Daisies And Doll Heads

• Gemma Pearce, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2011

I wake up. It's cold and dark. I'm in a tiny, brick-walled room. A single window is set high up on the wall. A small, locked door is all that separates me from the world outside. The floor is hard and wet. All I have to sleep on is a pile of straw in a dark corner underneath the window. My blanket is old and ragged. It's covered in mysterious stains I don't care to investigate.

Sometimes when I gaze out the window I see birds flying high above the clouds singing their joyous songs. Often when I'm day-dreaming I wonder how great it would be to fly up above the clouds and sing with the birds. Tonight the sky looks particularly beautiful. The stars are diamonds laid out on the deep, blue silk of the night sky. As I think this last thought, I'm drawn back to reality. My stitching is coming loose and my stuffing is strewn across the floor.

The door opens and a young girl dressed in a white nightgown, about five or six years old, enters the room. She says in a playful tone, "I bet you want me to tell you a story!" She snatches me up and places me gently on my 'bed'. She runs out and appears moments later with a small, pink, chair. She begins and strange pictures fill my stuffing filled head. "Once upon a time, a little girl was skipping down a cobbled path when she found a teddy in the gutter." She pauses and looks me in my button eyes. She continues "She picked him up and took him home so she could take care of him..." She falters as she looks around the room. Suddenly she springs out of her chair and picks up the stuffing off the floor. She nurses me while she puts it back inside my little, brown arms. She takes a needle from her pocket and re-sews my loose stitches. She whisks me up off the straw and takes me into a brightly lit courtyard. 'Annabelle' I read on the side of a basket full of daisies and doll heads. Annabelle whispers in my ear, "I didn't take very good care of you." She writes a note and puts it in the basket. I can barely read the messy handwriting, but I think is says 'Please take care of me, DAISY.' Annabelle takes a few balloons and a piece of rope from a pile of decorations and ties it to my paw. She takes another piece of rope and ties one end to the basket and the other to my foot. Before I know it, I'm floating away towards the pale orange sky among the birds. Annabelle waves me off with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. For once in my little teddy bear life I feel free. A cry a tear of joy as I float towards the dawn horizon.