Upvoted / NoSleep: Scary Stories · No Sleep Reddit RSlash Fiction Horror Story

Dollhouse by Reddit User LightinTheDungeon - Like Scary Horror Stories by Dr. NoSleep

September 13, 2023·10 min·1 clip

He just picked the closest house, laid on the bed without removing his shoes, and closed his eyes.

The narrator moved to the island town two months before the story begins after a natural disaster leveled their block, seeking a change of scenery. Shortly after arriving, the only bridge connecting the island to the mainland collapsed, leaving the narrator feeling trapped. From the beginning, something about the other residents felt wrong. They wear only plain, unbranded clothing with no words or images. When they speak, it is only to convey strictly necessary information such as prices or directions, never anything personal or social. When the narrator was bumped into on the sidewalk, the other person offered no apology. At the grocery store, the narrator notices a woman buying a strange combination of items: bleach, cat litter, baking soda, shampoo, and one apple. The apple is rotting. Despite the unsettling nature of the purchase, what strikes the narrator most is that grocery shelves are always fully stocked and there is no evidence of deliveries or replenishment happening. The narrator observes residents at a stoplight and notices that all five cars move in perfect unison when the light turns green without any of the normal staggered reaction times, as if they received the signal simultaneously. Deciding to follow one resident home, the narrator trails them for hours as they walk without apparent direction or destination before entering a random house, not necessarily their own. The story escalates as the narrator observes behavior that becomes harder to explain with ordinary social awkwardness, leading to mounting dread about whether any of the people in town are actually people. The narration is delivered in calm, measured prose that amplifies the creepiness through understatement.

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