Mystickal's "Spooky Girl Contest"

Here's my contribution for the contest at Mystickal Incense & More requesting a short story about a picture found on a box. The picture:

She knew she wasn’t supposed to be up in the attic, but here she was. She wasn’t supposed to go down into the basement, either. But the basement was dark and scary, and probably had monsters in it. The attic had secrets. She loved secrets.

She crept quietly through the old furniture and boxes. Dust danced in the air and made her sneeze. She shut her eyes and froze, listening, hoping, waiting… Nothing. She hadn’t been heard. Wiping her nose absently with her hand, she moved on in search of forgotten treasure.

There! That box next to that old bicycle and runner sled. The box that said “TOYS” in great big letters. She scurried over and opened the box, sneezing again at the freshly-disturbed dust but too excited to stop and listen. These weren’t toys! There were big, funny-looking metal cars, a stick with a string on it. Well, there was a stuffed bear in there, but it looked like something had chewed away parts of it. Eww!

She was so disappointed she was ready to go back downstairs, but then she saw something at the bottom of the box. She grimaced as she moved the chewed stuffed bear to pull out what she had seen.

It was a funny little box with a picture on it. It looked like a picture of a person, but it was very dirty. She wiped at it with her sleeve and saw that the picture was of a doll! She opened the box and saw the doll inside. Squeaking with delight she hugged the doll to her chest. It was a funny little doll, and not like any she had seen before. Was it a clown? But such strange clothes! And what a serious face! Holding the doll in her arms, she wiped away more of the dust and dirt from the box. She wanted to know more about this secret toy. Well, look at that! There’s someone else on the box, holding the doll. She looked hard at the picture. It was a boy! A boy dressed in funny clothes. He didn’t look happy, though. He looked sad, like he was lost. Lost without his mommy and daddy. She held the doll close as she kept cleaning the box. She kept looking at the sad little boy and cleaning. She was sad now, and sniffling. Squeezing the doll tightly to her, she wiped at her moist eyes and continued to clean. He looked so sad; she could almost hear him crying. He just wanted to go home with his doll. Go home where he could get hugs and chicken noodle soup and a bedtime story… but he was lost! She closed her eyes and cried. Her tears were streaming down her cheeks as she held the doll and the box close to her. Her tears were on her face, her shirt, the doll, and the box…

Still crying, she opened her eyes. She wasn’t in the attic. The dust, the old bicycle and sled… all gone. She still held the doll, but the box it came in was gone. And her clothes! These weren’t her clothes! She had seen them before, though. Where? Then she knew. She looked up, out into the darkness, and saw the little boy’s face. The little boy from the box had grown huge and was looking down at her with the same sad look. She stared as the face changed, got old, older than Grandma or anyone she had ever seen. She screamed as it turned into a skeleton and then to dust. Dust that covered her without touching her, as it now covered the box. Dust that covered her expression, forever frozen… lost.