Chapter 19: S#4. Doll of Sorrow (2)
by fnovelpia
I saw the doll Nancy was holding.
Orange hair.
A sullen face sprinkled with freckles.
It looked exactly like the one from <Child’s Play>.
The only difference was that this doll was a woman with braided pigtails.
In other words, a TS[1] version of the doll.
“Nancy, that doll…”
“Its name is Chucky!”
Nancy said with a smile.
This is the worst.
“You can’t bring that home.”
“What do you mean?”
“That’s a cursed doll.”
Nancy looked at me as if I were talking nonsense.
“Cursed?”
“The soul of a condemned prisoner could be inside it. We need to cut its limbs off and bury them in the ground before it attacks us.”
“Don’t… Don’t make such a weird joke! That’s not funny at all?!”
Nancy said firmly, hugging Chucky tightly.
“I’m definitely taking this home. It’s the first gift you ever gave me, Summer.”
Nancy’s determined attitude even showed a hint of maternal love.
This won’t do.
I’ll have to steal it when the time is right and dispose of it.
On the way back, I decided to meet Reiko Ishikawa again.
Reiko knew about the existence of the voice in my head, the narrator.
I needed her help.
I headed to Reiko’s booth.
“…Huh.”
But Reiko’s booth was gone.
Nothing was left where the booth had been.
No tent, no counter, no shining crystal ball, and no Reiko.
Everything had vanished like smoke on a summer night.
Nancy and I just stood there, staring blankly at the spot where Reiko had been.
It felt like we were bewitched.
Dolls.
Beings that resemble humans but are not.
The idea of dolls coming to life invokes a sticky discomfort.
Our aversion to unnatural human forms and movements is instinctual.
Taking it further, the moment a conscious doll attacks us-
The discomfort peaks and transforms into fear.
That’s why “the attack of the living dolls” is a popular theme, from movies to games.
When discussing horror movies with dolls, we can’t skip the classic film <Puppet Master>.
It might be lesser-known domestically, but it’s a milestone in the horror genre.
Watching <Puppet Master>, I remembered a proverb.
“The smaller the pepper, the hotter it is.”
Suspicious dolls in horror movies should be destroyed as quickly as possible.
Their size should not be underestimated.
Dolls are like cancer; if left alone, they’ll consume everything…
Yet Nancy had to bring the doll home.
She even gave it the bizarre name Chucky and took it to her room.
For some reason, she took me along as well.
“Summer. Look at this!”
Nancy took out a teddy bear from the wardrobe.
It was an old teddy bear.
“Let me introduce you to my old friend. This is Captain Bear. He was my last doll.”
Nancy stroked Captain Bear.
She was reminiscing about her childhood filled with innocent memories.
“It’s been 13 years since I received a new doll.”
She placed Chucky next to Captain Bear.
“Captain Bear, you have a friend now~! Chucky, say hi to Captain Bear.”
Chucky’s face didn’t look welcoming.
It looked like it was thinking about boiling a baby for dinner.
The more I looked, the creepier it got.
Captain Bear next to it seemed pitiable.
-The cursed doll started looking for its blood sacrifice with murderous eyes.
Only the axe murderer could stop the impending slaughter…
The narrator in my head said.
Right.
With even the narrator saying that, I can’t just ignore it.
“Nancy. Sorry, but give Chucky back.”
“Why…?”
“Trust me. We can’t keep it here.”
I said with a serious expression.
It was to protect me and Nancy.
Nancy looked sad.
I couldn’t understand why a 19-year-old lady was so attached to a doll, but she was obviously disappointed.
“I’m sorry, Nancy.”
“It’s okay, Summer… If you say so, it must be for a reason. I trust you.”
“……”
“But… I don’t see how such a cute doll could do anything bad…”
Cute?
Does Nancy have bad eyesight?
How can that malicious face look cute?
When I took Chucky away, Nancy sighed sadly.
The spot next to Captain Bear looked empty.
I felt uneasy, too.
“Nancy, how about this? I’ll keep Chucky for a few days. If nothing weird happens, I’ll give it back to you.”
“Really…?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. But you promise not to damage or throw it away?”
“I promise.”
It was a lie.
I planned to completely destroy and discard Chucky.
But before that, I decided to go to Reiko.
To finish getting my fortune told and to seek her help.
Reiko Ishikawa is a spiritual medium.
She would immediately know if Chucky was an odd doll.
She might even know how to lift the curse on Chucky.
Mediums in horror movies are divided into two types: competent and incompetent.
If she’s competent, it’s fine.
Even if things don’t go smoothly, they won’t get worse.
But if she’s incompetent, it leads to disaster.
Reiko didn’t seem incompetent.
But I couldn’t be sure she was competent either.
Asking for her help was a gamble.
Given Reiko’s role as a medium, she could be an important person, and such a gamble is necessary to identify such a person.
I took Chucky and went next door.
I rang the bell and knocked on the door.
No response.
No matter how long I waited, it was like a deserted lake, silent.
I went back home.
Ellen, who had just woken up, was drinking coffee in the kitchen.
Ellen smiled at me.
“Good morning, Summer.”
“It’s 4 PM.”
“It’s morning for me.”
Ellen sipped her coffee.
Dressed casually.
Her tousled hair was somehow more attractive…
Wait a second. What am I thinking about Nancy’s mom?
I composed myself.
“By the way, Ellen, do you know about our next-door neighbor?”
“Next door? That should be an empty house.”
“I met a neighbor from next door at the flea market today. A young woman from Japan.”
“A Japanese woman…?”
Even Ellen, the owner of this house, had no idea about Reiko’s existence.
The more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
However, considering most spiritual mediums are recluses, it might not be that odd.
I returned to the garage with Chucky.
I placed Chucky’s ugly butt on a rusty workbench.
Looking into its eerie plastic eyes, I opened my mouth.
“Alright, Chucky. I know what you are.”
……
No response.
“You’re a cursed doll. Probably containing the soul of a heinous serial killer.”
I tried to provoke it to reveal its true nature, but Chucky remained silent.
It didn’t react to the interrogation.
What now?
The solution is simple.
Explode Chucky’s head and then bury it in a deep hole.
But when it came to it, I hesitated.
“Narrator, I have a question. What is this ‘curse’ on Chucky?”
-The killer mumbled in front of the doll.
“Haah, I’m a fool… Never mind.”
A scene from a famous gore movie series flashed through my mind.
A scene with a doll riding a tricycle.
That doll is actually a trap.
It explodes, scattering nails inside, tearing apart anyone who approaches.
If the curse on Chucky is activated in such a way?
The narrator mentioned “a cursed doll” but didn’t specify the nature of the curse Chucky received.
It’s strange when I think about it.
I’ve faced zombies, a clown monster, a demon…
A stationary doll should be an easy opponent.
But it can’t be this easy.
Suspicious.
Every cell in my body was warning me.
Right, I need to be careful.
I need to consult Reiko tomorrow.
Of course, I wouldn’t just leave Chucky be.
By tomorrow morning, it was highly likely it would be covered in blood.
Luckily, I had a ‘killer doll sealing method’ in mind.
First, wrap Chucky’s body with box tape, like making a mummy.
I put the tightly bound Chucky into a toolbox.
Then, I placed that toolbox into a large metal box.
I locked the lid with a padlock.
Not stopping there, I brought over a rock weighing about 100kg and placed it on top of the lid.
It was a prison from which escape was absolutely impossible.
Even if Chucky had more strength than a human, escape would be out of the question.
Not even a gorilla could break free.
Phew.
That was reassuring.
That’s what I mistakenly thought.
The next morning.
Someone knocked on the front door early in the day.
Who could it be?
Rubbing my eyes, I got up and welcomed the unexpected visitor.
It was Police Officer Bob Bojangles.
“Officer…? What brings you here at this hour?”
“I have a few questions for you. Have you seen this man?”
Bob showed me a photo.
In the photo was the face of a skinny man.
Seeing him, my head went blank for a moment.
My god…
It was the man from the flea market yesterday who gave me the doll as a product.
“This man was murdered early this morning.”
“What? This man?!”
“Yes. He was attacked in the face with a blunt object. They said his face was turned into mashed potato.”
Bob smacked his lips.
He must be thinking of delicious mashed potatoes, not the horribly murdered corpse.
“But Officer, have you still not found your gun?”
“I’ll find it soon.”
That’s when it happened.
A piercing scream echoed throughout the house.
“Aaaaaaaah!!”
It was Nancy’s scream from upstairs.
I ran at full speed.
Without even bothering to turn the doorknob, I just broke the door down and entered the room.
“Nancy…!!”
There stood Nancy, in her pajamas, in the middle of the room.
Fortunately, she was not hurt.
“Are you okay, Nancy?!”
“Summer… Ca, Ca, Captain Bear…!”
Nancy pointed with trembling fingers at Captain Bear.
The teddy bear full of memories, Captain Bear.
The cute appearance I saw yesterday was nowhere to be found.
Its eyes were missing, and its arm was torn off; it was a ghastly sight.
A chill ran down my spine.
I hurried down to the garage.
I checked the box where I had double-secured Chucky.
“…Ah.”
The lock on the box was broken.
[1. raei: TS, in case you didn’t know, is the genre gender-swap. So a female doll version of Chucky]
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