The door creaked open, revealing a long forgotten room. Hesitance filled the orphan’s stomachs but that feeling soon wore off. Hand in hand, they inched forward.

Tattered walls covered in remnants of cobwebs and dust still shown the yellowing wallpaper that was decorated with tulips and daisies. The children stood still in the entry way taking in each detail fervently.

“Why do you think they had this room locked?” Callie asked, still dangling the stolen skeleton key from the tip of her finger. Her nails bit down to her fleshy nail bed. Anxiety driven, her therapist always pointed out to the Headmistress.

Phillip and Porsha looked at her wide-eyed and shrugged. They hadn’t had a clue. As far as they knew the School For Orphans was recently built, couldn’t have been more than 5 years their youth. This room which screamed vintage proved otherwise.

A rusted metal bassinet sat in the far corner of the room, neighboring it was a daybed that had a torn laced canopy hanging above. Besides the bedding there was an old wooden dresser-most likely made with mahogany due to its reddish tint, and a wicker basket which held a few stuffed dolls. Callie looked at the dolls, they sat slumped over the edge of the basket like they were barely hanging on by a thread. She walked through the room, straight for the basket and grabbed the largest doll.

It’s hair was a bundle of golden frayed yarn and its eyes were sewed on buttons. She couldn’t get over the color of them though. They reminded her of something but couldn’t put a thought to it. Nonetheless, they were a beautiful sea green. Like the ocean when the sun is just setting. How she misses the ocean. More than that, she misses her mother’s tanned skin dancing amongst the waves, holding her hands and twirling her as if she was a princess of the sea.

The doll also had a speck of black right on the left side of its chin. If you could even imagine a doll having a chin. She wiped at it, thinking it was a speck of dust or even a spot of mold, but the speck remained. Dumbfounded, she placed her anxiety ridden finger to the same spot on her own chin. Mouth wide open.

“Looks just like you.” The sound of Porsha’s voice startled Callie and she felt her sticky breath on her ear. A chill wiggled its way down her neck. Not because of Porsha’s abrupt presence but…She looked in a shattered oval mirror that hung above the bassinet and staring back at her were two sea green eyes and a birthmark right in the same place as the dolls.

The doll was her.