I’m giving you all a break from the Excalibur Vow marketing and posts (but I still need at least 7 more subscribers to do the giveaway…)

Here’s a short story which appeared in 101 Words (a weekly subscription you can get for free, or write for: https://101words.org/about/ ).

Little Girl Lost

By

Charlotte Bennardo

Image by u_sbld3jzupk from Pixabay

 I tossed the doll into a box.    

“You can’t do this!”

 Ah, Emilia, my childhood friend. “I’m not a little girl, they’re going.”

“Leave them here, for me!” She stood there, in her flowered dress, glaring.

“Time for the dolls, and you, to go. I’m leaving for college. Find a new friend.”

She cried, reaching for the doll, but it slipped through her fingers. Large tears rolled down her cherub cheeks. “I don’t want to leave!”

“Whatever. Do what you want.”

 Emelia left without a sound. I sighed gratefully.

 She would never move beyond the dolls.            

Little girl ghosts never aged.