This is one of my Upbeat Horror pieces, so trigger warnings for all the usual things - sex-related creepiness, violence, bad magic, monsters and murder. Child harm and murder, too, but only mentioned, not shown.
The Mannequins In The Windows
It takes a lot, around here, to make anyone question the weird behaviour of their neighbours. It’s one of those places… a once-nice area that’s going downhill, with a mix of die-hard respectables holding on, and students, and people looking for low rent, and… well, the usual things. Nobody cares about how things look much, anymore. Nobody questions what flag you put up, or if you’ve got a caravan semi-permanently parked in your driveway, or an art installation made of car parts, or a car doing duty as an art installation.
Around here, weird isn’t noticed much.
But the mannequins were really weird.
It was a house, not apartments or town-houses, with a little yard and all. And it was nicer than most of them, these days. Old, but still looked after. The guy still mows the lawn on the weekends and even hoses down the driveway now and then. He lives alone, which I get – if you can afford to, who wouldn’t? But the mannequins were so weird.
The first one had showed up a few months ago – a young blonde woman. It was a really nice one… vintage, with a carefully modelled and painted face, real eyelashes and hair, the works. Almost uncanny valley quality. I saw it sometimes through the windows, standing in a graceful pose, looking down and off to one side in that demure way they used to use a lot. He changed its clothes pretty regularly, and I wondered a little why. Mr Nine-To-Five didn’t look like the type, somehow, to play dolly dress up in his off hours.
The next one was a kid, a girl. One of those apple-cheeked, twinkly cherubs, with golden curls and inset blue eyes that’s just that tiny bit too cute. It started showing up, too, usually in the same room as the woman, like he was setting up little dioramas every morning before work. Mom watching the kid play, or sitting on the couch with it, or whatever. That’s when I started really paying attention. I had no idea what was going on with this guy, but I could appreciate the quality of the performance, if you know what I mean. The scenarios started to get more elaborate, and I looked in at the windows every time I went past.
