Book One: Chapter 45

“Oh shit.” Beth checked the gap between her mattress and the headboard. It wouldn’t be the first time she had knocked something loose by banging her bed against the wall. In her mind, she now pictured the doll, its porcelain features shattered. Pulling the mattress away from the headboard revealed the floor underneath, but no sign of the doll. Lying on her stomach, she crawled partway beneath the bed.

Jenny sat patiently on the floor, hidden just behind the yoga mat Beth had rolled up after rinsing it off. Her head slightly tilted, Jenny was facing the mirror.

“What the fuck?” Beth rescued Jenny. How had the doll gotten down there? Staring at the spot on the shelves, her mind turned over the idea that Jenny had fallen under the bed, rolled forward, then had been pushed upright when Beth had stowed away the yoga mat. While not impossible, it was highly implausible.

But it sure beat the hell out of the idea that the doll had moved itself. Beth put Jenny back on the s