I can hear something

I was terrified. What was I supposed to do? There was nothing that I could do except for waiting and hope for the better.

As I walked in, my mind was filled with thoughts, a few predictions and extreme expectations. I sat down on a chair and started to regret buying the mannequin. Even if such a detailed doll came for such a low price, I wouldn't enjoy hearing cries for help while sleeping at night.

"Tell me, what should I do now? Should I proceed on like nothing ever happened? Or should I turn back and return the mannequin before it's too late? I don't know what to do anymore. That mannequin ruined my emotions and made my mind unstable."

I returned to the truck to place the mannequin inside the storage room. When I held it, it was cumbersome like an average human being. I expected it to be lighter since there weren't any insides to the mannequin that would make it as heavy as a real human being. This concerned me.

I placed it inside the storage room and went home. I was tensed and panicking all along the way.

Once I reached back home, it was dark since I turned off all the lights before I left. That made me even more concerned.

I wanted to go to sleep as soon as possible and did so too.

The next day, that is, today, I woke up, did the usuals, and left for the stage as everything was supposed to be ready by tonight.

The first thing I checked was the storage room for the mannequin. I sighed in relief, confirming that it was there and, more importantly, nothing unusual about it. I got the mannequin dressed for the play and checked whether everything was present. Great! Everything is just as how I planned it to be. I applied make-up on the mannequin and called the actors. Everyone was present except one.

I didn't know where to find the actor. Everyone else was equally tensed and claimed they didn't know where she was. Although, when I asked others whether anyone had seen him yesterday or early today, they all replied no. She was supposed to be playing the role of the mannequin. Without her, a main chunk of the play is cancelled.

I was thinking of what could be done when I heard something coming from the storage room.

I immediately anticipated that it would be coming from the mannequin placed inside. I didn't want to enter the room then, but I had to.

When I entered the storage room, I heard a girl crying. I couldn't see anyone there, but I could hear the cries. Even when I searched more profound, I couldn't find anything. After coming up with nothing, I knew the sounds were coming from the mannequin lying in a corner. It was troublesome to deal with something inanimate.

However, this time I didn't get paralyzed, and I was able to speak. I dared to go near the mannequin and tried to talk to it. But when I was about to say it, I could see a transparent liquid on its cheeks, more like tears. I went closer and wiped them off.

I started speaking and asking why it was crying, but of course, I wasn't going to get an answer from something that couldn't talk. I didn't know what I could do to make it speak. If it could emit sounds, then I was pretty sure it could speak and express its emotions. I was hoping for a response but didn't get any for the next fifteen minutes.

I gave up. There was nothing I could do at the moment. I didn't know any tricks or spells of black magic either. I was an ordinary human being with an ordinary life—nothing special about me.

I was exiting the storage room when I heard something.

Something except for cries...