Annie
Annie ran away again the other night. It took me hours to find her in the park, going back and forth on the swings without a care in the world, like she had every right to be there. And she dyed her hair again, blonde this time. I didn’t want to make a fuss with all those people around, so I caught her on the backswing and dragged her home kicking and screaming like a lunatic. It was humiliating: I had to smile and shrug at all the people staring like it didn’t bother me.
As soon as we were home, I sent Annie to her room. She just sat there on the bed, crying and crying. The way she carried on, I didn’t have the heart to yell at her for running away. I guess that’s the real problem, this lack of discipline. I’ve never been good at tough but fair. I’m always going too far one way or the other.
Like a few months ago when she came at me with the kitchen knife. For a minute I really thought she was trying to hurt me, my own sweet angel. But afterward she just lay there in my arms so quiet, letting me stroke her hair and sing her a lullaby, like nothing had ever happened.
But then there was that other time when she started messing around with my doll collection. They’re such fragile things, my dolls, and Annie was playing so rough like she wanted to break them. I love those dolls: they remind me of when everything was easier, when I wasn’t stuck in this house all day long with Annie’s tantrums and Bill’s moping. I got upset, and I hit her. I was so ashamed, when she ran away that night I didn’t go after her right away. I just stayed there, crying and feeling like the worst mother in the world.
I tried to be gentler after that, more understanding. So instead of getting cross with Annie, I let her stay in her room and cooked her some dinner. I turned up the TV real loud so I wouldn’t hear the racket she was making in there. She makes such a mess sometimes, and it makes me so angry, the way she breaks her things like she doesn’t even care about them anymore. I bought her a puppy once, but she wouldn’t even touch it, like she was scared of it. The very day I decided to take it back to the pet store, it vanished. I found Annie in the backyard, holding a little trowel, sitting on a pile of dirt. I helped her wash up and never mentioned it again.
I made her favorite food, macaroni and cheese, hoping it might calm her down. But as soon as I opened the door she slammed into me, trying to get past. I almost dropped the food everywhere wrestling with her like that. She had this wild look in her eyes, like an animal. It scared me, being alone in there with her when she was like that. I put the food on her desk and gently pushed her toward the chair.
“I made it just the way you like,” I told her, smiling and trying not to look as afraid as I felt.
She stared at me like she didn’t understand a word I was saying.
“Will you eat some of it?”
“I don’t want to,” she said. Her voice sounded strange, different than I’d ever heard it before. I hope I didn’t shudder. I didn’t want to upset her.
“Please, Annie, I’m very worried about you.”
“That’s not my name.”
She likes to change her name sometimes. It worries me. One day she’s Beth, the next day Irene. It’s just like her hair, she changes it every time she runs away. I get so scared that one day I won’t be able to find her, and the police won’t be able to help because I won’t know what she looks like or what she’s calling herself.
“Sweetheart, I’d really like you to eat a little bit. Just a little, please, for mommy.”
And then she said, with the meanest look on her face, “You’re not my mommy.”
It hurt so much. It felt like a stab to my heart. Tears welled up in my eyes before I could stop them, so I turned away. I heard her scramble onto the bed, her fingernails scratching like little claws on the posts. When I looked back, she had her back pressed against the corner of the room, legs drawn up to her chest, rocking back and forth. Staring at me with those wild animal eyes.
“I love you, Annie,” I said with as much dignity as I could manage. “But sometimes I just don’t know how to deal with your behavior.”
She screamed. Just this one long, loud, echoing screech, like a siren. Her mouth was wide open, but her face was blank. I covered my ears, got out of the room and closed the door behind me.
I had to collect myself before I could go see Bill. He’s been so odd lately, I don’t want to worry him anymore.
I got a second plate of the macaroni and brought it to the bedroom. That’s where he spent all his time, lying in bed.
“Honey, I made dinner.”
He didn’t answer, didn’t even roll over to look. I picked up the plate from this morning, the food on it untouched, and put the new one down where he could reach it.
“Annie’s back. I found her in the park. She’s pitching a fit in her room already.”
He must’ve heard the screaming. I always tried to keep her quiet, told her that daddy needed rest, but she never listened. Sometimes I wondered if he could even hear her. He never got up to see what was wrong.
I knelt beside the bed and looked into his eyes. He stared back at me, not saying a word. He’d been like ever since the first time Annie ran away. They’d been alone together. Then she had run off, and he’d stopped talking. He lay down in bed and never got up again. Lost his job, lost so much weight. He hardly even looked like the man I’d married.
I kissed him on the forehead and left. As I closed the door behind me, I thought I saw him start to get up, but I guess I must have imagined it.
Annie kept on with that awful screaming for hours. I stayed in the living room, sitting on our big three-person couch alone. I turned up the TV as loud as I could, played music, turned on the blender, tried everything I could to drown out the awful screaming. It was like nails being driven into my ears, like spiders crawling up my neck, like ice water splashing on my legs.
Finally it stopped. I thought maybe she’d finally tuckered herself out, but then the scratching started. That was almost worse. It started out quick, rhythmic, but it got slower as time went on. Sometimes Annie would make a noise, like she was crying again. I started to worry that she might be hurting herself, but I couldn’t get that awful thing she had said to me or that wild look in her eyes out of my head. I just stayed in the living room and tried to sleep.
I don’t know how it got to be like this. I’ve thought about taking her to a doctor, but they always give her these strange looks. It’s gotten to where I don’t dare to go to the same doctor twice: I’m afraid they might be thinking of taking her away from me, of doing something awful to her.
I’ve thought about calling in a priest. I know that must sound crazy, but the way she gets sometimes, like she doesn’t even know me, it scares me so much. She’ll call out to people who aren’t there, shout names I don’t know like they’re real people. And there was that business with the kitchen knife. It wasn’t the first time she’s tried to hurt me. She smuggles rocks into the house and tries to hit me with them when my back is turned. When she gets really wild she’ll bite and claw at me. Some days I start to wonder if she’s really my little girl, or something else, wearing her face, haunting me.
After a long time the scratching stopped and everything got quiet. I sighed with relief. The house is so much nicer when it’s quiet.
I looked at the clock and could hardly believe how late it was. She must have finally fallen asleep. When I looked over at her door, I saw the light still on through the cracks. Quiet as I could, I tiptoed over. I would just peek in, turn off the light. Maybe give her a little kiss good night.
I opened the door just a crack, but that was all it took. She slammed through, knocked me to the floor, and scrambled away.
“Annie stop!” I shouted. She was going right to our bedroom, making so much noise I was sure it would wake Bill up.
She shoved through our door and I ran after. But inside she was just standing there, staring at the bed.
“Sweetheart, daddy’s sleeping,” I hissed.
She started screaming again, even louder than before. She pointed at Bill and screamed and screamed. I shushed her, tried to tell her he was sleeping.
But she wouldn’t stop. She screamed and screamed. The sound pierced through me, tore apart every nerve in my body. I covered my ears and scratched at my face and soon I was screaming too, just as loud as she was. I took her up in my arms and we screamed together. I hugged her as tight as I could, squeezed her to me, wishing I could do something, anything to make it stop. I held her so close I could feel her heartbeat, how soft and quiet it was, growing quieter and quieter.
She stopped screaming, there in my arms, and soon I stopped too. I sank to my knees, holding my little girl in my arms, stroking her hair.
I don’t know how long we stayed like that. It was so dark in the bedroom.
I looked down at Annie, but it wasn’t Annie at all. I was holding one of my dolls.
I must have fallen asleep, holding her there, and she snuck away and put a doll in my arms instead. It was a funny doll, one I didn’t remember having. It had such lovely blonde hair.
I felt so silly, holding that doll like that for who knows how long. I got up and carried it to the closet where I keep the other dolls and laid it there. There were so many dolls, and they were all so big, I was starting to run out of room. But I couldn’t throw them out. They were so pretty, such lovely little dolls. They all looked different, but every single one reminded me of Annie.
I checked around the house, but she was gone. She must have been very upset, to run away twice in just two days. I got my coat on and got ready to go look for her again.
Before I left, I went back to the bedroom to check on Bill. Somehow all the noise hadn’t bothered him at all. I touched his forehead, but he didn’t seem any different. My fingers stuck a little bit, and there was some funny green stuff left on them afterward. I wiped it off on the bed and said goodbye.
It was such a lovely day outside. I took a deep breath of the fresh air. I love our house, but every once in a while I notice the worst smell in there.
Somewhere off in the distance, I heard the sound of children laughing. It was so nice to hear after all that awful noise last night. Maybe Annie thought so too. I followed the laughter.
Credit To – Gray
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I liked this story. So mysterious. c;
Ok. I get the woman in delusion part; her husband is clearly dead and rotting. She abducts little girls to replace Annie, her daughter who either ran away or her husband did something to. Not too clear on which though. Now, are the “dolls” the dead bodies of the girls? Or does she make dolls that look like the little girls she abducts/kills?
I don’t understand. What the hell is wrong with Annie?
My guess is that Bill is dead, and the protaganist is crazy, thinking that her dolls look like Annie, how may also be dead. The dolls explain how “Annie” dyes her hair every time she runs away.
This is scary because that’s my name. Anyways, 9/10 loved it
The way I read it the mother was kidnapping children and “hugging” them to death. After they died they became part of her doll collection. Good read overall.
Taking a “predictable” story and making it something this polished is no easy feat. Well written and intriguing to the end. I enjoyed this immensely!
Nice story but I didn’t get a lot of things what happened to the person telling the story?
What did she do to her husband? &
WHO WAS ANNIE?
I guessed the Annie part when you mentioned the hair dying, then second guessed myself when you were talking about getting a priest. The dad part was quite obvious. Overall, a refreshing, sickening pasta. 9/10.
Ummm, I am lost as well lol Going to reread it again
Pretty good pasta, I have to say. I like how you try to make it seem like there’s something wrong with the daughter the entire time to distract the reader from what’s actually going on. Although, it might have been a good idea to leave out the part in the beginning about how the little girl dyed her hair every time she ran away, as that made the rest of the story a bit predictable.
It took me a few moments, but i get it… this is a story that really causes you to think…
To you all who doesn’t get it, read it again… It’s more fulfilling to get it on your own than to wait until someone tells you.
I kEpT rUnNiNg AwAy BeCaUsE BiLL wAs StInKiNg Up ThE hOuSe MOM! aNd ThOsE sTuPiD dOllS wErE fReAkInG mE oUt!!!!!!!!!!!!
I didnt get it…:P
but WHO WAS ANNIE? lol. no for real though, i dont understand this story… i did like it though..i just can’t seem the put together the ending.
She turned annie to a doll even I no that
I think you’ll find that you’re wrong with that, mate. The “dolls” are actually the dead bodies of the previous “Annies,” hence the part about the girl’s heartbeat getting weaker and weaker. The mother didn’t turn the girl into a doll, she strangled her to death.
i don’t get it,someone explain it for me?
⬆
From what I gathered the father died and her daughter is gone. So she kidnaps children because they remind her of her daughter Annie. But each time the girl dies and she confuses them for her “dolls” so she thinks her daughter ran away and goes off to find a new kid to kidnap
Not too creepy, but I really, thoroughly enjoyed this story!! Glad you didn’t spell everything out exactly. It was more fun connecting the dots myself! Thanks! 9/10, losing 1 just because it wasn’t overly creepy :) Well done.
I would like to make a pointless note that I was eating when I got to the part about the green residue on her fingers and I sort of stopped chewing for a second….
But this story is well written and very good. Post more!
I must stay, this was very well put together. With the way it was written it was not clear right from the start how it would go, or how it would end, though I had a slight suspiscion once the husband was spoke of. I have no real criticism for this story, and I hope that you continue to write. I give this a well earned 8 out of 10.
I hope to see you again, Gray.
This was really well done and a very interesting read. I was wondering if someone could just tell me what happened at the end? I don’t really understand the ending but nonetheless, it was very nicely written! :)
So the mom kidnaps girls and calls them “Annie” this may derive from her losing her child, and attempting to replace her with other children she kidnaps. Hence, hr hair changing, not wanting to be called “Annie” and saying “Your not my mommy”
Oh yea, the husband, Bill, is dead :P
Can someone explain the ending?
SPOILER-SPOILER-SPOILER
‘annie’ are various girls the mother has abducted, her husband is dead (duh). she strangles the girl and puts her in the closet with the other girls she has taken 7 killed.
There was no ‘Annie’, she’d been kidnapping different girls from the park every day – that’s why she thought Annie was changing her names and hair color, and why she said “you’re not my mother” and “I’m not Annie”, and why she looked so wild and tried to escape. Oh, and the husband is a dead guy.
Also the dolls are corpses, that’s why they’re so ‘big’ and why the house smells.
and the dead dog? that’s the piece of the puzzle i can’t figure out.
Very predictable I have to say, but it was a really good story overall.
7/10
Was the narrator an abductor?
yes,she was.
A crazy one at that :P
I saw that it wasn’t really Annie in the first paragraph and that the dad was dead when she first mentioned him. The idea was good but it could have used some back story of how the dad died even if the mother thinks he survived it.
A good pasta, just a little undercooked and needing some seasoning.
The dad most likely died because “the first time Annie ran away” was probably her real daughter that she was abusing and bill was abusing also and the real Annie lashed out and killed Bill, but then the mother killed the real Annie
Great story. You just need to work on your grammar and it would be a lot better. 8/10
Grammar seems just fine to me.
I don’t get it… What’s supposed to have happened?
She was some crazy woman who killed her daughter (maybe) & now takes random girls her age keeps them in her house until they run away,die or she kills them & they are the dolls in her closet thats why the dying hair & changing name bit I don’t get what happened to her husband though
The mother is insane, and a serial killer. Somehow Bill died, perhaps killed by one of the Annie girls.
“Annie” is not a single girl. She is the name given by the mother to the girls she keeps abducting and dragging home. When she kills them, they become her “dolls” and she goes and gets a new Annie. That’s why Annie’s hair keeps changing color, and why she acts so “crazy” to her mother.
Bill we know is dead because he never moves, and they’re all starting to rot, which is the terrible smell she’s noticing.
It’s like the movie Last House On The Left, her husband Bill is dead and she is just kidnapping girls and convincing herself they’re Annie. They’re all different people. The only confusing part is the very end with the dolls.
the dolls are corpses from the other girls, thats why the girl turned into a doll, she died
i think you’re confusing House at the End of the Street with The Last House on the Left.
I liked it. a tad obvious about bill. :) took me a while to catch on to the annie bit. and the doll bit caught me by surprise.
Highly predictable, since the first mention of the girl dying her hair. Still enjoyable though.
I didn’t find it predictable at all O_O’ the ending was a total mindfuck for me.
haha you and me both!
Totally for me too
Jesus Christ my heart is pounding ;-;
I don’t get it :C
The woman’s husband is dead. The girl really isn’t her daughter. In fact, all the “dolls” she has are really girls that she kidnapped, thinking they were her daughter Annie. They eventually died and she kept the bodies. I feel like I worded it weird but I hope this gives you a good summary, haha.
It took me a moment at the end to put it all together. This was a really good story actually, I highly enjoyed it. Very nice.
I have to agree. But this type of story seems really overplayed in my opinion. I mean I get that if manipulated properly it has a really good creepy effect but, although this pasta was tolerable and left room for imagination throughout, I’ve read many pastas similar and it really took away from the ending slap to the face. It became a mere nudge.
I don’t really get it….. I’m piecing together parts of it but don’t get the entire story….
Ok, so basically “Annie” is another kid who isn’t hers. She goes to the first kid she sees, takes them home because she thinks that they’re Annie, and they start screaming and scratching and attacking her and stuff. She then accidentally turns them into dolls and thinks that Annie has run away. Then it repeats, over and over again.
Not dolls. She kills them but in her insanity calls them dolls.
I don’t get the ending I think I know it but I’m not sure
Annie is a seriese if kidnappd girls and bill is dead, and all the dolls are dead Annies and the terrible smell is rotting flesh.
Okay that makes it easier thanks, 10/10 ^-^
I believe her husband is dead[although it makes it appear as if he’s not]and the protagonist kidnaps little girls[thinking there her child who she maybe killed] and pretends they are her ”Annie”In my opinion,this type of story is played out a bit,I find that it’s very easy to identify key points in the story right away,although it is well written.Still a good story though.
Really clever, I didn’t get it till I read the comments but once I re read it, whoever wrote it seemed like a genius! I just don’t get the part with ‘Annie’ burying te puppy..
My best guess is that she gave her a dead dog. And the little girl was understandably horrified but then buried the animal in the back yard out of respect. But I’m not completely sure either.
The puppy was dead that’s why the “Annie” buried it
I didn’t get it till I read the comments but once I re read it, it was much better! I just don’t get the part with ‘Annie’ burying the puppy..
The puppy was dead thats why she was afraid to touch it, and also she buried it….
I loved this pasta! I still don’t really understand the part with the dog but I was second guessing myself the entire time! Thank you for sharing :)