The Smiler

the station

1:30 p.m., 2 lafayette st., new york city

i smashed my phone on the table in front of the cop. he looked up at me and asked me calmly:

"what do you need ma'm?"

"something is following me..." i said softly, refusing to look up at him. 

"alright ma'm, why don't you just take a seat." he told me, bringing me to a chair with many other people. 

"what'r you in for?" a sketchy man next to me asked. 

"nothing. i was the victim." i answered.

"oh. oh alright." he replied, chuckling. i shivered and held my phone. it felt like an eternity had gone by before they finally called my name. 

"riggs? sam riggs?" i heard. i got up and stumbled my way to the officer. "tell me what happened sam." so it told him. everything that happened in the broken city, the broken cab, the graffiti, the blood, the fog, everything. the officer told me to sit down again. so i did. i overheard him talking to another officer about a mental hospital. i may be crazy, but i don't deserve to go there. so i got up and sneaked past everyone to get up to the street. 3 other officer's got into the elevator before i got up there. but finally, it got to my destination, and i speeded my way past everyone. people, dogs, children, adults in suits, puddles, coffee spills, and a cardboard box. i turned the corner and rushed to my apartment. once i got to my apartment, i locked all the doors and windows. after sitting on the bed for a while and looking at the floor and noticing how many cracks there are, i finally got up when i stopped hearing police dogs barking. walking to the kitchen, i took out the lemonade from the fridge, and looked at the floor again. i noticed that there was a white spot on the wooden floor. when i got down on my knees to look at it, it was also loose. so, i pulled it out of the floor and saw many pipes and wires. but i saw something else there as well. so i grabbed a flashlight, and not thinking that looking what was inside there was the best idea, but i reached my hand in. i shifted my hand around multiple times, and finally got hold of something. so i pulled the object out. laying it out on the floor, i stared at it in horror. it was the doll. i grabbed it and stuffed it under the bed. i heard people walking upstairs. the fighting of the couple next door. and the rattling of my locked window, which was staying still before. i shut the bedroom door, and curled up in my cold bed. maybe the doll is bad luck? i thought, laying open eyed in bed. i looked out the rattling locked window, and smelled the faint smell of smoke.