She laughed. It was a bitter, regretful sound. “It’s an almost identical
story to what a lot of the other girls at the shelter went through. These guys
don’t love you—they love to control you. And they’re so careful about
closing the trap an inch at a time that you don’t realise it’s happening until
it’s too late to get out. Until he’s pushed a wedge between you and your
friends. Until he’s disconnected you from your community… from anyone
who might be willing to help…” She rubbed at her wrist, and I thought again
of the bruise I’d seen. She’d been away from Sandeep for some time. I wondered
if it wasn’t simply a bruise but the result of a fracture.
“Anyway…” Ruby’s voice brightened. She bent low over the doll to paint
the white teeth inside its lips. “The dolls were the one hobby he let me have,
because I didn’t need to leave the house to do it, and I think he liked the
money. He didn’t realise I was siphoning off part of each sale into a secret
account. It was enough for a deposit for this house. The banks were wary of
lending to me, but one of the ladies at the shelter had a connection who
helped me out. This house has been my salvation. So I can forgive some of its
quirks.”
I lifted my eyebrows. “Quirks? Like…” I chose my words carefully.
“Like the sort of stuff that made previous families leave?”
She gave me a shy glance before refocussing on the doll. “I don’t want to
say supernatural. Because there’s nothing that can’t be explained as just a
coincidence or a fault with the building’s design. But yeah, some stuff has
been happening.”
Curiosity was killing me. I raised my eyebrows even higher and leaned
forward.
Ruby laughed. “Don’t look at me like that. It’s nothing spectacular. Like
you said, nothing like the stuff you see in Hollywood films. But sometimes,
the lights come on by themselves.”
“Oh! I’ve seen that. I thought it was you.”
“Sorry. I hope they haven’t been keeping you awake. I don’t usually findthem until morning.” She paused to blow on the wet paint to dry it.
“Sometimes, I’ll be certain that I closed a door, but when I pass it later in the
day, it’s open again. Or the opposite… open doors will be shut. And once,
two days ago, the bathroom taps turned on by themselves. I heard them and
shut them off before they flooded the bathroom, but it scared me pretty
badly.”
I looked about the room. It no longer seemed as safe or as brightly lit as
before. The multitude of dolls stared down at me from their shelves, some
sightless, some with beady eyes that seemed to glitter. “Do… do you think
your house is haunted?”
She didn’t speak for a very long time. I began to wonder if she’d heard
my question, then she took a quick breath. “Perhaps. But if it is, I don’t mind
so far. I don’t think it’s a mean ghost.”
She had finished the doll’s face. She put it aside and picked up the first
one again, turning it under her desk lamp to check that the paint had dried
and the features were even. Then she flipped it over, took up a pair of bone
scissors from the pen jar, and fixed the blades around the doll’s ankle. She
scrunched up her face as she strained. The foot popped off.
I made an involuntary noise of horror, and Ruby stared at me. “Sorry. I
didn’t mean to startle you. All of these dolls are on their toes to accommodate
high heels, but I like to give them comfy shoes before they go to their new
family.”
“Sure. That makes sense.” My voice came out as a squeak. I hated seeing
it, but I couldn’t look away as she cut off the doll’s other foot. It looked too
real—too human—with its new face for me to not cringe.
Ruby had a tiny pair of sneakers ready. She added glue to their insides
then poked the doll’s stump legs into the opening. She turned it over to check
that they were on straight then leaned back as she held the shoes in place,
waiting for the glue to dry.
I said, surprising even myself. Ruby stared at
me, and I shrugged.
“Oh. Oh no, I’m so sorry.” Ruby looked at the doll in horror. “I didn’t
think—”