The Jewellery Collector
James and Anne had been smitten by the doll like face of the child the very first day they had seen her in the adoption center. The child had not shown any inhibition at all in accepting them as her prospective parents. She had run up to them and simply hugged them and yelled ‘Mommy, daddy, when are you taking me home?’
James was immediately taken in by the child’s behavior though Anne found it a bit strange. She had found it strange that a child who had never set eyes on them should take to them so quickly. The warden at the adoption center had told them about the child’s sad story.
The child’s previous adoptive father and mother had been found dead in their house while watching a horror movie. They had been found with their throats slit. A large amount of jewellery had been stolen from the house. The killers had never been discovered. The child herself had been found in another room sleeping with a doll in her arms. The killing had been attributed to burglars. Anne had argued against adopting the child because the child somehow made her feel uneasy.
There was something surreal about the child. She did not look like a real child. She looked more like a make believe child from a horror movie, more like a child from the imagination of a horror movie director or a spirit.
Despite all these misgivings Anne consented to adopting the child as James was extremely insistent. After signing all the forms and following the due adoption process James and Anne took the child home. They named the child Dolly and celebrated her homecoming with great fanfare.
The first few months of parenthood were wonderful. James and Anne never let go of an opportunity to pamper their adopted child. Only the best of everything was good enough for her. They bought her the best playthings, the best dolls. Come Christmas they showered her with presents.
The child also doted on them. Slowly Anne also began losing her inhibitions towards the child and began doting on her. Anne and James took turns to put Dolly to sleep by singing her lullabies. Dolly always slept with her favourite doll in her arms.
One night after putting Dolly to bed Anne and James began surfing the channels on the television after making love. They came across an old child murder horror movie in one of the channels directed by the famous movie director cum psychic Dudley Richardson. He was also a jewelry collector. In addition Richardson had a reputation for dabbling in witchcraft and was believed to have disappeared under mysterious circumstances after directing the movie.
James and Anne got deeply engrossed in the movie. The movie was about an adopted child who grows up and kills her adoptive parents. They did not notice the door of the bedroom opening slowly. Suddenly Dolly crept up and jumped into their bed. She swung her arm in a wide arc and slit Anne’s throat with a knife. Before James could move a muscle she had given him the same treatment.
Dolly got off the bed and crept back to her bedroom into the waiting arms of Dudley Richardson. ‘I have done my job my master,’ she said.
‘You are doing nicely,’ Dudley said. ‘I have created you perfectly.’ He sang a lullaby and put the child to sleep. After some time Dudley Richardson returned to the world of spirits taking all the jewelry from the house.
The next morning when James and Anne’s body was discovered the killing was attributed to burglary. Dolly was back again in the adoption center looking for prospective adoptive parents. Dudley Richardson waited in the spirit world for his next strike.