Nightscape

Dolls

As your parents tuck you in for the night. They kiss you good night. And then they proceed to close the door and head downstairs. As you lay your head on your pillow, you begin to feel your eyes get heavier and heavier. You close your eyes. And soon, you drift further and further to sleep.

But then, in the distance, you hear a faint but clear sound of chatter and a little bit of laughter. it's your parents, you can see them downstairs, drinking, laughing, just having a good time. You see your dad holding a bottle and two glasses, as they head outside to the pool. Your dad pops the bottle open and celebrate. Immediately, your mom shushes him to remind him that you're sleeping. But how is that though? When you're standing right there next to them.

You now realize that this whole time they haven't even noticed your presence. You try and talk to them but to no avail, it's like you're not even there. Your dad pours your mom a glass and one for him as well. As they cheered their glass. They drink to surviving another night of parenthood. You give up, scared, confused. So, you head back to your room, lie on your bed and drift off once more to sleep.

You soon wake up, in a cold sweat. You look over your clock, it's midnight. You head downstairs to seek comfort from your parents, and you see them passed out by the poolside. You try to wake them up, but they can't seem to stay awake for long. You try to tell them about the dream you had, but they always fall back asleep. You, about to cry, grab your mother's phone to make yourself feel better. You sit on a bench by the poolside and watch some videos online.

After a while, you feel better. Then you see these two hooded figures headed your way. They seem to be carrying some sort of what seems to look like two people. As they get closer, the things they were carrying became more and more clear. As the objects they were carrying hit the light, they appear to be dolls but also like balloons. Quite strange. The hooded figures sat across from you and lay the "dolls" on the bench as if they were sitting. You see all this as quite odd and so, you take a video of them online secretly. As they seem to have not noticed you there yet.

As you look more closely, the "dolls" seem to look kind of life-like. It kind of looks as if they're breathing. The two hooded figures proceed to play fight with the "dolls". You seem to see that as amusing therefore you let out a little chuckle. But because of that, they heard you and before you know it, they are now staring right at you. They abruptly stopped what they were doing and crouched and started crawling their way to you slowly tilting their heads from side to side sort of like an owl does.

You panicking, decide to cover your eyes and dropping the phone in the process. You hear faint shuffling across the pavement, getting closer and closer then, a sudden stop. For a moment, you feel safe. Maybe they left, maybe your parents drove them off. You open your eyes to check. What you see next horrifies you to this day.

A man or what seems to be a man staring right at you face to face with barely any distance separating you two. "He" is wearing sunglasses and a mask and his skin seems kind of pale and even a little grey. You can feel "his" breath on your face. He then proceeds to put his finger near his face and onto your lips as to tell you to stay quiet. This fills you with dread. You trying not to cry, cover your mouth as to not make a sound.

They then proceed to walk backwards, back to the "dolls" on the other side of the pool, across from you. The sinking feeling in your stomach starts to fade. The hooded figures then grab the "dolls" and proceed to walk towards the pool. Sweating from holding your breath, you try to take a slow deep breath so they won't hear you. But since you are scared and started to cry. You cannot help but let out a whimper. From the fear, you cannot help but feel tired and soon pass out.

Once again, in the distance, you hear someone moving in the water. The still current moving back and forth. Someone sinking further and further into the pool. When you open your eyes, you can see the hooded figures holding onto you, holding you down under the water. But as you panic, you can't seem to move. As you look more closely, you do not appear to be in your body anymore. It seems you have become the doll or as if have you embodied and seeing into what the doll sees. You can feel yourself running out of breath.

Panicking even more now, you can hear a voice in your head calling out for help. It doesn't appear to be a voice you recognise. It's not your parents. Could it be coming from the doll itself? You try to look at the other doll the other hooded figure is holding onto. It's a person, their mouth has been sewn shut. Arms and legs missing, replaced by inflated limbs. You can see the look on the person's face. Filled with nothing but fear and hopelessness. As you can hear the hooded figures from above the water laugh maniacally. You once again pass out from lack of air.

You wake up the next morning. You're lying on the sofa in your living room. Your dad making breakfast. Greets you, and your mom giving you a good morning kiss. Your mother informs you that they found you fast asleep last night on the bench. She tries to scold you for trying to stay up past bedtime. But then gives you a pass since it's the weekend. You think to yourself maybe it was all just a horrible dream.

You take a seat at the dining table about to eat your breakfast until, "Ding"! The doorbell rings, you pay no mind to it and start to eat. Your mother goes to answer the door. After a few minutes, your mother calls for you to come to the front door. You see her standing at the doorstep next to two officers outside. You look at your mother's face, she seems to be upset. Which makes you feel worried. You ask your mother if there's something wrong or if you're in trouble. Your mother says no and says that the officers have a few questions to ask you.

They greet you, then asks if you remember anything "strange" from last night. Which you find a little peculiar. Since, why would the cops want to know anything you did? Unless.

What they show you next made your heart sink. They showed the video you took last night of the two hooded figure. You somehow posted it online. The officers informed you that those hooded figures are dangerous people and were last seen with two female teens. That ended up missing.

As you appear to have been too shaken up from this revelation, your mother sends you back inside the house. Thoughts run back throughout your head. "What part of last night was real?" "Now that the video was posted online will they come back for you?" "What about your family, will they be safe?" You overhear your mother and the cops conversation, those hooded figures kidnap unsuspecting girls and cut them up into pieces and "play" with them so to speak the officer said.