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"Suzie."
The air was cold, and the front door slammed behind her mother as she walked in holding something in her hands. Suzie could hardly see it through her tears.
The night before, things escalated between Suzie and her mother, resulting in her mother injuring her eye. Suzie's eye started bleeding and it would not go away. Terrified, Suzie could only keep her non-bleeding eye fully open while the other eye lazily hung halfway closed.
"Yes? Mother..?" The girl asked, her voice shaking.
Her mother holds out a box of eye patches. Not just regular eye patches, but beautifully sown eye covers. She hands it Suzie who takes it, trembling.
"Eye coverings. If we leave the house do not forget to put it on. If anyone asks, you got hurt on a riding accident and you don't remember what happened." She says strictly, although it is more of a threat.
"Yes... Thank you mother. I understand." Suzie nods and looks down at the box of covers before looking back up at her mother who seemed to be holding something else.
"And this, ugly doll I found. You can take it, she looks as pathetic as you do." She says, shoving the doll into Suzie's hand before starting to walk off. The doll had red yarn for hair, a frilly blue dress with patches, and a button eye.
"Thank you... mommy..." She whispers the last part as she holds the doll in her hands admiring it.
As Suzie's mother storms out, the girl is left by herself. She leaves the living room and walks into her own bedroom, stumbling over to her mirror. The doll reminded her so much of herself. If her bleeding eye was traded for a button eye, she would be the spitting image.
"Ragatha... I'll name you Ragatha." The child whispers. For a second, she almost thought the doll's smile got wider. Maybe it was just her blurry vision. The girl hugged the doll before picking up the box of eye coverings.
Each eye cover was a pretty blue which almost matched perfectly to the doll's. The box came with two different shapes, circle coverings and heart coverings. Suzie traced the edge of the lace with her fingertips, taking in it's smooth silky texture.
With a shaky sigh, she held one of the circle covers over her eye. Looking at her doll and then looking back at the mirror, she took in how similar she looked to her new doll.
"You're just like me, Ragatha. I wonder what happened to you." She says, holding the doll up to her face. "You can tell me. I won't tell anyone." The girl whispers, knowing that the doll can't reply. "Did your mommy hurt you too? I'm sure she didn't mean to."
Suzie lays down on her carpet, holding the doll in her hands. "It'll be okay, Ragatha. I'll protect you." She giggles.
-
From then on, Ragatha became Suzie's favorite toy. They stuck together for years until she became 20. When Suzie moved out, she lost Ragatha in the process.
That was until one day after her and her fellow real estate friends decided to check out an old C&A building after a meeting. Later that night, she found her old doll hidden under piles of old clothes which she needed for her friend Abigail to borrow. That night, she fell asleep holding her doll, her Ragatha. Suzie never slept that comfortably in her whole life, not until she was reunited with he childhood doll.