Satan's Doll

Ten minutes after the game started, Joshua and I immediately found our item to our utter disappointment. Meeting Satan's doll with its creepy smile and with it sitting on the tree branch above us, didn't help one bit in making us feel happy about finding it.

"Go take it." I ordered Joshua as my eyes locked with the doll's eyes. It was so creepy. And it looked like it was smiling down at us. "How did they get it up there anyway?"

Joshua sharply turned to me. "Why me?"

"Because you're a guy." I said absent-mindedly. Even though I kept telling myself to stop looking at it, for some reason, I could not take my eyes off it. Probably in fear that it might start moving when I'm not watching.

Joshua shook his head and put his hands on my shoulders, pushing me closer towards the tree."I hate to admit this, but you look a lot more capable in getting this job done."

I planted my feet on the ground to prevent him from pushing me closer to the doll. Then I turned around with a great plan in mind. "Could it be that you're scared?"

'Plan A: Provoke his male ego.'

And my plan did work but his reaction alarmed me a little. "Hell no!"

My eyes rounded in surprise and I quickly covered his lips with my hand before reprimanding him in a hushed tone. "Are you seriously saying that word in front of this kid??"

In the movie, the doll was bought by a newlywed couple who could not bear a child. One night, they had a really big argument and as soon as they mentioned the word 'hell', the doll moved and talked. It called them 'mommy' and 'daddy' and asked them to stop fighting. They both freaked out and threw the doll out the window.

The next day, the husband went to retrieve the doll to dispose of it properly but it was nowhere to be found. And that's how people in their town started dying one by one every single night. Each one dying a very gruesome death.

The priest who exorcised the doll at the end of the movie, strongly warned them to never recklessly call upon hell ever again. Then he took the doll with him and locked it in the basement of the church. Never to see the light of day ever again.

I looked up at the doll above us. 'Until today.'

"Stop looking at it as if it's alive! It's not a kid! It's a doll!" But contrary to his words, he was also speaking quietly. Obviously afraid to be overheard by the thing that was watching us from above.

I waved my hand at him dismissively while nodding. "Fine. Fine. Just go and take the doll already so that we can go back."

He looked up at the doll that was still looking at us with the same freaky smile on its face. "I have a better idea. I'll hold you up and you take it."

'Brillliant!' I snorted in disbelief then I raised an eyebrow at him. "Can you really do that? I don't trust those scrawny arms of yours. I'm a lot heavier than I look."

He smirked and I knew immediately what he was planning. He was trying to use the same tactic as me. "Could it be…" He peered at me with a grin, tilting his head to one side. "Are you afraid to touch it?"

'Not falling for it, buddy.'

"What's wrong with being afraid of this kid? One can never be too careful." I snickered when I saw his face grow pale.

"Will you stop referring to it as a kid?" Joshua said through gritted teeth.

"What's your problem with that?" I frowned at him. 'Is the fear making him sensitive?'

"You're making it sound like it's alive!"

My mouth gaped open. 'Yep. Definitely sensitive.'

"You're the one who said that it's just a doll. Why would it matter what I call it?" I pointed out calmly, hoping that he would not start freaking out on me. That's the last thing I wanted from him. All I needed was for him to take the freaking doll from the tree and get this game over with.

But I guess, it was too late for that route. Joshua was already making his fears obvious by continuously speaking in a hushed tone. "What if it suddenly starts moving?!"

As soon as I heard his words, an image of the doll suddenly walking and talking to us flashed in my head. I got infected by the scaredy cat bug as soon as my head became creative. And that was when things started going wrong.

"Why the hell would it suddenly start moving?! Stop freaking yourself out!"

He quickly put a finger on his lips. "Shh! Shh! We're not supposed to use that word, remember? You'll wake it up!"

"You're the one who said it first! And why the hell would it wake up? You said it's just a freaking doll! Will you stop overreacting?"

He caught my head with his hands and squeezed it. "You said it again!"

I shook him off and pushed him away. "UGH! Hell! Hell! Hell! If it doesn't move, then you have to go take that bloody thing and get us out of here A.S.A.P. You understand?"

Joshua did not respond and we both looked up at the doll. Just five seconds after looking at it made me want to run away; movement or no movement. But still, I waited for a whole minute before I turned to him again.

"See nothing happened."

And just as I said that, we heard rustling noises from above and something fell on the ground with a loud thud. Our head slowly turned towards the origin of the sound, only to find Satan's doll standing on its feet with the same freakish smile on its face.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Joshua and I screamed in chorus and ran away as fast as we could. We heard the rustling of dried leaves behind us which made us sprint faster than we could have ever imagined.

"Is it following us?!" Joshua asked while running ahead of me.

"Who cares?! Just run!"

And so he did.

I don't know for how long we have been running but we kept running until we both fell on the ground with our knees that turned to jelly from exhaustion. My head was spinning and I was out of breath.

"Haa… Haa… P-please… tell me… it's gone." Joshua was on all fours and looked like he was about to vomit any time soon.

Not that I was any different. I was also on the verge of passing out as I slumped face down, something that I would have never done if I was sane because of my fear of anything that creeps on the ground. But every limb of my body weighed me down and turning my head to the side even cost me a lot of energy. "Can't. Check."

'I can't move. You go check.'--was what I wanted to say but only those two words came out of my trembling lips. But Joshua managed to understand me nevertheless, which made me feel extremely grateful.

Joshua groaned as he pushed himself up with great effort to look behind us. Then he let out a shaky breath and collapsed back on the ground. "Clear."

That made me close my eyes in relief. "Thank God."

We lay down in silence for a while then we both rolled on our backs to stare up at the tree branches that completely covered the night sky. My head was blank and I was not thinking about anything until an owl hooted not so far from us which broke the silence and snapped me back to reality.

I sat up and looked around.

Joshua looked at me with surprise. "Why? What? Did it follow us here?"

I heard the rustling of leaves as the cold night air blew but that was it. No sound of footsteps. No inaudible chatters from the other teams. I tapped his thigh, still looking around us. "Get up."

"What's going on?" He also started glancing around with alarm.

"I think we strayed too far." I slowly stood up and held out my hand to him. He took my hand without hesitation and I pulled him up but he suddenly winced. "What's wrong?"

"I think I twisted my ankle when I fell down earlier." He shifted his weight on one foot.

"Are you okay? Can you walk?" I squatted down and touched his left ankle which he kept lifted.

"I'll be fine." He looked around but saw nothing except from gigantic trees.

"I don't know where we are. Do you remember which direction we ran from?" I searched for my phone in my pockets but I could not find it so I started searching his pockets.

"I don't." Joshua shook his head and raised his hands as he let me search him. "What are you looking for?"

"Where's your phone?"

"In my room."

"Why did you leave it in your room?!" I snapped at him.

He flinched. "Why are you getting mad at me?"

"Shit." I started pacing around while biting my thumb. "How are we going to contact the others now?"

"Where's YOUR phone?" He returned the question to me, to which I guiltily answered.

"It's charging."

His eyes narrowed at me. "Where?"

"In my room."