The One

It took me a while to find the perfect doll. The second I laid my eyes on the blurry picture of her eBay listing, I knew she was the one. The perfect haunted doll I’d been looking for.

Bidding at $555. 25 bids. 30 seconds left. I waited till the last 10 seconds and bagged her at the cost of $999.99, beating all the crazy losers pursuing an overpriced humanoid supposedly possessed by a human spirit. So much for the limit on my credit card. That’s a problem I wouldn’t have to worry about for a while.

She arrived three days later than the estimated delivery date. Thrilled to see it on the front porch after my second job, I took off my name tag and threw it on the tall grass in my front yard. I kicked off my shoes, escaped from the prison of my work uniform, and reached for my blade hidden beneath my bloomers. Was that blood on the inside of the left flap of the box? Right on!

I slit the rest of the tapes open and finally met her. Craftsmanship! People don’t care about it as often nowadays. Although the doll was only made of resin, the level of attention to detail resonated with me as some old memories rose from somewhere deep inside me. 

She stared at me as if she was the one who had just opened up a new package, not me. I was wondering what kind of spirit, if any, sat behind the pair of glass balls glistening against my flickering hallway lights. Time to change the lightbulbs. Like I gave a shit.

I set her on my nightstand before bed and fell asleep like a legit baby. All the overtime went unpaid and days off wasted thanks to those idiots’ no-call-no-shows drained me faster than any vampire or whatever blood-sucking creatures I’d ever heard of. Time for a rest. 

Before I lost consciousness, I saw the doll’s innocent smile twitch into a mischievous smirk. 

I woke up standing, faced with the wine glass I put down on my nightstand the night before. I lifted my arm and the whole room brightened up as I saw the delicate resin hand attached to my wrist by a ball joint. I was free. In my new body.

As to whatever that took that floppy flesh vessel, good luck with that.

I wanted to do so many things. First, I closed my eyes for a long overdue nap.

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For more original strange stories please check out Bleeding Money and 26 More Strange Tales