“There, there, little one,” the witch said. “All done now.”
The doll slowly raised her stiff little arm up and touched her stiff little face with her stiff little hand. She blinked and winked and chuckled. She had a new eye! Now she wouldn’t look so creepy at all!
“It suits you,” the witch said, as the doll fluttered those stiff little eyelids at her. She leaned down and wiped a droplet of blood from the doll’s cheek. “I don’t know where the crows find them. And still fresh too. I bet you could cry now if you wanted to.”
The doll shook her head and gave an eerie little giggle instead. She was too happy to cry.
“Now, let’s talk about my fee,” the witch said. “I hope you’ve got a good secret for me, dearie?”
The doll nodded her stiff little head and then stood up on her stiff little legs and tottered over to the edge of the table and whispered her secret into the witch’s ear.
“Ooh, that is a good little secret,” the witch said. “A good little secret indeed!”
In the queue by the door, the other broken little dolls all strained to hear what their sister said. They hoped her secret wasn’t the same as theirs. The last thing a doll wanted was to be in debt to a witch.
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Notes:
1. Written between the 4th and the 6th of May, 2021
