Moving In Includes Unpacking
Sunnydale, the world without shrimp 1996
Dear Diary,
The box at the end of my bed was the last one to be unpacked. The whole house had been converted from a shell of the previous owner, to our family home. But there was one box that remained unopened. I was dreading the moment I had to unpack it. So all summer it had sat there, abandoned like some mangy stray on the street. The edges were scuffed and slightly damaged from all the moving and there was a smear of something resembling mud along the bottom.
I peaked inside at the contents. I remember packing it; how my heart raced with terror as I taped the lid shut. Buffy said I should stop being such a baby and just get on with unpacking it. But I couldn't. I couldn't bare to admit that I needed what was inside the box. Now looking back on it, I sounded like a spoilt brat. I was just a kid alright? I thought I could anything, but then I'd had years of Buffy running around doing what she liked. Coming back with all sorts of scrapes and bruises. When she first started slaying I thought she was secretly training a dragon or something. Mom thought she was being beaten up by mean kids at school, but Buffy was always too popular for that.
Eventually I had to open the box, I had to let the fear out. But there was something about it, something well beyond creepy that I just couldn't get on with. I knew it would have to sit on the chair in my room, facing me as I slept. Apparently you are supposed to keep the presents you don't want. Just because they're from some aunt or uncle you never see. Well great aunt Dorothy is never going to see inside my bedroom so I why can't I just put the box back under my bed and ignore it? Because of dad.
Inside the box was an Edwardian looking doll. My great aunt Dorothy left it to me when she died. She was dad's aunt and the only reason I still have it is that he insists it's a family heirloom. But it stares at you, I swear the eyes used to move around in the dark. One time I had a dream it crawled up onto my bed and strangled me in my sleep. Buffy used to say it was just a toy and that there was no reason to be afraid of it. But I don't see a doll great aunt Dorothy left her. The one time I get something and I'm convinced it's possessed.
The only reason I kept it was for when dad came round, he liked to see it out, hence why I had to take it out of the box in the first place. I was convinced he was going to back to us that summer. I used to blind hope him and mom would get back together. And though she denies it, I know Buffy did too. But that summer he was coming to get me, and that's why I had to keep the doll.
Dawnie Xx