Flash Fiction: Mall of the Living Dolls

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PHOTO PROMPT © Liz Young for Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers. Other stories featuring the prompt can be found here.

It started as a stupid dare. The Midnight Club broke into the abandoned mall.

With phone lights to guide them, they wandered various shops, recording their steps. Dolls stared at the teens as they passed.

“I don’t like it here. It’s like they are undressing me with their eyes.”

“Perverts!”

Kate and Ben walked around the discarded aeroplane display and completed a 360. Through her screen, Kate viewed the shop window. Her heart pounded. She tugged at Ben’s sleeve.

“What?”

“Look, the perverts have moved.”

The mannequins. So real. So alive. So menacing.

“Run!”

The sound of doors bolting shut echoed.

~*~

50 comments

  1. A creepy set-up, and that last line really drops the dread on us readers. Here’s hoping Kate and Ben can fight their way out — or call 911, and that the police actually believe them about attacking mannequins!

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Great story, Tannille. I can get a bit intrigued by mannequins and did photograph a pile of mannequin parts which were in a shopping trolley to be reassembled. Rather freaky. Murderous mannequins are very plausible along with their teenage prey.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Ooo that era was great. I stopped watching when the Dr became a woman. The storylines started to bore me which is a shame. I did hear they are bringing my favorite dr back, I’ll jump back on the Tardis for that 😀.

      Thanks, G.

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      1. I didn’t watch the last two or so seasons either but I did like the female Doctor. I didn’t like Yaz all that much though. My fav thought was #9, and he won’t come back from all I’ve read. But I like them all.

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  3. Rochelle beat me to it. That episode of The Twilight Zone was my first thought, too. Creepy. It kind of serves them right for breaking into the mall when it’s the mannequins’ time to play. I like the poll idea, too, though I got a server error every time I tried to vote.

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      1. Polls are an option when you choose what sort of “box” you want in the editor. After you hit the plus sign there is a variety of choice (the standard being, paragraphs and images). I think I typed in the search bar for poll. There’s all sorts of things that can be inserted.

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  4. Great use of the prompt. I love the choose your own ending poll. I chose Dr Who because if iirc mannequins come to life in the reboot with the 9th Dr and Rose. Or the mannequins are actually aliens or something. Loved this story.

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