Antique Effigy (FICTION) ~ undercover duck

My mother owns an antique store. It's got a lot of stuff in it, and it all varies. From the little wooden bowls from Africa to the large set of drawers from Maine, each item has its own personality. But sometimes things have too much personality. Take the case of the antique effigy. Why my mother bought it, I was never quite sure. When she first brought it into the store, I thought it was a doll. Little did I know that an effigy is not just an incredibly lifelike doll, but like a mold of a dead child. They make them out of plaster, take a mold of the child immediately after it dies, and then put the hair and even eyelashes in the mold. This makes an incredibly realistic, yet morbid keepsake for the mourning parents. So anyway, my mother brought this really creepy effigy into the store. Now I haven't seen many effigies in my day. But this one seemed evil. From the moment I laid eyes on it, I made sure I was never alone in the room with her. She was small, pale, and had long blonde hair. And I was terrified of her. In about a week I had gotten used to her. I stopped being worried about being alone with her, and she rarely crossed my mind. That all ended abruptly one night about two weeks after my mom had bought her. I was laying in my bed, sleeping quite peacefully. Suddenly I heard a small crash from downstairs, where the store was located. Immediately I sat up. Was someone breaking into our store? Did something fall over? I stopped to let my thoughts clear. I looked at the little light up numbers on my clock. It said it was only 12:30. My mom would still be at her party. I had to go down and check by myself. I jumped up and flipped on the light switch. My feet padded down the hallway and through the door at the top of the stairs. I shuffled down them, half asleep. When I hit the light switch on the bottom stair I peered around the suddenly bright room. Nothing was out of order. I took a couple steps into the store. Then I noticed something. In the back room, the door was ajar. I walked towards it, and slowly pushed it open. The light spilled into the room and I noticed a glass cabinet was cracked. I took a step forward and looked down. There at my feet stood the effigy. I jumped back. My heart pounded. Then I realized that it just must have fallen out of its case, cracking the glass on the way down. I went to pick it up, but I had second thoughts. Something was wrong with it. Her face appeared odd. It looked like, no, it couldn't be, but it looked like it was crying. I slammed the door shut and quickly took the stairs back to my room. I cold clean up the mess tomorrow. In the daylight. I locked the door at the top of the stairs. Then I turned around, and with a sigh of relief, walked back down the dark hall. I swung open my door and stepped into my room. There, on my bed, sat the effigy. I screamed despite myself, and took a step back. I turned and ran out of the room and down the hall, into the main store, and outside. Outside I caught my breath. In the moonlight, I felt safer on the asphalt. I made myself comfortable on the bricks outside my driveway. I put my head in my hands and sighed. All I had to do was to sit out here and wait for my mom to come. She would be home anytime now. I felt like laughing. This was silly. I must have been imagining things. There was no way some stupid plaster mold could move! I laughed quietly. In the silence I felt comfortable. I relaxed for a second, but then I heard something, a rustling sound. Something was in the bushes! I jumped, but then I heard an even more terrifying sound. I heard a child laughing.

it's fiction. but i do hate dolls!