Jenny

(Class Assignment)

It was the year 1935. Roseanne Smith was a 3 year-old girl who lived in Lincoln, Nebraska, in the United States. She lived happily with her mother, Jane, her father, Jack and her elder brother Roger, who was 7 years old.
However, there was someone in her life who was more important to her than anyone else. And it wasn’t even a real person. It was her doll, Jenny, and she was the most special thing in her life. Jenny was gifted to Roseanne on her 2nd birthday and Roseanne could not bear to part with Jenny. She took Jenny everywhere; to shops, to Church, and even in the bathtub. Jenny was her best friend – they had tea parties every day.
Just like she did every Saturday, Roseanne was at the playground with her mother and brother. Roger was playing with his friends while Roseanne played alone with Jenny. About 10 minutes later, Harriet, Roseanne’s classmate, arrived and asked her to come and play.
‘Why don’t I look after Jenny while you go and play, sweetheart?’ asked Jane. Roseanne hesitated a little, but eventually agreed and went towards the seesaw with Harriet. Harriet’s mother joined Jane on the bench, Jane set aside Jenny and she was chatting away with Harriet’s mother. However, there was something that nobody noticed. Jenny had just blinked.
Later that night, Roseanne had been put to bed, with Jenny by her side. However, Roseanne could not sleep. She was feeling bad about not bringing jenny along to play with Harriet.
‘I’m so sorry about today, Jenny,’ said Roseanne, cuddling Jenny. Jenny, of course, was motionless.
‘Oh, Jenny, I wish you could talk!’ Roseanne felt some movement and looked down at Jenny. Jenny was looking right back at her!
‘Jenny! You … you can hear me?!’ asked Roseanne, shocked.
‘Yes, I can,’ said Jenny, nodding. She had a sickly sweet hypnotic voice. You couldn’t help but listen to her and be terrified at the same time.
‘How can you talk?’ asked Roseanne.
‘I’m a doll, all of us can talk. You just have to ask,’ replied Jenny. Roseanne was too scared to say anything more, so she forced herself to fall asleep, while Jenny went back to being motionless.

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A few more days went by, but Roseanne had not dared to speak to Jenny again. She still took Jenny everywhere she went, but she did not speak to her. Roseanne’s behaviour, however, had changed slightly. She was a bit quieter than usual. When asked what was wrong, she just said that she wanted more dollies. She threw a tantrum when her parents said no, which forced them to buy her two new dolls.
That night, she spoke to all three of her dolls. They spoke about tea parties and playgrounds and how, sometimes, the boys in school teased her for carrying Jenny around with her everywhere. Roseanne was very angry and frustrated. So Jenny suggested something.
‘Why don’t we teach those boys a lesson?’
Roseanne agreed at once, because she trusted Jenny. Jenny was her best friend. The next morning, after several tantrums, she took all three of her dolls to school. At the end of the day, two of the boys were found in the bathroom with scratches on their faces, and they were bleeding.
That night, Roseanne was so happy. Those boys deserved what they got. She thanked her dolls profusely and fell asleep with a smile on her face. Several months went by, and such incidents became increasingly common. Sometimes it was young boys, sometimes you girls, and a shopkeeper once. As these events went on, Roseanne became more and more quiet. She did not speak to her parents, kept throwing tantrums, and even got violent with Roger. She hit him for no reason and didn’t speak to him properly. Her parents were worried and outraged by her sudden changed behaviour, so they took Roseanne to the doctor, but it was of no use. She did not speak a word other than ‘Jenny’, since her parents had forbidden her from bringing the doll along. The doctor noticed how attached she was to her doll, and asked Roseanne’s parents to observe her behaviour when with the doll.
When they went home, Roseanne was very happy to have Jenny back and immediately started playing with her and the other dolls as usual. However, that was the moment that Roger decided to enter the room. Roseanne’s mood changed as soon as he entered and she took her dolls and went into her room angrily.
‘I hate Roger!’ said Roseanne. ‘I wish he wasn’t there. Mommy loves him more!’ With this, she began crying, which her mother heard. Her mother tried to ask her what was wrong, but Roseanne didn’t answer and kept on crying.
The next morning, Roger was found murdered in his bed, with blood all over the bed sheets.
‘Roger! Oh, my poor Roger! Who did this to you?’ cried Jane, unable to stop crying. The police was called, the house was searched, people were questioned. But to no avail. Nobody had broken into the house, Roseanne and her parents were asleep. The family was traumatised for months. However, what they didn’t know was that the dolls had understood Roseanne’s feelings and had made sure that Roger ‘wasn’t there’. As Roseanne grew older, she became less and less attached to Jenny and the other dolls. So, when Roseanne turned 12, she decided to throw away the dolls, and Jenny ended up in the garbage dump, and was eventually burnt. Roger’s death remained a mystery forever.