Doll of Mine (A Dia de los Muertos Story) Read online

  Alma groaned aloud and slapped her hands over her face. The candles, freshly lit on the altar of her father flickered, making her mother grow more positive of her decision.

  “See? Es tu Papá. He doesn’t want you to go either.”

  Alma ignored the protests of her mother. It was the first time in her life she’d done so.

  “I will be back in the afternoon. We will set up the altar and feast with Papá.”

  Her mother made one last failed attempt at stopping Alma. She pulled a handkerchief from her apron and dabbed at her eyes—her dry eyes.

  “Por favor, it’s just a tourist spot. It’s not a big deal. Please lay some new salt while I’m gone. I don’t want La Llorona getting you while I’m gone.”

  “Don’t you make fun of me, canija. My beliefs have kept you safe.”

  “Or kept me caged.” Alma whispered.

  With her fists planted firmly on her hips, her mother gave in out of defeat. “Go then, cabrona. Go to the island and let their little creepy eyes bore into you and suck out your soul or whatever they do. Don’t come crying to me when that happens.”

  The tiny woman had always had a flare for the dramatic.

  “I will. See you tonight, Mamita.” Carmelita let out a ‘Pshh’ sound when her daughter kissed her goodbye, but made sure to smile and wave before Alma was out of sight.

  TWO

  “I wore three crosses just in case and I put an extra one on a safety pin on my underwear.” Elena was Alma’s best friend, but only of late. They’d never spoken to each other before, even though they attended the same schools. But after Alma’s father died, her old friends no longer stuck around, but Elena’s father had died two years before and they bonded over it.

  “That only works if you are pregnant. You always get the rules wrong.”

  “Huh,” Elena remarked, unfazed by getting the tradition mixed up.

  “How long before we get there?” Alma asked the boatman who rowed like he was in no hurry at all to do anything, much less visit their destination.

  “Treinta minutos, más o menos.” Thirty minutes wasn’t much to wait, but it seemed like they’d been on that rickety boat, more like a glorified cardboard raft, for hours. The wobbly thing toggled back and forth even on the calm canal. Checking her watch, as the half hour passed, like clockwork, a thick blanket of fog rolled in, blinding them to their surroundings. Alma thought it was an oddity, the fog rolling in with no other sign of impending weather, in the middle of the day.

  “Aqui esta.” The boatman motioned toward a dock that had appeared out of nowhere. He didn’t look toward the island, simply ticked his head to the left, never moving his gaze from the water ahead.

  “Thank you.” Alma gave the man his allotted fee. She didn’t see any movement from the man, who now seemed to be cemented in place and the boat now shook with the wracking of his body. “Aren’t you coming? We need a ride back.”

  “No. I will be back later.”

  “When?”

  “Two hours. Time enough to get back for the festival.”

  The festival. In all the excitement of finally getting to the island, she’d almost forgotten.

  “Thank you. My bag, por favor.” Alma reached to meet the bag halfway between her and the boatman who then gave Elena her bag as well.

  Hearing the boat move a lot faster away from the island than it did coming in, Alma and Elena turned their attentions toward the welcome sign which read in English and Spanish. ‘Welcome to the Island of the Dolls.’

  Elena spoke up, “Where do we put the offering?”

  “All the books say you can put it wherever. But I want mine near the cabin.”

  Her friend shrugged, not in any way put off by the eerie feeling Alma was getting. It was much of the same spider web feeling that covered her through most of the night. They proceeded, backpacks on their shoulders, towards the center of the island, the area deemed most active by ghost hunters and locals alike. Teams of investigators had come from far and wide to get something on tape—some had succeeded, most had not.

  The dock didn’t offer much in terms of sights, but as soon as their feet hit land, the angels began to toss about. The tiny plastic beings hung from every place possible and some spots in between. Most of them were tethered to branches or the trunks of trees by their necks, which seemed to Alma to resemble a noose.

  Every doll seemed to be plagued by a different ailment. One was overrun with cobwebs with spiders dancing at the base of her feet. Another was spotted with a green growth that looked like the chicken pox Alma got as a child.

  Some hung from strings, others were plunged into the ground, connected to sticks like a shrunken head. None viler than the others, their gazes seemed to follow the duo no matter where they went.

  “So why did he hang all these dolls?” Elena questioned her friend as they took light steps toward the center of the island.

  “He was appeasing the spirit of a girl who drowned in the canal. She haunted him. He thought that the more dolls he had, the less she would torment him.”

  “Ew, that’s creepy.” Elena shuddered.

  “Not creepy.” Alma widened her eyes, trying to make Elena watch her words. “Interesting. It’s said these dolls come alive at night and they can hear and see everything.”

  “Oh…” Elena went ghost white at the realization that after only a few minutes on the creepy island that she may have stirred something negative.

  “Let’s set up our offering.” Alma thought then was as good a time as any. She pulled the necessary elements from her backpack. Getting them in there and out of the house with her mother in such a close vicinity was a task. She found the first item, a doll, dressed in traditional Oaxacan garb, a rainbow embroidered dress and two tiny braids adorned her head. Next was a handful of tall white candles, followed by a bag full of hard candy. Those were the three elements needed to make the dolls and their spirits more—complacent.

  After Elena pulled out her own offering, a baby doll, complete with a dress and pacifier, the two girls set up their gifts side by side, sitting their dolls up, surrounding them with candles stuck into the dirt and lit, with candy and lollipops littering the spaces between. Alma must’ve re-situated the whole thing a dozen times just to make sure everything was right. Her doll strongly resembled her, a characteristic she hadn’t noticed when she purchased it from the street vendor. Then again, she was in such a hurry, trying to hide it, she could’ve picked anything.

  “Let’s go look at the cabin.” Alma suggested first.

  “Isn’t that where one of the dolls opened its eye or something?”

  Alma giggled at Elena’s apparent fear of plastic toys. “Yes. So don’t piss them off.”

  Before getting to the cabin, they passed hundreds of dolls in all shapes, sizes and variances of decay. Some were completely intact. One or two had mold growing on their faces or feet. From tree to tree, a metal line ran through the dolls’ heads, displaying them like clothes hung on a clothesline. The sound of wind chimes could be heard, though neither one of the girls had seen a single one.

  Elena surveyed the area closer than she would care to admit. Since leaving the house earlier that morning, she’d felt something following her. Whatever it was had darted in and out of the brush surrounding the banks of all the other islands they’d passed. It was a shadow of sorts, but somehow, in her mind’s eye, it resembled the man from the day before.

  And that movie, Jeepers Creepers.

  Alma saw Elena engrossed in one doll in particular. Its head was turned towards the doll that dangled beside it and the other doll was turned to face the first one, in turn—like they’d been frozen in time right in the middle of a conversation.

  Tiny brown spiders made the dolls’ legs look like they were moving and a brisk wind made them sway on their leashes. Alma rolled her eyes, thinking to herself that these things made up for most of the supposed haunting stories.

  Elena still hadn’t noticed her presence, captured complet
ely by the two compadre figures.

  “Come and play with us.” Alma whispered in Elena’s ear, causing her partner to jump. Elena then slapped Alma’s shoulder. “Don’t ever do that again.” Her attention was easily brought back to its previous target. “Look at them. It’s like they were talking and got interrupted.”

  “Well, you’re going to be spending the night with them if we don’t hurry up. We’ve already wasted an hour here. Let’s go see the cabin and then make our way back.”

  Elena nodded, but took a picture of the duo before proceeding. The cabin was no more than a makeshift house built of what looked like driftwood and other parts and pieces. A pillow and blanket pallet lined the right wall, but other than that, no personal belongings or evidence of the previous owner existed—well, with the exception of his vast collection of dolls.

  Alma scanned the place, fascinated by the variety. As she gazed at one doll in particular, it seemed to smile at her, but never moved. She approached the doll in question and examined it further. A piece of paper was tied to the doll’s wrist by a red ribbon. The word on the paper was barely legible. It seemed to be written by a pencil a long time ago.

  “Lucia.” Alma finally deciphered the text. “That must be your name. It’s lovely to meet you, Lucia.” It didn’t escape Alma’s notice that this doll was the only one who had several unique features. For one, she wasn’t filthy and had no bugs or mildew on her. Number two, her hair was well brushed and clean. And the third, she was the only doll Alma had seen who was full dressed, down to her tiny pantyhose and Mary Jane shoes.

  The doll seemed to call to her without a voice.

  “Are you talking to that doll? That’s it, we are so out of here.” Elena flung her raven braid over her shoulder and smirked.

  “This one has a name. It’s on her wrist.”

  Elena walked over, but didn’t have the same reaction as Alma. “Great. Can we go now? I swear that one over there with one huge eye and one beady eye is following me all over this place.”

  Alma looked at the doll in question. She was particularly off. One of her eyes was so big that it cracked her face around the eyeball and glue had been applied non-sparingly to keep it all in place. The other eye was original, a tiny, beady, black bean of an eye.

  “Let me take some pictures and then we can go.”

  Alma took pictures of the shack, section by section as not to miss a thing. When she got to Lucia’s section, she gasped as she brought the being toy into focus. Because as she did a voice spoke to her. “Take me away from here. Sácame de aquí.”

  Shocked, Alma crept closer to Lucia and checked her thoroughly for any speaking device, but Lucia was made of porcelain and there was no talking apparatus attached. Alma then touched the doll’s lips but they were sealed shut, like most of the others.

  “You’re whacked out, Alma.” The girl told herself. “You didn’t sleep last night.”

  She went for the door, determined now, more than before, to get home and sleep before her mother needed her most. Once more, just for her own sanity, she turned to look at Lucia one more time.

  But Lucia was gone.

  “Let’s get out of here. I’m done.” Alma told Elena as she finally shut the door to the cabin.

  “Thank you Santo Nicolás. Finally.”

  The girls passed everything a second time, but the scare factor had not worn off from the first pass. Walking past their dolls of offering, Elena straightened hers, while Alma noticed her place doll’s head was bowed, as if it were praying. Deciding that maybe dolls prayed as well, she left it alone. When they reached the dock, Alma heard a noise in the bushes as Elena climbed into the boat, hurried on by a boatman, now so frantic, he was almost inconsolable.

  “Is—is someone there?” She stuttered.

  “Sácame de aquí!” The voice from before begged. Alma inched closer to the brush, seeing the sheen of one pint-sized patent leather Mary Jane sticking out from the underbrush.

  “Lucia!” She cried! Looking towards the shack, it was out of range. But what she did see sent frozen tingles down the muscles in her back. The man, the one from the market, stood in the path they’d just taken and in his hands was the doll she’d brought to give as a gift. With his left hand cradling the doll, his right stroked her face lovingly.

  She could almost feel the ghosting of his hand along the same spot on her own face.

  “Ayuda me!” Lucia changed her plea to ‘Help me.’ Alma didn’t know what it was about the doll, but she had to help it. Especially if that man, or boy, was the one she was trying to escape.

  Grabbing for Lucia’s feet, she tugged the doll into her arms. She held it tight and faced the man in defiance.

  “You can borrow her, through Los Dias de los Muertos. But you must bring her back before the stroke of midnight tomorrow night. I will grant her leave for that long.”

  “And if I don’t.”

  He turned, but his answer floated on the wind. “If you don’t, a price must be paid.”

  “Hurry up, Alma!” Elena screamed from the boat and ignoring the dark man’s warning, Alma stuffed Lucia into the backpack not as carefully as she should. “I’m coming!”

  Back on the boat, she looked back at the island. All the fog had dissipated. The man, which was a young man about her age, could be seen at the edge of the water, still stroking the face of the doll that by the second, more and more resembled Alma.

  THREE

  That night, Lucia went with Alma to the celebrations, travelling with her in the backpack. Decorating her father’s grave and partaking in the feast she and her mother had so lovingly prepared took up most of the night. Though it kept her busy, she couldn’t help but have her attentions pulled again and again by the prize resting against her back.

  When they’d arrived home, Alma waited most impatiently for her mother to go to sleep before she dug into her bag. The rest of the night was spent getting Lucia back to her former glory. A night inside a back hadn’t done well for the girl’s looks.

  Alma took care to brush Lucia’s hair, making it resemble its former glory. She straightened Lucia’s lovely hands and apron. She replaced the doll’s shoes and the ribbon in her hair, then flattened the dainty collar on her dress to a primped fold. Alma even took the liberty of fluffing the doll’s dress.

  “There. I’m sorry for today. I didn’t mean to bump you around so much.”

  Alma’s mother left early the next morning to begin the celebrations, but Alma was not expected to participate. One day was enough for her. Lucia was set on the bed, tucked into the blankets. The doll’s face seemed to have brightened since the night before. Instead of worrying over it, she lit the candles on her father’s altar and made herself a simple breakfast of eggs over rice. She spoke to her father’s image while she ate, telling him so many things that she was afraid to tell her mother—afraid it would upset her further.

  “People treated me differently after you died. We lost a lot. Mom has to work all the time and she even makes dresses on the side. I have to work and I can’t go to college anymore. The money went to pay for the funeral. I’m not mad, Papá. I just miss you.”

  Alma cleaned the house for the rest of the day and worked through all of her mother’s silly rituals out of respect when her mother came back. She looked weary and took a seat at the table. Looking around the small home, she praised Alma—until she saw the bed.

  “Babosa! What have you done?”

  Alma could see that her mother’s eyes were on Lucia. She had two choices. Alma could lie to her mother or she could tell the truth and face the wrath.

  She’d learned at a young age that her mother knew the truth most times anyway, and the azotes that followed drove the point home—don’t lie to your mother.

  “She was from the island. I couldn’t help it.”

  “You think you can just take something and it’s okay, Tontita? People from around here don’t visit that place for a reason!”

  Alma trembled under the rebuking from
her mother. “But he said if I bring it back before tonight, it will be fine.”

  Every drop of blood rushed from Carmelita’s face and she turned in her seat. “Quien, mija? Who told you that?”

  “The man. I saw him in the market and then on the island.”

  Her mother gripped the edge of the table. “What did he look like?”

  “He looked my age. Dark clothes.”

  Carmelita jolted from the chair and pushed the curtain on the window aside. “It is night, mija! All day you’ve played around. You must go now!”

  Alma grabbed her bag and scurried to the bed to grab Lucia, but the doll, who’d been in the same place all day was gone.

  “She’s gone!” Alma shouted at her mother.

  “Find her now!” Both women searched through the tiny place until Carmelita’s movement completely

  There on a lone rafter, Lucia sat, her face now contorted in a scowl.

  “Get a chair,” the mother prompted. Alma got atop the chair and grabbed Lucia. “It’s ten, Alma. You must get to the island.”

  Alma turned to her mother. “You aren’t coming with me?”

  A lone tear flowed down her mother’s face. “I am forbidden. You are not the first in the family to hear the island’s call—or the Dark One’s beckoning. Go now—before it’s too late.”

  Alma didn’t know the meaning behind her mother’s confession or her tears, but she didn’t have time to wonder. She had to get Lucia back.

  “Ni madre! You are crazy if you think I’m taking you back to that God forsaken island!” The boatman from her previous trip yelled at her and then proceeded to flee the scene. She plopped onto the wet ground and began to allow the weight of the situation to come down on her. As the tears flowed and the sobs abounded, a woman approached her.

  “What’s wrong, child?”

  The woman was the age of her mother, wearing old fashioned clothing that, in modern days, was only worn by the older Aztec women. Her salt and pepper hair was tied back in a severe bun at the nape of her neck. Her eyes were kind and concerned.