The Doll Maker

Funeral dolls are normally used at a wake. Which allows the mourners to see their loved ones one last time. However, during the 1800s, some people found it too much to bear seeing a dead infant. So, they used wax dolls that look like their children, even using real hair. From this study, a small village adapted this practice, creating life-sized dolls for people to keep.

In the town of South Warren, is where one of these doll makers lives. Nils creates human-sized dolls for those who have lost a friend or loved one. They’re just empty husks without a soul that resemble the person who once lived in this world. There is a rumor that Nils himself once brought his wife back to life using black magic. What he summoned had not been her but something else.

She harmed a lot of people, and this he had to lose her a second time. When he took on an apprentice named Otto, he didn’t want him to make the same mistake as he did. Nils hid the patchwork spell book he used to bring back his late wife and locked it up tight. Nils instructed Otto to use the guidebook his master wrote to create lifeless dolls. Otto did as he was told, only creating dolls within reason and declining a customer if they wanted to bring back the dead.

For it would only bring bad luck and tragedy to the person and those around them.

That was until the person Otto was secretly in love with was in an accident that took his life. He went to Nils’s house when he wasn’t there and found the hidden patchwork book. Opening it up, he read the text that explained how to bring a loved one back from the dead. It warned that what you summon may no longer be human or not even your loved one at all. Otto didn’t care about the consequences, but he had to try, as life without Kurt wasn’t worth living.

Worried about his apprentice, Nils decided to check up on Otto. After all, the young man had just lost someone that he cared about. When he opened the door to the workshop, Nils wasn’t ready for what he saw. The scene before him brought back memories from all those years ago. Otto touched Kurt’s new face affectionately, the person who was supposed to have stayed dead.

The color of Kurt’s eyes was no longer there instead they were a milky white.

“What have you done?!” Nils panicked, backing up towards the open door. Otto looked at his teacher, a smile on his lips. “What have I done? I brought my friend back to me! Unlike you, I know exactly where you went wrong.” he told his teacher. What was Otto talking about? Kurt’s eyes were soon on the retired doll maker who had frozen to his spot. Why hadn’t Kurt turned on Otto like his wife had done to him?

“Kurt...it’s time to eat.” Otto whispered to his friend.

The door to Otto’s workshop closed leaving them in deafening darkness. From outside the doll maker's apprentice listened to the drowned out screams that threatened to escape. Upon an hill away from the rest of the village there is a workshop where the doll maker lives. They say he can make a doll of a loved one you miss. While a rumor states that he can even bring them back to life.

Before you go to the doll maker and make your request, Otto will warn you about the consequences if you don’t follow them. You need to feed them plenty of flesh, as the dead crave the flesh of the living. It’s why you have to make sure that you want to bring them back from the dead. If you don’t, then they can easily turn on you.

Making you their next meal if you’re not too careful.

On a hot summer evening, as Otto was giving Kurt his dinner, he heard a knock at his door. The guest he greeted had an unusual case with them. "Excuse me, is this the home of the doll maker?” the traveler asked, setting down the case by their feet. “Yes, it is. How may I help you?” Otto replied with a smile, looking over his shoulder to make sure he shut the door to Kurt’s room. “I have a request of you. I would like to have a funeral doll made.” said the traveler.

"Do you have a picture of the deceased?” Otto questioned. The traveler shook their head and motioned down to the case at their feet. Otto paled and took a step back from them “I figured someone with your expertise could use what pieces I could salvage to create the wax doll. Or is that too difficult for you?” said the traveler a wide smile in their lips.”N-not at all.” Otto’s voice trembled and motioned to a door that led to his workshop.

The traveler nodded and picked up the case pushing the door open and placed it onto his work table.

Otto informed them that the job would be done in a few days’ time. The traveler addressed him with a nod and left without another word. As he watched the traveler leave, he couldn’t help but feel that something was off, causing Otto to rush into his workshop. Looking around, he found that the patchwork book he had left out was missing. Enraged, Otto opened the case the traveler had brought, only to find it full of junk and rags, not pieces of a body. Why had the traveler taken the patchwork book, and did they know about the information that it contained inside?

Panic began to swell in his chest as the door to Kurt’s room slowly creaked open. Otto called out to him but didn’t hear a response and slowly made his way to the open door. He called out again and a hand shot out of the darkness gripping the wooden door frame. A set of glowing eyes staring back at him Otto swallowed the growing lump in his throat. Without the book in his possession it would mean that not only Kurt wouldn’t listen to him but the townspeople would be in danger too.

It didn’t take long for the screams and pleas to rise up out of South Warren. The traveler who had visited Otto watched from the old, dilapidated house that belonged to Nils. This book needed to be destroyed so that no one else could bring the dead back to life. After all, the dead are better off staying dead. For what comes back may not always be the person you want it to be.