(18+) Someone in the dark

Ch. 5: The attic

It took a whole terrifying minute before I could loosen my tongue from the roof of my mouth.

"H-hello, there," I stuttered, relieved that my mouth carried out my words again. "What are you doing up here all by yourself?"

"Have you seen Pat?"

The girl's voice was thin and hoarse from sobbing for lord knows how long. But even though my heart ached for her, she scared me shitless.

"Uhm... Who's Pat? Are you alright? Why are you crying?"

I forced myself to relax, not to scare her more than she already was, and leaned down with my hands on my knees to get to eye-level with the little girl.

"I'm looking for Pat. I lost him out of sight, and now he's gone."

"You look cold. You should wear something else than that dress. It's dir... I mean... Who's your parents? Where are they?"

But the girl ignored me. It was almost like she didn't hear what I said.

"Did you see him downstairs?"

"I didn't see anyone downstairs. Who are you talking about? A little girl like you should be in bed at this hour. Where is your room? Maybe I can follow you downstairs and get you some warm milk. Then we can find your room, and I can tuck you in. Would you like that?"

Once again, she ignored me and kept ranting about this person named Pat. I'd never heard of anyone else here but Mr. Jackson, Leo, and Mrs. Lee. And Samuel on the creepy portrait, of course, but he was probably dead years ago.

"I want Pat. I need to find him. He's my only friend."

"Who's Pat? Is Pat a boy?"

"I lost him. Have you seen him?" she ranted with a helpless, pleading voice. I was still internally freaking out, but a part of me wanted to hug her to make her feel better.

"I can help you look for Pat tomorrow, sweetie. I promise. First thing tomorrow morning," I said eventually, after realizing she wouldn't listen.

"Pinky promise?"

"Pinky promise," I nodded and smiled.

"Then I will open up for you."

"Open what?" I asked, confused. But the girl ran away with a faint smile and disappeared in between the rows of clothes.

"Hey, where did you go?"

I heard her giggle.

"Kids..." I mumbled. She was probably playing hide and seek when she should have been in bed. So should I.

"Hello? Little girl? What's your name?"

She didn't giggle anymore. Instead, there was a bone crushing silence that scared me more than being up here in the middle of the night.

"Little girl? You should go to your parents. Anyway, I'm going back to downstairs to sleep now. And you should too, because..."

I choked on my spit when the kid's stroller came rolling from the other side than where the girl disappeared. It went eerily slow, and in a sleek curve, just like last time, only the angle was different. But that wasn't the scary part. It was the doll.

Instead of facing forward like she was before, she'd turned her head and stared right at me with the black holes that should have been eyes. The only thing scarier would be that she actually had eyes. Or so I thought, until I saw her head started moving. The further into the curve the stroller came, the more she twisted her head, until it was turned completely backwards.