The Mannequin

I think it’s cute how my daughter, Ryan, has such a vivid imagination. She always thanks me for carrying her to bed after she falls asleep on the couch. But I never do that, so I just figure that she wakes up, very sleepily, and walks herself to bed whenever this happens.Late tonight, Ryan and I are watching a movie. Normally, I don’t let her stay up very late, but since it’s the summer, what harm could it do?Lo and behold, we both fell asleep, Ryan on the couch, and I on the armchair. I awake and glance over at the clock, which reads 2:47 am. I reach over to the remote control and shut the television off.“Ryan, time for bed,” I say groggily. No response. I tilt my head to get a better view of the couch, and alas, there’s no Ryan. I head upstairs to go into her bedroom, just to make sure she’s asleep.I push the door open and flip the switch. Ryan rolls over, and looks at me, slightly confused.“You woke me up,” she says, “thank you for carrying me, Mom.”“I didn’t, Ry. You woke yourself up and walked to your room, silly.”“No I didn’t… you carried me. I woke up when we were on the stairs, and saw your arms underneath my legs.” I froze. I know she has a stretched imagination, but this was too eerie for me. I try to put some logic into the situation by labeling one of us as sleepwalkers. No big deal, tomorrow, I’m going to buy a camera for the living room and see who the sleepwalker in this family is.Tomorrow comes, and I have just purchased a camera. I charge it all day so that I’m ready for nightfall. Once charged, the camera is placed on a side table so that there’s a decent view of most of the living room and the archway that leads to the stairs. Perfect!Night comes, of course, and Ryan is sitting on the couch, ready to watch her favorite show, Spongebob Squarepants.“Have fun with your Spongebob marathon, Ryan. I’m going to bed.”“Okay, good night!”Before I leave for my bedroom, I turn the camera on. The recording light is on, so that’s my cue to head for bed.The morning light comes and floods my bedroom. Immediately I think of the recording from last night, so I rush out of bed, and headed straight for the camera. Once it’s grabbed, it’s time to plug it into my computer and watch what happened last night.Everything seems normal for the first few episodes of the Spongebob marathon. But then it reaches the episode where a big worm invades Bikini Bottom. I always laugh at that episode when Patrick says “we should take Bikini Bottom and push it somewhere else!” So of course, I was expecting that line. I was ready to laugh when I noticed something wasn’t quite right with the episode. During that scene where all of the town’s citizens are debating what to do in the Krusty Krab, I notice that there was a random mannequin thrown into the crowd. But instead of it being a drawn character like the rest of the fish in the show, the mannequin was realistic, err, sort of. She had no eyes, ears, or nose, but most mannequins don’t. However, she had a petite mouth.I know Spongebob sometimes has hidden sexual innuendos, but throwing in a random mannequin into the crowd just didn’t seem like “normal” Spongebob. Finally, the episode got to my favorite part! But the episode still wasn’t right. Patrick starts to say his line.“We should take the mannequin and push it into Ryan’s world,” he says as he stares straight at the screen.I’m frightened. Did he really just say Ryan’s name?!As the episode continues, the fish of Bikini Bottom start to push the mannequin forward and into the screen. After a few strong pushes, the mannequin starts popping through the television! The mannequin makes a thunk as she hits the ground. She’s stiff and still holding her mannequin-like pose.At this point, my eyes are wide with fear, but I just can’t stop watching.The mannequin remains stiff on the ground for a few minutes, and my dear Ryan is sleeping on the couch, not aware of what just happened in front of her.Finally, there’s movement. The mannequin is slowly moving her plastic arms to lift herself off of the ground. Once she’s up, she walks towards sleeping Ryan. I see her give Ryan a slight smile, kind of like a mother seeing her baby. The mannequin picks my child up and carries her to her bedroom. Rapidly, I think that the mannequin might still be in her bedroom, doing who knows what.A few minutes of the video passes, and the mannequin makes her way back downstairs and into the living room. Good, she’s going back into the T.V. I make a mental note to destroy the television A.S.A.P. But she didn’t continue her way to the television. Instead, she walks slowly to the camera that recorded this entire event.Finally, the mannequin’s “face” is taking up the entire screen on my computer. She gives me that same smile she gave my Ryan, but it quickly changes. The smile becomes a terrifying view of several rows of sharp, yellow teeth. Oh my god! She’s leaping through the scrghuiruhregrhirnijvkjdsoijgijogohreh