Mary Mannequin

It had been a long night, Jim was tired, he was ready to get back to the guard station, finish his last cup of coffee and wait out his last hour before going home and going to bed. But he had his job to do, and that meant patrolling the massive store one last time tonight. Hardware, electronics, jewelry, nothing, not even the usual hum of the store ac. With all the lights out and the only illumination coming from Jim's flashlight, leaving shadows dancing this way and that as he shined it here and there. Jim had to shake his head more than once and remind himself it was only a shadow, there was nothing there, there was never anything there. Nothing interesting happened in this store at night, it was as dead as well... the dead. Jim chuckled to himself at the personal joke when a sound caught his attention, a hissing.

Jim quickly set out in search of the source of the sound, it soon brought him to the women's apparel section. As soon as he stepped within the small maze of dresses and lingerie though, the sound vanished. He knew he had heard it though. Turning off the flashlight and slipping the .9mm he had been issued his first week on the job, he moved as quietly as possible. Keeping his light off, lest it give him away, and keeping the pistol cocked, he moved slowly, his eyes darting left and right, seeking out some hint of movement, some sign of what he had heard. For several minutes he searched through the different racks and mannequins, sweat beading on his brow and dampening his palms as he felt that at any moment he would find what he had been seeking.

Jim was about to give up and believe he had been hearing things when something darted from cover just to his right, turning and bringing his gun and flashlight up, turning the flash light on, he called out to whoever it was, "Don't move!" But his shout went unheard, whoever it was, they were off and running. Jim quickly gave chase, dodging and ducking this way and that trying to get a good look at whoever it was he was chasing. But he soon realized, something wasn't right. One moment it would dart out far to his right, then as he closed in on the spot, the person would be back where he was running off in another direction. Whoever this was they were incredibly fast and could somehow avoid knocking over any of the cloths racks.

After a frantic chase, Jim was ready to give up, he had lost sight of whoever he had been chasing, not even seeing a sign of them for over a minute now. Breathing heavy and tired now, he looked around one last time to see if he could find any sign. The only thing he found though, was a mannequin that seemed... out of place. Most of the store mannequins were made to look like people with life like faces and skin color. This one though had no facial features, it's surface was white as snow and it was adorned in a deep red dress reaching it's knees. It... it creeped him out, despite having no features, Jim could swear the thing was looking right at him, as though it were alive.

Trying to shake the feeling, he turned to return to his guard station, he'd have to file a report about seeing someone, after that he could head home... He never got that far though.

He had taken a few steps when a sudden pain erupted from his back and right through to his front. Looking down, he could see five points sticking out from his abdomen, just below his chest, each one painted red from his own blood. The pain only got worse as he felt himself lifted into the air and turned around... to face the mannequin. It's face was still featureless, though he could tell now, it was looking right at him, it's arm seemed to have gained several arm joints and segments to reach out and hold him as it was. It was then that something happened with it's face, where it's lower jaw would be, it seemed to split open, revealing a hole from where it's nose would be down to it's collar bone that kept getting wider and wider as it drew him near. This hole was the last thing he saw.

The next day police were baffled by the scene. The body of Jim Harris, impaled clear through and missing his head, as if it had been bitten off by something huge. What more, the various mannequins in the store had all been viciously ripped apart... all except for one. One of the store employee's mentioned a stark white mannequin in a red dress that had arrived in a delivery the day before, but was now missing, a search was conducted by the store employee's as it wasn't a matter for the police given the death already having taken place, but no sign was ever found.