Chapter 2: The First Night
The
darkness settled in around Ruby’s room, soft and still. She lay tucked under
the covers, her new doll sitting in the wooden rocking chair by the window.
Moonlight streamed through the curtains, casting pale shadows across the walls,
and the doll’s glassy eyes seemed to shimmer with a life of their own. Ruby
watched it for a few minutes, feeling a strange sense of comfort as the doll
sat quietly, its painted lips curved in a gentle smile.
She
finally closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
At some
point in the night, Ruby woke suddenly. Her room was quiet, too quiet, and she
had the strange feeling that she wasn’t alone. She rubbed her eyes, trying to
shake off the fog of sleep, and turned to look at the doll. For a moment, she
thought it had moved. The moonlight now only touched the edge of the rocking
chair, and the shadows had deepened. The doll seemed to be leaning forward,
just a little, its face now shrouded in darkness.
Ruby’s
heart skipped a beat, but she told herself it was just her imagination. She had
always been a little scared of the dark. Still, a chill crept up her spine, and
she reached over to the nightstand, turning on the small lamp by her bed.
The soft
light filled the room, and Ruby blinked in surprise. The doll was exactly where
she had left it, sitting peacefully in the chair, its expression calm and
serene. She must have been dreaming, she thought. Sighing with relief, Ruby
turned off the lamp and settled back into her pillow.
As she
closed her eyes, she heard a faint creak—the unmistakable sound of the rocking
chair moving.
Ruby
froze, her eyes flying open again, but the room was still. The chair, and the
doll, were perfectly motionless. She lay awake for a long time, listening to
the silence, until finally exhaustion overcame her and she fell back asleep. pushing the unsettling memory of the creaking
rocking chair to the back of her mind. The bright morning sunlight made her
room feel safe and familiar again. The doll sat exactly where she had left it,
propped neatly on the rocking chair, its painted smile as serene as ever. Ruby
decided not to tell her parents about the strange noises; they wouldn’t
understand, and she didn’t want them to think she was being silly.
“Good
morning,” she whispered to the doll as she left for breakfast, half expecting
it to respond. It didn’t, of course. It was just a doll, after all.
Downstairs,
the smell of pancakes filled the air, and the birthday decorations from the
night before were still draped across the kitchen. Her mom was busy flipping
pancakes, while her dad sat at the table, sipping coffee and reading the
morning paper.
“Did you
sleep well?” her mother asked, smiling.
Ruby
hesitated. “Yeah… I think so,” she said. “Just… had a weird dream, that’s
all.”
“Dreams
can be funny sometimes,” her dad said without looking up from his paper.
Ruby
shrugged and reached for a stack of pancakes. Everything felt normal again. The
doll was just a doll, and she had probably imagined the noises in the middle of
the night.
After
breakfast, Ruby spent most of the morning playing with the doll. She combed its
golden curls, dressed it in a different lace dress she found at the bottom of
the box, and set up a little tea party with her other dolls. It was her favourite
game, but the new porcelain doll was definitely the star of the show. There was
something about it that felt special, almost alive, and it became clear that
her other dolls couldn’t compare.
The rest of the day passed without incident, and Ruby
started to relax. That night, she carefully placed the doll in the rocking
chair again and made sure its dress was perfectly smoothed and its hair brushed
out. She turned off the light and crawled into bed, watching the shadowy
outline of the doll for a moment before drifting off to sleep.
