As a mother of a daughter diagnosed with autism, it is difficult to spend my daughter’s birthdays in happiness, because the only people who attend her birthday parties are her relatives. Stacy, my 7-year-old daughter, never seems to be bothered by the number of people who attend her birthday parties. Things have been better since my mother bought her this doll on her birthday last year. Stacy calls it with different names. I never knew where she got the names from or why she calls her doll with different names.
On the second of October, I took a leave because I was feeling unwell. That day, Stacy came home early from school. I was laying on the bed when I felt like there was someone or something in the room with me, staring at me. This eerie feeling didn’t go away, so I decided to get up. The doll was put in the wardrobe facing me and it was slightly opened. I felt coldness come over me in an instant. The doll seemed to be looking at me, it felt… alive. I was frightened, so I yelled for Stacy. She ran into the room with a smile on her face.
“Yes Mummy?”
I asked her to take the doll out of my room. As she struggled to reach it she said,
“Guys, I told you to not bother my mother. Now she’s upset.”
This frightened me more, I got out of bed to get it for her. Just as I was about to ask who she was talking to, I saw what two bright-red eyes from inside the wardrobe. I felt paralyzed, not only by fear but I literally became paralyzed. I fell down. Stacy quickly grabbed her doll and she bolted out of the room. I screamed for her but she didn’t come for me. It seemed like the room was getting darker- even with the curtains wide open. I heard footsteps running towards the room. It was Josh, my husband. He took me to the hospital but the doctors found nothing wrong with me and I could walk again, so I was discharged.
That night, I walked into Stacy’s room and she was about to sleep. I sat on her bed next to her. I asked her,
“Stacy, how were you able to put the doll in the wardrobe but couldn’t reach to take it out?”
She said, “I didn’t put it in there, I play hide and seek with it, Mummy,” then she turned to sleep.
I would’ve assumed that she misplaced it but after the red eyes, I saw that assumption wasn’t optional. I couldn’t go back into the room. I watched TV till I slept on the couch. Josh woke me up at 2 AM, he asked why I didn’t come to bed. I told him about the eyes I saw. He just chuckled and said,
“So you saw it too? I thought I was going crazy.”
I was relieved to hear that, at the same time scared, because this meant whatever that thing was, it was real. I asked him about the doll. He said Stacy often misplaced it when she “played hide and seek” with the doll. I was struggling to process everything, we sat there for what felt like hours.
“Oh, almost forgot,” said Josh as he reached his hand into his pocket. He took out a piece of paper with a list of names on it. Just as I was about to ask what was it for he said, “You know how Stacy calls her doll with different names? Well, I wrote down as many as I could and I did some research…” he took a sigh and paused for a while. I was starting to get frightened.
“What did you find?” Although deep down I didn’t want to know the answer to that question because the look on his face only read that whatever he found, would only frighten me more.
He said, “Well most of them are names of previous prisoners who were executed for pretty vile crimes in the 1900’s. Seems like there was prison in this town, probably buried by now.”
“And what about the other names?” I asked expecting a more scarier answer. What Josh said next left me paralyzed by fear.
“You know how she uses these five names more frequently than others? Well, turns out they are of some of the most dangerous demons-”
I didn’t let him finish, I ran to Stacy’s room screaming for her. When I entered her room, I caught something from the corner of my eye but I did not pay much attention to it. She looked frightened when she woke up and saw me. She gripped her doll closer to her chest. I snatched it from her and she freaked out and started screaming. I walked out of the room and gave the doll to Josh. I then rushed to our room to get my Bible.
When I went to get Stacy, I stopped at her door, holding the Bible tighter I screamed for Josh. There seemed to be a group of people surrounding Stacy, more like shadow figures. On the corners of her room, were four terrifying inhumane beings with horns and teeth so long they couldn’t close their mouths. One of them had a tongue so long it touched the floor, presumably the demons Josh spoke of.
I had to get Stacy, so I rushed in saying the Lord’s prayer. When I got to Stacy, she was crying and she had what appeared to have multiple contusions and stretch markings on her skin. I hugged her tightly and closed my eyes as I cried out the prayer louder and louder. Just as I said ‘Amen’, everything went silent. I opened my eyes to see Josh sprinting towards us. He hugged us and told us it was all over. He told me he called the pastor from our previous church who was coincidently in the area.
It has been five years now. Stacy hasn’t had any nightmares, only a fear of dolls. No strange behavior and she now has lots of friends. After what happened, we went to church again. Every night, I thank God for helping us.