Out of the Darkness

12

It was at waist height so I didn't see anything but my hands reach down and sift through the contents of the table, before picking up the jar of cream that had fucked me up. The camera shifted somehow, pointing up to my face and I watched as I removed my mask, letting it hang on one ear. "How?" I asked, feeling fear creep up my spine again. There was no way for the camera to do that. The table wasn't even high enough for it to catch this view unless it was propped up on something or held by someone. Only I knew that I hadn't done it. You could see both of my hands in the video when it panned upwards. There had been no one else in the room with me, so how? I watched as I uncapped the cream, anxiety starting to crawl in my veins. I felt like I was watching some horror movie that was really getting to that part where you just knew it was going to make you scream. My eyes were transfixed to the screen, my heart thundering in my ears, louder than my headphones. The jar fell from my hands as soon as I sniffed the cream, and my eyes rolled back in my head. I watched myself have some sort of mini seizure, my eyes flitting up and down, side to side. I knew that I was watching the memories or whatever it was that had popped into my head at that time. I thought about the images that I had seen, the little short scenes that had passed through my mind. Each girl had been different, different hair, different eyes, different clothes. The only way I knew that was because I remembered why it was so strange to me now. I mean, it was strange regardless. Seeing things like that wasn't normal, but it was extra strange and I couldn't figure out why... until now. I had seen the images and scenes from the different girls' point of view. The only way I had seen what they looked like was because they had been staring at a mirror, checking their reflection. Just then, I heard the guys yelling my name through my headphones. Only I hadn't heard them when I was in the room. I watched as Sam ran into the room, then I dropped to my knees. "Colby!" he yelled, grabbing my shoulders to stop me from falling right over. A soft mournful sigh came through the headphones just as I saw myself grab my head. Was that in the video? It almost sounded too close for comfort. I backed up the video to listen again, although I didn't want to watch myself go through whatever that was again. I closed my eyes so that I could listen without watching. Yea, definitely a sigh...maybe a word too? I couldn't make it out. I opened my eyes once I knew that part was over and continued watching. Just as we left the room, I heard a heard another ghostly sound, only this one struck me to my core. It was angry and violent, reminding me of the wind that had whipped through the house when we were using the Ouija board. The sound was easy to describe. It was a scream. The depth of emotion behind that scream was something I didn't think I would ever be able to find words for. It was pure, raw hate. Whatever had let out that scream wanted to kill us. That was something that I had no doubt about. How did we not hear it when we were there? It was so clear in the video. I knew what was coming next and I knew that I didn't want to handle it tonight. I shut my laptop and set it off to the side of my bed, my eyes catching the doll's eyes gain. Wait...didn't I turn her over so that I wouldn't have to see her eyes anymore right now? Did I? I wasn't sure anymore. It was possible that I meant too, and just didn't. I picked her up and stared into her eyes. "There's nothing special about you, is there? You're just a stupid, creepy doll that I shouldn't have taken in the first place." The green eyes seemed to bore into mine as I held her close to my face. I felt my eyes slide out of focus for a minute and set her down to rub them. Guess I was more tired than I had thought. I used the heels of my hands to run my eyes hard, before blinking a few times and looking back towards the doll. "My doll," flitted through my mind, like a voice, but I didn't actually hear anything. I stared at the doll, confusion on my face. "Just a doll," I repeated softly, watching the eyes. A fruity scent filled the air, light and sweet, as I sat there watching her. I shook my head and closed my eyes, the scent finally dissipating. "I'm going fucking crazy," I said, standing up and grabbing the doll. I carried her to my closet and opened the door. Right when I was about to chuck her in there, I thought better of it and sat her down on the little stool that was in front of my whiteboard. "You stay here so I can get some sleep, okay? No coming to life and trying to kill me. Deal?" I could almost swear that I heard a light, tinkling laugh, almost from far away it seemed. I walked out and closed the door behind me. "I'm actually going fucking crazy," I muttered, throwing back the blankets on my bed. I pulled my headphones from my laptop and attached them to my phone, then set a playlist. I lie there for a long time, in the dark, listening to my music and staring at my closet door. When I finally managed to fall asleep, I was running. That's it, just running. Only the guys were with me and I didn't know what we were running from. There was nothing behind us, except there was. I couldn't see it, but I could smell it's sour breath. It smelled like death. I tossed and turned that night, nightmares haunting me every time I dared to drift off to sleep again.