Her resolve, however, lasted the whole of six hours, long enough for the house to go to sleep. Like a child, Charlie snuck into the living room in oversized pajamas to sneak peaks at the presents that awaited her. She took the top one first. It was very light and made no more sound than a light ruffle of tissue paper. Using skills she had honed for over a decade, Charlie carefully untapped the wrapping and pulled a plain white box from the red sheath. She looked inside and was surprised to find a handwritten letter. Curious, Charlie began to read.
“Dear Charlie,”
“I have many confessions to make. The first of these is that I shall not be arriving in town until New Years, and I had it from the strict word of your parents that my presents would not be disturbed until then. But I felt the need to add a layer of security to that word, and thus this letter.
“Which leads me to my second of three confessions, which is that I am a witch. You may or may not realize by now that your legs have turned to hollow plastic, and that the rest of your body will soon follow. Your clothes will become a fashionable black dress, and a big pink bow will manifest itself upon your head. As a last reminder to your new form, pink circles will appear upon each cheek, completing your transformation into a doll.
“And then twist ties will wrap themselves around your appendages to keep you safe and secure inside a pink box all your own, from which you will view a giants world from beneath a Christmas tree. I know you should truly be wrapped, but this way feels better.
“For my last confession, I will tell you that you will be the only present of mine that I will allow to be opened before I arrive. I do this so that on Christmas morn, your cousin Abigail will look beneath the tree to behold you in your new form. She will open you up and you will experience the life of a doll first hand for a full week. And what’s best of all is that you shall walk and talk and play as all good dolls should. I suppose that will be an improvement from the days you spend tied down inside your box.
“In any case, dear niece, I hope to see you come New Years.”
“Love,
Aunt Valerie”