The Unknown

Lurking in the distance was an unknown figure that walked into the field. It was an inky night sky, dark as a blackboard. The path led to a clearing and Vanessa shined the torch across the field. The howling wind seemed endless tonight. The mysterious man walked slowly across the field, holding a baby. It’s gleaming white eyes and bright blonde hair, shined across the dark field. Vanessa soon realized it wasn’t a baby, it was a baby doll.

“First thing tomorrow,” the stranger whispered, as he walked past the lamp posts. He soon arrived at a strange looking, patterned area. When he reached the middle of it, he made the ground shake. It shook unpleasantly, with a loud rumble. Giant blocks of dirt and stone burst out of the ground and he disappeared.

Vanessa woke up from a long sleep and her bed was in a crumpled heap of hay. Was it all a dream? She rubbed her eyes and stood up. Her surroundings were blank for a second and she felt as if she was in the middle of the whole universe. There… the stranger stood. He looked very old; wrinkles covered his face, he had very thick, silver eyebrows and a shining silver beard. He was wearing a long dark cloak with a hood drawn up and he was carrying a baby. She had seen that baby somewhere… Where was she? “First thing tomorrow...” She had reminded herself that she had seen the stranger come closer before and she knew then that it was a doll.

“What do I do? What should I do?” Vanessa said. The man marched slowly, cautiously, which calmed Vanessa down a bit. He walked along the path set by the disguised torches, not to be seen, by the sun. It was the moment he had been waiting for for a long time. He paused before he entered the strange stone landing. Did he really want to do this? He approached the center. It created a shadow in the blank circle in the middle. The wind stopped blowing. Even the dust on the ground stopped giving out whooshing noises. The loud silence pressed Vanessa away and she shaked, wanting to go home. Without warning, the ground shook. The man didn’t show any sign of surprise; it was almost as though he knew what was about to happen. The dusty ground rumbled, shaking.

“Come forward,” the man said, sounding like a demand. Taking a deep breath, Vanessa stepped forward. A strange tingling sensation erupted inside her, starting from her feet and ending in her head. She shivered, staring around, like she was searching for something.

“Thud!” the man disappeared. He had left the doll behind. It was Vanessa and the doll. She didn’t know what to be scared of. A man disappearing out of nowhere and leaving it’s toy doll behind. That was all it was, right?

“Swoosh… Whoosh…,” the wind was blowing. It was like, everything was coming back to life again.

‘Let’s all imagine it being a dream,’ Vanessa said, crossing her fingers behind her back. A silence, too loud to ignore. The only light beside the lamp posts was the sun, bright and yellow. The doll… It was standing there in the distance, watching Vanessa. Waiting for her to make her next move. You could see the sun beaming light right at the doll, flickering it’s shadow. Vanessa had reminded herself that the figure was clearly not human; its eyes were shiny white colour, invisible, because of the sun. At night, it glowed like when you’re looking directly at a lamp. Its pair of eyes almost seemed to be pouring out light, almost invisible with it’s skin color. The doll walked toward Vanessa.

‘Oh no!’ she thought, tapping her feet and grasping her fingers. She could hear the ticking sounds on her watch. Tik tok… Tik tok… She could hear strange beeping sounds, tickling her whole body. Beep… Beep…

Within minutes, the day was slowly setting and darkness had begun. The wind was blowing gently and an eerie feeling had settled in. In the distance a noise could be heard amongst the lightly howling breeze. The cicadas began to chirp loudly, perhaps to warn that danger is coming.

The doll turned right, that made Vanessa take a slow deep breath.

“Mary,” someone said and it was silent. Vanessa shivered in the cold. She was too cold to be sweating. The doll hadn’t moved since… “Mary,” the voice tingled inside of Vanessa’s mind.

‘Mary… Mary… Mary…,’ It was the doll. Vanessa had bumps on her skin, wherever she touched. Is it because she’s cold? Is it because a doll is talking? Vanessa walked a few steps back and stood there. She didn’t know why she was standing there, not running away. She imagined herself being chased by a doll. The doll turned back, facing Vanessa, a few feet away. The doll had two blonde pigtails, tangling from her head, camouflage with it’s skin.

“Mar---y---,” Vanessa said, too scared to call it by its name. If it was her brother, he would have definitely run away, by now. Too scared of the thought of being chased by, she closed her eyes.

It was about time. The doll moved forward to the field with pumpkins.

‘This is a great time I can run away!’ Vaness thought. ‘What if there’s an opening portal or this path doesn’t end?’ ‘This is a dream…,’ she thought and shakked her body as hard as she could.

“Come with me…,” someone said. She looked around. Nobody… Vanessa and the doll. It was the doll. Too scared to be chased or killed, she took a step. One step at a time. She put her foot forward, lifted her foot to step backward, but kept going. The doll. It had it’s back, facing the other side. One step… Two steps… One step… Two steps… The doll. It was quiet. It waited. It was patiently waiting.

It was a pumpkin yard. Vanessa followed the doll. It is the one time of the year pumpkins come out. Halloween. The doll walked and walked. Following the path. It’s little legs alternated lifting and putting down. One to another.

“Kraa! Kraa!” Vanessa heard a bunch of black crows. She lifted her head and looked up. She saw an enormous scarecrow. Too frightened and surprised to scream, she took a deep breath. The doll was right in front of her.

‘Isn’t it going to bring up it’s knife?’ she thought, thinking of those horror movies. Her mind couldn’t stop racing. Above her was a mannequin. It wore a scuffy, old, checkered top and baggy pants. It was hung up in the middle of the dark field.

“Come play with me…,” said, someone in front of Vanessa. Vanessa felt bumps on her arms and heard laughter, swirling in her mind. Vanessa walked forward. She squinted both of her eyes and took a step. Swoosh… the wind blew again. She took a deep breath. She remembered. Last year, she went to a pumpkin yard to carve pumpkins with her family.

“Hahahaha!!!” Mike collapsed to the floor, holding his stomach. It was a very jolly Christmas so far.

“Happy Birthday to you… Happy birthday, dear Vanessa… Happy birthday to you!” They all sang. December 25th. They had just come back from some hard work of carving pumpkins and Vanessa were blowing the candles off her birthday cake.

3 months later…

“BREAKING NEWS… 300 military soldiers were killed in the Ansel War… Passing it too…,” the TV spoke. Vanessa inhaled, her heart pumping two times as much blood than usual.

“Hello, my name is Arash Figaro and I am the captain’s assistant… Yes, our captain, Mike Hensler, sadly passed away trying to save the others. Yes, that was very brave of him... We’ll always honor him… and…” the news… it just kept going. Her blood had stopped. Her body was shutting down. Her body had paused. She stopped breathing for a second and the ground was shaking. Mike Hensler… her mouth kept repeating. She wanted to call Ms. Hensler… her mom… Old enough to know what was going on, she lay down on the sofa. She wished she was three years old, right now. Too young to know what was going on. She grit her teeth, turned away from the TV screen, and slowly her eyes… closed.

She looked at the crows on top of the scarecrow and hunched her shoulders down. She imagined… what her 4 year old self would have done, if she met a creepy doll in the middle of an empty field.

“It’s time to go to school!” mom said.

“I’m getting ready!” Vanessa said, looking in the mirror. She had gotten in the habit of going to school early in the morning. She had started public school, after she decided to take a break from homeschool. She hadn’t had many friends at school. This was before the war had started. Vanessa… She had lost her one best friend.

Well… She had gotten used to it. And now she was standing in the middle of a pumpkin yard, following a doll, through the dark. The big winter squashes were all over the yard. Deep yellow to orange. It was like when she saw something about a crazy woman decorating her front yard with jack-o’-lanterns, on the news. Getting into the halloween spirit, she remembered.

She had been walking on a curved pathway with the doll. And why is she not running away? She’s too scared the doll will chase her to the gateway or bring it’s sharp knife out of it’s pocket.

The day got darker and darker. The silence got louder and louder. Vanessa had too many thoughts on her mind and kept guiding through.

“Ma---r--y…,” Vanessa said. She had daydreamed for two seconds and the doll had vanished. Vanished into thin air. She was still trembling. Still scared of the doll. Frightened, she turned around. Just in case, I was joking around with her. It had really appeared out of nowhere and suddenly disappeared into nowhere. She felt as if the doll was playing hide and seek with her but it wasn’t funny or fun. The clouds had gotten dark blue and looked like lightning was going to strike.

“Mary?” Vanessa called out into the darkness, still scared to call it by its name. “Mary?” she said, repeating her words. ‘Is this the time? Should I run away?’ she thought and thought again. ‘Should I?’ she never really thought about this. Why was she even in this place? Is this all a dream? She pinched herself and felt the pain. Yes, it definitely wasn’t a dream, unless you could feel physical pain when you’re dreaming. She thought again. ‘I should run away?’ and she asked herself. She scratched her head, thought again and again, and again. Even after a few minutes had passed, tik tok… tik tok… her watch ticked and toked. She still didn’t know what to do. ‘How long I’m I going to stay here?’ she thought and made up her mind. She wondered if the doll was playing with her or if it was invisible to her. Vanessa grabbed her hands, gripped them, felt cold shivers inside her body, and lifted her feet. Too scared something would happen, she moved rapidly on her feet. She felt like those marathon runners and ran. Ran as fast as she could. The wind blew, blew right into her face. ‘I can do it!’ she thought and ran. Ran… Ran… And ran… She wondered. Where the doll was. Too scared, she couldn’t turn around. She ran… and ran… She was running on grass, now. The greenness is so large, she can’t tell the difference between anything in her vision. She kept running. The only one secret, she doesn’t know… Blonde hair… the color of the hair color, blonde, is on her black shirt. What can it be? Well, even if she knew, she would be too afraid and panicked to look back. Vanessa kept running. Neverending pathway?

“Crunch… Crunch…,” the ground shoke. It shook unpleasantly, with a loud rumble. Giant blocks of dirt and stone burst out of the ground. Someone came out from the pile of rocks. He had a silver beard and a black cloak. The doll… It turned around from a distance, yet on the back of the girl’s back. The hooded stranger looked up and drew his lips, grinning from ear to ear.

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