Izzie Branson is a 12-year-old girl who lives with her older sister Jo and her crazy scientist of a father. Izzie never really got along with her father, mostly since he's always in his laboratory working on God-knows-what.
But on her birthday, her father gives her his newest creation: the "Forever Friend" doll, a toy that can be programmed to learn and remember information about the owner by talking to it, creating a realistic conversation and friendship between the doll and human. He hopes that this prototype, which he's named Charlie, can prove to be successful enough to create an entire line of them.
Izzie is a bit insulted that her father would give her a gift that was more for him than for her, but she decides to test it for him, anyway. Soon, though, she notices strange things occurring. Strange, dangerous things. Things she's being blamed and punished for. She knows she didn't do any of them, but she can't explain who else could have done it.
After all, it's not like the doll did it; that would be ridiculous.
Emmy's life is going just as she'd planned: She's living in her own apartment, dancing every day and is just leaps away from being named her company's next Prima ballerina. And she's only 17. But all of Emmy's plans come to a screeching halt when the FBI shows up at her door to let her know that she's being stalked by a serial killer. Suddenly, the safe, insulated world she created for herself is riddled with violence, fear...and a growing pile of dead bodies. At first Emmy wants nothing more than to forget her chilling new reality - but her admirer isn't finished with her yet, and before she knows it, Emmy's stuck in a nightmare she can't dance her way out of.
Content and/or trigger warning: This story contains detailed scenes of murder, rape, torture, sex and stalking, which may be triggering for some readers.
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