Chapter 20
He impatiently waited for lunch time. His stomach hurt, and he regretted not eating pancakes. If only he had more than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. But also, he needed to call his wife again. Maybe, with any luck she would have read the books, and understand what was going on. Maybe she could talk some sense into him, and tell him he was imagining things. At least they’d be in it together, whatever this was. His lunch would be cut short from his extra long break. He couldn’t dial the phone while he ripped open his sandwich. The broken finger on his right hand suddenly gained his attention as he was tearing the saran wrap off the pb&j. Sleepwalking, then bone break. Fuck. Coralina broken. Her tiny little bones snapped. God he hoped he was wrong.
The thought turned his stomach, and he punched the button to call Kelly. “Hey honey?” He said to his silent wife on the phone. He was starting to worry that she hadn’t actually picked up, because she was so quiet. “Did you read them?”
“Is this some sort of fucking joke? Are you pranking me because I’m pregnant?” There was a ring of hostility in her voice, disbelief running through her veins. She was as angry as he’d ever heard her.
He swallowed nervously, trying to prepare himself to calm her down. “I wish I was. I already was sleepwalking. I broke my finger, and now the nosebleeds.” He said, try to sound very calm. Kelly was a beast when she was angry, and he needed her present and thoughtful, not angry and shouting. “I don’t know if it’s real, I just know that I’m kind of freaked out. I also think I know where the witch is who… Started all of this. What you think?”
“I don’t believe you.” She said, even more hostile sounding. This wasn’t going well. What was he supposed to do now? “Why the hell would you do this to me? Have you been planning this ever since you got this dollhouse?” He could hear her foot tapping the linoleum in the kitchen, with a rapid slap slap sound. “Coralina was sleeping walking, are you trying tell me she is going to break a bone?” Her voice was getting a higher and higher pitch as she shouted.
Mark tugged on his shirt collar. The panicky feeling was starting to choke him. “I don’t know!” He took a deep breath and tried his damndest to collect himself. “Fuck, Kelly, seriously. It’s not a prank. When I went to get the little table leaf, the guy told me he thought we got the cursed dollhouse. He said a lot of weird shit. And I got bored and stopped by the library to check it out. “ He could feel her angry breathing on the phone. “Could you just help me figure out what to do next?” He was met with angry silence. He couldn’t stop himself, he just had to twist the knife. “You do after all have no job.” He said, sarcastic frustration running off his tongue the like the blood running out his nose.
“Oh, I thought it was okay that I didn’t have a job, because, “ She started screaming, “You put a baby inside me!” And she hung up.
Then he was really mad, what an utterly stupid conversation. Coralina was on the roof this morning, and he had been on the roof not just a few nights earlier. Was Coralina gonna snap one of her tiny, perfect bones? He had an immediate vision of her eyesocket crushed, and he gagged. He never finished his peanut butter and jelly sandwich, opting to let his belly ache with hunger. Why did they have to fight? He dragged his feet back to work, dejected, and confused. Fuck. If his wife wouldn’t help him who would?
