THE DOLL

This story begins with the good old Mississippi river, and it all starts at noon, it was february 12th of the year 1847. That morning the river was crowded with boats and the docks were stuffed with people, people who came from cities across the country just to visit New Orleans and enjoy the colorful nights and the cheerful music.

ya'll know about the legendary witches of New Orleans, so i'll just skip right to it and begin this story. That morning was a very special date, all the people that visited the land of the good jazz and parades were there to witness one of the most exclusive concerts of the entire year. although only wealthy people were able to attend the fact that they were here brought joy to the less fortunate of this city. Back then this was a city know for jazz, parades, alcohol but specially...witches. people knew about the legends and the tales that were told about them, and people were afraid but they simply kept that fear to themselves. The new arrivals filled the streets and as I said before even the less fortunate ones enjoyed that date, thieves and muggers of the town were fascinated with this new arrivals. They knew how naive they were and they used that to help themselves. Voodoo was very common to the people in this town and they feared it, but of course outsiders knew nothing about no voodoo. One of them was famous amongst the others, her name was Marie. She was the best at tricking people.

In a boat about to land a girl was seated between her dad and her mom, they were having a fancy dinner with one of the richest families in New Orleans. Her name was Tory she was 16 years old at that time and she only lived with her parents. The other family was formed by 

Mr. Langlais ,Mrs.Langlais and thair two boys Thomas and Francis. Francis was the oldest and he was 18 years old and Thomas was 17. The dinner conversation was completely uninteresting and irrelevant to the ears of young Tory that only dreamed of traveling and learning new things, she was very curious which back then was a quality that promised a very short life for those who were unfortunate enough to have it.

Once the two families landed they decided they were going to go to the Langlai's mansion, when they finally got there and installed themselves they decided they wanted to go out to walk around town, but when they were about to leave Mrs.Langlais rushed towards them and warned them that it was not safe to go out this late at night, but she promised to show them around town the next day. After that both families slept.

of course people that were out in the street were not so calm, Marie was out and hunting a new victim. She did, A young and wealthy-looking man, Marie was a very attractive lady so it was pretty easy for her to drag others towards her, she had dark skin and bright blue eyes. This man was also in town to see the parade that was only 2 days away, but he followed Marie, clearly he didn't make to the parade. Marie brought this man into her house down in Bourbon St. she showed him in as she toucher his back, and took one hair from his head without him noticing. when she showed him into the living room he sat down on a couch, Marie offered some tea, he accepted. while she was in the kitchen the took a doll out of one of her drawers she threw the doll into a pot filled with animal blood and then took the young man's hair and threw it in, the smell was terrible and the man noticed when he stood up to check on Marie who was still in the kitchen he was very surprised of seeing Marie standing on the doorway holding a red doll. He got scared and walked back towards the door, until a piercing pain made him stop and fall to the ground, his leg was bleeding but he didn't know why. Marie laughed.                                                                                      

  

Once the sun was up Tory woke up, she was now very excited about going into town and learning and exploring such a fascinating place. She got dressed and went down stairs to find Mr.Langlais and Thomas having breakfast she joined them and waited for the rest, the maid came into the dinning room and approached Mr.Langlais to inform that Tory's mom was not feeling very well and wanted to stay in the house for the rest of the day with her husband. Mrs.Langlais said she was not going with them either at the end the only people who were going to visit the heart of the town were Tory, Thomas and Mr.Langlis who was only going because he needed to buy some more tobacco, the butler was going to go with Thomas and Tory to visit the most famous places of the city. Once there Mr.Langlais said he was going to buy tobacco and left Troy and Thomas with the butler. As they walked they talked. Although the parade was a day away people already filled the streets. Kids ran in front of them and voiced announced products, Tory was listening to Thomas until the entered Bourbon St. that's when Tory could not focus on Thoma's words she was fascinated by that place and also excited, she wanted to explore that place alone, she wanted to run and go into every single door that seemed ven half opened. She waited for an opportunity to scape from the dull conversation. It came sooner than expected, a group of musicians were preforming and walking through the street, this gave Tory a chance to open a random door and hide. Once inside she waited a few minutes until she was sure she had lost Thomas and the butler. The store was full of things that were completely unknown to her. She was a little scared, it all seemed alive, eyes watching her everywhere. She started to walk towards a little table in front of her. There was a plate in the middle, on top of it there was a human skull, and needles. When suddenly a voice said "take a seat" she turned around to find the source of that mysterious voice. It was a young woman with dark skin and bright blue eyes.

She was like hypnotized by her voice and took a seat without even asking why. The woman sat right across her on a chair with strings hanging from it and dolls pined to it. She said "I was expecting you Tory." and she reached for something under her robes, she pulled out another doll, it was Mr.Langlais. Tory was not sure what to say, but this woman had caught all of her interest and all of her attention. She then said "What do you most desire?" Tory had no answer for that, she didn't really know what she wanted, she simply sat quietly. "freedom, right?" Said Marie. When Tory heard the word freedom she instantly nodded in agreement, that word was in Tory's head all the time, but she never used it, at least not with other people, she felt like when she used it her parents would feel ofended or would think she wanted to run away (which she did, but never did) .

Then Marie said "I can give ya that girl" she moved closer to Tory as she said "but I gonna' need somethin' in exchange" Tory simply nodded. Then she felt something by her delicate legs, it was moving she wanted to scream or shove it off, but this snake went up so fast that she couldn't react, it went straight onto Marie's hand, it was a very small snake but it had bright colors, too bright. I was Green and purple then Marie said "you stayin' at the Langlais mansion ain't ya?" Tory nodded. She then smiled and said "The only thang I'm askin' of ya is to get me one hair, only one, but it needs to be from Mr.Langlais. If ya do that for me I'm gonna' set ya free of all ya responsabilities, of ya family and of what ya fear the most. We both know what that is don't we?" Tory then spoke "What would that be?" the snake was looking straight into her eyes, and although she felt intimidated by both the snake and Marie she spoke again "And what would you do with this hair that you want?" Marie sat straight and said "That is my concern not yours kid." Tory hated being called that, but she stayed quiet. "If I gave you that how would you get my "freedom"?" Marie laughed "Ya don't know who I am but I'll show ya what I can do" She stood up and went to a shelf behind her and grabbed another doll, it was Tory.

Tory was a little scared but she waited for Marie to show her. Then she grabbed one of the needles on the table, and poked one of the doll's fingers, Tory let out a muffled scream of pain, and the looked at her hand. It was bleeding. Tory was really scared but her curiosity would not allow her to leave. She only pressed her lips to the finger and sat quietly. "ya see girl? I can do great things." Tory was still holding her bleeding hand to her lips. "You won't hurt Mr.Langlais will you?" Marie smiled. "no girl, I want to help him, That's why I need ya to get that for me" Then Marie took a seat again now she had an expression that suggested she had another idea "How about this: You simply have to take this doll with ya" she said as she handed Mr.Langlais doll to her. She took it, and looked back at Marie "What should I do with it?" asked tory "Just take it with ya and put it under ya bed"

It was the night of the parade, the doll had been inside of the Langlais mansion for over a day. She had paced it there after getting out of Marie's house and finding Thomas looking for her, then took her back to the house. Thomas was a little angry he said she had been gone for hours but to her it just seemed like a few minutes. That night she had a very strange dream, there was the snake, Maries blue eyes, a lot of smoke and the there was the doll. Tory decided to tell no one of the dream of the chat she had with Marie. During the parade Thomas, her parents and the rest of the families were all happily observing and talking about the parade that went through the streets with loud music, but Tory felt strange, not scared but paranoid. Like those blue eyes were staring at her all the time. But they weren't at least that was what she kept telling herself. I was dinner time and both families went to a very fancy restaurant close enough to the parade. Tory tried to ignore all of the conversations that constantly reached her and tried to pull her in. She just wanted to go to sleep and forget about the doll and that woman. Mr.Langlais turned to Tory he was going to ask her opinion but when he opened his mouth that green and purple snake rattled out of it. Tory screamed. all the noise of the parade the chatter of the people around her, they all disappeared her voice silenced them all. When she looked back at Mr.Langlais she noticed his concern and his inquisitive expression, there was no snake, no blue eyes or doll just her and the family what were now the center of attention of the entire restaurant.

After that the families decided that it was better if they went back home and Tory got some rest, but when they got to the mansion something awful had happened. The entire house was burned down to the ground, some of it was still on fire but the rest was purely ashes. they all ran to see if the maids and the butler had made it out before the house collapsed. They hadn't. as Tory walked through the ashes she stumbled on something and fell, she looked up and staring into her eyes she saw the doll, she was scared like she had never been before. Her fear was obligating her to stand up and run that was until a scream distracted her from her own fear, it was Mr.Langlais. Tory saw him fall to the ground as she stood up and ran towards him, every one ran to help him. Tory was about to get there when she stopped, a snake was rattling in front of her, it was green with purple but this one was a little different, it had bright blue eyes. A great fear took over her, and then it vanished. Smoke, there was a lot of smoke it flushed her lungs with a sweet smell, suddenly as if something had called her or commanded her to do so she went back to the doll, she picked it up. She held it, then reached to her hair that had been pulled back into a tight braid with hair pins, she took one and then she raised the doll into the air and stabbed it in the chest with her pin. 

She dropped on her knees and the doll fell to the ground covered in ashes, Tory recovered herself and went back to Mr.Langlais he was on the ground people were crying around him, she feared the worst. She feared that the snake had killed Mr.Langlais she walked even closer and thats when she saw him on his white suit there was a huge red stain. Blood, everyone else stared at her. She was surprised by this so she looked down, her hands were covered in blood and in her right had she was holding something she opened the had and let the pierced doll fall to the ground. Then she smelled something, a sour smelled that disgusted her, still she inhaled it. Flash backs started coming to her, smoke, Marie, the snake, and words she could not understand, she then saw herself back in Marie's living room she was on the floor and asleep, she saw Marie mumbling a song more like a spell. then Marie kneels beside her and whispers "naive little girl, so thirsty for freedom, so young, and so dumb" Then Marie laughed and the vision was over. not a minute had gone by when she went back to herself, there she was bloody hands, a doll and a body. she stared into Thomas' eyes, pain.

Two days later Tory was being dragged to the remains of the burned mansion where people had placed a pole and lots of wood. They were going to burn her, she was crying, and people were laughing and yelling at her. It seemed like the entire city had gone to see her die. They tied her to the pole and left her there for a few minutes, then a priest started praying, people followed. Tory stared at the horizon she could see the river from there, it was beautiful.  Then people started cheering again and she started feeling heat under her body, it didn't burn her yet, but the smoke... sour. She looked up and found Marie's bright blue eyes in front of her. "you said you'd free me!" she yelled at her "My darling I am doing just that" she said as she smiled. "After today you'll be free! you'll be as free as you could ever be! you'll be smoke darling! nothing to hold ya back, able to spread around the world at will!" the heat was raising and it began burning Tory's feet. "You killed me!" Tory yelled "Admit it darling in this world you are more free dead than alive!" "although there is something you should know!" Marie pulled something out of her pocket. Dolls one for every member of her family. Tory felt the burning of the fire and the rage of her spirit and yelled "Damn you!" Marie smiled and said "Seems like you beat me there" she laughed and threw all of the dolls to the fire, there was pain, people screaming, fire and smoke a lot of smoke, and then it all vanished.