It's another Monday. How is it already halfway through July? Anyways, since life is still not back to normal, here is another free short story to help keep you distracted during trying times. Demons at Work
By Sheri Velarde Sara could not have been more excited, she had just turned sixteen and landed her first job. She couldn’t wait to have the money to pay for a car and freedom. Not to mention that since she worked at a theater that meant all the free movies that she could watch! This year would be her year, maybe she would even make some friends at work, perhaps they would be different than the kids she went to school with. She had hope and that felt fantastic. However Sara soon learned that working was not all that she had imagined. In fact it turned out to be worse that high school, with meaner cliques that left her feeling more isolated than ever before. At first she thought that her coworkers were distant because of her being the new girl, but as the weeks wore on things only got worse. Every time a colleague looked at her she felt like scum found on the bottom of their shoes. No matter what she did, no one accepted her. One night, her grandmother, whom she lived with, found her crying after a long day at work. “What’s wrong sweetheart?” “Work. School. My entire life. I’m an outcast. No one likes me or even respects me, no matter what I do I am never accepted.” Sara sobbed. “You know, your mother had the same problem. So did I as a young woman. We are different, but that does not mean that we have to live on the outskirts of society. I have something that can help you.” Her grandmother said, getting up and heading to the attic. Sara sat there confused, her family had indeed always been weird, but her grandmother acted stranger than usual just now. Her confusion only increased when her grandmother returned with an antique and rather creepy looking doll in ragged clothes and sinister eyes. “What is that? How is an old doll going to help me make friends?” “Oh, this is more than a mere doll. It’s been in our family for over one hundred years and has helped us in each generation. Its how my father gained support to start his business, how I met your grandfather, how your mother found success.” Her grandmother stopped, looking said as she did every time she talked about Sara’s mother. “Though Annie never could handle the power, I often wonder if I had never given her this doll if she would still be here today.” “What are you talking about? How could a doll have brought about my mom’s breakdown? It’s a toy, an old and ugly toy.” Sara said. Though even as she spoke shivers ran down her spine. Something about the eyes of the doll unnerved her, like the glass eyes were staring into her very soul. “This is Dorothy. She belonged to my great aunt of the same name. It is said that she was a witch and persecuted for it, made to live on the fringe of society, something that we all seem to have inherited from her. That is unless we ask for her help.” Her grandmother handed the doll to her and Sara reluctantly took it. “Share you hopes and dreams with her. Talk to her every night, ask for her help and guidance. Things will start to look brighter.” “You want me to talk to a doll and that is supposed to fix all my problems?” Sara scoffed. Could her grandmother be going senile? “Just try it. What have you got to lose? Humor your old grandmother will you?” Not knowing what else to do, Sara nodded. At least her grandmother had succeeded in stopping her pity party. Maybe talking to a doll made more sense than sitting around crying. Later that night she sat in her room staring at Dorothy, wondering if mental illness really ran in her family. That would explain her mother killing herself and now her grandmother’s odd beliefs, not to mention the crazy stories that she had heard about her extended family. “I’m doomed to be alone and crazy.” Sara kept the doll in her room, tossing it in the corner and forgetting about it for a while. She continued her life, being invisible in school and the target for ridicule at her job. Sometimes she even understood why her mother had taken her own life. Death would be a welcome escape from the living hell she called her life. No, she couldn’t do that to her grandmother though, not again. Then another night of tears found her saying what the hell and pulling out the old doll. “Have you really been in my family forever? Were you my great, great, great aunt? The witch? Can you make people at work like me? Give me respect?” The doll’s dead eyes just stared at her. “And I am telling my woes to a doll. I really am as insane as the rest of my family. If only you could make my problems disappear, make people respect me and see me for once in my life.” She tossed Dorothy back in the corner and went to sleep. The next day school didn’t seem to go better than usual, even her teachers didn’t seem to notice if she as there or not. Right after school she headed to the theater, dreading the evening. At least at school people only ignored her, at work they seemed to want to torture her, like making her cry made their day. And tonight the manager that hated her the most worked. “Great. Let’s see how many things he can think up to make me do. Maybe climb on the roof and jump off.” She mumbled as she walked in. After that she didn’t remember a thing until she got home and sat in her room. Her entire shift was missing. Had something so horrible happened that she had actually blocked it from her mind? Somehow she didn’t think so, because even if she couldn’t remember what happened, she felt happy and she never experienced that emotion. Never. The next morning Sara awoke still feeling happy. School went better than usual, a teacher even called on her for an answer in math class. People noticed for once. No one made fun of her in the halls and she actually ate lunch with no one throwing anything at her or trying to drive her from the cafeteria. As she pulled up to the theater after school, she wondered if her new luck would continue, and if she would remember what happened. Sara walked in and stopped in shock as her coworker Erica actually said hello to her in a friendly manner. “Hi Sara.” “Hi.” Sara managed to squeak out. No one ever greeted her at work. Sure they talked to her in order to order her around, or mock her, but never to talk to her in a friendly manner. As she clocked in, her manager Charlie also said hello. Sara replied in bewilderment. Why were her coworkers suddenly being nice to her? She shrugged, she didn’t want to push her luck. Getting down to work, she cleaned and served popcorn and noticed that people liked her. She also noticed that she was different. She talked. She laughed. She took charge of things and jumped into conversations. A newfound confidence came out of her and people responded in kind. She came home with a smile on her face, practically skipping into her room. As she flipped on the light she stopped dead in tracks, Dorothy sat in the middle of her bed, staring at her with those creepy eyes. Last she had seen the doll it had still been sitting in the corner. Chills ran down her spine, had Dorothy had something to do with her sudden popularity? But how? It was a doll. Shaking herself and figuring that she must have moved the doll, or that her grandmother must have been in her room, she picked it up. Nausea hit her as soon as she touched the doll, then everything started to go black. The next thing that she knew, Sara found herself awake and at work. She could see through her eyes, hear her own voice, but she didn’t seem to be in control of herself. She had become a prisoner in her own body, present but not the one driving. Someone else talked through her mouth, someone controlled her movements, someone else was living her life. Dorothy, she thought to herself. Could all that her grandmother have said been real? Her eyes glanced down at the date on the cash register where she worked. She had lost two weeks. Two weeks of someone using her body and no one noticed? How the hell did this happen. What was she going to do? “Nothing, share your body with me and I can give you everything that you ever wanted. Defy me and I will destroy all that you are.” Came a voice from inside her own head. “If you play nice I will even share this vessel with you. Imagine all that we could do together. I’ve already won you friends, improved your grades, given you a life worth living at long last. Just surrender to me and I can grant you anything that you should desire.” “What? I don’t want to share my life!” Sara protested in her own mind, even though to the outside world her body kept working and talking under the control of some witch. “Life? Is that what you think you had? Watch me, see what living really is and then make your decision. Your mother couldn’t handle me, but you, you I sense are the one that I have been waiting for in this family. You have power that rivals mine own. You and I are going to do great things once I’ve trained you up a bit and you have had time to adjust.” Dorothy replied, all the while laughing and talking to the others around them. For days Dorothy steered their body, letting Sara have just enough control to see and hear what went on around them, but not allowing her to do anything of her own free will. Sara observed her body live a life that she could no longer be a part of. She hated to admit it, but Dorothy indeed lived better than she ever had. Sara now had straight A’s in school and had become a teacher’s pet in a good way. She had some friends. She had gotten a promotion and raise at work, not to mention she had become now friends with all her coworkers and one of the cutest boys she had ever known had actually asked her out. She dressed better, looked better, lived better. The only problem was that she was no longer Sara. She had tried talking to Dorothy, begging for her body to be given back to her, but she had gotten no answer. The witch was too busy living her life to listen to Sara it seemed. The only person that seemed to have an idea what had happened was Sara’s grandmother, but instead of being alarmed she seemed happy with the changes taking place in her granddaughter. “Didn’t I tell you that Dorothy would make things better?” “No! I want my life back!!” Sara wanted to shout, but only Dorothy could hear her and she wasn’t about to relinquish control of their shared body. Days, weeks, months wore on. To the outside world, Sara came into her own. She became popular and successful. Her life seemed perfect, rather Dorothy’s life seemed perfect. Finally the witch allowed Sara to talk once more, “So, have you thought about my offer? You have seen what I can do for you, for us. Our life could be more than you ever imagined. Do you want to share this vessel? I will let you out to enjoy some of the perks that I have earned.” “You act as if I have a choice. What would even happen if I said no? You’d just push me to the back of my mind, a passenger in my own life forever.” “Oh, I have been kind to you so far. I can force you out, you realize that don’t you? If I can store my soul in a doll, I can certainly imprison your soul. And if you fight me, well you saw what happened to your mother. Now it is your time to choose. Take the life that I am offering you and great success will come your way. Refuse and one way or another you will have no more life.” Sara’s body began shaking out of control due to her anger and frustration. For the first time in ages her body responded to her and not the witch inside of her. “You killed my mother? You are the one who ruined my life! No, you will not take me down too. I will find a way to destroy you.” “You are willing to give up all your dreams? Your very life? There is no way for you to defeat me.” Dorothy said, but Sara could detect a hint of fear in the witch for the first time. “No, you need people in my family to believe in you, to host you.” Sudden inspiration took ahold of Sara. She rushed into her room and grabbed the doll while she still had control of her body. Her movements were jilted as Dorothy fought to stop her. Once she had the doll she ran back downstairs, firing up the gas fireplace even though it was the middle of summer. She would get rid of this cursed doll no matter what. Even if she didn’t rid herself of Dorothy, she would stop the witch from tormenting the rest of her family. “NO!” Dorothy screamed inside Sara’s mind, but it didn’t stop Sara. As the doll caught fire some of the power slipped from Dorothy, though the rage of the spirit sharing her body could still be felt. She fell to the floor, convulsing as she fought for control of her very soul. Had her mother gone through this? Is this why she jumped off a building? Or had she been forced off? The thought of how Dorothy had destroyed her mother and her childhood. That pain and rage gave her the power she needed to gain control. Dorothy’s spirt got pushed into the prison Sara had been in for months. She could hear the witch, but she had no power over Sara any more. Locked away and with no other vessel to store her soul in, Dorothy began to weaken. Each day Sara sensed Dorothy become less and less of a presence until one day she vanished for good. It felt as if a dark cloud had finally been lifted from her life. She felt lighter, brighter. She had fought actual evil and had come out on top. Dorothy had taken her mother and who knew what else she had done to her family over the years, but Sara hated to admit that the witch had actually helped her. She had kept the friends Dorothy had made, it turned out that Sara had been the one to make herself invisible. With the confidence she had facing down a demon doll, well talking to people was a piece of cake.
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AuthorAuthor, artist, jewelry maker and all around creative person. I write in many genres and have a lot of fun doing so. Please take a look around and enjoy! Archives
January 2022
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