The Gashapon Shelf

Ruth and Maisie set up the attic as a guest bedroom. The big feature to the room was the grand circular window that looked out over the neighborhood and shone the perfect amount of morning light throughout.

There was a craft space on one end of the room for Ruth to work on this month’s new hobby. Maisie had a desk set up opposite so that she could work remotely, which she had been doing more since Ruth had become pregnant.

The king sized bed was sandwiched between two large bookshelves and there was comfortable reading chaise nearby.

Ruth had recently had some concerns from her physician and, at just under 8 months pregnant, was asked to maintain bedrest for the following 4 weeks. The guest room was perfect for her to stay so that she could still get up for minimal activity. Maisie could work from home right there by her side for any issues that arose.

Once a year Maisie was to attend the corporate retreat held in Japan. Maisie was worried about leaving, but Ruth called her brother in to watch over her in Maisie’s absence. He was more than happy to oblige. The week went by without a hitch.

“Thanks for staying, Graham,” Maisie said as she was ushering him up the door.

“You know I’m always happy to. Any time,” Graham said.

“I know, but I still appreciate it.”

“Hey, did you get a new gas spoon?”

“It’s Gashapon. Yes, I bring one back for Ruth every year. It’s her favorite thing.”

There was an enormous gashapon capsule toy dispenser outside Maisie’s corporate headquarters that sold oversized capsules in a variety of different colored or designed plastic eggs. The prizes were always completely random. This was Maisie’s 7th year with the company and in her prior years they had received: a plush loaf of bread, a miniature gashapon machine, a figurine of a cat in a shark costume, a scroll with Japanese characters for “not a ghost,” a tin music box that played “It’s a small world,” and a miniature dining chair with exquisite detail. Ruth loved every single one. She thought they were the funniest thing on the planet.

“This is the funniest thing on the planet,” Ruth would say with each new item she opened.

“That’s what you always say,” Maisie would reply.

“They always are the funniest thing on the planet,” Ruth would say.

Then she would tuck the item into a little custom made display case and space it perfectly on display on the shelf. Her cute little gashapon collection.

“What is it this year,” Graham asked.

“I let Ruth open it. No cheating,” Maisie said.

“Boo, no fun,” Graham said.

Upstairs Ruth was dozing to the sounds of daytime television. Maisie sat gently on the bed next to her very pregnant wife, leaned in for a kiss, and whispered, “I’m home.”

“Hey, baby,” Ruth opened her eyes and smiled.

“Hey, baby, you look even bigger than a week ago,” Maisie said and placed a hand onto her wife’s belly.

“Shut up, where’s my gashapon?” Ruth playfully slapped at Maisie.

“I see what’s more important,” Maisie said and then produced the golden capsule from behind her back.

“Golden! Oooooohhhh,” Ruth said with her hands outstretched like a toddler.

They popped it open between them and after the briefest of pauses Ruth pushed the egg back into Maisie’s chest. There was enough force to it that Maisie had to steady her leg from falling off the edge of the bed.

“What is that?” Ruth said.

Maisie looked down to see a miniature porcelain doll just a little bigger than her fist. She scratched a fingernail across the surface.

“It’s a porcelain doll, a real one, but in miniature, and, holy shit,” Maisie held the doll up to Ruth’s face.

“What?” Ruth grimaced.

“She looks just like you. Like this could be a doll of you, she’s even wearing a little blue night gown, just like you. She’s got black hair like you, the cheekbones, the eyes. This doll could be you. Isn’t that the funniest thing?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Ruth took the doll into cupped hands and couldn’t help to pull back a lip while looking at it. She didn’t want it near herself.

“Would you put it on the shelf. I’ll order it a display case later,” Ruth said.

Maisie put the doll onto the bookshelf and then turned to smile at Ruth.

“Yay, seven trips down. You’ll need to clear off another shelf soon. It’s just about lunch time, would you like a sandwich?”

Maisie excused herself to the kitchen and barely had the bread out of the cupboard when she heard a loud thud above the kitchen ceiling. She ran back up the stairs to the guest bedroom.

“Are you okay?”

“The doll. It just fell off the shelf,” Ruth said.

“I didn’t get the impression you liked it, but did you get out of bed to try to break it?”

“No! It fell by itself. Did it break?”

“What’s wrong with it?” Maisie asked.

“Nothing. It’s nothing. It’s a little creepier than the other items we’ve gotten,” Ruth said.

“It’s creepier than an out of tune music box that plays it’s a small world?” Maisie was able to get a laugh out of Ruth with that one.

I don’t know, it must be the bed rest. I’m getting a little stir crazy is all.”

Maisie picked it up and checked it all around. “No, it’s some tough porcelain,” she said and put the doll back onto the shelf. She promptly went back down the stairs to finish the sandwiches.

The doll sat on the shelf facing Ruth. It stood out, somehow, from the other toys. There was a reverseness to the doll, a smoky silence. An anti-something she couldn’t put her finger on. The doll was missing something that the other objects had that brought Ruth joy. Ruth shuddered.

Ruth stared at the doll and the doll stared back.

The little doll blinked.

“Maisie, Mais, the doll,” Ruth said.

“What? What is it?” Maisie returned carrying a tray of sandwiches.

“The doll, it blinked at me,” Ruth said.

Maisie pulled the doll from the shelf and tilted it up and down, “it’s eyes are fixed, it’s not one of the ones that blinks.”

“I saw it blink. Mais, can you turn it away from me? I’m going to try to get some sleep,” Ruth said.

“Do you mind if I work on the computer? I have to go in to the office to report on the retreat and the more prepared I am the sooner I can get back here,” Maisie said.

“Go ahead. That’s right. Is Graham going to come back to sit with me while you are out?”

Maisie saw Ruth’s eyes dart quickly to the doll. She was just going to have a neighbor stop in to check every now and again, but if she had Graham come in then it would help her be a little less stressed for time.

“Yeah, I’ll text him right now.”

Ruth fell asleep and Maisie had a glowing presentation ready for the next day. She was just finishing up when Ruth sat bolt upright in bed and started screaming.

“What?! What is it?” Maisie said and ran to Ruth’s side.

“Did you hear that laughing?” Ruth asked, still screaming.

“What laughing?” Maisie asked.

“The clown. It was like a clowns laugh,” Ruth said, clutching at Maisie, but starting to calm down.

“You were dreaming, Ruth. It was just a dream,” Maisie cooed in her ear.

Ruth leaned back down onto her pillow and looked at the little doll on the shelf. She glared at the doll.

“Maisie, I love my gashapon, but this doll is really giving me unease. Can you put it somewhere else? Maybe I’ll feel better after the birth,” Ruth said.

“Of course, sweetheart,” and Maisie took the doll out of the guest bedroom.

They slept pleasantly through the night and Maisie woke up to her alarm and got ready for work. She wanted to get out the door, but Graham was late and getting later. She texted him:

“Everything okay?”

“Sorry Mais! Flat tire. Be there in 30.”

“R is sleeping. She’s fine until you arrive. See you this afternoon.”

Maisie walked out the kitchen door and saw the little gashapon doll on the kitchen counter and picked it up.

“There is something a little weird about you. I’ll get two next year,” she said and she tossed it into the garbage in the garage.

Maisie’s presentation went well and she was able to get in and out of the office much earlier than she expected. She was able to get home and spend the rest of the day with her family.

As she pulled up to her house she saw police tape around her front lawn. The circular window was shattered on the ground.

“I saw the whole thing,” her neighbor called from the other side of the yard.

Maisie’s phone rang. She looked to the window, to her neighbor, to her phone and she answered, “Hello?”

“Maisie, there’s been an accident. Are you going home soon?”

“I’m home, what happened?”

“Ruth fell out the window. We just got to the hospital. St. Mary’s of Preston. You need to grab an overnight bag and get here as soon as you can, safely.”

“What happened, Graham?” Maisie said as she dashed into the house and up the stairs to get the guest bedroom where the pregnancy emergency to go bags were kept.

“Ruth was asleep the entire time you were gone. I checked in on her and tried not to bother her. I saw that you had opened your new gashapon and I wanted to see what it was. You had to have had that custom made, Mais, the doll looks just like her. But, uh, suddenly Ruthie was awake and screaming. I tried to calm her, but I couldn’t. I thought maybe she’d gone into labor and I went down to grab the neighbor, the one you said is a doctor, and when I was outside we saw Ruth fall backward through the window. She broke some bones and she’s shaken up, but she’s fine.”

“Graham, what about the baby?”

“Maisie, I…”

Maisie set the emergency go bags down on the bed. Her grip on the phone tightened.

“Graham, what about the baby?”

“The doctors said… Ruth claimed that the little doll pushed her out the window.”

“Graham, the baby?”

“Maisie, the doctors said… there is no sign Ruth was ever pregnant. They say there never was a baby. Ruth can’t stop crying, we really need you here. We don’t know what’s going on.”

“That’s impossible. We have ultrasound, we have…” Maisie stopped and turned to the shelf and there, in the seventh spot, was the little gashapon porcelain doll. It looked just like Ruth, black hair, pink cheeks, and a little blue night dress that covered its very pregnant porcelain belly.

The End