Mannequin: a dark psychological novel by Stefan Plesoianu

Author:Stefan Plesoianu [Plesoianu, Stefan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-10-27T23:00:00+00:00

A raging wind unleashed upon the forest, screeching, howling, and knocking the trees down. Looking up, the mannequin bent down towards me, making for the most hellish of sights: my own face, decomposed and grinning dementedly at me.

The knocking on the door woke me up. A swooshing noise also came from downstairs somewhere. One of the neighbors must have been working around the house. Through the peephole, I saw Samantha. I didn’t want to open, yet forced myself to do it.

“Sorry Chris, did I wake you up? I should have sent a message first, I’m so sorry.”

“No, it’s fine, I should’ve got up earlier. It’s good that you came,” I lied with a cracking voice.

“I’m not going to bother you, I came to ask if you want to hang out with us later.”

“Sure. Do you wanna grab a bite somewhere maybe?”

“Mom is a bit reluctant to go out for some reason, she didn’t say why. We were thinking you could come over and have a snack at ours.”

“Yeah, alright. Should I bring anything?”

“No, don’t worry.”

“When should I come?”

“Whenever, really. Mom will start cooking soon.”

“Turkey lasagna by any chance?”

“No, we’re making croquettes. Why?”

“Just curious, I recently found out it’s a specialty of hers. She made it recently and it tasted great.”

“Hm, I’ll tell her to make it more often then, I didn’t know it was a thing. She only made it twice or so when I was a kid.”

I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, pondering what to say. Samantha gave me no time to think.

“Anyway, I’ll let you be now. Come over whenever you’re ready. Sorry again for waking you up,” she headed back to Mrs. T’s apartment.

“No problem. Thanks and see you later.”

I still had to perform socially, somewhat, although those responsibilities would soon diminish. It became difficult to focus on the day-to-day, on the routine conversations with people, on what they had, or more often, didn’t have to say. My attention was magnetically drawn inwards and focused into a state of mind, a state of being that constantly sucked me further in. Permanently distracted, I tended to forget altogether about the few tasks I had to do. Therefore, I struggled to remember having to honor their invitation, despite going over as soon as three hours after Samantha knocked on my door. A pleasant cheesy aroma imbued the air in the apartment. Samantha was washing the dishes while Mrs. Trent laid the cloth on the table.

“Can I help you?” I asked the daughter.

“No, I’m almost done anyway. Maybe you could give mom a hand?”

“Sure. Should I bring the cutlery, Mrs. T?”

With a look of indignation, she turned towards us.

“No Chris, I got it. Samantha, I told you I’ll set the table myself!”

Samantha played it off, continuing with the dishes. When her mother switched back to the cloth, she gave me a heads up.

“She’s a little grumpy, I can’t figure why. It’s like I’m invading her home or something,” Samantha muttered, with Mrs. T unable to hear her over the running water.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.