The Doll Island

The doll island By Uyoyou Henrietta “I’m sorry Mr. Joseph we tried our very best to save your wife and daughter, but it was too late their lungs had already collapsed which lead to a cardiac arrest”. With a rush of adrenaline I jumped up from the bed, heart pounding and sweat trickling down my face it was only then I realized it was just my daily nightmares again accompanied by sleep paralysis. These days I seem to have those nightmares frequently I just wish it would all go away but I guess I’ll have to live with the memory for the rest of my life, looking at the time I’m definitely going to be late for work and have angry tourists cursing at me but I really couldn’t care less its a job nobody would be willing to take anyways. Stepping out to the streets I realized that summer must be coming to an end because the sun nowadays are hotter than they’ve ever been, with the harsh rays just blasting away on my forehead and no hat or sunshades to block them I guess I’ll be blind before the day ends. “Oh crap I’m very sorry Abuela I didn’t mean to hit you” she kept muffling some Mexican words at me while staring menacingly. Great! What a wonderful start to my day bumping into a Mexican Abuela who’s probably already laid a curse or two on me. Sigh! With the island gates insight already I see that I’m closer to my dead job than ever. “Hold on what’s happening here? You can’t enter the island without my supervision!” I yelled at the tourists who felt they couldn’t wait for a guide and wanted to see the island by themselves. These tourists get on my nerves every single time! “Are you perhaps Mr. Joseph?” a chubby-looking European middle-aged man asked me while throwing his trash to the floor. “Yes I am and could you please dispose of your trash properly? Thank you” I replied. With so much food in his mouth, he says “So I noticed there are huts on the island I would love to spend two nights in one of them, and before you tell me no! I will pay you to triple the amount of your salary” One could tell I had a puzzled look on my face and then he says “What? You don’t speak English? ENGLISH!” then to make matters worse than they already are he does the classic foreigner move and yells “ME GIVE YOU PLENTY MONEY FOR ONE HUT THERE! I GIVE YOU PLENTY MONEY TO SLEEP FOR TWO DAYS!” all that’s going through my mind is just why would you pay so much just to spend a night or two in a hut on an abandoned island with no power supply or cell service? And just why would I even let you do so because you want to pay me so much money? So I responded to him “Sir I apologize but it is not possible for you to spend a night here on the island and you cannot bribe me to do so, please respect the guidelines put in place. Thank you.” By how red his face was turning I could tell he was pissed off and boom he stormed away right through the gates while raising his middle finger in the air. I chuckled underneath my breath because that was definitely not the first time I got the middle finger from a tourist. So I continue my tour guide around the island and when we reached our final stop beside the canal I heard a soft voice from the back of the crowd. “Uhmm Mr. Joseph?” a female tourist called out to me, “Yes? Do you have any questions?” she replies with a bit of fear in her eyes which has me a little worried “Are there people who live on this island? I laughed a little and told her “No ma’am the island has not had any inhabitants for the last 80 years.” Still not convinced she turns to her left and points shakily towards a hut far on the island “I saw someone over there, like a little kid” Ahhhh yes! It must be those damn kids playing a prank on the tourists again, so I assured her “everything is fine ma’am there are kids who sneak into the island to play pranks on tourists just to give them a little scare” at this point she felt calm and laughed it away. After biding everyone farewell, I went back for a quick sweep of the island to see if no tourist had stayed behind, on my way to the gate I see something shadow-like move swiftly behind my eyes it was so fast that it felt unreal so I shrugged it off. Stepping out of the island always feels like I just stepped out of a horror movie that place gives me the chills I wonder how someone would think to have a sleep-over there. The evening breeze hits my face and fills my lungs with the sweet smell of spicy foods. Seeing all these street food stands has me so hungry, so I joined a queue for my favorite food TACOS! Yes, who doesn’t love good ol’ tacos? I'm plugged in listening to music and suddenly someone bumps my shoulders from the back so roughly my headphones fell off. I turned around with so much anger only to see the white chubby European man from the island, before I could say a word he swings his fist at my face which tumbles me right on the floor. Then he starts throwing punches at me and thankfully the locals rushed and pulled him off away from me, I laid there on the floor so weak, wondering why my life was this miserable. I managed to get up and luckily there was a nice lady who gave me her tacos for free. At least the whole day wasn’t ruined, opening my door I see my favorite my neighbor Maria and her son Diego waving at me from upstairs, I smiled shakily and waved back. I got into my apartment and realized it was in a messy state and I know I didn’t leave it that way, nothing seems missing just a few items broken. I take a shower and change into clean clothes and go upstairs to ask Maria if anything happened while I was gone. “Who is at the door?” Maria yelled I replied, “Maria it’s me Joseph from downstairs”. The door opens and I see small Diego standing there looking at me with those huge eyes, then Maria walks up to us “D go play with your toys I’m coming” Maria is that amazing neighbor everyone wishes to have because they’re so nice, when I lost my wife and daughter she was there for me through it all with kind words and food and sometimes she opted to clean my apartment but I couldn’t let anyone touch anything there. We exchanged pleasantries and then I go ahead to ask her “Maria would you by chance know if anyone broke into my apartment?” seeing the perplexed look on her face I realize she had no idea, she answered “I don’t have any idea but I did see a strange kid knocking at your door and when I came down to ask who she was looking for, I didn’t see her there again.” I was confused “A kid? What did she look like? What did she have on?” She replied saying “I couldn’t make out the face but she had on a lacey white dress and looked like she was about 5 years old I would say” hmmmm I let out a deep breathe said my goodbyes and went back to my apartment. CHAPTER TWO While cleaning my apartment I step on a shard of glass in the process of looking for the first aid kit in the kitchen cabinet, I see a shadow move in the sitting room I decide not to allow any weird thoughts form in my head while pulling the first aid kit out I see a note slip down on my feet. Opening the note I notice this is my late wife’s handwriting, with fright I turn on the reading lamp and chills start to form on my spine as I read what it says: “If you’re reading this then I and Julie must be dead already, I’m sorry my love I should have told you about all of this, but I was too scared and I didn’t want them to hurt you too All I wanted was for our daughter Julie to have her sight regained so I went to see a shaman who told me to perform a ritual and that Julie would be given her sight The shaman told me I needed to sacrifice my eyes for our baby girl to see again But I couldn’t bring myself down to do it so I stopped the ritual halfway and took Julie with me After that day I kept hearing little whispers around the house and Julie complained about having nightmares of a little girl coming to her room in the middle of the night I went back to the shaman and begged her to make them stop and go away but she said the spirits require a soul and not just any but mine or Julie’s I write this letter with so much pain in my heart because I know the only way out is one of us dying I know how heart-broken our death would leave you but please do not hate me for what I am about to do I love you” With tears rushing down from my eyes I squeeze the note with so much anger knowing that my wife and Julie went through a lot but I wasn’t there to support them. After crying for hours I slept off on the couch, then a loud knock on the door sent me jumping off breathlessly from the couch and running to the door, I asked who was there but there was no answer so I peeped through the window and saw a little girl dressed in a white lace dress and then I remembered what Maria told me earlier about the little girl who knocked. I rushed to open the door but I didn’t see her there again it was like she had disappeared, suddenly a rush of cold wind sweeps in through the door and I shut the door immediately. Feeling a sharp pain and I look down to see blood all over the floor then I realized I didn’t take out the shard of glass under my foot, rolling my eyes I mumble under my breath “I guess the first aid isn’t so first aid now”. “Julie! Julie! Julie! Julie!” my eyes are open why can’t I move? Why do I feel someone pinning me down to the bed? “HELP!” I’m yelling but the words don’t seem to come out, I feel a presence in the room but I don’t who it is “HELP ME!” no sound I can’t move my lips. I hear a little whisper it says something in Spanish but I can’t seem to make it out, suddenly I feel the air in my lungs and my limbs aren’t so stiff anymore, I sit upright and look around the room everything seems normal then I get up for my normal routine. The air smells weird today or maybe it’s my nose not picking the right smells, I notice how everyone is staring at me like I came out of the house without clothes on, I don’t really care because right now I have a lot of questions that need answers but who do I go too? And who exactly did my late wife go to see? Sigh, how do I find the answers to all of these? While approaching the island gates I remembered what the female tourist told me she saw I shrugged off the thought of any connection between that and the girl who knocked on my door. I greet the Abuela who sells in front of the gate and I saw she had a worrisome look on her face so I asked her “Abuela is anything the problem? You look worried” then she looks at me with her brows furrowed and says “80 years ago on this day there was a mass sacrifice of children on this island and I can hear the voices of children” I smile at her then say “Abuela there are no voices I can’t hear anything” she looks at me worried and I give her a little hug and walk through the gates. while making my rounds I pass by the hut the tourist claimed to have seen a kid I noticed that to get there you’ll need to cross the river with a boat and the children who come in here don’t go so far inside the island, so who could it have been there? I walk close to the river bank taking the air in only to see something like a cloth floating on the water and without thinking I jump right into the river to save whoever it was, I flipped the body around and it looked like the body of a little kid the face was damaged already I could barely make out a face to it. Taking the body to the river bank I cried because why wasn’t I there when this kid was drowning? I dug a little grave and buried her body in it. Walking out of the island I remembered what Abuela said she heard could it have been the girl’s spirit crying for help? Sigh. I look to the canal and I see a doll floating picking it up I realized it must have belonged to the little girl I just buried so I hung it on a tree on my way out in a way to pay respect to her and she gets to have her doll to play with if that’s a thing. If only I knew what I had just done was the greatest mistake id ever make in my life. I get home and I notice my wife’s things are out of the wardrobe and kept on the floor. Okay, this is turning into something normal I start yelling at the air asking “who is doing this? What do you want? Come out let me see you?” CHAPTER THREE It sounds weird but I hear a voice sounding like my late wife’s “Joseph come to us we are waiting we miss you” and I know very well from horror movies when you start hearing stuff like this it means bad news. I rummage through the stuffs on the floor and pick up my wife’s phone I never thought to open it after she died because I felt there was no need but right now with all these strange acts happening I need to find the root of their deaths. I run out of the house and go to Maria to inform her of everything that has been happening for the past few days. I didn’t even wait for her to open the door I dashed right into her apartment “Maria! Please I need your help! Things have been happening and I don’t know who else to meet about these please help me!” she looked shocked and concerned, then I went ahead to tell her everything that has been happening right from the letter I found in my kitchen cabinet down to the dead body. The first thing she says is “I know the shaman your wife met” I was lost and confused and asked “Maria what do you mean by that” “Joseph I couldn’t tell you this because your wife didn’t want you to know, she was concerned and was looking for ways to get Julie’s eyesight back so she came to me and asked for help about 10 months ago so I took her to an old shaman very popular for bringing the dead back to life and curing unknown ailments. Although I warned her that something as serious as this might require a huge sacrifi-“. Before she completed any of that I stopped her, my head was spinning trying to put together everything I was hearing, I couldn’t believe all this while Maria knew what happened to my family and even after my wife’s death she couldn’t come out to tell me the truth still? “Mariah I need you to take me to the shaman she must have answers to why all these things are happening to me” Mariah shook her head with a sign of no “Joseph I cannot take you there it is too risky you will have to pay a price for it, you lost your family to the hands of the spirit I will not let you die.” On my knees, I went pleading to Maria but she refused and told me to leave her house. I’m in my apartment trying to piece together information from my wife’s phone that would lead to the location of the shaman but nothing was forthcoming, “Clarissa why did you have to do this? Why did you have to seek spiritual help?” As I sit wallowing in pity and painful wishes, I hear the voice of a little girl whisper “I want another doll” I turned around with so much force only to see the little girl in a white lace dress standing there although It’s not so white anymore this time there was blood splattered across her dress and her face well if I could call it a face was deformed and rotten. The little girl got so angry and shattered the glass cabinets around and this time it didn’t sound so much like she was requesting. Sleeping felt like a luxury because I couldn’t get any of it, my mind kept wandering from thought to thought as I kept tossing and turning all night, how did my life turn this way? What did I do wrong? What did my wife do? I dozed off. With the burst of sunlight entering the room I turned and I’ve never been happier to see daylight than I was at this moment, not bothering to brush my teeth, I ran to the market and went to the lady who sells dolls “ahhhh Joseph good morning who are you getting these for?” in a hurry I smiled and said “my neighbor’s kid is celebrating a birthday today” I notice she’s up for more talk I grab my change and run for the island gates. I quickly opened the gates and ran to the grave of the little girl and said a small prayer then I hung one of the dolls on the cross at her grave and the other I hung on a tree close to her grave. Walking back home exhausted, I open the door to see that my house was thrashed once again and the writing was clear on the wall of my sitting room “I want more dolls!”