MY DREAM DOLL Chapter 15 A Visitor in the Night & Finally a New Beginning

Ruby was in her room, organizing her desk and preparing for school, when she noticed something odd. A folded note lay beneath the corner of her desk, just barely visible. She reached down, curious, and picked it up. The paper was old and yellowed, and her heart skipped a beat when she recognized the delicate, slanted handwriting.

It was the same handwriting from Munin ‘s journal.

“You helped me, but it’s not over. She is still here.”

A chill ran down her spine. Ruby dropped the note, staring at it as if it might leap off the floor and come to life. Who had left it? She felt the urge to scream, to call her parents, but something stopped her—a sense of unfinished business, of something she needed to face alone.

The room seemed to darken as she stood there, and suddenly, the whispering returned—soft, almost pleading. Ruby turned slowly, and there, standing in the dim light of her room, was the girl from her dreams. This time, she looked different—less shadowy, more real. Her eyes were no longer hollow, but they were filled with sorrow.

“You freed me,” the girl said, her voice barely a whisper. “But there’s another. She’s not finished.”

Ruby’s knees went weak, and she sank onto her bed, staring at the girl. “What do you mean? I burned the doll. I did what you wanted.”

The girl’s face softened, and she took a hesitant step forward. “The doll was only a vessel—a way to trap me. But the spirit that controlled it… she’s still here, hiding, waiting for the right moment. She’s angry because you broke her hold over me, and now she wants you.”

Ruby felt cold, icy terror settle over her. “What can I do?” she asked, her voice barely audible.

The girl stepped closer, and for the first time, Ruby saw her clearly. She was just a child, no older than Ruby herself, with long, dark hair and eyes that shimmered with an otherworldly sadness. She held out a small, pale hand. “You have to end the story where it began. You have to go back to the house.”

 Return to the Ruins

It was late, almost midnight, when Ruby made her way back to the woods. She had waited until her parents were asleep, slipping out of the house with a flashlight and the small stone she had used to mark Munin ‘s grave beneath the oak tree. The night was cold and still, the sky clouded over with no moonlight to guide her.

The path to the clearing was overgrown, but Ruby knew it well. She moved quickly, feeling a strange sense of urgency, as if she were being drawn to the ruins by an invisible thread. When she reached the clearing, she stopped, breathing heavily. The air was thick and heavy, and she could feel a presence around her—watching, waiting.

She knelt at the crumbling foundation, pulling back the tangled weeds that had grown over the old stones, and placed the small rock from her garden in the center. She had brought matches, a bundle of dried herbs, and a handful of salt, just as Munin ‘s journal had described in the ritual she had only half-understood before.

Her hands trembled as she struck a match and lit the herbs, holding them up as the smoke curled into the air. “I banish you,” she said, her voice firm despite the fear coiling in her stomach. “I banish the darkness that hides here. I release you from this place.”

The wind picked up, whipping through the clearing with a fierce intensity. The smoke from the herbs was pulled away, swirling and twisting as if caught in an unseen vortex. Ruby’s voice rose above the howling wind. “You have no power here anymore. You don’t belong!”

The words seemed to have a power of their own. The wind died suddenly, leaving a ringing silence in its wake. Then, from the darkness, Ruby heard it—the sound of footsteps, slow and deliberate, crunching on the dead leaves behind her.

She turned, heart in her throat, and saw a figure emerging from the shadows. It wasn’t the girl. It was a woman—tall, with wild, flowing hair and eyes that glowed with an unnatural light. Her face was twisted with rage, and in her hands, she held a doll—a doll with a cracked face and empty eyes that mirrored her own.

“You think you can free her?” the woman hissed, her voice echoing around the clearing. “You think you’re stronger than me?”

Ruby’s body froze with terror, but she forced herself to move. She grabbed the salt from her pocket and threw it at the figure, shouting the final words of the banishment ritual. The woman screamed, her form wavering and dissolving into a cloud of darkness as the salt hit her. Ruby’s voice grew louder, stronger, until the woman’s screams faded into silence, and the darkness dissolved into the night.

The clearing was empty. The weight that had hung over it, that oppressive sense of wrongness, was gone.

Ruby fell to her knees, exhausted, and the girl appeared again, standing beside her with a sad, grateful smile. “Thank you,” she whispered. “You set us both free.”

 Epilogue – The New Beginning

Years passed, and the memories of that haunted year became a part of Ruby’s past, a story she told herself only on rare, quiet nights when the wind whispered through the trees. She grew up, went to college, and moved away, leaving the house—and the memories—behind.

One summer, long after the events had faded to a distant, almost dream-like memory, she returned home to visit her parents. They had moved to a new house by then, a bright, sunny place far away from the old shadows that had once haunted their lives.

While unpacking in her childhood room, Ruby found a small, familiar object buried in the bottom of a dusty old box—a porcelain doll, with golden curls and a smiling face that seemed almost too perfect. Her breath caught, and for a moment, she felt a flicker of fear.

But then she noticed something different—the doll’s eyes were bright and clear, no longer filled with that empty, hollow stare. She held it for a moment, remembering, and then gently placed it on a shelf.

That night, as she drifted off to sleep, she thought she heard a soft, comforting whisper, like a lullaby carried on the breeze. It was a voice she knew well, but this time, it wasn’t haunting or sorrowful.

It was peaceful.

And Ruby smiled, knowing that the past was truly at rest, and that the darkness had finally given way to light.

The story of the haunted doll had ended, but Ruby’s story was just beginning—a story of strength, courage, and the power to face even the deepest fears.

              $ ***************************************************$