“Good!” Half his mouth curls into a smile. The other half remains behind in its former wilt.

He brings the dress to her and she questions why it’s so large when he helps her into it. He tells her she is growing too fast and he doesn’t want her to be uncomfortable every time she needs a new dress. That she will grow into this one over a longer period of time.

“I don’t want to grow any more. I like the way I am.”

He doesn’t want her to grow either, but he doesn’t tell her that.

“You’ll be a beautiful woman, happy in your skin before you know it.”

“But I want to be your little Vanilla forever.”

He chuckles. “That is nice to hear.”

And then they both fall silent, something melancholic creeping between them.

He plants a kiss on her forehead and stands. “Now, I must go take—”

“Don’t! Don’t go, Daddy!”

“But I must, my sweet. Don’t worry. I will be back soon.”

His loving tug on one of her pigtails silences her. She waves goodbye as he turns around and leaves, knowing there is no way to stop him from going and no way to know when he will be back. The door swings to a close but does not shut all the way—and the lock does not snap.

But her daddy is gone.

She stands paralyzed, her hand frozen in mid-wave, her eyes glued to the door. This is the second time he has left the door open, and she does not understand if he is becoming forgetful or careless. Or perhaps it is on purpose.

Perhaps it is a test.

She gathers her strength and stands, takes a step forward, stops. Takes another step forward and stops again. She continues this way, a broken wind-up toy inching toward its destination, until she is right at the edge of the doorway. Breath stilled, she peers around the frame and looks across the threshold. There is a long, dark hallway, the same of which she has caught glimpses of before. A deep path with an end that dissolves into darkness.

Where the creatures may come from.

But now, for the first time, she notices something new. Along the walls of the concrete hallway are doors that look just like hers. Rows of them on either side.

She cautiously steps into the space between the door and its frame, her nose just barely touching the Outside. She inches her toes forward until her big toe is past the threshold, touching the icy floor beyond her room.

The cold causes her to jerk back in fear. As she does, she steps on the skirt of her overly large dress and falls with a hard thump, smacking her tailbone into the concrete. Her throat hiccups from the shock and her heart palpitates in her ribcage. She whines. Using her foot, she slams the door shut and crawls backward, eyes wide and filled with horror. Through her mind runs thoughts of creatures emerging from that deep hallway to bang on her door.