Annabeth

A long time ago, in the lonely, snow covered streets of Demelca. There was a young girl named Annabeth. Annabeth was a very misbehaved child, she would ditch school just to go shoplifting, or watch someone get hurt for entertainment. But that day was different. She felt as if she was being watched, or someone was secretly plotting against her. It wasn’t an ordinary day, so to lift her spirits, took a tiki tour and tried to get lost. As she was wandering, she came across a dark narrow alley. “Ooh, that looks fun.” she said. But deep inside of her, she was petrified.

Annabeth skipped along the frozen pathway. Soon, she came across an old chalkboard. On the chalkboard many names huddled together. Annabeth picked up an old piece of chalk and wrote her name on the board. “A-N-N-A-B-E-T-H” she spelt. Just as she was about to go off again, she noticed a small doll shop. “Sweet!” she said, “Free toys”. Annabeth hopped to the shop and put her hand on the door handle. She tried to open the door but it wouldn’t budge. Annabeth checked around for any windows but there wasn’t any. With an angry face, she made a snowball and threw it at the door. She then stomped off and shouted “Stupid shopkeepers.” Once Annabeth was halfway down the alley, she heard a loud creak. Annabeth slowly turned her head and saw that the door of the doll shop was wide open.

She quickly turned around and ran, but before she entered an unusual looking doll stood on a platform in the middle of the shop. The doll looked exactly like her. It had blonde hair, a fluffy orange beanie and a purple puffer jacket that read “Kathmandu”. As soon as Annabeth stepped inside, goosebumps rose on her pale skin. All the dolls on the shelves looked like actual people. One them even looked like her cousin Rachel. Annabeth looked around, every time she moved at least one doll followed her with their eyes. Suddenly she felt a bump on her skinny leg. Annabeth looked down. A small doll on a bike seemed like it was trying to run a away. She stood the doll up and it peddled as fast as it could to try make it out the door. But, sadly, it didn’t make it. The door slammed before the doll could even make it halfway.

“That’s strange” Annabeth said to herself. But all the dolls seemed to be listening. Annabeth looked up again and realised her twin doll wasn’t on the platform anymore, it was on the top of one of the highest shelves in the whole shop. “Wow, thats a high shelf.” Annabeth said to herself. She put her left foot on an empty slot on the shelf, and pulled herself up with another empty slot. Each time Annabeth climbed higher her pink gloves slipped further and further off her hands. After a few more seconds Annabeth’s gloves slipped a little further down her hands. Annabeth got so fed up with her gloves that she automatically threw one of them on the ground. Five seconds later, she instantly regretted it. Annabeth’s hands were the coldest that they had ever been.  The skin on Annabeth’s turned a shade lighter. But she didn’t care.

Annabeth continued climbing. Soon, she reached the top. Her twin doll seemed to staring right at her. Without hesitating Annabeth grabbed the doll. Suddenly, terrifying flashes entered her mind. They were of tortured dolls in a dark prison. “Oh my -” The next thing Annabeth knew, she couldn’t move her mouth. She couldn’t move at all. The only thing that Annabeth could move was her eyes, side to side. Annabeth wanted to cry, so she tried. But she couldn’t. Neither could she do anything else. Years passed and Annabeth watched the doll shop as it got more crowded. Sadly all she could do was watch and blink. Until one day, another customer wandered into the shop. “Here we go again”. Annabeth watched, but something different happened. The girl didn’t grab her identical doll she grabbed a stick and poked it. “That’s different” Annabeth thought. A few minutes the little girl came back, but this time with a whole lot of different equipment. She had gloves, plastic bags and a long hook. Annabeth watched closely as the little girl got to work. The girl carefully slipped on her gloves, grabbed her hook and started stuffing the dolls into the plastic bags. Soon, the girl had come to Annabeth’s shelf. Annabeth’s heart started to beat, she must have been imagining it because it had never even moved in fifteen years. Or the spell was breaking.

The little girl moved her hook closer and closer to Annabeth’s dusty doll head. Then the hook grabbed Annabeth by the hips. Before Annabeth could blink she was in a whole different place. She turned her head for the first time in fifteen years and she could walk again!  Annabeth looked around, it looked like she was in an old warehouse but it was much more upgraded. “This must be the future” Annabeth said. “Yes it is” a robotic voice said. Annabeth turned around, but there was no-one behind her. Annabeth looked everywhere, but there was no-one in sight. “Who are you and what do you want with me” “I don’t want anything to do with you, it was my boss who saved you. She broke the curse and freed all the trapped people. The voice said. “Why did I get trapped in there anyway” Annabeth said as she sat on an old wooden box. “Well” the voice said “A long time ago, no-one knows for sure when, a crazy girl that was obsessed with dolls created a powerful spell to protect her dolls. Anyone that touched one of her dolls would turn into another one of her toys. When the girl died, someone found her dolls, but was careful not to touch them. That person sold her dolls but accidently touched one was trapped. The abandoned shop was then haunted, my boss broke the spell by taking you out of the shop, and here we are.” “Then where are the rest of the imprisoned people” asked Annabeth “They’ve already gone to live a better life,” replied the voice.

“So I can just go?” said Annabeth “Yup” replied the voice. Annabeth tried to sprint out the door but she forgot how to run. “Maybe I’ll just walk,” Annabeth chuckled. She made a new life in a new world, but little did she know, someone was watching her.