Tuesday, October 16, 2018

WEP/IWSG October Challenge-A Matter of Principle


Hello everybody! I hope you're having a wonderfully spooky October. My boys sure are. My husband has been taking them out to haunted houses on the weekends, and they've been loving every minute of it!

Here's my entry for the joint WEP/IWSG Challenge, and I hope you enjoy it!



A Matter of Principle

The doll lay spread eagle on the oak, its plastic blue eyes reflecting the light from the golden swing arm lamp. It wasn’t the same kind of illumination one could expect from an operating room, but Hazel supposed it would have to do.

The porcelain face, made to look just like someone Hazel had once called her best friend, sent chills down her spine. The level of resemblance was uncanny. She didn’t know how the doll’s creator did it, and frankly, she didn’t care to find out. There were a lot of details surrounding the manufacturing process that both bewildered and terrified her. The price also came quite high. A year’s worth of salary, in fact. However, having spent so much money on this endeavor didn’t unsettle her quite so much as the sense that she’d also given away her soul in the exchange.

Hazel had a voodoo doll when she was a kid, though it looked nothing like this one. It came in a box of assorted items that her parents picked up at an auction. She tested it by swiping a piece of hair from her older sister’s hair brush and tying it around the doll’s neck. After she inserted a tiny sewing needle into the doll’s knee, a shriek tore through the house. The sudden pain had caused her sister to tumble down the stairs and tear a ligament. Surgery and months on crutches followed.

The power of that moment astonished her. She placed that voodoo doll on the shelf, and there it gathered dust. Years passed before she pulled it down again. A boy got too handsy at a party, leaving her to run out crying with a torn dress and a whirlwind of rumors to follow her remaining days of high school. That boy spent months going through physical therapy after an intense pain caused him to crash his car.

That doll helped her inflict suffering when needed, yes, but this time it wouldn’t have been enough. Not for what Hazel had in mind. The pain inflicted this time had to be deep and permanent to match the betrayal she felt. Friends didn’t go behind your back and steal your husband from you. They didn’t try to lay claim to the family you’d worked so hard to build. They didn’t smile, offer flaccid apologies, and flaunt your children around town as if they had birthed them instead of you.

No. Friends didn’t do things like that, and such traitors didn’t deserve any mercy.

“It’ll all be worth it,” Hazel whispered to herself as she took the X-Acto knife in hand. She brought the knife’s sharp point to rest against the doll’s chest. She took a deep breath before pushing it in. The soft material that composed the doll’s torso parted easily beneath the blade, revealing the stuffing within. It looked like the typical cottony substance that could be found inside many children’s toys, except this stuff had been dyed beet red. She continued the single deep incision, bringing it all the way down to the groin.

Hazel was shaking when the lifted the knife again. She hesitantly grasped some of the soft red stuffing and rubbed it absent-mindedly between her fingers. Would that be enough? It had to be, right?

She shook her head. There was no sense in coming this far to leave any room for uncertainty. One quick flick of her wrist cut the dolls neck. She jumped back when the head separated from the body entirely and landed with a soft thud on the brown rug.

*     *     *

The local news was awash with the horrifying details the next day. A woman was brutally disemboweled and decapitated. A frantic boyfriend woke to find her dead and called the police.

Hazel watched those news reports with rapt interest, though she ensured her daughters never saw them. Knowing that the woman who’d they’d affectionately called their Auntie Karen all their lives had died was traumatic enough. It got even worse for them when no fingerprints other than their father’s could be found at the scene. Though his story never changed, and no murder weapon was ever found, police concluded that he was the only one who could have possibly committed the crime.

Sure, Hazel hated to see her girls cry, but she couldn’t simply lie back and take it. It was a matter of principle. Her so-called friend had to pay for what she’d done, and her ex-husband would suffer in prison for what he’d put her through.

Hazel locked the doll away in her safe beside all her other most valued possessions, hoping she would never have need for such dark magic again.

Word Count: 781
FCA


48 comments:

  1. Hazel is NOT a woman to cross. Which her ex husband should have realised.

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  2. Oh... this is dark, really dark.
    Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
    A great tale!

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    1. Thank you! Dark is definitely the tone I was going for, but I surprised myself a little with how dark it went.

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  3. Hazel - I couldn't help admiring her. Ruthless, isn't she? How did you think this one up. Excellent story.

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    1. She is ruthless indeed. I have no idea where the idea came from. The image just popped into my head and I had to write it.

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  4. Hell hath no fury indeed. Dark, evil and prompt accurate! Truth is, Hazel committed the perfect crime. She'll never be caught. So sad though that she could not get past the pain. Would this be enough or will be pain remain, still? The mind boggles.

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    1. Thank you! I have the sinking feeling, while she may find some satisfaction in the moment, she'll never really move past the pain.

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  5. Now that's a tale of revenge like no other. WOW! Although, I sense a detective of the paranormal could figure it out, an unhappy ex-wife, the perfect suspect! :) Great story indeed!
    Happy Halloween!

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    1. It would definitely take a paranormal detective to crack it. Thank you!

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  6. I love this story. So dark and kind of sad. I too did some doll play in my story, but not to this degree. I love the red-died cotton. I wonder, though, what will happen now that her revenge has taken her soul.

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    1. Thank you! I wonder the same thing. I fear it can't be good.

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  7. Yowza! Remind me not to cross anyone named Hazel. (Just to be safe...) Great... and suitably creepy... story

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  8. She didn't play around - she went for broke. Chilling.

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    1. She definitely doesn't believe in doing things halfway!

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  9. A impressive and creepy take on the phrase, "Hell hath no fury like a women scorned." A great read.

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  10. Oh, gosh, what a bitch! I know it hurts when your husband leaves you, but he probably left because he sensed the evil in her heart and the blood on her hands. Love doesn't come on demand and it shies from cruelty. Someone should've taught Hazel this lesson long ago.
    Great story.

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    1. I feel she played her own role in driving him away for sure, but she either can't or won't see it that way. She's too focused on vengeance for that.

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  11. EEK!!! Hazel is one scary lady!!
    Great story!

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  12. Shivers are not enough. Sleepless night? Any clue how to evade this freaky lady you have unleashed in vivid phrases. Serial magic user so karma might catch up with her. Or Karen's ghost.

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    1. I feel Karen's ghost would have a thing or two to say to her. That would be an interesting meeting.

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  13. Wow LG. Don't I love this! Finally...a voodoo doll. I would have loved to have written one, but time did not allow. Hazel certainly knew what steps to take to right the wrongs against her.I hope she now leaves that doll alone.

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    1. I would hope so, too, but I fear the temptation may be too much.

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  14. What a grizzly tale! I loved it. I don't suppose I'll be crossing Hazel's path by choice, lol.

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  15. a stab a twist
    with the knife
    she Baird

    from her friend's
    betrayal no pain
    was spared

    Did she really
    write her wrong
    that night

    Or will someday
    death teach her
    whats wrong or right

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    1. That is the question. I have the feeling her deeds will catch up with her in the end.

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  16. This makes me very glad voodoo is fiction!

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  17. Oooh. That is very dark. And I'm with Joey--glad voodoo isn't real! Great job of showing how she got to the point of doing something that horrible.

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  18. That was terrifying! Definitely a woman not to be crossed.

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  19. Really enjoyed the creepiness. Where did you say she got the doll?

    Dixie Jarchow
    Writingwithdixie.wordpress.com

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  20. Well she sure wanted the job done the first time. Off with her head haha One woman not to be messed with.

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  21. Well, everyone has their limits I guess. I've heard voodoo dolls can also have demons attached. A scary entry, when one can kill from a distance with such a cold intent. But then, stealing a husband is a harsh way for a friend to act. A great entry!

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  22. Wow, Hazel doesn't play around does she? Hopefully now that she's wrecked the doll, the evil magic has been destroyed along with it...or has it?

    A superb take on the prompt! Glad it's only a story and I'm reading it in broad daylight :)

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  23. Oh my goodness! Well written and you made me believe it all.

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  24. Hi LG - definitely not a good one to read ... I'm glad it's early in the day. You really did tell us the story ... but Hazel was also malevolent and clever that she only used the voodoo at certain times in her life. I'd hate to have ownership of such a doll ... and then perhaps finding out one of your children had in later years found the doll - and made some more horrors happen. Great story ... hated it! - but loved it ... well done - cheers Hilary

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  25. You were in a dark mood too. Hazel was addicted to voodoo to get back at people. A revenge fantasy come true. Her hate and rage was so strong it consumed her.I don't think she will be happy with her life, too much darkness.

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  26. HI, L.G.

    Really good story. Eerie. And the woman had absolutely no remorse for the pain she caused....

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  27. A dark piece of fiction, Ronald. Congratulations!

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  28. Problem solving at its finest. If only other real life problems had such neat solutions. But wow, that's a lot of money. And a soul? Wow. Guess that's what it takes to level the field, eh?

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  29. Wow, now that's what I can revenge. Darkest.

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  30. I've had "frinemies" along the same line. Excellent use of the doll!

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  31. Killing off the betrayers. Excellent use of the prompt!

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