Tales Of The Grotesque- Hide and seek

:warning: Warning :warning: : Has some prospects that are or can be contributed to cause triggering. You have been warned.

  Ah. Have you returned? I was much certain by how you trembled I would not see you again. No, no do not take my surprise as a bad thing. I was thinking you thought me as an old senile man. Another story?

Mah. Your curiosity is very much like that of my deceased granddaughter. You are an embodiment of her, not by looks or even gender. She always came back no matter the circumstances. That, I believe, was her downfall. Do I know how she died? Oh yes, I do. She is one of my tales. Some think it's heartless to tell her tale, but if you must know. Tales keep a story alive. Her story will live on. Her story of hiding and seeking.

Hide and Seek Alone

Anna was her name, ah such a bright girl. She had so much promise, but her curiosity was too much for her intellect. She was a paranormal freak, always into spirits. Well, she took a deadly tango with one, her and her friend suffered for it.

  It was another pointless day, texting, chatting, and boredom. She couldn't stand boredom. She grew restless and searched online for something, anything she could do that would fulfill her. She found her thirst quenched with a link on how to play hide and seek with a spirit. They called it, hide and seek alone. It was a Japanese game. She smiled at her phone, discarding the fact it said alone and called her best friend, Carlie? No...give me a moment my memory is failing me.

Cassie. Her best friend, Cassie. The blonde was just as enthusiastic as Anna was over the paranormal game. They both lied to their parents, telling them there was a club party going on in an old clubhouse they once occupied. They both brought the needed items. Anna brought an old stuffed doll that she once loved very dearly, a bag of rice, needle, and crimson thread. Cassie brought a sharp knife, cup of salt and water.

They met up on their bikes outside the clubhouse, both with unbearable glee. Their eyes shining with ambition. They had no boundaries tonight. They wish to play with the paranormal. No one told them that it was a tango with death as well.

  "Did you bring your part?" Anna asks, eyes bright with excitement. Cassy nods her head, before they unlock the doors to the clubhouse, uncaring that they were not rightfully allowed there. They lay out their items, gleefully. Cassie stands and walks to the closet close by. She smiles.

  "It said we needed to hide in a small space! Here! Right here!" She exclaims, much too loudly for Anna to be only a little ways away. Anna winces. She shushes her loud friend before she cuts open the doll and removes the stuffing. Cassie cuts open the rice bag and aid Anna in filling the doll. They both grin and take fingernails that they had already precut and places it into the doll.

  "Anna. Are you sure this will work?" Cassie, foolishly, asks. Her question wasn't the right one. Are you sure this is safe? Smart? Would have been the right one. Anna nods her head, smiling at her friend.

  "They say it's really scary! That it isn't a fraud like all the others!" Anna says, picking up the needle and thread, humming as she carefully stitched the doll, before wrapping the rest of the thread around the doll. Cassie makes her way to the bathroom filling it will water.

  "What time is it Cassie?" Anna asks, tilting her head

  "It's two thirty. What time did this say again?" Cassie says, stopping the water, humming softly.

  "Three in the morning," Anna says, smiling at her friend. It was much too late for two young girls to be out. Let's just say my daughter never listened to a poor old man like myself. I warned her of the dangers of the world, in the end, I was shunned.

As the girls wait idly by they speak of school, crushes, whining over bad grades, everything they could think of. It was soon time. The beeping of Anna's phone was heard. They both stand, grinning widely at each other. They were both ready for this, or so they thought.

“What should the name of the doll be?” Cassie asks, looking at the stuff cabbage patch doll. Anna thinks, before smiling.

“Greg.” She says, eyes dark with anger and sadness. Cassie finds it annoying instead. Greg was Anna’s ex-boyfriend who later on left her. She still has not gotten over him. Cassie keeps her mouth closed. She didn’t want the sob story she would get.

“Let’s get this on the road,” Cassie says, taking Anna’s upper arm and dragging her to the bathroom. Anna takes the time to grab the knife they need for the ritual. She looks at the doll.

“We will use my name,” Anna informs Cassie, who nods in understanding and turning. They look around the bath, before making eye . They smile, nodding as if their minds were linked.

  “Anna is the first it, Anna is the first it, Anna is the first it,” They say in sync, before placing “Greg” into the tub. Anna holds the knife in her fist. Cassie splits up, hitting the lights off on one side of the clubhouse, while Anna does the same on her side. Anna takes the remote of the television, flicking it to a clear white channel, static coming through. Cassie is already in the hiding spot by the time Anna returns to it.

  “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten,” They count together, once more in sync with one another. Anna sets out the hiding spot first, reaching the bedroom, snatching the doll before Cassie can reach out and retrieve it. Cassie holds an ugly frown on her lips very soon.

“I am the leader here,” Anna says, bossily, before looking at the doll. “I have found you, Greg!” She says, roughly stabbing the doll. Cassie has fallen silent at this point in the game, angry at her friend for her behavior.

“Now Greg is it! Now Greg is it! Now Greg is it!” Anna chants by herself, taking notice at the sour look on her friends look. She rolls her own eyes. She chooses to believe Cassie was being overdramatic. She lowers the doll to the tub full of water, laying the knife over “Greg” and leads Cassie out the bathroom to the small closet. Anna shuts the door, smiling gleefully as she presses her ear to the door.

  Cassie chooses to stay press up against the back wall of the closet. She wasn’t at all happy with Anna, she was exactly very upset with how she acts nowadays. She takes a breath, sitting down and looking away.

“Cassie! Be happy! We are having a game with a ghost!” Anna suddenly exclaims. Cassie frowns at her and gives her a blank look.

“Yay? Anna. We need to talk about your behavior ever since Greg left you.” Cassie says, no longer caring they were in the middle of a spirit game. Anna gives a sound of disgust and looks away from her, shaking her head. She seals her lips together, refusing to speak the name of the male that stole and broke her heart. Cassie gives a short huff of air before leaning forward. It was faint before you could finally hear it clearly. It is the soft pattering of feet.

Anna feels the wind fly out her lungs. She is ecstatic but never has she felt so fearful. The pattering of feet meant that the ghost, spirit or even demon, has answered their call. Cassie is much more frightening. She stands, fast and looks at Anna, already cowering to get out. She was always a skeptic, allowing Anna to take her on her ghost hauntings, only because she didn’t truly believe. This is proof her belief is wrong.

  “I need to go home, Anna. I don’t want to play anymore.” Cassie demands, pushing for the door. Anna gives a shriek of disdain as Cassie opens the door. Cassie pauses, body stiffening. The doll is laying directly across from the closet door.

  “How do we end the game, Anna?!” Cassie snaps, her voice rising in panic. Just as she spoke a red hot pain blossoms on her leg. She cries out, dropping to the ground. The doll has now vanished from sight. Cassie’s hands shake as she reaches down, rubbing her hand against her pants leg, whimpering as crimson stains her hand. She has been cut, by a knife. Anna stares in shock.

“W-We need saltwater in our mouths! Yeah! Where is it? Didn’t we put a cup in here?” Anna says. The sheer panic in Cassie’s eyes shows they forgot the most important rule. Cassie’s eyes well with tears. The only light is the television, which soon rises in noise. Anna lets out a curse, rushing to Cassie’s bag, grabbing the water and salt water. She turns.

“I got it-Cassie? Cassie this isn’t funny.” She says. Cassie was gone from the spot she fell at. Anna trembles in fright. Her eyes dart around the dark room, mixing the salt and water, stirring it, placing some in her mouth, taking shaky steps. She uses her phone flashlight to navigate around the darkened house. She knocks into a wall. She looks up, frowning. She gasps as Cassie stands in front of her.

“There you are! Why are you just standing there?!” Anna demands. Cassie was silent before she giggles.

“You’re it.”

____________________________________

Both their bodies were found. The doll, however, was not. Cassie was killed first from what they understand, her throat slit. The doll or whatever it was, possess her and finished off my granddaughter the same fashion. I am almost certain that doll still lurks in the darkness. I am certain it is bloodthirsty.

#curatorreview

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