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.
A powerful piece of writing. Well done. 🙂
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A lot of things happening in that family. Great story.
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Great job- love the humorous ending too
🙂
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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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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 🙂
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What an interesting story and very true in lots of situations. I hope these issues get resolved sooner rather than later.
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Thats a really good take. And i also liked the way you put in ‘Cereal killer’. Its so absolutely kiddish.
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Please, please, please post more on this. I’m following your blog. I want to learn more.
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More is definitely to come!
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Bueno. I’ll be patient.
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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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I know exactly how you feel. Thankfully, they’re making more realistic Barbies. Better late than never, I guess.
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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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Thank you. You’re so right about identity. I actually have several WIPs dealing with this issue.
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Excellent story! It really opened my eyes to think of things I don’t usually think about. The video was a real eye opener too. I was shocked!
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Yes, when I see those children’s answers, it just makes me want to cry. 😦
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I know! It is extremely sad! I was truly shocked.
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What a great story…I can see this happening in real life too with the dolls not looking like the child in any way.
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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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It was important and your mom and aunt were brilliant…only the idiot manufacturers were not.
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This was wonderful!! The issue of identity is so important for girls and boys…. wonderful that you addressed it. Would love to read your larger work.
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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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Well done Nortina! I like the new hairdo too! Thanks again for writing for the Mondays Finish the Story challenge! I look forward to reading more of what you come up with next week! Be well… ^..^
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