The Doll: A Short Story

This story is purely a work of fiction. 

Dringggggg! This was the first, and last time in forever WD - Willa Daphne - did not press snooze when hearing her alarm in the morning. 

“Today is going to be a great day,” she thought to herself. 

“For dad, for mom, for Lilly, and even for me- well, especially for me.” 

Various thoughts ran through her mind as she went down the stairs. When she got to the living room, a smile pressed itself onto her face. Her parents were singing for her while Lilly -  her younger sister - chewed on a plastic toy. Once the ‘happy birthdays’, the ‘you are growing up so fast’, and the ‘this is such a good opportunity for me’ were over, Willa was told that she would have to stay home alone for the day as her parents had to get to work. She didn’t mind. What mattered to her was to get ready, to have cake at night, and to unpack her gift - which she knew would be a skateboard. Before her parents and Lilly left, Willa reminded them of the gift she wished for. The latest Hulu 2021 board. They looked at each other with an indescribable expression - awkwardness, confusion? -  Willa couldn’t figure it out: it felt like they were worried, but obviously, she knew there was no way they had bought the wrong gift, the Hulu board, she’d been talking about it for what now felt like years. 

After having waved goodbye one last time to her parents, Willa ran back inside and directly into her room. Once she was ready, she descended the stairs and noticed that the milk carton was open. Without paying much attention to it, she simply kept walking over to the couch. 

Then, they locked eyes. One of them knew what was happening, the other didn’t. There was wrapping paper all over the couch, and, in the middle, stood a doll. Quite big, for a toy. It had purple hair, a beautiful, long white dress, and blue eyes - just like Willa! The side of Willa that loved fantasy, crime stories, and suspense shows wanted to run, to call the police. The side of Willa that kept thinking about her birthday - the side that took over - simply instructed her to mumble something like ‘Lilly probably opened it accidentally’ and to sit down. She decided to take her attention away from the doll. In the end, it was just a toy. A little while later, Willa was patiently staring at the TV, waiting for the news to end so that her favorite show would start. “A very innocent, how would I say it- unaware child,” thought a little voice.

When it started raining, she frantically looked around, trying to understand what was going on. Why was it raining on a Saturday, in the middle of summer? Was this some sort of joke she was seeing? Then, while she was still thinking about the rain, she heard a soft sound. A melodious, dramatic, faint noise. What was it? She had no idea. All she could think of at that moment was how much she wanted to sleep, to blink, to start her day over again… That’s when she realized. It came from the right side. Specifically from where there seemed to be a doll standing. Willa’s eyes released a few tears. She had absolutely no idea why she was forcing herself to keep her eyes open, not to let go, but she did. 

After that, everything went as fast as a blink. She slowly turned her head to the side. Cautiously, she made sure to keep her eyes focused on anything but the doll- although it felt impossible! The doll was calling her, inviting her, and she had no solution but to follow the orders. Now, they were looking at each other. Willa wanted to scream, to ask for help, but it was as if her mouth couldn’t produce noise and it felt like there was a cat stuck inside her throat, stopping her from communicating. 

And then ‘clic’ a small but distinguished sound- the one of the doll blinking. After that, ‘clac’ the noise coming from Willa blinking. ‘Clic’ again. And although Willa gave her best effort, gave all she had to keep her eyes open, a force was pushing her to blink, and ‘clac’, she did. People either say ‘third time’s a charm ’ or ‘third one is the worst one’ and, at that moment, Willa didn’t know which one to believe. The number three had always been her lucky number so she thought that perhaps, and just perhaps if she blinked once more, all of this would be over. In the worst-case scenario, it wouldn’t be the right try, nor the wrong one, and she and the doll would keep blinking one after the other. A doll couldn’t do much harm anyway. So, when the doll blinked again, Willa completely let herself go and went ‘clac’ immediately after her.  

That is when Willa realized. It was three months ago. It happened to MD - Martha Daniels. A student at school. She was the typical ‘straight A student’ everyone has heard of and has met in class. She was nice, respectful, and friends with everyone. No one wanted her any bad and the day she didn’t come to school, several people were surprised. She was not one to skip class, even on her birthday. The next day, when she came back, she arrived in her car, with her mother- like she used to do. Her habits and routine were the same although her behavior had completely changed. During the day, she wouldn’t participate and the singular time she raised her hand in class, she expressed six, simple, short words. ‘Please do not blink after dolls’. The teacher laughed at this and poor MD got sent back home. Ever since, she never came back and everyone - practically everyone - started calling her ‘Might Die’, fault of her initials. Back then, Willa had thought this was a normal event in a fifth grade classroom, but now that she was thinking about it more, she realized something was wrong. 

When she opened her eyes again, Willa realized how long she had closed them for, and sighed. Taking a look at the doll’s body, she realized it was changing- reshaping. Her body shook with fear as she glanced at her hands and legs and realized she was modifying as well. Her skin became clearer and shined like plastic, she felt her hands become rigid and stuck in place- she could swear this was a dream. But it was not. Then, she looked back up. The doll - or could you even call it a doll anymore - was looking more and more realistic. Her sudden smile was as cold and lovely as frost on a windowpane.

When Willa tried to look down again, she couldn’t move her face anymore. She heard thunder and her instincts pushed her to look towards the window from where the noise came from. She couldn’t do that either. So she thought she would walk to the window. But her feet were stuck in place, attached to the ground, unmovable. She was stuck. The only movement that came from her was her heart beating. “Pam” then a three seconds pause. And “pam” again. It hardly even made a noise, but Willa was happy to know she was alive somehow. She wanted to walk, though. She pushed herself, and by some miracle, it worked! She heard her footsteps - a lot of noise, that was - but she didn’t see her environment changing. It seemed as if she was stuck on one spot, and although her feet were moving, her body was refusing to do anything. Suddenly, she remembered the presence of the doll and she looked up.

“Poor little girl, that is” 

“How will I get out of here?” 

“It’s too bad she won’t be able to stay” 

“And who in the world is this?” 

“I’ll have to send her away as soon as possible” 

“Dad and mom will help me once they’re back” 

“And now she’s probably counting on her parents, like all of them”. 

Two minds, filled with opposite thoughts, sitting right in front of each other. It was a quiet Saturday in June, with so much left unsaid.

Martha knew she had to do something. She had been a doll for three months, and now that she had gotten back her spot as a former human, she intended to keep it as it was. She went up to Willa, and without a word, simply put her in the original doll box from which she had escaped. She made a couple of holes in the back of the cardboard in order for Willa to be able to continue breathing without any difficulties. Then, she instructed her. “Hi.” she didn’t know why she had said that, a plastic toy obviously couldn’t respond to her, but it felt right. “My name’s Mart-” no, she shouldn’t reveal her identity. “My name’s Martine. I am a switch-back, which you can now consider yourself as. This means that I was a human, but then switched lives with a doll, to then become a human again. Just a tip: If you ever want your life back, do what I did. And use different strategies and techniques to avoid getting caught. Honestly, mine were so bad, I’m surprised I was successful.” Martha wanted to say more but she knew it was safer to stop there. And so she did.

Willa thought the voice was familiar. Very familiar. She had no idea who it was, but it was someone she knew - it had to be. All she was aware of now was that she had to take a ‘poor kid’s’ life to become human again. The thought of taking someone else’s life made her smile. The excited type of smile. The one anyone would want to experience. After that, the doorbell rang and a little girl - who she noticed, looked completely like her - ran to the entrance in order to give a warm welcome to her parents. Then, it all became a blur. A birthday was celebrated, Willa was still unable to move her lips, and a little girl was to open her gift. When she unwrapped it, Martha - who now went by the name of Willa - told her parents she had never wanted a doll and wished for a skateboard instead.

The next morning, Willa heard a sound. It was internal, but it didn’t come from her. A voice inside of the box said “Simulation successfully terminated. Thank you for playing human.” And when a package was sent back to the toy store in exchange for a skateboard, someone thought “Martha Daniels isn’t ‘Might Die’ anymore. But Willa Daphne, her, can now be considered as ‘Will Die’”.