The Doll on the Shelf

What would happen if you bought a doll that was cursed and misread the "instructions" of how to take care of it?

By Albert Liu (age 13)

On the shelves in the toy store there lay many dolls, but there was on special doll that caught Emma's eye. It was Emma's tenth birthday, but she never knew it would be her last. She picked up the doll; she looked at its face. She loved the cute blue eyes and the pretty dress, but what she loved the most was the way the doll was holding up two fingers like it was making the "peace" sign. She asked her mom if she could buy it and her mother said yes.

When they went to pay for the doll, the cashier looked surprised and told them never to leave the doll outside, not under any circumstances. Even though the cashier spoke seriously, Emma and her mom didn't care. When they arrived home, it started to rain really hard so they rushed into the house, leaving the groceries and the doll in the trunk of the car. Since it was late, Emma brushed her teeth, took a shower and went to bed.

Later in the night, Emma was awoken when she heard three knocks and a small girl's voice: "Emma, I'm coming through the door."

Emma thought it was just in her head so she went back to bed and fell asleep, until she was awoken a couple hours later with three more knocks and the same voice of a little girl: "Emma, I'm on the stairs."

Emma was getting scared, though she still thought she was just imagining things so went back to sleep -- until she was awoken once more. Three knocks and the exact same voice said, "Emma, I'm halfway up the stairs."

Now she started thinking this wasn't in her head, but she stayed in bed and fell asleep until she was awoken again by three knocks and the creepy voice, "Emma, I'm at your door."

Emma was really scared now. She saw her bedroom door was opened just a crack.She pulled the covers over her head and shut her eyes. A couple minutes passed until she felt something pointy touching her neck. Suddenly she heard the creepy voice very close whisper, "Emma, open your eyes."

When Emma opened them and pulled back the covers, what she saw was the last thing she saw.

In the morning Emma's parents jumped into her room to surprise her and wish her a happy birthday only to find their precious daughter in bed, white as a sheet with blood all over her bed and face. Beside Emma was the doll, which had been left in the car trunk. Its dress was covered in blood. Emma's mother sensed, though she couldn't prove it, that the doll had done something horrible, that it was cursed. She returned it to the toy store.

The toy store changed the bloodied clothes and re-shelved it. It looked exactly the same as when Emma had first seen it, except that now the cursed doll was holding up three fingers.