Alyssa walked along the row of tables at the local flea market. She stopped to pause by a deserted table. She picked up an antique, porcelain doll. There was something about the doll that she found eerie. The doll had a blank facial expression—no smile. Her right, glass eye had been cracked. Around her face was a large mass of tangled curls. Her dress was a faded pink and had a very noticeable, bloody stain in the front. All of these features caught Alyssa’s interest, so she decided to purchase it. Alyssa thought that it would make a spooky decoration for her Halloween party. She looked at the price tag-only $1. Seeing that there was no one behind the table, she put a dollar on the table and left.
* * *
It was near Halloween in the small town of Little Groves. 20-year-old Alyssa was preparing for her big, autumn party. She was a pretty, petite woman who loved to collect antique items, and she constantly visited flea markets. As the party was getting closer, Alyssa was out shopping for snacks and decorations.

The Halloween party was fun and exciting. To add to the ghostly atmosphere, a thunderstorm began to roll in, in the middle of the party. While everyone was enjoying themselves, nobody noticed the odd happening. A sudden roar of thunder that nearly cracked the whole house in two, boomed over the speakers, and a bright flash of lightening zapped toward the house, as if something were attracting it. The flash of lightening seemed to bring the doll to life. Her glass eyes had a peculiar sparkle that wasn’t there before. They no longer seemed to be staring blankly out into space. Her cheeks now had a tint of blush, as if there was actually blood running through her porcelain body. . .

After cleaning up the mess that was made at the party, Alyssa gently placed the doll in a small, rectangular box cushioned with tissue paper. Finally, at 1 o’clock in the middle of the night, she fell into her bed. The wild thunderstorm had quieted down into a shower of rain. Alyssa shut her eyes tightly, trying to tune out the annoying taps of rain against her window. For half-an-hour, she flopped around in her bed, unsuccessfully attempting to fall asleep. At last, she turned over in her bed and opened her eyes. Her arm hung down on the side of the bed. She twisted the cord of the alarm clock around her finger for a few seconds, and then, squinting at the screen, she checked the time. Suddenly, feeling someone scrutinizing her, Alyssa looked up from the alarm clock. Across the dark room, the doll was perched on top of her desk staring right back at Alyssa. Her small, glass eyes were shining in the darkness like laser beams. Alyssa, remembering clearly that she had placed the doll in the box on the shelf, began gasping for breath, too shocked to scream. Then, snapping out of her trance, she blindly leaped from her bed, desperately groping around in the dark for the light switch. Alyssa hit the switch and light immediately erased the darkness. She whipped around and looked at the doll. It had lost the glimmer in its eyes and was now dumbly staring ahead, like any average doll. Cautiously tip-toeing towards it, Alyssa quickly grabbed the doll, put it back in its box, and ran downstairs to put it away in the far end of the basement. She placed two heavier boxes on top of the doll’s box. Somewhat satisfied, Alyssa went back upstairs, locked herself in her room, and spent the rest of the night reading. She tried make up logical explanations for herself on how the doll ended up on her desk when she had last seen it in the box. Maybe she had left it on the desk, instead of putting it in the box like she thought she did. But deep down in her mind, she knew that she had left the doll in its box on the shelf.
In the morning, she went down to the basement once more. She flipped on the lights, and shrieked. The bigger boxes had somehow fallen over. The lid to the doll’s box had been taken off, and there was nothing in it but white tissue paper. Trying to escape the terror, Alyssa ran for the door. She didn’t get far. She tripped over something and flew forward, slamming to the floor. Alyssa looked back and saw the doll lying on its side. Seizing it, she ran outside past all the early-morning joggers who were staring at the wild woman, running around in her pajamas with a beat-up doll. Alyssa didn’t stop until she reached the town’s river. She threw the doll as far as she could. It landed in the river with a little splash and was carried away by the swift current. Before the doll sank, it shot Alyssa such a cold glare that almost made her pass-out with fright. She wearily walked home. She was rid of the doll forever.

The next morning, Alyssa got up feeling brighter than usual. She ate a hearty breakfast and began to get ready for work. After brushing her teeth, she went into her room to put on her suit. She opened her closet. Smirking down at Alyssa from the top shelf was the doll, completely dry and as vivacious as ever.