Click
She didn't look up at me, nor did she acknowledge my presence. She leaned back on a wall quite happily sliding the knife into a teddy bears chest. All the while, a hum swirling around what felt like not the room, but my head. It was as if it'd bypassed the ears and surrounded the brain. My legs felt cold, and I felt paralyzed on the spot The knife twisted in her hand and I watched the bears head fall to the floor. My eyes darted back to her face, which now held an expression of wide eyed surprised, like a child who's just found out what something does. It was then she looked up at me, her head snapping up with an audible click. Fuck. That. I span and bolted back through the doorway I'd come in, hearing the click of heels behind me moving faster. Questions ran through my mind, how had she managed to be in the room before me? What the fuck was wrong with her? Why did this.. room... look different? I slowed my steps and realized this was not the path I had taken to get to the room she'd been in. This wasn't the same swimming baths but a corridor. I looked behind me to try and spot if I'd taken a turn only to twist my head back after seeing her face. I smacked my bulk into a door to the side, finding a flight of stairs I rushed down. As I hit the end of the steps, I saw before me a dead end. Where she already was.
The humming was there once more and so was the goddamn bear. I took a step backwards but she didn't rise. She didn't come towards me. She just sat and tilted her head very, very slowly, before a click echoed through the humming. Then she smiled. I stepped back once more only to feel my back on the door I'd come through. If I hadn't been trying to stare the creepy manikin girl down, I might have remembered that I hadn't come through a door, just down stairs. My hands found the door knob and I turned it with myself, pushing through once more only to see her once more. Sitting on the stairs.
She was close enough now that I could see her eyes and after doing so, I screamed. I felt my voice fuse with my panic and my fear as the air in my lungs escaped, getting away whilst it could. She moved her head in the same way as before but this time her hand followed the same movement, digging the knife into the stairs. I noticed the lack of a bear this time, alongside the lack of humming. It seemed to have been replaced by a slight giggling in the back of my head. I turned and glanced behind me to see the room was the same, but she was definitely gone. Definitely in front of me now. Leaving me only one exit, the window. I went for it. I turned and ran as I heard her rise and click behind me. I stepped up and leaped towards the window. I had what felt like fire cut and dig into my skin as the glass shattered. The force of hitting it turning my forearms red with pain. I fell a short way, landing on the floor with a thump before scrambling to my feet and running forwards, swiping blood that trickled from my brow away from my eyes. Enough to see the wall in front of me. I slammed my fist into it as I cursed in both pain and anger. I heard more clicks behind me as I turned to see no window, no glass, but a doorway. I watched her come into the room. I saw her smile. I was gone before I hit the floor.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay, so I was reading through some Changeling the Lost stories and decided to write one. It kind of just turned into a horror story half way through. I was okay with it. It was an idea that came to mind for a story and I recalled a friends photoshoot that I felt would fit. The Manikin / Creepy Doll is Christie, who's face/bodypainting page you can check out by clicking her name. The photography was done by Dan Sanchez and I must thank Christie for sending me these pictures despite giving her no context as to why I wanted them.