I got a doll for my birthday. She looked just like me. Same brown hair, same blue dress I wore. Mommy said she found her at an old shop and knew I’d love her. I named her Lily.
Lily was fun at first. We had tea parties and I told her secrets. But then, weird things happened. I’d leave Lily on the chair, but find her on my bed later. “Maybe you forgot you moved her,” Mommy said. But I knew I didn’t.
One night, I heard a noise. Like tiny feet walking. I peeked from under my covers and saw Lily sitting on my desk, but her eyes were looking at me. It made my heart beat really fast.
Next day, I put Lily in the closet. I didn’t want to play with her anymore. She made me feel strange. But when I came back from school, she was sitting on my bed again. Her smile looked different, bigger.
I told Mommy, but she just laughed. “Lily’s just a doll,” she said.
Then, the scariest thing happened. It was night, and the moon was bright. I woke up feeling cold. I looked around and... I wasn’t in my bed. I was on the shelf, where I keep my toys. And in my bed, where I should have been, was Lily. She was under my blanket, her eyes closed like she was sleeping.
I tried to scream, but no sound came out. I couldn’t move. My arms and legs were stiff as wood. I looked down at my hands. They weren’t my hands. They were doll hands.
I don’t know how long I stayed there. The moon moved across the sky, and the room got darker. Then, light peeked in. Morning.
When Mommy came to wake me, she didn’t see me on the shelf. She went to the bed. “Time to get up, Amy,” she said to Lily. Lily moved. She stretched and yawned, like she was really me.
I wanted to cry, to tell Mommy it was me, on the shelf. But I couldn’t. I was just a doll.
Mommy left the room, and Lily got dressed in my clothes. She looked in the mirror and smiled. But her eyes were scary, not like mine.
I sat on the shelf every day, watching Lily. She played with my toys, ate my food, and hugged my mommy. Nobody knew I was here on the shelf.
—
Years went by, so many years, sitting on the shelf in my room. But it wasn't my room anymore. It was Lily's room now. She grew taller and older, but I stayed the same, a small porcelain doll with a silent voice. I watched Lily become a teenager, then a grown-up. She stopped playing with dolls, stopped noticing me on the shelf. I was just a forgotten toy in a room filled with memories.
Then, one sunny day, Mommy decided to have a garage sale. She gathered old things, things that weren't needed anymore. And that included me. I was placed on a table with other old toys, my dress faded and my hair a bit tangled. People came and went, looking at all the stuff. Then, she came. A little girl with bright eyes and a smile that reminded me of... me, a long time ago. Her name was Emma.
Emma saw me and her face lit up. "Can I have this doll, Mommy?" she asked, holding me gently. Her mom nodded, and that's how I left my old home, tucked under Emma's arm, going to a new place.
Emma's room was full of colors and laughter. She played with me every day, telling me stories and secrets, just like I used to do with Lily. She named me Rosie, and I loved that name. It felt new and happy.
Then, something strange happened. One morning, I felt a tingle in my fingers. It scared me, but also made me hopeful. Each day, I felt more and more. My arms, my legs, they started to feel real again.
One night, under the moonlight streaming through Emma's window, I felt it. I could move, just a little, but it was movement. My heart, if I still had one, was beating so fast. I closed my eyes, wishing, hoping.
When I opened my eyes again, it was morning. But everything was different. I was in Emma's bed, covered in her blanket. I sat up, looking at my hands. They were real hands again.
I jumped out of bed and ran to the mirror. But the reflection staring back wasn't mine. It was Emma's face. I touched my face, feeling real skin instead of porcelain. It was like magic, but also scary.
I turned around and saw the shelf where I used to sit. There, in my old spot, was a doll. It looked just like Emma, with her cute dress and shiny hair. But it wasn't Emma. It was just a doll, still and silent. My heart felt heavy. I understood then. The same thing that happened to me and Lily had happened to Emma.
I was free from being a doll, but Emma, she was trapped, just like I had been. I remembered Lily and realized she must have been a real girl too, turned into a doll. The only way to break the doll's curse was for another little girl to take my place. It made me feel sad and guilty. I didn't want Emma to be stuck like I was.
But what could I do? I was in Emma's body now.
—
Now, I go to her school, play with her friends, and live her life. But every night, I look at the Emma-doll on the shelf and whisper, "I'm sorry." I wish I could change it, make it all go back to normal. But I don’t know how.
—Amy
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