Short Stories...

A Good Little Girl

" Mommy, I want all of my dolls unpacked now!" Chloe demanded of me. " Chloe, sweetheart, we literally just stepped into the house and there are boxes everywhere" I responded with a hint of frustration crossed with exhaustion. "I don't care mommy! I want to play with my dolls now!" She ran in front of me and stood firm in her demand. I just decided to accept  defeat began to look for the boxes labeled Chloe's room/Dolls. I found all 7 of them and put them in Chloe's room, and returned to the rest of the 600 boxes I had to unpack with no help, being that it's just me and Chloe.

My daughter Chloe is clearly spoiled  which is pretty much my fault. I've never really been good at confrontation and I brought that flawed part of my character right on into my parenting with me. Whatever she wanted, she got, just so that I don't have to deal with her tantrums. Over the almost nine years of her existence, I have been at her beckon call creating a little monster.  Her latest triumph over me was to get me to agree to take her to the "Good Little Girls" doll shop in town and get her a "Little Me" talking doll for her birthday in 3 days. The doll was close to two hundred dollars and she didn't deserve one cent of it, however for the sake of my sanity I agreed. 

"Chloe slow down!" I yelled but she ignored me as usual. She just ran right into the doll shop without me. I absolutely hate it when she does that. I walked into the store and at first I couldn't see her " Hello. Welcome to Good Little Girls doll shop" a small silver haired woman wearing cat eye glasses said from behind the counter. "Hi, my daughter just stormed into your store a moment ago and-"  " Mommy look at all these pretty dolls!" Chloe popped up from around the corner out of fucking nowhere.  The woman behind the counter squinted her eyes at Chloe and watched her closely, not that I could blame her since Chloe was running around like a crackhead on Prozac . Chloe zoomed across the store picking up one doll after another, stroking their hair and trying to remove their clothes. " Chloe sweetie don't touch the dolls."  I was ignored yet again.  I just let out a sigh, shook my head and walked up to the counter to address the woman. " My daughter wants one of your custom "Little Me" talking dolls. How long do they take to make?" The woman looked at me as if to say " are you sure that's the one you want?" before she actually spoke " they take about one week. " One week is too long!" Chloe shrieked and slammed her hands on the counter.  " I want my doll TODAY!" she demanded. I was beyond mortified and humiliated at her behavior. The woman stared at Chloe over her glasses with a stoic expression. "If you want your doll to look and sound just like you, then you will need to be patient little one" Chloe rolled her eyes in response. The woman looked at me with a look of pity as I finished paying for the order and I received the receipt as well as the pickup date.

One week later we went back to the doll shop to pick up Chloe's doll. The same woman who was there last week went into a back room and came out with the doll. She looked very much like my Chloe.  Long  wavy blonde hair, green eyes and freckles. The woman placed the doll on the counter for me to examine. She pressed a button on the back of the dolls and the doll spoke" Hi! I'm Chloe and I'm a good little girl!" Hmph! this doll was an excellent liar because let's face it, Chloe was far from a good little girl.  Chloe was so excited she tried to snatch the doll out of the woman's hands, embarrassing me yet again. To both of our surprise, the woman quickly held the doll out of Chloe's reach. " Listen little one, these dolls are meant for good little girls. If you are not a good little girl, then you will make your little me doll very unhappy" then she turned to Me.  "I accept returns and exchanges for 30 days if she ever decides she isn't satisfied with it." She slid me an envelope with the paperwork for the doll, I thanked her and we left.

Days later Chloe was still very infatuated with her "little me" doll.  She wanted to have her everywhere with her. The bed, the bathroom, the kitchen and the dinner table even I told her not to. "Chloe, your doll doesn't belong at the dinner table sweetheart." Chloe rolled her eyes and as usual ignored me.  She pressed the button on her doll. " I love being a good little girl!" the doll said enthusiastically. " Me too!" Chloe yelled.  Even though the statement couldn't have been further from the truth. " Chloe! Take your doll upstairs now!" I shouted. I had surprised us both but for Chloe, the shock lasted for mere seconds before she snatched up her doll and ran upstairs while yelling out " I HATE YOU!" Typical Chloe.

Later that evening, Chloe came into my room to wake me up out of my sleep. "Mommy there's something wrong with my doll" she whined while snatching away my covers from over my shoulders. " She's saying mean things to me!" I half opened my eyes  "Chloe we can take it to the shop tomorrow while we are out running errands to see if we can get her fixed. Now go back to bed" I told her as I pulled the cover's back up over my head. 

The next morning I got up ready to face another day of dealing with Chloe and trying my best to avoid one of her tantrums. I got dressed and went to Chloe's room. "Good morning mommy! She was much more chipper than usual. "Come downstairs and eat breakfast before we leave" I told her. "Ok mommy!" She said and flashed a bright smile. She was surprisingly pleasant. After we had eaten breakfast she offered to clear the table and rinse out her dishes. "Chloe, we have to run a few errands before we take your doll to the doll store to get it fixed okay?" Chloe smiled " That's okay mommy" We ran errands for nearly  two hours before heading to the doll shop and Chloe had been on her best behavior the entire time.

After I parked the car and got out, Chloe stood waiting for me with her doll in one hand and the other stretched out reaching for mine instead of her bolting for the door like the last two times. The same woman was behind the counter again. She stared at Chloe and squinted her eyes as if she could sense Chloe's change in behavior. "And what brings you in today little one?" I spoke for her. " Last night she said the doll was malfunctioning and saying mean things to her or something like that. "Oh really?" the woman responded.  "Well would you like to see if we can fix her?" Then Chloe surprised the hell out of me. " No thanks, I don't need a little me doll anymore."  Then she turned to look at me. "Mommy I think you should just get your money back, I have lot's of other dolls to play with" And with that, we made the transaction and I got a refund. Later that night I sat in bed confused and Chloe was still on her best behavior.  I don't know what got into her but I didn't care. this was the best behaved she had ever been and I hope it lasts.

The Night Before

In her room Chloe played with her dolls without a care in the world while her mom remained downstairs in tears out of frustration of her unruly spoiled brat of a child. Later that night Chloe Lay in bed with her little me doll beside her. She pushed the button on the dolls back. " Chloe you're a very bad girl" Chloe sat up in surprise.  Her doll had never said that before. She pushed the button again. " You deserve to be punished" Chloe grew frightened.  There was something wrong with her doll. She got out of the bed and took the doll to her mother's room. " Mommy there's something wrong with little Chloe" she whined as she shook her mother awake. " She's saying mean things to me!" Her mother was still half asleep" Chloe we can take it to the shop in the morning when it opens to see if we can get her fixed. Now go back to bed" Chloe sulked back to her room and went to bed and lay awake until sleep crept up on her.

The next Morning Chloe woke up but she felt different, she was stiff and she couldn't move. She couldn't sit up, she couldn't roll over, she couldn't make one single move.  She heard movement in her room and then the door opened. Then she heard a voice say " Good Morning Mommy!" but not just any voice, it was HER voice! "Come down and eat breakfast before we leave okay" Okay mommy!" She heard her own voice again. Chloe was wondering how her mother couldn't see her laying right there frozen and unable to move while there was a second person in the room pretending to be here. She had no idea what was going on.  The next thing she knew the owner of the voice that sounded so much like hers walked over to the bed and stood over her. She realized she was looking up at......herself.  "You ready to go little Chloe?" the other Chloe asked. She felt herself being grabbed and lifted from the bed and she could tell she being carried by the way the room was moving around.  The  other Chloe stopped in front of the mirror and held real Chloe in front of her . Then the fake Chloe spoke " Chloe you have been a very bad girl so you have to go where all the little bad girls go and a good little girl gets to take your place".  Her mouth turned up i a wicked little smile and that's when the real Chloe put it together.  At some point during the night She had become the doll.  And the doll had become her.