Roses are Red

Roses are Red

“Hoot! Hoot!” The barn owl called as it swiveled its head as the car sped by. Hailey, my younger sister, was sitting in the back seat, staring out the car window, probably thinking about the old home.

Hailey is a copper-haired seven-year-old girl, with splattered freckles on her face, and sea-green eyes. She was curious for her age and very approachable to new people. Though now, since we are moving, she was nervous that she would not make any friends. At the old house, I overheard Hailey talking on the phone with her friends saying that she was scared and she would be all alone.

“Riley, stop tapping the dashboard,” ordered Mom. I was very eager to see the new house. I started beating my foot to the music on the radio. Probably about an hour later, we arrived in the neighborhood sprawling with houses, with one that will be our new home. The lampposts shone brightly through the car as we drove in circles around the cul-de-sac trying to find our number. Finally, 0721 came into view.

After getting out of the car, we started moving boxes inside until we were tired and decided to settle down for the night. The pitch darkness of the house was unsettling for me and probably for Hailey too. After rustling around with the sleeping bags for a bit, I fell asleep.

“Wake up!” Someone said as they shook me back and forth by the shoulders. Irritated, I slightly peeked my eyes open. I saw Hailey hovering over me. I sat up and mumbled, “What?” trying not to sound too harsh. “Dad’s here!” She said with a smile. Excitedly, I got up in my pj’s and ran through the house, which looked different in the light to me, towards the front door. Before I could open it, my Dad barged in with a medium and a little package. Hailey sprinted towards him with a big hug, which almost made him lose his balance. “Slow down Hailey bear.” He said with a large, warming smile. I smiled back giving him a gentle hug.

“Well how about we open the presents I brought for you.”

“I’ll be delighted too.” Beamed Hailey.

“Me too.” I laughed.

Dad carried the packages into the empty living room, so we could open them. “I’m going to go find your mom.” Said, Dad.

“Okay,” Hailey said as she dug into the medium present.

I smiled at the sound of her answer. I think that she is finally feeling better after moving away from her friends. I opened the small package with my name on it, the paper was hard to unravel at first, but I finally found the prize; colored pencils. I looked up to see what Hailey received. She looked astonished at her present. It seemed to be a beautiful small ceramic Russian doll that was big as her hand, which is quite small. It was white all over, designed with red roses. It had a sad facial expression and what looked to be a red rose under her eye or blood.

I was happy that she got a gift she enjoyed. I was. I did not like that doll, though. It gave me a weird feeling. It felt like there were butterflies in my stomach trying to mimic a tornado.

“I’ll name her Rosie.” Said Hailey as she gave it a small hug.

“Huh?” Spoke Dad as he came through the kitchen doorway. “Your aunt called that doll Rosie too when she was about your age.”

“Wait, this was my aunt’s doll?” asked Hailey.

“Yes, it was. She tried to smash its head open with a hammer until I stopped her. Some weird times. I hope you both enjoy your presents.” Replied Dad. My face filled with shock.

“But…why?” I asked, but dad left into the kitchen, probably too far to hear.

The day was long and boring. The moving truck came and unloaded, while we were stuck organizing and moving more boxes than the night before. Shortly after, dinner sprung, and we had nothing to eat.

“I could go pick up pizza?” offered Mom.

“Oh, I need to go buy wood to start building….” Said Dad before Mom cut him off.

“No, we can’t leave the children in this empty house and large neighborhood. It’s not safe!” Mom said.

After watching them argue back in forth in front of Hailey and me, I decided to speak up. “Mom, I’m eleven now. I know the rules, do not go outside and do not let anyone in. I can watch Hailey.” Mom and dad both stared at me.

Then dad said, “See, she can handle it. It will be good for her.”

“Ok, she can.” Mom sighed.

I grabbed Hailey’s hand as I watched Mom and Dad roll out of the driveway. After I could see they were far enough from view, I ran with Hailey to the unplaced couch in the living room. I pulled out my phone and started texting my best friend, Brianna. She was my best friend since we were young children, playing rec soccer. We liked a lot of similar stuff, such as scary movies. We always guessed the plotline in every horror film.

We started texting back and forth about this new horror movie called Midnight Chase. Losing track of time, I forgot to watch Hailey. I glanced up from my phone and Hailey was gone.

I leaped up terrified because I was supposed to keep an eye on her. I ran into the kitchen and there she was playing with her doll. Wait, no, talking to it. It was very strange to see her talk to a fake doll because she never really had imaginary friends.

“Um, Hailey, who are you talking to?” I asked.

Startled Hailey looked up and replied, “Rosie.”

She then continued to talk to it. I started to ask, “the doll, why,” but suddenly stopped myself and walked to the couch. I tried not to think about Haylie and the doll, by texting Brianna. Suddenly I heard a crash from the kitchen and a scream. Haylie.

I raced to the kitchen and there was Haylie, thankfully in one piece. Though the cabinet was not. The door was bent inwards, and it seemed someone extraordinarily strong punched it. Haylie was laying down in shock, staring at the cabinet. She kept on shaking her head.

“What happened,” I asked stumbling every word.

“Um, she is mad,” Haylie replied still in shock.

“Who?”

“Rosie.”

“Wait, the doll. It is fake, you don’t…” I said before Haylie interrupted.

“Not this doll. I thought Rosie was just a regular doll too, but she isn’t.”

“What did she do and why?”

“She started talking to me and I talked back. She wanted to play hide and seek, but I didn’t want to worry you. She got mad and punched the cabinet.”

Then I heard the familiar sound of a car engine. Mom and Dad were home.

“What do we tell them?” I asked hesitantly.

“The truth,” Haylie replied.

Mom and Dad came in with pizza and long pieces of wood. We ran to them, hugging them. I was on the urge to cry so was Haylie.

“Didn’t know you were so hungry.” Laughed Dad.

“Let me go cut the pizza and then will eat.” Said Mom as she was heading toward the kitchen.

“Wait!” Said Haylie quickly.

“We need to tell you something.” I gulped.

“Yeah?” Mom asked.

“That doll Dad got me, is evil and ruined your cabinet,” Haylie Mumbled.

“Huh? Let us see what this “doll” has done.” Dad laughed again.

We walked into the kitchen, expecting to find the dented cabinet. Though it was perfectly new. Except for the doll. It looked to be shattered as it hit the floor.

“Oh honey, did you not like the present.” asked dad with a sad expression on his face.

“Dad, no! I didn’t break it. I promise Rosie punched the cabinet.” Haylie replied.

Dad just sat there with a droopy frown. Soon Mom cut through us to go slice the pizza.

“Dad, I did it.” I lied. I didn’t like seeing dad sad. I had to do it.

He stared at me with disbelief. “Why would you do that?” He asked with a stern expression on his face.

“I don’t know. I just really hate that doll.” I replied looking down at my shoes.

“Go to your room.” He said.

“Dad, but I haven’t picked out my room.”

“Then go in the living room.”

I walked into the living room and sat on the couch. I could hear sweeping and muffled talking. Dad brought me a slice of pizza on a paper plate. He sat next to me in silence until I finished my pizza.

“Hailey told me what happened.” He said after I placed my empty plate on the floor.

“I just don’t like seeing you sad. I’m sorry I lied.” I confessed.

“You should’ve told me the truth. You will be getting a consequence for your actions, but you know I’ll still love you,” said Dad.

“I know, but do you believe the story?” I asked.

“I’m not sure. My brain is still processing it.” Dad said.

Hailey came into the room. She seemed to be eavesdropping. “Dad, I promise you that doll is evil, but I’m not sure why she would break herself,” Haylie said.

“Wait, didn’t our aunt almost break the doll, but you stopped her, Dad?” I ask.

“Yea, she did, but she had a problem with her brain and ended up in the mental hospital after that,” Dad replied.

“Maybe the doll wanted someone to break it because someone lived inside the doll.” Haylie proclaimed.

“How about we forget this happened and go to bed,” Dad said.

“But it’s only seven o clock at night,” I said

“Yea and we have a long day tomorrow.”

Tomorrow came quickly after that night. I got a good night's rest. I rolled up my sleeping bag because today was the day when I picked out my room. I ran upstairs with Haylie. I picked out the small room right by the stairs. Haylie chose the one beside me.

Dad brought in my stuff one by one. He helped me set up my mattress and my bed frame then he left to go help, Haylie. I started organizing my clothes in my closet. Then I saw something that caught my eye. I had a little closet inside of my closet that I guess was for storage. The small white door had a message written in a brownish color - not red at all, I hoped - “Why won’t you play with me?” It terrified me and I sprinted out of that room. I couldn’t go tell dad because he would not believe me, so I ran to Haylie’s room. I pulled the door open so hard it slammed into the wall, which caused Haylie to jump.

“What?” she asked, startled.

“There is something I need to show you,” I replied, still in shock. I grabbed her arm and dragged her into my room. When she saw the writing, her face turned as pale as snow.

“This…. This can’t be Rosie. She is gone. Right?” Haylie asked.

“I don’t know. Didn’t you conclude someone was living inside the doll?”

“So then Rosie is finally out. Wait, I have an idea,” she said, pulling me back into her room. She opened her old computer up and started typing, “People inside dolls.” Pictures showed up and it just showed strange puppets sitting on people's laps. Then this site caught my attention. It was labeled as Rosie.

“Click it,” I told her.

She did and a picture of a Russian doll, which looked like the same doll dad got her, popped up. It showed a long paragraph, which stated:

Rosie was a nine-year-old girl, whose cause of death is unknown. She adored this Russian doll that was said to be buried with her by her parents after her death. After a year or two, a couple with a two-year-old boy moved into Rosie’s house, after the parents grieved and left. The boy was wandering alone through the woods when he saw her grave. On top was the weirdly unusual doll because the parents concealed it with Rosie. The boy picked it up and took it home. Strange things started happening. Writing blood on the walls, punching cabinets, possessing the young boy, and many more led to an accident where the boy drowned in the lake outback. After investigating what happened, they soon realized he was strangled by hands. Small hands, like those of a child; possibly a nine-year-old. The doll was left in the house and new families were moving in, but soon left after deaths occurred. After that pattern kept occurring, they found out that the doll was doing it. They sent it to Larry’s Antique Shop in Baxter, TN. The reason was that no one would break the doll or else its evil spirit would come out. The doll is safely secured there still today. If the doll is suddenly out on the chase again. Do not break it and call for help at once. Or else, you are doomed.

“What do we do?” Haylie asked after reading it.

“We need to go to the antique shop, which is gratefully somewhere where we live. The workers could help us figure out what to do.” I replied.

“Ok…ok where is the shop,” Haylie asked. I searched up on the computer Larry’s Antique Shop and it popped up. It was 10 minutes away.

“Yes, it’s not too far. We can go tonight…” I said before Haylie cut in.

“Sneak out. Are you crazy? That evil spirit is out, and it probably wants to kill us. I’m too young to die.”

“Haylie, please. This is the only way to save us. We have to.”

Haylie sighed, “Ok, but what about Mom and Dad. The doll could kill them too.”

“I think that it wants children dead, not adults. Also, this suddenly occurred to me, you did not even know this doll belonged to the dead girl, Rosie, but you named it Rosie and so did our aunt.”

“Hmmm, that is unusual, but didn’t our aunt try to break the doll, even if it wasn’t supposed to be broken?”

“Maybe she was possessed like the little boy. The doll could have told her to break it. Wait, what if Rosie was inside the doll?”

Hailey gasped. “And the doll wanted to get out!” After that statement, we wildly looked around. “It could be anywhere!” I exclaimed. “Maybe it will just go away... right?” I knew that Hailey was trying to be optimistic, but I doubted that Rosie was gone. “Even if it does, “It probably won’t, though,” we should still go to Larry’s Antiques. Hopefully, they know more than we do.” Hailey convinced Mom and Dad to drive us over there because she didn’t want us to sneak out. It was a silent drive, as Haylie and I were hoping this would work. Even though Mom and Dad were skeptical of the doll, they didn’t want to see us worried.

Once we arrived we rushed to the counter. The owner, Larry; told us some bad news, “Once the doll breaks, it travels to whatever it was last looking at.” Hailer pondered that and said, “I don’t think it was looking at me. It was looking past me, maybe out the kitchen window.” We went back to the house and Hailey seemed pretty unpossessed. “Maybe it’s gone!” I said, and we all decided to go to dinner. Before we got into the car, I could have sworn I heard someone say, “Why don’t you want to play with me.” I looked around, and I saw a barn owl staring at us.