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Then he realized . She was with Trisha, his long-time crush, and seeing her made him curious. As he moved closer, Trisha noticed and quickly took the girl away from him. John watched them walk off, feeling confused by Trisha’s reaction, but he shrugged it off, assuming she might have just been in a hurry.
Later, as John waited at the checkout, he overheard Trisha talking to the little girl. The girl had taken a set of sketch pens without realizing it needed to be paid for. Trisha gently scolded her, explaining that they had to return it. Just then, the cashier smiled warmly and informed them, “It’s already paid for—John took care of it.” Surprised, Trisha looked back at John, but he simply smiled. The little girl left the supermarket with a big grin, clutching her new sketches, while Trisha gave John a grateful nod before heading out.
As John left the store, his mind shifted back to his real purpose: research for his movie script. He had been collecting newspaper clippings, police reports, and other materials on various criminal cases to inspire the story. At home, he glanced over the forensic report of a gift box he’d recently been investigating—a strange, ominous package that had arrived at his doorstep, which he had turned over to the police. The report included a disturbing photo: a damaged Barbie doll with a large scar running from its forehead to its nose, with chunks of hair pulled out in patches.
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The sight of the doll triggered something in John’s mind, sparking a memory. He started to search his cluttered bookshelf, filled with stacks of books, newspapers, and files related to unsolved crimes. After sifting through a pile of yellowed newspaper clippings and loose papers, he found what he was looking for—a faded old notebook where he’d pasted news articles and handwritten notes on peculiar crime stories.
He flipped through the pages until he found a familiar case. The article described a series of eerie, unsolved murders where the killer left behind disturbing gifts at each crime scene—items that seemed like toys but were intentionally damaged, often with deep scars and missing pieces. Each toy looked eerily similar to how the victims were found, mirroring their wounds and injuries.
John felt a chill. He glanced at the photo of the doll from the forensic report, then back at the newspaper clipping. The doll’s scar and its missing hair seemed to match an incident he had read about in one of his crime journals. The connections were unsettling, and he wondered if he was merely overthinking—or if this latest “gift” had been intended specifically for him.
Unable to shake off his suspicions, John spent the rest of the night piecing together information, going over every detail he could recall. He compared each clipping, rereading his notes, trying to see if there was a common thread that connected the cases. By the time the sun started rising, he had a notebook full of notes, theories, and connections, but no clear answer. Just a growing sense of dread that he had somehow attracted the attention of someone who wanted to turn his research into reality.