Letters to Willow

A doll found in a cave? And she looks just like my missing daughter!

Dear Willow,

27 days without you, and we are desperate to find you in these woods.

Every night I spend out here I can hear the trees rustling and

The animals calling out to each other, or they call to the moon.

The wind alone shivers me to my core, I can’t imagine how you feel

All alone out here.

Ever since you never came back from playing hide-and-seek with Lotus,

We have been camping for 27 days

When it was just supposed to be the weekend we were going to spend here.

Our tent is sprinkled with food wrappers and trash, along with blankets strewn about

To act as carpeting, and bedding.

Your younger sister is looking for you too, Lotus misses you.

She told me the last time she saw you was when you told her to close her eyes

And count to ten, then you ran to hide.

She never found you. We searched everywhere within a 5-mile radius of where Lotus said she counted, but you were never found.

Dad has to drive home so he can get to work, but I’m staying here with Lotus

Who says she won’t go home until we find you.

She’s adamant that you are very good at this game.

For a five-year-old, she believes we are taking this game of hide and seek seriously,

and I guess technically we are, but it is a nice comedic relief

to hear her call out to you and say,

“Willow!

Come out, come out wherever you are!”

Anyways, today we are searching out in a cave nearby the perimeter of where we were yesterday,

I’m praying you are in there, eating berries from the bushes, safe as can be.

Whether or not you’re there, mommy’s coming for you baby. I will find you!

Love, Mom

...

Dearest Willow,

It has been 28 days without you, but something new came up.

I just wish it was you, but it looks just like you.

In the cave we were searching in yesterday,

There was a doll sitting against the rocky wall.

She shared the same hair as you, long and dark

with a little wave tucked in the bottom layer.

Her blue eyes were shining beautifully, almost like they were moist,

Like they were real.

Whatever artist made this

Poured much love into the project.

Immediately, Lotus shouted,

“Please let me take her home!

Please, please, please?”

Once the police took their photos of her

And swabbed her,

They wiped her off and handed the doll to me,

Which I immediately gave to your sister.

She’s so excited.

She keeps exclaiming how she found you

And now we can go home,

but the truth is the officers have told me to go home now,

they need the area clear for the investigation.

So, today Daddy is coming to get us.

I’m sorry Willow.

I’m sorry I couldn’t find you myself.

Please, get somewhere the officers can find you.

Call out to anyone.

Please, come home to me.

Love, Mommy

...

Dear Willow,

It’s been 65 days without you.

Your dad and I are a wreck.

We miss you so much.

No news from detectives, but they claim to be “chasing a lead.”

 Lotus, however, has been quite chipper compared to the rest of her world.

She hasn’t stopped playing with that doll we found, she says it’s you.

She named her Willow,

She has all the same tea parties you had here with her, but now it’s with

“Willow Jr.” as your dad called her the other day.

Lotus was angry, saying

“This is Willow right here!

Don’t call her a junior!

Stop being sad when she is right here!”

Other than that quick outburst, she’s been great.

At least her mental health is in better shape than ours right now.

I love you baby, please come home soon.

Love, Mom

...

Dear Willow,

Day 92 is the day I write my last letter to you.

Maybe, just maybe, day 92 is the day I finally got to see you again.

Let me explain:

After 67 days since your disappearance,

Lotus started saying the doll was moving on its own.

Dad and I chalked it up to her imagination and let it go,

Until last night came.

Last night Lotus came into our bedroom with that doll in her hands,

And she asked to sleep with us since she had a nightmare.

Once she crawled in bed and got comfortable,

We all slowly drifted back to sleep, well, all except me.

I stared at the doll.

I swear I could see the eyes moving.

I thought the dark might have been shaping tricks against me

So, I grabbed my phone and shined the flashlight in the doll’s face.

The pupils shrunk right before my very eyes.

I couldn’t believe it.

The doll really is alive!

I gasped and shook dad, but Lotus woke up first

And punched me straight in the nose.

I felt blood gushing out of my nostrils, and dad woke up when Lotus

Shoved the doll into dad’s arms, and screamed,

“HUG DADDY! HUG MOMMY!

MAKE THEM STOP CRYING SO I CAN BRING YOU BACK TO LIFE!”

“Lotus Lane, you sit your butt down this instant and zip your mouth shut!

It is one o’clock in the morning, and-“

“SHUT UP MOMMY! WILLOW IS WORKING!”

Before I could punish your sister for her antics, your dad started screaming,

“AH! IT’S ALIVE! THE DOLL IS ALIVE!”

Before I knew it, that damn doll stood up by itself,

And Lotus shoved me off the bed.

When I hit the floor,

That doll walked up and hovered over my face as she said,

“Hey mom, it’s me.

I’m home now, you can stop crying.”

“Wi… WILLOW?” I shouted,

“What are you talking about!

You are a toy!”

“On our camping trip I hid in the cave.

There were words engraved on the wall,

I read them out loud,

And now I’m in a doll body.”

I stared at apparently my oldest daughter,

Confused as can be by the sight of a plastic baby doll looking up at me.

“help me.” You whispered softly.

“I will baby, I will somehow help you.”

Love, Mom