Kerry stared at the seemingly inanimate features of the doll held up by her young daughter. The doll looked exactly the same as it had twenty-three years ago. The doll had the same clear blue eyes, flaxen hair, rosebud lips, and perfectly clean porcelain face, hands, and feet.
Kerry suddenly remembers that when she had been four , she had found the doll, Laurel, in her grandmother's attic. Her mind drifts back to 1963.
She remembered how cluttered the attic had been. Young Kerry could not imagine how someone could acquire so much stuff in one lifetime. She hurried through each of the rooms picking up oddities, staring at them in fascination, and sometimes putting them back down. When she did not put them down, she would hurry to the head of the stairs and put the item into a box. Suddenly, she felt drawn to particular place in the attic. After a while of searching she lifted the lid off of a wooden box covered with layers of dust. There lay the most gorgeous doll she had ever seen.
Kerry gently brought the doll to the room, where she was sleeping during her stay with grandma. She set the doll up on the bed and looked at her for a very long time. Grandma Silsko suddenly entered the room and fiercely demanded where Kerry had found the doll. Kerry, terrified into silence by her gentle grandmother's sharp words, sat, trembling, near the doll. Grandma Silsko softened her expression and gently guided Kerry to the sewing room, with the doll.
" Now dear, don't be so frightened," said Grandma, as she settled into her sewing chair. " I was surprised to see the doll after so many years. Did you find it in the attic?" Kerry nodded solemnly, clutching the doll. "Her name is Laurel. I'm going to trust you with her. Will you take care of her and keep calm no matter what happens?" Kerry nods again. "Remember this, child, Laurel is just a pawn in a sinister game of chess." Kerry remembered.
In 1965, Laurel did something very peculiar. Kerry sat at her tiny tea table, playing tea party. Laurel sat across from her, with a tiny cup of tea in front of her. All of the sudden, red light emanated from Laurel. Her chest rose and fell as if from a breath of air. Her eyes fixed upon Kerry's eyes, her lips parted and an oily, evil voice crawled from the porcelain throat.
She then toppled off of the chair she had been sitting on, and became, once again, lifeless.
" Mom! Please believe me! Laurel talked!" Kerry cried a few moments later. She was terrified and close to tears. Her mother looked at her, exasperated and beginning to get angry.
" Kerry! That is enough whining from you! I simply do not have the time to listen to these silly tales! Your imagination is carrying you away." Her mother turned back to the casserole that she had been working on before Kerry had come, screaming that her doll was alive. She made a mental note to remove Laurel from her young daughter's possession. " Go play in the rose garden until supper. Please, Keroline, do as I wish."
Kerry, very much upset, hurried away. She hid herself in a far away corner of the garden. The sun was setting when she heard her mother call her in for dinner. She hurried along, beginning to feel more like her old self. She was puzzling over the fact that clouds were gathering rather quickly, when she tripped over something. She toppled flat onto her face, and felt her nose start to bleed. She looked back to see what had tripped her and saw, in the fading light, what seemed to be an arm. She ran straight to the house, screaming all the way, as soft rain fell. Her father had been torn apart as if by a wild beast.
The year was 1970, and Kerry was grimly searching the attic of her house, knowing what she would find. It was the same tug as before and the exact same wooden box, layered with dust. She was planning on taking Laurel with her to the school counselor. Ever since 1965, she has had recurring dreams of the prophecy, the doll, and her father. Her counselor was very curious about the doll, and wanted to see it. Once Kerry found Laurel , she stuffed her into a plastic bag.
The next morning the bus was especially noisy. Nancy had wanted to sit with Kerry, but Kerry asked to sit alone in the back of the bus. For some reason Kerry felt as if something was about to happen. She gently took Laurel from the plastic bag and looked at the doll. Red light, the color of blood, was streaming from the doll. The eyes focused on her own, the lips parted and the same oily voice spilled out.
The doll became, once again lifeless.
" I wonder where Mrs. Manny is," said Patty.
" I really don't know," said Nancy.
The principal came walking over to the students grouped in front of the classroom. " Is there a problem here?"
" Mrs. Manny seems to be late," said Kerry. The principal, then kindly unlocked the door. Right after he turned on the lights several students turned green and ran to a wastebasket to relieve their stomachs. Kerry turned pale and quite suddenly, fainted. Mrs. Manny's body decorated the room and painted on the wall in blood was one word: LAUREL. The rain falls softly outside.
" Mom? Can I have her?" Tanya asks. Kerry shakes her head to recover from the memories. It is 1993, she is now 34, and her seven year old daughter, Tanya, has found Laurel in a wooden box in the attic. The doll starts to emanate blood-colored light. Tanya sets it down with a small gasp of fright. The doll's eyes now fix on tanya's eyes. The lips part.
The doll giggles hysterically and becomes lifeless. Tanya is on the floor in a dead faint.
Kerry shakes her daughter into conciousness. They are in the livingroom and the doll has been set on the coffee table. Tanya sits up and charges for the doll. Kerry, screaming a warning, watches as the doll is smashed into tiny pieces on the floor. Tanya rushes into her mother's arms, and they both watch as the pieces gather together and form a tall, beautiful woman.
" I am Laurel, the first owner of the doll. My spirit was captured in the doll and forced to come out whenever my master willed. The last child owner of the doll must sacrifice her life to break the curse binding my descendants and I. I am a vampiress, I must drink her blood to break the enchantment."
Tanya starts to walk towards the woman.
" No!" screams Kerry. " I must. It's my destiny," says Tanya very calmly. "As they say in Norway, Nos da cariad. Good night my darling." Laurel giggles a tinkling giggle. Her golden hair and blue eyes match those of the doll. She lowers her and presses her mouth to Tanya's throat. Tanya falls to the ground dead. Laurel lifts her arms in victory, " Finally! I'm more powerful than Satan!" The last thing Kerry remembers is her grandma saying, " Laurel is just a pawn in a sinister game of chess." Grandma Silsko was wrong. Laurel was the queen. Kerry's husband comes into the house as a woman jumps out of the attic window. The air is perfumed by the afternoon rain.