Spirit of a Doll
By
Eveli Acosta
Copyright 2011 by Eveli Acosta
ISBN 978-1-4657-7014-1
Smashwords Edition
Published by Eveli Acosta at Smashwords
Picture on cover Copyright ESW/Fotolia
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
Thank you for downloading this free ebook. Although this is a free book, it remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy at Smashwords.com, where they can also discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.
Books written by Eveli Acosta can be obtained either through Smashwords, the author’s website:
http://acostaeveli.blogspot.com/
Or through select, online book retailers.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Elva's Birthday Dolls
“Happy Birthday Elva," my mom shouted trespassing into my room.
"Mom," I whined.
"Look what you're Aunt Glenda sent you!" She told me excited completely ignoring me.
"I know she always sends me the same thing every year. You should tell her I'm sixteen now. I don't need any more dolls. Seriously what is your sister’s obsession with these dolls?"
"But you didn't even look at it. It's beautiful darling."
"You keep it then. I have more than enough. Do you think we could take them to the Goodwill? I mean, Aunt Glenda never comes. She'll never know."
"I thought you liked them."
"I did when I was little. I have way too many now!"
"Well I'll think about it. So get up and get dressed you have to go to school."
"Fine," I screamed into my pillow.
I got up a few minutes later and went to the bathroom to shower.
"Hey butt face!" My little annoying doofus of a brother told me when I came out of the bathroom.
"Stupid!"
"What? I was just saying Happy Birthday." He says trying to sound innocent. "I saw your new doll. How many does that make now, fifty?"
"God no! I think there's only eight."
"Aren't you too old to play with dolls?"
"Aren't you too old to be annoying?" I shot back.
"I'm ten and you're almost thirty."
"I have to get dressed. Hurry up; I don't want you to make me late again."
"Like it matters, you don't learn anything anyways."
That kid annoys me so much. Why the hell didn't I inherit dad’s gifted genes not to mention mom’s blonde hair and blue eyes? I have brown hair and eyes so fuckin plain. Danny dyed his hair for a school play. Mom says it should wash off in a few days because I wanted to die my hair also. No such luck until I turn eighteen.
"Gah," I screamed. "Mom that wasn't necessary!"
"What are you talking about?" My mom asked as she passed my bedroom door.
"The dolls," I said upset crossing my arms.
She made a gesture of annoyance indicating she had no idea what I was talking about.
"Ugh! It was Danny, sorry mom."
"Okay whatever." She said slowly and annoyed. She picked that up from me.
I walked to my closet to get my clothes and laughed. Stupid Danny set up all the dolls on my bed as if they were chatting with each other. They all had their heads turned to the new doll. She really was pretty. I leaned over to look at her better. My aunt loved making dolls and she made them look real. This one had very pretty green eyes. I lifted my hand to touch the glass eyes that looked remarkably human, I was about to touch it when the doll blinked.
“What the fuck?” I gasped as I jumped back and tripped over my own shoes.
I heard Danny laughing. Fuckin kid!
“What are you laughing at?” I shouted and went to slam the door.
I grabbed the dolls one by one and started to put them back in their respected places. They each had their own spot inside a small cabinet I had in the corner of the room. I went to get the new doll to place her in there but she was no longer on the bed. My bedroom door was wide open and I heard Danny laughing. Ugh, stupid kid! I finished getting dressed and went downstairs for breakfast.
“You know,” I started to tell my mom. “That doll is really pretty. I guess I could keep her.”
“That’s great Elva. And don’t worry about your birthday; you don’t have to hang out with your family. You could go out with your friends tonight. No curfew.”
“Ohmigod!! Are you serious?”
“Happy Birthday!”
“Thanks mom! Oh wait, does that mean I don’t get any presents?”
“No sweetie.” My mom told me giggling.
“Elva, can you come outside for a minute?” My dad called me from the front door.
“Dad’s home,” I asked my mom. I usually didn’t see him till the evening.
“Go on out,” My mom told me.
I walked out and my dad grinned at me. Something was definitely up. He tossed me something. I swatted whatever it was. It hurt.
“Dad, don’t throw things at me. You know I hate things coming at me.”
“Elva, you really need to learn to catch. Look down.”
“My fingers hurt.” I said then saw two shiny keys on a key ring. “What are these?”
“Your car keys,” he said smiling. A car? “Happy Birthday!”
“Dad,” I said excited.
My dad hugged me and walked me to the garage. It was a Honda Accord, black. It was beautiful.
“It’s not new but it runs fine. Take care of it. Make sure it always has gas and I’ll show you how to change the oil. I already changed the oil…” My dad kept talking but I wasn’t listening.
I was running my fingers alongside of it. It was my first car and I was savoring it. My dad started to give me driving lessons when I turned thirteen and drilled me constantly about how to take care of a car. How often do you change the oil on a car? Do you ever let the gas gage under a half of tank? What do you do when your car starts to heat up? And on and on, but right now I was grateful of all his drilling. I had my OWN car!!!
“Dad can I take it to school,” I asked cutting him off.
“Of course, and have fun tonight.”
“Ohmigod!! Thank you!!” I said and jumped in the car. Then I remembered my book bag and ran in the house to go get it.
“Danny, stay out of my room!” I shouted at him as I ran up the stairs to get my book bag.
I grabbed my bag off the floor in my room and my cell phone from the dresser. I heard Danny laugh again when I was in the hallway. What the…? Wasn’t he in the kitchen? I ignored the laugh and ran out of the house shouting goodbye.
I got home super tired. My friends and I went to the river after school. The guys took beer and us girls took plenty of snacks. We went tubing down the river and had our beer. When the sun started setting and most of us were hammered, the guys suggested some skinny dipping so we all did. Afterwards I had a hard time finding my clothes since we all pretty much tossed our clothes everywhere. We went to a Denny’s before we headed home and I practically crawled up the stairs. When I got to the top, I heard Danny laugh again. That stupid kid has never been as annoying as he has been today. What the hell was he laughing at? It was one in the morning. I ignored him and crawled into bed.
I was tossing and turning most of the night. I know I didn’t sleep right. My alarm woke me up and I didn’t even set it the night before. I rubbed my eyes but my hands were wet. What the hell? I looked at my hands and they were red. I screamed, I had no idea what was in my hands but it looked like blood. I threw the covers to check my body but I wasn’t bleeding anywhere it was just my hands and a bloody knife on my bed.
“Elva, what’s wrong?” My mom asked rushing into my room.
I was holding the knife in my hands and staring at it. I was so confused.
“Oh my god!! Ted! Ted, come here!!” My mom screamed for my father.
My dad’s home, I thought. He usually leaves at five thirty. My alarm goes off at six. I looked at my alarm clock and it was five in the morning. And the new doll was sitting right next to it.
“What’s wrong Eloise?” My dad asked my mom as he was nearing my doorway. She was breathing fast and was looking around the room. She pointed at me with one hand and covered her mouth with the other.
“Elva, what happened? Why are you holding a knife? Why are your hands covered in blood?” My dad asked.
I was so confused and I looked at my dresser again. The doll that had been looking at me was now facing my dad. I shook my head, I was wrong. I just didn’t remember right.
“I’m going to check on Danny.” My mom choked out almost crying.
“What’s going on dad?” I asked him.
My dad inched closer to me holding his hands out like he was coming towards an armed criminal. I threw the knife to the ground when my mom screamed.
“Ted! Danny! Oh my god! Ted!!”
The screaming continued for a while. My parents stayed out of my room. The ambulance came and went. I was taken by the police. My mom was crying and screaming. My dad asked me why I did it.
The next thing that I remembered was being in a hospital and being released to my parents. They took me home and I hid in my room. I stayed in there for a week crying and listening to my mom cry. My dad would come in and out of my room when he was home. He would tell me that he knew it wasn’t me because the police and the coroners realized that Danny was murdered before ten at night, when I was still at the river. All my friends were interviewed and they all had said where we had gone, what we all did and that they got home close to one or after one in the morning. The only thing nobody could figure out was why I had the weapon and why my hands were full of blood.