What Happened Today

Today I didn't think I was safe anymore, so I decided to go on the move. I grabbed the knife (I had cleaned it after my injury, of course) and tucked it into my belt. Just in case.

Soon I stood before the fridge, contemplating taking some food with me, since I didn't know when my next meal might come. But then I realized I didn't know how old a lot of the food was, and last night my stomach had felt queasy, giving me a fitful night with little sleep.

I did, however, pack my backpack full of clothes. Then I went back to my dad's doll-repair shop, where I had hidden the eye.

I hid it there, because I knew the Witch may have been reading this blog, and she would never expect me to be so "foolish" as to hide it in such an obvious place.

It turns out that it was a good idea, since it was still there when I arrived.

I ducked under the "do not cross" tape the police had put up. I wasn't sure why it was still there. I thought they'd have cleared up the crime scene by now. It's been awhile.

I stepped through the doorway and into the store. Near the shelves, some still standing after the fight, lay the body. It looked horrible. I turned away and pushed the image from my mind so I wouldn't throw up again.

I made my way to the workroom behind the counter, where there were many damaged and half-finished dolls lying willy nilly all over the place.

I dug behind a heap of the dolls and found a head with no body, in which I had hidden the eye. TO get it in there in the first place, I had to partially tear the face open.

I reached my hand in and pulled out the eye, making sure it was safe.

I was pocketing it and getting ready to put the doll head down when its single eye (the other had fallen out when I tore open the face) turned to look at me and it moved like it was trying to bite me.

I threw it down and ran out to the main area of the store.

There she stood, her lackeys in tow. That POS Percy and his friend the Skin-Taker, along with Horace Horrible and the Laughingstock.

"You really think I would just leave you alone after all you've seen? And even knowing I probably read your pitiful blog and knew about the Eye? I had Horace here keep an eye on you until we could follow you to its location. I can sense its power even now. It's most certainly the Eye of Fate. One of the fabled 2538 objects of old."

"What are you talking about?" I sputtered.

"It is said that when these objects are brought together (and they almost inevitably will be) the End will come. But with this Eye in my possession, I will not only control my puppets, willing and otherwise, but also Fate itself. I can avert the End and use my army to claim this whole pathetic world as my domain. And once again become your Queen."

She looked wistfully into the distance. "Of course the Others won't be happy about that." Then she added, as though a curse, "The Quiet claim them."

She turned her gaze back onto me.

"Now, then, Evan, give me the Eye and die a painless death, or suffer the cruelest tortures at the hands of the Skin-Taker and my beloved Horace and die a lasting, agonizing death knowing that I will acquire it anyway."

I stood there with a blank face, silent. I wasn't sure what to do.

Acting on impulse, I grabbed my knife and held it threateningly toward the demon woman and her spawn.

Then a police officer burst through the door, aiming his gun right at me.

"Put the weapon down, son, or I'll be forced to shoot."

I turned to him, confused. "But don't you see her? She's right there! She's going to kill me!"

"Of course I see her. You two had a deal. You backed out of it." He turned to the Witch. "And you. You promised not to take what's mine."

Trembling, I felt my instincts take over. I ripped off the bandages from my right eye and slid the glowing orb from my pocket. Before I knew what I was doing, I found myself placing it into the empty and unhealed socket. It was a snug fit.

Blue. Light. Intense.

Slowly my awareness swam back to the situation at hand.

My injury seemed to immediately heal. And I could see everything. Past. Present. Future. It was mine to know, and mine to control. It no longer held sway over me.

"No! You insolent brat!"

The policeman still had the barrel of the firearm trained on me, but he seemed a bit more uneasy.

That's when all the dolls in the shop started moving.

All those that were in a completed condition on the still-intact shelves stood up and climbed down to the floor, creating a formation as though they were going to battle.

The other dolls beneath the smashed casings and shelves, whole or broken, missing half their bodies, or even mangled--it didn't matter their condition--they, too, joined the march. Right toward me.

Even though I controlled Fate, I could still be overcome if I failed to act.

I retreated to the workroom and shut and locked the door. The army of dolls beat on the door. I heard some cracks as they slowly began breaking through. I think I heard some of them slamming into the door at high velocities.

Knowing that she would utilize the dolls in there with me, I began smashing them to pieces. If they were broken enough they would either be unusable or she wouldn't bother.

Of course, plastic is hard to break, so I used the hunting knife to slice through those pieces.

I stomped, I twisted, I smashed. Soon I had dismantled any further convenient weapons. But the dolls on the other side kept coming, kept battering down the door. They weren't human, and neither was she. They could be as patient as necessary.

With my new powers, I also saw the policeman for what he was. He was Death incarnate, taker of souls. I knew also why the place hadn't been touched since the investigation began: he had taken the entire police force, one by one, and could now wear the faces of whomever he chose.

I also knew what he would try next, seeing as the Witch's tactics were currently ineffective.

He would try getting at me with guilt over everything I'd done. He clearly didn't get the memo (or read my blog).

My little brother appeared beside me, no older than he was when he died.

"Evan, why'd you let me die? Why'd you let the ride take me?"

I faced him, stoic. "I was unable to move, thanks to the Witch out there. I could do nothing."

His flesh then melted off, revealing the terrible sight I'd witnessed so long ago and worked so long to suppress. But I had prepared myself. I staved off my nausea.

Next was my mother, then father. They each accused me of letting them die. I told them they weren't real. And that I felt no guilt. I was incapable of it.


Soon Death resumed the form of the police officer from before.

He raised his gun and was about to shoot when the door broke open behind him and a flood of manufactured limbs and faces overwhelmed him. Though he was not human, like her, he was still in a physical form.

I took the opportunity to escape through the window.

As I ran, I looked back and saw a man in a gas mask pointing an old rifle at me, occasionally taking a wild shot as he ran after me.

I knew this was more or less his true form. In truth, he has no "true form" but seeing everything as I do, I knew this was for one reason or another (the motives of these entities escape me, even now) his favored appearance.

I also knew that he was trying to lead me into a trap, to corner me. I wasn't sure, and still am not, whether he was trying to help her obtain the Eye or was using her to gain it for himself.

Soon enough we arrived in an alleyway that ended in a high brick wall. The Witch was awaiting our arrival.

She tried to put her stinging whips into me again, to make me an unwilling slave. But I controlled Fate now. She could not gain power over me again, no matter how hard she tried.

I dove out of the way as a shot rang out and I looked up in time to see half of her face blown off by the ammunition meant for me.

I ran. I haven't stopped running. I will run for a long time.