𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 [𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲] ✔

Dolls

Lizbeth has glassy, dead eyes.

I never realized that as a child, but now, looking at her perched on the sofa, I shiver. Though my childhood is hazy, I can't remember exactly when she came into my life.

Was it when Uncle Brahm came over for Christmas? Or when I was in the first grade? I don't know.

But something seems off.

I frown.

Just now, I had gone up to the attic and saw her sitting among the dusty boxes. Did Kevin bring her down? She stares at me, and I avert my eyes, disturbed. She is no longer the beautiful, cheery girl that accompanied me through elementary school. With matted, stringy hair and a shredded pink dress, she looks purely terrifying in the gloom of the cloudy afternoon.

It's Halloween, and as soon as it gets dark, the children will roam, hunting candy. Instead of going out to a bar or something, me and my brother are stuck cleaning out our old childhood home. After the car crash, mom and dad are no longer there to maintain it.

A hand on my arm sends me lurching forward, and Kevin glances at me, perplexed. His eyes travel past me to the musty doll on the sofa, glass eyes pinpointed right on him. Brows furrowing before turning to me, he says,

"Jess, why did you take that out of the attic? I put it in the garbage pile upstairs for a reason."

My mind draws a blank as I stand there, processing his question.

Huh?

Before I can voice my confusion, a thud comes from behind us, startling us both.

Lizbeth is no longer sitting on the sofa. She's sprawled on the floor, face-first. In her tiny, porcelain hand is a yellowed piece of parchment. I can see words written in ink, and the spindly thin handwriting it holds. It wasn't there before, was it?

Without a second thought, Kevin stoops down to grab the paper from her. She stares at him.

As he walks back to me, I feel a surge of adrenaline, and something else. Foreboding. Warning.

"Kevin-" I start, but he interrupts me and starts reading aloud.

"Date: October 31, 1861. Hallows Eve. Effigy doll #002. Failed seance. Remains of Susan Carter: Hair and eyes."

"Notes: Killed Embrose during the seance. Absorbs negative energy and channels it back into others. Manipulative. Poses a great threat. Cause: Black Magic. Believed possession: Apollyon. Burning attempts: (17). Failed."

Gooseflesh creeps onto my arms as I realize that Lizbeth is flipped onto her back, her pale blue eyes staring at me.

Always staring.

I turn to the window and am greeted by black. Night has fallen.

Kevin stops reading to look at me in alarm.

"Jess, what the-"

A loud, foreign wail rips throughout the house, stunning us both into a rigid silence.

Whimpering, I look down.

Lizbeth is nowhere in sight.

The lights flicker off, submerging us into the horror that awaits within darkness.

I know she's there.

Always staring.

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Word Count: 500