Hello there, for I am Cynthia…I work at a dress shop but when I am at home I am a doll collector… but I used to be one…you see I encountered a particular cloth doll that I for the first time could never forget…it also reminded me of my formal goal…my favorite type of dance, it was ballet; I wanted to become a famous ballerina once when I was younger; which is a girl’s common dream, well one of them, I lost interest in the dream but I still like the dance. It was such a divine dance, so fun to watch ballerinas in plays. Eheh…well enough of that, let’s get onto the story.
I was at a local old doll shop, it was in the middle of spring, and I lived in a port city called Bordeaux, which I would never complain about. I grew up there with my parents and my younger brother Owen.
As I gazed around at the dolls; from porcelain to rag doll but they didn’t catch my eye enough to complete my small collection. I strolled down the shelves of antique toys till one finally did catch my attention. It was a child size ballerina cloth doll that was pretty tall for a doll; she had lovely curly hair and bright green eyes, but one thing that wasn’t completely perfect about the doll was the lazy eye, it was just one little setback that I didn’t care to feel bothered about. I fell in love with the doll; it was a symbol of my favorite dance which I told earlier. I grabbed the doll, and focus to looked for a price tag. I flipped the tag to see if there was a name to the doll and it did "Anastasia" which was a beautiful and suited name for her. As I paid for her I was able to buy Anastasia at a cheaper price for the malfunction of the eye. I drove home on a day that was my day off from work with my purchase but without knowing what was going to happen.
I pulled up into my driveway. Out of my car and with my doll I held it at arm's length to get one last good look at her; Anastasia did nothing but stared back at me emotionless. I carried her inside my one-floor brick house; I wasn’t able to place her on any of my shelves because of her height so I placed her on my couch. I then took the tag off of the doll, throwing it away.
One day I started to notice strange things about Anastasia ….this morning when I was heading to the kitchen counter to brew some coffee from my coffee maker, at the corner of my eye I spotted Anastasia sitting in one of my dining chairs. I turned around to her, "What the-" last I checked I never placed her anywhere near the kitchen. I walked closer towards Anastasia in a puzzled look. Until it came to me...could of Anastasia gotten up on her own? I picked her up and set her back at her same position.
While I was at work business was slow, I thought to myself at the register about Anastasia being alive. After a long day of work I came home, when I got to the living room Anastasia was still there on the couch, I expected her to be somewhere else in the house. I watched her for nearly a minute to see if she'll move.
She didn't.
I had a suspicious look on my face while turning my back on her. I went to hang my car and house keys on the key rack. When I came back to the living room I flinched unexpectedly with a quick gasp, Anastasia's head turned to face me. I froze at where I stood for a moment or two at the sight.
Later that night I got ready for bed, I checked up on Anastasia to see if she was still at her post, she was but this time she faced away from me. I went into my bedroom, set my alarm clock, turned off the TV, crawled into my sheets then went to sleep.
Morning came, the alarm clock buzzed to wake me up to another day of work, soon as I woke up I turned the alarm clock off then sat up, Anastasia moved again, and while I was asleep, this time I noticed she was sitting in a rocking chair that was in my room. Anastasia sat there holding my old teddy bear I kept from my childhood, also yeah I know I collected dolls but I wanted to keep some of my childhood stuff. The doll would later seem to creepily tilt her head a little at me while staring when I pass by the couch. I tried to ignore her doing that but I always have the intense feeling of being watched...
A few days later a little more happened with the doll, I swear I started to hear a giggle during one night. It sounded so...innocent...and girlish, seems that it came from Anastasia...along with some happy humming. That night when I first heard the giggle with the humming, it was a Saturday; I worked only five days a week. I was watching a movie on my TV before I went to sleep, I don't stay up too late during the weekend; then I heard a sudden humming in a happy tune I got up from my bed, I walked out of my room, and into the dark hallway, the humming was just right down the end. I crept closer, hearing the creak of the wooden planks beneath my feet, the humming went into playful and childish singing, it didn't have much lyrics to it, and the song just went by "La la la la la". It didn't sound all that creepy.
When I came a little closer the singing and footsteps traveled from the end of the hallway and into the dining room, I curiously followed to see what Anastasia was up to. I headed to the dining room, I turned on the lights, and I was greeted by something unexpected. The singing and giggling came of course from the doll but when I was in her presence the singing stopped, Anastasia stood there with her back facing me. It was like a scene out of a horror movie. I took a step closer to see what she'll do, she just stood there. I took another step closer, and then she softly started to hum again. She slowly turned around until she gazed at me; her eyes...they were...glowing, there were no pupils, nothing, they must be showing sign of the spirit.
She turned completely to me, I widened my eyes. I also noticed she was holding my old toy stuffed bunny. I started to back away from Anastasia then left the room. I looked back for a sec to see if Anastasia was on my tail, luckily she wasn't at first. I stopped at my room's door, I turned myself to the end of the hallway, and Anastasia wasn't there. Pressing my back against the door feeling for then grabbing the doorknob, I twisted the door knob, opened the door releasing the knob.
I walked inside closing the door behind me, I nearly forgot to turn off the dining room light, I felt brave enough to go back to turn them off. I turned back to the door, I slightly opened it to find Anastasia at the end of the hallway but half of her is shown from the left corner, still having those glowing eyes they were seen showing parts of her face through the dark. I opened the door a little wider, I watched to see if Anastasia well leave, then she blinked her eyes staring at me and pass, then left quietly.
I opened the door then stepped out from my room heading down the hallway. I walked into the dining room, Anastasia was nowhere to be seen the area, she is in another part of the house. I turned off the light and went back to my room. I stopped scanning the area to see if Anastasia came here, but she didn’t, so I turned my TV off, crawled into my bed and went to sleep. The next morning Anastasia was...on the couch; I went to the living room thinking of what to do with Anastasia, I walked to the couch and stood there, her eyes were..normal. I know her spirit could be a child, hinting her holding stuff animals, her humming and playing with my stuff bunny.
On a Sunday night, I had a dream that turned into a nightmare here what happened from what I can remember: Anastasia was in my room with the same glowing eyes that were seen last night. I was in my bed and she was at the feet, she sat on her knees. Crawling closer she stopped beside me then opened her puppet mouth, she spoken to me without moving her "lips". Anastasia told me that she liked how I have never gotten rid of her right away when I found out she is alive. She told me more about herself, this was all I can remember from what she has said to me: " my full name was Anastasia Claire, I was born here in Bordeaux like you, I was an only child, I like to be mischievous for fun but no harm which was light-hearted, I used to want to be a veterinarian or a famous dancer when I was alive, one of my favorite animals were bunnies.." I asked how her soul got a hold of the doll. "...we had the doll for a year...my mom bought it from an antique store...it was one of my favorite dolls that my mom had...I always thought it was pretty...
I later came down with a disease called Acute lymphoblastic leukemia...I died from on my deathbed in my bedroom from like a couples years of battling it...my soul became lost, I now use the doll's body as my own, learning how to move the limbs...I didn't want to show my mom that I was using the doll's body..or she'll bless it...she named the doll after me in my honor...she and my dad missed me really dearly..later....they started to lose room then put me in the attic for a good while...I was bored up there...I would play with some of my old toys and my mom`s that she had when she was little for a while when they weren't around in the house, till my mom and dad moved away..leaving me behind by accident...later on someone else bought our house which happened to be the doll shop owner, he found me and put me for sale in his store,he was known to keep dolls that were pretty old and kept before, like those thrift stores. Now later you bought me from the store and here I am with you...."
I felt moved by her story...but here was what became unsettling... she asked me if I wanted to see what she looked like when she was alive, I curiously said yes, she... placed her hand on her forehead, digged her fingers into what looks like stitching near the top of her head then violently ripped a good part of her face down. She showed a part of her face when she was alive, I started to freak unexpectedly when she did that, her human face had soft rosy cheeks, warm fair skin, hazel eyes, and dark wavy short orange hair. I stared at her human side, she softly smiled at me then....her skin began to turn pale while peeling off, her smile faded along with her hair; her flesh melted off of her face, I began to feel squeamish from watching this as her skull turned to dust; her spirit appeared replacing where her human face was, her spirit spoke to me "please,don't get rid of me.." in a pleading voice.
My eyes shot open while waking up.
That ending...
I sat up with sweat rolling down my forehead still feeling sickish, I try to shake off the memory of the skin peeling and flesh melting part.I looked from left to right for Anastasia, I saw that it was still night, and of course I found her there on the rocking chair just like the other night, staring at me, holding the same stuff bunny she had before. I crawled out of bed and walked up to Anastasia. I just stared at her, then said "Alright....I..won't get rid of you" I heard a voice behind me responded as I turn back to my bed.
"Thank you.."