Chapter 8

And I woke up.

This time, I wasn't in my bed. My face was on a cold, rough wooden surface. My back was hurting.

I could hear the voices of a thousand souls echoing in the distance. Once from right, once from left, and then repeating over and over...

I opened my eyes and stood up to stretch. The school desk I was sleeping on had left marks on my arms, and my bad posture was causing a lot of pain. Looking around, I noticed that the students were talking among themselves, most of them already prepared to walk home.

"It is time already?.. I guess time flies when you are sleeping."

I picked up my bag and got out of the school. I crossed the usual roads and climbed the usual hills, and before I knew it, I was in the neighborhood.

A street light flickered as I was passing under it. I stopped to look up.

"Dejavu..." I said to myself. "No, this is not merely the product of my mind. This light flickers every time I pass by. I swear, I'm not going crazy!"

I got a pencil from my school bag and put a small mark on the pole of the street light. It was a thin black line only I would notice. This way, if I had this phenomena again, I could confirm that this really was happening every time with the same street light.

"See you tomorrow, street light... Let's see if you flicker again the next time."

I went to my apartment and unlocked the door with the key. Throwing my school bag to a corner, I immediately headed for the kitchen to eat something. I was quite hungry since I didn't have breakfast today.

*knock knock knock*

In the middle of my meal, my uncle came to pay me a visit.

"Yo! Oh, I see you are helping yourself."

"Yosh." I tried to answer him with a full mouth.

"I went to the new bakery again today, and apart from that, your auntie made some tasty stuff you'll like. I'll just leave them on the counter."

"Th-thonks. *gulp*"

"I won't be staying for long today, my friends are waiting at the stadium. You know, this is the final stand for the Eagles! Ha, do you think they stand a chance in the championship?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about, but have fun."

"Oh, don't tell me you are a Lions fan now. Are you?"

"I'm not!"

My uncle opened the door and wore his shoes as he tried to talk to me at the same time.

"Great then! I can get you some souvenirs maybe! We will see."

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye, my boy! Take good care of yourself."

I watched him disappear towards the stairway and closed the door.

"I don't even like sports in the first place..." I murmured. I finished up my food, tidied up the kitchen and walked towards my room.

I pushed the door open the way I always did.

My heart skipped not one, but four beats at once. My eyes opened wide, and an unbearable feeling of danger encompassed my consciousness. Yet I could not react to any of these, for I have been frozen in a terror incomparable to anything else I've felt in my life - up until now. My life flashed before my eyes, and I thought I was about to pass out simply because of the vision I experienced.

Right in front of me was a slim girl slightly shorter than me, wearing a dress in crimson and black. With her black, medium-short hair, her large eyes with the most vibrant colors, as well as her uncanny, quiescent, pale face...

She was a complete human being!

Almost...

The five seconds it took me to realize that she was not a real living girl could kill me by causing a heart attack. I was lucky to be still alive.

With her frozen expression, the soulless doll was staring into my soul. She had a neutral mien overall, but somehow a gloomy one at the same time. Only when I got the control of my body back, I could get a good look at her. She had red flowers on her dress, as well as a small one in her hair.

"What in the world is going on here?.."

I faced my fears and approached the uncannily realistic doll. The air around her felt cooler than the rest of the room, and a weird feeling started crawling up my skin. Yet I didn't move away, instead, I raised my hand to touch and caress her hair.

Even her hair was feeling like real hair, except it was colder.

Only after my first five minutes examining the doll, the reality of the situation started to become clearer.

"A human sized doll... What do I do with it? I can't let anyone see this!"

I rushed to empty one of the cabinets in my room. I removed everything, and created large enough space to put her inside.

I approached the doll and grabbed her -no, grabbed 'it'- under her armpits. She was much lighter than I expected her -no, 'it'- to be.

"I can't just casually throw away a human sized, human shaped thing, can I?"

The only thing I could do was to negotiate with her -no, 'its'- sender. I turned my laptop on and went to the doll-making blog immediately, hoping for the chat box to appear.

And fortunately, it did.

This time, before waiting for the old lady to initiate the conversation, I started typing.

"Why?"

"Did you meet her already?"

"What do you mean did you meet her? You really went ahead and put a giant doll in my room while I was away!? What is wrong with you!?!?"

"It is normal for someone who is new into this new world to feel that way. I understand you, believe me I do. Even sometimes, I still feel the same way against my creation. But don't worry, it is for the better."

"I don't care what you think. I don't know how she made it into here, but you are taking it out of my house. Right now!"