Chapter 3 : An Unexpected Ally

The next day, Sarah hesitated outside an old café that locals whispered was the heart of Eldridge's secrets. Taking a breath, she stepped inside, the bell above the door jingling softly. The air smelled of stale coffee and something metallic—like blood.

Behind the counter was a man with sharp eyes and a haunted expression, wiping a chipped mug. His name was Daniel, a lifelong resident who had seen the town’s shadows firsthand.

Sarah approached cautiously. “I’m looking into the dollmaker… Elias Wren. Do you know anything about him?”

Daniel’s face tightened, his gaze flickering to the small doll poking from her bag. “You don’t want to dig into that. The dolls aren’t just cursed objects—they’re hungry. They feed on fear, on pain. People who cross them don’t come back the same… if they come back at all.”

Sarah swallowed her growing dread. “I feel like one is already inside me. It’s like it talks to me in the dark.”

Daniel nodded slowly. “That’s how it starts. They burrow into your mind, twisting your thoughts, seeding nightmares that bleed into reality. You need more than courage to fight them.”

He reached under the counter and pulled out an old leather-bound book, cracked and stained with age. “This might help. It’s full of old lore, rituals, and warnings about the dollmaker’s curse.”

Sarah took the book, her fingers trembling. “Thank you. I don’t know if I can stop this… but I have to try.”

Daniel’s eyes hardened. “Then you’re not alone. Stay close—and trust no one. The dolls don’t just want to scare you. They want to own you.”

As she left the café, the doll in her bag seemed to pulse in response, a dark heartbeat echoing the growing horror within Eldridge.

: Nightmares Taking Form

That night, sleep was a cruel stranger. Sarah lay curled beneath the threadbare blanket, clutching the leather-bound book Daniel had given her. The room seemed to shrink as shadows writhed and twisted across the cracked wallpaper.

In her dreams, the dolls came alive.

The porcelain faces cracked into grotesque smiles, their glass eyes glowing with malevolent fire. They whispered her name over and over, a chorus of voices dripping with honeyed deceit.

“Sarah… come play…”

She stumbled through a dark forest shrouded in mist, each step sinking deeper into the cold earth. The dolls surrounded her, their tiny hands reaching out with impossibly sharp fingers, eager to grasp her soul.

In one nightmare, she saw a twisted reflection of herself staring back—a hollow-eyed version controlled by the dolls, trapped behind invisible bars.

Cold tendrils wrapped around her throat, suffocating. Panic clawed at her chest until she jerked awake, gasping for breath. The room was silent except for the low ticking of an old clock—yet from the corner, a faint, familiar melody began: the music box’s haunting tune.

Her eyes darted to the bag beside the bed. The doll sat on top, its head turned slightly, as if watching.

Sarah screamed, but no sound came out.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***