THE DOLL IN THE SWAMP
An Original Listener Terror by Juno Cabrera, age 8
Sara lived by McLemony Swamp. For as long as she had known, it had never disappeared. Nor had it had dolls in it. One day, the dolls just came. The dolls gave Sara a chilling feeling every time she went there.
One day at McLemony Elementary, as she was walking to her desk, she saw that Lionel, Olivia and Chase were all absent.
“Mrs. Peters?” Sara asked.
“Yes?” Mrs. Peters answered.
“Where are Olivia, Chase and Lionel?” asked Sara.
“I got a call from their parents,” said Mrs. Peters. “They went out to the swamp and never came back.”
Sara sat down.
“Hey!” whispered her friend, Jane. “Meet me at the entrance to the swamp after school. I want to check it out.”
Sara just nodded.
Later that day, Sara went to the swamp. She got that chilling feeling again.
“Hey!”
Sara leapt up. It was just Jane.
“Don’t sneak up on people like that!” Sara scolded.
“Jeez, sorry,” Jane replied. “Come on!”
Sara’s legs stayed glued to the ground. “You first,” she said.
“Fine,” replied Jane. Even she is shaking now.
After an hour, Sara started to worry. “Jane!” she calls. Sara starts to walk down the path that leads to the swamp. There, she finds thousands of dolls.
“Sara…” a voice calls. “Help…”
Sara spots an arm sticking out from the swamp. She reaches for it and falls in. And a new doll, which somehow looks like Sara, appears in the trees.
The next day at McLemony Elementary, Mrs. Peters asks the class if they know where Sara went. The class doesn’t answer. Because the doll has already got them hanging from a tree. And the swamp is gone.