Chapter 5 - 5. Someone Was Waiting
Emma said someone was standing in front of my house. He wanted to knock at the door but he changed his mind. So he was there standing quietly, waiting like a statue, standing still in front of the closed door for some time then he decided to leave.
Night drifted so long and too dragged on for me. I checked the clock on the room's wall so many times. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes passed. I felt morning would not come and I could not wait for it.
I walked out of the bedroom, to the living room. I did not want to switch the light on to give me quietness while sitting there.
In the middle of the tranquility of that night, some knocks were faintly heard. The same sounds that kept haunting me. Suddenly I got goosebumps. I collected my courage and kicked out my fear before I got up from my chair. I talked to myself again and again. 'I will not run this time.
I sharpened my hearing, trying to locate where that knocking sounds came from.
"Knock, knock, knock".
"Knock, knock, knock,".
Slowly but surely that sound came closer, I was sure it came from my front yard. My curiosity could not be stopped, so I stood up and peeped out from the window of my living room. Darkness and emptiness were portrayed out there. Nobody was there. Even the white dog which had been standing there since this afternoon was nowhere to be seen.
Only shortly after that sound disappeared, then it was heard again, even louder and clearer than before. My heart bit faster as well as my curiosity to find out the source of that sound.
I peeped out again. Then, I saw a shadow of someone walked back and forth in my yard. The way he walked looked so weird, and every time his feet took a step, that knocking sound was heard.
Finally, my curiosity was answered. The knocking sound which had been haunting me so far was found. It was the sound of someone's knockings, it was from someone walking back and forth in my yard.
Carefully I looked at him if I recognized him. My brain tried to crack down my memory of my friends who knew my address, my friends, my mother and father, my brother, my relatives, every one. Too bad, none had the same physical characteristics with that man.
A negative thought crossed my mind. 'Why did he follow me? Was he a stalker? Thief?, A robber?'. All the bad ideas about that guy filled up my head. But I tried to stay positive to fight against my fear. 'He might be my friend,' I said to myself.
He was tall with white pale skin. His hair was really black and he was slightly bent. I searched in my memory a friend in the same year with that looked. Even though only A few did I knew from them, I was still able to recall anything about them. He might be one of them who tried to find my address and then he got confused. My positive mind was consoling me. .
'Wait!!' I said to myself, 'If he was my friend and wanted to find my address, why did he follow me since I was in my old house?'. My rational mind started to scare me.
Then a pair of sparkling sapphire eyes like the cat's eyes of that man startled me. For a moment, time stopped spinning.
"That" I whispered to myself. My memory ran to one of Mr. Stone's marionettes. The sapphire eyes marionette kept in a glass box. My brain processed slowly how that doll, an inanimate object, at the moment was walking in front of my house as a living thing. .
Marionette I believed could move without any strings or the help of someone to move it. Besides, Mr. Stone made that doll as a display only.
I saw that doll walked back and forth in confusion. His movement was stiff and uncommon. He was looking for something. But there were basic questions, how could that inanimate be turned to life? How could he walk?
At the same moment, I felt as if I saw magic in a story book about a wooden doll which could be a living thing. Strangely, I saw it myself now.
I watched that marionette carefully, his every movement, where he headed to and what he did. I did not miss any. I watched 'him' not because I was curious nor whatever the reasons were, but my body was stiff, feeling as if I was tied and my mouth was. But the curiosity inside me keeping me awake and defeating the fear toward that doll.
Almost two hours I watched that doll with his every movement. I was hypnotized so that I did not feel sleepy at all. Instead, that curiosity conjured me.
Clock struck 3 in the morning. I saw him walking away. I was about to follow him but fortunately I was not that brave enough to follow whatever it was. My conscience was not sure if it would be safe or not to follow him alone without any self protection. I mean, I did not know for sure if he could live. It was really confusing to me if he posed a danger to me.
Emma woke me up for breakfast. I did not know when but I found myself sleeping by the window without any mat or blanket.
"Why did you sleep here?," She asked.
"Tha, don't you think that little dog was trying to protect your house?" Emma spoke again.
"Meaning?" I replied fast. Suddenly the breakfast meal turned tasteless, my appetite had gone. I put down my spoon and looked at Emma back seriously. "I did not see that dog last night. It seemed it had gone when that man came.. I kept watching him until I did realised I was asleep, then you woke me up this morning," I explained to her.