Clara

She arrived in a large box wrapped in glittery wrapping paper painted with fairies, goblins, frogs, and mushrooms, and a big red bow.

Mia was super-excited when Mommy told her this beautiful doll with big brown eyes was hers; she could walk after winding her up!

^{Photo by Pablo Arenas on Unsplash}

She was almost as tall as Mia. The excited little girl asked her mother if she could talk as well.
Her mother laughed and said, "No Mia, but you can play with her, dress her up, wash and plait her long hair."

"It's ok Mommy, Amelia and I will teach her to talk."

Mia's mother just shook her head.
They had ordered the doll, hoping Mia would forget about her imaginary friend.

(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ Amelia ♥

Soon after they moved into the big old house, Mia started talking to herself in her bedroom at night. She told them she was playing with her friend Amelia. They indulged her, thinking it was a passing phase, as she badly wanted a little brother or sister. At bedtime when Mommy or Daddy came to say goodnight and turn out the light, she would start crying, saying that Amelia was afraid of them, and ran away when she heard them come up the stairs.

That night when Amelia came to play, she was just as excited as Mia and said she heard them talking about the doll.

"Can we call her Clara?"

Mia started spending more and more time in her bedroom, saying Amelia was afraid Clara would start walking and fall down the stairs, just like she did a long time ago.

Mother was beginning to despair. The doll only made matters worse, Mia's imagination was running wild!

Amelia told Mia that she could not walk for a long while after the accident, but when she had the fever, something amazing happened. She did not feel sick anymore and found herself floating up above and saw herself lying on the bed. Her mother was sobbing; she touched her and told her everything was ok, but her mother just kept on crying as if she wasn't there!

When she heard her father say it was time they sold the house and moved away, she was sad and tried to tell them to stay, but they did not hear her.

The old house stood empty for a long while. People came to look at it, and she heard some saying the house was haunted, they certainly did not want to stay there! She tried telling them she was just a little girl and they should not be afraid.

When Mia and her parents came to look at the house, she hid in the shadows and hoped they would not listen to the villagers' stories of the 'haunted' house on the hill. She was so happy when they said they liked the house and wanted to buy it.

She no longer would be alone and would have a friend!

The first night when she quietly slipped into Mia's room, the little girl looked up in surprise but started laughing at Amelia's antics. She told Mia she was going to be her secret friend, and that she mustn't tell her parents that she still lived in the house. Mia told her they would not mind, but Amelia knew better, so always went to hide in the shadows when they came into the room.

★🐠 𝓱Ã𝐥𝔩σ𝕨Ẹᵉｎ ♛♝

Halloween was coming up, and all the kids in the neighbourhood were super excited about trick-or-treating. Mia's mother said she could join them, and made her a ghoulish outfit. Of course, she didn't tell her mother that Amelia was also going. She freaked everyone out when she arrived chatting animatedly to her imaginary friend. Amelia told her they should go to Oscar's house, a little boy that she knew. An old man opened the door, and when Mia asked if Oscar was there as his friend Amelia wanted him to go trick-or-treating with them, the man turned pale, and shouted out loud: "I am Oscar, Amelia died a long time ago!"

Mia turned and ran as quickly as she could, but Amelia just stood there staring at the old man, he could not see her, just stood watching Mia run away.

She'd had enough of trick-or-treating and shouted at Amelia to come back home with her. The old man freaked her out! Amelia was alive and well!

░C░l░a░r░a░

Mia and Amelia had a load of fun with the doll; they fussed over Clara, dressed her up, and combed her hair. They'd both walk alongside her and tried to teach her to talk, but of course, that did not happen!

One day Mia told her mother that she saw Clara wink at her before she went to bed and when she woke up in the night Clara was standing by her bedside, looking angry and trying to say something.

Mother told Mia not to be silly, it was only a nightmare. She said she had exciting news that was going to make Mia very happy.
She was expecting a baby; Mia was going to have a brother or sister! Mia was super-excited and could not wait to tell Amelia. This was the best thing that ever happened to her!

When she went into her room, Clara was not standing in her usual place, she was by the window, and momentarily had an angry look on her face. Mia thought she must have imagined it, as when she looked again, Clara stood dead still, looking beautiful in a pretty dress, and her hair flowing over her shoulders.

Amelia was happy and said she heard about the good news, and they would still be friends even when the baby was big enough to play.
She confided that she was starting to be afraid of Clara.

A doll, how can one be afraid of a doll?

Amelia said she saw her walk toward the stairs, and look towards her parent's bedroom. When she looked again, Clara was back in her usual place in Mia's bedroom!

It sure wasn't just a figment of their imaginations, as disturbing things started happening more and more. She'd wake up in the night and hear the sound Clara's shoes made when she was walking on the wooden landing outside the bedrooms. One time when she tried turning on the light, the globe exploded, at other times it simply would not work.

Her beautiful doll was turning into a monster; she'd walk past her, see her grimace, and at other times feel a tug on her dress! What was happening? She was wide awake when these eerie things started happening, and was sure it wasn't her imagination!

One day as she stood at the bottom of the staircase, her mother came out of her bedroom to go downstairs.

Clara came from behind with arms outstretched, as if to give her mother a push, but the next minute Amelia came rushing to pull Clara away, and they both went tumbling down the stairs.

Mia's mother had been saved by Amelia, but was totally unaware of what really happened, only saw the doll falling down the stairs, thinking Mia had wound her up and left her to do her own thing.
Clara broke into pieces. Mia's mother and father did not understand that she wasn't upset about her doll, they came to the conclusion that she was just super-excited about the new baby.

Amelia still came to play with Mia, until one day when she told her she was leaving the house to be with her mother and father.

Mia felt sad and did not understand until her mother showed her the newspaper which told the tragic story of the previous owners who lost their daughter years ago and were now both killed in a horrific car crash.

Mia had a fleeting thought that perhaps whatever possessed Clara, somehow had caused the accident of Amelia's parents.

If that were the case, an act of vengeance in a twisted way reunited this family!

This has been my participation in the Halloween Challenge - Publish Your Chilling Story for an Exclusive Halloween Badge! by the bizzy buzzy @hivebuzz.
Join in the fun by sharing your chilling story for #halloween trick-or-treat!

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^{Artwork by @artywink}