CHAPTER ONE
1150 Words
CHAPTER ONE
Working at the flower store had been a dream of Mary’s since she was a child, and now, she was old enough to really do it. Not only that, but at only twenty-six years old, she’d saved enough money to—with the help of her parents, of course—open her own store.
It was dark outside, and Mary smiled to herself as she closed up the shop, stepping into the cool night. She turned the key in the lock, ready to go home for the night. First, she gazed inside the windows at her shop, at all the flowers and pottery. The store was dark, the moonlight casting a cold, pearlescent light on each individual item: the baskets and bins, the light fixtures, the shrubs and the potted plants, everything that existed within the confines of these windows. Mary was proud to call this hers. And she’d worked hard for it.
Breathing in a breath of nighttime air, Mary turned away from the store. The only thing that really bothered her about this location was that there was never any parking available on the road, and her shop didn’t have its own lot, so Mary often ended up having to park way up the street.
Still, she was lucky she had a car, and it was paid off at that. Mary loved to count the little things in life. If she kept up a positive attitude, then everything would work out.
She started walking, pulling her coat shut as the early autumn wind chilled her. The cars parked up and down the road were few and far between at this hour. Mary could hear the sound of her feet thudding against the pavement. It was cold, but it wasn’t too bad… Mary always tried to look on the bright side.
She shivered as the wind picked up. She pulled her coat tighter, the wind blowing through it, but she was almost at her car. Just a bit farther. When she got home, she planned on watching her favorite sitcom with a tub of ice cream. Maybe she’d draw a bath. Maybe bake some cookies, although her parents hated it when she stunk up the house so late, even with the fresh, delicious scent of baked goods.
As Mary passed by a building, she looked up at its sign. A clown face with a big smile looked down on her. Mary didn’t like to be mean, but this place always gave her the creeps. Through the windows she could see the walls of toys and dolls. She would have loved it as a little girl, but these days all Mary really cared about were flowers.
But as Mary was passing by the building, she heard a sound. No—it was a voice. High-pitched, almost childlike…
“Help…”
Mary’s heart fell. Was she hearing things? It was late. There was no way a child would be out at this hour.
Mary shook her head and kept walking. She must have imagined it. Don’t be so silly.
The high-pitched voice called out again, this time unmistakably. “Help…”
Mary turned around and stared up at the building. The voice came from beside the building, in the alleyway, she was sure of it. She took a few steps toward the building.
“Help me…” came the voice again, and then a small, pained cry.
Mary stopped. Somebody was in that alleyway. That was for sure. And they sounded young. At the very least, they sounded like a child. Her stomach fell as she was thinking this was every parent’s nightmare. Their child getting lost in the dark, calling out for help. Maybe they were hurt. But the alleyway looked long and dark, and truthfully, it gave Mary chills. A bad feeling roiled inside of her.
But it was the right thing to do, wasn’t it? Go into a potentially dangerous alleyway to save a child? Mary would normally not put herself in a dangerous situation, but this child—they could really need help. What if they died and Mary could have saved them?
It was decided, then and there. She had to help.
“Help me…”
Mary took a step into the dark alley. “Hello? Is anyone there? Are you hurt?”
Her heart stalled. It was so dark, she could barely see. She squinted and looked down the alleyway. There was a dumpster and some trash cans, and a fire escape on the wall in the distance. The trash cans were all shapes and sizes, but she couldn’t see anything else. She couldn’t see a small child. And she certainly couldn’t hear anything over the sound of her own heart pounding in her throat. Maybe this was a bad idea…
Mary stepped forward, her hand brushing the rough brick wall of the building.
“Hello?” she called out.
There was no answer, just the sound of her shoes on the asphalt.
“Is anybody there?” she called out.
“Help…” came the small voice, and Mary’s heart stopped. She had heard it. There was no doubt about it. And it came from the alleyway.
Mary stepped forward, her hand groping for something. Anything. It collided with the trash cans. She pushed them out of the way until she found the wall again.
Moonlight snuck between the buildings. Mary’s vision began to adjust to the lack of light, slowly, but surely.
“Help me…”
And then Mary saw it. A small, pale shape. She ran forward, dropping her bag to the ground. She couldn’t tell what it was in the darkness, but it didn’t look right.
Mary got closer.
And it came into view. A small, pale porcelain doll. It had black hair in ringlets, a frilly white dress, black-painted lips, and glassy eyes. What the…?
“Help me…”
Was the voice coming from the doll? This didn’t make sense, but Mary was thoroughly creeped out. It definitely sounded like it was coming from in front of her. She reached down, her fingers clenching the doll’s shoulder. It felt cold to the touch, and the hard porcelain felt more like metal.
Mary’s mouth hung open. She’d never seen anything like this. It was so creepy. She would have taken one more step back, but at that moment the moonlight snuck out from behind the clouds and shone directly on the doll.
Mary froze as she looked into the doll’s eyes.
Then the voice again: “Oh, you came to help me…”
But the voice wasn’t coming from the doll at all.
It was coming from behind her.
She froze in place. She felt somebody’s hot, sick breath on her neck.
Then something yanked back hard on her hair, hurting her scalp.
Mary screamed. And at that moment, she knew she’d made the worst mistake of her life.
- Writer
