Am I dead or a doll?

As I walked into the woods I heard the dead leaves crunch under my feet. "Maybe I shouldn't have taken this shortcut home," I thought as I looked for any sign of the road. My lungs started to hurt from the cold air and the chilly wind felt like needles on my cheeks.

"Shit!" I yelled, as my left foot slid out from under me, making me fall on my ass. "Well, that sucks" I looked down at my butt to see it blackened with mud. "Now I really have to get home before my ass freezes off" I picked up the pace, I could feel my heart working overtime to keep up with my short breaths. Looking directly at the ground so I didn't fall again, I noticed something that almost looked like a dead animal. I kept walking but something drew me back to this weird tuff of hair on the ground, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to turn around and investigate. After squatting down to taking a closer look I realized it wasn't a dead animal at all, it looked like human hair but shinier, almost like a wig. I grabbed the nearest stick, wiping some moss from it and wrapped a bit of the fake hair around it, and pulled. "It's stuck," I thought as I pulled harder and saw a small head pop out from under the mud and snow. "What the fuck!" Dropping the stick I took a couple of steps back. "Did I just find a dead kid? What do you do when you find a body? I can't call the police, I don't even know where the fuck I am!" Pacing back and forth I had no clue what I was supposed to do. So I took a deep breath "Okay if this is someone's kid they would want to know. I'll just pull it from out of the snow and mark where I found her, So I can show the cops" I slowly walked back over to the stick and picked it back up. Pulling more gently this time, as not to damage the body. I noticed something odd about the skin. "It's shiny? or wait..." I kept pulling and now its face was in sight. I dropped the stick again and started to laugh "A fucking doll! gosh dang, I was so scared for a minute" I walked over, now knowing it wasn't a dead animal or little girl, grabbed the head, and popped it right out of the ground. "Looks at you! Pretty little doll, I bet some girl must miss you"

Taking a closer look at the doll, it almost looked like one of those antique dolls your grandma has in her living room. It was very pretty with dark matted brown hair and porcelain cracked skin. She had on what looked like a flower dress but it was completely covered in mud, so it was hard to tell. "I bet you're very beautiful all cleaned up. I'm surprised you aren't broken." I shook off some more of the mud and little sticks that were stuck all over her. I wiped off her face with the sleeve of my jacket and stared into her eyes. They were so realistic. Almost made me uncomfortable how human they looked. "Well, I guess you'll come home with me" as I said it I noticed a little toy size shoulder bag on the ground. "We can't forget your bag" I picked up the bag, and noticed a little piece of paper in it. I gently took it out, there was some writing on it but it was so smudged.

"Whoever accepts my fate, must live forever locked away. Only one can be free, while the other remains unseen. Trapped for eternity, until one accepts your place." And the rest was to smudged to make out.

"Well isn't that cheerful," I said sarcastically as I put the note back into her bag. “I wonder what it means.” As soon as the words came out of my mouth a sharp pain shot through my arm and I dropped the doll. "Woah that hurt" my heart started racing and I became light-headed, "Shit am I having a heart attack?" The pain grew and now it shot up both my arms. I looked at my hands and let out an ear-piercing scream. They were porcelain... My head felt like it was being smashed and I dropped to the ground, blacked out from the pain.

I don't know how long I was there until I heard footsteps. My eyes were dry like I needed to blink but couldn't. In fact, I don't even remember opening my eyes. I felt myself get lifted into the air and was now face to face with a giant. I wanted to scream but nothing happened. "I'm sorry for your fate. But you took my place." The giant wild looking girl said as she set me sitting down against a giant tree and ran away.

I kept trying to scream for help but no sound came out of my mouth. "Maybe I had a stroke?" I thought. So I sat there hoping someone would find me. It got dark, and I thought my parents had to have noticed I wasn't back they will come to look for me. I don't know how long I was just sitting there. Through the trees, I could see lights and heard screaming. "Danielle!!! Danielle!!" It sounded like Derrek the guy who ran the local drug store. I tried to scream over here but no words had come out. "Danny!! Danny!!" That was my dad!!! I tried to scream again but nothing came out. I was so hopeful as they walked closer and closer. How can they not notice me? I could see so many flash lights coming through the woods but no one had noticed my paralyzed body laying against the tree. I watched as person after person walked past. I screamed and screamed but no noise left my mouth. Then when I felt hopeless I saw a light come directly toward me. I could hear small whimpers, like this person was crying but had run out of tears. The flashlight was directly on me and my heart skipped a beat… It was my mom and she was walking directly toward me. I started to feel a sense of relief until I noticed something was off about her, as she got closer she got bigger and bigger, when she was directly in front of me she looked like a giant.

She knelt down, We were now staring into each other’s eyes. I wanted to cry but no tears would leave my eyes. “What a beautiful little doll” she said as she touched my hair. “Did she just say… doll?” Just then a loud shout “I THINK WE FOUND SOMETHING” I watched her stand up and take a deep breath and start to walk away.

I could feel my heart racing and my throat going dry from screaming but no noise was coming out of my mouth. I watch my moms back and she walked away and disappeared into the night. I was alone again…

I’m the doll… but I wish I was dead…