The Doll

There’s this old house that’s said to be haunted. No one dares to move in, because every family that did move in that house mysteriously died or disappeared. There tended to be a pattern. It was always the mother and father that died, but the children were never found. They completely disappeared, never leaving a trace behind. After years and years of deaths and disappearances in that house, people started to fear moving in that house. So for several years that house stayed abandoned, until one day when a family from out of state decided to move in, because of the ridiculously cheap price. The new family just won $20,000 from a jackpot and decided to put that money towards their new house. The family that moved in consisted of only a mother and two sons, Mark and Jacob. Mark was the older brother with brown hair and blue eyes, and Jacob was the younger brother with the most unusual green eyes. Both the sons were teenagers, and it would often just be them in the house by themselves because the mom wasn’t around often because she was always at work. One day when Jacob was in his bedroom playing a video game, he began to hear strange sounds. It sounded like whispering. Curious, Jacob paused his game and decided to follow the whispering. It led him up the creaky stairs. Jacob was walking up the stairs, farther and farther away from Mark who was all the way downstairs in the living room playing a video game. Then the whispering got louder and louder until he came across a door in the attic. Suddenly the sinister whispers stopped as soon as he got to the mysterious door. There were locks on the door, and a big sign that the previous owners left on the door that said: “Beware”. This just spiked Jacob’s curiosity more. He went back downstairs and told his older brother Mark. He wanted Mark to help him open the door, but Mark was too busy playing his game to even talk to him. Jacob knew he had to do it on his own. Since his mother was out and his older brother was too busy playing video games. Jacob got an ax from the garage and ran back upstairs where he followed the whispers. He went to the same door, ignoring all the red flags that were telling him he shouldn’t be doing this. He swung the ax on the doorknob once, and it made a clicking sound. He tried wiggling the doorknob but it was still locked. He rose his ax and axed the door again, but still, the door wouldn’t budge. He rose the ax once more, getting ready to break the door. Just as he was about to ax the doorknob off, all of a sudden he heard something whisper in a deep demonic voice in his ear “Leave!” Jacob immediately jumped back, confused as to what just happened. He looked behind him, but there was no one there. He was all alone. Jacob ignored the whisper he heard and axed the door one more time, and boom the lock came off. Jacob reached for the doorknob when all of a sudden he felt something cold touch and jerk away from his hand from the doorknob, the force so strong it almost caused him to fall over. Jacob was beginning to get scared, but his curiosity was stronger than his fear. He finally wiggled the doorknob, and it slowly creaked open revealing a small, dusty, dark, attic. Cobwebs were hanging from the ceiling, and scratch marks on the walls. But other than that there was nothing there. Except for one thing. Sitting on a wooden rocking chair in the corner was a vintage porcelain doll with a long white dress and blackish, gray hair. The doll was enough to give even old men nightmares. The doll was absolutely terrifying. But it wasn’t the doll’s long nails that scared Jacob, or the pale white skin… No, it was the eyes. The blue eyes stared deep into his soul. Jacob’s never seen a doll’s eyes look like this before. They were so evil-looking, so REAL. Taken aback by the doll’s scary appearance, Jacob just stood there staring at it in fright when the attic door slammed shut, trapping him in the room. Terrified, Jacob ran to the door, trying to open it, but the door wouldn’t open. Then Jacob hears the sound of the rocking chair creaking back and forth. Jacob looked behind him and that’s when he saw the rocking chair moving by itself with the doll still on it. Jacob was mortified. Jacob then begins screaming at the top of his lungs, hoping his brother will hear his screams and save him, but the door remained closed shut. Then the doll tilted its neck to the side, with a twisted smile, just staring menacingly. The chair continued to rock slowly. Then all of a sudden the doll’s neck quickly snapped forward looking straight at Jacob. Jacob began banging on the door, screaming hoping Mark would hear his cry for help. Jacob knew if he didn’t get out of there soon, something awful was going to happen. When Jacob looked back behind him something unexpected happened. The chair was still there rocking back and forth, but the doll… It was gone. Then the lights started to flicker on and off. He heard the sound of children’s laughter echo throughout the room. The lights suddenly turned completely off. Jacob couldn’t see now. Jacob continued to bang on the door, in the dark screaming. He could hear the sound of small footsteps stepping on the creaking floor from behind him. Getting closer and closer. Creak….creakkkk… until the sound of creaking footsteps was only a few feet away from him. A white porcelain doll's hand started creeping slowly from the darkness, reaching out for Jacob. Jacob kept screaming and banging on the door. Then just as the doll’s hand was about to touch Jacob, the door swung open, making Jacob fall on the floor. Frantic, Jacob looked up to see who opened the door. To his relief, it was Mark, his older brother. Jacob got up and ran to his brother, crying. Mark took a step back. He was confused about why Jacob was screaming. Jacob explained what happened to him just a few moments before. Wanting to see it for himself mark looked in the attics room, but everything looked fine. All there was, was a rocking chair with a doll on it. Everything was normal. Nothing out of the ordinary. Jacob was confused because he knew what he saw, but Mark just thought Jacob was lying to scare him. Annoyed at Jacob for disrupting his game, Mark went back downstairs. Afraid to be alone, Jacob followed him. That night Jacob couldn’t sleep a wink, for he kept replaying what happened to him in his mind. In the middle of the night, while Jacob was trying to sleep, he began to hear scratching noises by his bedroom door. Then all of a sudden the door creaked open a crack, the light peeking from the hallway, but no one was there. Scared, Jacob pulled his blanket over his head. He started to hear heavy footsteps on the creaky floor making their way to the bed, where he was sleeping. It started to get closer and closer until it suddenly stopped right by his bed. Through his blanket Jacob could see a man-like figure hovering over his bed, this figure was tall and had a hat, with black eyes. He could hear the creaking of the wood as if someone was bending over hovering over his bed watching him. He kept the blanket over his body, clinging on to it for dear life. Then he heard an angry whisper in his ear. It said, “Stay away from the doll”. Then he heard the same footsteps walk back to the door. The door creaked open and slammed shut. Whatever it was left the room. Jacob took the blanket off his head and took a breath of relief. Afraid to look. He finally opened his eyes, scanning the room. He looked around the dark room, no one was there. The next day, Jacob was getting ready for school. He went to the bathroom to take a shower, and when he stepped out the steam from the shower made the mirror all foggy. Then he saw on the mirror letters that spelled out “Get out”. Jacob quickly sprinted out of the shower got his clothes on and went to school. He tried to tell his older brother, Mark about what happened but Mark still wouldn’t believe him. At school, Jacob found out the history of the house. He learned about all the deaths and disappearances of the house, and how the last owner that lived there before him was a family of a little girl that disappeared and a mom and dad that were mysteriously killed. Curious, when Jacob got home he researched all about the previous owners and the house online, but he couldn’t find much information other than there was a fatal accident. Jacob decided to search in the basement and look through the boxes that the old owners left behind. He thought he might come across something useful. That’s when he came across a little black Moleskine notebook. He knew it wasn’t his. It must have been the previous owners. He flipped open the pages and saw a picture of a family. In the picture, there was the little girl, and mom and dad. When Jacob looked closely at the picture he couldn’t stop staring at the little girl, because something about her was familiar, but he didn’t know what. Then when he looked at her parents in the picture, he saw the dad, and when he looked closer he couldn’t believe his eyes. The dad was tall, with brown eyes and a hat. Then in the back of them in the picture were their shadows. When Jacob looked closer he noticed that the dad’s shadow looked exactly like the figure he saw in his bedroom the night before. When Jacob went back home, his brother was out with friends and his mom was working so he was at the house all alone by himself, but he wasn’t prepared for what he was about to encounter. When he got home, the creepy porcelain doll was sitting on the couch. Jacob got a bad feeling about this doll and decided to throw it out in the garbage outside. Jacob felt much better after throwing it out. Later that night when everyone was home, Jacob was watching tv in the living room, when suddenly, the tv started acting funny. It was glitching. Then the channel switched to white noise. Then voices started to speak through the tv, like little whispers. He heard the sound of children’s laughter. Jacob tried to change the tv channel but it wouldn’t change. It was stuck on the same black and white screen with whispers talking through the tv. He even tried to turn the tv off, but nothing was happening. Finally, Jacob decided to walk to the tv and unplug it. When he did, it finally went off. Jacob decided he had enough of that basement, so he went back upstairs. When he opened his bedroom door, he saw the same exact doll sitting on his bed. The one from the attic that he threw out earlier. Jacob started to panic, and right when he was going to run out of the room, his bedroom door slammed shut trapping him in with the doll. He started banging on the door and tried wiggling the doorknob but it wouldn’t open. Then he looked behind him, and he stared at the doll. Suddenly the doll snapped its neck to the right looking straight at Jacob with a twisted smile. Jacob began screaming and tried opening the door but it wouldn’t open. Then the doll stood up and started slowly walking towards Jacob, one leg dragging behind the doll. He could hear the doll’s leg dragging against the wood, as it made its way closer to Jacob. Jacob started screaming, yelling for his mom, brother, anyone to hear. The evil doll continued to move closer to Jacob, and it seemed like the closer it got the more the doll’s smile started to stretch across the face. The doll’s head was tilted to the side, and its eyes pierced into Jacob’s soul. Then the door slammed open. It was Jacob’s mother. Jacob was crying hysterically, and the mother was confused. Jacob’s brother, Mark ran up the stairs to follow the commotion. Jacob explained to both of them what happened, but they both didn’t believe him. The mother tried to comfort Jacob but nothing was working. The brother was getting annoyed with Jacob for making up lies and walked towards the doll that was now miraculously back on the bed. He snatched the doll by the hair and started walking towards Jacob and their mom yelling “That’s it! I’m getting rid of this thing!” He yelled. Jacob explained he already tried throwing it out but it came back.

Mark rolled his eyes “Come with me, Jacob.”

Jacob followed Mark to the basement, where they approached the fireplace. “What are we doing here?” Jacob asks.

“We’re burning this damn doll.” Mark snaps.

Jacob protests “No! It will get mad.” He stuttered.

Mark scowls at him “It’s just a stupid doll. It doesn’t feel!”

Before Jacob could say another word, Mark throws the doll into the fire. The porcelain's face melting into wax. The face was all distorted now. While everything on the doll seemed to get distorted and black, there was one thing that didn’t get affected by the fire at all, the eyes. Jacob and Mark continued to watch the doll slowly burn, the doll's eyes staring back at them. Later that night after the doll was destroyed, Mark threw it in the garbage outside the house. Mark was still annoyed with Jacob because he thought he was making up lies. “There the doll is gone now, so can you stop acting crazy and making up stories!”

Jacob cries to Mark, begging him to believe him, but he doesn't listen. Later that night their mother went out for groceries, so it was just the two brothers alone at the house. Jacob was in his room reading a book, he was relieved that so far there hadn’t been any signs of the doll. Then just when Jacob was finishing his story he heard a scream come from downstairs. Jacob immediately runs down the stairs to see what was going on. It was Mark. He looked at Jacob angrily. “What’s wrong?” Jacob asked.

Mark was furious with Jacob. At first, Jacob couldn’t understand why Mark was mad at him, but then he saw it. The doll, the same doll that they had burned was now sitting on the couch next to Mark looking brand new as if nothing had happened to it. Mark started yelling at Jacob. Mark thought Jacob found another doll that looked the same and placed it there to scare him.

“This isn’t funny Jacob! I know you want to move back to our old home, but making up stories and trying to scare me is so childish!” Mark yelled.

Jacob kept telling Mark, it wasn’t him, that he didn’t do it. Furious, Mark threw the doll on the ground and stormed out of the room. Jacob carefully picked the doll up and looked into its eyes. Jacob was certain it was the same doll that they had burned. He just didn’t understand how the burn marks disappeared. The doll looked back at Jacob with the same evil eyes. It gave him chills just looking at it. The doll felt so real. Then just when Jacob was looking at the doll it blinked. Jacob screamed, and dropped the doll. Before Jacob could run, the doll grabbed Jacob’s ankle by his foot, making him fall to the floor. Jacob screamed, but this time there was no one there to save Jacob because Mark figured it was Jacob just making up lies again and was too mad to deal with his crap again. So Mark ignored his cry for help and continued to play his video games. Later that night, when the mom came home they couldn’t find Jacob anywhere. He had completely disappeared. Mark and the mother searched everywhere for him, but he was nowhere to be found. They called the police, but that didn’t help. Days went by, and there was no sign of Jacob. Jacob was never seen again. The mother was devastated and Mark was guilty. He felt bad for ignoring his brother’s scream. He wondered maybe just maybe if he helped his brother when he screamed if Jacob would still be there today. It was too hard to stay in the house, because of Jacobs’s disappearance so after the police declared Jacob dead even though they never found the body, the mother and Mark decided to move away. On moving day, Mark was up in the attic, packing his clothes. Mark looked around the attic, sighing, and holding back the tears. He couldn’t believe his brother was gone. He felt as if his other half was taken away from him. He didn’t know how to keep living without him. Mark screamed at the top of his lungs, furious for moving into this damn house in the first place. He punched a wall, and though it hurt his fist, no pain was worse than the pain of losing his brother. Mark looked into the mirror, tears streaming down his face, guilt consuming him when suddenly Mark sees something on the corner of his eye. Sitting on the rocking chair was the doll. Mark carefully walked over to the doll and stared at the doll scowling at it. It gave Mark chills. It was at that moment Mark wondered if everything Jacob told him was indeed true. He knew he was crazy for even considering what Jacob said for being true, but still… Something about the doll gave Mark a bad feeling. Then he noticed something odd about the doll. Mark leaned in closer to examine it. The doll’s eyes were different. They were no longer the same blue eyes. Then what mark realized next scared him to his soul to this very day. The doll’s eyes were green, and they weren’t just any eyes. They were his brothers, Jacob’s eyes.