Doll Test

~ Nortina S.

After losing her head, she realized that the rest of her body was falling apart!

My adoptive mother watched in horror as I ripped her limbs from the sockets and tossed them into the fireplace, the plastic boiling and melting in flames.

She’ll send me back to the foster home; I’m sure of it. 

It’s not my fault. I’m not a violent kid, but when I asked for a doll for my birthday, I expected a mini me. A doll I could dress like me, style her hair like mine, flaunt around the playground as my twin.

Instead, she bought me a doll that looked like her own daughter, Hannah.

No matter how many times I combed it out and slathered it with grease, her hair always fell back into perfect blonde curls. I drew on her arms and legs with brown crayons and markers, but each night, the color wiped away in my bed sheets as she slept next to me. One day, I laid her in the rocking chair and she winked at me with those hideous blue eyes. I lost it.

I heard the words, “psychotic” and “cereal killer,” whispered into the phone.

I guess she’s mad I ate the last of the Honey Nut Cheerios too.

—Nortina

I went over the word limit, but I wanted to use today’s prompt as a writing exercise for a larger piece that I’m working on dealing with race and identity, how it affects young children, in this case, young girls, and of course, the infamous doll dest. If you’ve never heard of the doll test, there are plenty of videos online. Here is one.

This is in response to Mondays Finish the Story: a flash fiction challenge where we provide you with a new photo each week, and the first sentence of a story. Your challenge is to finish the story using 100-150 words, not including the sentence provided.

Click the froggy icon to read other stories and add your own.

2015-05-04-bw-beacham

23 thoughts on “Doll Test”

  4. A very important psychological reflection on the identity crisis that haunts all growing children ~ Size is another ~ Hence the evils of anorexia ~ Well written Nortina!

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  5. Great story, and having read your footnote you achieved your goal.
    I thought you’d misspelled “serial killer” until I read your great last line, and presumably the little kid’s slight misunderstanding 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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  9. Great story! I always enjoy reading your stories, they are so well written and this one in particular addresses an important subject. When I was a kid, I always wished they had chubby Barbies. Though in all honesty, I always wished I had her waist line. Kinda sick.

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  10. Identity is such an important issue for children and even older ones too. Great story and I am look forward to reading the wider piece in the future.

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    1. When I was growing up, my mom and aunt actually painted my dolls so that I would always have one that looked like me. I think that is so important for a child’s self-esteem and self-confidence.

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    1. I actually have a few larger works addressing this issue. One is a novel that hasn’t quite left my head yet (LOL) and the others are short stories that are currently rough drafts, but I hope to have them written and polished very soon.

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