Short Stories

Anna and Suzie

“Anna, dinner’s ready!” I yelled from downstairs. She must’ve been playing with her creepy doll. I swear one day I'll throw the damn thing away, getting rid of it will do everyone a favor.

Annabelle’s a sweet little six-year-old who I babysit. She doesn't give any trouble, she normally listens to me when I talk and the pay that I receive is extremely generous. The only problem I have is when she's playing with her doll. She acts like she’s obsessed with it.

Anna’s so focused on her doll, that she blocks out anyone and anything around her. It’s like it’s just her and her raggedy ann doll, Suzie, in another dimension.

I walked out of the kitchen and went to her room. “Anna,” I said as I pushed the door open. She was seated on her bed with her doll in hand as she combed its hair.

“Sweetie, it's time for dinner,” I informed her in a gentle voice, walking towards her to sit beside her on the bed.

“Suzie’s not hungry,” Anna replied in a monotonous voice. She didn’t look at me as she was too busy focusing on combing the tangles out Suzie’s hair.

“Suzie won’t be the one eating, Anna,” I said, getting slightly irritated. She does this all the time. She always refuses to do something unless the doll is there, see what I mean about obsessed?

“I won’t eat unless Suzie’s there,” Anna replied as she picked up the brush from her other side to continue doing the doll’s hair.

“Then we’ll bring Suzie along,” I said as an attempt to persuade her to eat.

She looked up at me slowly, “But Suzie isn't hungry,” she replied, going back to Suzie’s hair, still refusing to eat without the stupid toy.

“It’s a doll Anna, it can’t eat,” I said, finally getting annoyed. I could feel my frustration building as I pinched the bridge of my nose. This child will be the death of me.

Anna didn’t respond, choosing to ignore my existence instead.

I sighed and grabbed the toy from her. I stood up as she tried to reach for it and tried to convince her to eat. “You can get it back after you eat,” I pleaded.

I gasped as she shoved me, causing me to stumble for a bit. Before I could scold her she had left the room. This child is getting on my last nerve.

I looked at the doll in my hands with curious eyes before whispering, “What makes you so special?”

I examined the doll a bit further and saw that it had a pull string on her back that I hadn't noticed before. My curiosity got the best of me and before I knew it, I had pulled the string. “Please take me with you,” It said

I rolled my eyes before saying, “No can do Suzie, you're gonna be stuck in here. Alone.” I quickly threw her on the bed and headed towards the door. I could’ve sworn that I saw it move but I figured it was my mind playing tricks on me due to lack of sleep.

I walked towards the kitchen and saw Anna sitting at the table eating her dinner, well playing with it.

I sat down opposite to her, “Anna, you shouldn’t have pushed me,” I said in a calm voice to let her know that I wasn't upset.

“Suzie told me to”, she replied, staring at her food and pushing some of her mashed potatoes around with her fork.

“Of course she did,” I laughed dryly. “Just like she told you to lock me in the bathroom last week, and to bring dirt into the house that I just cleaned.”

“She doesn’t like you very much,” she responded before she looked behind me and finally ate some of the food.

“You know what?” I said slamming my fist against the table in frustration. “Maybe you should stop listening to Suzie.” This child stresses me out so much with her creepy doll, I could feel my blood pressure rising as my annoyance grew.