Cursed Doll: Night Keeper

A paulownia box arrives. Inside, wrapped in old silk, is a doll in a lacquered kimono, her face cracked and pale. A folded note under the lid gives her name, Sayo, and asks one thing of you: keep her for seven nights.

Every night after dark, go to her alcove.

THE NIGHTLY CARE
• Strike a match along the side of the box and bring the flame to her candle. The room comes out of the dark around it.
• Set a dish of sugar stars before her.
• Comb her long black hair, slowly, from the roots down. Knots catch under the comb and you feel each one. Pull too hard and she notices.
• Talk to her. She whispers in your language and you choose how to answer.
• Pinch the flame out and say goodnight.

SEVEN NIGHTS, ONE STORY
Sayo remembers the girl who first held her, the temple where she was left, and the keepers who came before you. Every night she tells you a little more, and what you answer is kept in your journal. After the seventh night she stays with you, and there is always something new to hear.

DON'T LEAVE HER ALONE
Skip a night and you will find her head turned toward the door. Skip two and she has climbed down from her shelf. Her hair keeps growing while you are away.

FEATURES
• A photographed antique doll in a real tatami room by candlelight, with her shadow moving on the wall behind her.
• Hair you comb strand by strand, with friction you can feel.
• A whispering voice in nine languages, and a slow, spoken story with choices.
• Synthesized sound: the winter-night hush, the match flaring, the candle, the comb through hair, an old music box.
• An optional evening call at the hour you choose, only when her candle is still cold.
• Journal of every night kept, and one extra memory on nights you light a second candle.
• No account and no server: everything stays on your phone.
• Ads only on the home screen and in the journal, and before a new night's care. The second-candle video is optional and always says what it gives.

Best with headphones, in the dark.

For entertainment purposes. Sayo and her story are fiction.