"Dirty Doll" by Mike (KaT Adams) McCann

\ Lori pulled the lid of the old wooden chest. She would be going to college in the fall and was moving some of her things up into the attic for storage. The chest had caught her eye--she'd never really noticed it before. She'd never really looked before. The attic had always been creepy to her. She rumaged through the obligatory faded photos of people she didn't know, clothes and tables cloths long since attacked by moths, and an old Alice in Wonderland paint box which she set aside, just for fun.
\ And she saw /her/. A little porcelain doll, maybe eight inches tall. One of her eye had faded, but Lori figured a little paint could fix that, and some of the watercolor kit's yellow could liven up the hair.
\ She padded the doll back and forth between her hands, examining it. Something was.. odd about it. Then she realized the clothes hadn't been eaten by moths! That was a stroke of absolutely brilliant luck. Lori smiled faintly. It was a beautiful victorian girl's dress, much like the type her mother used to dress her in years ago. She still had a thing for victorian wears, but her mother probably thought that goth style was not as attractive.
\
\ "Are you done already?"
\ "Yeah, just gotta pack my clothes and the computer now."
\ "That's good to hear. Oh, where'd you get that?" her mother asked, noticing the doll in Lori's hands.
\ "What? Oh..." /I could have sworn I left that thing upstairs/. "I found it upstairs in a chest. Figured I'd touch it up tonight, make her pretty again."
\ "Oh that's nice," came the uneasy response.
\ "What?"
\ "Oh, nothing. I'm just a little tired. It's been a long day." Her mother picked up her car keys from the counter. "I'm going out to the church dinner, are you sure you don't want to come?"
\ "Yeah, mom, I'm not that hungry. Besides, there's never anyone my age there anyway."
\ "Yeah, you do look so bored when you come with me." Her mom smiled and kissed Lori goodbye. "Don't burn the house down."
\ "I won't."
\ "And lock the doors."
\ "I will."
\ "Bye."
\ "See ya."
\
\ Lori sat the doll on her vanity and got her acryllics out. She'd use the blue for the eye. Lori sat for half an hour, carefully blending the paint to get the proper shade to match. As she was finally satisfied with the mix and went to dip her brush, she noticed something on the bottom of the dolls shoe.
\ "Alinna. That's a pretty name for you. Is that your name?"
\ /No./
\ Lori shook her head. She could've swore she heard the doll talk, but the lips hadn't moved and... what was she thinking? Of course the lips hadn't moved. It was a doll! she shrugged it off and slowly painted the other eye back to color.
\ "There, a few minutes to dry and you'll be almost new again."
\ /New? Really? You're so kind./
\ She stopped cold. That was definately a voice. Had to be, only... it was a bit... /too/ clear. Lori looked back at the doll.
\ "Did, you just say that?"
\ "Oh yes, and thank you very much."
\ Lori stumbled back, blinking. She looked at the doll hard, trying to see any movement. Nothing. The lips had moved, she could swear it. But... if they had, there was nothing now. Lori laughed at herself.
\ "God, Lor, you're gonna lose it if you let things like that get in your head."
\ She dressed for bed and looked at the doll, feeling a bit cockier now. "Goodnight... Victoria." Not recieving a response, though she waited a few seconds with her breath on hold, Lori chuckled and climbed into bed. She reached for the switch on her bedside lamp when she heard a scraping. She rolled over to see the doll standing up. Unmoving, but standing nonetheless.
\ "No. Wait. You were sitting. I know you were."
\ "Want me to sit back down?"
\ "You can talk!" shouted Lori, shooting bolt upright in her bed, pointing at the doll as she pressed her back to the head board.
\ "That's not all."
\ The voice had come from behind. Lori faced away from the vanity and screamed, scrambling out of bed and hitting the floor hard as she stared, eyes wide at the doll, sitting atop the head board, /looking/ at Lori.
\ "How- but you're-"
\ Tears streamed down Lori's face as her fragmented mind attempted to piece together some semblance of logic--attempted to integrate the unreal within her reality.
\ "Oh, really, don't bother trying to understand." Lori threw herself to the floor as the doll, now back on the vanity, reach over to stroke her hair. "It's your mind. Just decided to snap. Nothing to worry about, really. Happens all the time, most people just don't notice."
\ "Shut up!" Lori grabbed the tiny doll in her fist and threw it like a porcelain baseball at the opposite wall. She sank back to the floor, trying to catch her breath. Then she whimpered at the sound of an all too familiar scraping. "Oh, no." She looked down at her hand and the doll, standing there, the face cracked and shattered, but back in one piece.
\ "That was /not/ very nice."
\ Lori was in hysterics now, her mind about as coherent as a Jello mold freshly thrown in front of a Mack truck. She pushed herself backwards against the wall, trembling as the little doll approached.
\
\ Karen pushed open the door to her daughter's room and gasped. Lori sat against the wall by her vanity, rocking herself back and forth, talking to herself. The doll she'd had earlier lay shattered on the floor across the small bedroom.\