The Living
Prologue:
I love my owner Lyric. She treats me like an equal unlike some girls who use their dolls for experiments. We’ve done everything together and I hope that’s how it stays. I’ve heard other stories from the elder dolls about the girls who mistreat their dolls. Most girls end up doing so. I know I’m lucky to have Lyric. The tales of what the elders have told us are horrifying, I don’t even like thinking about it. I watch as Lyric goes out the door and downstairs for dinner. I hope Lyric is different, I hope she doesn’t have to go through the things other girls have had. I hope she never forgets about me.

“Lyric, come down for dinner!” I hear my mother call me from downstairs. I don’t want to eat dinner though; Anna and I were just in the middle of a deep conversation. Anna is my doll but not just a regular doll she’s life sized and I’m the only one out of all my friends who have one. I love Anna and I’ll keep her forever, she’s my best friend. “Lyric, come down here!” I hear her call again. “I’m sorry Anna but I have to eat dinner: we’ll talk later” I quickly say to Anna as I make my way downstairs. I seat myself at the table and start eating. “Lyric why do I always have to call multiple times for you to come down from your room?” my mother questions as she spoons some lima beans onto her plate. “I was playing with Anna” I answer. “Your toys are not more important than family” she counters. “Come on Elisa” my dad injects “She’s just a kid who loves her dolls like any other little girl does” he says. “One day you’ll forget all about Anna and I hope that day is soon” she says pointing her fork straight at me. I just shake my head, I will never forget about Anna.

Present:

I’m watching her. Like a hawk waiting to catch their prey. I watch her sleeping, unaware of her fate which will soon befall on her. She ignores me but that’s ok. Soon I’ll get revenge for all the injustice. Her breathing starts going in an irregular pattern. It won’t matter soon; she’ll be just like me.





I’m dreaming, I must be dreaming this cannot be happening. I’m running in an endless hole; I don’t where or what I’m running from. There’s nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. I feel something cool on my neck giving me chills. I wake up gasping sweat running down my back. My eyes roam around the room until they lock with someone else’s. “Who’s there?” I ask my voice trembling while I do. Suddenly I notice the hands wrapped around my neck grasping and twisting gradually taking the breath out of me. I try to pry of the hand and gasp when the arm rips off but the thing just reattaches it. What is this creature? I scramble out of my bed and switch on the light and am horrified to see what it is. My life sized doll, Anna to be exact is alive staring right at me with murderous eyes. My instincts kick in and I start to run to the door. I try to pry open the door but its sealed shut. “Lyric, you can’t hide come join me, come join us.” Anna says. She’s just a doll and nothing else I keep repeating to myself. She starts to walk toward me and I feel my heart quicken. When did Anna start walking and talking?! I run to the window only to find two eyes staring through the window putting me into a trance. An eerie song fills the room.
“The living dolls. The living dolls. We are the living dolls. We seek for flesh and we won’t rest. We’ll ingest the skin and leave the bones. The living dolls. The living dolls. What will you do when death calls? “

I get dizzy and can’t seem to find the ground. My thoughts seem to leave me and I start to assent to them. But my brain kicks back in and I remember the secret door that’s hidden behind the head of my bed. All I have to do is get there and I’m free. I start to walk and so does Anna. Suddenly the floorboards creak open and dolls pop out crawling, chasing me. They grab at my feet biting me; tiny crescent shaped marks cover my feet. “You cannot escape Lyric” Anna says with a smile creepier and wider than that Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. I can’t believe I ever thought she was pretty. The dolls start to wind up my body. They wrap around tight trying to block my blood flow. I keep on walking laden with around 10 pounds all over me. I make it to the bed and quickly pull it aside. I’m able to open the door and crawl in. The door leads me out to the hallway. If I can just get down the stairs and grab my car keys I can leave. I suddenly feel someone stroking my hair. “Oh Lyric you’ll make such a pretty doll if only you weren’t this stubborn. All we’ll do is rip your body apart piece by piece and you know take out all your organs but that’s all. Come with us Lyric, join us.” Anna says her fingers twisting my hair. I gasp and try to move but my feet are locked in place. “Lyric be a nice little girl and come with us” Her voice rises with each word. “No” I respond firmly. Her eyes turn black and her face pales she grabs something from her pocket which turns out to be a butcher knife and puts it under my throat. She moves the knife closer so it’s in contact with my skin; I shiver at the blade’s coolness. “Come with us NOW” she says in a gravely tone. Acting quickly I rip off her arm, fly down the stairs and grab my keys. I make it out the door and run to my car. My hands fumble as I try putting the key in the ignition. I couldn’t see anything the only light source was the moon. I finally get it in and hop in the car making sure to lock all the doors. The dolls start to hop onto my car, their evil little beady eyes looking straight into mine. I back out of the driveway and get on the road. My gas is almost out, great. I keep on driving not knowing where I’m going and wondering why no one else is out on the road. This is the last time I spend Halloween night alone. The car stops in the middle of the road and my body gets filled with fear. Someone is in the car. I adjust the front mirror and look at my back seat but nothing is there. I know there’s someone in the car. Where are they? “I’m right here Lyric” I jump in my seat and turn to look at my passenger seat and find the one and only Anna. “What do you want from me?!” I scream at her. She looks at me with those eyes, looking at them are like looking into two black holes, frightening and endless. “You used to love me, I was your best friend I was your world. But you grew older and ignored me all that love I had for you turned into hate. Many dolls are treated like this when we get old we’re not important anymore so all of us come together and we become the living dolls”. I’m reduced to tears now and she continues. “We make sure that every girl who abandons her doll will suffer eternal pain. You will live the same fate as us. You will become a doll.” She says in the silence that fills the car. “Just leave me alone!” I shout in between sobs. “I’m sorry Lyric but this will be the last day you are human” She says with a fake apologetic face. I try to open the doors but its sealed shut. I pound on the window screaming for help. I start to hear the song again it gets louder and louder and fills my head.

The living dolls. The living dolls. We are the living dolls. We seek for flesh and we won’t rest. We’ll ingest the skin and leave the bones. The living dolls. The living dolls. What will you do when death calls?
“Someone HELP!!” I scream at the top of my lungs but no one comes. The last thing I remember is Anna slowly ripping apart my arm as my heartbeat grows fainter.







I’m a doll now, sitting on a dresser in a little girl’s room slowly counting down the seconds. After I died Anna took the bones and made it into the shell of a doll she then took my soul and put it in there. She then erased the world of any memory of me. I was dropped off at a random house where a girl found me and then imprisoned me in her room. I sit on top of her dresser with nothing to do so I slowly count down the days. Being a doll isn’t fun which is why I have some advice. To girls everywhere be nice to your dolls or on Halloween night you may just join the living dolls…………………….