Hello Dolly

Hello Dolly is a creepy story about a disease that turns children into dolls. It is based on a japanese horror manga by Junji Ito.

There was no mistaking it. My darling daughter was afflicted with the dreaded disease. Her skin was solidifying, becoming as hard as wood. Hairline cracks were splitting along her joints. Her jaw hung open and her face was expressionless. She just sat there, gazing blankly at me with a glassy-eyed stare.

The disease had spread quickly across the world. More than half the children in the country had contracted it. The scientists called it “Early-onset Doll’s Disease”. Our beloved daughter was slowly turning into a doll.

“We’ll just have to accept it,” I said. “Look on the bright side. It’s not as if we’ve lost our daughter. She can’t move and she can’t speak, but at least she will always be here with us.”

“Yes, you’re right,” my wife said. “No matter how many years pass, she will always be young and beautiful.”

There were parents all over the world whose children had fallen victim to Doll’s Disease. Most parents couldn’t take it. They threw their children in the garbage or burned them in the fireplace.

“Promise me you won’t get rid of her,” my wife sobbed. “Promise me we’ll keep her with us forever.”

“I promise,” I said.

But as time went by, we began to understand why those other parents acted the way they did.

Her body never stopped changing. Day by day, it grew worse and worse. The disease would not let her go.

One day, my wife and I collected wood from the back yard and built a fire in the fireplace.

“I think it’s time,” I said.

“Yes,” my wife agreed. “We can’t let anyone see her like this…”