[Flashback] Headless Dolls (Solo)

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

7th Day of Autumn, 496 AV Minerva was five years old. She lived in a small home with her Da (who was mean and she didn't like very much at all) and her Granddad (who was much much nicer and let her help him build things!) She didn't have a Mom. She didn't know why, and hadn't ever really thought about it. She didn't like thinking about things like that. It was boring, and she didn't like being bored. When she got bored she liked to play games. Except not the stupid games other girls played. They had dolls and put them in dresses and combed their hair and stupid stuff like that. She liked games about building castles and then knocking them down with big wooden monsters so they had to get built again. That was much more fun. She went out into the backyard today, dragging her tools with her. They were heavy so she put them all in a blanket and dragged them across the ground. They were her very own tools that she got to keep just for herself. Her Granddad had given them to her when she asked if she could play with his tools. He was worried she'd break his good tools, so he gave her a bunch of his old ones that he didn't use anymore. He said they weren't sharp enough to cut herself on, though one time she did anyway and he had to put a bandage on her finger. Da never did stuff like that for her. He just hit her when she wasn't being quiet enough. That's why she was playing outside. Da didn't usually come out in the yard, so it didn't matter if she made noise here. She dropped her tools in the middle of the yard and went back in for some of Granddad's extra wood. She could only carry a little bit at a time so she made lots of trips until she had enough. Then she started building her castle.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Cutting stuff with the saw was hard. It took her a long time. So sometimes she didn't bother cutting stuff and just nailed the pieces together. The wood she got to use was all different shapes, since Granddad cut it off the ends of the things he built. Since it was all different shapes it went together in weird, funny shapes. She liked that. It was stupid to think all houses or castles or stuff had to look the same way. She liked it when things were different. Hammering stuff was easy, as long as she used both hands and held the hammer close to the top. She started hammering pieces together to make some walls. They were lopsided but she didn't care. She pretended it was because they were moving walls that could smack people and throw you off if you tried to climb them. While she was trying to make the walls go all the way around, some other girls came over to stare at her. She didn't bother looking at them. It was Becky, Trisha, and Raquel. They were all mean meany head brats, and she didn't like them at all. "What are you doing?" Becky asked her. Minerva just looked up at her with a frown. She didn't like it when people asked her that. Usually, when she told them what she was doing, they made fun of her. But that was just because they were too dumb to understand. She always had to explain things to them because they weren't as smart as her. "Go away you're a stupid 'ead," she told Becky. "Shut up, Minnie!" Becky shouted. She clutched her doll to her chest. All three of them had dolls, and Minerva thought the dolls were all ugly. They had stupid little dresses and bows in their hair. Minerva hated bows. "Is that supposed to be a house or something?" Trisha asked, playing with a strand of her brown hair. They all had brown hair, though Becky's was darker and almost black. Minerva was the only one with red hair. Sometimes they teased her and called her an 'Inn art uh,' though she didn't know what that word meant. It still made her mad though just because they were teasing her. "It's a castle," she told them irritably. "And it 'as magic walls and--" "Yer not SUPPOSED to 'ave magic!" Raquel shouted, stomping her foot. "My Daddy told me magic is bad and if we find a magic man we're gonna hang him. They're gonna hang you, too!" Minerva tried to ignore them, but soon all three girls were chanting, "They're gonna hang you, they're gonna hang you! Minnie's on a rope, hanging from a tree, and the whole town's gonna come down and see!" With a growl, Minerva got up and shoved Raquel as hard as she could. The other girl fell back on her behind, crying. Then Minerva hit her hard in the face. All the girls ran away, crying out for their parents. Raquel forgot her doll and left it lying in the mud. Its stupid dress got mud all over the flowers on it. Minerva stomped it into the mud more. That's what those mean girls got for teasing her!

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Minerva started building her castle again. She started making a tower but it wasn't a tall straight tower it was a zig-zaggy tower because she thought that looked neater. A little while later she saw Raquel trying to sneak back into her yard. She was probably trying to get her doll back. Minerva stood up and shook her hammer at the girl. "Go away!" she shouted. "'Is is MY castle and you's not allowed 'ere!" Raquel sniffled, then pointed at her doll and said, "I jus' want my doll back..." Minerva looked at it. She didn't want the stupid thing in her yard. But Raquel was a big mean meany-head. So Minerva stepped over top of the doll and crossed her arms. She made herself look as bossy as she knew how and said, "Ya can 'as it back if'n ya says yer sorry!" Raquel stared at her, then stomped her foot and said, "But it's MY doll!" "Not no more!" Minerva shouted. "Ya left 'er 'ere, so now she's mine! But I's gives 'er back if ya says sorry fer sayin' you's gonna 'ang me..." She glared at the girl. She wanted to go throw the doll in the fireplace. But she could be nice, if the other girl was nice first. "That's not fair!" Raquel shouted. "Ya ain't even knows 'ow ta play wit' a doll! Ya don't even gots a pretty dress o' yer own o' nothin'! Yer not even a girl Minnie! Only boys play wit' buildin' stuff!" Minerva got mad. She WAS a girl! Just because she liked building stuff didn't mean she wasn't! She stomped her foot on the doll and said, "Yous MEAN! An' ya can't 'as it back! She's mine now!" If the meany-mean girl thought she wasn't a girl just cause she didn't play dolls, then she'd just show her. Raquel shouted, "Yer a freak!" Then she turned and ran away, crying.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Minerva grabbed the doll and looked it over. It had a wooden head and hands, but the body, arms, and legs were cloth. She thought it was ugly. It had red painted lips like a whore, and there was an ugly ribbon it its hair. She pulled the ribbon out and threw it in the mud. She dragged the doll over to her castle. The doll was too big to fit inside. The inside of the castle could fit the head, but the rest wouldn't fit. So she used her saw and cut the head right off. After she put the head inside the castle, she started building a roof. She nailed wood down over the top so that it was closed off. Now the head wouldn't be able to come out ever. It would be safe and protected inside the castle so that monsters and bad men couldn't get at it. Then she cut the hands off and nailed them to the roof. Now the roof had hands and it could grab people! If anyone tried to come in and break through the roof, the hands would grab them and throw them off. But now she had a doll with no head and no hands. She sat down in the mud, turning it over and looking at it. The dress was covered in mud and dresses were stupid anyway, so she ripped it off and used the pieces to make little flags for her castle. She looked down the doll's neck. It was stuffed with cotton. She pulled some of it out but it was all stringy and there were no bones inside. That was dumb. She squished the doll in her hands and it was too soft and fragile. It would get hurt too easy. She had to make it stronger so that it wouldn't get hurt if bad men came. She pulled out some of the cotton to make room so she could stick thin pieces of wood inside. They were like bones and bones made people stronger. Stupid cotton dolls were too weak. She stuck a bigger piece of wood down the neck hole and started nailing the new arm and leg bones to it right through the cloth skin. Then she took some broken shingles cause they were thin, and nailed them onto the body from the outside. They were like armor and they would protect her. But the doll didn't have hands anymore since she cut them off. Normal hands were stupid, though. So she decided to make special hands. For one she cut a piece of wood into a shiv and nailed that to the arm. For the other one she cut a piece of wood like a claw. It had four big long sharp pointy fingers but they weren't just fingers they were claws with long nails on the end. She hammered nails through the fingers to be the nails, then stopped and looked at her fingernails wondering why they were called nails and the things she hammered with were called nails too.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

"RAWR!" The monster doll attacked the castle, trying to get its lost head. Its claws clawed at the walls, and the walls beat away the claws. The monster climbed up on top of the castle, poking its pointy hand into the gaps in the roof. But even though it poked at the head, it didn't really hurt. The head wasn't really all the way safe, it could still be reached, but at least the important parts were safe. The monster could hurt its skin but it couldn't reach what was inside. Deep inside it would stay safe. The castle threw the monster off because it had moving walls and they could protect what was inside. The monster fell down in the mud and it was dead but then it came back and started attacking. That's why she needed the castle for protection because the monster always came back. Later in the day the three girls came back. They brought Corwin who was Raquel's older brother. He was bigger than Minerva and he picked on her lots of times. "Give my sis 'er doll back!" he told her, standing up tall and trying to look tough. He was taller than all the girls and liked to push them around even his sister but this time he was defending her. Minerva stood up from the mud and picked up the monster doll. As soon as Raquel saw it she started crying. "She ruined it!" she cried. "Corwin, look! Look what she did to my doll she ruined it she ruined my doll!" Minerva just frowned at her. "I done made 'er BETTER!" she said, stomping her foot. The doll looked way way better now. She had claws and armor and bones and she was so much stronger. "Ya did not!" Raquel yelled. "Ya made 'er UGLY!" She was crying really hard and clinging to her brother. Minerva just frowned and hugged the doll close. It used to be a stupid doll but now it was better. She had made it better with her tools and her smarts and she thought that made it beautiful. Corwin stepped up and tried to grab the doll. "Give it back!" he shouted, tugging on it. "An' yer gonna fix it or else!" "NO!" Minerva screamed. She raised up the doll's arm and slashed it at him. The sharp nails cut across his face leaving four long red marks. He moved back and put his hand on his face. He looked like he might cry except he was a boy and boys didn't cry. Minerva hugged the doll tighter and said, "I done TOLD ya, if'n ye'd said yer sorry ya coulda 'ad 'er but ya DIDN'T an' she's MINE now an' I made 'er BETTER an' she's gonna PROTECT me if ya try an' 'urt me!" The girls all stepped back, and Becky and Trisha hugged their dolls real close to them so she wouldn't take them too. Raquel was still crying. Corwin looked like he didn't know what to do. So he stepped over to Minerva's castle and stomped it. "NO!" she screamed, running at him again. He ran away so he wouldn't get clawed again. "I built 'at! I built 'at an' yer a dumb ol' jerk!" He had crushed the whole roof in and the tower snapped off because the nails hadn't been holding it good. "'At's whatcha GET, Min!" he shouted. Then he turned and left and the three girls went with him. Minerva sat back down in the mud and pulled her castle into her lap. It was broken but she would fix it. It didn't matter how many times they broke it she could keep fixing it every time.