Prompt
You receive a mysterious package in the mail. It has your name on it, but no return address. Inside is an extremely creepy doll. Realistically it seems well made and well maintained, but there’s something off about it. If you choose to keep it, it seems to always have its eyes on you. Sometimes it seems to have moved from where you left it—and, since you received it, sometimes you hear a strange, echoing laughter. What do you do?
What? A package for her? Izobel glanced at the innocuous looking object that had come in the mail for her that day. Shifting her backpack to rest on the table the teen scanned the parcel and shrugged her shoulders. That she knew of she hadn't ordered anything online and unless this was the worst kept secret from her parents than it was a total mystery of what it was. That there was no return address was of particular interest to the teen. Scooping the boxed item into her arms she grabbed her pack from the table and proceeded to her room to finish the schoolwork that she needed to have ready for the next day. Izobel worked diligently at her studies until being called down for dinner. Shaking her head at the idea of confronting her parents about the parcel she brought it downstairs with her. She sat down at the dinner table and gently placed the package next to her dinner plate and eyed both her mom and dad. They in turn both denied buying anything for her and were puzzled over the whole scenario.
Realizing that her parents weren't behind this piqued Izzy's interest further. Just what lay within? Seemingly it was as she couldn't hold back her curiosity any longer about what was lying in the box. As the parcel was opened Izobel could not hold back a gasp of surprise. For inside lay a doll. Lifting the doll out of the box Izzy set it onto the table beside her dinner plate and glanced at it closely. Something seemed off about the doll but she could not help but marvel at the craftsmanship that had been put into such a beautiful piece of art. And yet, it was somewhat creepy at the same time. Deciding that she would keep the doll Izobel placed it back into the box and then began to enjoy her dinner. Dolls could wait ... hungry stomachs could not.
That had been a few days ago. Izobel had named the doll and was currently tidying up her room to find the perfect place to place Miss Edith. With the quality of the doll it would not to well to be anywhere near her bed and yet no matter where she looked in her room there didn't seem to be any suitable place that Edith could sit. With resignation Izobel sat the doll down on her computer desk and crawled into bed. She would create a better resting place for the doll tomorrow.
The next day dawned bright and Izobel was glad at least for one thing: it was the weekend. She could spend all weekend creating just the perfect place for her new doll. Rolling over and then sitting up Izzy blinked in confusion at her computer desk. Miss Edith was not there anymore. Glancing at the floor by the desk yielded no doll and it was only until the teen crawled out from her covers that she spotted the wayward figurine ... on the floor: on the other side of her bed. Raising an eyebrow at that Izobel wondered if perhaps the doll was moved during the night as a prank by her dad. Seeing that her door was still closed Izobel debated this theory and then tossed it out. It was definitely a weird thing to have woken up to. Picking up the doll the teen sighed before moving to her desk and placing Edith back on top. It made for some strange table talk if she even wanted to bother mentioning the incident to her parents. They were sort of freaking out already about the Halloween candy incident and resulting trip to the dentist that yielded no signs of what she thought was a cavity and also the charity event for the Botanical Gardens. One thing that they didn't also know about yet was the fact that she had been recently bitten by a bat. Sure it was just a small n** on the finger that she had managed to heal but still the site of the bite still itched and Izobel was under the impression that something else was at play as well. No, she'd keep the secret about Miss Edith seemingly moving on her own under wraps for now. It wasn't something they needed to know about.
Returning to her room after breakfast Izobel was at least relieved to see that her doll was still exactly where she had left it before going downstairs. If it had been moved again well the idea of her parents behind the prank would be out the window ... and probably so would the doll, no matter how pretty it was. Gritting her teeth the red-head surveyed her room before systematically dividing her room into four quadrants. Although it was a Saturday and a nice day out she was resigned to cleaning her room out. As she worked though a sensation of being watched came over her and peering back over her shoulder she yelped in surprise. "Mom, geez, can't you knock or something?"
After relaying the message that they had errands to run Izobel returned to her cleaning after throwing on her favorite youtube playlist on her computer. Dancing around to a few of the more upbeat songs Izzy could never help but jump each time a new ad played without warning. It was during one of the adverts that Izobel swore that underneath the speaker on the computer there was a high, echoing laughter coming from her desk. Her gaze went to the computer thinking that another video had started playing up over top of the original but one look at the screen and her theory fell apart. Shrugging her shoulders the teen went back to cleaning. Only minutes later though after a song ended the laughter sounded again. Okay it was definitely coming from the area of her desk and yet she couldn't place it. Nor could she figure out why it felt like she was still being watched, observed, scrutinized. Stopping her work Izobel turned around and to her horror Edith was not on the desk anymore but was lying innocently on the floor. Having not heard the doll fall to the ground Izobel bit her lip. She was not a fool. A package with no return address, explicitly addressed to her, and containing a doll that was racking up the points in creep factor, yep definitely not a fool. Who cares where the doll came from. Izobel snatched the doll from the ground and grabbed the box it had been shipped in before running downstairs. Finding packing tape was easy enough. She had just put the first strip of tape on the box before the idea came to her of how to dispose of Miss Edith. Running outside Izzy gathered loose bricks and rocks and wedged them in alongside the doll. Now suitably prepared Izobel continued to seal the box up good and tight. It would be a miracle if someone else, without a knife, could slice through all the tape. Grabbing a permanent marker Izobel scratched over the address on the box before stuffing the box into her empty pack. Running around she got her shoes on and debated which of the bodies of water would be the best before settling on the river nearby. The rocks would sink the box and the current would take it far far away. Pedalling as fast as her injured leg would allow it still took about twenty minutes to reach her destination and as Izobel reached into her pack and pulled the packaged up box out she marvelled at just what she was about to do.
She had never really believed in the paranormal even with everything that went on in Destiny City and even after her awakening as a senshi did not diminish that belief. Strangely enough it was a well-made doll, that was sent from an unknown person from an unknown place that had her doubting her belief. Normal dolls didn't move on their own. Normal dolls didn't seemingly give off eerie, creepy little laughs. And normal dolls did not seem to follow your every movement when in the same room as they were. All these things Miss Edith seemed to do and, believe it or not, it severely gave Izobel the heeby-jeebies. Looking down at the swiftly moving waters Izobel placed the box on the bridge's railing. She wasn't going to keep the doll and nor would she want to inflict its creepy little mannerisms on someone else either. Flicking her gaze to scan her surrounding Izobel noted that no one was around at the moment and that suited her just fine. Picking up the box the girl hugged it to her chest tightly before bringing it over her head, and with all her might, launched the box into the air. With grim satisfaction Izobel watched as the box hit the water's surface. Just as she had hoped the weight of the bricks and rocks overpowered the nature of the cardboard box to float and slowly the box sank below the surface of the river, hopefully to never be seen again. Shivering as one last echoing laugh floated around her Izobel turned her back to the water. It was done. Miss Edith was gone. God help the poor fool whomever found the box in the future.
As she pedaled her way home slowly Izobel constructed a lie in which to tell her parents about the doll's sudden disappearance.
(( 1580 words ))
"Miss Edith speaks out of turn. She is a bad example and will have no cakes today."
