Rachael: Preview

The world was divided, two powerhouses were at war with one another. The thing is, that the war was not contact related, nobody fought one another. Instead, it was a war of the economies. This story takes place within this war, but has nothing to do with this war (I mean, it’s a ghost story after all). It was a cool and calm October evening. People walking around left and right in their clothing that possesses shades of black and grey. There was the exception of those who wore rainbows on their shirts and pants. The country was the United States, and the state was California. Within that state resided a town called Lauren Heights, in Lauren Heights were people of varying ages, from the men and women of old to the children experiencing new life. Among them was a child as the age of seven, who went by the name of Daniel Cipriano. Daniel too, was wearing the clothing of black, a black long sleeved shirt with grey pants, he was walking with the crowd on his way home to see his family. Within his hands he held a bag of oranges and apples to prepare a meal. He was told to go to the farmers market and get the fruit, while making it home safe and sound, this was a simple task itself for he was a responsible young lad who was trusted by many. He was not a fan of being cramped with all the people though, he felt restricted and needed to be free. He decided that on the next turn that he would cross the to the other side of the street, away from them, away from the people. He did so, he crossed to a place where people were still there, but there was less of them. He felt more free and was able to make more choices, this lead him to take the scenic route. It was as calm as he thought it would be, a cold wind blowing around and about. He walked along the sidewalk and saw a set of trash cans. There was something on the ground near the trash cans which seemed to grab his attention, it was a clean blue box, like the ones that he saw at the stores. He walked near it to turn the box and saw something odd. It was a doll, a girl with tattered clothing and blond hair, her eyes were large and red and producing from that eye was a single tear. He remembered seeing the girl on a container of “Borden’s Dutch Instant Chocolate Mix” The box was titled “Little Miss No Name”. It had a little message to it, it said:

         “I need someone to love me
         I want to learn to play
         Please take me home with you
         And brush my tear away”

The box looked so intact, and the box looked so alluring. He reached for it until he heard a noise, it was a sound rustling through the trash cans. Daniel, too scared to move, was in a state of paralysis while whatever was coming out of the trashcan was doing so. Out from the shadows came a tall, white male. He had long brown hair, some of it was in braids. His eyes were white with the exception of the tint of red. His clothes were in a rainbow fashion that was in a swirled pattern, almost as if it were tye-dye. The man also had a pungent smell of marijuana on him. This made Daniel's eyes water and him want to hold his nose.

         “Hey there kid,” the man said, his voice was weak. Daniel was hesitant, not sure whether to run or not. He was told not to trust these people by his parents. They told him stories about how they did nothing and they slowed down America, only harming it more, but the doll was so alluring. He saw something in it that he saw in no other doll before, as if there was life within that doll. The red eyes, the dirty blonde hair, the tear on her cheek, he wanted to make her feel better, he wanted her suffering to go away. He decided to face all odds that stood before him, and take the chance.

         “Hello there,” he said quietly.
         “I see you viewing my doll here,” he said.
         “Well, yes I am.”
         “She’s one of the last of her kind you know,” he said to him,
         “What do you mean?”
         “It’s the industry, man,” he started, “the industry stopped making them and now their fading away.”
         “That sounds terrible,” Daniel replied, still a little wary of the funny smelling man.
         “I know, man. So I’m here to keep some of them safe from harm until she can find a home,” he continued.
         “Do you want her?”
         “What do I have to do for her,” Daniel finally asked. He gave him a funny look and then smiled.
         “Whad’ya mean? You don’t have to do anything,” he said to him, “I just need some money, that's all,”. Daniel looked around for a moment thinking about what his parents would say. He didn’t really care anymore, he looked at the man with a mix of determination and nervousness.
         “How much?” He finally asked,
         “Eh, how about around ten dollars?” he wagered. The boy agreed and gave him the ten dollars. The man walked down the street and disappeared with the people on the other side. Daniel looked at the doll for a brief moment and took her out of the packaging. She smelled of fresh plastic and artificial hair, her red eyes gleaming in the setting sunlight. He was mesmerized by the doll looking into her eyes and saw a tragic story within them. A story about how she was made by people and then was put on a shelf, nobody wanted her, everyone was afraid of her. How she didn’t fit in with the standard of a doll and therefore was shunned. Then one day a man had taken her and her other friends or relatives, and put them in the trash where they did not see daylight. He stared until he looked over at the setting sun and realized that he had to get home. Daniel ran down the sidewalk with great speed and eventually made it back home. His home was a large white house, about two stories and a basement. The house was covered in many Halloween decorations He walked down the pathway and looked at the yard, his yard was quite lovely, the yard was clean of any leaves and had a scarecrow in the center with a couple of pumpkins around them. Daniel went through the door and was greeted by his mother and his father with a hug. His parents were relieved that he was home, but wondered what the doll was in his possession.

         “Daniel,” the mother started, “who is… this?”
Daniel was nervous to tell who she was, or where she had retrieved him from, but he knew that he mustn’t tell a lie, for the Lord would not want for him to lie to his parents.

         “Well, this is Rachael,” he started nervously, mustering up his courage to speak, “she is my daughter,”
         “Well, where on earth did you get this ‘daughter’ of yours?” his father asked,
         “I got her from a man... for about ten dollars,” he said,
         “What kind of man was it? You have been gone for quite a while,” the mother then asked,
         “It was a man who had a tie-dye shirt,” he said. The parents looked at each other nervously, and then looked at the child.
         “Did he… do anything to you?” the mother asked nervously,
         “No, he just took the money and left,” Daniel replied. There was a brief moment of silence as the parents looked at each other, both of their eyes had concern and worry.
         “We… need to discuss this in the other room…” the father said as he walked out of the room. Daniel looked at Rachael in worry that he did something wrong.

         “What are we going to do with Daniel?” the father asked nervously, “did we not raise him well enough?”
         “Of course we did,” the mother said with fading confidence, “Daniel has always been known for not completely listening to older people, he’s just a free spirit and tends to do what he wants sometimes,”
         “I’m feeling a little suspicious about this, what if this doll has something in it, like marijuana or some other illegal drug and then we get in trouble,”
         “I know why you feel this way,” she told him, “this is the sixties after all. The only thing that we can do is look after Daniel and make sure that he doesn’t get into anymore trouble,”
         “So, how are we going to punish him, he obviously did something wrong,”
         “He did, so I think that we should ground him, but let him keep Rachael by his side, he did buy it himself after all,”

The parents walked back into the room and faced Daniel. Daniel was still facing Rachael until he looked up at his parents who came in.
         “Daniel, we love you and we want to make sure that you are safe, so in order to keep you safe, we have to ground you,” Daniel’s mother said,
         “Can I… still keep Rachael?” Daniel asked,
         “Of course you can, but you have to make sure that you stake good care of her. Care for her as if she were your own child,” Daniel’s father said,
         “I will, father,” Daniel replied happily,

Thus, Daniel was sent to his room. He was grounded for a couple of days, but he didn’t care, none of that really mattered. As long as he had his new daughter Rachael, he was content with everything that happened around him.