Speak For Me, page 11
Nomi stood onstage under the blinding spotlight.
She could feel hundreds of pairs of eyes staring at her from the audience. Could feel their expectation.
Just as she could feel the fear rising inside herself as she waited for the song to start.
She knew there were other Emmy dolls out there. She knew there was a good chance Alice hadn’t actually gone, that the spirit or glitch that had inhabited her doll had just moved somewhere else. But she would face that when it came, if it came. There was no use worrying about something that hadn’t happened.
Just as she knew the fear inside herself was okay. It was okay to feel afraid about standing up for herself, it was okay to have stage fright. What was important was not letting that get the better of her. She may have lost Jenna, but she had gained a new confidence in herself, as well as a new—real—friend in Simone.
She wasn’t going to run away anymore.
She wasn’t going to let anyone else dictate her life.
It was her turn to shine.
The music started. The song she loved. The song she had chosen.
She cleared her throat and sang.
If you had told me when I was a kid that one day my Grown-Up Job would be writing scary books about possessed dolls, I would have said you were being ridiculous. And then promptly hidden in my bedroom. But here I am, writing those very books, and even though I haven’t had nightmares about dolls for quite some time, they still scare me.
Which is why I want to thank the entire Scholastic team for giving me the chance to write this creepy tale of dolls and technology, that strange line where the future and the fears from my past intersect. It’s helped me face my own fears, in a weird sort of way.
My eternal thanks goes to David Levithan, for his editorial prowess and his amazing ability to nod enthusiastically when I pitch him ideas about demonic toys and cursed artifacts. And to Jana Haussmann and the entire Fairs team, for helping me convince a brand-new generation of readers that dolls are absolutely terrifying, and that there are things that go bump in the night.
My thanks, as well, to my parents for supporting my dreams and letting me find my own voice.
Like Nomi, I spent a lot of my childhood afraid to speak or stand up for myself. It takes time to find that strength. Especially when you’re used to feeling scared or small. Just know that your voice needs to be heard. Even if it feels frightening.
The scariest thing of all is silence.
K.R. Alexander is the pseudonym for author Alex R. Kahler.
As K.R., he writes thrilling, chilling books for adventurous young readers. As Alex—his actual first name—he writes fantasy novels for adults and teens. In both cases, he loves writing fiction drawn from true life experiences.
Alex has traveled the world collecting strange and fascinating tales, from the misty moors of Scotland to the humid jungles of Hawaii. He is always on the move, as he believes there is much more to life than what meets the eye. As of this writing, Seattle is currently home.
K.R.’s other books include The Collector, The Collected, The Fear Zone, The Fear Zone 2, The Undrowned, Vacancy, Escape, and the books in the Scare Me series. You can contact him at cursedlibrary.com.
Copyright © 2022 by Alex R. Kahler writing as K. R. Alexander
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
First edition, October 2022
Cover design by Baily Crawford
Cover art © 2022 by Nina Goffi
Cover photos © Shutterstock.com
e-ISBN 978-1-338-80738-7
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
K. R. Alexander, Speak For Me
