Horror Stories

INNOCENCE

She grabbed the lid of the box and pulled it up. Her eyes lit up with joy. She didn't usually like ceramic dolls (or rather, dolls in general), but this one looked very much like her, and it had been given to her by her husband.

- So, do you like it? - he asked her with bated breath. She quickly reached out to hug him and whispered a 'yes' in his ear.

 Then he went back to the box: he carefully pulled up the doll. Up came her little blue dress, longer than those fifty-five inches of ceramic doll, the skirt embroidered in white. Brown curls fell back on the inanimate object, she stroked them. They were soft, almost like real hair, almost like her own. The doll seemed to smile at her, and inspired confidence. She placed it on the shelf, next to her books, and then left the room.

- Where did you find it? She's gorgeous. - she admitted as she sat down on the couch next to her husband.

- Oh, at an antique store that just opened. I walked past and thought of you. You'll be pleased to know that it cost me less than ten dollars. - explained the husband, as he looked for a TV channel to watch. The woman was amazed: an antique shop selling such a doll for so little money?

- That's what I thought too, she must be cursed - laughed the man and, following him, his wife. They hugged and kissed each other before the beautiful woman got up to prepare dinner.

- Maya, I got it. Come on. - but Maya was already in the kitchen and didn't hear him.

After a few minutes, however, he heard her: - Daniel, I have taken down the dishes, set the table please! - he got up from the couch and obeyed his wife.

- My brother is coming next week; he's coming back from Australia with his daughter. - said Maya. Her brother was the sweetest man on the planet (after Daniel, of course) and her daughter was no less: she was eight years old and looked more like her aunt than her father.

- Then I got the doll on time! She'll have fun playing with it, what do you think? - Daniele asked his wife, who nodded and said: - I'm sure of it. –

Thus ended a day and the two lovers got under the covers. Daniel fell asleep in less than five minutes and soon the silence was replaced by the man's snoring. As usual, Maya couldn't fall asleep at first because of the snoring, so she turned to look at her husband: he was still young and seemed so relaxed while he slept. She began to cuddle his black hair and, soon, she fell asleep as well.

It was not a quiet night for Maya. Her dreams were ugly and indecipherable. A hospital, a painful birth, a daughter dead and one alive. The house where she had lived as a child, frightening shadows, screaming, laughter, fire.

The next morning, she was awakened by the third alarm clock she had set. It was Saturday, she couldn't remember why she hadn't taken the alarms off, but she was relieved otherwise she would have slept until noon. Instead it was eight-thirty, and she would have time to take care of some business.

Getting up, she noticed that the doll had fallen onto the chair under the shelf. Daniel had probably bumped into it on his way to work two hours earlier and dropped it, careless as usual. She was glad to see it hadn't even been scratched, thankfully. She lifted her from the chair and stared at her. She fixed her hair and her little blue dress, then put her back on the shelf. She walked out of the room, closing the door behind her, and headed for the kitchen, to eat breakfast.

At 9:45, her doorbell rang. She wasn't expecting anyone so she looked through the peephole first, then opened the door.

- Look who's back. It's about time, isn't it? - a woman entered the house embracing Maya.

- About time, yeah. How are you, Val? - asked the woman to her best friend, back from her trip to America to marry her wife.

The two of them chatted and Valentina helped Maya set up the house, do the laundry and wash the dishes from the night before.

- Go look around the house! We moved some furniture around. - she yelled at her from the bathroom.

- Ugh, what's this? - Valentina asked disgustedly, looking at the doll.

- Just a doll Dan bought me yesterday. Isn't it beautiful? - Maya answered, enraptured by the beauty of the object.

- Amazingly creepy. - said her friend, terrified of the doll. Maya shook her head giggling. - I'm serious, don't make fun of me, it creeps me out. - Valentina continued, before the doll fell on her. She let out a scream.

- Stop it Val, you're not ten years old. - Maya said to her, still laughing, taking the doll off her.

- She fell on me, she's possessed. - she said.

- Not all dolls are like those in horror movies, Val. This one's just heavy so she falls over, she fell over this morning too. - tried to calm her down.

- Do dolls always fall in here at random? - Valentina asked between frightened and amused.

It had been almost a week and everything was normal, Maya had never again found Raquel (that was the name she had given the doll or, at least, the one that was embroidered under her little blue dress) on the floor in the morning or any other part of the day.

It was Friday and Maya with her husband were preparing the house for her brother and daughter who were coming the morning of the next day.

- I'm sorry I didn't say hello to Val last Saturday, you could have told me she'd come by at least! I would have left work a little earlier and taken you out to dinner, right? - said Daniel as he hid the slightly more dangerous tools. Maya giggled.

- Sure, but she had to run away you know, she got married and they just moved, she had to help the wife out. - Maya replied, helping her husband with the toolbox.

It was at that moment that a thud was heard in their bedroom window. The two of them exchanged a look of understanding and ran to see what had happened. The spectacle was horrifying: a pigeon stuck in the glass of their window, the outline of it stained with blood. Daniel tried to save it but before he could, the bird expired and died. So Maya pushed it away and it fell to the ground, then Daniel threw it into a dumpster.

- Great, now it's time to fix the window. - said Maya annoyed.

- Don't worry, we'll figure it out. In the meantime, get some tape and a broom and we'll fix something. - Maya ran to get what she had been told, and Daniel, as he waited for her, looked around. Could it be that there was something that had attracted the bird? A shiny something? Nothing. His gaze met that of the little doll, Raquel, who seemed to be smiling at him. And perhaps, for a moment, Daniel could have sworn that the inanimate doll had winked at him. But he didn't have time to find out, because his wife came in and together they tried to tidy up as much as possible.

Maya looked out the kitchen window in anticipation of her big brother's huge, green car. She would have expected anything, but certainly not that midnight blue convertible car that parked in her backyard. Out of the convertible came her brother (whom she remembered with barely two hairs on his head) and her daughter, who was definitely all grown up. He ran to open the door and help them.

- Aunt Maya! - shouted the little girl when she saw her, running over to hug her.

- Hi, Leah! You've grown a lot, look at you! How was Australia? - she asked them both.

- Fantastic - father and daughter replied simultaneously.

- Australian haircut, huh? - Maya asked chuckling as she scapegoated her little niece. She remembered her brother with little hair on his head, rumpled and un-ironed clothes, almost always pierced somewhere, his blue eyes were always dull and reminded him of a few wrinkles in his face. Now, however, he had shoulder-length hair, shiny and blond. His clothes were clean, they looked new and he wore a black leather jacket. His blue eyes were alive again and the wrinkles seemed to be gone. He looked happier.

He was.

He deserved it, after his wife died he hadn't been the same. Neither had little Leah to be honest. She was a couple of years younger when her mother died, before her death she always dressed cheerful, in warm colors like yellow or orange. After her mother's death she wanted to cut her raven black hair into a bob, she wanted to take off those beautiful bangs that made her face round. She started wearing dark clothes, black or blue like the color of that brand new car. Now, however, she was almost the same little girl she had been before: her hair was halfway down her back, her bangs were back, as were the orange dresses and little skirts she loved to wear so much. Australia had been good for both of them, and Maya was happy about that. They had started a new life, a better one.

In the house, while the three adults chatted about this and that, the little girl enjoyed watching how they had re-decorated everything, until she ended up in the bedroom of the newlyweds.

She returned to the dining room with Raquel in his arms.

- Auntie, can I play with it? - begged the little girl.

- Sure, but be careful, it's delicate. Don't let her fall. And go to the garden to play so you don't get hurt either. - Auntie said. The girl nodded and ran outside to play with the beautiful doll.

- So, I saw the suitcases in the car. Are you going to stop here for a while before going home? - Daniel asked.

- Well, actually... I sold the house before I went to Australia and... - Maya's brother began to say.

- You can stay as long as you like. There's another room big enough for both of us. We could use some company, couldn't we Dan? - said his sister, happy to be able to spend more time with his family. Daniel nodded happily.

A scream intruded on the conversation. Leah.

The three ran into the garden and saw a pigeon (another one) on the ground, struggling to live.

- God, the same thing happened in our room yesterday. There must be something in the air. - they rescued this pigeon, only to discover it wasn't a pigeon but a simple bird.

Leah was keen to have him with her.

- Dad, my ear hurts. - she said then before going back into the house. And the ear was bleeding.

- How did you do that, baby? - Daniel asked as Maya medicated her.

- Raquel did. She bit my ear. And she even dropped the bird. She said it was funny but then she almost killed it. I don't know if she feels bad. –

In the evening, all three examined the doll. Or rather, the doll examined them. They were at the table, and Leah had insisted that there be room for Raquel as well.

- Amazing how much she looks like you, Maya. - Said her brother as he examined her.

- Yeah, Raquel says she knew her before she got here. - Leah said before taking a bite to eat.

- Australia sure has given you a lot of imagination, hasn't it, Grant? - said Daniel jokingly, he knew that the little girl had always been like that: that's the great thing about children, they are inventive and can almost scare you with that imagination.

But Grant didn't look amused. He almost choked on the water.

- Raquel you said her name was? - he said, sounding concerned. He hadn't thought about it before.

- Yeah, it says so on his suit. Why? Are you all right, big brother? –

After two days Grant was still shaken by the doll's name, he never looked at her the same way again. So similar to Maya, he even remembered having seen her somewhere before. But maybe he was simply being suggestive, it wasn't possible. She was thrown away years and years before, it was impossible.

No way.

- I don't want to play with you anymore, you hurt me, you're bad all the time. - Grant was awakened from his thoughts, his daughter was talking to herself. It wasn't a strange thing, she did it a lot when she played, usually when she wanted to get the attention of an adult to play with her.

- Hey baby, who are you playing with? - her father asked her as he approached her. She didn't have any dolls or puppets with her.

- Not with anyone anymore. I'm angry. I want a tea; daddy can I have a tea? –

- Why don't you ask your aunt, it's her house after all, isn't it? –

The little girl got up and ran all the way to the kitchen to ask her aunt if she could have some tea.

When Grant arrived in the kitchen, his daughter was already darting outside to the garden table, waiting for her tea.

- Your daughter is full of life. - Maya said, shaking her head. - I noticed she doesn't play with Raquel anymore, she liked her so much until yesterday. What do you think happened? - she continued.

- Maya, she's a child, she's eight years old, who knows what goes on in her mind. She's probably tired of playing with the same doll. Or playing with any doll, for that matter. They give me the creeps. - retorted his brother, now putting his impossible thoughts behind him.

All of a sudden, outside, there was a downpour like you wouldn't believe.

- Leah! Come inside honey, or you'll catch a cold! - Maya shouted from the kitchen window. The door opened and closed again, the footsteps of the little girl walking up the stairs to the bathroom sounded just like a disappointed child because she couldn't stay outside to play.

The tea was in the kettle.

That water took a long time to boil.

She had to change that kettle, Maya thought.

After maybe five minutes the water for tea was ready and Grant went upstairs to warn his daughter.

Maya heard her brother running down the stairs and screaming: - Maya, I can't find Leah. –

- What do you mean you can't find Leah? She was upstairs. I heard her come in. - They were both worried. Maya looked out the window and saw the little girl standing in front of her father's convertible. She didn't really see Leah, to be honest she saw more her little blue dress and her raven hair, wet from the rain, from behind.

- Leah! Come inside! - he yelled at her. But Leah wouldn't turn around. So Maya ran out, in a hurry, to catch the little girl who didn't want to go back inside. She didn't have time to open the door, that Leah was already walking towards the street. She turned into it, just like that, with the cars whizzing by.

- LEAH - she continued to yell, but Leah wouldn't turn around.

Leah in the middle of the road, the van speeding past the permitted limit, the rain and thunder. Maya closed her eyes, not wanting to watch that catastrophe that she could not avoid in any way. And then, when she opened them again, Leah was gone from the street. Not a trace of blood; the van had gone further.

- Auntie, Dad said tea is ready. What are you doing out here? You don't want to catch a cold, do you? –

Maya turned around: the little girl, with her raven hair now dry thanks to the miraculous hair dryer, her little yellow dress with pink flowers, and Raquel, in her little blue dress, in her arms.

- Sorry if I worried you, she was playing hide and seek with Raq... - he froze as he saw her sister - Everything okay, Maya? - Grant asked. Maya nodded and politely asked her brother to take care of her daughter's tea while she went to dry herself.

A little yellow dress with pink flowers. Yet in the garden she had a blue dress. The memory of just now was still vivid: she wore a blue dress, embroidered on the skirt in white. She was sure of it. But perhaps she had only imagined it; the blue dress belonged to the doll, not to her niece. She had been influenced by the storm, that was all.

Yet she had been so sure.

That evening, after dinner, something else happened that left Maya undaunted and she repeated several times that all this was just her imagination.

At dinner the meal was silent: Daniel and Grant were not there, they wanted to go out to dinner, go to a bar and maybe get drunk. They had also invited Maya, proposing to leave little Leah with a sitter, but after what had happened that afternoon, the woman didn't trust leaving her niece alone at home with a stranger.

The meal wasn't great, they cooked some chicken but maybe they put too much spice in it because neither of them liked it very much. Although there were two empty seats, Raquel's place remained the same: at the head of the table, with Leah on the right and Maya on the other side of the table.

- Auntie I’m full. - Leah admitted, looking at the still practically full plate.

- All right, get up and take your plate to the kitchen. Do you want anything else? - Maya asked, but her niece shook her head and got up from the table.

It took two minutes for Leah to return to the table, but in those two minutes of absence a fork fell from Raquel's plastic plate and Maya, if she hadn't known better, swore she saw the doll move her arm. She stared at it for a few moments before ducking to pick up the cutlery and when she got back up, she swore again that she saw it move its head. Then Leah returned and almost immediately Maya forgot about it.

Until a few hours later.

She had gathered water for Leah's bath and as she closed the bathroom door behind her, with her niece in the tub, she wiped her hands on her pants.

She arrived in the bedroom and on the shelf was Raquel's empty seat, now occupying Leah's bed. She was arranging her and Daniel's clothes in front of the mirror. She wasn't quiet that night, she was still shaken by what had happened in the afternoon and she kept feeling watched. She turned several times to look around, but nothing. There was no one there. Then she looked up and, behind her stood the figure of a little girl: a little blue dress, brown hair. It could not be Leah. She noticed how the child was slowly approaching her and didn't have the courage to turn around. She was petrified when she felt his arms around her waist.

- I missed you, sis. - she said. She found enough courage to turn around, but once she did the little girl was gone and, watching her on her bed, was Raquel.  

- I'm telling you, something happened last night, Grant. I don't want Leah playing with that doll anymore, I'm taking it back tomorrow where Dan got it, and that's the end of it. - Maya had practically lost her mind, her voice stopped. She was trying to explain to her brother what had happened the night before, and Grant was looking at her like she was crazy. Well, if she had been in her brother's shoes, she would have looked at herself as crazy too. But she was sure something had happened and she wanted answers.

- Grant, see if you can go with her tomorrow to the antique shop, I'll stay home with your daughter. - said Daniel who, on his only day off, didn't want to leave the house.

The next day, the first thing the two brothers did was go into that store with Raquel in their arms.

When they entered, the shop looked deserted and full of dust, almost as if it hadn't been used in years.

- How can I help... - the shopkeeper froze as he saw Maya holding the doll. A short man in his seventies who was in danger of having a heart attack.

- We'd like to take this doll back - Grant made as he saw that his sister had also frozen, not knowing what to say.

- We don't do parts I'm sorry. - said the old man, going back behind the bar.

- What is it about this doll that scares you? –

- Girl, you have no idea what this doll scares me. Everything. There's evil inside that thing. - the shopkeeper wouldn't go near those two.

- Is that why you sold it, for so little? Why didn't you just throw it away, instead of bringing this curse on my family? - Maya was on the verge of tears.

- Okay, Maya, why don't we just calm down. You don't think she's possessed, do you? - The woman didn't answer.

- You can't throw it away, honey. They sold it to me years and years ago, I thought it was cute to display in the window and parents would come in with little girls wanting to buy that doll that had waved at them with her arm, smiling. I would sell it, then as soon as they came out into the store a tragedy, every time, happened. Then I understood. They wanted her, but she didn't want them. So I took her out of the window, put her inside where she wouldn't attract anyone. - The shopkeeper's monologue left Maya bewildered and Grant still in disbelief. - Raquel means innocent, but it is anything but innocent. - he kept saying.

- Who sold it to you? - Maya asked. The man shook his head.

- I don't really remember. It was a man and a woman, she was beautiful. She had that raven black hair that looked like part of an angel in the sun. The man wore a beard, and if I'm not mistaken he had a tattoo. They cried, they were desperate. They explained that their daughter had just died and another had survived. The little one was stillborn, but they managed to revive her and she lived to be five years old. They had a doll made in her image and likeness, they attached her hair so that she would always be with them. But then things started happening that harmed the other little one and they gave her away, to me. - the man was despondent and saddened as he told that story. So much pain.

- Do you remember what tattoo the man had? - Grant asked, with a sparkle in his eyes.

- It was an inscription, GMR if memory serves. I think it was the name of his children. - Grant almost fell to the ground.

- They were our parents, Maya. –

All the way home, Grant kept his mouth shut. And Maya just kept thinking why her parents never mentioned a sister and why Grant knew. She just wanted answers, but her brother kept avoiding her.

When at home, Grant and Maya found Daniel and Leah sleeping peacefully on the couch, the TV turned on with “Beauty and the Beast” playing on it.

- Grant. Stop for a second and explain. – she said whispering to not wake her husband and her niece. – Did we have a sister? Why didn’t I know about it? And why did our parents keep it a secret? –

- Maya, don’t. I don’t want to talk about it and… I don’t get what all this has to do with you f*****g doll. – Grant said with an angry voice. Just as he pronounced the last words, Leah entered the kitchen with Raquel in her arms.

- Daddy, Raquel says you shouldn’t talk about her that way. It’s not nice and she says now she wants to kill you. – At that point, Grant snapped. He ran to his daughter and violently took the doll from her hands.

- That’s enough, Leah. Go back to sleep and I don’t want you playing with this doll anymore. Go, now. –

- What the f**k, Grant? You f*****g scared your daughter! And to be honest, you’re scaring me, too. –

- You had a twin sister, okay? She was stillborn but they revived her and Mom decided to call her Raquel, like her grandmother. She had a rare condition to the heart and when she was five we were alone at home and I forgot to give her the medications and she died. You happy? – Maya’s brother seemed like he was going to cry. She has no idea what he was saying, to be honest, she thought he was going crazy. There was no way Maya could have had a twin and not know about it. Right?

-Ah-ah good joke, big brother. You can stop with the bullshit now. There’s no way I didn’t know about this. A twin? And where is proof? Family photos? Memories? – Grant didn’t talk. He sighed.

- Mom and Dad did everything they could to not make you remember. You were in shock for almost a year, you didn’t talk, didn’t eat. They erased everything of her. But I don’t recall them doing a freaking creepy doll. –

Doll.

On that word, the lights went off. The TV wasn’t playing the movie anymore. Time seemed to stop.

Well, that seems rude big brother. A voice of a little girl echoed in the house. It was starting to freeze in there. Maya looked at her brother and Grant looked at his sister. After that sentence, nobody talked anymore. There was a deafening silence, it was too quiet. Then, all of a sudden, something seemed to fall. On the floor, Raquel’s doll.

- What is happening, Grant? What’s all this? – Maya’s voice trembled.

- Wasn’t it you who believed in this ghost thing? –

I just wanna play with you again. We’ve been so distant all these years. Don’t you want to play with me? We used to have such fun together. Well, if you don’t want to, I can always play with Leah. She’s nice.

A thunder outside. When did it start raining? Maya saw Grant running to the window, she followed him.

There it was again, the thing she saw the other day. Leah, on the street with cars running.

- LEAH, COME BACK HERE. – Grant yelled. He started to tap on the window, hoping to get his daughter’s attention. – Please, leave her alone, whatever you are. – But nobody seemed to listen.

Maya couldn’t just stay there, doing nothing, watching her niece getting hit by a car. She had seen enough Annabelle to know what her sister wanted. A soul. She wanted a soul, someone she could play with, so she wouldn’t have had to be alone anymore. She wasn’t evil, she just wanted her sister back. Grant was too desperate to try and help his daughter, trying to open the door and reach her, so Maya went back to the kitchen without him noticing.

She grabbed a knife and pointed it to her throat.

- You wanna play? Let’s play. – She stuck the knife in her throat, and fell on the ground.

As soon as she did that, all seemed to come back to normal. Lights were on, Beauty and the Beast was ending, Leah was on the couch.

- Daddy? What are you doing with the door? – the little girl asked, seeing her father struggling with the doorknob.

- Leah? Oh my God, are you okay? – he ran to hug her. – I’m so so so sorry. It won’t happen again, I promise. C’mon, we’re leaving. I don’t want you to stay here another day. Maya, would you… - Grant stopped talking, as soon as he noticed his sister wasn’t there. – Maya? –

Leah’s scream helped Grant finding his sister. – Auntie Maya? Daddy, I think auntie Maya’s sick. –

Grant ran to Leah, only to find his sister laying on the ground with a knife down on her throat. Blood everywhere. – Leah, go wake uncle Daniel. And tell him to call 911. Don’t come back here, okay? –

The man tried to call his sister, trying to wake her up. – C’mon Maya, please don’t leave me. Please. –

Those were the last words Maya had heard, before going back to her sister.

Now she remembered. She remembered everything. And she was ready to play with Raquel.

Finally, let’s play.