Horror Stories

Pretty Dolls

I always liked going to Ms. Jacobson's place. She was a really nice adult, and she would make amazing dolls. I would always watch her decorate the dolls with pretty accessories. Today she said she needed my help! I was so thrilled.

Most adults wouldn't entrust me in helping anything. I was a klutzy child, always messing everything up. But Ms. Jacobson believed that I was fit for the job.

I skipped to her house, an old mansion and rung the doorbell. Ms. Jacobson, a warm smile on her face, let me in. We went to her living room and sat down on her antique chairs.

I stared at the familiar scene of old furniture that was furnished with pretty dolls. Some were sitting on chairs, some were posed to look like they were doing something. It was so adorable.

Ms. Jacobson was holding a cup of vanilla and sipped it delicately. A tuff her brown hair streaked with white fell over her face.

"So you have seen my process of decorating dolls, Maya."

I nodded, enthusiastically. I glanced over to my favourite doll named Kia. She was almost as big as me and was wearing an elegant, flowing dress with ruffle sleeves. I patted her arm which felt a weird softness, but it was comforting, like touching a real human.

"But, now, you can help me with the process of making the actual doll."

She looked me over.

"You know what a process is?"

"Yes."

I replied. I may be nine, but I'm no dummy.

"Well, we can make a doll of your choosing."

She smiled, sipping the rest of her tea and setting her cup down onto the old table. A poof of dust puffed into the air as the cup went down.

"What colour do you like."

I touched the soft fabric of Kia's dress.

"I really love this fabric. Silk, is it?"

Ms. Jacobson nodded.

"You've learned, a lot watching me create the dresses, didn't you?"

I grinned, thinking of what doll we were gonna make.

"A nice silk dress would be fabulous, like maybe a nice sunset colour, in that style."

I pointed to a doll resting on a shelf. The doll's dress was an ombré shade of a pale creamy blue going to a twilight purple.

"Mira's dress took a while to dye."

Said Ms. Jacobson.

"But it will be fun to do it again."

"We should also curl the doll's hair."

I told Ms. Jacobson, I gently brushed Kia's twirly curls. Ms. Jacobson nodded.

"Those are lovely ideas. Maya, you know well."

I smiled at the compliment that I get rarely from other adults. She got up and brought a plate of cookies, setting it onto the table.

"Help yourself, while I bring up some fabrics."

I took a cookie and studied it. Chocolate mint, my favourite. I took a nibble and watched Ms. Jacobson descend down the stairs to her cellar where she kept the cloth.

Finishing my cookie, I took another. A phenomenon was taking on Ms. Jacobson's house. The walls were growing a shady dark. I glanced over to Kia, the doll was growing a darker colour. Her face now a blurry smudge.

"Ms. Jacobson, your house!"

I yelled down. She didn't answer. I was worried, the scene around me turned into foggy grey smudges. The wall, once so vibrant in colour were now a dark shade.

What was going on? And then the world around me grew completely black.

The world started to clear up after some minutes. When I could see properly around me, I could feel that I was immobilized, I couldn't move from the ground. Why can't I move?? Ms. Jacobson was there.

"Ms. Jacobson, your house was-"

"Hush, child. This may hurt, but it would be over soon."

She said in a soothing voice, taking out some tools from a basket.

"Wh-what are we doing?"

I asked, startled.

"Making the doll of course, the part you never viewed."

She said, her voice thick and syrupy. She took out a clean knife, and took my hand gently.

"Maya, this may hurt, but it's going to be okay."

She began sawing an incision into my hand. Thick, crimson blood spurted out like a fountain. I felt faint, I hate blood, but I couldn't turn away. My eyes were glued.

The pain was sharp, and it grew worse. I forced my eyes shut as I heard the awful sound of my flesh squishing and the blood spattering onto the floors. This was how Ms. Jacobson made dolls?

I have to escape. I thought, but I couldn't. I was going to die, like all the other poor girls, Kia... Mira...

Tears welled up in my eyes and they splashed down my cheeks. Ms. Jacobson stopped sawing and patted my head.

"Child, I know it hurts. But it would be over soon."

Her voice was drenched with pure sympathy, yet I felt terrorized by her words. She was psychotic!

Then she continued with her blade. I felt the knife digging into my flesh, the hard, cold metal scratching against my bones. I felt it, gliding through my skin like it was paper thin.

The horror of it all, the horrid sounds of the knife meeting flesh. Then I heard a ripping sound. Glancing down, I sobbed harder, the streams of tears increasing. The pain was unbearable.

Ms. Jacobson was digging out my flesh, leaving the skin. My gasps and sobs didn't seem to bother her work. I watched disgusted as she plopped my bloody flesh onto the ground, staining it a grotesque red that would never wash out.

"Please."

I gasped, crying out. My pleads were helpless. Then Ms. Jacobson said in a stupidly calm voice.

"Maya, don't cry sweetie. I promise to make you that sunset dress. The perfect dress. I promise to make you the most beautiful doll in the house. You would be the beauty of the beauties."

Not knowing what else to say, I replied gasping.

"Promise you'll make be the best dress. Promise you make me the prettiest doll."

I cried, teardrops sliding down my cheek.

"I promise, dear."

Said Ms. Jacobson kissing my forehead.

"It will be alright sweetie."

I lay there, accepting my fate. Nothing was going to change it. The world began blurring after and my tears decreased.

I felt numb now, the pain felt like the past. And now it was.

***

Two years have past. A small girl named Jamie skipped to Ms. Jacobson's house. Today she was helping her make a pretty doll.

Jamie went to Ms. Jacobson's living room and went to her favourite doll Maya. The doll was a sight for sore eyes. Her stunning dress seemed to glow, the flows and creases in the dress seem to reach out for sunlight. Her hair was filled with the most perfect corkscrew curls, framing a petite face. Her beauty was unimaginable.

She was a angel. Jamie admired the doll, and today, she was going to make one herself.