The Doll

Hayden had gotten the doll in the mail.

She didn’t know who it was from, seeing as
there was no name on the box and no return
address. The doll was beautiful. It stood three
feet tall and had long dark brown hair. Its blue
eyes looked far too real in her porcelain face.
The doll's features had been made to give her a
delicate and pleasant countenance.
As she took the doll out of the box it had
come in, Hayden noticed a sealed envelope
attached to the bottom. She looked at the front
of it, which read, “to you,” took the card out and
began reading:
Now that I’ve found you
We’ll never be apart
Hayden was totally unaware that she had been
reading the message aloud. As she continued
looking at the card, she was suddenly overcome
with a weird, eerie sensation as though someone
were watching her. She looked toward the doll
and saw that the doll was looking right back at
her, which was weird because she could have
sworn her head had been turned down when
she had taken her out of the box. What was
even creepier was the fact that it looked as if the
doll was trying hold back a smile; the type of
smile that said, “I have a secret.”
Putting the note on the table, Hayden
picked the doll up and stood it in the corner of
her living room. For the next ten minutes she
walked through her apartment tidying up and
trying to shake off the eerie feeling she had
gotten from the doll.
At about two o clock that afternoon, Hayden
thought that it would be good idea to get out of
the apartment for a while, so she decided to visit
her sister. Her older sister, Paige, was the only
family she had left. Ever since they were little
girls the two of them had been extremely close.
As she walked out of her apartment building,
Hayden signaled for a taxi; fifteen minutes later
the driver pulled up to her sisters building.
“Thanks,” Hayden said to the driver, handing
him a ten dollar bill.
Hayden walked up to the buildings intercom
and rung for her sister.
“Hello?” Paige asked.
“Hey Paige, it’s me.”
The door buzzed as her sister let her in. Hayden
took the elevator up to the fourth floor and as
the doors opened she was met by her big sister.
“You didn’t have to meet me, I could have rung
the doorbell.” Hayden said as her sister hugged
her.
“It was no bother, I missed you. Paige
responded. “So how are things?” She continued
as the two of them walked to the apartment.
“As good as can be expected.” Hayden
responded. When they reached the apartment,
Paige made some tea and the girls sat down.
“I’ve been thinking about mom a lot lately.”
Hayden stated.
“I hope you haven’t been blaming yourself for
what happened. You know that wasn’t your
fault.” Her older sister responded seriously.
Hayden couldn’t help but think about the
hard time she had been having over the past
couple of years, taking care of her mother who
had developed schizophrenia. Her mother had
made her miserable to the point where she
couldn’t have anything else to do with her.
Hayden had decided that their mother would be
better taken care of in a mental institution, to
which Paige had agreed. Both girls had
continuously visited their mother in the hospital
for months, but eventually their mother became
more violent and the visitations stopped
completely. A year later the girls’ mother died
alone in her room at Point View Psychiatric
Hospital. Hayden took it especially hard; she
loved her mother more than anything, but
during her last years she had become a totally
different person, cursing her out, hitting her,
and having hallucinations. In the end she
couldn’t take it anymore, she wasn’t strong
enough for it; she wasn’t strong at all.
“You have to move on.” Paige told Hayden.
“Mom would have wanted both of us to.”
“I know,” Hayden responded plaintively.
“I got a doll in the mail today.” She said,
deciding to change the subject.
“Yeah?” her sister said, happy to be talking
about something else.
“Yes, she’s beautiful, she looks…”
“What?” Paige asked as she noticed her sister
had stopped talking.
“She looks a lot like the ones mom used to get us
when we were little girls, only this one is
taller.”
“Who sent it?” Paige asked as she felt a
sensation that was one of fear creeping up the
back of her neck; fear not for herself but for her
sister. It was ridiculous she knew, but she
couldn’t help it.
“I don’t know, there was no name or return
address.” Hayden responded.
“That’s weird.” Paige stated, trying to shake off
the strange feeling.
Over the next few hours, the girls drank
tea and Paige decided to fix dinner. They ate
and talked about more positive things. Pretty
soon Hayden decided that she’d better get back
to her own apartment.
Outside she hailed a cab and relaxed in
the backseat. The driver pulled up to her
building fifteen minutes later and Hayden got
out. Opening the door to her apartment, Hayden
realized she was exhausted; all she wanted to do
was get some sleep. She walked to her living
room, turned on the light and stopped when she
saw the doll. Hayden couldn’t help but think
that the doll looked like a real human girl
standing in the corner. She was so life like and
she reminded Hayden of someone, she just
couldn’t put her finger on who. Finally, Hayden
crossed the living room and made her way
toward the hallway; far too aware that the dolls
eyes were following her.
She walked into the bathroom and
jumped into the shower, turning the water as
hot as it would go. As she stood under the hot
water, Hayden thought back to the conversation
she had with her sister about how the doll
looked like the ones their mother used to buy
them when they were children. It seemed like
some weird coincidence, like maybe her mother
had somehow sent this doll to her; after all,
there was no name and no return address.
Hayden eventually turned the water off and
stepped out of the shower. Wrapping the towel
around her, Hayden suddenly froze; there was
laughter coming from the living room; a way
too familiar laugh. Opening the bathroom door,
Hayden slowly made her way down the hall
toward it. As she stepped into the room,
Hayden’s eyes collided with the dolls and a fear
so great seized her that she could hardly
breathe. The dolls facial features seemed to be
changing; seemed to be becoming more human
like. Its eyes now were so intense and alive that
Hayden felt as if this thing wasn’t really a doll at
all but something very different, something evil
but at the same time, familiar. As she stared at
the doll, Hayden realized that it was beginning
to look more and more like someone she knew;
It was beginning to look like her mother.
Grabbing the doll, Hayden ran to her
hallway closet and threw it inside, slamming the
door shut. She kept telling herself she was being
ridiculous and that she needed to get some
sleep; but she couldn’t knock the fear or the
feeling that her mother was still around.
◊
Hayden didn’t know what it was that
woke her up at first. Maybe it was the fact that
she had a bad dream, or maybe she had to use
the bathroom. But as she opened her eyes she
suddenly knew exactly why she had woken up;
there was a noise coming from the hallway. It
was the sound of a door creaking open, and
then the small patter of footsteps.
Please no, she thought as the footsteps got
closer. Her door was cracked open and she
couldn’t for the life of her move to close it. She
could only sit in bed and wait for whatever was
to come next. The footsteps continued and then
stopped, right outside her door. Hayden could
now see the shadow of two very small feet
through the crack at the bottom of the door.
Slowly her door opened a little wider and the
doll pushed its head through the opening, the
delicate, and pleasant look on its face now
replaced by a look of pure evil.
What did I do? , Hayden thought as the doll
stood in her doorway staring at her, the eyes
which had once looked alive and life like, now
looked black and dead, but still as intense as the
first time she had took her out of the box.
The doll was saying something and
although Hayden couldn’t hear its voice, she
was able to read the dolls lips,
“You know what you did.”
“What do you want?” Hayden suddenly
screamed at the doll as she found her voice.
She stared in horror as the doll began walking
toward her and Hayden heard its voice for the
first time.
“Now that I’ve found you, we’ll never be
apart.”
Hayden screamed at the top of her lungs as she
realized she was staring face to face not with a
doll anymore, but with her mother...
When the darkness came, she didn’t try
to fight it.
◊
“How long has she been like this?”
Doctor Niles asked the nurse as he observed her
through the one- sided mirror.
“She’s been like this for hours, all she does is
stare blankly at the wall; she hasn’t said a
word,” The nurse responded.
Doctor Niles opened the connecting door and
stepped into the room that Hayden had been in
for the past few hours since being transferred
from the hospital.
“Hello Hayden, I’m Doctor Niles. You’re at Point
View Psychiatric Hospital.”
Hayden continued to stare blankly past the
doctor, mumbling something inaudible.
Doctor Niles continued, “Can you remember
what happened?
No response. Doctor Niles tried a new direction.
“Your sister is here I’ll go get her so that you
can talk to her.”
As Doctor Niles left the room, Hayden continued
to stare blankly but her voice grew a little
louder.
“Now that you’ve found me, we’ll never be apart.”
Just then Paige stepped into the room holding
something behind her back.
“Hi sweetie, how are you feeling?” Paige asked
devastated as she thought about how familiar
this whole situation was.
Hayden could feel the tears stinging her eyes as
she began to shake everywhere; that feeling again ,
she thought.
“Oh no Hayden don’t cry. Look, I’ve brought
you someone to keep you company.” Paige
stated, holding up the four foot doll.
Hayden looked up at the doll with her mother’s
face and screamed at the top of her lungs as she
now understood that she had never really
gotten away from her mother in the first place,
and she never would.
“What’s wrong?” Paige asked genuinely
perplexed as she looked from her sister to the
doll. From what Paige could see it was the most
beautiful and pleasant looking doll she had ever
laid eyes on.
Just then Doctor Niles stepped in and turned to
Paige, “I think it would be wise if we kept her
here for now.
She’s beginning to show signs of
schizophrenia.”