Carol and a Doll

In an attempt to get Carol to behave herself, I did a random "scary writing prompt search". Which I will not put here because it contains spoilers. 

And because I didn't exactly follow it. 




---------------Arriving------------ 

Somewhere in the Pacific North West in late September, Carol pulls into a campsite.

Despite the dust from the campsite's road, Carol unrolled her window. The heater in the old SUV had been going full blast despite the pleasant weather. An overheating engine was to blame. It worked ok as long as the roads where flat, but they had not been for the last few hours. 

She does a quick once-around to pick a site. 

The whole site was in a wobbly figure eight shape, with the entrance from the highway entering in on the top, and at the bottom you could sometimes catch glimpses of a creek. Many trails spider webbed off into the mossy woods. 

This late in the year the place was almost empty, and she expected a quiet and secluded evening.

There was an A class that looked like it had been there for a few months and the host that was nearer the entrance. 

But as she circled near the 'bottom' of the figure 8 she saw a well used class C motorhome. A dark cloud of natural change seemed to be hovering over it. 

It was a few years old, dirty but otherwise well maintained. It had a single red, child's bike upfront as well as two lawn chairs. They had a fire going and makings for hotdogs and s'mores laid out on the table.

S'mores sounded really good.

She pulled into a site were she could watch her neighbors, kind of cater-cornered across form them.

She and Silver took a walk around real quick and then went back to set up a tent. She might cook tomorrow for breakfast, but tonight was trail mix. 

A pretty woman in shoulder length brunette hair was working across from her. Her dusty-rose sweater was rolled up to avoid getting messy. 


As Carol set up her tent she could hear her neighbor calling her children to come back into the RV. A Maria and Cody.

A 7ish year old blond with a black and white Beagle came running down from the general area of the outhouse.

Carol paused as the anxious mother questioned him, and then called her (presumably) husband to come quick. 

A rumpled but fairly handsome man stumbles from the RV. He is a few inches shorter than his wife.

The two ask (presumably) Cody where his sister is.

He stops his playing tug-of-war with the little dog looking mildly confused,  looking around as if trying to remember who 'Maria' was. He eventually points vaguely towards the woods down towards the creek.

He had not come from that direction. Carol watches in interest.  

Father, boy and dog head down towards the water as "dusty-rose" went back to the table, looking as if she was working but not making much progress. 

Carol glances towards Silver and the two females make their way across the road to the woman.


----------------Talking-------------

"Hello, sorry. Didn't mean to startle you. I'm you neighbor across the way. I'm Carol." She extended her had.

"I'm Judith. I didn't see you get in." Judith shook her hand as she stood up.

"I just got here. I couldn't help but see..." Carol waved towards where the other had gone down the path. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh I'm sure its nothing. Just Maria is a little late. That all." Judith was defiantly trying to convince herself, not Carol, of that hope.

"Do you mind if me and my dog help look?"

"I appreciate the offer. But Warren will find her." She looked over Carol's shoulder at the single tent on her site. 

"Where are you from? Please, sit down." She gestured towards the picnic table. "Nevada. Near Carson City." More or less.

"And you?" "Seattle. Warren works at a trauma recovery hospital there." 

"Interesting work?"

"Yes. Hard but rewarding." the two fall silent, watching the fire burn and listing to Warren calling for Maria. 

Carol looked at the one bike and the four pairs of camp shoes near the steps of the RV. A man's pair, expensive but very well worn. A woman's looked fairly new but still dusty with cracks. Carol wasn't sure what was holding the boy's shoes together, and the girls was dusty but looked like they had never been worn.

Judith opened her mouth, probably to ask what Carol did for a living, but Carol broke in. "Can I borrow an aspirin? My shoulder is acting up." It was true, her poor left should had gotten shot twice in this life. Once in New York and once in Dorset. Thankfully the two wounds were not near each other, but it did hurt.

"Sure." Judith got up and went inside the RV. Carol followed while Silver stayed at the chairs.

The inside was messy as it should be. A pile of clothes, toys, books and snacks hid the passenger seat, the dinette seemed to be both a bed and a schoolroom with books and crayons forever lost in the cracks.

The over cab bed was neatly made with a few stuffed animals arranged neatly on the pillows. 

There were a few little girls clothes placed near the foot of the bed. They looked new.

Judith got the aspirin from the tiny bathroom and Carol palmed it as she took a drink of water. She might take it later but at the moment felt like she should keep her head clear.

The place did not feel natural, like someone else was controlling it.

As they went back out, Warren and Cody came back to the site. The Beagle was happy to see a new playmate in the form of Silver, but was soon discouraged by her inaction. 

Carol could see instantly that they had not found Maria.

After a few quick introductions, Carol volunteered to go too the two other campers and see if they had seen anything.

Carol expected Silver to pick up Maria's scent and follow it down hill, but after a few circles she came back. She couldn't find a trail out. Her current German Shepherd forum was not the one with the strongest tracking ability, the blood hound or wolf was what she normally used for an old trail, but this one should have been easy to follow. Assuming Maria had ever left. 

The only other guest, the class A, was home to a retired couple on their 12th honeymoon. The woman had seen a blond boy and his 'nice dog' go past about an hour ago, but they didn't remember seeing a girl. 

The host's place was empty with a note saying he should be back by dark.

As Carol came back around to the family's site, Silver suddenly took an interest in something

Near the center of the site, where the road crossed over itself was an old oak tree. It had seen better days, even though it was still alive as shown by the green leaves, most of its trunk was rotted away from the ground up. Where the bottom of the black triangle or rot touched the ground, there was a doll.

A plastic headed doll with a cloth body made of blue. her right leg bent under her. 

The doll's head was just a little too large, even for a baby's.

Silver didn't seem to smell anything of interest, but she defiantly didn't like the doll and wouldn't turn her back on it. 

Because there were no other children in the site, Carol was thinking it may be evidence. It could be from a past family, or it could have been used to lure Maria into a van or something. 

Assuming Maria was real, of course. 


She went back to the site without touching the doll, the family recognized it as one of Maria's. Carol suggested they call the police. 


--------------Looking--------------

No-one's cellphone was working in the mountainous area, so Carol breaks into the host's trailer and is happy to see a CB radio there.

As she translates between the family,  Wilson was their last name,  and the local authorities Carol realized she had not payed for her site yet. Oh well. The fine for not doing so shouldn't be too big, especially compared to breaking and entering.

The host returned before emergency services could get there. He seemed more worried than upset that Carol had broken into his home to call for help. He waved aside her offers to pay as officers arrived.

Maria was 8 with hair similar to her mother's. She had on pink shorts and a Barbie shirt. Judith and the two children had gone down walking by the creek, when they had gotten back the two children had headed off to the outhouse while Judith got a fire started. Cody had come back alone about a minute later.

When the officer pointed out that Cody had said that she was down by the creek, Judith pointed out that Maria would not have had the time to make it that far and would not have left her brother. She should be around the outhouse area. 

The host, and a few others, started going along the nearby trails with whistles as police started interviewing guests.

The base of operation was set up around the Wilson's now dead campfire, the hotdogs and s'more makings dumped into the RV without a second thought.

Carol got an underling to interview her until Las Vegas came up. After that the chief asked her questions.

Yes, she was the Carol Green involved in the Las Vegas insane asylum break out. No she was not up here for any specific purpose. She had been off the radar trying, and failing, to recover from a case of pneumonia in Sicily. She was feeling a lot better now. 

She could tell the Chief was not happy she was here. Whenever she showed up trouble followed.

The doll had been bagged and sent back to the station.

A search was underway, despite it being night, because the area had so many well used trails and a full moon they were working at night. and most of the searchers were already familiar with the area.


Carol was looking over the shoulder of one of the volunteers, there was an Oak Tree Trail. It was steep and closed off because of a landslide, the searchers would look there after the trails downhill towards the creek had been covered, as Cody, now in tears, kept insisting that Maria was down by the water.



Thinking back over where she had found Maria's doll, under the only oak tree in the site, she decided to go take a look up on the hill. Before she could back out news came up from the creek area that there were "footprints down by the water". The host relaxed. But "they still had not found anything". The host tensed up. Carol could see that the sherif had noticed the same thing so she left it to him.

Carol quietly slunk out of the circle of volunteers and towards Oak Tree Trail.

The way was much rougher than even the Ex-Mountain Ranger had expected, she had to go on her knees in a few places.

With her arm aching, she was just about to turn back, how could an 8 year old make it that far so quickly? When Carol's eye caught a glimpse of a cut in the hill that looked like a split trunk.

fighting her way through the unbroken brush, Silver suddenly picked up a scent.

A shivering, soaked girl in a Barbie shirt was in the creviss. 

Carol blew her whistle three times and Silver headed back to find people.

The girl had her leg under her in a weird position, exactly like the dolls had been. She seemed dazed and didn't answer when Carol asked who she was.

Silver quickly returned, encouraged by Carols constant three blasts.

She explained her finding Mari by saying "My dog followed her scent." Which was not true. Silver had not been able to follow her trail at all. It made no sense. 

--------------------The Doll---------------

Maria was removed in an ambulance, Carol drove the two males and the two dogs after it.

The news came back that even though Maria was chilled and had a lump on her head she was phisicly ok.

However she seemed to have memory loss going back pretty far. She only hazily recognized her own family.

Carol had had full amnesia once. It was horrible. But at least Maria would have people around her that actually knew who she was.

Maybe.

The whole thing felt like a set-up. The family stayed at a hotel near the hospital, with the head wound they wanted to keep Maria for observation, but Carol took Button (the Beagle) back with her to the campsite. She told the Class A people what had happened, the host wasn't there again, and crawled into the tent as the day started to dawn. 

The family stayed another two days but Maria showed no ill effects besides a very fuzzy memory. 

The family left for Seattle. Does she follow the family or stay in the area where it all happened?

She decides to stay and try to figure out what happened. The day after the Wilson's leave the camp host approaches her.

"I knew you were going to be a problem." Carol didn't really sense a threat from him, but Silver stayed well out of arm reach just to be on the safe side. 

"It is a long and sad story, and were are almost finished with it. Based on your history we decided to tell you in hopes that you will understand and leave us alone."

Carol had actually heard this opening several times. she gestured towards her picnic table and the two adults sat down.

"I am in the business of rehoming some very...special...children. About half a decade ago, a very lonely witch brought some children mannequins to life. She died shortly afterwards, but me and my people took in the living dolls."

Ok...She had still herd stranger though.

"We assumed we would keep the children under our care, but to our surprise we discovered they were truly alive. They aged and learned. Being kept hidden in a basement is no place for a child, so we started placing them in homes. We plant past memories into the minds of deserving families, and give them a child. And give a child a home and family. Surly you can see no problem with this?"


Carol did. But she instead asked "How many are left?"

"2. One's rehoming is already in motion, we are still choosing between two families for the last."

"You shouldn't mess with people's minds. tricking them into thinking the child is theirs is lying."

"I would be lying if I said I haven't lost sleep over what were are doing. But not as much as I would with a basement full of imprisoned kids."

"Why don't you and your friends adopt them?"

"Because we know what they really are. that they aren't really alive. Oh we all know they are up here." He tapped his head. "But down here" he tapped over his heart "is harder to trick"

"You don't have to be tricked into liking a child."

He looked angry and about to start to leave, Carol interrupted him. "Why all the shenanigans with Maria? Why the doll planted under the tree? and why hide her so far out where she may not be found?"

"We often arrange a 'missing child' and head injury, we do not really hurt them of course, it helps explain inconstancies, and the living doll's lack of human knowledge. But what happened here with Maria? I don't know. We left her down by the creek, without a broken leg I might add. I don't know how she got on Oak Tree Trail or how she got hurt."

"And the doll under the oak tree here?"

"That wasn't us either."

"What are the odds I could talk you into not forcing children into families?"

"Me? You probably could. Maria is the only one I was really involved with. By the time I could even contact the others they will be rehomed."


Carol nodded slowly. "There isn't anything I could really do, is there?" She was more talking to herself than to the camp host. If the Wilson's are happy, and no one comes to harm, I won't go out of my way to tell them"

"And if they ask?"

She gave a humorless laugh. "It's not something that comes up in conversation very often. But I would probably tell them the truth."

He nodded. "Fair enough."

He hesitated. "I really hate to bring this up, but you still haven't paid for your campsite."

She looked at him. Was he really bringing up 10 dollars owed after all of that? Yes. Yes he was. Silently she got up, went to her SUV, and got out her wallet. She paid the man.

"I will probably be leaving tomorrow morning."

He nodded, and without another word, went back to his trailer. Silver watching him leave. 


----------------------

Ok, kind of a weird ending. Had trouble thinking of one.