The Doll

THE DOLL

The first time Alicia saw the porcelain doll hidden away  in her mother's closet, she was eight years old. 

Her mother, Sue, had sent Alicia to grab a robe from the closet and she spotted the doll sitting high on a shelf. 

She was instantly mesmerized with it. The doll had long braids and a pink bonnet. She wore a matching pink and white dress. 

What caught her attention was the striking blue eyes the doll had. She felt like she recognized those eyes, but couldn't be certain.

 She stretched up on her tiptoes and was trying to reach the doll when her mother walked in. 

 "No, Alicia!" her mother yelled sharply. 

Alicia instantly yanked her hand back and was shocked by her mother's tone. 

Sue had always been very soft spoken and gentle with her only child. Alicia had never even heard her mother yell before now. 

Sue raced to the closet and quickly closed the door. She gently guided Alicia out of the room. 

"I'm so sorry for yelling. Please never touch that doll, sweetie. It's very fragile and could get broken, " Sue said softly as she knelt down to face her daughter. 

Alicia looked into her mother's brown eyes and saw tears there. 

She wrapped her arms around her mom's neck. She closed her eyes and inhaled the sweet scent of her mother's perfume. 

The sound of a door slamming knocked her out of her daydreaming. 

She'd come to the storage rental her mother had used to store her last few belongings before she died. 

Her mother had known she was dying, but kept it from Alicia out of fear of how it would affect her daughter. 

When Alicia came to visit three days earlier, she was shocked to discover her mother had died the day before. 

And to make matters worse, she found out Sue suffered horribly for months before she succumbed to her illness. 

Alicia collapsed to her knees in front of her mother's tiny home as a neighbor broke the news to her. She couldn't hear anything else that was said over her loud sobbing. 

Guilt overtook her heart and soul as she realized she hadn't been there for her mother. She'd gotten occupied with her own life and hadn't taken the time to check on her mom. She'd been a day late. She didn't even get to say goodbye.  

Her dear mother, who had been both a father and mother to her, died alone. 

Alicia felt tears threatening to stream down her cheeks and she quickly swiped them away. 

The attendant who worked at the storage facility went to get the few boxes that belonged to Sue. He dropped them on the floor in front of her. 

Alicia jumped up and glared at him.  

"How dare you treat my mother's belongings that way?!" she said, infuriated. 

 He rolled his eyes and walked away. 

Alicia picked up the boxes and stormed out. She gently loaded them into the back seat of her small car as tears flooded her eyes. 

This was all she had left of her mother. She took the long way back to her home, which was five hours from her mother's. 

 As she pulled into her driveway, the sun was beginning to set. 

She made her way inside her tiny apartment and set the boxes down. 

 She couldn't wait any longer to look through them. 

The first box contained pictures and papers. Alicia searched through the pictures, finding one that her mom had never shown her before. It was of two people, one was a very young girl and the other was a young woman. 

The young girl was her mom, she could tell instantly by the deep, brown eyes. She would recognize those eyes anywhere. 

The other was Janette, her grandmother. She'd only met her grandmother once when she was very young, but she knew it was her. 

As she stared at every detail of the picture, chills ran down her spin. 

The blue eyes..the eyes. Her grandmother's eyes. She remembered them. 

It was the doll. She knew why she'd recognized the blue eyes from the doll all those years earlier. It was her grandmother's eyes. 

Alicia ripped through the boxes, her heart racing. She was praying her mother had left that doll for her. 

Sure enough, there in the last box, was the doll wrapped in several layers of bubble wrap. 

Alicia gently unwrapped it and her heart nearly stopped at she looked into its eyes. 

The eyes were no longer the exact same as her grandmother's eyes. 

They were her mother's eyes. The blue eyes were gone. She was staring into her mother's brown eyes. 

She wept and curled the doll up close to her. She took a deep breath and instantly smelled the familiar smell of her mother's favorite perfume. 

Now she would always have her mom...