“I hope she saw it this time, Lyx,” I whisper to my child, his head nestled into my neck. “She needs to know who her replacement is.”
I named my child after its daddy and mine. Sometimes at night, I sing to him sweet lullabies I know will penetrate the surrounding walls, and make sure to sing his name extra loud. It earns me a few kicks and punches the next day, but it’s so worth it to see the torment in Heidi’s features.
“One day, your daddy will be with us, and she’ll be long gone,” I coo as I bounce the baby in my arms.
His one blue eye stares up at me—so much like Daddy’s—and I kiss his concave forehead. “Let’s go visit some of our friends.”
We stroll along the crumbled and broken asphalt, looking into storefronts, and waving to a few of our friends. My dollies have livened the place up, taken the town from desolate to bustling, and my chest swells with pride. It feels like a veritable town.
“We need a name for our dolly town, don’t we, Lyx?”
It doesn’t escape my attention, the strange looks my child and I receive whenever we walk the streets. People openly stare, their glares are like pillars of heat burning their way through our calm facade. Our town is small, and for the most part, we all keep to ourselves. I truly feel so alone except for the days I get to go on hunts with Daddy and Lyx.
“Hello, Beverly.” I turn toward the sound of the one person outside of my family who speaks to me.
“Hi, Cora.”
She’s an elderly lady, real sweet, and completely blind. She’s the oldest in our town, and her disability is actually her best quality. I don’t see her as less. I think she’s exceptional, and the only one in this town that truly sees.
She says she knows when I walk by her house because I tend to shuffle my right foot a bit longer than the left. See? She’s amazing.
“Are you out for a morning stroll?” Okay, it’s evening, but I won’t correct her for the small slight.
“Yes, ma’am. Are you getting ready to try to grow that orange tree this year?”
Cora told me stories that were passed down from her relatives. A place named Tulane County once flourished with orange trees, and she’s been trying desperately to recreate it. Sadly, her thin, decrepit tree has yet to produce fruit.
“Oh, yes.” She nods, her smile riddled with black and missing teeth hits me. “We’ll get it this year.”
“I have no doubt,” I say and continue to walk by.
“I heard through the whisperings of the others how you’ve redecorated our town,” she chuckles. “You filled it up with the best sort of people. Mute and deaf, just my type.”
I laugh at her joke. “It feels like a proper home now.”
“That’s nice, dear.” She grins and turns to walk back into the house. “It’s time for my evening nap, don’t think I’ll be letting you off the hook for lying.”
A startled laugh erupts from my chest as I watch her head inside her small shack. “I wish there were more Coras in our town, Lyx.”
We pass by a few barely standing cabins, and my dollies stare out at us, watching us with smiles as we wave and pass by.
“We need a town name.” I rock Lyx in my arms. “What would suit us?”
There is one story I love hearing from Daddy over and over again, and it’s about a place once named Hollywood. He said famous people lived there, people who were known all around the world.
“I know!” The thought strikes me, and I stand rooted in one spot. “What about Dollywoodland?” I look down into my baby boy’s eye and swear it lights up with glee.
“Dollywoodland!” I scream, my face turned to the murky sky.
* * *
My hands are stained a rusty red, and my arms are throbbing with pain, but I did it. I put up two signs made from a thick clay I found on the outer edge of town. It becomes malleable when mixed with water, and then hardens to a dense stone.
I think I could start to make my own dollies from it.
We make our way back home and I can hear them screaming at each other as soon as our cabin comes into view. Usually Heidi is stomping around the house, her words hitting everything in their path with poison, and Daddy lets her be. But this time, he’s screaming too. Excitement has my heart galloping in my chest. Maybe this time they’ll split up for good.
My feet skip faster as I rush to the front door, and it swings open suddenly, revealing a red-faced Daddy, his shoulders tense with anger.
“Daddy?”
He brushes by me without a single glance, his breathing rapid and spittle flying from his mouth.
“You’re fucking disgusting, Pollyx!” Heidi screams from inside the house, and elation runs through my limbs.
Could she know?
Will we be free now?
With little thought to my safety, I head straight into the fray and clutch baby Lyx in my arms. I need to see her face. I want to witness her pain and devour it whole. I’ve been waiting for the day she really detonates, and I wouldn’t miss it for anything.
She’s in the kitchen, her hands resting on the counter and her back heaving with exertion. Her hair is shining, looking lush and vibrant, a stark contrast to the energy swirling around our heads.
“You really should calm down, it can’t be good—”
“You insolent, little whore!” she screams as she turns to face me. “You filthy, disgusting whore.”
“Oh!” I grin. “You finally figured it out. Took you long enough.”
“He’s your father!”
“And soon he’ll be my husband.” I smile, holding Lyx closer to my chest. “And we’ll have sweet little babies.”
She rushes forward, faster than I expected in her condition, and grabs Lyx before I can react.
“Give him back!” I scream, lunging for Lyx.
Then I watch in horror as my little baby boy is smashed into the hardwood floor, and his head shatters into small pieces, dust plumes rising from the destruction at our feet.
Something clicks inside of me, turning my skin to ice, and my organs aflame. Everything around us darkens, and all I see is the woman who never really loved me. She’s only ever seen me as a nuisance, and when I began to develop, I was her competition.
Well, challenge accepted, bitch.
She sees it, the change inside of me, and backs up, her hands up in the air. My feet move of their own volition, stalking toward her, and saliva gathers in my mouth as my body coils in anticipation. My hands curl into fists, and the flame contained inside my skin finally ignites outward in a rush of rage.
“You’d make a great Dolly.”