Anna

By: Mace Styx

Narrated by: Katrina Medina

Length: 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Fear made me dig. After a while, I really did find something, but it didn't look like a doll to me. It looked more like an old rag sewed up to look like a doll, with two buttons as eyes and few strands of hair poking out of what was supposed to be her head. It was muddy and half-decayed, and I tried to tell her again that she doesn't need it, but I didn't.

At that point, I just wanted to go home. She looked very happy and looked at me again and asked the usual question ''Can we go play now?''

I said ''No, I am sorry, I am not feeling well, and I just want to go home.''

Anna didn't look very happy about it, but she said okay and walked me home. We walked in silence. As soon I was at my front door, I turned around to tell her good-bye, but she wasn't there. It was like she disappeared.

I made sure she was not around and then threw that stupid, ugly doll into the basement.

A lot of other strange things happened after that. I didn't give it much thought, and I ignored it because I really needed a friend.

Yes, I was a stupid kid. Stupid and lonely.

I remember one morning waking up and not seeing her in my room. That was strange to me because for the past few weeks, she was always there, every morning. I felt a bit relieved. My mom came into my room to wish me a good morning and to tell me that dad and she are going to visit our neighbors and that she made me some scrambled eggs. As soon as mom stepped out of my room, I got out of my bed to get dressed. While I was brushing my hair in front of the mirror, I saw something move behind me. I froze. I knew something was under my bed. I gained my courage, and I slowly turned around.

It was Anna. She was hiding under my bed. She smiled at me and asked ''Can we go play now?"

You can imagine the fear I felt. That was the moment I realized that something is off about her and that I don't want to be her friend, anymore. It didn't even matter to me if I was going to feel lonely again.

That was the first time I asked her to leave. She didn't seem to be upset about it. What she said next made every hair on my body stand up.

''Is it because I've been sleeping under your bed?''

She stood up and started walking toward me with a bone-chilling grim on her face. She looked different. Her long, blonde hair was then dirty and muddy. Her pink skin turned gray, and her lips turned blue. I felt a need to run away, but I couldn't. Fear took over my body.

I am not really sure what happened next. I don't remember it clearly. The only thing I remember after that is running to my mom, seeking protection. I think I only saw her a few times more after that incident. Once it was when I went with my father to our basement to pick some wood for the fire. She stood in the dark corner of that room, holding her ugly toy and hiding from my dad. When we were on our way out, I turned around and said to her: ''You are not welcome here anymore.''

Not long after that, my father got a better job across the country, so we had to move, once again. I remember us leaving. We packed all our stuff in our car and drove off. As we pulled off the driveway I looked at the creek once more. She was standing there, waving at me.

That was the last time I saw Anna. When those memories flashed back on me, it almost felt like a movie and not something I experienced. I have no idea what caused it but I did what everyone else would. I googled it. It said there that that was a repressed memory.

For all of you who don't know, repressed memory is a psychological phenomenon. It is a real thing. You usually get this phenomenon because of a trauma. Then, a memory of that trauma becomes stored in the unconscious mind, and it can be triggered by a particular identifier related to that memory, years or even decades after that event.

©2020 Mace Styx (P)2021 Mace Styx