Talking with a Doll

One day, a bird was forced to live in a cage for the rest of its days because the world refused to let it explore and see the world.

Eternity is it, or she was a fool to be used; as she approached the window, the girl could see a young boy sitting on a bench with a wooden clipboard. The little girl looks down from the window at the young boy with envious eyes.

"It must be nice."

She whispered in her breath; the boy whom she looking at was now looking back at her, startled, as she backed away from the window and tried to hide from the boy the fear that she would be hunted down.

Minutes later, she heard a footstep coming towards this room as the door opened and stood up from her feet behind the couch. The girl approaches him behind and tries to face him.

"May I know who you are?"

Once I heard a voice from my behind, I turned my whole body to see who was it. have come to see a small girl with hair that looks pale blonde as the sand that you would see on beaches, her hair shins through the afternoon sun, her hair lengths that go on her shoulders, she wore a gothic dark blue maiden dress.

As if she looks like a tiny doll standing behind me, her features are so realistic she could be mistaken for a toy doll instead of a kid; oh, it's just a doll? I said.

however, the beauty appears to have open their opens her mouth and comes with a soft-spoken voice that you would never expect,

"Well, I think you are right."

To my surprise, the doll speaks itself, and I slowly step back from it, fearful that this place is hunted or I am just being deluded about what I am talking with.

"You can talk?"

"Yes, that you're here and talking to me right now means this is real and not a dream; I reassure you that I am not a ghost if that's what you are thinking right now."

"Okay… so what are you, some talking doll or something? Like that, misses doll?"

=========

"Don't ever call me a doll; I have a name, it's Alicia; remember it, boy," Alicia says as she looks at the piece of paper with my sketch on it in my left hand. And made a disgusting face.

"Ugh, what an ugly art you have there."

"HEY! first of all, rude, and second, I haven't even drawn since years ago."

"Whatever you say, anyway, why are you here? Isn't this place off-limits from someone like you?" Alicia said,

"I-I'm just being curious."

"Huh, Curious, you would say."

Alicia then ignored me and proceeded to walk around the room. It did calm me down, knowing that the doll wasn't posed by some sort of a demon, as I looked around to see many shelves filled with old books, yet I didn't see any dust or cobweb.

The room is spotless. It seems brand new. As I looked around, I noticed a glass panel in the wall at the end of the room.

It contains some sort of an old book that has a purple cover on it. And approach as my eyes widen,

"Hold on, you can't snoop around in somebody's places!"

Alicia stopped in front of me before I could touch the panels. And asked why? And she said that inside of this panel holds a vital document.

"Why would something, as an important document, be in an abounded place like this?"

"Because it's not your business, boy."

"Lemme take a look at it."

"NO."

Alicia was had enough and whispered some sort of incantation, as she was annoyed at my presence at the end of our arguing, and in a blink of my eyes, I would find myself outside of the clock tower once I opened my eyes.

My mind was confused about how I returned in front of the entrance and tried opening the door, but it was useless. The door was locked and could not be unlocked easily; it was closed.

Suddenly I stopped myself when. I saw the afternoon sky slowly changes to dusk and decided to head back to the dorm for now. While in bed, my thoughts focus on what happened earlier, the mystery of the abandoned clock tower, an immaculate room with bookshelves filled with brand-new books, and a talking doll. Everything is so mysterious is like everyone is hiding something,

"Hey, is anything bothering you?"

"Yeah… I am just thinking."

During my deep thought, Hugo, studying at his desk, just asked me a question, and I replied to him that I was okay and told him the things that happened earlier.

During our conversation, I got up from my bed and sat at my desk facing Hugo's back,

"So u met at the clock tower?"

"Yeah, it's kind of weird. After that encounter, I found myself back at the front of the clock tower."

"I see what an interesting story you go there."

Of course, Hugo wouldn't believe me as much as he doesn't care about supernatural stuff. As we counties our chat, two guys come into our room without mind to do so and hang out with us.

The conversation is about someone's stuff getting stolen and our daily life on the campus.

Along with the talking, the conversation shifts to their love life. The three of us, including me, glanced at Hugo; we smiled sarcastically when the topic switched to Theresa, our dorm supervisor.

Hugo's face started to turn red when he started to talk about his crush. On the whole, we talked for so long that we forgot it was past midnight, as we spent it together like brothers, talking about random subjects and life in general and after all that talking. We all went back to our rooms and slept.

The next day, I decided to visit one of the most visited libraries on this campus, which holds a lot of information about the world and this city. Once there, the place is peaceful and quiet.

Only a few students are currently reading or studying. Coming here reminded me that I hadn't learned for a while now. Good thing that this place is good to be at with a purpose to do so,

"May I help you with something?"

As I approached the counter, the librarian, I was greeted by a refined lady with the hair of her white as snow, asking if I needed any help and if they had any news articles relating to a clock tower in the past.

"Hmm, you interested in that clock tower, huh? Well, then let me check if we have any."

"Thank you, I appreciate it."

Minutes passed by the lady returned with a bunch of newspapers and articles in her hand and brought them to the table (I guess it will take time to read them all.)

"Thanks, uh..."

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself; I'm Fiona Alcaraz."

"N-nice to meet you, misses Alcaraz?"

"You don't need to be formal; we're the same year," Fiona said

"Wait, you are a student?"

It's a pleasant opportunity to introduce myself as well to Fiona. It was a surprise to me to learn that she was also a student. She is in her 2nd year at that, even though she looks mature. Since she brought a lot of things to my table, I thanked her for it. And then contained reading through each article. My later research revealed that the clock tower used to be a watchtower.

Which was used during wartime when we were colonized, then later became a built-in inside library. The clock tower had many rumors that it had been abandoned after a person disappeared upon entering the clock tower and never be seen again (Hugo was correct stories are ridiculous as ever).

The missing person article intrigues me the most. Was she the missing person? As I thought of something, I felt like someone was looking at me.

I looked behind to see no one; I had to stop being paranoid all the time. This is not getting me anywhere. I stood up from my chair, returned it to the counter, and decided to leave the library.