The Apartment

The Apartment

Tick tock tick tock. The clock swung, over and over, like a never-ending roller coaster. The old dolls stared into nothingness, but every now and then, it felt like their heads turned to look at me. All they did was sit on the coffee table with no purpose or intention. They looked at me as if I were a victim, a prey, waiting to be eaten. As soon as I looked their way, their heads were looking in the other direction. They knew my every move. Little did I know, they weren’t the only thing that watched me.

My grandmother’s apartment was a vintage one, some would say. She kept old, creepy dolls and a lot of clocks. There was a clock on every wall. It’s like they needed to know what everything was doing every second of the day. Maybe they were watching me too, counting my seconds until I ran out…

“Do you want any food,” my grandmother asked. “I’m going to head to the grocery store. Then I need to go run a load of laundry at the laundromat.”

“I’m okay. Thanks, though.”

“Okay. Are you fine staying here alone for thirty minutes?”

I knew in my head I wasn’t comfortable staying here alone, but I didn’t want to show her that I was terrified of her dolls. Besides, it couldn’t be that bad. It’s not like they were going to come alive. Right?

“Yeah, I’m fine staying alone,” I lied.

“Okay, I’m going to head out now. Oh, and one more thing,” she said, looking back with a worried look on her face, “don’t touch the dolls.” 

She slammed the door behind her as she walked out. Don’t touch the dolls. The words lingered in my head. What would happen if I did? I immediately looked at the dolls to my right. Their heads were tilted towards me with their eyes wide, smiles getting bigger and creepier, and the slightest movement advancing towards me. My grandmother’s last words didn't sit well with me. What did she mean by not touching the dolls? 

Suddenly, the lights flickered. I was startled by the sudden movement. Then, the lights turned off. They turned on a second later, but something looked different. The dolls were only a foot away from me now. It was physically impossible not to touch the dolls now. They were only getting closer and closer by the second. I tried to crawl up the couch and squirm away from them, but a doll managed to touch my foot.

The dolls started to back away, like I had done something wrong. But one doll stayed on the couch, looking at me as if I had killed their parents. What did I do that was aggravating and scaring them? The dolls looked at each other in unison and looked at each other.
 

“Do you want to play with us,” the doll sitting on the couch asked. “Come, come play with us. We will play forever and ever. You can become one of us.”

I started to back away slowly. I saw what Grandma meant. If you touch the dolls, they come back to life.

“No,” I said, “I will not play with you.”

The dolls started to come towards me even faster. They looked furious that I denied them.

“You don’t get a choice,” the doll on the couch said. “We will trim you into the most perfect doll for your brand new life.”

No. They weren’t going to turn me into a doll. I was left with two options: accept my fate and let them turn me into a doll, or try and run away to escape. They were getting closer and closer. I kept backing away towards the door. I slowly turned the knob to open the door and bolted out the door.

The dolls started to run, more determined to stop me than ever to stop me. I didn’t know this apartment at all. This was going to be difficult. The dolls stopped at every apartment door along the way, knocking on each door and summoning the person answering the door. I suddenly realized that not only were the dolls chasing me, but all of the people who lived there were also chasing me. I ran to the elevator and quickly pressed the button to open the door, but the people who opened the door lunged for me.

They reached as far as they could. I made a quick decision to ditch the elevator plan and run for the stairs. The people on the elevator quickly got off and started to chase after me, too. I ran as fast as I could down the stairs. My grandma’s apartment was on the seventh floor. I managed to run down one flight of stairs before more of the dolls and people were waiting for me below. I was trapped. There was no way out at this point. I had to push through the dolls, and I dashed up the stairs to the elevator.

“Come on, come on,” I said while pushing the elevator door open. “Hurry up, hurry up.”

The elevator door managed to open just in time before the dolls and people could catch me. I pushed the button to go to the 30th floor, which is the highest you can go. I took a sigh of relief, knowing that I had successfully escaped the dolls. All of a sudden, I heard an evil giggle above me. I screamed hysterically. A doll was hanging on the ceiling. It jumped down and stared into my soul for what felt like an eternity. It immediately lunged towards the emergency stop button and successfully pressed it. It then hit the button for the seventh floor.

“Going down.”

Written By: Evie Son

Edited By: Gabby Joo

9/29/25