A Human Threat By Treasure Marie Denise Jackson | Chapter 1 |"An Adjustment"

A Human Threat

By Treasure Marie Denise Jackson

Chapter 1  

"An Adjustment"

Lilac Arielle Jackson was an orphan whose 34-year-old Indigenous Peruvian mother, Mimi Jackson, and 45-year-old Indigenous Peruvian father, Jonas Jackson, died from complications with the Toxoplasma gondii parasite.

Toxoplasmosis, caused by the Toxoplasma gondii parasite, is typically harmless for people with healthy immune systems and may not cause noticeable symptoms. However, it can become life-threatening for individuals with weakened immune systems, such as those with HIV, undergoing chemotherapy, or those who have recently received organ transplants.

In such cases, the infection can re-activate and lead to serious complications, including toxoplasmic encephalitis (a brain infection), seizures, and even coma. In rare cases, severe infections can damage the eyes, brain, heart, or lungs, leading to fatal outcomes if not treated.

Pregnant women are also at significant risk, as the infection can cause miscarriage or serious developmental issues in an unborn child if contracted during pregnancy. Therefore, it's crucial for vulnerable groups to take precautions and seek medical advice if exposed.

Lilac had been just an ordinary Peruvian-American orphan, playing at Playtime Co. Now, she was something else—something trapped. Her body stiffened beneath layers of plastic, forced into the rigid form of a Poppy Doll, sealed in her box, and waiting. Waiting for someone—anyone—to take her home.

Playtime Co. Took advantage of her vulnerability – they “played God,” experimented on her and “turned her into a poppy doll.’

The silence of the store that Lilac's box was trapped within was suffocating. Lilac couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, but her mind raced. Fear gnawed at her insides. What if they find out? She’d heard the horror stories whispered among the forgotten toys. A live one—if discovered—was either destroyed or tossed away, like garbage. But the alternative was even worse. What if they never found out?

To the world, she was just an object now, nothing more. She imagined the careless hands of a child ripping open the packaging, eager to play. A tug too hard on her arm. A twist of her neck. She shuddered, feeling phantom pain at the thought of being torn apart, piece by piece, and the worst part? They wouldn’t even know. They’d laugh. They’d smile as her limbs were twisted, snapped, discarded like cheap plastic.

Her biggest terror crawled from the deepest parts of her mind. What if they thought she was nothing? What if she ended up thrown away, incinerated without anyone ever knowing she was alive? Or worse… What if someone found her beautiful? The wrong kind of beautiful.

8-year-old Lilac’s eyes darted around the shadowed store shelves. She couldn’t scream. Couldn’t call for help. Could only hope. Hope that the next person who lifted her box wouldn’t be the one to destroy her.  

In the cold, artificial light, she was just a doll—but inside, her heart pounded with the suffocating weight of terror. And all she could do was wait.

5-year-old Marcus had always hated his mother’s doll collection. The lifeless eyes, frozen smiles—they gave him chills. But today was different. Today, she brought home something special.

They stood in the dimly lit living room, Marcus beside his 36-year-old mother, Mia, as she carefully placed the doll box on the table. The doll inside, motionless, was unnervingly lifelike. Mia smiled wide, her eyes glinting with excitement. "They say this one’s got some kind of smart AI. It can act on its own."  Said MiA, fascinated.

Marcus stared at the plastic packaging, his unease growing. The doll’s eyes seemed to follow him, even though it didn’t move. The silence in the room was thick, the air heavy with something... wrong.  

As Mia peeled back the box, the doll—Lilac—didn’t wait for them to inspect her. The second the plastic seal broke, Lilac moved. She shot up, a blur of motion, and bolted from the box. Marcus and Mia screamed, their terror ringing in the small room.  

"What the heCK?" Marcus gasped, backing away.  

"I'm a real girl!" Lilac’s voice was shrill, frantic, cutting through the air as she scrambled across the room, her small body darting behind furniture.  

Bane, Marcus’s 35-year-old father, rushed in from the kitchen, his face pale, eyes wide. "Is it... is it haunted?" he stammered, his voice trembling. His gaze flicked toward the cupboard door, now slightly ajar, where Lilac had vanished.  

The silence that followed was suffocating. The house seemed too still, too quiet.  

Mia’s hands shook as she took a step back. "This isn't what they said… this isn't—"  Mia said in horror.

From inside the cupboard, they could hear Lilac’s panicked breaths, quick and shallow. She wasn’t just a doll. She wasn’t just a toy.  

She was alive.

But all they could think was... What else could she do?

Lilac clung to the cupboard door, her tiny hands trembling as she held it shut. Bane yanked at the handle, his face pale, but no matter how hard he pulled, the door wouldn’t budge. Inside, Lilac screamed, "No, no, no!"  

Bane’s voice wavered as he shouted, "Are you haunted?"  

Lilac’s response was frantic, almost desperate. "No, no, no! Go away!"  

Bane stepped back, bewildered. "The heck?"  

Mia, still shaken, whispered, "Is it their AI? They say the AI is scarily lifelike."  

The room fell into an eerie silence, the air thick with fear as they stared at the cupboard. Something wasn’t right, and they all knew it.

The doll hid in the cupboard until the police removed the doll, no one had their guns out and the police were shocked to see this living doll cowering in the corner.

Lilac did not utter a single word, and just looked at them. Her eyes creepily darted across the police officers.

They took the doll to the station, assuming it was haunted and asked it a lot of questions.

They asked: “When did you die?” And she said “Recently in a lab, Then they resurrected me and put me in this body.”

They asked: “Who are they?”

Lilac Arielle Jackson said: “I can't tell you or I'll get in trouble.” And answered no more questions due to her conditioning.

Lilac Arielle Jackson was listed as a homicide and child abuse case that was still ongoing due to her not saying anything, with answers like “I can't tell.” “Telling is evil.” “They'll kill my friends.” “I'm a toy.” “I don't know.” Or no words.

They asked for her name and she answered accordingly. They searched her records and found that she died in Playtime Co’s orphanage. Something wasn't right.

One adult cop, a 47-year-old Mexican woman named Cecilia, saw the child as whitewashed since before, she was Peruvian, and now, she was in the body of a doll meant to be white, to act as a white girl, and to pretend that her culture was that of a Caucasian child to be played with as a Caucasian doll.

Playtime Co. was investigated, so a lot of places were hidden from the Police. However, Playcare couldn’t be hidden as the child not only spoke of it, but potential adoptive parents would speak of it.

Lilac Arielle Jackson got taken to a 27-year-old police officer named Horace’s home and he would keep her locked away in his room all day in fear of her, so she ran away by climbing out the window.

Lilac Arielle Jackson found a cool key she could use to unlock the lock on the window.

Lilac Arielle Jackson snuck some new steampunk clothes for herself to compliment the golden eye contacts she decided to utilize which was gifted to her by her Playtime Co. Caretaker. She even got a clockwork hat!

Most poppy dolls have blue eyes, and thus, she assumed Playtime Co. Would take her eye contacts away or force her to leave them behind and give her blue ones when she was being shipped to the store!

So, She hid her golden eye contacts in her sleeves when they weren't looking as they were trying to ship her off because she wanted to keep them since they looked so cool!

After escaping Horace, Lilac Arielle Jackson traversed through the forest! Lilac Arielle Jackson knew it'd be a bad idea to nest in a stranger’s home, so she broke into a Walmart store and stole a tent.

After doing so, being an 8-year-old, Lilac Arielle Jackson stole 5 boxes of Oreos and six bottles of apple juice for nutritional survival.

Lilac Arielle Jackson went into the forest and began to explore, but found scary monsters afoot. So, Lilac set up her tent & hid in it with her Oreos and apple juice until 20 tiny huggy wuggies reared their diabolical little demon heads at the edges of her tent, so she bolted away and threw the packets of Oreos and Apple juice at them so they'll eat it and not her, with their little demonic urchiny selves.

Lilac Arielle Jackson was very vulnerable & scared. Neither her mommy nor her Mexican caretaker, Maria Santos, at playcare were there to protect her.

So, she kept running & hiding as the monsters closed in, all of which were abandoned children in the body of dolls. Malformed and weakened, they were hungry and feasting on the Oreos and apple juice as they were mere children.

Lilac ran to a home where a Peruvian immigrant child named Miracle lived. Miracle saw her crying & let her in, having another poppy doll she named Diamond.

Miracle & her family ended up taking in the famed Poppy doll from the news. Miracle’s parents fed her, even though she did not need to eat anymore, unbeknownst to Lilac. Miracle’s parents even clothed her, and treated her like a daughter & sibling.

Lilac found this confusing, but also quite amazing…

To be continued…