Don't Scream 2 Read online

  From: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  To: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  Dear ToysEveryday,

  I am VERY dissatisfied with our Ally Bally doll.

  You clearly say on the website that she will say "I love you, Mommy!" every time her hand is squeezed. THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN. Every time we squeeze her hand, she says "Mommy will be gone soon." It is scaring my daughter. This was one of her only Christmas presents and now Christmas is RUINED.

  If you don't send us a replacement I am going to leave a VERY bad review on your website.

  Beth Harmin

  —-

  From: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  To: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  Dear Beth,

  Thank you for contacting ToysEverydayTM Customer Service! We'd be happy to assist you with your recent inquiry.

  We have shipped a new Ally BallyTM doll to your home. However, it is of the utmost importance that you dispose of your current doll in the proper way. We want you to have a safe, fun, and happy experience with our products!

  Please follow these instructions exactly:

  1. Using twine, fishing line, or another strong variety of string, tie the doll's hands together and wrap her up in the string. This is just to ensure no small pieces get loose!

  2. Using a match or lighter, light your Ally BallyTM doll on a fire. Let her burn for no less than one (1) hour. For safety, you may find it easiest to place her in a fire pit, fireplace, or other receptacle.

  3. Dispose of the ashes and burnt pieces in a body of water, e.g. a lake, an ocean, etc. Do NOT use a pond, as this is too small.

  4. Enjoy your replacement doll!

  Thank you so much for contacting ToysEverydayTM Customer Service! We're happy to assist you. Please consider taking a brief survey to let us know how we've helped you, by clicking here.

  Thank you,

  Shauna

  ToysEveryday Customer Service

  —-

  From: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  To: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  Are you really asking me to SET THE DOLL ON FIRE??? We don't even have a fireplace! What is this? Can't I just send the old doll back to you?

  —-

  From: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  To: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  Dear Beth,

  Yes, you may send the old doll back to us, but you have to pay return shipping.

  —-

  From: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  To: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  Okay. I burned the doll outside. The fire extinguished after thirty minutes or so, though, and I couldn't get it lit again.

  —-

  From: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  To: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  Okay. What kind of business are you running here? We all woke up at 2 AM to the dog barking. Went downstairs to find that damned doll pressed against the window. Half burnt up, still tied up in the string.

  My daughter is TERRIFIED. As I type this, she is STILL crying. She has so many questions I can't answer.

  We left the doll in the woods behind our house after burning it. How did it get all the way there? Do you have some sort of electronics in it or something? Is that why I was supposed to throw it in water?

  Please advise.

  Beth

  —-

  From: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  To: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  Dear Beth,

  You MUST burn your Ally BallyTM doll for no less than one hour. If you stop halfway, the process is incomplete.

  Your replacement arrives tomorrow.

  Shauna

  —-

  From: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  To: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  Shauna,

  We got home from work to find your package, with the new doll, shredded to pieces on our doorstep. Like a dog or some animal got into it. The new doll has been decapitated.

  Thank God we saw it before our daughter did.

  Would you be willing to send another replacement?

  —-

  From: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  To: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  Dear Beth,

  We have sent another replacement, but you MUST dispose of the original doll properly.

  Please tie her in twine, burn her for one (1) hour, and dispose of the remains in a large body of water.

  —-

  From: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  To: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  We don't know where doll is.

  —-

  From: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  To: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  Dear Beth,

  Find her immediately.

  —-

  From: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  To: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  Shauna—

  After an hour of searching, we have found the original doll. IT WAS IN MY DAUGHTER'S CLOSET.

  My daughter claims she didn't do it. I believe her. The sight of the burnt doll alone seems to terrify her. I don't think she's even willing to touch it.

  After she goes to sleep tonight, we will complete the steps.

  Beth

  —-

  From: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  To: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  It is done.

  —-

  From: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  To: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  IloveyouMommyIloveyouMommyIloveyouMommy

  —-

  From: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  To: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  WHAT THE HELL? I didn't send that last message, Shauna.

  —-

  From: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  To: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  IloveyouMommyIliveyouMommy

  IliveyuoMomyAliveyuoMory

  AlivenuoMorreAlivenoMore

  —-

  From: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  To: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  SHE'S IN OUR BED. IN OUR FUCKING BED, SHAUNA. FACE ALL BURNT AND SCORCHED. EYES GONE.

  —-

  From: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  To: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  Alive no More

  Alive no More

  Alive no More

  —-

  From: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  To: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  Dear Beth,

  PLEASE EVACUATE YOUR HOUSE IMMEDIATELY. We have notified the relevant authorities.

  DO NOT BRING THE DOLL OR HER REPLACEMENT WITH YOU.

  Shauna

  —-

  From: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  To: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  IloveyouSHAUNAIloveyouSHAUNAIloveyouSHAUNA

  —-

  From: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  To: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  We're in the car, driving to my husband's parents Milwaukee. I checked the car five times. No dolls are in here. I didn't even let our daughter take her Barbie doll.

  —-

  From: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  To: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  Dear Be
th,

  We have arrived at your house and are securing the property. Plan to stay with your in-laws for at least two weeks.

  Shauna

  —-

  From: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  To: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  ALIVE NO MORE

  NO MORE ALIVE

  NO MORE AL!V3

  N0 M0R3 A#!V3

  &0 $0R3 4#!^3

  @0 %0)3

  4#!^3

  —-

  From: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  To: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  Dear Beth,

  We regret to inform you that during our recovery mission, the house caught fire. I'm terribly sorry. By the time the fire department arrived, it had burned to the ground. There is nothing left.

  We have disposed of the doll and her replacements.

  This is the last correspondence you will receive from us. Have a nice day.

  Shauna

  ToysEveryday Customer Service

  —-

  From: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  To: "ToysEveryday Customer Service"

  YOU BURNED DOWN MY HOUSE?!

  —-

  From: "MAILER-DAEMON"

  To: "Elizabeth Harmin"

  Delivery failed: the recipient is no longer at this address.

  THE BEAR

  "I saw someone in the window."

  Dave stood in the backyard, staring up at the dark windows.

  Amy turned to me. "I thought I told you not to let him watch any scary movies."

  "He's an adult. It's not my job to tell him what to do," I replied with a grunt, as I wedged the crowbar between the door and the frame.

  "It is, when he's compromising the whole operation. What if he starts screaming because he thinks he saw some little ghostie in the window? The police'll be here in seconds." She glared at me. "If you can't get your little brother to behave, we're not taking him next time."

  "Okay, fine. Next time I'll try." I groaned as I pushed the crowbar. Crack! The resistance suddenly gave way, and the back door swung open — revealing inky darkness.

  Contrary to what you believe, we weren't robbing the place.

  We were doing something far dumber.

  Dave, Amy, and I run a blog on abandoned places. It usually doesn't involve breaking the law, but this time it was worth it. We'd been asked by the locals to cover the Blue Mansion of Maple Ave.

  It was something of a local legend.

  The O'Maras were evicted in 2009, after the housing crash and a grueling foreclosure. I'm not going to lie — it made me chuckle a bit, when I heard. Bryan O'Mara was a cruel bully, and his parents had bought the house just to show off. It's stood empty since then, in a strange state of limbo: too decrepit for any investor to buy, but also too "historic" to be demolished. The structure was built in the 1850s — a genuine antebellum mansion.

  Keeping this junk around all for "history." I looked up at the house, frowning. The structure was almost entirely subsumed by the surrounding foliage. Saplings grew from the crumbling foundation. Thick vines slithered up the massive white columns. Tangled branches engulfed the porch, completely blocking the front door.

  Nature wasted no time in reclaiming her land.

  "Dave!" Amy called, as we stood in the doorway. "Come on!"

  "But – but what if there's someone in there?" he replied, his voice barely audible from the outside.

  "There's no one in here but rats and bugs!"

  "I'm not sure that helps," I muttered.

  After waiting for Dave to change his mind, we decided to go on without him. I went in first. The white flashlight swept over the floor of the dining room. Dust motes kicked up in the air, catching in the light like glitter.

  Snap. The flash of white from Amy's camera threw the room into stark relief. The dining table, still standing against the window. A small painting of the countryside, hanging askew. If it weren't for the dust, blanketing the room like snow, I could've believed the O'Maras moved out yesterday.

  "Smaller than I remember," I said.

  "You've been here before?"

  "I've lived in this town my whole life." I kicked a piece of gravel across the wooden floor. It skittered into the darkness. "Everyone knew the O'Maras."

  "That's so cool! Were you friends with them?"

  I didn't reply.

  My eyes had fallen on the staircase.

  A pang of fear hit me. I went up there once, with Bryan. I thought he was bringing me to his room to play Guitar Hero. Instead... he showed me his father's taxidermy room.

  It was just another way for Mr. O'Mara to show off. The entire room was dedicated to his hunting trophies. Four deer heads – all of them at least eight-point bucks — mounted on the wall. Two turkeys, their necks bright red. And one black bear — reared up on its hind legs, staring straight at me.

  Are they still here?

  "Let's check out the upstairs," Amy said, walking towards the hallway.

  "No. Wait."

  "Why?"

  "I'm... I'm just not sure that's the best idea."

  I was so naive. Even at eight years old, I should have known better. But no — I just strode in there, babbling on about Pokemon.

  Then the door slammed shut behind me.

  I spent the first twenty minutes screaming at him to open up. A few times, I heard the light thump of a footstep, the creak of a floorboard — but he never came. It was just me and those horrible animals. Stuffed. Dead. Empty. Staring at me with their dark, glass eyes.

  Mr. O'Mara found me when he got home from work. Three hours later. After the sun had set, and I'd been in the dark with those things, all alone.

  He didn't apologize. He didn't reprimand his son.

  He bribed me.

  I didn't understand what was going on, at the time. All I knew was — he was pushing the Guitar Hero guitar in my hands, telling me everything was okay. "That's a shoddy door. Sometimes locks all by itself. And then Bryan fell down the stairs... what an awful thing to happen. He never even heard you. But don't worry. Everything's fine now. And this is an early birthday present, from the two of us."

  I just nodded. Then I spent the rest of the day holed up in my room, playing Guitar Hero. Trying to play the memories away.

  "Adam?" Amy called, as she slung the camera around her neck. "Come on."

  I hesitated.

  "Dave's getting to you, huh?"

  "What? No!"

  Amy smiled mischievously. She was using my greatest weakness against me, and she knew it. I never liked to look like a coward — especially in front of a woman.

  Besides, Mr. O'Mara must've taken the animals with him when he was evicted. Right?

  "Let's go."

  I led her out of the dining room. A few broken bottles glinted in the light, sparkling like gems in a mine. I started to climb the stairs — then froze.

  Under the shards of glass was a long scratch in the wood.

  I took a deep breath and continued to climb the stairs.

  With every step, the air grew heavier. Mustier. The sweet smell of summer grass left, leaving only dust and rot. Amy turned left. I followed her, a lump forming in my throat.

  There were only two rooms on this side — the master bedroom, and the taxidermy room. Amy reached for the latter first. Turned the knob. I shut my eyes, but that only made it worse. Images flashed through my mind — matted fur. Yellowed fangs. Black, glass eyes.

  "Holy shit."

  I forced my eyes open.

  The deer heads watched us from the wall — antlers caked with dust, black eyes glinting like tiny beetles in the light. Two turkeys huddled in the corner. One had fallen over, laying still across the floor, as if somehow more dead than the others.

  "This is incredible!" Amy took out her camera. White light flashed across the room like lightning. Snap, snap, snap. "Our
readers are going to freak. Seriously. Amazing."

  I shook my head, staring at the empty space in the center. "No. The bear's gone."

  "What?"

  "There was a bear. In this room." As I spoke, my skin grew hot. My throat parched. "A black bear, on its hind legs. I remember it."

  I wish I could forget...

  She lowered the camera, and we were again plunged in darkness. "Seriously? We should find it! Unless you think they took it with them. Aw, man, I hope they didn't —"

  Thump.

  "What was that?" I whispered.

  "Dave, probably. Finally grew a pair and decided to join us."

  Thump.

  It was heavier, this time. Louder. The sound echoed up the stairs, reverberating through the room. Dust stirred up on the floor in swirling eddies. The disembodied deer heads seemed to widen their eyes with fear.