Camila Cabello Imagines and Oneshots

46. Wind-up Girl (Part I)

Dark. That's what the room is. That's what this whole
house is, as well as the acres of land it sits upon.

The only light is that from the pale moon. It creeps through the windows, almost as softly as I creep across the crooked and creamy floors.

Well, that and my flashlight, but that doesn't sound quite so poetic.

Slowly, cautiously, I raise my recorder and push the button that switches it on as I gaze about me at the corridor. It looks like a bulldozer had been driven through it. I check the time on my watch before speaking.

"11:57pm. No sign of anything unusual yet- well, besides the level of cold spots. That could, however, be down to the lack of heating and some broken windows here and there. I'm on the left wing now, making my way down th-" I'm cut off when a noise, like something falling, comes from the room to my right.

"-the hall..." I continue, tentatively taking a step towards the heavy-looking door, "A noise from the... 5th door from the centre of the house, on the right. Could be an animal or something."

Slowly, I let go of the button and slip the recorder back into its place on my utility belt.

"Why did I think this was a good idea?" I ask myself under my breath, thinking back to when Ty, my friend and, unfortunately at times, also my boss, had suggested this assignment for me.

'It's just your typical abandoned house.' He'd said, 'Some anonymous reports of strange events seem to have emitted from it recently. We just need you to go and check it out.'

Why I'd chosen to be a Paranormal Investigator is beyond me, especially in moments like these when my hand rests against the wooden door and a chill shoots through my entire body, goosebumps following right afterwards.

I push on the door gently and it creaks on its hinges, making me cringe at the loud sound. Once it's open all the way and reveals a room that seems a little lighter than the others and with nothing but stacks of boxes inside, I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in.

Making my way into the room, I turn off my flashlight because there's enough moonlight in here to see without it.

I hear another noise, a shuffle, and my breath is gone again. It came from behind the stack of boxes in front of me.

"It's probably a cat." I tell myself, nodding to reaffirm that, "Or a rat or a mouse or something."

With a stronger nod, I switch my flashlight on again and leap around the corner, shining it at the space I couldn't see before.

And then I let out my breath again because before me is not some sort of Ouija board possessed by some demon that's pissed at me being in their house, or even a rat king, but a girl. She is leaning against the wall, sitting up with her delicate limbs and head hanging limply, almost as though she had collapsed and was simply propped up there by someone else.

If the layer of dust lying along the sharp edge of her shins was anything to go by, she's been like that for a while. And she's oddly still...

Nervously, I poke the sole of her bare foot. She doesn't respond.

"Shit!" I hiss and move closer towards her, hesitating before placing a hand gently on her chest. It doesn't rise. It doesn't fall. There's no heartbeat. Just as I'm about to think she's dead, I hear a long, low, creaking noise and look up to see her eyes open now and looking right at me.

My eyes go wide as I stumble backwards, landing on my hands and shuffling away only for my back to hit the heavy boxes behind me, my breathing just as heavy. How is she even moving? She- she was dead; She wasn't breathing or moving at all. I must be imagining things.

I shake my head and make a move to stand up, but am stopped by yet another bone-cracking sound.

"W-ait!" A hoarse voice calls, or tries to, and when I look back at her again she is pointing weakly to her right, just in front of my feet, "Please..."

A key like that of a windup toy, maybe half a foot in width, sits on the floor. It's old and oily and parts of it are chipped away, but I know that's what she wants.

I reach over with a shaking hand and pick it up, and her eyes widen a little and she nods subtly. When I hold it out to her, though, and she makes a move to grasp it, her eyes close again and she falls forward, folding almost entirely in half as she collapses.

Doing so reveals a slot in her back- no really, a rectangular hole right there in her back, revealing old-looking mechanics beneath. So... she is some sort of robot? Whatever it is is creepy as crap because she'd seemed so lifelike, besides the fact she wasn't breathing and the inhuman creaking when she'd moved.

Curiosity gets the better of me, and I shuffle forwards and insert the key into her back, twisting it a few times and hearing cogs turning and cracking inside of her. After a few turns, the key gets harder to move so I stop twisting it, and nothing happens.

"Hello?" I try, hoping she'll spring back to life again. Again, nothing happens.

I stay for a while though, feeling it's better to have a vague promise of company that to continue exploring this crooked house, and after a minute or so I hear a creak again.

When I look up, she's sitting up again and smiling at me, and she's beautiful. Whatever she is, she holds an ethereal quality that makes her look too delicate to exist.

"You saved me." She states calmly, and I just nod, not really knowing what to say.

"I'm Camila." She introduces herself, sticking her hand out for me to shake, which I do and oddly I'm met with warmth, like there's blood running through her apparently nonexistent veins.

"Y/n." I tell her, and she turns her smile into a sweet grin.

"You're probably confused..." she draws out and glances down at herself, and a shiver runs through me.

I don't even know what drives me to say "You're probably cold. Come on, I'll take you somewhere safe.", but I say it and she nods and before I know it, I'm helping her walk on shaky legs out of the 'haunted' house. I have a feeling I just found its ghost.