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“Baby Doll… Baby Doll…”

A Nightmare Nursery Rhyme

By Christopher “CJ” HerringPublished 4 years ago Updated 4 years ago 3 min read
“Baby Doll… Baby Doll…”
Photo by Tomasz Sroka on Unsplash

"The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window."

It incited all of their fears, with a horror that they would soon ALL know!

It was an old backwoods schoolhouse with no electricity.

The forest got so dark at night that no one there could see.

All the children young and old used to play jump rope there until they’d fall!

All of their favorite nursery rhyme and jump rope song was “Baby Doll… Baby Doll…”!

It was an awful tune and song that children shouldn’t even sing!

The only thing worse than the song was the actual accursed thing.

“Baby Doll… Baby Doll… You can’t catch me I won’t fall!”

“I can jump and I can skip but you won’t catch me I won’t trip.”

“Baby Doll… Baby Doll… Catch me at midnight if you try!”

“If you can catch me at that time then you will kill me and I’ll die!”

On the backwoods playground they all loved to sing the song!

Each child taking a turn at jumping rope as they sang along.

None of them believed the song and thought it was a game.

Until one deadly night they learned the truth and never were the same.

An old woman tried to warn them not to keep playing that game…

All they did was swear at her so she joined them as they kept doing the same…

One little girl stopped playing and said she had to go pee pee…

Then she turned up missing that was the last of her they’d see!

They didn’t immediately associate the missing girl to the rhyme.

Like I said it was the woods with lil’ girls missing all the time!

“Baby Doll… Baby Doll… You can’t catch me I won’t fall!”

“I can jump and I can skip but you won’t catch me I won’t trip.”

“Baby Doll… Baby Doll… Catch me at midnight if you try!”

“If you can catch me at that time then you will kill me and I’ll die!”

They asked where the little girl was when she was missing the next day.

She was one of the best jump rope jumpers when they’d double Dutch with two ropes to play.

Another child got thirsty so it went to get a drink.

That same child went missing before investigators could think.

Each night the settlers lit camp flames just to stay warm by the fires.

There was the baby doll that had inspired the song hanging above from a tree by wires.

No one knew how it got up there and nobody really cared.

They just knew it looked so bad that it left them ALL feeling scared!

It’s head was mostly bald with just a patch of hair or two.

It’s dress was badly torn and ripped from all it had been through.

It was once a beloved toy they’d played with every day.

Until they’d all got tired of it and just threw it away.

Another thing the children used to do when for fun as they passed it too.

Was to point at each other and say: “That baby doll IS YOU!”…

By the end of just one month it was the saddest thing.

There were at least 50 children who’d played jump rope that were now missing!

One had heard a bubbling brook and went to get a drink.

She was missing but no one noticed too busy jumping rope to really think.

One ran around the corner just to get some wood to burn.

He never came back he had taken his final jumping turn!

The townspeople got scared and made their children stop the game.

The playground was empty and abandoned no longer the same.

They searched and searched for days on end never giving up hope.

Until they found each missing child hanging dead from a jump rope.

For nights on end all that could be heard was each mother cry and wail.

As they found their dead child and had to recite rhyme and tale!

“Baby Doll… Baby Doll… You can’t catch me I won’t fall!”

“I can jump and I can skip but you won’t catch me I won’t trip.”

“Baby Doll… Baby Doll… Catch me at midnight if you try!”

“If you can catch me at that time then you will kill me and I’ll die

supernatural

About the Creator

Christopher “CJ” Herring

Poetry from a Black gay male poet about the alternative lifestyle experience and life in general. Also, creative writing… I enjoy writing challenges!

Reader insights

Nice work

Very well written. Keep up the good work!

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