“No. Miss Liz told her to do it,” she said in a whisper.

Fear seized my insides as I scooped her up and carried her out of the room. I gave the doll a nudge with my foot, which I realized was leaving bloody smudges on the carpet. She remained inanimate.

Emily’s body wrapped around mine, I walked downstairs to find my friends sopping up the wine with the Norwex towels I had bought at a “friends and family” party Liz had hosted.

“Tony keeps wanting to train as a distributor for these,” Melissa said as I walked into the kitchen. When she saw Emily, the expensive cloth dropped from her hand.

Jess’s gaze was on something outside the family room window. She was a wax figure, immobilized. “Guys” was all that she said.

Even though everything in my body told me not to, I looked.

Outside, a figure strode on the sidewalk, moving confidently through the darkness. It was Liz. She wore a billowing black dress and was gliding down the perimeter of my house like she was on a demonic mission. All around her, a mist swirled, like she was activating it with each step. As the mist moved through the grass and shrubs bordering the sidewalk, the foliage wilted.

“Liz!” Jess called through the window. Melissa and I strangled out protests.

Liz stopped and turned toward the house in a precise motion, like a student at West Point. Even in the darkness, from inside the safety of my own home, I could see that she looked different. Her hair flowed freely around her shoulders, and her face seemed tighter, more youthful. I couldn’t see her hands but imagined her fingernails were back. She looked beautiful in a very disturbing way.

She looked strong.

“You didn’t really think that would work, did you?” she called, her perfect white teeth glinting in the faded light from the gas lamp.

Before she turned and continued walking, she laughed.

A pressure began to build in my chest as I watched her saunter down the street. I’m not letting her do this, especially not to Emily.

I set my daughter down. “Watch her,” I said to my friends as I started toward the front door.

“Amy, no!” Melissa shouted, the vowels emerging long and pronounced, as Jess sputtered out a protest.

I didn’t slow down. All I saw was the burn marks, the dead rabbits, the Barbie tableau. The beloved Molly doll turned into a nightmare.

My anger masked any fear I might have felt as I wrenched open the door and jogged down the sidewalk, barefoot and still bleeding, toward Liz. I saw her figure rounding the corner, the mist still swirling around her.

“Liz! Liz! Stop.” My voice came out louder than expected, a razor-sharp edge to my words. I wasn’t asking her to stop, I was fucking commanding her to.