Shi Akachan Doll

“Are you sure about this?” I asked my friend, Len.

“Yes, yes, yes. I’m sure she’ll love it.” Len replied. I had a deep feeling inside that this could be a bad idea. We were buying a present for my sister, Kaitlin. Kaitlin had been feeling rather depressed lately, her cat, whom she cared deeply about had been hit by a car.

Her birthday was coming up, so me and my friend Len, decided to get her a present that would be super special. She said she ALWAYS wanted a baby doll. The doll she mentioned to me was apparently a rare expensive doll called Shi Akachan. I didn’t know what Shi Akachan meant, and I said I would look it up later.

I didn't.

I have no idea why she wanted a baby doll, she is fourteen years old. It’s so rare that we had to buy it online… I hate buying things online, since you just never know what you’re going to get. But, moving on, Len came across a site called “shiakachan.com”. It offered the precious doll for... Only a euro?! Cheap! The bad feeling I had grew a little.

Len assured me that nothing would happen. After all, it's just a doll, right? He bought it with his own money, since he wanted to be nice. He hit me earlier thinking I had told people his darkest secret. Unfortunately what we didn't know, was that “sweet” Michelle Quann was spying on us. She was the highest ranking of “perfect”, “sweet”, “popular”, and “totally-not-mean-at-all” girls in school. I hated her, she really isn’t sweet at all.

In reality, all Michelle wants to do is embarrass us, make us feel like we’re not special, like we’re just a bunch of losers. Michelle told everyone the secret, and blamed me. I’m not going to tell you the secret; I don’t want to become a bully like Michelle. The doll arrived a fortnight later, just in time for Kaitlin’s birthday. I opened the box and the doll... Looked beautiful...

It had huge blue and glassy anime eyes and long, thick and blonde, curly hair, that was tied back with a pink bow. It was wrapped in a light pink dress with a white fluffy frill at the bottom, and she had a bow at the lower back, just above the skirt. She looked like a maid with a pink dress instead of the standard black and white, at least in my opinion. Her skin was smooth and tanned, and looked soft, in a way. It was a truly, beautiful doll.

I knew Kaitlin would love it, and that it would immediately snap out of her gloom. I wrapped it up in a box with blue wrapping paper with a white bow and hid it in my room. That night, I heard what sounded like shuffling during the night, but I paid no attention to it - it was probably mice or something - and went back to sleep. I woke up at 6 AM the next day, and took it out the box. The wrapping paper on the box had been torn and mauled, like an animal burst through the box in a hurried escape, and the doll was missing. In a hurry I rummaged through things in my room trying to find it.

She wasn't in my room at all. I opened the door fast and with great worry, but I had to stay quiet at the same time, since I didn’t want to wake people up at this hour in the morning. The doll was outside my door standing at a grim yet firm stance; and it's little porcelain feet were dusty and even worn, as if it had been walking outside. I ran downstairs with the doll to wash it in the sink. I wouldn’t want to give my sister a dirty baby doll for her birthday, now would I?

When I got to the sink in the downstairs bathroom, it had a crimson substance in it. I payed no attention to it, I'm clearly getting ahead of myself. I went to the other sink in the kitchen, washed the doll off there, and the doll was back to normal after that.

I went upstairs and put the doll back in the box and wrapped it up again. I could’ve sworn I saw the dolls eyes turn red and her having a big creepy grin on her face for a split second. I just assumed I was tired from getting to bed late and getting up early, and I was hallucinating. I went back to bed and set my alarm for 8 AM again.

As soon as my alarm went off, I snuck into my sister’s room and started singing the Happy Birthday song wake her up. She jolted with a scared expression, a completely different reaction than I'd expected. She explained to me that she had a nightmare, and at the end of it I was tied to a tree, dead, and my blood and organs were splattered everywhere, and when it was all done, I rose my head grinning, and rasped “Happy birthday. I hope your happy.” in a deep voice.

A dream like that was definitely a lot to take in... Nonetheless, I answered, “Calm down, you’ll forget about that nightmare, besides, you’re fifteen today, and to celebrate me and Len bought a present that I know you’ll love.”

She looked a little less downcast and replied, “What did you get me?”

I told her it was a surprise, and went downstairs to reveal the blue present, rewrapped thanks to that bizarre morning. She ripped through the wrapping paper eagerly, as if she could rule the world if she just opened that present. I looked up to the ceiling happily, and she screamed. I smiled to myself as I thought it was one of those screams you do when you are really happy. I caught her shaking out of the corner of my eye. It wasn’t a cheerful scream...

I asked her what was wrong as she muttered my name in fear.

“Come look at the doll…” she sputtered. I looked. The doll was now covered in the crimson liquid from the sink. I quickly ran to it. I was certain I'd rinsed it out...

I examined the liquid closely, and backed up from a sudden realization. This... Was.. This was blood.

I got back to the doll, and my sister was gone. I looked around, but didn't see her anywhere. The dolls eyes were that same crimson red, and it had a wicked grin. “Ureshii... na...” the doll croaked in broken yet soft voice.

I screamed for my mom, I screamed as loud as I could. My mom understands Japanese, and she could translate. My mom ran downstairs and took in the disaster with widened eyes. She grabbed my hand in an instant and ran deep into the forest near our house.

“We’ll be safe here, it won’t find us, don’t worry.” My mom said. I asked her what the doll said and what its name meant. “Shi Akachan is its name… and it said something like oodeshima.” I explained.

“Oodeshima? Do you mean ureshii na?” she asked.

“Yes...” I replied, feeling a chill from having to hear it again.

“Ureshii na means we are happy… Shi Akachan means death baby.” She said, and shook her head with grief.

“We’re happy? But the doll is only one person-” I was interrupted by a loud bang. The baby was behind us, but now it was grown up… it was in adult form. And it had gone pale and still had red eyes and a grin. It had lost its pink dress, her bow and her blonde hair, the only innocence in her. Her dress had been replaced with a black dress that covered her feet, giving her a looming and shadow-like appearance.

We ran, we bolted as best as we could. Anything to get away from her. Anything to get away...

The police later found a note saying this in the woods next to a teenager and her mother, covered in blood and their organs splattered everywhere. They were grinning with bright red eyes, mother and child.

A fortnight later the bodies disappeared. There was no evidence the 16 year old and her mother even existed, the note was the only evidence left.