The One That Got Away || Benny Weir

20

"Debbie's my favorite, and now she's ruined," Jane says with a frown. She was talking about how her doll had a broken leg to Sarah and Reagan, who were watching the young girl for tonight. 

"I'm sure we could fix her with some tape or something," Sarah assures the girl.

"Then can we have a dance party?" Jane asks the two hopefully.

Reagan chuckles. "Then we can have a dance party." She suddenly had the urge to use the restroom as Sarah's phone rang. "I will be right back. Don't have too much fun without us." Reagan pats Jane's head before heading to the restroom.

Once she was properly done, she heads back to Jane's room where Sarah stood at the door shocked. "Sarah? What's going on? What are you--" She stops when she saw the life-size Debbie Dazzle doll, holding Jane's hand.

"Look what I made." Jane smiles.

"Hi! I'm Debbie Dazzle. Wanna play?" The doll asks.

"Ethan! You're gonna want to see this!" Sarah shouts.

The two boys enter the room, complaining about how Sarah interrupted their game until they saw Debbie Dazzle. "What the heck is that?" 

"That is a life-sized Debby Dazzle. I think I had a dream about this once." Benny says. Debby looks over at the group and smiles.

"Jane, can I talk to you for a minute?" Ethan pulls his little sister away. As the two siblings talked, Debbie saw the look on Reagan's face.

"You look confused. Would you like a hug?" Debbie starts walking towards Reagan before she put her hands up, stopping the doll.

"I'm good, thanks." She looks over at Benny. "I am so gonna have nightmares about this." 

Debbie shrugs off the rejection from Reagan. "Let's have ice cream and go to a roller disco dance party." 

"I'm in," Benny says before Reagan puts a hand on his chest. She gives him a look that made him stay in his place. 

"No parties. We need to turn her back into a doll." Ethan explains, and Debbie did not seem too happy about that.

"No! I don't want to go back. It's so boring. I want to have fun. I won't go back. I won't!" Debbie shakes her head. Jane walks over to her doll.

"Don't worry, Debbie. I won't let them change you back. I promise." She reassures.

"Oh, goodie! Let's celebrate. CUpcake dance party!" Debbie gasps. She and Jane left the room, the two female vampires turn to the boys.

"Fix this!" Sarah hands Benny his spellbook before the two followed Debbie and Jane.

*

By the time the boys came down to the kitchen, it was a huge mess with flour and cooking supplies everywhere. Jane was sitting on the counter as she licks off the spoon. Debbie was baking. The others watched from the side.

"Woah, this is a cupcake party!" Benny exclaims once he entered the kitchen.

"Did you find anything?" Ethan asks.

"I've got good news and bad news," Benny starts. "Bad news: I couldn't figure out the spell. Good news: I'm on Level Two of Knights of Ninjitsu IV!" Benny smiles.

"You have been up there for an hour!" Sarah yells.

"It's a hard game!" Benny defends.

"Mmm, lemon swirl." Debbie tries to give a cupcake to Sarah, who immediately declines. Debbie turns to Reagan. "Would you like one?"

"As I said before, I'm good." Reagan answers, curling her fists. For some reason, she had a feeling of fear and anger towards the doll. She had that annoying voice but could kill in a second.

"Oh, no, look at your clothes," Debbie says to Jane. "I know just what we should play next. Debbie Dazzle fashion show!" Jane agrees as the two make their way back to Jane's room. "Ouch!"

Debbie bends over, gripping her stomach. Ethan went up to her. "Are you okay?" The doll grabs Ethan's arm, her grip turning blue at the palm of her hand. 

"I'm fine. Great, in fact! Let's go have some fashion fun!" Debbie exclaims before she and Jane left the kitchen. Ethan wobbles and holds the countertop as he turns back to his friends.

"Woah, what happened?" Reagan questioned, instantly going to her friend's side. 

"I had a vision. Debbie needs life energy to stay in human form. She absorbs it through contact. If... if we..." Ethan stumbles as he almost falls to the ground. Reagan grabs him to keep him up.

"Woah, easy buddy," Benny says. "Looks like she drained you a little." 

"Wait, maybe if we keep here away from people, she'll turn back into a doll," Ethan suggests.

"Let's hope." Sarah sighs. 

The doorbell rings and the boys go to answer it. As the two girls waited, Sarah kept looking over at Reagan who seemed to be... out of it. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?" Reagan doesn't even look at her. 

"Because you're fidgeting your hands." Sarah points to her hands, and Reagan looks down to see her fingers messing with one another. She stops and looks up at her friend.

"Sorry. Dolls have never been a thing of mine. I didn't expect one to actually come to life." The girl awkwardly chuckles. That wasn't a lie. Reagan hasn't liked dolls since she was six when she had a nightmare about them. But it's not like she could tell Sarah that she might be losing control ever since she started drinking blood. 

The boys come back into the kitchen, bringing the girl's attention to them. "Who was that?"

"Rory."

*

"Is this what girls usually do with their dolls?" Benny questions over Reagan's shoulder. 

"You don't do this with yours?" Sarah shot back.

"Those are action figures," Benny says offended. Sarah leans to Ethan, saying how they needed to get Debbie alone.

"Hey, Debbie. Guess what? I just found a bunch of... uh, things that girls say goes with shoes." Ethan tells the doll. She looks at the four and smiles.

"I love accessorizing." She follows the three best friends as they lead her into Ethan's room. "But I don't see any--" Ethan slams the door shut and ties a rope to the doorknob. "Hey, let me out! I wanna play! You three are real party poopers!"

"What about the window?" Benny asks.

Reagan rolls her eyes. "We're on the second floor. It's not like she can fly."

Well, she may not have been able to fly, but a certain blonde-haired vampire could.