The Haunted Dollhouse

Mother brought the dollhouse down from the attic. It was dusty and some of the wallpaper was peeling. It had three stories. The parlor and kitchen were on the bottom floor with the front door leading into the parlor, three bedrooms and a nursery in the turret were on the second floor, and an attic was on the third floor separated into three different rooms.
Brielle was thrilled. A real Victorian dollhouse! There were even miniature people, a tiny dog, cloth-covered furniture and a chandelier. It was a house extraordinaire. Brielle could hardly wait to play with it, but that would have to wait for after school.
When Brielle got home from school that day, she was surprised to find the dolls sitting on the settee and the dust-covers off of all the furniture. Her mom must have done it while she was at school.
The miniature family consisted of a mother, a father, a sister, a brother, a baby, and a dog she promptly named Henry. Brielle had so much fun walking the children dolls up the stairs to their rooms to play with tiny toys leaving the mother doll in the kitchen to make the meals and the father doll in the parlor reading a tiny newspaper. Leaving the children to play, she carefully glued the wallpaper to the wall where it was peeling off and dusted the entire house making it spic and span.
Brielle then left the dolls to fend for themselves while she gathered yarn and a crochet hook. Carefully she chained together the loops to start a circle and she crocheted a little rug for the parlor. Satisfied, she put it in pride of place, but was startled to discover the father in the kitchen with the mother. They looked to be deep in serious conversation. When had she moved him? She couldn't remember. Maybe before she crocheted the rug?
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Soon the day got away from her and it was time for bed. She put all the dolls in their beds and wished them a goodnight. She put Henry on the rug in the parlor to keep guard. She then bundled herself into her own bed, curled up in a ball to keep warm, and fell asleep.
And woke up again.
Why was she awake? Did she hear a baby crying? Weird. She must have heard her neighbor's baby. But that was strange. A light was on in the turret nursery room in the dollhouse. She didn't even know the dollhouse HAD lights that worked! But being tired, she rolled over and went back to sleep. She slept undisturbed for the rest of the night and when she woke, the light was off again.
The next day was spent playing with the dolls and crocheting more little rugs to go in each of the rooms. The rugs made the dollhouse look cozy. She left the brother and sister dolls sprawled out on the parlor floor rug playing an imaginary game of marbles before she left for her 4-H meeting. She had a rabbit named Percy she was learning how to show at the fair. Percy was a French Lop and had big floppy ears and a winning personality. He liked fruit and vegetables and Brielle always had a treat for him every time she handled him. He was a very good boy for a rabbit.
When she got back to her room her Alexa was playing the news and when she glanced in her dollhouse she was surprised to see the entire family seated in the parlor apparently listening to Alexa.
She was SURE she left just the children in that room, not the whole family! But maybe her mom had come in and moved them. She must have told Alexa to play, too. But seeing as how the little family seemed to be enjoying themselves, she left Alexa on and didn't disturb the family until it was time again for bed. Then, just like the night before, she tucked everyone into their beds and wished them a good night before she crawled into bed herself.
As her mother tucked her in, she asked her, “Mom, did you move the dolls in my dollhouse today while I was at school?”
“No,” her mother replied. “I wasn't even home. I was at a 4-H meeting for parents of kids who are showing at the fair this year. Why?”
“No reason. I was just wondering,” Brielle responded. And she WAS wondering. Just exactly WHO moved the dolls?
Again, Brielle was woken in the night. She was SURE she heard a baby crying and once again, a light was on in the turret room of the dollhouse. Only THIS time the mother doll was in there as well as the baby. Brielle could have sworn she interrupted the mother trying to get the baby back to sleep.
Brielle padded over to the dollhouse and try as she might, she could NOT find the source of that light. The dollhouse wasn't electric as far as she could tell, but the little lamp in the room was burning brightly until Brielle picked it up at which point it turned off. This was well past weird and on its way to being spooky!
Brielle went back to bed and dreamed of dolls who could move by themselves and lights that shouldn't be.
The next morning Brielle went to the dollhouse before breakfast only to find the mother back in the kitchen apparently cooking something while the father was back in the parlor reading his newspaper. The kids were in their rooms and the baby was silent now in its turret.
They were NOT in the same places Brielle left them in. She was SURE of it. But leaving them be, Brielle hurried off to school after taking care of Percy. It was another long day.
But when Brielle came home, Alexa was on again, this time playing Mozart, and the family was scattered throughout the dollhouse. The mother was up in the bedroom she shared with the father, the father was in the attic doing something or other, the children were playing a game in the parlor and the baby was on top of the mother and father's bed. Henry was OUTSIDE the dollhouse evidently on patrol.
Brielle did NOT put them like that. She did NOT turn on Alexa. And she suspected she did NOT have a typical dollhouse...
That night as she put all the dolls to bed, she tried an experiment and left ALL the dolls in the downstairs parlor, even Henry. She would just see if they moved again before she woke up in the morning...
Sound asleep, Brielle was woken up by violent barking. Where was that coming from and what was that smell? Something was burning! Remembering her lessons on what to do when something is burning, Brielle dropped to the floor and crawled to the door and felt it for heat. It wasn't hot. Very carefully Brielle opened the door and was almost overwhelmed by the smell of heavy smoke. She screamed for her parents who woke up and told her to make her way on her hands and knees to the front door and to meet up by the rabbit hutch outside.
Brielle did just that and made her way to the front door. She couldn't help but see that the kitchen was on fire and the flames were spreading to the living room. What had happened to the smoke detector going off? They must have let the batteries die. Thank God for that dog barking and waking her up. Again, she wondered at WHAT dog had woken her up. The only dog within the vicinity was Henry and he wasn't real. Or was he?
Finally the fire truck arrived and put out the fire. The kitchen and part of the living room was destroyed. They would have to go to a hotel.
But not before Brielle bundled up the haunted dollhouse to take with her. She was pretty sure Henry had saved all their lives. He was a very good boy.