Peppermint Snow and The Cabbage Patch Doll Killers.

I was sitting in the store minding my own business when all of a sudden out of nowhere this kid comes and grabs the box that I was sitting in and throws it in a buggy with the biggest smile on her face. She looked so excited and so was I because this meant I was going to be adopted and loved. After we got home she played with me and I felt so loved but after a few days, she came into the playroom where all the other dolls and I were sitting and she got me down and cut some of my hair off. I was so hurt and upset. How could she do this to me? I looked terrible now, and I began to cry, but then the little girl hugged me and told me how pretty I was with my new haircut. So I didn't feel so bad, and for years afterward, I felt loved.

Then years later my kid had grown up and forgotten all about me and the rest of the toys, and we were all thrown in a box together and put in a dusty old attic. It was really scary in there and I was afraid but the other toys kept me company so it wasn't so bad. but then one day her mom comes in and takes my picture and puts it on some website called eBay, and before I knew it I was being shipped off in the mail somewhere and ended up at some strange house and as soon as they got me out of the box they ripped my head off my body and through my body in the washing machine. I was terrified. I didn't know what was going to happen next. I thought I must be at some kind of doll killer's house.

Before I could think another thought The dark-headed lady grabbed my head and took a razor and cut all my hair off until I was bald. This was worse than ever before. I was being tortured, and I heard them talking about sending me off and having holes drilled in my head and needles stuck in it filled with yarn. So I asked another toy to help me make a distress call and they helped me make a video asking for help but help never came and I was shipped off.

Once I got there this woman took me out of the box I was in and sat me aside for a bit and I watched her drill holes in dolls' heads in terror. I knew that was going to be my fate. It was all over. I was going to Cabbage Patch Doll Heaven. I began to cry. Then it was my turn she drilled those holes and took a needle with black yarn in it and went to work on my head. I just knew any minute I would be dead, but then when she got done. I had a full head of black hair, but still nobody.

That's when she stuck me back in a box and shipped me back to the place that shaved all my hair off. Once I got there they gave my body back to me. I was so happy, but I still never had any clothes. I was naked as a jaybird. That's when I watched as the woman took her sewing box out and began to sew. She made a small pair of pants out of a newborn's old leggings and made a small denim jacket with patches on it and then she gave them to me along with a shirt from Build A Bear and some Cabbage Patch shoes. I was so happy, and she gave me a new name. She names me Peppermint Snow. I had a new home and a new look and I was loved once again. Never will I have to be afraid anymore. I thought something horrible was happening to me and all along I was being restored to a better version of myself than ever before thanks to my new mommy.

He walked silently through the night. Softly slaying victims with ease. He never heard the screams or saw the pools of blood. He just liked how the bodies sound as they fell to the floor after he slit their throat. \
Mournful cries could be heard echoing through the air. As the victim's family held tight their loved ones now lying lifeless on the ground. He could hear the sounds of their cries but he was unaffected. 
Now in a coffee shop drinking coffee smirking at the passers-by. He knew they were weak. All of them. It didn't matter if they died All that mattered was his thrill. Sipping and watching as he eyed his next victim, an elderly man. He slowly rose to follow him hiding behind a corner when necessary until he reached his car. As the old man was fiddling with his keys Leroy looked to see if anyone was watching as he took the knife up to the man's throat and quickly slit it and he fell to the ground. Leroy or Roy as some called him softly fell out of sight and left the scene.

Raven saw him standing in the corner looking lost in his thoughts. He wasn't a handsome man nor was he an ugly fellow but there was something about him she liked,. He was dark and mysterious with a charm about him. He was of average height and ridiculously skinny. His glasses fell a little down on his nose as if he were looking at you inspecting you as if you were a bug. He had an air of aloofness about him. He looked smart and like he could work at a college or as a bookkeeper. How would one ever approach such an odd fellow? Just as she thought that he approached her sitting down beside her coffee in his hand. He took his black. Hers was a Mocha Latte, 

"Hello," he said, as he sat down. She noticed he didn't even bother asking if he could sit
"Hello, " she said not knowing what to say next. He looked so bug-like. What do you say to a bug? 

He just sat there not saying a word for what seemed like 5 minutes just drinking his coffee. What an odd fellow but then again she didn't say anything either. Just as she was growing tired, and annoyed of this fellow she began to get up to leave. Then he spoke

"Would you possibly like to have lunch sometime?" He said. Looking nervous 
Before she could stop herself she heard the words yes come out of her mouth. Quickly she wished she could put them back in her mouth, but she somehow felt sorry for him and gave him her number. 

Death and suicide

Pain eases on a troubled night as I try to fall asleep. Tossing and turning, thoughts racing, tired eyes giving in to despair and hopelessness. I pick up the knife pressing it against my wrist leaving a mark but no cut. I didn't have the nerve. What would be the easiest way to die I thought. My mind now going back to my old issues. No job, no car, and no hope of it getting better.

Nothing was changing and everything was going wrong. Sinking into the darkness of my own mind I drifted off to sleep thinking of my long-time boyfriend who I suspected of cheating or him thinking of cheating.

Anxiety infiltrated the pit of My stomach like tiny knives of steal. Nothing I did could make it go away. I wanted to die. I prayed to die. Taking the knife back out I placed it on my wrist once more, still, there was no courage to end my suffering. My mind then went back to my son who was in his bed still asleep. I didn't want to leave him. I must suffer through. God help me I silently whispered to myself. There's no hope for me in this life. No hope but to die but I can't. I am trapped in misery. God help me. Send me a miracle. Free me from the walls of the prison.

I begin to fantasize about a crazed killer who suddenly burst into my home and stabbed me to death but then blood would be everywhere and my body would be left there for my son to find and if not the body then the blood. So no, I can't die even in a make-believe world. I don't know how I can survive this pain, this internal pain I am in. Why was I born, a question I have asked God and myself a million times. I have no purpose. All I see is darkness. Not even a plastic bag over my head can save me from this life. of agony. No one understands. There's no one to talk to. I hate counselors and the like. Anger and rage emerge each time someone even suggests it. I've been handling this all my life and I reckon I can keep on handling it myself.

Memory bears that I have made

My Elf on the Shelf and the Broken Gingerbread House caper

She's There

Cold, crumbled, leaves fall slowly

limbs blowing bristly
chills in the air
hollow calls calling
echoing like an emptiness
emotions departed
beautifully desolate shell
numb and unwilling
to care
hardened indifference
blossoming in the warm spring air

By: Bernice Bowling

Forever Dying Within

Sorrow's melting
tear stains lost
open wounds piercing
shadows mourn

black shrouds circling
closing in
dancing madness
raging within

suffocating misery
never amenable
nothing but carnage
holding within

By: Bernice Bowling