Following her husband’s long illness ending in death, Elsea and her three children were left with no home and very little money. Her parents offered them a place to live. An old house outside of town that had been owned by their family for more than three generations. They happily moved in and began to enjoy their newfound security. Elsea quickly made friends with bearded, handsome neighbor Corey, but she felt that it was too soon for a relationship. Corey began encouraging Elsea to take up writing. Stephanie began helping with household chores, while Tommy tended to roam outdoors. Meanwhile, five year old Dorrie, the quiet one of the bunch, began spending much of her time in the attic, playing with old dolls and toys that she found there.
She grew attached to one doll in particular, with a smooth porcelain-like face just like a baby; and a mouth with a tiny hole so she could eat and breathe. But the doll had only one beaded glass eye—and it gleamed with mischief and evil. Dorrie really did not understand this talk of life and death, and could not understand at all why her Daddy was not coming home. Also, she noticed that sharing her breath with the doll, rubbing and talking to it, seemed to bring it alive. If only Dorrie could have read her sweet little doll's thoughts . . . she would have run from the attic as fast as she could. For you see … her doll seemed to have killing in mind ...
