Stroking her doll's long blonde hair, Lucy listened at her bedroom door.

'What's she do in there all day?' whispered Lucy's Dad.

'She plays...' said Lucy's Mum.

'With all that mangled plastic?'

'Shh,' snapped Lucy's Mum. 'They're her friends.'

'They're horrific is what they are. Where's she get them from anyway?'

'She says she finds them. She found one down near the river last week.'

Lucy's Dad lowered his voice so low, Lucy had to strain to hear it. 'I heard her calling one of them Mia...'

A sharp metallic taste filled Lucy's mouth as she bit down on her bottom lip, clenching the doll in her fists.

The melodic tune of the doorbell rang down the hall.

'That must be the sitter,' said Lucy's Mum, her footsteps hurrying to the front door.

Lucy eased the grip on her doll. 'Sorry Bridgette,' she said, running her thumb across the sharp ridges of grated peach flesh that adorned every inch of the dolls body.

'She's just down here,' Lucy's Mum's voice carried down the hall.

Gently, Lucy placed Bridgette back on the shelf next to the other dolls.

'Luce?' Lucy's Mum opened the bedroom door, a teenage girl standing behind her. 'This is Alice.'

'Hi Lucy,' smiled Alice, dark chestnut ringlets cascading down her back. Her lips were wet with a pink gloss, and Lucy could smell the watermelon scent from across the room. 'It's lovely to meet you.'

'Nice to meet you too,' said Lucy.

Alice winced, as her eyes drifted over Lucy's head to the collection of disfigured dolls. Nervously, Lucy dropped her head and started picking at the tattered skin around her nails.

'Sorry,' said Alice, crossing the room and kneeling in front of Lucy. 'I think it's great you rescue those dolls. There aren't many kids that would.'

Lucy nodded her head.

'We'll be back around nine,' said Lucy's Mum, giving Lucy a tight smile. 'Be good, okay Luce?'

Alice walked Lucy's parents out of the house, and returned to the bedroom a minute later. 

'So,' Alice clapped her hands together. 'Shall we play with the dolls?'

Lucy's eyes widened, and she nodded enthusiastically. 'You really want to?'

'Sure,' smiled Alice, reaching for the smallest of the dolls, a little girl with black piggy tails and a rainbow dress.

'Not that one!' said Lucy quickly.

Alice pulled her hand back. 'Oh, okay, what about this one?'

Lucy nodded as Alice reached for a stout looking doll with orange hair and bright blue eyes.

'That's Aubrey,' said Lucy, watching as water leaked out of the joints in the dolls shoulders and hips, her ginger hair still matted from the river pebbles.

'Did you just give her a bath?' Alice asked, wiping her now wet hands on her jeans.

Lucy shook her head.

'Weird,' Alice shrugged. 'Which one are you going to choose?'

Lucy selected Priya from the shelf. A shorter doll with deep brown eyes, and a button nose.

'Ouch,' Alice pointed to the ends of Priya's arms and legs. 'What happened to her?'

Lucy wrapped her fingers around the amputated nubs of plastic where Priya's hands and feet should've been. 'I don't know,' Lucy's bottom lip quivered. 'I find them after.'

Alice reached out and squeezed Lucy's knee. 'Never mind, shall we play?'

The next few hours were spent taking the dolls flying across worlds of unicorns and seas of mermaids, hiding from ogres, and conquering witches. Lucy giggled as Alice used a shoe as a bubbling cauldron, tossing in glitter and tiny sea shells to make a potion.

'And she banished the witch to the depths of the unforgiving lands!' Alice declared, moving Aubrey's hands high in the air and bobbing her up and down.

Lucy giggled, bouncing Priya and Bridgette around in celebration. 'Hooray!' she cheered.

An alarm on Alice's phone beeped. 'Almost nine,' said Alice. 'Shall we pack the girls up?'

Lucy nodded. Collecting the dolls in her arms, she took them over to the bookshelf while Alice cleaned up the shoe cauldron.

Lucy placed the three dolls on the shelf, next to the one doll that had remained untouched.

'How come you don't play with that one?' Alice asked, tidying up the last of the seashells.

Lucy picked up the last doll, gently caressing the twisted, blackened flesh of her face, and the singed ends of her plaits. The whole right side of her body had been torched. 'She's special,' said Lucy, tenderly running her finger across the sooty black hole that once held an almond shaped eye.

Alice hovered over Lucy's shoulder. 'What's her name?'

'Mia,' said Lucy, before placing the doll high up on the shelf.

Alice's face softened. 'That was your friend, wasn't it? Your Mum and Dad mentioned her. The one that went missing.'

A lump lodged itself in Lucy's throat, her eyes welling up.

'I'm so sorry,' said Alice, giving her a big hug.

Lucy pushed the tears away, wiping her wet nose on her sleeve. 'Are you going to come back soon?' she asked Alice.

'I'd love to, but I start my teaching course next week. I don't think I'll have time for sitting anymore.'

Lucy's stomach twisted. 'You're leaving?'

'Oh, Luce, you'll find another sitter.'

Lucy felt the air in the room shift. Wrapping her arms around her waist, she backed up against the book shelf. 'I don't like it when people leave.'

'Is this about Mia?' said Alice. 'I'm so sorry she's gone.'

'She's not gone,' said Lucy, searching the bedroom until she saw it. Tendrils of smoke taking form beneath her bed. She wanted to tell Alice to run. Mostly, she did. But she also wanted Alice to stay.

'Lucy,' said Alice, concern etched across her face. 'Do you know where Mia is?'

'It wasn't my fault,' said Lucy. 'She wanted it too. Her parents were moving back to Singapore, but she wanted to stay.'

'What are you saying?' Alice shuffled backwards until her legs hit the bed frame.

'He promised,' said Lucy, watching as the twisted tendrils turned into long gnarled fingers, decaying black nails protruding out of the smoky flesh. 'He makes it so you can stay. And we can play forever. He just gets to play first.'

'Lucy-' Alice started to say, but the hands wrapped around her ankles and pulled her to the ground. With a crack Alice hit the floorboards. 'Lucy!' Alice screamed, her fingernails clawing at the polished wood as she was pulled beneath the bed.

Lucy pressed the palms of her hands over her eyes, her insides twisting and churning.

'Over soon... over soon... over soon,' she chanted, louder and louder, drowning out Alice's screams.

**

Just after nine, Lucy's Mum appeared at Lucy's door, her eyes scanning the bedroom. 'Where's Alice?'

Lucy sat cross legged on her bed, meticulously tending to the doll in her lap.

'I-I-Is that one new?' Lucy's Mum asked, her voice wavering. 'W-w-what happened to it?'

Beneath the mess of chestnut ringlets, deep gouges had been dug out of the dolls flesh, and both feet had been gnawed off at the ankles. 'She's my new friend,' said Lucy, her eyes focused on the doll. 'I'm going to call her Alice.'