All Dolled Up!

Charlotte

The sun came down, and the moon rose yet again, continuing the same dance they had since the beginning of the world.

I took a better look out of the window, out into the yard where I saw that the man's car was still there right now. I had heard it come back early in the morning, which had dashed my hopes that he had learned his lesson.

I sighed.

I had just jammed a knife next to his head - any sane person in his place would've gotten up and left, no? What was wrong with him?

No matter- I had encountered a few people who were very reluctant to leave before. I had dealt with all of them, eventually driving them to their breaking points without fail.

The first thing I noticed while going downstairs was that there was a strange green light wandering across the room. It was hardly bigger than a tiny dot, but it had definitely not been there before, and it was extremely noticeable in the darkness most of the house was shrouded in.

I halted- to see that it was moving in a rhythmic pattern. I approached its source to see a small object with a lens moving about. The light was coming from a spot above the lens.

Ah- I had heard of those things. Cameras.

The house was old- even older than I was, as a matter of fact. And while I knew that technology had advanced significantly since my day, something like this really looked quite alien, and as I turned around I saw a set of screens set up in the kitchen.

After a while I figured that this was some kind of a security system. So the man thought an intruder had gotten into the house?

Well, he wasn't wrong, but what he hadn't realized was that the only real intruder here was him.

That being said, I would not mind having one of these set up in my own room. That way I could keep track of things all around the house even during daylight hours. I had heard that the Roman Emperor Domitian used mirrors in his palace so he could see everything going around him even from his palace, but this was way better than that.

But that was just a fanciful dream - for now, I had to get rid of all traces of my existence. It was fine enough for people to think that there was a doll walking around their house possessed by an evil spirit - but those people would never ever be believed anyway, so it was not a problem. Anyone spouting such nonsense would no doubt be sent to a lunatic asylum.

It would be a problem if there was actual video evidence of it, however. I didn't know how far along film rolls had come in however long it had been, but I had to treat this seriously.

This presented a new problem of course, given that I had no idea how to disable the machine. I didn't know how it worked, and I didn't exactly have someone I could ask about it.

After not getting anywhere for about five minutes and cursing my lack of knowledge- I finally settled for the one thing that I knew I could definitely do if I couldn't sabotage it somehow- destroying it.

The screen was connected by wires to a large box, which I assumed was the control center for the device. I ripped the cords out and was able to slightly shift the box - once again cursing the lack of strength in this body. I didn't know how exactly it was that this body even had the strength that it did given I had no sinew or bone- but I wasn't about to complain given how much harder it would be to do things if I was even weaker.

I dragged the box to a bathroom on the other side of the house, and then turned the faucet on. I sincerely hoped that this... whatever it was, was not waterproof. Else I could maybe drag it upstairs and drop it off of the roof, but I would have to carry it up the stairs then, a prospect which did not endear itself to me in the slightest. Not only would that take a huge amount of effort, but there was a real possibility that I would drop it on the way up, waking up that man.

The tap groaned and cried as I turned the faucet on- before belching out a bunch of muddy water. I recoiled in disgust - this was what happened when you let a house decay, I guessed, but thankfully the water cleared soon enough. As it was, it was not as if I was trying to have a bath in the water, and it being filthy did not impact what I was trying to do in any way.

I dropped the box in the water and watched with satisfaction as it sunk to the bottom.

And that would've been it - until I heard it. The creak of a door.

The man was getting up, and I had no desire to be discovered. I rushed out of the bathroom and into a small nook near it that very few people would find on their own, which was a perfect hiding spot for me. Mother had never been able to find me when I had hid there all those decades ago, when I was a child, and it would certainly serve me well now.

Charlie

As could be expected, I woke up in the middle of the night. This was one reason I had always hated night shifts when starting out - my internal clock being clocked by the odd timings. I would end up eating and drinking at all the wrong times - and my waistline would usually end up expanding as a result.

I would've just tossed and turned in bed until I fell asleep when I heard something... odd. Was that the sound of running water? Granted, I had heard some weird sounds every since I had moved into this house, usually when the wind blew, so I just assumed that they were 'old house' noises that people talked about.

But this was different, like I had really left a tap on somewhere. I strained my ears- no, I definitely was not just imagining it, but it sounded too far away for it to be from the nearby kitchen or bathroom that I used.

I walked out searching for where the noise was coming from - unlike the other abnormal sounds I'd heard, this one did not go away with time.

Something far more alarming caught my eye - the control box for the security system I had brought was gone! The screens were all there now showing nothing but black, and there was no sight of the box itself.

Panic began to grip me - how was this possible? The very thing that I had installed to prevent things from being stolen, had been stolen!

There was definitely some irony to that, something that I did not appreciate at all as I noticed that the sound of running water was getting louder.

I wandered off towards the other end of the house to find the source of the noise - and I also discovered what had happened to the control console. I found myself in another bathroom that I wasn't using, there was a bathtub and the tap was running so that the water was now overflowing and drenching the floor, with the console at the bottom.

I shut it off immediately and fished the console out while trying not to slip on the wet floor - it was absolutely soaked!

And no, it was not waterproof. I had been thinking of having the cameras linked up to my phone so I could keep the footage there, but had been too busy during the day and decided I would do it tomorrow. In other words, the footage was not stored on anything except for the main console.

Speaking of my phone - it was time to dial 911 and get the police involved at this point. I didn't care how crazy I would sound.

Long story short, nothing happened even after calling them. I was expecting that, but it was still disappointing.

The police searched the house twice but found no one - and there were no signs of forced entry. I couldn't retrieve any data from the destroyed console without taking it to some kind of specialist (and I wasn't sure where I would find a shop like that in this small town), and as such, there were no clues to follow up on at all.

Calling the police, while it didn't help me by much, did have an unforeseen negative effect as one of them saw my work vest lying on my table.

"Ah, so you work there?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah."

"Do you know Matt by any chance? He's my cousin!"

"Um, yeah I do..." If this guy had loose lips, then this story would spread all over time, and most worryingly, at work. This was a small town, and news tended to travel fast and rumors even faster. I did not want that, but there wasn't exactly a way that I could undo what I had just done.

In their defense, the policemen looked disappointed that they couldn't really help me, but they did suggest that I should get a gun or a dog- preferably both, and that I should call again if there was another sign of a break-in.