Heart of the unknown

The hours passed with suffocating slowness, as if time itself had conspired with the night to press its weight upon my shoulders. I moved between sitting and standing, watching the corridors and staircases, but nothing happened... just a long silence curling around the walls like black curtains.

For a moment, I thought the night would pass uneventfully... but I was wrong.

Suddenly... within the depths of this stillness, a faint sound broke through the darkness, like weary breathing.

"Click... click..."

The sound came from the direction of the storage room.

My breath caught.

I slowly raised my head, staring into the darkness that swallowed the end of the corridor, then turned my ear again toward that direction...

Yes, I wasn't imagining it.

The sound was like light footsteps—not heavy like a man's, not rushed like an animal's, but hesitant... soft... as if something didn't want to be discovered, yet couldn't completely hide itself.

I swallowed hard and whispered to myself:

"Is it the cat again?"

I wanted to believe that. I desperately hoped it was just another lost cat that found shelter in this cold place.

I stepped off the stairs heavily, gathered my breath, and tightened my grip on the sword at my side. I walked cautiously toward the storage room... the same room where all the strange things had begun. My footsteps echoed faintly against the stone floor, as if protesting my decision.

Standing before the door, something inside me pulled back. A faint whisper from deep within warned:

"Don't do it... this time is different."

I slowly reached for the iron handle. It was so cold it made my fingers tremble. I hesitated... I felt that if I opened this door, I would regret it. Not a passing feeling, but a true omen.

And yet... I opened it.

The door creaked softly, and a wave of dust and old wood scent rushed into my face. I entered the room with cautious steps, my eyes sweeping through the dark space for any movement.

The air was still.

Everything was in its place...

Except one thing.

I froze in place, my gaze locked on it.

There, on a wooden crate in the corner, was the doll.

Yes, the small cloth doll, the size of an infant, dressed in a faded pink dress, placed perfectly upright... staring at me.

My heartbeat quickened, like it was pounding on my chest to warn me of danger.

I was sure... absolutely sure... that the doll had been on the floor on my first shift. I remembered clearly placing it on the crate, only for it to fall. I never returned it.

So who put it back?

I took a step forward, then paused, searching my mind for a rational explanation.

"Maybe someone came during the day and placed it there... maybe..."

But despite my attempts to convince myself, it wasn't enough.

Something about the way the doll sat... its stillness... its glass eyes—it wasn't natural.

I looked at it... and it looked at me.

Yes, its gaze wasn't that of a lifeless toy.

It pierced through me.

I can't explain the feeling, but I sensed that those deep black eyes weren't glass... they were windows. Windows to an abyss. Its stare resembled darkness—not the darkness of night, but the kind you feel when looking into the bottom of a never-ending well.

I froze.

The air grew heavier, the room suddenly more humid.

We stared at each other for a few seconds that felt like an eternity. I stared... and it stared back.

No smile.

No nod.

No movement.

Yet it was there... watching me.

...

I smirked bitterly, my expression half-nervous, half-defeated as I stared at the doll.

"What stupid thoughts," I told myself, trying to chase the haunting images from my mind.

But... wait.

Hadn't I myself been transported to a fantasy world? Wasn't that alone enough to cast doubt on everything else? In my old world, the idea of a moving doll belonged to cheap horror movies... But here? Nothing seemed impossible.

I took a deep breath and decided to ignore the voices in my head. I began searching for the source of the sound I heard earlier, rummaging through things, looking behind crates and into corners, but found nothing.

Everything was still, as if the room mocked me.

I sighed inwardly, then turned slowly, walking toward the door.

One step...

Two steps...

And then—

"THUD!"

A loud, heavy sound—as if something crashed to the ground with unnatural force.

I froze.

A cold sweat ran down my back, and I wished with all my heart that what I feared hadn't just happened.

But the winds rarely obey our wishes.

I turned slowly, heart pounding like the drums of an ancient war.

I looked behind me, and there, on the dusty floor of the storage room... was the doll.

It had fallen off the crate.

But...

Something was very wrong.

When I had looked at it moments ago, its features were cold, expressionless, blank.

Now...

It was smiling.

A cold, strange, terrifying smile.

Not the smile of a child or a toy...

But the smile of a predator savoring its prey.

I instinctively stepped back, but quickly forced myself to stand firm.

"It wasn't smiling before..." I thought, eyeing it cautiously.

The pieces began to fall into place like a horrifying puzzle.

This was no ordinary doll.

This... was a doll that could move.

And maybe... even speak.

It moved.

Its expression changed.

It had fallen on its own.

That's when the fear crept through my limbs like cold smoke.

But I knew one thing, from all the stories I'd read and movies I'd seen...

If a moving doll senses your fear, it attacks.

So what should I do?

There was only one option...

Pretend.

I pretended to be calm.

I said nothing, then forced a fake smile onto my face, one that felt as heavy as a leaden mask.

Inside, I was screaming...

But on the outside, I looked like any guy who had found an old toy.

I stepped toward it with measured steps, outwardly steady, though every part of me trembled.

I reached out...

And for a moment, I felt like I wasn't reaching for a doll, but the heart of a sleeping beast.

I picked it up, and its temperature was strange... neither warm nor cold... but lifeless, like it didn't belong to the natural world.

I lifted it from the floor...

Though it was light, it felt as heavy as a boulder.

Fear had made it heavy.

Carefully, as if handling an explosive, I placed it back onto the crate from which it had fallen.

I said quietly, feigning calm:

"There you go... back in your place."

Then I turned slowly, pretending everything was fine, while every cell in my body screamed:

"Get out! Get out now!"

And I left.

I left without running.

I left scanning the halls for anyone—someone to help me...

Because I didn't think this night would end peacefully.

And I didn't believe that this doll... had been watching me for nothing.