The Island of Dolls

“There have been reports of people going missing after vacationing at an island off the coast of California. Reports say that once the captain of the boats arrived to pick them up, there were only the sounds of screams and giggles coming from the woods.” I always assumed that these were just rumours, legends, and hoaxes but now I know how wrong I really was. The events that took place on that hellish island have scarred me for life. This is my story.
“Come on, honey, we’re going to be late for the boat ride to the island,” I said to my wife as I tapped my fingers against the small table near the door as I checked the time on my watch.
“Just a few more moments,” she shouted. I smiled as I watched the clock tick on.
After about ten minutes I was finally tired of waiting for her so I shouted, “We are going to be late if we don’t leave right now!” She walked down the stairs carrying her purse, wearing a bright red dress and she would smile when looking at you.
“Okay, now we can go, don’t get your panties in a bunch. We’ll make it in time, don’t worry.” We hurried to our car and got in. I started the engine and drove us to the restaurant which was placed next to a dock that overlooked a beautiful, dark swamp. When we had finally arrived to the restaurant, as I had expected, we missed our reservation. We still managed to get our seats aboard the floating restaurant. I apologized to the waiter for how late we were and ordered a small portion of fish and chips; the waiter accepted my request. My wife ordered the same meal with a glass of wine. While waiting for our meal it was eventually time for the boat to make its way through the dark, murky waters and to the island. We felt the barge thrust as the engine started.
We sat relaxed on the boat heading to the famous “Island of the Dolls”. We were so happy together; everything about that moment was perfect. We dined under the faint glow of the moonlight as our boat slowly drifted its way through the dark and lonely swamp, but we were happy because we had each other.
Later on we went under the deck and fell asleep in each other’s arms and that’s when I had an intimidating dream. I was with my wife. We sat for a while just staring at each other. She started to cry and then walked away into total darkness. I blinked and when I reopened my eyes she was replaced with a doll that had a malicious, stitched frown on its face; the doll was also disfigured and mutilated. I couldn't stop staring at it. Something about the way it looked just made me continue to stare. The dream lasted for what felt like days. When I awoke, I awoke screaming.
Soaked with sweat from my night terror, I sat up in bed motionless. The dream was so vivid and just awful; I didn't think I would be able to fall back asleep. I lay awake in the bed caressing my wife’s long, dark, flowing hair as the cruise softly and silently drifted through the pitch black waters of that cursed swamp. I held my wife close for the rest of the night; eventually I did fall asleep.
I woke with a jolt from my wife. “We are here,” she said happily. We got organized and dressed. I remembered my dream from the previous night and shivered. Finally it was time to enter “The Island of Dolls.” I was a bit shocked when I first saw the island - the way the dolls just hung there. They looked like they were staring at you. But the thing that scared me the most was how lonely the island was. Even with the dolls and people it still felt lonely. I was filled with fear and anguish as I watched the old and tattered dolls sway from the soft breeze. Something about the dolls here was odd to say the least; it felt as if they were alive at one point. I felt as if they contained the trapped soul of a person in pain. I would have left the island right then and there, but I sucked up my fear like a man and continued on with the tour group.
I noticed something odd: all the people, even my wife, seemed to be in a trance. I hadn't talked to her since we had gotten off the boat. I asked my wife, “So are you enjoying the tour?” She did not reply, I asked her once again, “So are you enjoying the tour?” Still no reply. My heart sank and the air fell silent; the wind stopped blowing and the birds stopped chirping. Terrified, I grabbed my wife and shook her with no response. I closed my eyes and pinched myself saying, “This can’t be real! This can’t be real!” over and over again until I felt… safe. I then opened my eyes and saw a thick black mist circling me slowly, coming closer and closer. In shock, I stood still. The mist was coming nearer and nearer until it hit me. Once the mist touched me, I reopened my eyes and it seemed as if everything was back to normal.
My wife then turned to me and said in a comforting voice, “Is everything okay, honey?”
I once again sucked up my fear and continued on and replied to my wife, “Yeah, everything's great."
She replied, “Alright, I thought for a second that you were a little afraid of some dolls." I just laughed softly and said nothing.
The tour group continued through the dense swampy island without event for a while until my wife grabbed me by the arm and said, “Let’s leave this stupid tour and have some real fun.” I smiled and laughed; my wife’s adventurous spirit was something I loved most about her. We walked off alone into the forested swamp, just the two of us. When we were alone, I felt closer to her than I had at any other time during our relationship. Everything was great; we were laughing and telling each other stories the whole time we were in the forest. We were truly in love and I felt happy when I was with her. My wife laughed and grabbed one of the dolls off of a tree and said jokingly, “How do people think that this is scary?” I hesitantly laughed at her joke. She then threw the doll to the ground and, just before it landed, she once again fell into a trance-like state.
Filled with fear, I shook her and yelled, “Don’t mess with me!” Just then I noticed behind her was the dark mist which I had seen earlier. “We have to go right now!” I shouted, but I was paralyzed to my spot. The mist behind her was swirling around in the shape of some kind of humanoid. While screaming for my wife to run, I shouted at the creature, “Don’t touch her!” The creature stopped moving and disbanded into the air.
It then reformed right behind me and whispered into my ear with a voice straight from hell, “Her soul is mine now.”
I shouted as loudly as I could, “Fuck you!” Just then the creature moved over to my wife and pulled her into the deep murky waters of the swamp. I collapsed to the ground feeling defeated and angry when behind me I heard the faint sounds of children laughing. The sound grew louder and louder until it was deafening. I screamed in pain as the ear piercing laughter caused me great pain, and then all of a sudden the laughter stopped and out of the dark hellish waters floated a doll.
The doll was wearing the same vibrant clothes as my wife and had a deep, malicious smile displayed across its face. I screamed in pain as I knew my one true love was gone forever. There was no heaven for her; her soul would rot inside this hellish doll for eternity. I collapsed to the ground and wept for hours. Then the mist returned - the mist had come back for me. “TAKE ME!” I yelled. Nothing happened, the mist was trying to form some kind of shape. I could eventually make out what it was: a finger pointing at a tree I had not noticed before.
“JUST KILL ME NOW!” I demanded. Nothing. I decided to look at the tree the finger was pointing at bizarrely. There, hanging from a noose, was a doll with the same dress my wife had been wearing.
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