A doll was on top of the TV. A doll might not sound scary but this one was different. It looked just like the vampire on the back of the card. It had a mean scowl drawn across its small face. I walked slowly towards it to get a better look. It had thin strings attached to its head, back, arms and legs, like a puppet, but they weren’t attached to anything. It wasn’t much of a puppet though, none of its joints looked like they moved, it had a body like a porcelain doll. The strings looked like they’d been cut and were all roughly frayed at the ends. I had no idea where this thing had come from. It had tiny fangs sticking out of its mouth and big shiny red eyes, with slicked back black hair and sharp long nails like claws coming out of its fingers. After I’d examined it for a couple of minutes I sat back down on the couch and went back to watching TV like before. The doll made me feel uneasy, it looked like it was staring at me, whichever way I moved. I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I got up and turned the thing around so it was facing the wall.

  Suddenly the power went out, I nearly jumped out of my skin. I looked up to see two red circles of light flickering against the wall. I got up and walked closer to them, I saw the doll, its eyes were glowing brightly as it sat on top of the TV.

  I decided to go to my room, the doll had me freaking out, I’d ask where it came from when somebody came home. As I made my way out of the room I heard something move and turned back towards the living room, something had definitely moved, the room looked different somehow. I looked in the direction of the TV, the doll’s body was now facing the opposite direction, his head turned towards me, staring right at me.

  I shook my head, this was crazy. I decided I had to be imagining all of this. I ran up the stairs to my room and did my homework, it would take my mind off all of this. I locked my door just in case.

  I’d just started on my book report when I heard the front door open. I walked downstairs just as my brother stepped inside, my mother in front of him, he slammed the door hard behind him. I thought I’d ask him about the doll, maybe he’d bought it to scare people or something. He was always playing tricks on me.

  “Hey, do you know anything about that vampire doll?” I asked him.

  “What vampire doll?” He asked, looking clueless.

  I pointed toward the TV. “That one.”

  He looked at me with a confused expression on his face. “What doll? There is no doll.”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Ugh, you’re so stupid, Anthony. Can’t you see it?”

  I looked over toward the TV. He was right, the doll was nowhere to be seen. The thing was gone. I was certain I hadn’t imagined it. I walked closer and looked around the room but the doll wasn't there.

  “But, but, there was a doll here just before. I swear.”

  “Okay, whatever.” He walked past me into the kitchen, completely uninterested in what I had just said.

  Maybe I’d dreamt about it? Although I was sure I’d been awake. I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling I’d had when I first saw that doll. I felt on edge. My mother insisted it must have been a dream and I’d fallen asleep on the couch again. But I knew better, something was up. Maybe it was a part of the Halloween party thing, a joke, to try and make you really scared. I wasn’t sure.

  I went to bed early that night, I was exhausted, waking up early had made me really tired. As soon as my head hit the pillow I went straight to sleep. It was still dark out when I heard something in my room. I opened my eyes quickly and glanced over at my alarm clock, it was a couple of minutes past midnight. I heard another scurrying sound, it was coming from under my bed. I didn’t want to look under there, it was probably a mouse or maybe my brother’s rat Chuck had escaped again. I turned on my lamp and looked around the room, if it was Chuck I should probably get him and put him back before he chewed something up in my room. As soon as I’d turned the light on the sound suddenly stopped. I got up and started to look around, there was nothing under my bed.

  I kept searching and looked everywhere I thought a rat would hide. But I didn’t find anything. I got back into bed, it was probably nothing. I turned my lamp back off and got back under the covers. I closed my eyes and tried to get back to sleep.

  A couple of minutes later I heard the sound again, I turned around to click the lamp back on. But instead of my alarm clocks bright red numbers I saw two glowing red eyes staring back at me. I screamed and ran out of my room as quickly as I could manage. I slammed the door shut behind me, I didn’t want it to escape. It was that doll, I knew it, its eyes must be glow in the dark. My parents came running down the hall toward me, my brother slowly walked after them, rubbing his eyes.

  “What’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?” Mum asked.

  “No! It wasn’t a nightmare! It was the doll!” I replied.

  “Oh, Elsie, it wasn’t a doll. It was just a dream.” Mum tried to reassure me.

  “Look, I’ll show you. I’ll prove it!” I opened the door and pointed at the bedside table. The doll was gone. It had disappeared again!

  “There’s nothing there, sweetie.” Dad said, he yawned and leaned against the door frame, rubbing his eyes.

  “There was, though! There was something there! There was a doll!”

  “You really are crazy!” My brother said, laughing sarcastically.

  “Okay, okay, everybody calm down. You’re probably just excited for that halloween party Elsie, you've got spooky things on your mind. Let’s all go back to bed, it's late. Just leave the light on, you’ll be fine.” Mum said, patting me on the shoulder.

  Everybody walked back to their rooms leaving me standing alone in my doorway. I wasn’t sure if I would be fine. I was really scared, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to sleep not knowing where that doll was hiding.