His oppression

Hysteria

Chapter Two: HYSTERIA

No matter how hard you exhaust yourself to persuade me into thinking I left the damn thing on top of the bed, sitting like a person on a single pillow in the middle of it, there was no way in hell I would believe you. I know I’m quite forgetful most of the time but that’s just when I’m too worn out from doing side jobs to earn a few bucks for my daily needs but I wasn’t right now. It was the weekend, I’m quite relaxed.

Now it does look like it's looking straight at me and at this point, I had dropped my food on the floor. But my body, overwhelmed from the fear, lost its function and went into a paralysed state. It was true what they say, when you’re in utter shock, you either come into your senses quickly and hit the thing that had scared the s**t out of you, or you just stand there and wait for your impending doom.

For me, it was the latter part.

I’m quite the brave girl but when it’s something out of the ordinary, I can assure you the girl you knew would disappear in seconds.

My eyes widened more when the doll’s head moved by itself, tilting to the other side. It was as if it was teasing me or something. My bladder was suddenly full and I had a strong urge to pee.

“W-what the hell…”

The moment the doll fell limp and was now lying on the pillow, I, in luck, got my senses back and I dashed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind me as I did so. I stumbled down the stairs in a hurry to get away from the cursed thing, grabbing the keys and phone from where I previously put them down. And before I knew it, I was in my car, attempting to get the gear rolling.

But when I took a glimpse at the gas, I screamed in frustration. Empty. What a lucky day for Aria!

Swallowing the lump from my throat, I hesitantly took a peek at my apartment’s window and hastily panicked when I saw a silhouette of a man looking down from where I was. The blinds were closed and I couldn’t even see their features but I’m not on drugs, I f*****g swear on my life.

My hands were trembling when I finally caught on that I have to call the police or anyone to help me in this case. I wasn’t a very sociable person and I only had a few contacts in my list, including the manager and his assistant. I don’t like them so I was left with no choice but to really call the emergency hotline.

‘911, what’s your emergency?’

“I-I’m in my car right now, there’s a man in my apartment! Please send help!”

‘Okay, ma’am. What’s your location?’

Even giving out where I was, I was stuttering.

‘I’ve dispatched officers that are nearest in your area. They’ll arrive in a few minutes. But until then, stay with me on the call.’

“O-okay, j-just please hurry.”

‘Calm down, ma’am. Help is on the way. Tell me what the man is doing there if you can see from where you’re at.’

“I don’t know! He’s just standing there like a lunatic!”

Okay, okay. I’m a rational person, I listen to what people say, but calming myself down was proving to be more of a difficult task than I thought. If I hadn’t come out of my apartment sooner, who knows what I’ll get myself into. But now that I’m in a more sensible state of mind, I thought of how a man got into my apartment in the first place.

Was he the one who moved the doll? I could tell it was a man from first sight but I could be in the wrong too. But the doll changed positions right in front of my eyes or was I just really tripping? Was the man the owner of the doll and was there to take it back?

I shouldn’t have gotten that doll home.

There were a lot of questions that needed to be answered in my mind but I couldn’t bring myself to know unless I had some help from someone- just anyone that could give me an explanation I’ll believe or just a reasonable one for this matter.

Just like that the operator stated, the police came to the scene after a few dreadful minutes. I got out of the car and approached them, the phone still in my hand. I took another peep at my window and saw the shadow move, walking out of sight and before I could point it out, it had already banished.

“There’s a man in my apartment! I don’t know how he got in there!” I stretched out my hand, pointing furiously at my floor.

“Calm down, ma’am. We’ll take a look inside, stay here. Or would you like to come with us?”

That got me to pause for a moment before nodding my head. I, sometimes, trust the police but I still got my valuable things in there. I’m not just going to stand here and do nothing.

Nodding my head, I followed their suit when led the way toward the building complex. I found myself looking at my window, still, wanting to believe that I was just really tired and I’m seeing things. The police officers would tell me what’s going on and I wouldn’t hesitate to accept their statement. It would bring me back down to earth- to reality and I would be glad.

Once we got to my apartment, the lights were flickering. That I can fully explain. I told you it was a crummy place to live in but I had no money to afford a better apartment so the lights flickering wasn’t something to make a big deal out of. I trailed off after an officer who was going to my room and what we found there made me grip the man’s uniform from behind.

The doll was now on the floor.

“As soon as I got that doll weird things happened.” I pointed out, hiding behind the officer’s back. “It’s… moving.”

What I was saying sounded like utter insanity to the man, possibly.

The officer bravely reached for the doll and took a good look at it. “Where did you get this from?”

“I bought a storage space, it was inside. The handler said I could take the things that were there since the owner had not come back for them in a few years now.”

He nodded his head and turned his body around to look at me, passing the doll to me so I shook my head, not wanting anything to do with that doll.

My eyes wandered over to my closet. A man couldn’t fit in there, not even I could fit my whole body in there. You have to be a child in order to be able to hide in the cramped space. Still a good thought, though. Before I could open my mouth to say this, the other officers had already done their part of the search and sauntered over to where we were.

“We didn’t find anyone here, ma’am.”

“I swear I’m not crazy! There was a man here! I saw his shadow here!” I looked over to my window and pointed at the exact place where I saw the man. “He walked away!”

“We’ll have to go through the security cameras in and out of the building. He might have escaped before we got here.” the woman responded, looking around.

I felt that they didn’t even give any effort to find any clues. But I ought to say the doll was the main evidence.

“Can’t you trace any DNA there, on the doll? The man might have left fingerprints, traces or whatever you call it.” I suggested, looking back at the doll.

There was that eerie feeling again.

“We’ll get right on that. We’ll be keeping the--”

“Take it! I don’t care! Just keep that doll away from me.” I hugged myself for comfort.

There was a slight cold breeze that came by that lasted for a brief second. That alone made the hair on my body stand up.

The officers conversed about the issue as I was warily looking glancing around my room if there’d be other marks that another person was just in here but my room was intact. It was just the doll that was out of place.

“We’ll have someone to look after you, ma’am.” finally their attention was back on me.

“Am I staying here?”

“If you’d like?” the woman smiled at me, reassuringly. “We can find you a place to stay.”

And I’m going to pay for that? “I-I think I’m good here. Thank you, officers.”

They nodded their heads to agree with me. Not a moment had passed, they exited my apartment with that wrecked doll.

I just don’t want to think about it anymore. It left the frame of my mind and physical condition weary. All I could ever want right now, my top priority, is to get some rest. I’m left quite disappointed though. I would have been able to take in some cash from the doll and it would be removed from my hands as soon as someone finds it interesting.

But for the time being, I’m not going to take custody of a probably haunted toy. It may or may not ruin my life but it would unquestionably take a toll on me to be keeping a thing like that. If I panicked the moment the doll moved all alone, called the police on it and then continuing to have it here would make me lose the remaining sanity I have left. If it wasn’t haunted and had been owned by that man, then I’m not risking my life for money.

It depends on the situation, though.

Heaving a sharp breath in my system, I let it all out in a continuous motion as my eyes were getting droopy by the minute. What occurred this very day was the most frightful yet exciting thing in my entire life that was the very sole reason why my energy is drained from my well-being. I have never felt this tired even after going over someone’s shift when they weren’t capable of going to work.

But don’t take it the wrong way, I’m still cautious of my surroundings when I really witnessed a man here. If it was a ghost that’s f*****g with me, then s**t, I would need find another cheap apartment to live in. Or just hire someone to cleanse this room even if I don’t believe in those. I have my fair share of horror movies that I’ve learnt from.

Was it wise that I have called the cops right away?

Sighing heavily, I went toward my closet and pulled out something I found comfy and putting them on. The feeling when I saw the doll had never left me though and I’m afraid of what I’ve gotten myself into.

These conclusions just keep coming up in my head and I just want to put everything at rest for the night. I don’t need this, I have work tomorrow.