Page 2 of Daddy's Doll

My breath catches in my throat as I take in the sight. What could have happened to summon the police in the dead of night? I want to ask them, to demand answers, but the look in Dad’s eyes warns me against it. He’s in charge right now, and I’d probably feel better about letting him take the lead and following him blindly if he wasn’t being so cold to me. The air is thick with tension, and I feel more alone than ever. Dad stands beside me, but he might as well be a world away. His gaze is distant, his attention on our house. Dad’s frustration boils over as he approaches one of the officers. "What's going on here?" he demands.

The officer's face is stern, and he blocks our path. "I'm sorry, sir, but you can't go any closer to the house. We haven’t gotten everyone out of the house yet."

A sense of dread settles over me as I try to peer past the officers to the front porch of the house. There, in the dim light, I see my mother, wild-eyed and disheveled, as she exits the front door. Her eyes scan the yard, and it’s eerie how easily she finds me, picking me out of the crowd and begins screaming at me, "You would have been next!"

The officers react swiftly, drawing their weapons and shouting at her to get down and to drop the bloody butcher knife she’s holding in her hand. But before they can act, my twin sister, Isabella, rushes out from behind our mother and tackles her to the ground.

Two officers grab hold of both Dad and me, forcibly ushering us away from the house and toward an ambulance that's parked nearby. I hear Mom scream, and then there’s nothing. Dad is in a furious struggle with them, demanding to know what happened to his family, but they won't let us go back.

Tears stream down my face as I scream, "I need to check on my sisters! I need to make sure they're okay!" But my pleas fall on deaf ears as the police continue to keep us at bay. The world outside has descended into chaos. Flashing ambulance lights compete with the fiery glow while the wailing of sirens echoes in my ears. Ambulances, fire trucks, and a swarm of uniformed officers have taken over our quiet front yard.

I stand frozen, heart pounding, as if I'm trapped in a real-life nightmare. My eyes dart around frantically, trying to make sense of anything that is happening around me. Fear surges through my veins, and I can't breathe. This can't be happening. I knew Mom was in a bad mood, but if she attacked my siblings like I think she did, no one could have seen this coming. She’s always been quiet, strict, but never psychotic.

I spot Landon as he’s emerging from the house, cradling his twin sister, Sophia, in his arms. His face is contorted with fear and anguish, his expression etched with desperation. He's holding her like she's the most precious thing he's ever seen in his life, as if he wants to shield her from all the dangers in the world. She’s older than me by two years, but she seems so small and delicate, lying in his arms, unmoving.

He rushes down the porch, his pace unfaltering despite the police officers yelling at him to stop. I can hear him screaming, pleading with them, his voice cracking with raw emotion. He's telling them that she needs help, that they'll have to hurt him to get him to stop. I've never seen him so intense, so determined, and it's both terrifying and heart-wrenching.

The officers seem to recognize the urgency in his voice, allowing him to pass. Landon carries Sophia toward an awaiting ambulance, where paramedics in blue uniforms scramble to assist her. My heart feels like it's about to burst from my chest as I watch from a distance, unable to get any closer to see what's happening.

Landon's voice rings out, loud and desperate. He's yelling at the EMS personnel, insisting that they have to work on her in his arms because he promised her he wouldn't let her go. His devotion to her is palpable, something I suspected but have never seen with my own eyes. He’s always been protective of her, but right now, he’s absolutely feral.

I want to move, to run to them, to make sure everything is okay, but I'm paralyzed by the surreal scene unfolding before me. It's all too overwhelming. Tears blur my vision, and I can only stand there, helplessly wondering if any of my other siblings are going to come out of the house with a growing sense of dread. Finally, two gurneys are brought out—one carrying my older brother, Ethan, who is alive, but I hear someone say he’s in critical condition, and the other holding his twin brother, Samuel, who is covered by a white sheet. I know it’s Samuel because he’s the only other man in the house besides Landon. My heart shatters as I realize that Samuel didn't make it. The world around me blurs into a nightmarish haze as the truth sinks in. I look to my dad for comfort that he can’t afford to give me, and he does nothing but stare through me like he wasn’t just crushing me to him like I was the only thing he’s ever wanted in this world.

GRANT

PRESENT

The ax swings through the crisp morning air, chopping a log of firewood in two with a satisfying thud. Beads of sweat trickle down my bare chest, glistening in the early morning sun. The rhythm of chopping wood has become a welcome distraction, a way to drown out the relentless echo of my thoughts. Thoughts that always lead me back to her. My perfect little doll.

I know what I’m doing is wrong. Forbidden. But the mind has a way of straying into this dangerous territory with her, despite all reason and logic. I was holding it together, keeping my distance, ignoring Olivia so I wouldn’t snap and do something that I’d regret and probably ruin her life. It was supposed to be different with me. I only have one brother. The dreaded Hillcrest curse wasn’t supposed to touch me or my family. I never thought that when I agreed to the arranged marriage my parents concocted, that decades later, I’d find myself nothing short of obsessed with my youngest daughter. I also couldn’t have guessed that my wife would betray me in ways I still haven’t fully grasped three months after the fact. We went on to have three sets of twins, and I haven’t touched her since Olivia and Isabella were born eighteen years ago. There was never love, or attraction, if I’m honest, between us. I thought having a family with her might change my mind, but it was clear after her third pregnancy that it still wasn't enough.

If I’m honest, and I do try to be, I’ve never felt anything for any woman until Olivia’s first visit home from college. It was like being smacked in the face with how beautiful she is. I’ve always known she was pretty, smart, and kind, but I suppose being away from her for several weeks made it feel like I was seeing her for the very first time all over again. I knew right then and there that the curse was still thriving and alive in my veins. Even though I never got an explanation for my wife’s snap decision to harm my entire family, I fully believe she knew what I was feeling for Olivia. How could she not? I can’t take my eyes off the girl when we’re in the same room. I ache to hold her and touch her in ways I’d kill another man for if he tried. My wife was successful in taking the life of one of my oldest sons, Samuel, and injuring his twin, Ethan, to the point he had to be hospitalized for several weeks after the stabbing. My daughter Sophia was stabbed trying to protect her twin, Landon, but she was released from the hospital the next morning. Despite the fact that I’ll never have answers to what my wife’s objectives were that night, I can’t help but think she was only targeting my sons because she thought they were sick with the curse.

They are, well we all are, I suppose. Ethan and Isabella live here in the cabin with me, and I don’t interfere with what they want to do. They want to be together, and I’m not going to get in their way. I know Ethan would kill anyone who did. Curse or not, he’s obsessed with her in a way that I now understand because I have to fight it every day trying to stay away from Olivia. It has driven me to this solitary life in the wilderness, in this cabin I always wanted to live in, but now that dream feels hollow without her here with me.

With each swing of the ax, my obsession with Olivia burns me from the inside out. She’s etched into my mind, a constant presence that I know will never leave me. Her laughter, the way she looks at me with those deep, knowing eyes, her gentle touch—it all torments me. She is a forbidden temptation, the one I can never allow myself to have. It’s different with us than Ethan and Isabella. He’s her brother, not her father. I’m meant to take care of Olivia and protect her, not lust after her like some creep.

I pause in my wood-chopping to wipe the sweat from my brow, my chest heaving with exertion. The thought of what I can’t have with Olivia intensifies as I look toward the cabin where Ethan and Isabella are eating the breakfast she made for us. They stand on the cabin's porch, framed by rough wooden beams. Isabella's laughter is like the tinkling of wind chimes as she playfully tosses a piece of bacon to Ethan. Their dynamic is perfect, and while I’ve seen him handle her roughly before, I know he will do anything in his power to protect her. Seeing him playfully pull her on his lap and kiss the top of her head makes my heart burn for Olivia.

My mind drifts to Hillcrest University, where Olivia is studying. The idea of going there to find her has been growing like a seed in my thoughts. I long to see her, to hold her, to beg her to forgive me for being so harsh with her when all she wanted was my comfort. I couldn’t be what she needed. I couldn’t even be a father because all I wanted to do was cling to her, claim her, disappear from everything.

I pick up another log and swing the ax down with all the rage I have inside of me, the blade biting into the wood. The sound of the impact echoes through the forest, a release for the frustration that simmers inside of me.

As I chop wood, Ethan saunters over, a devilish grin on his face. I already know he’s about to say some dumb shit that’s going to set me off. He’s been testing my patience, taunting me ever since he used both of his brain cells to figure out how I feel about Olivia. “Want to hear a fun fact?” he begins.

“No,” I say immediately because anything that is fun for Ethan is never fun for anyone else. He’s a sadistic little shit and always has been. I glance over at Isabella who is grinning at me, and I don’t doubt that she’s in on whatever this joke is.

“The ratio of boys to girls at Hillcrest is three to one,” he tells me, his deep voice going up an octave in his glee.

I glance at him, my grumpy demeanor not masking my curiosity. "Why are you telling me this?"

Ethan shrugs, raising an eyebrow teasingly. "Oh, I don't know. I’m sure it’s fine. Olivia has three—"

“Don’t fucking finish that sentence,” I growl, reaching out to grab him by the shirt collar like I did when he was younger, but he expects it, dodging me.

When he sobers from laughing, he says, “You’re miserable without her.”

I sigh, not willing to admit that I’m considering going to Hillcrest unless I can talk myself out of it again. "I have to run into town later. Just make sure you look after Isabella while I'm gone." I know I don’t need to tell him that, but the fatherly side of me can’t help it. We have a beautiful home, but the wilderness is not a safe place.

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