Jeremy's Toy

I worked for an old toy company in southern Missouri, one of the people on the assembly line. My part was just adding the final touches to the toys, so basically, I was the back of the pack. Due to the recent economic troubles, one day I got a notice that I was fired from my job. I wasn't really devastated, because of the hardship I really was expecting it.

Anyway, I was packing up my things to leave when suddenly in the parking lot while I was strolling towards my light red Chevrolet, I almost tripped over a bump in the lot. I look back to see what was in my way, and there on the black concrete, sizzling from the summer heat, was a toy. I picked it up. It was still in the plastic container and the cardboard out-siding. There was no label saying who made it or the name of the item, it was just a doll with black hair, dark green button eyes, a white shirt, and black jeans. Hesitantly, I put the doll in my brown leather suitcase, dropped it in the backseat of my Chevrolet, and drove off, not knowing of the misfortunes to come.

I lived in a small neighborhood, we called it "The Creek" due to the nearby river flowing with its sparkling, silky blue water. I lived in a modest 2-story home with a garage, just your normal American home. I have a wife named Donna and a son named Jeremy. We were your normal, average family to say the least. I pulled up into my normal-sized garage filled with tools and whatnot. I opened the door with grace and then soon Jeremy came running towards me at full force.

"Daddy, Daddy!" he said, "I'm so glad you're home!" Jeremy was just 6 years old, he had blonde hair and blue gleaming eyes. He was wearing an orange shirt with small blue jeans, and black and white sneakers.

"Hey son! I have a surprise for you!" I announced.

"Oh! Oh! What is it Daddy?!" Jeremy said with excitement in his eyes.

"Well my dear Jeremy, It is a brand new toy!" I exclaimed, and out I pulled was the doll with the green buttoned eyes.

"Oooh" Jeremy said as he pulled the toy away from with great force. "Where did you get it Daddy?" Jeremy questioned me.

"I got it at the Toy Factory! For you my dear Jeremy, after all you are my son!" I said with a brief chuckle. "I love you dad!" Jeremy said as he ran to his room to play with the innocent toy, or at least that's how I viewed it then...

I decided not to tell my family about the firing, since it would upset them dearly. Luckily, tomorrow was Saturday, the start of the weekend, so they would not question why I would not be going to work. The evening of Friday started out pretty normal and average for us, dinner at 6:00, family time at 6:30, and anything else after that. At about 8:30, I noticed Jeremy's behavior becoming a little unusual. He started talking to the doll, which I dismissed as what a normal child would do with an active imagination, but then he started saying that the doll was talking back to him. That was a little stranger, but again, I dismissed it as his imagination. Our family went off to sleep at 9:30, into our own dreams and imaginations.

At what have been about 3:00 in the morning, I heard a blood curdling scream, and it startled me and Donna out of bed. We ran as fast as the wind to Jeremy's room. We tried to open the door, but it was locked. It seemed to be barricaded from the other side. After 10 minutes of endless door banging and screaming, the door suddenly swung open and we rushed in, only to find out that Jeremy was fast asleep and dreaming. We wondered where the scream came from, and then I noticed that the doll was at my feet. It was very odd, because part of the doll's white shirt had turned red, a vicious red. I dismissed this as a food stain. I really wish I didn't.

We woke into the early hours of the Saturday morning, the birds chirping in the oak trees. We started our morning with breakfast. The contents of the breakfast were cereal, orange juice, toasted bread with butter on it, and an omelet. Jeremy seemed a little different this time, disoriented, and his temper was more noticeable. Throughout the day, he became more and more disoriented and angry. He was carrying the doll with him all the time. Each time we tried to take it away from him, he would seem to hiss and grab it back with tremendous force, force that seemed almost strong enough to almost knock you over.

He became more independent also, becoming obsessed with the doll... The doll... That wretched doll! Why did it do this?! ...Ahem, sorry for that, back to the story. Through the evening, Jeremy would not speak a single word to us, he would let it all out to the doll. The doll, which he named Andrew, seemed like he was possessing him, taking control, becoming his master.

That Saturday night, we drifted off into our dreamlands, when like the night before, a blood-curdling scream woke us up again, this time it sounded... More powerful, should I say? Immense? No? Anyway, like the night before, the door to Jeremy's room was blocked, this time with more things than last, and it took us 15 minutes to get in. Jeremy fast asleep once more, but the room was messier, papers scattered everywhere. As my foolishness caused me to dismiss so many things at this time, I thought of it as Jeremy's growing temper. I picked the doll up, and this time the vicious red of the it's white shirt had grown, it was half full. I thought that Jeremy probably colored it that way. Me and Donna went back to our bedroom, slipped into our bed, and drifted off, coming to on Sunday.

On that particular Sunday, it was the Hallow's eve. The Creek was decorated with carved pumpkins, bright lights, and other fancy decorations for Halloween. Jeremy this time was noticeably different, his hair was messier, his shirt ragged, and his sneakers had holes in the front. He was very aggressive this time, he would not come in 5 feet of us, if we did of him, he would scream, a scream that was very unusual, it was like it was another voice. It seemed as though something was inside him, just waiting to burst out. At about 8:30 at night, 30 minutes before bedtime.

Donna went into the living room, where Jeremy was in a corner, speaking to that horrid doll. I was in the bedroom, reading a book, the particular book being Child Abnormalities, by J.A. Alston. I was reading every inch to see what had happened to my precious Jeremy. It was 20 minutes after reading the book that I heard a powerful scream, a scream of terror, and it was Donna's. I suddenly rushed to the living room, where, surprisingly, no one to be found. I searched every single inch of this house and Jeremy and Donna could not be found. I was about to call 911 when an unseen force hit me and I fainted.

I woke up to what was the attic of our two story home, I was tied to a pole in the attic, and in that room there were 3 dead bodies. Each one was decapitated and the heads were all placed on spears. Which I immediate recognized as my wife, and the other two were dogs. Blood was spilled everywhere. Some was on the walls, some had pooled on the floor, and the guts of Donna and the dogs strewn about as parts of their bodies were cut open or off. Suddenly, a candle was lit, and a shrieking laugh sounded, and I saw Jeremy and the doll. In one hand, Jeremy was holding the doll, and in the other hand, Jeremy was holding a candle with its wax running down the side, and a blood-stained knife. "Jerem-!" I said before being cut off by inhuman voice "Do not say a word, mortal," it said, "for your little Jeremy is gone, gone in the deep depths of the underworld, being lost in my possession."

"YOU LITTLE FRE-" I said before being cut off when the possessed Jeremy lunged at me, and I blacked out again.

I woke in a hospital, I had severe scratches all over my body, the doctor said a neighbor found me in my backyard in this condition. To this day, I am still recovering from my injuries, I can still hear the last words my son said when he was normal, repeating over and over. Each night it echoes in my head, with my thoughts of the doll still watching me as I sleep, the voice says:

"I love you daddy!"

"I love you daddy!"

"I love you daddyyy-"