police? What if I just give it to Mertel across the street? Her husband left her because she couldn't have a baby of her own so maybe-"

"Obviously it's too early in the morning for you, little sister." Will patted my head harshly and just when he was about to close the door again, I wedged my foot in. He swung open the door with an annoyed look on his face, "Bella, please. Just go back to bed. You're talking myths and legends or whatever," and waved his hand in the air as if to wave the topic out of the air.

I huffed and clutched his hand harshly into mine, making him whine at how tight I was holding his hand. Dragging him across the wide corridor, I brought him into my room where the freaking baby was still sitting and where it sat with it's tiny hands in it's mouth. It looked over at us and smiled toothlessly. Will slowly averted his eyes towards the empty carrier and looked at me, his face going insanely pale. His mouth opened and closed but all that came out were ragged breaths. His dark eyes rolled back and he completely passed out onto the floor, landing with a loud thud.

----

"Are you for sure this- I mean, she was the doll?" Will asked as he sat at the head of the dining table with a bag of frozen peas held to the side of his head.

After a very long attempt at waking up a six foot three, heavy sleeping eighteen year old boy, we brought the baby down in her carrier and put her on the table where she was sitting perfectly fine without screaming bloody murder. We weren't even dressed for the day. I was wearing sweatpants and old band t-shirt that used to be my dad's while Will was wearing what he wore last night when he snuck out which was a lipstick-stained white tee and a pair of black pants. Our hair was in a complete mess too.

"I freaking searched around my room and the doll was nowhere! I even went online to see missing baby reports! They have a freaking website for those things! None of those babies I saw looked like her!" I whispered-shouted just in case I was hurting the baby's feelings. I leaned down to meet Will's sitting height, "And guess what, William? THE BABY LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE THE DAMN DOLL!"

He winced at how loud I was yelling, considering he was healing from a hangover and I was actually screaming to make it even worse. Will was now starting to mutter things under his breaths, scratching his head and shifting his eyes from and to the baby. He finally looked at me.

"What exactly are you planning to tell mum and dad?"

I heaved out a loud sigh as I thought about it, falling onto the dining chair. It was too early in the morning and this wasn't exactly the situation I could just easily breeze through. Tears were clouding my vision and I knew I was going to cry. This was the first time ever that I had no idea what to do during a situation. Especially when it's a situation that nobody in this entire f*****g world has gone through!

Before I know it, I was wheezing and crying with tears and snot running down my face. I was wailing like a banshee, trying not to choke on my own tears as I started to find it hard to breathe through all the crying.

"Hey," Will said in a soft tone and placed his hand on my shoulder, "It's going to be okay, yeah? Look, mum and dad won't be home until tomorrow evening. Til then, we'll -- probably -- get everything together and hopefully gets some questions answered."

"The doll turned into a baby!" I wailed and pointed at the baby. The baby was sucking on it's fingers, making little noises which might've been cute if I wasn't already losing my mind. My face was wet with tears and snot was dripping from my nose. Wiping my face with the back of my hand and looking over at my brother, I whispered, "This never happens!"

"Yes," Will nods his head once. He started to sound like he was talking to someone who was incomprehensible. "And we're going to get through this, okay?"

I nodded, blinking the tears away.

I guess you can say out of the Morrey siblings, Will was more of the calm one and would usually know what to say during difficult situations like these. I was more of the type to, well let's say, not deal well with difficult situations like these. I would find it so hard to adapt and think clearly unlike Will. He was able to make decisions quickly and somehow just come off as unfazed, almost like your ideal hero.

"But right now," Will quipped after a few minutes of listening to me wheezing and crying, "We probably need some infant necessities."

I wiped my nose with the back of my hand and narrowed my bloodshot eyes at him, "What?"

"I don't think you want to get charged with child neglection."

Taking in a deep breath through my clogged nose, I managed to nod my head in agreement. He had a point.

----

After finally getting presentable for society since -- much to my disappointment and many others -- it was socially unacceptable to go out fully dressed in a pair of sweatpants and an insanely oversized old t-shirt with bedhair and a face of a whacked-in-the-face teenage girl, we headed out to Doley's, a supermarket owned by Harriet Doley who happened to be in our year. Doley's were almost in every corner, no matter how big or small. Much like Harriet and her tedency to hide in corners with her boytoys.

Despite figuring out the first step on how to handle a plastic baby that turned real overnight, I was still undergoing my mental breakdown in Will's Audi A7. The baby was safely strapped in it's carrier which was also strapped by the seatbelt in the backseat. I dared not to look in the rearview mirror because I knew it would be staring right back at me and I was scared if I did look and the baby was looking right back, I would have another breakdown.

"Maybe we can just leave it on some random doorstep." I suggested as I tried to find myself a comfortable position on the leather seat. I propped my elbow against the window and placed my chin on the palm of my hand as I tried to compose myself. I knew I was going insane by babbling but I just couldn't stop myself from talking, "And there's bound to be someone out there who's in need of a child, right? Like, I don't even think this even legal, like, I didn't even agree to have a live baby!" I gasped and quickly held my hand out and smacked Will in the shoulder as he was driving. He had pressed his lips together with his eyes blinking rapidly at the road, "Or we're just high and we don't even know it yet. Will, that's probably it. William, I'm telling you, we're high as the birds and we don't even know!"

"Bella-"

"Or we could be dreaming."

"Bella!" Will spazzed out and hit the brakes so hard in the middle of the road that I snapped out of my babbling breakdown. I was so close to hitting my head against the dashboard. Looking over at my brother who had glowered at me with his fists clutching onto the wheel, "You really need to calm down!"

"Calm down? Did you tell me to calm down?" I raised my voice and looking at him with my eyes narrowed into slits. He was driving against and thank God there weren't any cars around us. "William, in case you haven't noticed, there's a baby in the backseat! Do I need to remind you that it was a doll?"

"Freaking out like that won't solve the problem at hand, might I add?" He snapped at me and once again, William Morrey had proven a point. Might I say that in Will's whole lifetime, he hardly ever proven any point.

After taking in long deep breaths and exhaling through my mouth for about the whole journey to the supermarket, Will rolled out a shopping trolley from the side of the parking lot and placed the baby on the seat. He carted through the automatic doors as I tried to match his long, hurrying strides. Even though I was fully aware nobody was staring and I was just as much as an enigma inside of school, I kept my head ducked low so I wouldn't meet anyone from Middlesborough.

"Okay, we need diapers, talcum powder, one of 'em formula powder thingies since none of us are going to pump out the milk. Buy the cow when you ain't got milk, am I right?" Will seemed to be heads on this whole situation even with that hangover. We slid ourselves into the aisle that had 'Baby Essentials' sign hung over the whole strip.

Will was looking at some diapers, eyebrows furrowed as he read the back of the diaper packaging. I stood on my toes to see the baby and saw it gnawing on the bacteria infected metal bar on the trolley. The maternal instincts (not only for the baby, I've done this to many people before e.g when we were at the movie theater and some guy sneezed before opening the doors to the theater and Kate was just about to push it open again before I snatched her hand and poured a shitload of sanitizer on her palm) kicked in so I took out some anti-bacteria wet wipes from my bag and pushed the baby slightly out of the way so I could wipe the metal bar with the wipe so it could continue gnawing on something that wasn't so infected as before.

"Wait, do you think it's an S size or a M size?" Will c****d an eyebrow at me as the baby reached to the side and grabbing onto one of the travel sized baby toiletries off the shelf, almost knocking a whole stack down.

I widened my eyes, "Control the baby, will you?"

Will scowled and shoved the pack of diaper back into the shelf before taking the baby out of the trolley and held it in front of me with it's tiny legs dangling feet above the linoleum checkered floor. It was sucking on it's hand as it's blue eyes bulged at me. I had to admit, it was kind of cute.

"How 'bout you control the baby? This isn't my doing."

"Well, it isn't my doing the doll came alive!" I snapped and hesitantly took the baby into my own arms. I held it awkwardly with one hand under it's pit and my forearm acting as a seat for it.

I suddenly then remembered it all. Last night, just before I went off to bed and just a few minutes after Leon breaking into my room for shelter, I said something that I didn't think beforehand. I didn't mean it. I was just angry and frustrated.

"If you were real, thing would be a whole lot different, huh?"

"Fuck." I muttered harshly under my breath, causing Will to whip his head around.

"You have a f*****g baby with you! Don't say stuff like that!"

I rolled my eyes at him and waved my hand in the air as if to wipe the words out of the air before the baby could even learn how to read. It was starting to feel odd now because just ten minutes ago, I couldn't even look at the baby and now I was carrying it and at the same time, composing myself.

My phone started to buzz in my backpocket and when I took it out, a picture of Kate biting onto pork ribs with her bare hands, sauce evident all over her face was flashing onto the screen. She was calling.

"Where the hell are you?" She spat, without even a civilised morning greeting. I could just imagine her waiting at Arnott with Gabe half asleep next to her (a place where we usually meet up on a Saturday morning to get one of the greatest bacon breakfast sandwich ever to exist on planet Earth) with her face bare without makeup, an annoyed look on her face and by the sounds of it, a snappy attitude which would be ten times worse than 12PM onwards.

I squeezed my eyes shut though because with all the chaotic morning event coming at me all at once, I forgotten about our tradition.

"At Doley's." I drawled out, guilt dripping from my tone.

"Harriet Doley's place or her lame ass supermarket that charges a bottle of Coke like a pound more than every civilised store in Gavenstone?"

"Her lame ass supermarket that charged a bottle of Coke like a pound more than every civilised store in Gavenstone." I clarify just before she gave me a loud, annoyed sigh of frustration.

"Isn't it a little too early for a supermarket trip?"

"Well," I drawled out and took a quick look at the baby sitting on my arm as it eyed the ceiling lights. I was still trying to compose myself so I swallowed the scream I was holding in ever since I passed out, "You see, something came up."

She snorted, "Like what?"

"Uh," I fumbled around for a bit as I watched Will shrug his shoulders at the diapers and dumped one into the trolley, "How long have we been friends, exactly?"

"I don't know but I'm assuming it's been a very long time, Morrey." Kate replied, "We're still friends after that butt rash you had when we went on that outdoor expedition -- that must say something."

Out of everybody, Kate and Gabe should know because 1) we were a team and we would get through everything together even when it was that crazy and 2) if I was imagining this all along and Will was going along with it because he was hungover, they would be the ones to snap me out of it and 3) maybe, by chance, they knew the way out of this. Maybe.

So I took a deep breath, "You know how Miss Philips set up that assignment with the dolls and stuff?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Thebabyturnedrealovernight."

Then I could hear choking from the other line and the gasping of air. I could hear Kate muttering a bunch of words and I could hear some of the words telling Gabe to wake up and I could hear him snorting awake from his sleep. There were rustling and wheezing on the line, I couldn't figure out if she was choking on food out of sheer shock and panic or she thought I was mad and what I said possibly amused her.

"Well done, Bella. You just took a piss and nobody even bought it."

My pulse started racing as the baby started to giggle at the giant walking banana, holding out a tray of banana yoghurt samples. I heard the hilarity in Kate's tone but it died done once she heard the baby giggling and making noises as she watched the banana man trying to persuade people to take a few samples of the yoghurt.

"You're... not... joking..."

"I'm afraid not." I let go of my breath that I didn't even realise I was holding in.

"Oh. My. God."

I swallowed, "Yeah. Same."

"Fuck."

"I know."

"Seriously, though. Fuck."

I nodded my head, even though she couldn't see me.

"Jesus Christ."

"Yeah."

"Well, I don't even know what to say," She cleared her throat and stuttered for a while, "How are you holding up?"

"Bad!" I whined and hit my forehead onto the side of the shelf, "I went through a billion breakdowns in one morning and I'm holding a baby right now and I seriously don't know what to do," I was on the verge of crying again but I managed to keep them from running down my face, "All I want to do right now is sleep! Not take care of a baby!"

"Listen, Bella, take deep breaths, remember?" She asked, even with the panicky tone lacing around her voice, she somehow sounded sure and composed. For my sake, maybe.

"Y- yeah." I croaked and took in a deep breath before exhaling really loudly.

"Alright, I'll tell you what, Gabe and I will come 'round and I'll bring you your bacon breakfast sandwich as comfort food," she exhaled loudly through the phone in sync with me, "And hopefully we're having some sort of synced dream -- or nightmare."

We muttered our goodbyes before hanging up. A headache was making its way into my skull so I walked over to the shopping trolley and put the baby back down on the seat. I closed my eyes for a while before mumbling at Will that I was walking over to the snack section on the next aisle but I was sure he didn't hear me since he was very much indulged in even more diapers.

I gathered a family bag of Cheetos, Doritos and two packs of Reese's Pieces. All of these were, hopefully, going to calm my nerves. I moved onto the next aisle that held even more unhealthy food that only the teenage metabolism could digest. But when I stepped into the area, I was greeted by people who I avoided both in school and outside of school.

Jonah Rivers had Valentino Andrews in a headlock as they fought over the last packet of Quavers. They were a little further down the long strip of junk food, completely immersed in their own world. They were oblivious of course, screaming and yelling at each other. I widened my eyes when Mable Georgia walked at the other end of the aisle, giggling as she attempted to tear the two apart.

I was about to turn around and run back to my brother when I heard footsteps behind me.

Leon.

Without even thinking about it, I grabbed onto his impressive bicep that was constricting under his leather jacket. He widened his eyes and was about to open his mouth to say something until, whilst balancing all the junk food in my arm, I slapped my hand over his mouth and ended up in an awkward position. The bags of crisps and the Reese's were wedged between us as I dragged him behind the aisle.

I let go of his mouth and still having control over the junkfood that were on the verge of spilling out of my arms.

"What do you want, Morrey?"

"I don't know how to tell you this but," I said into a low whisper as I dragged him to the 'Baby Essentials' aisle, gesturing towards to the baby, "The baby came alive."

He slowly averted his eyes from the baby in the trolley, with my brother still indulged in diapers, to me with his jaw dropped. All I could hear were ragged breaths and if possible, maybe even his heartbeat that was beating rapidly. Although, I could've been hearing my own heartbeat due to the fact we were standing so close and aside from being the dickwad he is, Leon Morris smelt damn good. Like clothes detergent and manly cologne.

He looked like he was about to scream and I knew he was going to. His chest heaved upwards, signaling me he was actually going to scream so just before he could, I clamped my hand over his mouth where it came out muffled.

"Fow dis haffen?! Tis is inpofsible! Kew gare fahking johkeeng!"

And then he said a bunch of other things I couldn't really understand. Maybe it was for the best if I didn't understand what he was trying to say.

"Are you done?"

He nodded his head slowly as I moved my hand away from his mouth. Leon's eyes were flickering and he was running his fingers through his hair, cursing under his breath.

Snapping his head up, he narrowed his eyes down at me, "Is this a joke? You're not freaking out."

"Well, you see," I let out a humorless and bitter laugh before gracing a serious look on my face, "I passed out, went on a very mad breakdown, questioned my existence and had another mad breakdown in the car. And at present I'm still trying to not have another mad breakdown because I don't think I can possibly put myself back together after another one, okay?" He looked pale so I decided to quickly add something crucial in, "But right now, I don't think passing out would be a great idea since we are in a public place and I don't think I want to be interrogated by your friends."

Leon's eyes flickered back down the aisle and leaned towards me at an uncomfortable distance. In a soft, delicate whisper, he said, in a voice I never thought Leon could speak in since it lacked the usual confidence, "Are you sure? Are you sure that this isn't a joke?"

"The doll was gone when I woke up and that child was there as some sort of replacement!" I whispered-shouted, "There's even a website for missing babies and none of them looked like her and not to mention the baby looks like the doll!"

"Fuck." He breathed out. I know he didn't mean it to sound sexy but it kinda did.

"I know."

"Well... Fuck."

"Yup."

"What the f**k now?"

I breathed out, "Exactly."

"Babe, where are you?" I froze when I heard the high-pitched voice of the devil herself, Brittany Fowlers. She walked around the shelves and folded her arms across her chest when she saw me standing in close proximity with Leon. I swallowed the lump in my throat as I step back a little with her bright blue eyes still trained on me. She held her chin high, looking down at me from her tall height, "What are you doing, Bella?"

"Just, uh," I mumbled, tucking a piece of my hair behind my ear. I waved the box of Reese's around, "Taking these from, uh, Leon."

She rolled her eyes before reaching forwards to grab Leon by the wrist. Brittany tugged him forwards and pulled him away. He looked over his shoulder wide-eyed, almost like 'we need to figure something out!'.

After getting everything we (thought) need, we headed for the cashier. We piled all the supplies onto the conveyor belt and I forged a smile at the cashier lady who looked at us with judgey eyes. Must've been the extensive amount of diapers and baby food she had to check out.

"You're kidding me, right?" She raised an eyebrow at my brother.

He patted around his pockets to find his wallet, "Excuse me?"

The lady snorted as she chewed on her bubblegum. She was young, pretty even. Her blonde hair went down in curls and her skin was flawless.

"Gina," She tapped at her nametag.

"Gina?" Will drawled on.

"New Year's Eve? Rooftop party?"

"Ah." A nervous look flashed across his face as he gave her an awkward smile.

She rolled her eyes before looking over at me and the baby with her fingers checking the things out, "You sure move on fast."

"What- oh," He started to shake his head vigorously now and held me by the shoulder, "We're not in some sort of committed relationship- well, not in that way! We're siblings and," he bent down to the trolley and placed his hands on the baby's shoulders, "This is certainly not mine! It's blonde for goodness sake!"

Gina breathed in and blew out a pink bubble before popping it with her teeth, looking extremely unimpressed.