Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-25048323-20140611191724

The Hat

She slammed the door shut as hard as she could. "What have I gotten myself into?!" She thought to herself. She leaned her back against the door and slid down the door until she was sitting on the floor. She put her hands over her face and began to cry. "Why did I have to buy that hat?! Why?!" Just as she finished her thought, an abrupt thump sounded from the other side of the door. "It's here. There's no hope now.. IM GOING TO DIE!!" She screamed and sobbed. She moved away from the door, crawling on all fours, into a corner of the room and sat and stared at the door. Rocking back and forth. Crying. She sobbed as the thumping grew louder and then turned into loud banging. "Please just leave me alone! I didn't do anything!!" She cried. Just as she finished saying this, the room went silent.

She lowered her hands from her face and looked around, tears still brimming in her eyes. She thought about calling out to see if it was still there but she was so afraid that she couldn't speak. She stood slowly and began walking towards the door. As she got to the door she reached out hesitantly for the doorknob. Just as her hand grasped the doorknob the door flew open. She jumped, startled. A man in a police uniform was starring back at her. "Ma'am? Are you alright? The neighbors called saying they heard screaming" he said, a look of concern spread across his face. She looked down at her feet. Her knees went weak and she fell to her knees and sobbed. "Ma'am?!" The officer went down with her and tried to help her to her feet, "are you alright, ma'am? Did someone hurt you?" He asked, finally succeeding at getting her to her feet. "N-no. Well yes.. But it wasn't human.. At least.. Not anymore." She said, struggling to keep standing. "Not human? What the hell do you mean by that?" The officer asked, "do you mean like an animal? Like a bear?" She looked at him. "No. It came from that stupid hat! The creature it came from the hat!" She cried. "What hat? What creature?" He asked, helping her walk out of the room. "It all started when I bought that hat from the pawn shop. At first, it was just a few weird things happening here and there. Nothing you'd think twice of. But then it grew. It started physically touching me. I would feel taps on the shoulders and tiny little nudges in the hallway. Then one day it escalated and it became scratches and pushing down the stairs. And now it's trying to kill me!" She screamed and cried at the memories. The officer looked at her, dumbfounded and with disbelief. Then his face turned to sorrow. "Ma'am..." He started, "I'm sorry for what ever has happened to you, But I highly doubt you are being chased by some creature. I think you were abused by someone you thought you could trust and the only way your mind is letting yourself rationalize it is by making up this story about this creature." She stared at him. "He doesn't believe me" she thought. She began to cry again and her fists clenched with fearful anguish.

"You don't believe me.." She said, looking at him with a look of fear. "I believe you think that's what happened but what really happened is it was something completely normal but your mind exaggerated it" he replied, taking her outside to his car. "No! It's real!" She screamed. Leaves rustled behind her and she jumped. She looked behind her and screamed. "It's there! It's there in the window!" She pointed towards the front window if the house. The officer looked but saw nothing. "there's nothing there, ma'am" he replied. "No there is it's–" she looked back at the window and it was gone. Her face went grave. "Where did it go. It was literally just there." She thought to herself. "Come on, I'll take you to town and we can clear this up, okay?" He said opening the car door for her. She took a moment to look at the window again and then nodded and got into the car. A short time later they arrived at the police station.

"Tell me again what happened." The officer said with a tape recorder next to him so that he can document her answer. "Okay, well I was at a pawn shop and I saw this black hat. It was a nice hat. It reminded me of the one Abraham Lincoln would where only a lot smaller." She said, taking a deep breath before going on, "and so I bought it. I brought it home and put it in my closet. I planned on giving it to my boyfriend. He liked old fashioned hats." She stopped for a moment, wiping her eyes for she was starting to cry. "Ma'am, Did something happen to your boyfriend?" The officer asked. At the thought of what had happened she broke down and sobbed. She buried her face in her arms and cried until there was nothing left. She steadied herself after a few minutes and went on. "Y-yes. The creature killed him." She said, her eyes filling with a combination of intense sorrow and fear. "How did 'the creature' kill him?" The officer asked curiously. "It gutted him like a fish right before my eyes. With those razor sharp talons that it has for fingers. I was lucky to walk away with just a few deep gashes in my cheek and arm. Although, now, with my boyfriend gone I wish the creature did kill me." She replied, clenching her fist and looking down, hiding her eyes so the officer couldn't see the sorrow in them.

"What did this creature look like?" The officer asked. She looked up at him. The fear and sorrow in her eyes growing ever stronger. She shuddered and began to tell him what she remembered. "It was almost human like. But it was t human. It was tall and skinny but it had razor sharp talons for fingers. It wore a suit and top hat much like the one Abraham Lincoln wore but it was smaller. It's face was carved in, almost like it never had a face so it carved it in it's self. There was this aurora of something dark around it." She replied, looking off into the distance. "Okay. Would you mind if we searched your house?" The officer replied. She didn't respond. She just kept starring. "Ma'am? Can we search your house?" She still sat there none responsive. A twisted grin began to form on her face. "Ma'am?? What are you grinning about? Ma'am!" He yelled snapping his fingers In front of her face. "It's behind you" she replied in an eerie tone, still grinning.

His blood ran cold and a chill went up his spine. He slowly turned around and screamed. Before he had a time to run he felt something sharp rip through him. He looked down and saw the creatures arm reaching through him. The creature retracted it's arm, letting the officer's intestines spill to the floor. The officer's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed and fell dead. The girl began to laugh uncontrollably. she continued to laugh as the creature took her by the neck and slit her throat with one quick swipe. As she bled out on the floor she continue to grin and laugh until she died.

When the other police officers walked in their stomachs dropped. "Who the hell would do this?!" One of them shouted. They began to clean up the mess and they took evidence and opened am investigation. One of the officers walked out with a bag of evidence. "Hey is that a hat?" Another officer asked. "Yeah it is. I don't think it was one of theirs though. Hmm. I wonder why the killer would leave this behind." He replied as he took it to the evidence room and put it on a shelf. The officer took one last look and shut off the light and closed the door. 