Doll Crimes

In a world where every step is a gamble and every smile hides a secret, a mother and daughter navigate a life of constant motion, sharp instincts, and blurred lines between right and wrong. As the daughter grapples with fragmented memories and a strange 'third eye' that reveals unsettling truths, she begins to question the reality her charismatic mother has built around them. How long can they outrun the past, and what dark truths will surface when the illusions finally shatter?

Doll Crimes

In a world where every step is a gamble and every smile hides a secret, a mother and daughter navigate a life of constant motion, sharp instincts, and blurred lines between right and wrong. As the daughter grapples with fragmented memories and a strange 'third eye' that reveals unsettling truths, she begins to question the reality her charismatic mother has built around them. How long can they outrun the past, and what dark truths will surface when the illusions finally shatter?

My mother, she’s standing at the counter with her hair shining loose over her shoulder, her eyes just as bright, her smile so wide she can only be oblivious to the lipstick marks on her teeth. She’s laying her change out onto the counter, one coin at a time, placing each down with a sharp, metallic tap on the smooth space between the till and the gum rack. The tapping sound, clear and deliberate behind the dancing wall of her voice, feels like the echo of a giant clock in the background. Ticking down to something. Tap-tap like tick-tock.

“Eighty-nine,” she says. Tap-Tick. “Ninety.” Tap-Tock.

Beside the rows of coins, stacked up to tens in neat piles, are two crisp bills. Beside the bills are her intended purchases. There are only three—a vanilla-scented lip balm, a box of salted crackers, and a carton of full-cream milk.