Going back to school was difficult. Tim got a strange sort of attention. People looked at him, and it seemed as if they had something they wanted to say – but that their mouths were sewn shut. This attention made Tim feel more alone. Even Kara seemed to have her mouth sewn shut at times.
But worse than the stares without eyes, were his visions of the accident. Everything seemed to remind him of his brother sitting in the driver's seat crumpled against the steering wheel. He began recalling details about the gore that he didn’t realize he had observed in such great detail.
The class laughed at one of Mr. Durman’s jokes; Tim thought, ‘Mark's head probably hit against the windshield before he settled back against the steering wheel – because there were large gashes and shards of glass in his brother’s forehead.’ Kara’s lunch looked good, Tim was hungry and started going without lunch so that mom wouldn’t get charged by the school; ‘Mark’s nose and top row of teeth must’ve hit the steering wheel because they were flattened against his face.’ Tim stopped meeting up with Kara and would go sit in the library and watch YouTube videos; ‘Mark’s head had started to swell, and his eyes became black like they were rimmed with Halloween makeup.’ The bell rang for him to be able to leave, and he waited for mom to arrive far longer than he ever had to wait for Mark; ‘Mark must’ve been turned around because his arms weren’t bending the right way — either that, or both of them were broken. Yeah, they were probably just broken.’
TIM SAT IN HIS mom’s car and avoided making eye contact. He looked out the window instead. He felt bad — Dianne was the only one working, dad had gotten worse. Tim knew they were drowning in debt from the hospital bills and funeral. He just didn’t really want to talk to anyone, not even his mom.
As Tim and his mom pulled away from the curb of the school he looked out at the forest line as something bright red caught his eye. He strained his eyes to see what looked like a girl far in the distance standing on the edge of the trees. Her hair was floating above her shoulders, like she was submerged in water. She was wearing a simple pink summer dress even though they were still in the dead of winter. He strained his vision and could see she was wearing a blindfold across her eyes. He asked his mom if she could see her, and as Dianne went to look they drove into the woods and the girl disappeared behind the tree line.
AT HOME TIM DID everything he could to stay in his room. Everytime he passed the basement door he thought of his dad, Richard, sitting down there in the darkness on the computer; wasting their money, indulging in who knows what. The basement was Richard’s domain. Richard didn’t work, and had become nothing but a parasite to the family. Mark got his temper from their dad, and Tim wanted to become the exact opposite of everything he knew his father to be. Richard loved sports and gaming, and for those reasons Tim avoided sports and never touched a gaming console.
When Mark went missing, Richard went from having occasional temper tantrums, to a complete shut down. The only reason they knew he was alive was because he didn’t care for headphones, and he would order a big meal to their door at least once a day. Tim wondered why his mom hadn’t kicked him out yet.
THE NEXT DAY AT SCHOOL Tim went to the library again. He sat down and opened up YouTube. The library was on the second floor and he enjoyed sitting on the beanbag in front of the large window that looked out on the front of the school yard. He felt he was being watched and looked around. He started scrolling to see what the algorithm offered him today, when the color red caught his eye.
Tim looked up from his phone, and outside the window directly in front of him – the same girl with red hair from the day before was standing in the road a hundred or so yards away. She seemed to be looking right at him even though she was still wearing a blindfold. Her hair floated, and he could now see that she too seemed to be floating slightly above the ground. She was wearing the same pink dress.
He watched as a car pulled out of the parking lot and slowly turned into the road. He froze as the car continued forward towards the floating girl. The car drove directly into her. Tim stood with fright and yelped as she got swept under the vehicle. Other students saw him and rushed to the window. When the car passed over, Tim watched as the girl got back up and resumed her stance – appearing perfectly healthy.
Mitchell shook Tim, being one of the students who rushed to the window, and frantically asked, “what’s wrong?” Tim looked at Mitchell and saw sincere confusion on his and the other student’s faces. “You don’t see her?” Tim said, pointing to the girl in the road. “Where?” Mitchell said, growing impatient. Tim looked once more at the girl and in utter confusion and embarrassment, walked away.
He walked down the stairs and into the bathroom. He closed the stall and began to cry quietly to himself. He wiped his eyes and when he rubbed his eye lid open slightly – he saw beneath the stall door in front of him, two feet floating just above the floor. He startled and froze until he heard a girl say, “Tim, are you in there?”
Tim flung the door open. Standing before him was the girl with floating red hair. Seeing her this close, he saw she was made of wood — and like a puppet she was held up by nearly imperceptible strings. She was smiling. Tim got up slowly at first, but then bolted out the bathroom door.
THE PUPPET BEGAN SHOWING up everywhere. Tim was afraid of it at first, but as time passed he just became more and more curious. He would ask people if they could see her — no one could. Since their encounter in the bathroom, she seemed to keep a respectful distance. But still always lurked in the beyond. Tim eventually stopped trying to get people to see her, because they started to look at him weird; even Kara.
Tim got back his report for his hardest class and saw that his grade was slipping — he had stopped turning in assignments and they were beginning to pile up on him; the girl watched
from the corner of the classroom. Falling asleep during Mr Durman’s stories — he would wake from reliving the accident and she would be watching him from the shop window. Kara began to ask Tim if he was okay, and walking behind her was the puppet. Waiting for his mom to come pick him up; she just stared at him from the forest line.
She seemed to be the first thing Tim saw every time he snapped out of a vision of his brother’s mutilated body. Every time she appeared Tim would look longer and longer. He began creeping ever closer to her, just to see her clearer. She was quite the sight to behold. He always noticed her floating red hair first. It caught his eye. A wooden puppet held up by strings, blindfolded – smiling. Always smiling. Without even needing to gesture to him, he knew she was calling him to come over.
AFTER SCHOOL, SITTING ON the curb, he stared her down across the road as she floated just behind the tree line. He rose from his seat and walked towards her. Without even checking for cars, he walked across the road and up to her. His hand was still in a cast and caused him an aching pain that was as constant as the dreadful visions of his brother’s horrific injuries.
“Hey there,” the puppet said casually as he drew closer. “What do you want?” Tim replied, as he walked into the trees a few yards. “It’s not about what I want, Tim — I’m here to help you.” The puppet said with a maturity and confidence that didn’t match the youthfulness of her voice. He wondered what she meant by help, and felt to brace himself for an attack at any moment. The trees were thick with pine needles and walking even just a few yards dispelled a surprising amount of light. The puppet then raised her arms and presented to Tim a pure white egg. The egg beamed with a radiant light that hovered gently around the shell. “What’s this?” Tim said in response. “No questions. Close your eyes,” the puppet interrupted.
Tim closed his eyes. They seemed to close before he decided to shut them. As soon as they closed, Tim saw his dead brother again. “Keep your eyes closed or I’ll kill you,” the puppet said far too casually. Tim wasn’t sure he heard her right, but in response to this shocking threat he flinched to open his eyes and back away. Before he could open his eyes, quick as a thought, Tim felt something sharp press against his neck with frightening speed – without piercing his skin.
Tim froze. “Woah. Please don’t hurt me,” he said, panicked. Tim closed his eyes tighter and his breathing quickened. He then heard what sounded like crying coming from the puppet; through quick, childlike sobs, the girl stated as clearly as she could, “that is the last thing I want, … hurting you … is the last thing I want.” The girls tears softened the boy with compassion and curiosity. Tim decided to not be afraid, and began wondering what he could do to help this clearly troubled girl. Tim decided to keep his eyes closed.
“My eyes are closed … my eyes are closed. What do you need? I might be able to help you,” Tim said rationally. “No!” the girl quickly and angrily replied, “I’m here to help YOU,” and with pleading in her voice cried, “please let me help you. … Think of me like medicine …” Tim heard the egg in her hand begin to crack. It felt impossible to not open his eyes. When the cracking ceased, through tears, the girl asked Tim to put out his hand. He put out his hand and felt something extremely soft, fuzzy and warm get placed in the center of his palm. The girl could tell how hard Tim was trying to not open his eyes and said, “trust me! Keep your eyes closed.”
Tim then suddenly lost all feeling to his hand. He no longer could feel the pain of his injury. The feeling was soothing. He still had function in his hand, but he could no longer feel it. “See, it feels nice, doesn’t it?” the girl said in a nurturing manner. “Now eat it.”
Tim refused, but then felt the pointed object press slightly harder into his neck. “Eat it! Trust me, this will be the most delicious thing you’ve ever tasted.” In fear and with a slight tinge of curiosity the boy put the morsel in his mouth.
It had a slight crunch as he pressed his jaw shut; the bite released a warm smooth liquid from the inside like a chocolate truffle that flowed delicately all throughout his mouth. It indeed was the most delicious thing Tim had ever tasted. It was savory, tender and hearty like a bite of the richest steak in the world — while also having the simplicity, comfort and fun of a cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows on a cold day.
Tim lost feeling in his mouth similar to his hand. He was so relieved he wanted to cry. He didn’t know something could taste this good. He felt humbled and deeply emotional. When he swallowed, the warm numbness dropped into his core and spread throughout his whole body. He was filled with a pleasurable feeling of peace that seemed to seep deeply into even his bones. “See, I’m here to help you … I’m medicine …” the girl said calmly.
Tim was still afraid, but then realized the sights of his brother were no longer plaguing him. The numbness spread through body and mind, cleansing him of all his pain. He finished chewing and swallowing. “You can open your eyes now,” the girl said through a whisper. He opened his eyes and she was gone. Feeling flooded back into his body chasing away the numbness like goosebumps across his skin. The immaculate feeling began to fade immediately as well. It lingered in his body for only seconds longer; like the notes of the final chord of a beautiful piano solo — echoing throughout a concert hall.
His mom pulled up to the front of the school, he could see her start to panic, and he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket. He walked to the car from the forest line and got inside. He wanted to tell her more than anything what had just happened. But he also felt ashamed. He convinced himself he was too tired to say anything; he was stunned and felt lazy from the affecting journey he had gone through. She probably wouldn’t believe him anyway.
THE MORE HE THOUGHT about it, the more he realized how impactful and serene the experience was. The more he yearned deeply to see the girl in the pink dress again. When she showed up for the first time again at school, he instinctively moved to go to her, but stopped himself. ‘I need more privacy,’ Tim thought. For some reason, he felt ashamed of himself, like he knew what he was doing was wrong. But it was the best he’d felt in months, and he deserved to feel good about something in his life.
He waited for the girl to appear by the forest line after school. She eventually walked out of the trees and Tim immediately rose to his feet to go meet her. The experience with the egg was just as rewarding as before, and they never even spoke a word to each other, aside from her warning to Tim — to keep his eyes closed.
Eventually, Tim was willing to meet the girl and eat the morsel in many different places. The bathroom, his bedroom at home, behind the school during lunch, and of course by the forest line while waiting for his mom to pick him up.
The girl with red hair warned him every time to not open his eyes. The more he thought about the warning and the threat on his life, the more he yearned to know what he was eating. He would go back and forth convincing himself it didn’t matter — but would become overwhelmed by the memories of how delicious it was, and why he should simply trust her.
TIM WENT TO THE bathroom during Mr. Durman’s class and met the girl there. He listened to the cracking of the egg and his heart began pounding with excitement. As he listened to the soothing crackle, he decided he was going to look today, and try and see what was being put in his hand. He felt he could get away with it without the girl noticing. After the soft warm morsel was placed gently in the center of his palm, he opened his eyes ever so slightly. He discerned for a split second the shape of the object he was consuming; it looked like a chestnut. It was covered in tiny fibers so small that it appeared and felt as smooth as silk.
Suddenly the puppet reached its wooden hand forward. She closed Tim’s hand tightly and crushed the morsel inside of it. A beat later she squoze his hand even tighter and Tim could feel his fingers and bones snap just like in the accident. He watched as purple ooze from the morsel flowed down his broken hand and the wooden hand of the puppet – mixing with his blood. Tim screamed and yelled in pain. He looked up at the puppet in terror and saw that under the blindfold, a purple ooze was coming out of her eyes and flowed down her face like tears. The ooze soaking the blindfold was thick like blood. “Never open your eyes!” The puppet said slowly and rhythmically, with a terrifying roar that no longer rang like a little girl's voice. The sound was so distinct Tim would never forget it. The words were shrill like the screeching of an ape, yet grounded by a cadent deep cat-like purring sound that sounded like the muted rattle of a rattlesnake. The animal-like display was followed up by five quick thuds that sounded like muffled knocks on the wood of the puppet’s chest.
As she spoke the haunting sound, she flung onto the side of the stall and clung to it with all her limbs and assumed a predatory stance. She put the back of her hand on her lips and pointed at Tim with her middle finger. To Tim's ever greater horror he watched as a black stinger grew rapidly in place of her finger. She slowly climbed along the side of the stall a foot or two closer and held the obsidian looking point just in front of Tim’s eye. Tim passed out from fear and the profuse pain in his hand. Pain and fear shot through him to his spine, spreading throughout his whole body, freezing him into unconsciousness.
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