Created by and read by Charlotte D.
All Jennifer wanted for her 9th birthday was a dollhouse. After she blew out the candle, her mom, aunts, cousins, and sister started handing out slices of cake. Jennifer, of course, got the first and biggest piece.
Wait—Where was her dad?
Then she heard him say from the next room, “I think there’s another present in here!”
Everyone looked at Jennifer, a smirk playing on their lips. Her younger sister, Carly, stifled a laugh by covering her mouth with her hands.
Jennifer hopped down from her chair and went into the mud room where her father was.
She found him standing proudly in the middle of the room next to…a perfect Victorian-style dollhouse!
Jennifer gasped.
She took in all the fine details of each little room. Floral wallpaper lined the sitting room and dining room. Empty picture frames hung in the salon. Tiny dishes sat in the sink inside the kitchen. The outside was a dull purple. It was probably once very bright. Even though the dollhouse looked worn and old, it was still in great shape.
“What? How?”
Her father explained that they had found it in a thrift store and got it for pennies.
Jennifer didn’t care where it had come from. It was hers now, and it was perfect!
Her father handed her a little box and told her to open it. Inside, she found a wood carved figurine of a little girl with brown hair wearing a purple dress. As she placed the figurine inside the bedroom of the dollhouse, the temperature suddenly dropped 20 degrees.
Goosebumps rose on her skin.
Her body started to shiver.
And her stomach gave a jump like the first—and definitely the last—time she went on a rollercoaster.
Then the weird feeling passed just as quickly as it had started.
The rest of the afternoon was spent making space in Jennifer’s bedroom for the dollhouse. The dollhouse sat directly across from her bed. It would be the last thing she saw when she fell asleep and the first thing she saw when she woke up in the morning.
Jennifer was too excited to sleep!
She opened her eyes and saw a figure standing next to the dollhouse!
She sat up straight.
Though it was dark, she could see that it was a little girl with brown hair in a purple dress. Jennifer rubbed her eyes, knowing it had to be a dream.
When she opened her eyes, there was nothing there.
Too scared to sleep in her room alone, Jennifer went to her parent’s bedroom. There she found her little sister snuggled up between her parents already.
“What are you doing here?” Jennifer asked, scooching in next to her sister and her favorite teddy bear.
“You woke me up, remember?” her sister said, sleepily. “You were standing by the bed in my room and weren’t saying anything. Then you left. I followed you and you just went to bed. It scared me.”
“And you were wearing this pretty purple dress…”
Strange things kept happening. The items in the dollhouse kept moving around. The bed was in the kitchen, and the picture frames were piled in the attic. The little figurine was never in the same place where Jennifer left it. And the once neat and tidy house was now a mess.
Jennifer asked her sister if she had moved her things, to which she screamed, “I didn’t do it!” Usually, Jennifer didn’t believe her sister, but this time she did. Because her sister seemed afraid of the dollhouse. She didn’t want to play with it like she had the first day. Even Jennifer started to feel uncomfortable. And not just around it. All the time.
Jennifer felt like someone was always watching her. She couldn’t shake the feeling.
Everywhere she went in the house, she felt like there were eyes on her.
But it wasn’t until the last incident that things got really bad.
Jennifer had the dollhouse for a little over a week and asked to put it up in the attic. They said it was fine but told her to pack up all the little belongings in the house first before they moved it so they wouldn’t lose any pieces.
For the first time in over a week, Jennifer felt the tension from her shoulders ease up.
But the dollhouse was not going to go that easily.
When Jennifer walked into her room, she found a little girl sitting on her bed. At first, she thought it was Carly. But then she noticed the purple dress.
The girl turned around and…it was her! It was Jennifer! But dressed as the little figurine.
“Why do you want to throw me away?” the doll version of Jennifer asked.
“Why-why do you look like me?” Jennifer managed to say.
The doll smiled. “Because I am you, silly.”
Jennifer screamed. Her family came running to her side, and then—they screamed!
Everyone could see the doll version of Jennifer!
It wasn’t a dream!
The doll version of Jennifer grew angry and started throwing things around the room: Jennifer’s library books, her jewelry case full of rings and bracelets, the trophies she won in dance—anything within reach.
Instinctively, Jennifer grabbed the dollhouse.
“No!” the doll version screamed after her.
Jennifer ran to the backyard where her father kept the barbecue supplies. She knew she had to get rid of the dollhouse to get rid of the girl. So, she placed the dollhouse near the firepit and used the long matches to light it on fire. The dollhouse went up in flames as her family stood behind her, confused and scared.
Then she heard a scream from behind her.
Jennifer turned around and was shocked.
Now her house was on fire.
As the dollhouse burnt to ashes, so did their home.
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