Page 17 of Don't Scare Me, My Love

“You know what I mean.”

He closed the register. “Well, if you’re so eager,” he said, squeezing past me.

Having worked most shifts alone for the past eight years, I had never realized how tight the space was. But as he walked past me, I had to press myself against the counter so he wouldn’t have to brush his whole body against mine to get through—not that I really would’ve minded at that point.

He jumped into the break room and came back with a package wrapped in rainbow-colored paper. “It’s not much, but I thought you might like it.”

“What is it?”

“A gift,” he said, holding it out to me.

The paper rustled as I took it. I knew whatever was in it was meant to scare me.

“I’m not legally allowed to accept gifts over ten dollars from employees.”

“Don’t worry. I found it on a street corner.” He pursed his lips as if to hide a laugh.

Not sure if this was the truth or a joke—he seemed capable of both—I took a deep breath and ripped open the wrapping paper. An old doll with a light blue ruffled dress and curly blonde hair tied up in two braids smiled at me as if she wanted to kill me.

“Is this your attempt to scare me?” I shook the doll to see if it would do anything, but only its braids wriggled a bit. “Because that won’t do the trick.”

“We’ll see.”

The door rang, announcing Jack with three dozen donuts in his arms. I hid the doll under the counter, as no one needed to know about our little bet, and that was the last I saw of her for an hour. The morning got pretty busy, and I forgot all about her.

The next time I went into the break room, the doll was sitting in the chair in the back where I usually sit to eat lunch. Finally, I knew what Nicholas was up to.

As expected, the doll also greeted me in the storage room, the restroom, and lurked behind some water bottles in the freezer—each time, with Nicholas innocently peeking around the corner or sneaking up behind me to see if I was already scared.

“I’m honestly surprised by your effort and your skill in moving it without me noticing,” I said, “but I’m gay. I’m not afraid of dolls.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. What doll?” he replied, forcing the corners of his mouth down.

At the end of the day, after Nicholas had said goodbye and left, I went to my car, only to find the doll sittingin the driver’s seat.

I turned my head so fast, trying to catch him watching me, because I couldn’t believe that he had somehow managed to takemy car keys from me to put the doll in it. But he was nowhere in sight.

I was tempted not to take the doll home. Who knew if Nicholas had somehow manipulated it to do scary things at my place? At the same time, I was dying to find out.

Nothing like that had happened.The doll didn’t move around my house by itself, nor did it suddenly start talking to me. It just sat on my couch until I went to bed, and it was still there when I woke up.

When I returned to work, Nicholas was in the parking lot again before me, eating a banana, although this time without the burlap bag.

“Morning,” he said, a mischievous grin on his face as I approached him. “How was your night?”

“I slept like a baby,” I replied, now grinning myself. “And I wanted to thank you for your gift. The doll looks so good on my couch.”

The smile on his face grew wider as he demonstratively ate the last piece of banana. “You’re welcome.”

I went to the back door and slid the key into the lock. When I put my hand on the door handle, I didn’t feel the usual touch of cold metal but something soft and rubbery. I pulled my hand back, and a black toy spider fell onto the asphalt.

“You enjoyed your trip to the toy store, didn’t you?” I asked, squatting down to pick it up.

He came up behind me, smiling, self-satisfied. “I did.”

“Nice try.” I held the spider out to him, and he took it before I turned back and yanked the door open. I hit the switch next to the door, and when the light turned on, the smiling face of thedoll I haddefinitelyleft on my couch at home was staring back at me. I stopped in my tracks and glared at it lying on the floor.

How did it get here?

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