“This is the best birthday gift I have ever received! Thank you so much uncle.”
Seven years old Sumati Sharma couldn’t stop staring at the most beautiful doll she had ever seen. She was tall, with flawless porcelain skin that glowed like moonlight. Her golden curls cascaded down her back in gentle waves. Framed by her long lashes, the doll's sparkling sapphire blue eyes shimmered, almost as if she was alive.
Dressed in a pink flowing gown, adorned with tiny pearls, the doll looked absolutely stunning; an epitome of elegance. The best part was that it was a battery operated talking doll! At the press of a button on her necklace, it responded to specific questions which could be selected from a range of pre-recorded responses.
The power of imagination is that it banishes lonely feelings and replaces them with happiness and creativity. The doll became Sumati’s companion, her playmate and confidant. She named her new doll, 'Sasha'. Except for when going to school, Sumati was found with the doll all the time, she even slept with the doll in her arms. Sasha could speak some phrases like:
“Hello!”
“How are you?”
“Have a nice day.”
“I love you!”
And whenever Sumati hit the doll, Sasha would gently scold her, “That was so mean of you. Say sorry!”
Sumati’s mother, Rohini stitched some pretty miniature dresses for the doll and Sumati happily spent all her free time talking to the doll and changing her outfits everyday. She even took Sasha to play in the garden and showed her off proudly to all her friends. For six blissful months Sumati was on top of the world and life felt magical...
Then, something sinister shattered the Sharma family's serenity!!
One day, when Sumati came back from school, an eerie sight awaited her. She found Sasha on her bed clapping her hands and saying in a sing-song voice, “Good evening Sumati. Where have you been? I missed you!”
The words sent a chill down her spine. She had kept the doll on the shelf. How come she was on the bed? Sasha’s necklace button hadn’t been pressed. She wasn’t programmed to say or do any of these things. Sumati’s throat tightened. Her legs felt like jelly as she backed away, her wide eyes glued to the doll. “Mom!” she screamed in a trembling voice.
Hearing daughter’s panic, Rohini rushed in. “What’s wrong, Sumati?”
Sumati immediately hugged her mother tight and hurriedly pointed a shaky finger at Sasha. “She… she moved! She talked! She’s not supposed to do that!”
Before Rohini could pacify her daughter, the doll Sasha appalled them again. She said, “Sumati, why are you crying? I am your friend.”
Rohini’s face turned ashen. The doll’s lips hadn’t moved, yet the words hung in the air. A cold breeze swept through the room, though the windows were shut. The atmosphere felt heavy and oppressive. Grabbing her daughter, Rohini fled the room and locked the door behind her.
That night, over dinner, Rohini recounted the events to her husband, Ram. “I’m telling you, Ram, there’s something wrong with that doll. It’s like she’s alive. I’m very sure a ghost resides in that doll and we must get rid of Sasha at once.”
Ram scoffed. “You’re overthinking. It must be just a malfunction.”
Nevertheless, when Sumati begged her father to discard Sasha, Ram relented. He took the doll, placed her in a garbage bag and drove five streets away to dispose of her in a dumpster.
After that episode, Sumati refused to sleep alone at night and Rohini had a tough time calming her little girl. However, a week passed and Sumati began to relax. The house felt lighter without Sasha’s uncanny presence. But their peace was short-lived.
One afternoon, while playing in the backyard, Sumati saw something sinister lurking in the bushes; a glimmer of pink fabric. Her heart sank. Pushing the branches aside, she came face-to-face with Sasha. Sumati was horrified to see Sasha blinking her evil sapphire eyes, they were gleaming with malice. The haunted doll said, “You are such a bad girl Sumati. I am your friend and you threw me in the garbage bin. Don’t do that again, okay?”
For a minute her heart stopped, but then on wobbly feet, in between falling down several times, Sumati managed to run into the house. She was crying profusely and gasping for breath when she informed her parents about what she saw. Ram tried to dismiss his frightened daughter’s claims, “How is it possible darling. We threw it in the trash so many days ago. It must be an illusion of your mind.”
“It isn't my illusion. I know we had thrown her away, but she has reappeared and that dreadful doll is there in our backyard.”
Sumati was too disturbed and her parents went to investigate the situation. Their daughter was right. There sat Sasha, her gown pristine, her curls untouched. Her face now seemed sharper, her once-charming smile twisted into something frightening.
“This is no malfunction,” Ram muttered, he was totally flabbergasted. “We need to get rid of her permanently.”
These strange occurrences that now plagued the Sharma family were too unsettling. Desperate to free themselves of the malevolent entity, they decided to take drastic measures.
That night, with trembling hands, Ram placed Sasha in a sturdy wooden box. He hammered iron nails into the lid and tied it shut with thick ropes. Together, he and Rohini drove to a desolate playground far from their neighbourhood. They dug a deep hole, buried the box and covered it with heavy stones.
“Rohini, I hope and pray that we have succeeded in trapping the restless spirit in such a way that it never finds its way back to our house.”
Alas! If only it was so easy to dodge the demons. Now the Sharmas were all the time walking on thin ice. In spite of putting Shasha under the ground, they expected her to suddenly pop out from anywhere, from any corner of the house. And.........pop up she did!!
One evening, after helping Sumati with her homework, Rohini said, “Sumati darling, pack your books according to the timetable while I set the table for dinner.”
She was about to leave the room when out of nowhere, they heard a soft whimpering. To pinpoint the source, she glanced around and her heart stopped. Perched innocently on the desk among Sumati’s other soft toys was Sasha. Her sapphire-blue eyes gleamed with malevolence, and her lips were curled into a sinister smile that Rohini's heart began to race and her heartbeat was resonating in her ears. She gasped and her mind rummaged for rationality, but her body was trembling like dry autumn leaves. Rohini fathomed that her daughter must have seen it too. Sumati had stilled to a frozen statue and was finding it difficult to breathe.
“I am not so easy to get rid of. I love you Sumati and I’ll never leave you.”
Mother and daughter screamed in unison and ran out of the room. Just then Ram entered the house and was horrified to see his girls shaking with fear. Charging forward, he wrapped them in his arms, “Don’t tell me Sasha’s back!”
Sumati was only crying and couldn't talk at all. Rohini quivered, but managed to update Ram on what had just transpired.
Determined to end the nightmare, Ram took Sasha to a secluded lake that evening. Under the moonlight, he tied the doll to a heavy stone and hurled it into the water. Ripples danced across the surface as Sasha sank, her blue eyes disappearing into the dark depths.
Sumati became sick. She developed a high fever and refused to eat or go to school. Dark circles ringed her once-bright eyes, and her laughter was replaced by sobs.
Yearning for answers, they called an expert who had studied evil spirits. Through him they learnt about Sasha’s origins. Sharma family discovered that the doll had belonged to a little girl named Meera, who had died tragically. Meera’s nanny, distraught over the child’s death, had cursed the doll, vowing that anyone who separated it from a child would suffer.
“But why us?” Rohini questioned anxiously.
“I don’t know,” Ram admitted, feeling utterly defeated.
“Let’s go away on a mini vacation for a few days. We all need a change to calm our agitated mind, most of all, Sumati.”
Ram agreed with his wife. Packing their bags, the Sharmas took off to a hill station for a week. The picturesque town nestled amidst rolling hills and the lush greenery was so breathtaking that they literally forgot all about Sasha and the ghost that resided in her. Sumati too became carefree and cheerful like her old self.
Happy smiles danced on their faces when they returned back home. Ram was paying the fare to the taxi driver and Rohini was busy taking out the luggage from the back seat. Sumati skipped ahead to unlock the gate—only to stop dead in her tracks.
Her blood turned cold. Sasha, the haunted doll, sat on the front step, her gown unblemished, her golden curls glinting in the evening sun. Her sapphire eyes cemented on Sumati and her voice, now deeper and more menacing, echoed through the air:
“Welcome home, Sumati. Did you miss me?”
Shamim Merchant, Mumbai.
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Shades Of Simplicity
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