JJ

1

It was a dark and stormy night. Mary was in her living room watching Barbie. Her dog, Roofus, was laying in front of her. Mary's parents were out of the house at a business meeting. They were to be back the next day. Mary was alone with her older, 15-year old brother, Tom, who was in the basement watching The Underdogs. After a while, Mary got thirsty. She went into the kitchen and got a glass of water. She returned to the living room couch and continued her Barbie. There was a loud crack of lightning. Mary heard a creak. It sounded like the back door was opening. Then she heard feet patter down the stairs to the basement. She gulped. Who had come into the house? She thought Tom must be playing tricks on her. She got up and headed to the stairs. She walked down them slowly. "Tom? Hello? Tom?" She heard The Underdogs playing. She saw Tom laying on the couch in front of the television. His favorite ball was laying beside him. "Tom. I know you are awake," she said shakily. Tom didn't react. Mary grabbed his shoulder and rolled him over. A knife was jarred into the middle of his back. Mary screamed. She ran back up the stairs and into the living room. She sat on the couch, terrified, her heart pounding. She had no idea what to do. Roofus ran up to her with his tennis ball in his mouth. Mary gulped. "I'm just dreaming," she told herself. She fell asleep from drowsiness. She woke up about two hours later. The storm was still raging. The first thing Mary noticed was Roofus on the ground, a knife in his neck. Mary shrieked a high pitch, inhuman screech. She saw a shadow in the corner. "Wh.. who are you?" 

"I don't play with no ball," the thing in the corner said in a deep, male voice. Then he came for her. 

˜°˜

An old man heard a meow at his door. He opened it and saw a cute little tuxedo kitten. "Aw," he said. "Are you cold? Come in." He picked up the kitten and brought it in. His old tabby cat yowled grumpily at him. "No no, Lucy. Be nice to our guest." He set the kitten by Lucy. "I'll get some food." He left the room. He came back with a dish of food. he dropped it immediately. Pieces of Lucy were scattered everywhere. The kitten sat in the middle of the room, his back to the man. He turned his head. Red eyes had replaced the cute green ones. A deep, beastly growl came from the kitten. Then it attacked.

˜°˜

Reports of an evil doll came to Jim. He was enjoying his coffee and newspaper when the phone rang. He picked it up and heard the voice of his boss. "Jim, we need you at the library now." Jim hurried into his clothes. His detective job was very nice. He was paid great amounts. He always was solving these simple robbery mysteries that nobody else could solve. He drove to the library. Once there, he was greeted by a library worker. "This way, Mr. Nomith," he said. Jim followed the man into the library. They walked past rows of books and into the back room of the library. His boss was there along with his partner, Dave. There was a body in the middle of the room. Blood spilled from the neck. 

"What happened?" Jim asked.

"Well, according to the witness who we have at HQ*, it was a living, killer doll," his boss said. 

"Can I speak to this witness?"

"Sure," his boss replied. "We already took tests and found as much evidence as possible. We found a piece of a dress."

"A doll dress," said Dave slowly. They returned to HQ where Jim began interrogating the witness. 

"What did this doll look like?"

The man was constantly fidgeting and was unfocused. "Huh? Yes," he said shakily. He started humming a spooky song. 

"You have to tell me something."

"It... It's coming for me. It knows I'm here!" The man was going crazy. "I'm haunted by this curse! Argh!" His eyes started doing weird things. They were opened as wide as humanly possible and a look of true fear filled them. He started yelling hysterically and twitching vigorously. Jim tried calming him down. He grabbed the man's arm, but he was out of control. Jim had to call security for help. That night, the man refused to be left alone, so they had him stay at HQ with a security guard. Jim studied all night. The evidence didn't add up. Killer dolls were not real. In the morning he received a call. "Jim," his boss said. "Come to HQ. They are both dead."

*HQ- the headquarters of the NCDA**

**NCDA- North Carolina Detective Agency