I read this story for week 39 of the 2015 Deal Me In Challenge. I drew the four of spades, which I had assigned to this story from the excellent ‘Neo-Noir’ anthology “The New Black.” Deal Me In is an annual short story reading challenge (explained here). My list of stories I’m reading this year, with links to those I’ve posted about thus far, may be found here.
Holy crap; this was a scary and disturbing story!
“Fear never exploited Darcy’s mind, for as her father contested on many occasions, all things can be explained. The low thundering rumble that tore a hole in the night was not that of a monster pushing its way from one world to the next, but the nightly groans from the heifers keeping warm in the farmer’s bard across the field. The unexpected squeak of a floorboard was not the heels of a ghost, but instead the yawning of wood as it waned under the heat of water pipes. The illusory evil that supposedly cowered in shadows, or became the cold breath of night that followed her from room to room, was only a mischievous current of air that fussed its way around the dank old cottage. All could be explained. Everything that is, except the dollhouse.”
As kids grow up, they begin to learn the falsity of the boogey-man and his sundry companions. Parents, as Darcy’s do in this story, vanquish these fears one by one with rational explanations until, one day, they are finally overcome and can no longer manifest themselves. Of course, this holds true only if the fears really are imaginary…
One night, Darcy, just a young girl of eight – almost nine, is awakened by a “large bang.” Her investigations lead her to the attic of her family’s cottage. Within the attic she sees that a large object is covered under a dust sheet in the corner of the room. Knowing that, when it comes to secreting away Christmas or birthday presents, the attic is a favorite hiding place for her parents, and remembering that her birthday is just weeks away, Darcy can’t resist taking a peek. What she finds is a dollhouse that is a perfect miniature of her own family’s cottage. Every detail is replicated. She is enthralled and revisits the attic every night as her birthday approaches, since the dollhouse seems to also be a work in progress. New developments in her actual cottage are reflected in the dollhouse. Tiny wooden figures of her parents and herself also appear, accurate to the smallest detail. Then the figures appear to begin reflecting the actual location of their real-life counterparts at the time she views them, and she sees her own figurine in the attic of the dollhouse, kneeling in front of a miniature dollhouse, which we can only imagine, were her eyes capable of seeing into the microscopic range, would contain smaller and smaller figures in an infinite regression.
Surely all this “could be explained” though? Even when she, one night, finds the figurines of her parents in peril…
I really liked this story, even if it did give me goosebumps. It was my first time reading this author, who hails from West Yorkshire, England. He is the author of a short story collection “Quintessence of Dust” which I may now just have to find and buy to provide me with fodder for the 2016 edition of the Deal Me In Challenge.
What’s the scariest story YOU have read lately?
Below: from goodreads.com – author Craig Wallwork
Bibliophilopolis 