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chayeah22

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Claudia looked up at the seemingly perfect summer day. The sun shined down on her rural town. The tiger lilies had just bloomed and she could almost imagine her small daughter, Jessica, running outside to make a bouquet for her.

But the smell of smothering ash brought her back to reality. The rubble of their house was still smoking even after a week. She walked though the burnt frame of her once brightly painted home.

She could see the debris of the large living room. Every Christmas, her husband Lewis awoke at dawn to warm the house up by lighting the fireplace. After playing with her new toys, Jessica had always opted to snuggle with her doll, Maddie in the recliner next to the warm fire.

Claudia picked up the raggedy old doll. It round green eyes and it wore a pink dress that she herself had sewn for Jessie. She dusted off the gray dust. She held it close to her. It was odd, even though the doll had been sitting here for days, it still smelled like Jessica.         

“Oh, my Jessie.” She said hugging it. She heard footsteps behind her.

“I can’t believe you found that old thing!” Lewis said to her. He took it from her. “I’ll put it in the trash pile in the front.” He told her.

Claudia’s eyes widened.

“Give it back!” she demanded.

“Claudia, sweetie, you need to let go. Having this will only make you miss her more.”

“It’s all I have left of Jessie! Give it to me or I’ll kill you!” she threatened.

“Calm down, Claude, here!” He said returning it to her eager hands.

“I’m going back to the apartment.” She told him.

“Huh? I thought you were going to help me salvage what we could?” he questioned.

“I have something more valuable than anything else you’ll find.” She walked across the abandoned lot of her old home, clasping the doll close to her.

Maybe he’s right. Maybe I’m being childish keeping this doll. She pulled the doll from her chest held it with one hand around the waist. When she reached the vehicle she opened the back door and threw the doll in.

She opened the drivers door and guilt swept over her. She reopened the back door and picked the doll off the floor and sat it on the seat.

Then before her eyes she saw her young daughter sitting there. Her blue eyes were full of life.

“Where are we going, Mommy?” she questioned.

“We’re going home, Jessie.” She smiled. Then she was gone and Maddie, the worn out rag doll, was in her place.

            She felt her head for fever. Maybe the heat was getting to her. She had just seen her daughter. But Jessica had been gone a week.

She got behind the wheel and tried to compose herself to drive.

            “What’s wrong, Mommy?” a small sweet voice called. She looked in her rear view. Jessica was sitting there again. She turned around quickly but all there was nothing but an old doll.

            Claudia started the car up and drove away.

            Lewis watched Claudia leave. It pained him to see his wife so hurt. And he would be lying if he said he didn’t miss Jessica.

Lewis, Claudia, and their fourteen year old son, Mason, had been out to a PG-13 movie and had left Jessica with a babysitter. The teenager had been smoking a cigarette and put it out in the garage not noticing a puddle of transmission fluid. It had lit the house up in under a minute.           

Jessica never had a chance. The family came home to find their home and precious angel gone. She was gone in a flash.

Lewis finished up saving what he could, got in his truck, and went to their new home. When he pulled into the parking lot, Mason ran to him from their apartment.

“What’s wrong son?” he asked hopping out of the truck.

“Something’s wrong with Mom, she looked herself in your bedroom and keeps talking to about Jessie.” Mason told him. Lewis rushed inside. He knocked on their bedroom door.

“Claude! Let me in!” he yelled. From inside he could hear Claudia.

“You hear that, Jessie? Your Daddies home!” she giggled.

“Claudia! What the hell is going on in there? Who are you talking to?” he demanded. Claudia opened the door.

“What do you mean ‘Who am I talking to?’ I’m talking to our daughter!” she said holding the rag doll.  

“Claudia, sweetie, that’s Maddie, Jessica’s doll.” Lewis tried to reason with her.

“A doll? She is not a doll! How can you say that, Lewis? This is your daughter!” Claudia said with a crazed look in her eyes.

“This foolishness has to stop, Claudia!” he roared snatching the doll from her hands. Claudia screamed loud like a mad woman.

“You’re hurting her! You’re hurting my daughter!” She lunged forward and attacked Lewis. She clawed him and screeched.

“Mason! Call 911! Your mother needs help!” Lewis shouted. Mason ran to the phone in the next room. Lewis dropped the doll and pinned Claudia to the wall.

“No! They will take Jessie away again!” she wailed.

            He shook her. “Claudia! You need help! Jessica is dead! You can’t bring her back!”

            She sunk to the floor and wailed loudly. Lewis let her go and she scrambled to grab the doll and ran to the kitchen. Lewis chased her only to be met with a sharp pain in his stomach.

“Claude, what did you do?” He gasped looking down to see a kitchen knife in his gut. He fell to his knees. As the life was leaving his body he saw Claudia holding Jessica over her shoulder.

She waved at him and before his eyes was replaced with the old rag doll.