Day 1
Darla slumped into the car. “Come on, what's with the long face,” Mr. Arlet asked.
“You know Darla, change is good sometimes; you should get used to it,” Mrs. Arlet mentioned. Darla didn’t utter a word. That's what everyone says, she thought to herself.
6 hours later
“We’re here!” Mr. Arlet said in an excited voice. Darla just stared. What . . . what is this place? The house was quite old looking, yet liveable. Weird. It was dusty with broken windows, but you could still see clean rooms from the windows. Very weird. As they went inside, something felt off. The whole aura of the house somehow got . . . creepier.
“I’m . . . just going to go upstairs and find myself a room,” Darla said reluctantly. She went up the creaky stairs. She found a room that said “Darla” on it. “Huh? Oh right,” Darla remembered. This was her grandparents’ house. They had strangely and frantically moved out several years ago, and cut off all contact from neighbors, along with Darla’s mom and dad. Even more weird. She shuddered at the strange story. But she brushed it off as something caught her eye; a small room, almost like a closet at the end of the hall.
As she walked towards it, the floor became even creakier. It felt like the floor was screeching at her. She finally reached it, and she opened the door.
There was a beautiful chest, sitting alone in the tiny closet. It was made out of enchanting dark blue crystal, which she was eerily drawn to. When she tried to open it, she was surprised to find it was unlocked. A note fell out. “From Grandma, For Darla’s eyes ONLY,” it said in old, dark handwriting. She cautiously unfolded it . . .
Dear Darla,
If you're seeing this letter, don't tell anyone; this is for your eyes only. You shouldn’t even tell your mom or dad. I have an extremely important task for you, but you need to be brave to complete it. You see, here is the real reason we moved.
When you were born 12 years ago, we bought a doll for you, as a gift. The eyes were so incredibly bright and filled with life, it was mesmerizing. We bought it three days before your first birthday and just kept it in our house. But you see, we immediately began to notice that this doll was quite strange. You will find that out for yourself very soon.
But whatever happens, this doll MUST be destroyed. Go to the back of the house, keep walking, pass 3 trees, and turn right. There you will find a strange, shallow well. This is where we left the doll when we fled the house, because of that doll. You must retrieve it.
Be safe, and don’t take your eyes off of it. Don’t let it pull any tricks.
Good luck, I know you can do it.
-Grandma
But what Darla didn't know were that there was a little note on the back that she didn't see:
P.S. You must leave it out of the cage at night no matter what.
She stared at the letter for a few seconds, trying to process all of the information that she had just learned. I knew there was something off about this place. Although she hated scary things, she had to destroy this doll.
It was already 7 p.m. so she snuck out of the house and headed in the direction of the well. She walked further and further. She got chills from the darkness that surrounded her. Should I really do this? No, don’t back out now. Be brave, she assured herself. Then, after walking past a large tree, she found a short, stubby well.
She cautiously walked toward it, as if something was going to jump out at her. But as she expected, there was a doll, stiffly sitting in the well. As she picked it up, it looked dusty and moldy. The doll was strange, though. It looked vintage, but its eyes were weirdly bright and full of life. In fact, they seemed to be made from the same exact material the chest was made out of.
As she got home, she carefully snuck the doll into her room. She noticed something. On the back of the doll’s frilly, pink dress was a shriveled tag. It said, “Always keep the doll in a cage at night.” Weird. She found an old, silver bird cage on the porch, put the doll inside it, sitting upright, and went to bed.
Day 2
The next morning she woke up to go to school. Only, something felt off. She looked over at the doll. She froze when she saw that the doll was sitting on the left side of the cage. She was sure she had left it on the right side of the cage the night before. She stared, rubbed her eyes, and stared again. Come on. . . you're just scaring yourself. You're just seeing things, she told herself. It was as if her mind and her intuition were fighting each other inside of her. She cautiously took the doll out of its cage, placed it on the counter and left for school. She couldn't focus in her classes all day. That doll had filled up all of her headspace.
When Darla finished school, she rushed back home as fast as she could. She needed to check on the doll. She ran up the stairs to her room and realized that the doll was nowhere to be found. She got worried and searched the whole house, and let out a relieving sigh when she found it on the basement steps.
She rushed up to her room and found that her pencils were scattered on the floor. Her closet was open, and her clothes were all torn up. You need to do something about this creepy doll. With shaking hands, she cautiously but hurriedly grabbed the doll and threw it behind her desk. She was scared, yet angry.
During dinner, the thoughts of the doll in her mind tuned out the conversation her parents were having. She excused herself from the table, put the doll in the cage, and went to bed.
CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.
She heard a startling noise in the night. It was coming from the direction of the cage. But she just brushed it off. She was much too tired for that right now.
Later in the night, she heard it again. But louder. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. She shoved her head deep into her pillow, hoping it would stop.
For the final time, she woke up again. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. CLANG. That arrogant doll would not let her rest. She let out a trembling groan as she feebly reached for the switch on her lamp and turned the light on--
Silence. Dead Silence. The second the light filled up her room, everything went still.
There the doll laid, still, yet all shook up. A chill went down her spine as she struggled to get back to sleep. After that, the noises stopped.
Day 3
She woke up feeling tired and cranky. As much as she didn’t want to, she took the doll out of the cage. However, when she looked at it, she immediately dropped it. Its hair was all poofy and tangly. Its dress looked like it had gone through a trash compactor; it was all ripped up. She stared at it with a traumatizing look on her face. She ran out of the house and rushed to school as the doll lay there with an unreal shine in its eyes.
As Darla walked home, she was incredibly nervous to go back home to the doll. When she got to her house, the doll was on top of the fridge. Her room was a crazy mess once again. She finally decided that she NEEDED to do something about this. As she was wondering what to do, the letter from her grandma caught her eye. She realized there was writing on the back that she had never noticed! She quietly read it out loud to herself:
P.S. You must leave it out of the cage at night no matter what.
That's when it hit her. She had been leaving the doll in the cage, so that's why it was bothering her so much. But then, she realized something else. Even though she must leave the doll out of the cage during the night, the doll would still be active. This thought terrified her, but she had to stay brave. She would destroy this doll.
That evening, as the moon rose into the dark sky and the clock struck 9 p.m., she knew it was time. She carefully put the doll behind two of her large textbooks, hoping that would keep it from moving. But deep inside, she knew that this was going to be the scariest night of her life.
It was silent, once again. Just like the other night. It all seemed so peaceful, maybe a little too peaceful. But she forgot about it and drifted off to sleep.
After two hours, she heard some eerie screeching and whispers. She was too scared to turn on the light; she just looked over at the doll. There it was, slowly sliding off the table. All of a sudden, it got up on its two, tiny, stubby legs, and started climbing up the bookshelf. Darla did not know what to do. As the doll reached the top of the bookshelf, it stopped. . . and stared at her. It slowly started floating toward her in mid air. Her heart was beating loudly in her head. When it was about four feet away from her, it quickly bolted right up to her face. Darla held in a scream. She yelped as the doll's dark blue eyes turned into empty, red, holes. Red liquid seeped out of the doll's eyes, onto her blanket. After that, she blacked out.
Day 4
The next morning she was so tired. She didn’t want to get out of bed. She didn’t even want to look at the doll. But she did. It was so strange. Everything that had been wrecked by the doll the night before, was back to normal somehow. She saw the doll sitting perfectly still on her table. She looked at the wall. In big, red, drippy letters it said “YOU WON.” It looked like it had been written in blood. She cautiously took the doll and went outside. When she made her way to the well, she looked down at the doll one last time and the eerie shine faded away from its eyes. “Goodbye,” she muttered under her breath, tossing the doll into the well. She headed home feeling lighter than usual.
THE END
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