Fort East Martello Museum
A group of highschool students are on a field trip to visit the museum. The female teacher in casual business attire is giving them the tour. They gather around a glass case where a child sized doll in sailor suit resides.
"And this right here is the famous Robert the Doll. His legend has inspired many horror films like Child's Play. Those letters behind him are from people who apologized to him for taking a picture without his permission in order to lift the curse." The teacher explains with whimsy, as if telling a campfire story. The students are uninterested with the topic. Their attention is drawn by one handsome individual nearby.
She is a woman with long dark brown hair and onyx colored eyes. She has thick lips painted in pink lipstick. She's wearing a green shirt with Jojo characters, long brown skirt, zebra striped stockings and blue Crocs.
"I bet twenty bucks if you go over there and ask her out." One of the male students teases the skinny boy.
"Bet!" He says. The chubby boy pulls out a twenty and hands it to him. The skinny boy takes deep breaths to muster up the courage. He struts towards the woman. "Hey there, good looking. Wanna go and grab a bucket of chicken? I'm buying." He waves the bill.
The woman slowly turns her head to face him. She stares blankly for an uncomfortable amount of time. "Yoo-hoo." She responds stoically.
"Um…is that a yes or no?"
"You are now in an important once in a lifetime choice. That means life changes." Her eyes widened. The boy is already regretting it. "Don't look, but that blondie with the cool jean jacket has been sneaking peeks at us."
"Valerie?" He whispers.
"Hmm. She must be important." The boy blushes. "Here's the ultimatum. You could waste that money for a temporary thrill in your life that will be forgotten ooooooor…" She poses dramatically and deepens her voice. "Live. Love the ones close around you and share the experience of teenagehood with your people."
The boy is so flabbergasted by her eccentric behavior, that he speedwalks back to his group of friends. He gives back the dollar. "What the hell was that?" Asks the chubby boy.
"Some weird bitch." He shrugs and looks at Valerie, who quickly turns away.
"Hey Val~?" Her pink haired friend pokes her shoulder. "Wanna check to see if the curse is real?"
Valerie scoffs. "That's just an urban legend."
"Then take a selfie and I'll treat you with a sundae." Her friend offers.
Valerie sighs but that's an easy treat. She waits for the teacher to be distracted and takes a quick selfie. She looks at the image, noticing something off. The doll, who was set to gaze up, is staring directly at her. She turns to find him sitting normally.
"Let me see." Her friend grabs the phone. "Looking good as always~!" She teases.
Valerie gets her phone back. The doll is looking up like he should. She turns once again at him. "...Right." she shakes her head. Thinking that the story is getting to her.
Smathers Beach
The students are at the beach in their swimwear enjoying the chill ocean breeze under clear hot sunny weather. The group of boys are swimming in the water.
"Hey Derek. Look over there." The chubby boy gets the skinny ones attention. The woman from the museum is some distance away from them. She is looking out at the sea with binoculars. Valerie is heading to the water while fixated on Derek.
"WATCH OUT!" A person shouts at her, but it's too late. A football hits her face and stumbles backwards. Expecting to hit the ground, she keeps falling. The light from above gets further away, being consumed by darkness. She is too shocked to process what is happening.
Suddenly, she stops. Something is firmly grasping her arm. She is being ascended back to the light. There's another arm at the top reaching out. She extends her other arm to grab it and gets pulled out. Her savior is the strange woman.
"It was a good thing I got distracted by the ball." She says with a straight face. Derek and her friend run to check up on her. The teacher and students check the hole.
"Woooooah! Was someone trying to dig towards China?" Some of them try to take a peek, but the teacher stops them.
"This is why you have to be careful around beaches. Some people don't fill up the holes they dig up." The teacher does her job explaining.
Valerie is still processing what just happened. Dread fills her consciousness as the reality sinks in. She could've been dead. She turns around, but the woman is already gone.
"Let's go rest a bit on the bus, okay?" Her friend suggests.
"Y-Yeah." Valerie says. They help her up and carefully make their way back. They arrive at the vehicle, where they gasp in horror. The tires have been slashed and it's covered with red spray paint. There's a lettering in the middle that says 'YOuR nExt VaL!' Valerie is starting to panic and sprints randomly. Her friends call her out, but she needs to run away from whatever is hunting her.
She reaches the girl's restroom and locks herself in one of the stalls. She sits on the toilet hugging her legs. A notification goes off on her phone. Dread fills her body, not sure if it's her friends. Another message. She shakily reaches for her phone. There's a photo of her inside the stall from a top view. She looks up and gasps in fear. It's Robert with a phone in one hand and a knife on the other. He jumps at her as she lets out a bloodcurdling scream.
The door to the stall swings open and someone punches Robert in the face, leaving him pinned against the wall. It's the same eccentric woman. Valerie notices the woman's eyes are hot pink slit iris. Robert slashes her left arm to free himself. The woman grabs his legs with her right and starts banging him across the bathroom, before choking him on the sink.
"You think I didn't notice you switching a doll to put on the case? Now no one will tell the difference!" She takes the knife off him and starts stabbing his face. Black liquid spews from his body. He struggles, but gets weaker until he becomes limp. She decapitates him and looks directly at his face. "You'll be nothing but an urban legend." She says before throwing his body in the trash can. She pulls out a can of lighter fuel and drenches him with it. She takes out a matchbox and lights a match.
Suddenly, Robert's body jumps out and starts strangling the woman. She tries to break free but he is unnaturally keeping his grip. Thinking fast, she runs outside with the doll hanging on her neck. She sees someone grilling and rushes towards them. She grabs the lid and slams it shut on Robert to pull herself free. She kicks him inside, then firmly keeps the lid down as he bangs against it until he stops.
"What the fuck are you doing!?" The man in red speedos who was cooking asks.
"OwO!" her eyes massively dilate.
The man backs away. "I told you Florida was full of weirdos." he grumbles to his family.
Valerie runs to check up on the woman. "I-is he dead?" The woman opens the lid. His body is completely charred.
"I'd say he's well-done." She grins, revealing her sharp canines. Valerie didn't find that funny. "Don't worry. He'll be nothing but a story now."
"Valerie!!" Her friends are catching their breath. "What happened? You just ran off with that crazy woman!" They say in unison.
She gets overwhelmed. "I-i'm fine, guys. She actually saved m-" she turns to see the woman gone, along with Robert's body.
"Come on, Val. Everyone is worried about you." Derek says as they walk away.
Valerie takes another look behind, seeing the man in speedos crying over his ruined barbecue. "Thank you." She goes back to her classmates who are happy to see her.
The strange woman is watching the kids return to their group from a distance, while holding Robert's charred remains. A white Mustang pulls over next to her. An black haired asian man in a tuxedo rolls the window down. "Took you long enough, Ray." She says.
"It was a three hour drive, Cass. Had to leave work ea-" he notices the doll on her hand. "...do I even need to ask?"
"Nope." She opens the trunk and tosses the body in. "Lets go to Wingstop. I'm starving." She sits on the passenger seat. He sighs, before driving back to the mainland. Cass turns the radio on.
Kokomo - Beach Boys
Everybody knows a little place like Kokomo
Now if you wanna go to get away from it all
Go down to Kokomo
Aruba, Jamaica, ooh,
I wanna take you to
Bermuda, Bahama,
come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego
Baby, why don't we go? (Ooh, I wanna take you down to Kokomo)
We'll get there fast
And then we'll take it slow
That's where we wanna go
Way down in Kokomo