I awoke to the sound of the doorknob clicking.  It was Mom.  She had come home from the hospital, to be with Sarah, who had been rushed there by ambulance.  A look of relief was on her face.

Mom told me that Sarah had a "closed-head injury", but they would keep her in overnight, to make sure all was well.  She was not paralyzed.  She had no idea how Sarah had gotten hurt.  I didn't hear anything myself: I had been dead-asleep when Mom had awakened me with her screams.

I looked at the dolls on my bed.  They sat there, as usual:  Billy.  Sarah.  Tabitha.  Nothing seemed out of the ordinary ... or did they?  That was when I noticed the soft, but mean grin on Billy's chubby face, plus it seemed that his blue eyes had changed color: they were now a glowing RED.

I shook my head and closed my eyes.  I was sure I was imagining things.  Dolls couldn't come to life, I thought to myself.  I opened my eyes again.  Billy's eyes were back to their usual cornflower blue color and his smile had returned to normal.

Mom told me to get ready to go to school.  I would do no better staying home, especially since I was not sick.  There would be nothing more anybody could do until Sarah returned home from the hospital sometime tomorrow afternoon, she said.  

I quickly brushed my teeth and fixed my hair.  I returned to the bedroom to get my favorite mauve sweatshirt and sparkly black legging-style pants, as well as my glittery purple socks.  I wanted to look good for Creston, the cute new boy at school.  I was gathering my books together when all of a sudden, something hard hit me in back of the head.  "OW!" I screamed.

I whipped my head around to see if Todd was acting like a do-do again.  Nope.  He was nowhere to be found.  Then I saw it: Billy, my boy Cabbage Patch doll, laughing for all his worth.  Only his mouth didn't look friendly.  It looked as if he suddenly grew fangs.  And there were the eyes again.  Bright cherry red.  

No way, I gasped.  No way!  Billy was only a doll!  Dolls couldn't come to life!!  This was not a real-life version of "Toy Story"!  

"See?  I told you we were gonna get cha"! Billy howled.  "And this is only the beginning!  You just watch:  ya haven't seen nothin' yet!"  And he laughed, harder than before.  His maniacal laughter bounced around the room, chilling me to the bone.

~To be continued.~