Out of the Darkness

20

"You're acting like an airhead so maybe you are." I jerked my eyes from hers and looked around my room. I couldn't tell if I was hearing the words inside my head or not, and it was disconcerting. "What's your name?" I asked, thinking that even if this were in my head, it was the strangest thing that I had every experienced. I didn't feel threatened, or afraid. Just curious and bewildered. It was quiet for a few minutes, and just as I opened my mouth to ask if she were still around, she answered. "Anna, I think. I don't remember a lot about myself," she replied sadly. My heart hurt for her. "Do you remember what happened to you?" I asked. A breeze went through my room, lifting my hair and flipping a few pages of an open book that was next to my bed. "No. I only remember cold darkness and pain. Nothing else until you and your friends came to the house." I felt like I had so many questions but I couldn't organize my thoughts. "Are you in the doll?" I asked, staring in those emerald eyes. I waited but didn't get an answer. "Anna? Are you still there?" "Yes, but I'm tired." The answer was more faint that before. Ghosts get tired? My mind was so blown by all of this. "Then get some rest," I replied, automatically feeling stupid. Did ghosts rest? Was I speaking to a ghost? "Could you keep the doll around? I don't know if I'm in the doll, but I am connected. Maybe don't throw her away again." I smiled, and nodded. "Yeah, promise." "Cool beans," she replied, with a light giggle. Cool beans? Who said that? My room filled with the fruity citrus scent again, and I inhaled deeply. I was really beginning to love that scent. A knock on my door grabbed my attention, and the scent faded. "Colby? Brother, you still up?" I heard Sam's voice come through. "Yeah man, come in," I answered, sliding the doll under my blanket. "I heard you talking. Am I interrupting?" I shook my head, and glanced at my phone that was now on my bedside table. "No, you're good. I was just talking to Brennen." I hated lying to Sam. I hated lying, in general. I didn't see the point in it usually, but I wasn't really ready to "share" Anna. I wanted to figure out what was going on first. Or maybe I wanted to make sure that I wasn't going crazy first. "I just wanted to know if you had the footage from the house. I wanna watch it." "Sure you're not too wasted?" I asked, laughing. He grinned and scrubbed his face with both hands. "Nah, I'm good. Now, if we had opened that bottle of vodka instead of sticking to White Claws, that would be a different story." I laughed again, and nodded. "Yeah, we'll save that for another night." I looked around for my laptop, then remembered that it was downstairs. "Damn it," I muttered. "What's up?" Sam asked. "I left my laptop downstairs in the living room." "Oh, that's fine. The card's in it?" I nodded. "Yeah, but Sam..." I let my voice trail off, not sure how to prepare him for what was on that footage. "What's up Colby? I don't like that face you're making." I took a deep breath and met his gaze. "That footage is different from anything we've ever done. It's intense and honestly, kind of disturbing. I just wanted to warn you, I guess." He furrowed his brow, and gave me a confused grin. "I'm a big boy Colby, I'm sure I'll be fine. I'll see you tomorrow." He started to walk out, but stopped and looked back at me. "And Colby...." "Yeah," I asked. "Get some rest man. You don't seem like yourself lately," he replied. I rolled at him. "Don't have a cow man, I'm good." What the fuck did I just say? Sam looked shocked and confused by my words. "Did you just say 'don't have a cow?'" I gave a nervous laugh, and nodded. "Yeah, I was watching an old movie. Guess it was in my head. That was weird." "Yeah, it was," he muttered, looking at me with concern. I was really just wanting him to leave at this point. "Okay, see you tomorrow," I said, trying to usher him out of the room quicker. "Yeah, okay. Night." "Night," I answered, and waited for him to shut my bedroom door. I yanked Anna out from under the covers, and held her up on my bare chest. "Anna?" I whispered, wondering if I was even ready to keep talking to her, to a ghost. I didn't receive an answer, but a soft sigh flitted through my mind, and a few more pages of my book turned from a breeze that I didn't feel. "Goodnight," I whispered, grinning at the doll. This was so fucking weird, but felt oddly right. I set her to the side, and was about to get up to turn out the lights. Before I could, they shut off on their own. "Goodnight Colby," her voice came through, barely strong enough for me to make out. I smiled, and shifted down further on my bed so that I could sleep. I thought about putting her back in the closet, but decided against it. She wasn't scary to me anymore. I lay her on the other side of my bed, then flipped over onto my stomach with my head facing the doll. It was the strangest feeling, looking at this doll, knowing that there was something more to her. I wanted to know her story, to help her. Maybe put her soul, or whatever it was, to rest. Tomorrow, I would look up ways to help. I closed my eyes, and let my thoughts run wild inside my head. The main thing that kept coming back to me, was that maybe I was going crazy. Was I going to end up like George, the worker that had take one of the dolls? Did he get this way because he wanted to help whatever was stuck to the doll? Was she really good or was she trying to trick me, so that I never wanted to let her go and ended up in a mental institution?