Fic Title: “I Like To Be Hugged”
Main Character: Mira Garvey (my Horror/Child’s Play OC)
Word Count: 4561
--
Summer of 1999 - -
Grandma Selene was known for keeping everything, from postcards friends had sent her while visiting South America to old records her own child had had when they had been teenagers. She had also been known to go to antique auctions with friends from bridge-club, those blue haired busy bodies who brought peacan pies and swap recipes. The house smelled of homemade apple cider and wax candles. The wallpaper discolored beneath portraits and framed photos.
While the first floor was tidy and showed love and had that lived-in look, well cared for kitchen and updated appliances, the second floor was another story. Mira had left the cool and shady confines of the family car and had darted inside the house upon arrival. The house was warm and she had already had to strip off her jacket and even socks and shoes before long. Her bare feet sliding across the rough hallway rug as she entwined with cardboard boxes and low cedar chests that made up for most of the space.
“Mira! Mira please be careful!” her mother called with a sigh, shifting from one foot to another as she lost sight of her younger daughter.
Hadley Garvey and her husband, Brian, had once again made the trek to drop off their daughter for the summer. She opened her mouth again to beg her to come back down stairs but was interrupted by her nephew, Cullen, heaving his own sigh and dragging two bags behind him on wheels.
“Don’t worry auntie, I’ll go make sure she’s okay”, Cullen’s face was flushed from the summer sun and sweat was pouring down his back. He removed his sweatshirt and threw it over the top of his bag.
Mira was unaware of her mother or cousin’s dislike of her wandering off and not being afraid of getting a scratch or falling down. She finally made it through the tunnel of boxes, rolled up rugs and cleaning supplies and stepped into one of the bedrooms. The ladder up into the attic was in here and she stood at the bottom of the ladder and stared up at the wooden door. She heard a noise like a squirrel scurry across the floor of the attic, which was not out of the ordinary. She remembered last year, Cullen had stayed in this room. And he had begged her to switch rooms due to having nightmares about being attacked by small rodents.
Mira had only stepped onto the first wrung of the ladder when her cousin came around the corner, looking disgruntled and stopping in his steps when he saw what she was doing.
“Are you insane?” he asked, eyebrow raising, “Your mother would lose her flipping mind if she saw you on that thing”.
“I just wanna see what grandma has up here. I’ve looked through every box in this house twice”.
Cullen reached out and grasped her arm gently, “Well, come say bye to your folks because they’re leaving. They’re just giving grandma the usual schepiel about making sure you don’t step on a nail”.
Even Cullen knew Mira’s parents were overprotective sometimes, even if he did share her mother’s sentiments or exhausted expressions. Mira gave the attic door a hopeless glance before following after her cousin. The two reached the kitchen just in time to hear a small argument breaking out.
“Mom…”, Hadley commented, arms firmly crossed.
Selene, wiping her hands on a dish towel, cocked her head, silver hair looking striking in the sunlight, “She’s going to be thirteen in three years and soon she’ll be nineteen and soon...she’ll be out on her own. I want her to have that money”.
Mira’s father thankfully spotted the two ten year old’s and clapped his hands, “Hey you two, find anything interesting?”
The conversation stopped there and both of the kids shrugged. Mira came further into the kitchen and her dad put his hand on the top of her head, ruffling her hair.
“Nothing exciting. Grandma’s cleaning again”, she remarked.
Brian Hadley dropped down on one knee and clasped her hands, “I promise once I start this new job next month, you can go to summer camp next year with Darcy and Quinn”.
Mira gave her dad a small smile. She had been born at home because her parents couldn’t afford the hospital bill. She had to share a room with Darcy and Quinn while her older siblings had gotten their own rooms. She had hand-me-downs from her sisters as well. Even if her oldest siblings were the apples of their eyes, her dad always made the effort to at least inspire hope in her.
Hadley gave her mother a glance of ‘i’ll call you later’ before moving to hug her daughter and telling her to behave and stay close to her cousin if she goes off exploring. Mira promised, catching Cullen’s eye and seeing the more tired exasperation on his face. Ever since she broke her leg and didn’t cry two years ago, they wouldn’t let her forget it.
--
By late afternoon, parents having left, her grandmother had made lunch and left them a batch of brownies to nibble at and left them to wander the house and the yard while she ran to the grocery store, the sun was baking behind some clouds. Mira and Cullen had wandered down to the creek to splash in the water and had even gotten the bright idea to bring the hose and attach the extra extension hose as well. It was muddy and heavy by the time they wandered back to the house but worth it in the end. Cullen had stopped to lean against one of the trees in the yard and his eyes were fixed on the small attic window. The glare of the sun caught something for a moment but sweeping his fingers across his brow, rubbing his eyes, there was nothing. It was the heat, it was always playing tricks. Especially on days like today. He waved it off as his imagination melting away like an ice cream cone and followed Mira in drying his feet before entering the house.
The house had cooled off to a reasonable enough temperature, at least they weren’t sweating as much. Mira had disappeared back upstairs, leaving Cullen to pour himself a glass of milk and walk around the empty downstairs. It was unsettling to say the least. He heard the sounds of movement above him and decided to get changed out of his swimming trunks and go find his cousin. Upon getting to the second floor, the sounds were still overhead and it startled him into a panic and he began to fast walk down the hallway and the sounds seemed to follow him.
“Ah, Cullen! What are you doing?!”
Mira’s voice made him pale as he bumped into her upon turning the corner. He was holding the glass of milk firmly in his hands, skin pale as a sheet. His brown eyes goggling at her, nearly bugging out.
“What am I doing? What are you doing? Running up and down like that!” Cullen was breathless, checking his neck.
Mira’s olive green eyes blinked, hugging her blanket close to her chest, “You’re a looney toon. I was getting changed and going downstairs to watch TV…”, she paused however, noting his face and glancing towards the direction of the attic, “Grandma Selene has mice or something. I heard scurrying earlier”.
“You’re not afraid to sleep in there?” Cullen eyed the bedroom over her shoulder.
Mira had been told not-so inventive stories from older cousins about how their grandfather, Patrick, had died in the house from kidney failure. None of it was true. It was just to scare the younger kids and make them stay in bed so they didn’t ruin watching movies. Cullen had believed half of the stories and always scared himself silly.
“Just squirrels trying to find their acorns among old clothes and dusty furniture”, she pat his shoulder genuinely and moved to go down stairs.
Cullen hurried to dry off and get into clean clothes, nearly spilling his milk running to join Mira in the living room some ten minutes later.
--
Mira’s mother did not call that night and her grandmother looked almost too relieved by it. Money seemed to be a sore subject in the family. Some parts of the family were well off and lived cushy type lives in suburbs and other parts of the family were struggling financially and either took money that was offered or fended for themselves. Mira wasn’t dumb and knew her parents were always stressed about being able to give their children whatever they wanted but realized they’d spoiled the older kids and once Mira had been born...well..
Selene let the kids take cookies and hot chocolate to bed with them and had even found two small tv’s to set up in their rooms. She stopped by Mira’s room on her way to bed; Cullen was already snoring softly in the room across the hall. Mira was looking through a photo album she’d found and saw her grandmother come in. She smiled softly and sat down at the edge of the bed.
“You really wanted to go to camp huh kiddo?” Her face seemed older now.
Mira’s cheeks blushed and she gave her a rather small smile, “Abigail got to go to mom’s favorite summer camp. Connor got to go on a rock climbing trip. Quinn is at music camp. Darcy goes to day camp with her friends”, she paused, “I was hoping this year I could go. Everyone else got to start going when they were ten”, she pointed out.
Selene tilted her head to the side and reached out, brushing her hair out of her granddaughter’s face, “Well maybe camp will be even better when you’re eleven”, she gave her a cheery grin, “And we’ll make this summer one of the best ones”, she paused, contemplating something, “I just like having you and Cullen around. It makes the house feel...alive again”.
Mira could see the tears welling up in her grandmother’s eyes. She leaned over and hugged her, something that made Selene allow herself to shed a couple of tears before wiping them quickly away. Mira was one of the kindest souls there were. She kissed her forehead and wished her a good night before heading to bed.
That night there were some movements from the attic. But nothing the kids hadn’t heard before. Cullen had awoken from sleep to use the bathroom and froze every time the floorboards would creak. He shuffled himself back to bed hurriedly, telling himself the squirrels were just looking for their acorns. Nothing more.
--
The following day, Selene took the kids to a few shops and out to lunch and even took them to a movie matinee. The summer heat had built up and all three were sweating and begging for air conditioning. Cullen and Mira were good at entertaining themselves in the car ride to and from town and for that, she was grateful. The kids decided to make a fort in the small old formal living room and play card games until dinner. Mira had been curious about the attic and thinking about what was up there that she could go through. Her grandmother’s antiques were always fun to go through. She had wanted to spend the day exploring but had been thwarted by her cousin, who had asked their grandmother to take them with her into town. As she ate her chicken parm and dinner rolls, Mira’s brain was running like a hamster wheel. Her grandmother noticed and smiled, sipping her sweet lemonade. She mentioned being careful and taking a flashlight with her without mentioning the topic. Cullen wished their grandmother wouldn’t encourage his cousin’s habits.
Mira’s mother did call after dinner and ice cream and Mira and Cullen had bolted upstairs with VHS tapes and a board game before their grandmother started speaking on the phone, in what would be a three hour heated argument. The rest of the evening was drowning out the phone conversation with old scooby-doo cartoons and Back to the Future while struggling through a fifth round of Monopoly.
Cullen hated that Mira’s room was a bit bigger so they were set up in there. His eyes never leaving the wooden door of the attic. Afraid something might snake down or climb down from the dark at any moment. He swore something would move whenever Mira was out of the room or if she moved. It made his skin go cold.
“Take me with you next time you get up”, Cullen said, seemingly out of the blue.
“Ew, no. I’m not taking you into the bathroom with me”, Mira almost laughed but thought better of it.
Cullen moved closer to her upon hearing the scurrying again, this time it was light and right above them now. Mira glanced up at the ceiling, almost in interest. She put her hand on his shoulder, giving him a reassuring look.
“I’m not going to let anything hurt you”, Mira told him, “Not even if it’s a big fat squirrel or skunk or whatever decided to live in the attic”.
Cullen almost seemed to get annoyed at her, frowning, “Why aren’t you scared? You’re never scared! Why aren’t you worried o-or…”, he swallowed a bit.
Mira squeezed his shoulder a bit more gently, making him calm himself down. He seemed to realize how dumb he sounded. But he was supposed to be watching out for her, for goodness sake! Even if they were two months apart in age...he was still technically older!
The subject was dropped once more and getting ready for bed commenced some thirty minutes later. Selene kissed them both good night and took down their empty hot chocolate cups before leaving them to fall asleep. Cullen kept his TV on low but was out not two minutes later, Mira falling asleep not long after. The two sleeping soundly, save for waking to use the bathroom around two or three in the morning.
Cullen never went back to sleep after his second run to the bathroom and heard the same thumping and movements. This time it sounded more like boxes rather than scratching. Grabbing his flashlight, he walked into Mira’s room. She had been lightly dozing off when he shined the light in her face. Mira stuck up her hand, squinting harshly. She grunted his name and sat up, demanding to know what he was doing.
“I...I keep hearing…”, he shined the flashlight towards the ladder towards the attic, “I heard boxes this time...not just the usual you know…”.
Mira eyed the ladder up to the attic. Anyone else would have been annoyed by her cousin’s childish fears and stuttering, waking them up like this but she couldn’t find a better opportunity to explore the attic space. She tried not to show too much of her glee as she climbed out of bed and grabbed her own flashlight. The two crossed the room to the ladder and Mira took the lead a bit more eagerly than Cullen would have liked but he followed her regardless.
The attic was more or less your mundane storage space with boxes, furniture, and still wrapped in plastic antiques. But the only source of light came from the flashlights and it made shadows grow in size along the walls. Rows of upside down tables or sheet covered chairs. Boxes labelled or with faded handwriting. Cullen’s hand was clutched around the back of Mira’s pajama shirt as they crept along. There were a few mouse traps up here but the cheese had long since disappeared or were hard as a rock and cobwebs lined the floorboards.
The wind whistled against the roof of the attic and Cullen jumped, Mira quietly shushing him and to keep him calm. She smiled and held her flashlight up and put her hand on his shoulder. She opened her mouth to tell him there was nothing up here, that he was letting his imagination run wild when the door to the attic thumped closed. Both children jumped at the noise, Mira more out of surprise and Cullen gave a whimper.
Mira started back towards where they’d come from but Cullen grabbed her arm, “Mira don’t-”
“What? It’s nothing”, She reassured him.
“Mira there is something up here with us and that door was laying flat-”, Cullen’s voice was trembling and he spoke quickly.
Mira could feel the hairs on her neck prickle and she continued to march back towards the door of the attic. Cullen, eyes focused on his cousin, tripped over the leg of an end table and tripped, his flashlight roling across the floor. Mira turned around and came to his side, bending down to help him up. Shining her flashlight to find where his flashlight had gone, she noticed something sitting in a rocking chair.
“Oh-!” Mira gave a small squeak of surprise.
“Mira!” Cullen hissed, getting on his hands and knees.
Mira squeezed between the two end tables and an old magazine rack. She picked up the flashlight and handed it to her cousin. Cullen reached for it and smacked it a couple of times before the bulb came to life again. Lifting the flashlight to follow her movements, he moved to follow her but stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes on the doll sitting in the rocking chair. Mira had come to stand near it, their flashlights both illuminating it.
The doll had a thick head of red-orange hair, freckles adorned it’s round cheeked face. Bright blue eyes looked back at them unblinkingly. Despite it’s friendly appearance, Cullen stayed right where he was. The doll seemed out of place in the attic, despite all sorts of toys and games in boxes and on shelves downstairs. Mira approached the doll and it’s head swiveled in her direction, still with it’s smiling charismatic nature.
“Mira, we should go”, Cullen whispered, “Mira”.
But Mira didn’t seem to answer him, she bent down by the chair and got closer to the doll. Waving her hand in front of it’s face. As though on cue, the doll spoke,
“I like to be hugged!” it chimed happily.
Cullen grabbed the front of his pajama shirt, breathing deeply, “Fudgey bananas! Mira! Can we please go?” he hissed again.
Mira smiled however, keeping her flashlight steady as she stood and picked up the doll. It had to be at least three feet tall. It reminded her of the large teddy bears at the county fairs. She turned to face her cousin.
“You’ve got to be kidding me”, he breathed, shaking his head.
“Finders keepers”, Mira looked pleased with herself.
Cullen rolled his eyes, wondering if his heart rate would ever be normal again, “You can keep him. I’d rather we found the lost city of Atlantis up here”, he commented.
The kids were able to open the attic door easily enough before scampering back down the ladder. Cullen only had to hold the doll for a few minutes while Mira climbed down and shut the door again. He thrusted the doll back at her once she was down and he turned his flashlight off. Mira set the doll on her bed, setting her own flashlight aside.
“Are you okay to go back to bed? You can stay in here with me”, Mira offered.
Cullen shook his head. The adventure up into the attic had been enough adventure for him to last the rest of the year. Something about the doll gave him the willies and he’d seen Jaws when he’d been six.
“Just go to bed okay?” Cullen offered in a small voice, looking worried.
“I will. Night Cullen”, Mira smiled, half waving.
“Night, Mira”, Cullen shut her bedroom behind him before crossing the hallway and heading back to his room. Despite being alone again, he swore the doll was still watching him.
--
Mira turned back to the doll once the door was shut and leaned on the bed, almost fascinated that it could talk. She had never been one for actual dolls like the ‘ms. potty train Polly’ or the Barbie dolls and their corvettes. But this doll seemed special to her. He had the logo Good Guy stitched to the front of his overalls, as well as the same logo on the bottom of his red sneakers.
“Good Guy…”, she drew her finger across the lettering, her olive green eyes lighting up with curiosity, “I’m Mira, it’s very nice to meet you”, she spoke, wondering if the doll would speak again. Wondering if the battery was just a fluke or it was a one time response type of deal.
The doll’s attention was once again on her, “Hi, I’m Chucky. And I’m your friend till the end. Hidey Ho!” it laughed in good fun.
Mira pressed her hands to her face, stifling her giggles. She hadn’t really smiled in the past few weeks. The disappointment of not being able to go to summer camp had left her feeling a bit down. But this was lifting her spirits. Perhaps this was much better than summer camp. Hearing her grandmother coming to check on them caused her to gasp softly and climb back into bed, tucking the doll in her arms and shutting off her flashlight. Beneath the covers, the doll's pupils dilated, shifting and looking towards the little girl holding him.
--
The next morning, Mira happily carried the doll in her arms into the kitchen to show her grandmother. Cullen had been up before her, eating his cereal and nearly dropping his spoon as soon as he spotted her with the doll. Selene just smiled, pulling out orange juice.
“Look what I found!” Mira commented, “Cullen and I heard squirrels in the attic and we found him sitting in one of the chairs”.
Selene stepped closer, putting her reading glasses over her face, “Ah! A Good Guy doll! He was huge in the 80’s. Sylivia and Georginia took me to some auction or what have you last year. I can’t remember what all they were selling but he was up there and I couldn’t resist. He must have gotten put in the attic when your uncles were here moving furniture for me”.
She paused again, pouring her a glass of juice,
“So, does he have a name?” She smiled.
Mira nodded happily but the doll spoke almost at once, “Hi, I’m Chucky! And I’m your friend till the end! Hidey Ho!” the same innocent laugh came and then a long pause before speaking again, “I like to be hugged!”
Both Mira and Selene laughed at that but Cullen stirred his cereal, eyes never leaving the doll. Mira had set the doll in the chair next to hers and got up to get a poptart and he swore the doll was looking at him, directly.
“Grandma, I don’t like him”, Cullen commented.
“Oh Cullen, sweetie. It’s just a doll”, Selene shook her head, “You can eat in the living room and watch cartoons alright? Go on, both of you”.
Cullen let Mira go ahead of him with the doll and her breakfast before following her. He sat away from her as much as possible while they watched TV. Mira wasn’t talking to the doll or acting girly about it by any means. She was sitting and watching their show with interest but the doll was still out of place at her side.
“Hey, wanna play?” the doll spoke up amidst a commercial break.
“No-”, Cullen responded, though it was a jumpy response at best, having not expected the doll to even talk without Mira interacting with it.
“Oh--! Cullen! We can take Chucky up to the tree house out back--”, Mira looked excited, eyes going bright.
Cullen shook his head, “You can go. I don’t feel like doing anything today”. He was actually rather tired after their adventure up into the attic and he’d had dreams about the doll and the attic and of Mira breaking her leg again. He would rather sit on the couch all day than go outside. He smiled helpfully however, noticing her look of concern, “You have fun okay?”
Mira smiled and got up to put her dishes in the sink. Chucky continued to unblinkingly look at him and he heard the eyes click once or twice. He was ready to throw a pillow at the doll but Mira returned and he thought better of it. She picked up the doll and carried him upstairs to get dressed. A skip in her step the whole way.
--
The weather out that day was cloudy and not as warm or as humid. Mira wore her jacket and even a pair of jeans. She carried Chucky up to the tree house. It had been built about four years ago for the younger kids but Mira was the only one who ever really liked it. She felt like she was on top of the world whenever she would climb up and sit by the window with a book or just coloring. She had a box of crayons and some scraps of paper up here and she dug them out the box she kept. Propping Chucky up against the beanbag chair, she began to draw him and her together.
The words scrawled around the edges of the paper read best friends forever in plum purple.
Mira smiled and held up the drawing to show the doll. The doll only blinked twice and gave the happy declaration, “I’m your friend till the end!” and chuckled.
Mira giggled at that and began to pull out more paper and made a day of just coloring. Chucky’s blue eyes looking around almost with keen interest but staying perfectly still and letting her squeeze his middle in hugs or declaration of happy glee at having a playmate.
Mira spent the majority of the day outside with the doll, to the point her grandmother had to coax her inside for lunch and at least play indoors. Mira brought her drawing things indoors with her, which had been decidedly a good idea, as it began to rain an hour or so later.
--
Cullen had, begrudgingly, allowed himself to sit next to Mira on the floor while they played video games together. Chucky was in Mira’s arms, she hadn’t let the doll out of her sight the whole day. She would sit him beside her or show him her drawings or carry him almost as delicately as a small kitten. She had owned many stuffed animals, yes. Had even adorned and smothered many a teddy bear with wet kisses or cried herself to sleep against them. But dolls had never been an immediate go to. Cullen chalked it up to her needing to make herself feel better and decided that perhaps the doll wasn’t as scary as he first thought....
--
(Fin / )
[ the events that follow shortly after is Cullen realizing Chucky has been moving around/can move around on his own outside of Mira carrying him and Mira doesn’t believe him. He can’t convince her otherwise either. Cullen doesn’t do anything outside of throwing a pillow at Chucky at one point and he and Mira sort of distance themselves from each other slowly over the rest of the summer just so they can cool off and not fight.]
