Layla- Chapter 1

Ellie scanned past all of the items. Books, bags, an old telephone, and some random stuffed animals.
Why did I even bother coming here? She thought to herself.
As she continued to walk around the yard, something caught her eye. A beautiful porcelain doll. The doll had long, silky, blonde hair, and blue eyes. She was dressed in an elegant white gown. She grabbed the doll and quickly walked over to where her mom was rummaging through all of the old kitchenware.

"Mom, look at this," Ellie said.

"Wow. Very nice honey." Her mother said as she continued to scavenge through the pots and pans.

"Well, can I get it?"

"I suppose," Her mother said hesitantly. "if it's over 10 bucks then forget it"

"Thank you thank you thank you," she said whilst hugging her.

Ellie walked towards an old lady, who was counting the money she had just earned from her previous sale.

"Hi. How much is this doll?" she asked.

"That'll be $2," the lady said. The lady looked back down at her cash, but then quickly looked back up at Ellie in realization. Her wrinkled face plastered with nervousness. "Are you sure you want to buy that?"

"Yes, I'm positive. I collect vintage items and this will be perfect to add. I currently don't have a doll in my collection." Ellie said while smiling at the doll. "I think I'll name her Layla"

The old lady looked at her with a nervous smile.

"Why did you decide to give her away? She's beautiful." Ellie added.

"Well," The lady hesitated. "She was a family heirloom, passed down generation after generation. My husband and I agreed that we should give her up after strange things started happening in our home. We weren't completely convinced that it had anything to do with her, but we thought she could be linked to those things."

"What kind of 'things'?" asked Ellie, which had some curiosity hidden under her confused look.

"Well, it all began with my great great Grandmother. She was given this doll as a gift for her 10th birthday. She took the doll everywhere with her, as it was the only toy she had, her parents only made a dime an hour. She grew up with some sort of mental illness. Her parents never knew what it was, they could never afford to get her diagnosed. But today it would be recognized as schizophrenia. Anyways, she ended up having a really crazy episode one day and killed her two siblings and her parents. After she died the doll was found in a box along with her other belongings, and it was passed down to each daughter. And here I am, with this doll. But considering the horrid past that this thing has, I prefer not to keep ahold of it. "

Ellie became wide eyed after listening to the story. "Wow. That's unfortunate"

"Yeah, pretty crazy story huh?"

Ellie contemplated her decision to purchase Layla. Not taking into consideration the risks it may involve. "She doesn't look too bad to me. I'll take her."

"Well then, if you wish," The lady said, flashing a quick smile.

After giving her the cash, Ellie took Layla to the car. She had never come across anything this unique at a yard sale.

~
As soon as Ellie arrived home she rushed upstairs to her room and carefully placed Layla on her shelf. Along with the other 127 vintage items she had collected over the years.

Ellie stepped back from the shelf to take a look. "She's perfect" Ellie whispered to herself.

Ellie plopped down on her bed and grabbed her laptop off of her nightstand. She opened it up and clicked Google on her taskbar. It was her routine to do research on any new item she added to her shelf, even if it was little.
Ellie typed in the description of the porcelain doll and clicked search. There were no results. Ellie had a confused look plastered on her face.

"Huh, that's weird," she said with a confused tone.

She typed in the search bar using different keywords, hoping that something would show up. Maybe some background information on where the doll came from.
Once again, no results.

"What is going on?" Ellie said nervously.

She shut her laptop and fell back onto her pillow, different thoughts racing through her mind. She had a weird feeling about Layla but shook it off. Ellie believed that Layla was perfect for her, like nothing she ever had before.

~
As Ellie woke up she felt like she had been hit by a brick. She was never a morning person, she always hated waking up, but this morning was different. As she lifted herself out of bed she felt violently sore, a kind of soreness she cannot achieve at the gym.
Ellie walked down the stairs and heard giggling and a pounding noise.
As she walked into the living room, there she was. Layla was in the hands of these little boys. They were tossing her and kicking her around the room.

"What are you doing?!" Ellie shouted.

The boys dropped Layla and scrambled away to the kitchen. Ellie walked over to the floor to pick up Layla.

Her mom was laying on the couch reading a new issue of Good Housekeeping.

"Oh, honey I'm so sorry. I forgot to let you know that Aunt Shannon and your little cousins are staying for a few days. You know Shannon, always having issues with Richard."

She rolled her eyes and walked to the kitchen to make herself breakfast. She loved her Aunt Shannon but wished she would get her crap together with her husband so they wouldn't be invading her house every two weeks.

She made herself some toast and eggs and sat down to eat at the table. She wondered why Jacob and Gavin decided to play with Layla. Ellie had a younger brother, and he had plenty of toys that the three boys would always play with.
Ellie finished her breakfast and got up to put her plate in the sink. She headed towards the living room, where her mom lay in the same position as fifteen minutes ago.

"Hey, Mom"

"Yeah?" Her mom said, flipping through a new magazine.

"Why did Jacob and Gavin have my doll?"

"They were arguing and needed something to play with so I gave it to them."

"Why would you do that? Ryan has plenty of toys that they always play with"

"I tried giving them Ryan's toys but nothing seemed to calm them down until I gave them the doll"

Ellie rolled her eyes, "Whatever, just don't let them touch her again. They practically cracked her skull open."

"Okay, honey. Noted"

Ellie made her way back up the stairs to her bedroom, dragging her foot along every step. She decided to see what was making her so sore. She took her nightgown off and looked at her reflection. She gasped at the image of herself. Red and purple bruises scattered all over her body.

"Mom! Come here now!" she yelled.

Her mother slowly dragged herself up the stairs. "What is it now Ell--" She stopped herself at Ellie's door frame and glanced at her in terror.