i feel like i’m losing my mind. i must be going crazy. that’s the only logical explanation to what’s going on… but still, maybe if i talk about it, i’ll realize it’s just all in my head and stop worrying about it.
you see, the thing is… something weird started happening since last week tuesday. i was having an awful day the monday before. i was out in town, looking for a dress to this stupid work party i have coming up. i severely hate clothes shopping, because of how busy the clothing stores are, and the whole having to try on multiple items in such a short time span. it’s exhausting.
i was having an awful day, because store after store, i couldn’t find anything i liked. either it sat weird on me, or the fabric was itchy, or this, or that. i was just about to give up and go home, and just skip the event. it was probably my fault anyway that i left it so last minute.
but… just as i was about to walk out of the store, i saw the loveliest purple dress hanging on a rack. i must admit, it wasn’t properly hanged, more like hooked onto the side, the way people sometimes do when they no longer want something. i thought the dress got abandoned, that whoever picked it no longer wanted it.
i checked the label - it was my size. i went to fit it on, and, it was a perfect! i couldn’t find a single fault. i immediately went out to the checkout line.
while waiting to pay, i heard a customer talk to one of the floor ladies, saying she turned her back for two seconds on an item she chose, and then suddenly it was gone. thinking back now, i should’ve realized then, but then also - there’s so many people that just hook whatever they don’t want anymore everywhere!
i reached the till. the cashier scanned the dress, and just as i paid, i was approached by the other customer.
a tap on the shoulder. “excuse me. i think you took my dress. that was the last item on the rack, and i had picked it up for myself.”
“ i’m sorry,” i said. “ i found this dress abandoned on a rack.”
“ it wasn’t abandoned,” and i could see she was starting to get angry. “you took it while i had my back turned. you had no right to do that.”
i was uncertain what to do. but i already paid, and… i really wanted the dress. i apologized again, and said, “ i can’t do anything now. i already paid for it.”
hurriedly, i had taken my bag and rushed out of the store, before i started feeling guilty enough to return the dress. i should’ve returned the dress.
i went to my event that night. it was an awful night anyway. one of my coworkers got drunk enough to spill her red wine all over me, and outside of that i just wasn’t having fun. so after ten, i went home, got out of the dress, left it on the floor and went to bed.
and then things started to get weird.
i woke up halfway through the night to go to the bathroom, and when i climbed out of bed, i stepped in something wet and slimy and… warm. but when i looked, it was just dry wooden floors beneath my feet. i went to the bathroom, and on my way back to bed i passed my mirror. it looked like i was leaving wet footprints behind, but again, the floor was dry when i looked.
i thought maybe i was just half dreaming up some nonsense again, and by the time i woke up in the morning i had forgotten about it, until now.
everything was fine during the day. i went to work, went back home and wanted to start preparing dinner when i realized i was out of some necessary ingredients. the entire time i had this itch at the back of my neck though, like maybe im being stared at. but there was no one there, because duh, im alone at home. at some point, before leaving the house, i thought i saw a face peeking at me around the corner, but when i looked again, it was just the shadows that caught my eye.
i went to the grocery store, got what i needed and as i was paying, i heard two old ladies whisper about someone who got hit by a car. they said the person died instantly, bleeding out all over the side of the road.
when i got home, the purple wine stained dress was laying in a heap right in front of my bedroom door. i was pretty sure that i had dumped it in the laundry basket along with all my other clothes, but i don’t know, maybe i dropped it without realizing. this time, i made sure i put it in the laundry basket.
when i went to bed that night, i heard these tiny weird tapping sounds, like a finger against a surface. a rhythmic tap, tap, tap. then it’d stop for a while. and then again.
tap, tap, tap.
it’s just a tree branch against a window, right?
small things kept happening, that i will admit did start to freak me out. the tapping sounds, coming from all places in the house. feeling like im being stared at. sometimes, catching a glimpse of a face peeking around a corner. stepping in slimy, invisible puddles. once, i thought i saw blood seeping over my floor. and, the dress. i’d find it in odd places in my home, places i didn’t put it.
on sunday, my sister sent me a news article. “how horrible is this? this poor girl”, accompanied the link.
it was about the girl from last monday. she had died a few minutes after i left the shop. the article said that she had left the shop in a hurry, crossed the road without looking and got hit by an oncoming bus. dead on impact. one of the store ladies had made a comment and said she had left quite angry due to a “customer dispute”.
it made me feel awful. i should’ve returned the dress and she wouldn’t have died.
and now… it’s monday morning. six fifteen am. i woke up a few minutes ago. and, standing over my bed, leaning over me, was the bloody, disfigured girl from monday. her blood dripped all over my face.
please tell me it’s just in my head. that it’s guilt over her death. please tell me she’s not actually in my house, watching me. im losing my mind.
what if she’s here to get revenge?