In the heart of Brussels, tucked away in an antique shop along Rue des Fripiers, there lay an unassuming doll named Didier. To a casual passerby, Didier looked like a simple relic of a bygone era: porcelain skin, glossy brown eyes, and a faint smile frozen in time. His little sailor suit was weathered, yet he was impeccably preserved, as though someone had cared for him intensely—and recently.
But Didier was no ordinary doll. He had a peculiar and sinister ability. When night fell, Didier would stir, silently observing those who walked past his window, his eyes following them with an unnatural intelligence. For Didier was not satisfied to remain a passive spectator in this shop. Didier could crawl inside people, slipping into their bodies like a poison, seeping into their thoughts, and taking over their will.
No one knew how Didier had come to possess such dark powers, nor did they understand the source of his malice. Some said that Didier had once been a child himself, taken too soon in a gruesome accident, his soul somehow trapped within the porcelain shell by dark magic. Others whispered that the doll had been cursed by a jealous sorcerer who wanted to punish the people of Brussels for some forgotten crime. But whatever Didier’s origins, one thing was certain: anyone who fell under his spell would become his puppet, controlled by his whims.
It all began with Camille.
Camille was a university student who worked part-time at the antique shop to pay her bills. She had always felt uneasy around Didier, though she couldn’t explain why. His glassy eyes seemed to follow her, his faint smile mocking. She had never seen anyone buy the doll, though many had inquired about it, drawn inexplicably to Didier’s presence. Her boss had warned her never to touch Didier, only to dust around him.
But one stormy evening, as Camille closed up the shop, a curious impulse seized her. She approached Didier, her fingers trembling as she reached out to brush a strand of cobweb off his shoulder. And in that instant, she felt a cold, slithering sensation shoot through her arm, climbing up to her chest, until it settled in her head, dulling her thoughts, tightening its grip around her mind.
Camille was no longer alone in her body. Didier had taken root, twisting her desires, her intentions, until she could no longer distinguish between her own thoughts and his.
For days, her friends noticed that something about Camille had changed. Her once-warm smile was now a vacant, eerie smirk, her eyes glassy and cold, like Didier’s. She began drifting around the city at odd hours, standing in the Grand Place at midnight, watching people with a strange intensity, as though sizing them up for some unknown purpose. She would appear in the narrow alleyways of the Marolles district, where the streetlights barely reached, lurking like a shadow.
Then, the murders began.
A man was found in his flat on Rue Antoine Dansaert, his throat slit, eyes wide in terror. Another was discovered in the Parc de Bruxelles, his face contorted in horror, his body covered in bruises as though he had been beaten by an invisible force. Each victim had encountered Camille shortly before their deaths, as she roamed the streets with Didier’s malevolent spirit coiling tighter around her mind, urging her to do his bidding.
One evening, Camille’s best friend, Elise, grew concerned enough to confront her. “Camille, what’s going on with you? You’re… different.” She reached out, only for Camille to turn, her face twisted into a sinister, mocking grin.
“What’s wrong, Elise? Don’t you like me anymore?” The voice was Camille’s, but there was a venomous tone that made Elise shiver. The warmth, the kindness—it was gone.
As Elise stepped back, Camille’s eyes flickered, as if another entity were peering through them, something dark and hungry. Elise could barely breathe, an inexplicable fear clawing at her. Then, in a flash of clarity, she realized who—or what—was controlling her friend.
“It’s Didier, isn’t it?” Elise whispered. “The doll…”
Camille’s grin widened, but she said nothing. Instead, she reached out with unnatural speed, her hands closing around Elise’s neck. Elise struggled, but Camille’s grip was vice-like, unyielding. As she felt her vision darken, Elise’s mind raced, desperation flooding her thoughts.
But Didier was not interested in letting Elise go. She was only a pawn, another witness to his twisted, endless reign of terror.
As the deaths continued, fear gripped Brussels. News outlets speculated about the “Brussels Phantom,” a supposed serial killer haunting the streets, but no one could imagine that a doll was responsible. Some nights, passersby claimed they saw Camille—or rather, Didier—standing at the shop window, gazing out over the city with his glassy, pitiless eyes, waiting for his next target.
Didier’s influence grew stronger, spreading like a poison through Camille. Each person she encountered felt an almost magnetic pull toward her, an urge they couldn’t explain. Those who got too close were marked. They became Didier’s toys, forced to commit unspeakable acts before he left their broken minds and bodies in the dark corners of the city.
And so, Didier continued, always finding new hosts, new puppets to wear like masks, all while keeping his porcelain smile fixed and untouched. He moved from person to person, spreading his curse through the streets of Brussels, leaving a trail of hollowed-out souls and lifeless bodies behind him.
To this day, locals say that if you pass the antique shop on Rue des Fripiers late at night, you might catch a glimpse of him—Didier, the doll with the knowing eyes, waiting for his next victim. They say his smile is a little wider now, as though he has tasted something forbidden, something irresistible. And if you feel his eyes on you, resist the temptation to look closer.
For Didier’s curse is never-ending. He is always searching, always waiting—hungry for the next soul to devour, for the next life to ruin in his quest for vengeance. Write by Axel labiod