A shutter was flung wide open to greet the warming orange rays that were peeking over the lush Eden green hills. From inside a whistling tune could be heard that overshadowed the early morning call of sparrows and crows. A tray was placed on the windowsill where a nostril flaring haze rose off its perfectly formed crust.

The whistler moved from her first small kitchen oven, into the living room where she draped her apron over a chair, so that she could cool off from all the baking she’d done. She then walked over to a table to pick up a cloth and a remote and with a click, music floated across from the speakers. Whistling, she danced her way through the house, dusting, vacuum cleaning, and polishing her home to its usual shine.

Having finished both the first floor and ground floor, she skipped down into the basement and her pace slowed dramatically as she began to move with extreme care. Glass tubes and jars filled with herbs and organic material were moved out of the way of her duster, and the glass was polished before she moved onto an enormous cauldron, where she started scrubbing away the remains that were left on the insides.

Her ponytail dropped forward and she pushed it back and then gasped, as she saw several scratches on the inside of the cauldron in a pattern of four parallel lines, scratches so deep that they had created small groves in the walls.

Tutting at the damage done to her workstation, she wished that she could curse what had made the marks, but it wouldn’t cause them any harm, not anymore.

Finished with cleaning the basement she stretched and her back cracked. With a huge smile of satisfaction, she made her way back to the living room where she pulled the hair tie out of her hair and sat down.

Before relaxing she withdrew needles, pins and thread from a box and then pulled out a figure wrapped in cloth which she eagerly unwrapped. Inside was a small realistic doll with bright blue eyes, perfectly long straight blond hair and even a beauty spot to compliment the overall impression.

Bringing the doll up to her face, she grinned before giving it a hug and speaking to it, "You're going to be a lovely familiar gift for my friend’s daughter, with that perfect beauty of yours. I hope you didn't suffer too much."

Getting a pin, she pushed it into the clothes and then the doll, continuing until the doll’s clothes were tacked to the doll itself from head to toe. With practice, she threaded the needle with a golden thread made by herself just for this doll.

With smooth, practiced strokes she wove the thread in and out of the clothes, sometimes catching the doll, but not minding at all as she sewed the lovely dress from memory.

Her mind went to the dolls family, “Shouldn’t have got into my car. Now they’ll never get to know their little lady, even as part of her will always be with them.”

Having finished the sewing on the dress she began to remove the pins and needles. Suddenly she shook her head as she imagined that the head of the doll had moved.

She spoke to the doll, "You'd better not be cursed or possessed. That new baking powder in the cookies would have put you straight to sleep after your cookies and milk. You wouldn’t have felt the heat of the oven."

Shaking her head again she stared up at the ceiling "No I'd better not take any chances."

Getting up from her seat she turned around to place the doll on the chair only to find the head had twisted one hundred and eighty degrees to stare at her. Her eyebrows rose and a chill swept up her spine. A grimace formed on her face as she picked up the doll, having no wish to chase a doll around her house.

She quickly made her way back down her stairs to the basement where she made room on the floor by thrusting away the cauldron, that banged and skidded towards the wall. Her desk went next with the smashing of glass and spilt ink. The drawers slid open. Once enough space had been created, she placed the doll on the stairs before picking up a piece of chalk and pushing her hair out of her eyes.

She checked on the doll and found it was in a sitting position and staring at her. Realising how mobile the doll was, she ran past the doll and up the stairs to lock the door at the top. Then running back down she dropped to her knees and started drawing an expelling circle which should remove any spirits or magic from the doll.

By the time she had finished the circle her hair had gained a white tinge, and white marks covered her clothes and hands and turned her face ghostly white. It was then that she realised that the doll had disappeared from the stairs.

Frantically she looked around, before pushing herself up and going up to the door to check it was closed. Thinking of some of her friends who could help her subdue the doll she went for the key in her pocket but couldn't find it.

Checking everywhere on her person she had to concede that it was truly gone. Reluctantly she walked back down the stairs, checking the steps and the floor as she went but couldn’t see it. She knew that the damn doll had taken it and she was alone against an unknown magical item with an unknown level of sentience, and unknown powers.

Warily she stuck to the wall and moved along it, while keeping an eye out for the doll and her key. She crept around the room, slipping past her second and man-sized basement oven and spotted something shiny hanging up from a shelf with all her jars filled with formaldehyde and organic materials.

She looked closely at the shelves, expecting to see a frilly and brightly dressed doll, but nothing that colourful or extravagant could be seen so she left the safety of the wall and carefully moved toward the shelf and the hanging key.

Looking everywhere for any signs of a trap and failing to see any she reached out to grab it. Successfully catching the key, she pulled her arm back but spotted scratches on a nearby glass jar in the shape of an arrow pointing upwards. Her gaze automatically followed the direction and she spotted the now red eyed doll through a transparent glass jar.

The glass tipped over and rained formaldehyde and fingers. The sudden bombardment and smell of formaldehyde made her gasp and her mouth filled with the foul liquid and a few fingers.

Furiously shovelling the fingers out of her mouth, she looked back up to where the doll had been seconds ago. A shadow was cast across her eyes as the doll launched itself at her face, long crimson needles in hand and a glare that said it wanted to kill her.

She screamed as the needles slid past her fingers and into her eyes, blinding her as blood blotted out her sight. Finally, she found a good grip on the demon doll and threw it into a corner.

As she tried to stand a wave of nausea overcame her and she bent over and puked all over the floor. Realising that she was still in danger from the doll she tried to see it past her blotchy sight and the dizziness. The figure blurred back and forth in front of the doorway. It's refined and elegant movements told her that this was a fully awakened item.

Out of the hundreds of items she had made over the years as a witch, she'd gotten lazy thinking her superior method had stopped the soul of things from coming alive.

She tried to move towards the door with some idea of breaking through it, but the dizzying effect overwhelmed her and she staggered sideways. The blurred doll took advantage of her disorientation and jumped, ramming it's pins and needles into her calves and Achilles tendon. Jumping back with a pained cry the witch heard the dull thud and felt the fiery pain as her head hit a metal knob.

She slid down the cool front of the massive basement oven. As the dull throbbing abated, she focused back on the room and saw a most horrifying sight.

The doll's dress billowed, the golden hair flowed around the face and the deep red eyes glowed softly as it floated forward in mid-air, its feet dangling happily while dozens of items following behind it all glowing the same red colour as it's eyes.

The witch was impressed and acceptance filled her voice as she said, "Well aren't you a clever girl, at least make it quick!"

The doll drew closer, a child’s voice spoke sending shivers down her spine "No!"

The witch’s eyes widened, the doll flew forward and crashed into her body, knocking her head into the oven and knocking her out.

Darkness greeted her when she opened her eyes and wherever it was it was cold yet suffocating. Trying to move, she found she was somewhere cramped. The only way the witch could move was to rotate her body. Light soon filled her sight as she rotated and found a window in front of her nose. Beyond it she could see the stone flooring, ceiling and furniture of the basement and the glowing red eyes of the doll.

It's little head moved to the side as it reached up. There was an audible click click, followed by a boom behind the witch and the cramped space rapidly began to heat up. Soon the witch was screaming as she was cooked inside her own oven. The doll watched for hours with intelligent but uncaring eyes.

____________

The doll named Carla was examined and deemed safe for human and supernatural cohabitation as the killing of the mass child killer witch was deemed self after life defence.

Carla has unfortunately not been allowed to return to her family. She has set up residence within London and is now assisting the ADI.

Byline Starfury