Charter Vision

Rope Girl

There’s no denying she’s cute. I think she’s cute. I’m not sure if anyone else thinks she’s cute. I’m too afraid to show them. I worry what people would think. What they would do. I can’t really decide if I ever really will show people… her. Plus it’s not like she even knows other people exist yet. To her, I am the only person in the world. This is not an egotistical comment. Under the circumstances, it’s one hundred percent truthful. Some people may think the way I keep her in my pocket (quite literally) is cruel. But I made her, therefore, I can do what I please with her.

See, she’s a small thing — about seven inches tall — and she’s completely made out of rope. Normally, she just stays within my sweatshirt pocket while I work. I make toys. Lots of different kinds, but my favorite kinds of toys to make are dolls. Kate (the little rope girl) is the first doll I ever made. After her, I created hundred of different rope dolls, almost all of them identical to Kate. Those have all since been destroyed.

Now, I own a store in which I sell my toys. My best sellers are the dolls. These days, they’re all made out of wood. The one I’m working on now, I’m keeping for myself. It’s a new girl. I haven’t decided on a name yet.

Sometimes it’s difficult to work, Kate climbs up my sweatshirt and hugs my head, she loves to give hugs. She can’t talk. I’m not entirely positive if she can hear either. In fact, I’m not entirely positive why she can move at all. I think it may have to do with the hat. A fedora. I put Kate under the fedora one night, and the next morning she was sitting on my chest, playing with shirt collar. Oddly, this did not frighten me. I simply grabbed her and examined her.

It was Kate. It was a doll. It was made out of rope. And it was moving. Alive in fact. I worried at first. I worried that she would die, I had no idea what to feed a little rope girl. Turns out she doesn’t eat. But she does sleep, heavily. Any given day she sleeps around twenty-one hours. The remaining three she spends hugging.

I have never tried putting another doll under that fedora. But the new girl I’m making… I think I’ll put her under it. And if that works out, I’ll make more. But it’s hard enough having one of these around. I had to quit smoking, Kate burned herself. God knows how many other things I’ll have to quit when I have a house full of living dolls. Hopefully, they’re as well behaved as Kate. Which begs the question, where did her personality come from? But don’t ask yourself that question, I use to drive myself crazy with questions about it. Then I realized it was a living doll.

One time I set the hat on top of a stapler. Complete accident. It went insane. It started jumping all over the room, stapling anything and everything. Got me in the hand three times. I eventually hit it to death with a hammer. And it did die. I killed an animated-inanimate object. I didn’t eat for a week after that. I was too shocked, I really didn’t even move. I took the hat and threw it across the room one day. The next morning I had a little rope girl.

I’m sorry if this little story is boring you. I’m not a writer — I just felt this was the best place to tell the world about my little rope girl, I just can’t keep her a secret anymore. And I put the fedora on top of the new wood girl an hour ago. I named her Mary, by the way. I just heard a noise, I should go.

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