Written for Pancreatic Cancer UK, to help fundraise and raise awareness after losing my dad to this terrible illness in November 2020

Irelands Crolly Doll  – Word prompt from Gloria Mcbreen.  Part three of five

Missing

Meeting Aoife had been interesting but had raised questions and had come with a warning.  She had been watching and listening to my life.   Situations had occurred and I had dismissed them, but there was now a greater meaning.

A year ago, Robert, my husband of twenty-five years left me.  I woke one morning to find him missing.  There was no note, and no explanation, the police still don’t know where he is.  I had decided that he had just left, there had been no body found.  Aoife had given me a new reason to be concerned.  She had heard his telephone conversation that morning despite the doll being in a box.  He had talked as if he didn’t know the person, he sounded scared and desperate.

Things were very wrong.  Why had I been watched most of my life through the Crolly doll? Was it protecting me or destined to hurt me? Why, has Aoife been destined to watch and hear me most of her life?  I have the phone number of Aoife’s daughter, she has heard all about me due to all the messages and dreams she has received about me.

Robert

Sat in a small room he wrapped the blanket around him.  Drawing on the wall he added an elephant to his jungle scene.  The filthy bed in the corner and toilet showing how he had lost all dignity.  Putting his family before himself he knew that he wasn’t getting out of his prison. For years Robert had been tormented by his persecutors.  A year ago, they had lured him out of his home for a meeting.   Threatening that they would harm Laura if he didn’t come.  Not wanting to scare her he hadn’t left a note thinking that he wouldn’t be too long.

Leaving the house, he had driven to the meeting place, not expecting to get a needle jabbed in his arm.  Stuffed into a boot he later found himself locked inside his prison, wearing clothes that are not his own.  With a visit three times daily with food and drink and chalk left to draw his masterpiece.  His monotony was never-ending, the same day after day.

It had all started after a job went wrong.   The foreman at the building site was hiding a dark secret, and he had found it.  Trapped now he had asked God to take him away from his torment, but it hadn’t happened.

Limerick

After a walk around the Limerick museum, I thought about the Crolly dolls.  I wondered if any of them were watching over anyone else.  The thought of being watched over all my life gave me goosebumps. Are the Crolly dolls protectors or just dolls?

Sitting in a Limerick café, I pushed my spoon around my coffee mug. Alone with my thoughts, was I going to see Robert again?  Aoife seemed to think I was, but his reason for leaving needed to be worked out.  I now need to talk to the police again but how to I explain about Aoife?  The tale of the Crolly dolls sounds like a tall story, but I know its true as have felt it watching me.  She has given me hope that I will see him again.

My mission now is to talk again with Aoife’s daughter, Erin, I need to work out a plan as to what to do next.  Pulling out my note pad, I found a pen and start to make a list.

Here is my fundraising page,  f you would like to donate, any size donation is appreciated.

Written for A story a day for Pancreatic Cancer UK

Written for Pancreatic Cancer UK , to help fundraise and raise awareness of this terrible illness after losing my dad in November 2020.

Crolly doll word prompt from Gloria Mcbreen

Crolly doll

Part two of five

Pushing scrambled egg around my plate, I thought of the pile of paperwork on my office desk. Surely school can do without me for one day. I don’t want to go to my meetings or see the parents. I had been feeling low for a while now, I have had a constant feeling of being watched.

The voice in my head keeps telling me that something is wrong. The doll is dangerous, but how can it be? I’ve returned her back to her box, she makes me uncomfortable.   My grandmother didn’t know the dolls history, I’m sure I am overthinking it but opening up my laptop I want to know more.  As I type in ‘Crolly Doll’ I regret my actions.  The headline from 1940 struck me, ‘cursed dolls in doll factory’ and ‘woman seen in workers visions.”  Reading the article, the woman seen was unknown. Aoife Mcmann, working in the County Donegal factory, had claimed that she was working on the head for the ‘Rosie’ doll when she had seen the woman.

Looking up ‘Crolly doll, Rosie’, I found my doll. Could this be connected? Looking up Aoife Mcmann, I found a news article of her in a nursing home in Limerick.  Looking up the phone number I now dialled.  As the phone was answered, I questioned what I was doing.

Aoife

“Hello, I’m just wanting to ask if you have a lady there called Aoife Mcmann?”

“Who is asking?”

“My name is Laura and I think Aoife might know me from years ago and I’m trying to find her.”

“Yes, she is here, but she can be confused.”

“Does she ever talk about the Crolly doll factory and the visions in her news articles?”

“She gets distressed about it and cries out.  She has done since she moved here about ten years ago.”

“I’m going to visit, but I think I’m the woman she is seeing in her visions. Don’t want to cause distress but maybe I am why she is crying out.”

“If you come it will be a supervised visit, her daughter will also want to meet you.  Aoife has possibly spoken a lot about you over the years.”

“That’s if it is me, but I think there is something strange happening.  I will try and visit as soon as I can as I really need to meet her. “

“When might you be here?”

“How about Wednesday afternoon?”

“That’s fine, I will let daughter Niamh know.”

“Thank you, and what’s your name?”

I’m Brigid, we will see you Wednesday.

Putting the phone down, I emailed work for leave and checked flights to Ireland.

Limerick

Two days later I’m paying for a taxi outside the Limerick Nursing Home.  I hoped I wasn’t about to walk into an elderly lady’s nightmare and scare her.  Ringing the doorbell, I was greeted by a young woman, Brigid.  She was excited to meet me.

“Aoife and Niamh are ready for you. They have waited years for this day.”

Nervous, I smiled and followed Brigid along the narrow corridor. Arriving at her room she knocked and then opened the door.

Sat side by side were two elderly women, both smiling.

‘Mum is this her, is this who you saw in the factory?”

I sat next to her patiently.

“Sorry, Brigid, please can you leave, we need to talk in quiet.”

Brigid smiled, “I will get some tea and cake.”

Watching her leave, I felt my stomach lurch.

“Dear girl, what is your name?”

“It’s Laura.”

“Come closer.”

Moving my chair, I was getting scared, what was happening.

Rosie

“Do you still have Rosie?”

“I do, but she is back a in a box as she scares me.”

Aoife smiled kindly, “the doll was destined for you, but I’m not sure if that’s good.”

“Why is that?”

“Over the years I have seen you many times. I saw us here now, back in 1940 in the doll factory. What do you think that means?”

“That we are supposed to meet, but why?”

“In recent years I’ve seen you, your children and your husband. I saw what happened to him, but I’ve also seen other stuff, stuff you don’t know.  The last few days I’ve seen everything in your home.  I think I’ve been seeing you through Rosie the dolls eyes.  A few days ago, I stopped seeing you as well, that’s when you put her back in her box.  I’ve spent years trying to understand what is happening, I think that’s why I’m still here.  I have a message that I need to share but I don’t know what it is”.

“Is Rosie sat on top of her box?”

“She is, why,”

“Because I can hear your family.  They are worried about you and there is a lady telling them that their mum is fine.”

“Have you heard many of our conversations?”

“I’ve seen and heard many things and seen your arguments over the years.”

This was getting stranger, what really is going on?

Here is my fundraising page , if you would like to donate, any size donation is appreciated.

Written for A story a day for Pancreatic Cancer UK

Written for Pancreatic Cancer UK to help fundraise and raise awareness of this terrible disease after losing my dad to it November 2020.

Ireland’s Crolly Doll word prompt from Gloria Mcbreen.    Part one of five.

This story is fiction so if you own a Crolly doll there is no need to be afraid!

The Crolly doll

Do you have a toy that even though you hate it, you can’t part with it?   When I was small my Grandmother went away for a few weeks to Ireland.  Her stories made me want to visit and live and breathe its beauty.  She bought me something unique from her trip and it has haunted me since.  For years I put her in a box. I hid her away not wanting to look into her eyes.

When my Grandmother passed away in her sleep last year, the first thing I thought of was the eerie Crolly doll, dressed in tweed.  She told me about Donegal and the Crolly village post office and about the museum in Limerick.   The doll had always scared me with its piercing eyes, but they are popular collector’s items maybe even worth something.

Today had been like any other long tiring day.  The doll sat on the wall unit staring back at me. As I tidied up the dishes, I could sense it watching me. I’ve been telling myself that it’s not real, its plastic and it can’t hurt me.   Why would it hurt me anyway?

1940

As Aoife worked on the dolls head, fear tore through her.  Tormented by dreams of a stranger, she had never seen her when awake before. This inanimate piece of plastic had somehow linked her dreams to reality.   She had seen this woman many times at night, but never during the day.   Who is she?

Spending her day moulding dolls, not something she ever saw herself doing, working in the factory in County Donegal.  Attaching the hard heads to their soft bodies and then dressing them.  Observing the other workers, she wondered if anyone else had seen the unknown woman as well.  They all seemed to be concentrating on their task, one doll after another.

As Aoife worked and held each doll head, she could see the unknown woman.  Somehow, she had to be linked to the Crolly dolls.

1973

Walking through County Donegal, Edna was enjoying the atmosphere of the Irish town.  The sounds and smells of the fish market make her dizzy.  Walking past a charity shop a doll in tweed caught her eye. It appeared to be staring at her and she thought of her Granddaughter Laura.  A toddler who she adored greatly.

Stepping into the shop she heard the ting of the bell, browsing through the dusty shelves the smell of musty books hit her.  Seeing a box full of records, she flicked through them.  The music of the Beach boys, the Beatles and the Seekers. Tempted to purchase one she reminded herself that she was in Ireland and did not have a record player.

Noticing the Crolly doll again with its eyes fixed on her, she picked it up out of the window. Holding it close she felt its presence.  Almost as if it was telling her to buy it, she thought of Laura again.   She didn’t know its history but she admired its quality.

Taking it to the checkout she paid in cash and walked out of the shop.  Back into the smells of the Donegal Street.

2021

After a long workday, I sat down, feeling the pain throughout my body.  The exhaustion of being on my feet for hours.  Closing my eyes, I suddenly jump, woken with a start as I see the Crolly doll watching me.  Feeling scared, I wished that I didn’t live alone.  Both my children have grown up and left home and husband Robert walked out a year before.

Tempted to pack it away again I thought again of my Grandmother.  She would have been upset to know how much I hated it. Tonight I decided it was time to stop thinking about it, ignore it as any fear must be in my mind.  How could a piece of plastic hurt me?

Reaching for the remote, I flicked on the television. As the local news came on the screen, I closed my eyes again and this time fell to sleep.

Written for A story a day for Pancreatic Cancer UK

Here is my fundraising page if you would like to donate, any size donation is appreciated.