The Haunting of Willow Manor

The sun had barely risen when the Parkers arrived at Willow Manor, their newly inherited estate. As they stepped out of the car, Lily, their 8-year-old daughter, gasped in awe.

“Mommy, it’s like a castle!” she exclaimed.

Sarah Parker smiled, but her husband, Michael, couldn’t shake the eerie feeling that crept up his spine as he looked at the looming Victorian mansion.

Inside, the house was filled with antiques and dusty relics. Lily rummaged through an old trunk and pulled out a porcelain doll with long, dark hair and piercing green eyes.

“Can I keep her, Mommy? Please?” Lily begged.

Sarah hesitated but nodded. “Alright, but be careful with her.”

Over the next few days, Lily became inseparable from the doll, whom she named Amelia. However, Sarah noticed changes in her daughter’s behavior. Lily grew distant and would often whisper secretively to Amelia.

One evening, Sarah overheard Lily talking in her room.

“Lily, honey, who are you talking to?” Sarah asked.

Lily looked up, her eyes vacant. “Amelia. She tells me things, Mommy. About the house and the people who lived here.”

Alarmed, Sarah confided in Michael. They decided to investigate the doll’s history and the mansion’s past. In the attic, they discovered an old diary belonging to a former resident, Amelia Willow.

As Sarah read the diary, her heart sank. “Michael, listen to this: ‘I can’t escape her. She won’t let me. The doll, it’s cursed. It won’t let me leave this house.’”

Michael’s face paled. “We need to get rid of that doll, now.”

They rushed to Lily’s room, but she was gone. A trail of giggles led them to the basement, where they found Lily standing in the center of a pentagram, the doll in her hands.

“Lily, put the doll down,” Michael pleaded.

Lily’s head snapped up, her eyes black. “I’m not Lily. I’m Amelia, and I’ve been waiting so long for someone to play with.”

As the room grew cold and the walls began to shake, Sarah and Michael realized the true horror they were facing. The doll had been a vessel for Amelia’s vengeful spirit, and now their daughter was trapped in its grasp.

They knew they had to fight to save Lily and break the curse that had haunted Willow Manor for generations. The battle for their daughter’s soul had only just begun.