Hello Dolly

Chapter 14

My eyes quickly snapped open. It was dark and I couldn't see anything. I reached across my bed to my bedside table and felt around for my phone. I finally managed to grab it and looked at the screen. It was 2:15 a.m. I was really starting to get tired of waking up in the middle of the night just about every other day. But, this time I woke up for no reason. I looked out at my closed door and didn't hear any footsteps in the hallway which actually gave me some relief for once.

I had asked my parents if they ever heard anyone walking down their hallway and they both told me no. I then asked Lori and she said she doesn't hear footsteps in our hallway at night either. I definitely thought it was strange that I was the only one who could hear them.

"Daisy." I heard a voice say. I quickly turned the flashlight on my phone on and shone it in various parts of my room, my eyes darting everywhere.

"Who said that?!" I asked myself, my mind racing. It sounded almost like a little girl and it seemed to be coming from somewhere in my room! I threw my blanket off me and immediately began searching around my room.

"Daisy." I heard it say it again and this time it sounded like it was coming from behind me. I quickly spun around, shining my flashlight on my dresser and the closet. I went up to my dresser and opened each drawer, inspecting everything in them and even throwing some of the stuff out. I couldn't find anything in any of the drawers even going as far as pulling them out of the dresser.

"Daisy." I heard it say once more, this time right in front of me. I looked up and shone my flashlight on the closed closet door. I slowly walked over to it. My hand shook as I reached out for the doorknob. I grabbed it and slowly turned it, opening the closet door. I then reached around and felt for the flashlight on the wall inside the closet. I finally found the switch and quickly flicked it on.

The light on the ceiling turned on, illuminating my entire closet. I had one of those walk in closets you'd see in celebrity homes but not as big, only being about half the size of them. I began walking around the room, looking through each color coordinated blouse, dress, skirt, jeans that I had hung up, trying to see if maybe I'd find the source of the voice.

I then bent down and began looking through the rows of small cubicle shelves that held pairs of my shoes in each of them. I grabbed shoe after shoe, throwing it behind me or placing it on top of the shelves.

I suddenly stopped when I heard something rustle behind me. I quickly spun around and looked where I heard the noise. Behind me I had my dolls and stuffed animals from my childhood that I hadn't played with in years neatly lined up in a big, long shelf that was on the floor and up against the wall. I slowly crawled over and looked at them.

My Barbie doll from the Rapunzel movie stood against the wall, her hands at the sides of her dress, and her head slightly raised up at me, as if she was smiling at me. Next to her, I had a baby doll that had a pink onesie on and a bib on it that said "I love mommy." I smiled at it, remembering how much I used to love that doll. You could feed it a bottle of water and after a few minutes, it would actually pee in its diaper. I even remembered how I would carry it around just about everywhere with me, just the way Lori does with hers.

I looked over and saw my brown teddy bear holding a big heart in its hands that said "I love you." It was a Valentine's Day present from my parents when I was in middle school. I saw my Barney the Dinosaur stuffed animal from pre-kindergarten leaning against it. Next to it was all four of the teletubbies. I could recall telling my parents I really wanted all four of the teletubbies for Christmas because I couldn't stand the thought of having just one because I didn't want it to get lonely and if I got two, it still wouldn't be fair because the other half of them still wouldn't be with them. And, lo and behold, I woke up to four boxes on Christmas day standing up in a neat row in front of the Christmas tree and in each one of them was one of the teletubbies.

My eyes then moved on to the next doll in the row. It was a porcelain doll, just like Lucy. The difference was that it had a pink fluffy dress on with lace leggings and white shoes. She had blonde curly hair with a gold bow on top of her head and big blue eyes. Her lips were curled into a beautiful smile, her hands were raised as if she had been explaining something. I was only ten when I first got her and I had named her Amelia. I had always loved that name and I still do to this day.

I picked her up with my hand and looked at her. She was my first porcelain doll that I had never ruined when I was little. All the other ones I had I always ended up drawing on them or cutting their hair or trying to paint their tiny fingernails. She was also the only one that I still had and the very last one I ever received. I outgrew dolls in the beginning of middle school and asked my family to not give me anymore as gifts. They'd just end up in my closet along with all the other ones I had and there they'd be for many years, collecting dust.

I ran my fingers through her curly hair and caressed her cold cheek, then tracing her lips with my finger.

"Amelia." I whispered to it, smiling. Just saying her name made me remember all the memories we had with each other. I hugged her to my chest. Sometimes, I wished I could be a ten year-old again so I'd have one more chance to play with all of them again.

"Bye Daisy." I suddenly heard the voice say just behind me.

Trembling, I slowly turned my head around. Before I could see who it was, the light in the closet switched off and the door slammed shut, leaving me screaming in the darkness.