"That's not right! How the hell can't you do it correctly!?" I yelled from the top of my lungs, anger enveloped my entire being.

"But.. but.. Ms. Daphne, I.. I did it like you told me to." said the woman.

"You did, but you didn't do it correctly!" I yelled at her.

"What do you mean.. Ms. Daphne?" She looked down, her voice was as quiet as a mouse, her hand was rubbing her arm, and she tried not to make eye contact with me.

"Look here!" I yelled.

She glanced towards me, but just from the split second of her eyes looking into mine, she evaded them right away out of fear and nervousness.

Looking at her insolent face made me debate whether I should slap the living hell out of her this instant or not. I couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't do anything correctly, and she couldn't even look me in the eye when I told her to.

I stood up from my wooden chair and took a step towards her, she took a step back as tears began to flow from her eyes.

I reached out my hand towards her head, while she raised hers to guard herself and closed her eyes.

"Please stop." she muttered.

I grabbed the back of her silly little head and held it tighter than when I squeeze my stress ball. She yelled in distress as the tugging of her hair certainly felt painful for someone of her frail caliber.

I pulled her head and slammed it on my table.

"Do you see the ribbon!? It's crooked, you Idiot!" I yelled, pointing towards the white dress that was presented on my desk, at the tiny ribbon that was stitched on the side of it.

I held her there, shoving her face against the part of the dress where she made the mistake. I held her there until she finally opened her eyes and looked at her shortcomings.

"But.. but, Ms. Daphne, it's barely noticeable." she said.

Her eyes suddenly widened in fear as she realized that she shouldn't have said that in front of me.

"What do you mean it's barely noticeable!?" I yelled. I pulled her head away from the dress, making sure that I grabbed most of her hair to inflict as much pain as possible, shoving her away to not further ruin the dress with her pathetic tears.

"I don't care if it's not noticeable! Everything must be perfect!" I yelled.

I walked towards her, placing as much weight on my feet as possible out of anger, and I stomped my way through the room until I was face-to-face again with the girl that I had just shoved away, thrown onto the floor like a garbage bag.

She was now sitting on the floor, her back turned against the wall. She was looking straight at me, shaking vigorously, as fear could be seen in her eyes, as if there was a monster right in front of her.

I crouched down until I could meet her gaze straight, but instead of facing me, she looked to the side, not with her head but only with her eyes, refusing to engage her eyes with mine.

I grabbed her face this time, my hand covered her mouth, and my long fingernails dug deep into her cheeks.

I pulled her face close to mine.

"If you continue with your idiocy any further, I will fire you on the spot!" I yelled.

She didn't say anything, she couldn't since my hand was covering her mouth. Her only response was to cry and rain down her tears on my hand.

"Disgusting!" I said while I pulled away my tear-drizzled hand from her face. I pulled her t-shirt and wiped my wet hand with it, and pushed her away when I finished.

"I'll finish the dress by myself. Just come back tomorrow and deliver it to the client." I said

She didn't say anything, she was still on the ground, shaking and balling her eyes out.

"Did you hear what I said!?"

"Yes." she muttered. Her voice couldn't be comprehended over her annoying sobbing.

"Did you hear what I said!?" I yelled louder.

"Yes!" she said, raising her voice out of fear.

"Now get the hell out of here!" I yelled while pointing to the door.

She clumsily stood up, grabbed her purse off the table, and hastily exited the building.

I was finally alone. Thank God that imbecile is gone now. I don't think I could finish this dress properly when she's around, all she does is mess everything up. I let her stitch up the ribbons, as it was the easiest to do, but she couldn't even do that properly. I shouldn't be paying her for this, she's completely useless.

I calmed myself down by breathing in and out. I walked over to my desk, sat down, and continued working on the dress alone.

"Finally!" I said while stretching my arm in the air. After hours of working on the dress alone, I finally finished it.

I stood up and looked outside the door. The night was pitch black, and countless stars could be seen from up above, signaling me that it was time to end the day and surrender my body to the warmth of my bed.

I flipped the sign on the door from "open" to "closed" and locked it. I pulled down the curtains, blocking the view of all the marvelous dresses that were displayed on the mannequins in front of the window.

I didn't bother with arranging my things, there were many needles and treads scattered everywhere on the desk and even on the floors, but I had no energy left to clean it up.

I'll just force my lackey of an assistant to clean it up for me when she comes back tomorrow. She doesn't deserve to be called an assistant, all she's good for is making my coffee, and cleaning the place, but even then she messes up a lot.

I should probably just fire her when my schedule isn't too hectic, or maybe I should just lessen her paycheck. Hard-earned money shouldn't be wasted on idiots like her.

I let out a quick chuckle. When I finished fantasizing about how to mistreat my lackey of an assistant, I grabbed the finished dress from my table, turned off the lights, and went through the door that was at the back of the building.

The building doubles as a house and a shop, and I am the proud owner. I walked through the door, and what awaited me was the warm and inviting air of my living room.

It was dark. I didn't bother with opening the lights as I headed straight for the stairs, ignoring the bathroom door on my way as I didn't feel like taking a dip in the tub at night. I walked up the stairs with the dress in hand. A door stood at the end of the staircase. I went inside and closed the door.

I opened the lights to reveal a standard bedroom. Everything item and furniture inside was average, all the essentials were there, nothing was too expensive but not cheap either, the only thing that differentiated my bedroom from others, as well as to show my profession, was that there is a mannequin that stood at the side of my bed.

I carefully dressed it with the dress that I brought, ready to be delivered to the client tomorrow. I took a step back to admire my work, it was mine, and mine alone, I deserve all the credit for making such a brilliant piece, no one else deserved a slither of praise.

The dress simply looked stunning. Its color was as white as snow, all the details were in place, it perfectly fit the mannequin, and its silhouette was simply magnificent, truly a perfection.

I admired it even more, I might have been staring at it for an hour now. I grabbed my phone from my pocket and took a picture of my masterpiece to forever memorialize my craft, as it will be out of my hands when I sell it to the client tomorrow.

I almost felt like refusing to sell it, as I simply felt too proud of it. I am truly skilled at my craft, no one could come close, not a trendy fashion designer, nor an idiot of an assistant.

I snap out of my daze from my alam clock ringing, 10:00 pm was displayed. I normally go to sleep at 11:00 pm, so seeing that I had some more time to kill, I changed my mind and decided to head to the bathroom and take a well-deserved bath.

I undressed myself, threw the worn clothes into the clothes bin, hopped in the empty bathtub, and turned on the faucet until it was filled.

It felt amazing, the warm water soothed all my accumulated stress and annoyance from work, which was all caused by the idiot that I call my assistant. Everything seemed to melt away as I let my body rest on my pristine white porcelain tub. All my worries and problems seemed to be washed away by the waters that surround my being.

I closed my eyes and enjoyed the silence of the bath.

"Look here."

I immediately opened my eyes in surprise. I heard a sort of voice from somewhere, but I'm not sure where it came from, nor what it said. It might have been my imagination or something, I'm just, not too sure. It might have been my brain playing tricks on me. It's probably from stress. It's nothing to worry about.

After calming down a bit, I closed my eyes again and sank deeper into the tub.

"That's not right."

I jumped out of the tub. This time, I'm sure I heard it, I'm dead sure. Everyone could call me crazy all they want, but I'm positive that I heard a voice. It sounded deep, like someone was using a voice changer, but worst of all, it sounded angry.

I was terrified. I dashed out of the bathroom, I was still naked and wet, but I didn't care. I jolted back into my bedroom and slammed the door shut. With my shaking hands, I locked the door and slowly walked backwards away from it.

"There's nothing to worry about, it's nothing, it's just my imagination. Keep it together, Daphne." I muttered to myself.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

I tried to be logical about it. There couldn't possibly be a ghost around, it's just a myth, a superstition, a desperate hallucination of those who grieve, an existence from a child's imagination, a fantasy, and nothing more.

They couldn't possibly exist. I am sure that I heard it, but I'm trying my best to hypnotize my mind and suggest that it was all just a fantasy. The voice was clear, almost too clear. I can remember hearing it, I remember the tone, the pitch, the duration, I remember it all. I couldn't forget it at this moment. No matter how much I talked myself into forgetting it, I just couldn't.

I don't believe in ghosts, it's a stupid thought. If they really existed, then why isn't there any solid proof? Any documentation of it? All the "proof" that people found were blurry photographs and word of mouth. They're not real. They can't be real. Aliens are more real than ghosts. But, it was too realistic. The sound I heard was lifelike. I feel like I'm going crazy.

I opened my dresser and grabbed a towel. I wiped away all the water off me: water from the bath, and water from my nervous sweat. I threw the towel at the corner of the room, I didn't want to go outside and place it in the clothes bin. I'm too scared to go outside, as long as daylight hasn't arrived, I'm positive that I wouldn't stand a single foot outside this room.

I couldn't believe myself. A grown adult is scared of a voice she heard, it's ridiculous, but if you're in my shoes, then it's simply frightening. All the fears that I had as a child seemed to resurface. I didn't even know that I could get this frightened in my life. The last time I remember being scared of something was failing a test in college.

I took out a nightgown and dressed myself. Even with the skimpy layer of clothing, I still feel incredibly cold, but the fan and air conditioning weren't even turned on.

I closed the lights. Even though turning off the lights made the atmosphere even more frightening, keeping them on would change nothing. If ghosts really existed, they would still attack regardless of whether it was bright or dark.

I got on the bed, covered my shivering body with my nice and warm blanket, and went to sleep, hoping that I would forget everything that happened today when I woke up.

"Look here."

I screamed, I tried to scream, but I couldn't. I heard the voice again. That by itself was enough to wake me up from my slumber. A cold chill ran down my spine. I tried to open my eyes, but I couldn't. What the hell is happening? Please, someone, help me! I can't move my body. I can't move my arms, legs, eyes, mouth, or anything else. It's like I'm frozen solid or something. What's going to happen to me? It's a dream, it must be a dream. This couldn't possibly happen in reality. It's all in my head, I'll definitely wake up any time now.

It felt like an eternity had passed, but I'm still stuck. Suddenly, the alarm rang. I was finally able to open my eyes. See, it's all just a dream. But, wait, I.. I still couldn't move! What the hell is happening.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was the dress on the mannequin. It was dark, but the moonlight coming from the open window illuminated my room enough to see.

It was simply too gorgeous to not give a minute or two of your time to admire it, but that had to wait later.

I tried to move my eyes, but I couldn't. My vision was stuck on the mannequin. I tried to focus on the things in my peripheral. I can see the bed next to the mannequin, which meant that I wasn't on it and instead, I'm standing straight up. There was nothing out of the ordinary, nothing out of place, everything was fine, but why, why was this happening to me!?

The alarm stopped ringing. It was at this moment that I realized what was wrong. It was blindingly obvious, literally right in front of me, but I failed to notice it at first. The mannequin in front of me is not normal. The mannequin that I had in my room was a simple white mannequin that had no limbs nor head, just the torso, but now, it had both.

"What the hell!?" I screamed in my mind. I began to sweat, I couldn't move, but I could feel it on my back, on my neck, on everything. I had no choice but to look at the altered mannequin in front of me.

"Look here."

There's the voice again.

"Look here!" it yelled.

I began to freak out, but I still couldn't move. I don't know what's happening anymore. Am I going crazy? Is this what people call sleep paralysis?

Suddenly, the most horrifying sight that I have ever seen in my entire life appeared right in front of me.

The mannequin, it opened it's eyes.

It didn't have eyes in the first place, not even a head, but now its eyes were open. It had black eyes, almost human-like. It stared at me, and I had no choice but to stare back. Its creepy gaze made my entire being shake. I wanted to look away, I wanted to close my eyes and delude myself that nothing was happening, but I couldn't.

The mannequin raised its hand, its movement wasn't human, it was too stiff and moved robotically, it was indeed still a mannequin, but alive.

The mannequin waved its hand.

I'm confused. What is it doing? Did it really do all this just to wave at me?

Then it touched its head, I touched mine as well.

Wait, what!? I can move! I just touched my head, does this mean that I could move again?

I tested it by trying to move my leg, then my arm, but, I couldn't, it's as if they were frozen in place. Whenever I tried to move, I felt this sort of pressure pushing me back.

Why was I able to touch my head but not move completely?

The mannequin touched its chin, I touched mine as well.

It pointed to me, I pointed to it.

I realized what was happening, it's frightening, it feels unreal, but it's definitely happening.

Everything the mannequin did, I copied. It was like I was the mannequin. What the hell is happening? This can't be right! Why? why? why? I don't know. I want to wake up, I don't even know if I'm awake or asleep. It feels real, too real, when I touched my head, it felt real.

The mannequin opened its hand, I opened mine.

The mannequin's hand dropped to the floor.

In a split second, I knew what was going to happen. A cold chill began to envelop me as sweat began to form on my forehead.

It won't really happen, right? It's a mannequin, I'm human. There's no way my hand could just detach, there's absolutely no way!

Suddenly, my hand dropped to the ground.

I couldn't see it, but I felt it. It was incredibly painful, I could cry at any moment, I wanted to cry, but I couldn't. The feeling I felt in this moment was extremely intense. It's like the feeling when a guillotine chops your hand off, I didn't know how that would feel, but I am definitely feeling something similar to that.

I tried to scream. It was excruciatingly painful, the worst pain that I've felt in my entire life. I was scared, extremely scared. I want to run away as soon as possible. I would even jump out of the window this very instant if I could.

Please! let this be a dream, please don't forsake me, God! I'm not religious, but I'll gladly call upon all the saints in existence. I'll praise thy name and offer my everything to you. Please, save me from this hell.

I could feel the blood draining away from my body. The blood flowed out of my arm and onto the floor. I could feel the blood accumulate and spread on the floor as my feet felt the hot liquid.

I'm done for.

The mannequin started to move again, its black human-like eyes still locked onto mine. It didn't have any facial expression or anything that I could tell its emotion from, but for some reason, I knew, it was angry.

"Look here!" it yelled.

"Yes! Yes, I'm looking!" I yelled in my mind."I'll do anything, just please let me go!"

It pointed to the ribbon, I pointed to the same location, but on my body, mirroring the mannequin.

"Do you see the ribbon!?"

"Yes! Yes, I see the ribbon! What else do you want!? Please stop this! Please spare me!" I yelled in my mind.

"It's crooked, you idiot!" the mannequin yelled.

It grabbed on to the ribbon, and violently pulled it, ripping it off along with a portion of the dress.

I did the same, I was forced to do the same. My hard work, my efforts, my masterpiece, it was now ruined, ruined by an entity that's about to kill me.

My nightgown is torn, my hand is severed, what else is it going to do to me? I didn't know. I don't even know how this is happening. All the uncertainties and pain increased my fear. I feel like I could faint any second.

It started to move again. This time, it reached its hand over to the drawer next to it, opened it, and rummaged inside, I did the same motion, but there was nothing to my side, so I just did the movements in the air.

It found what it was looking for. I couldn't see it since it was small, and my vision was still fixed on the mannequin. It held the item in front of me, and I held my hand out as well. It was a needle with thread attached to it, but why? Why was I holding the same exact thing as well!? I did the motion in the air, there was nothing there to touch, but for some reason, I magically had a needle and thread appear on my hand.

I don't even know what's happening anymore. My hand was still held out, while the other was bleeding out. I can feel that I don't have much time left before I faint from blood loss. I feel weak, sluggish, if I hadn't been copying the mannequin's movements, then I would certainly be collapsed on the ground right now.

It started to move again. I didn't pay attention, I tried to shut my mind down, ignoring everything that was happening. I can't control my body, so I'll just let it happen and get this over with. I'm going to die. I know I'm going to die. I'm trying to accept it in my mind, but it's hard. It's hard to just know that I'm going to die right now and can't even do anything to stop it. I can't move, struggle, scream, cry, anything. I can't do anything.

I'm now numb. I couldn't feel anything anymore. It might have been from blood loss. My mind also felt numb, I could barely think. I might have gone crazy. I'm going to die any second now. I actually hope that I will die any second now. I couldn't take it anymore. Just get it over with, end my suffering, end my life, I don't care, just do it!

I can see the mannequin doing something. With the needle and thread it has, it was stitching up the thorn part of the dress, but it was also stitching it up to its plastic body. I couldn't feel what was happening right now, but I know that I'm currently stitching my nightgown to my flesh. The needle goes in and out, but I couldn't feel it.

"That's not right! How the hell can't you do it correctly!? yelled the mannequin.

Yes, it might not have been right, but I'm too scared to look, I couldn't even look, and if I could, I'd be scarred to see my own flesh punctured with threads. It was probably too bloody to see the thread clearly. All I could feel was cold, freezing cold.

"You didn't do it correctly!" yelled the mannequin.

It stopped stitching the dress.

I thought it was over, I thought that it was finally done with everything, but I was wrong, dead wrong.

The mannequin raised the needle, and started to stitch its lips, it didn't even have lips, I just inferred it from the general area that it was stitching, but unfortunately, I did the same. I'm glad I was numb at this point. I'm also glad that I could barely think. If I were still fully conscious at this point, I would probably be screaming in pain, if the mannequin would even allow me to scream in the first place.

"Disgusting!" the mannequin said. This was the last word it said as it finished stitching up the mouth. But at this moment, I realized that it was my voice that it was using, just pitched down a bit. I didn't care at this point.

Now, it began stitching the right eye. I did the same. A portion of my vision was cut off as I fully stitched up my right eye.

I could only stare at the mannequin with one eye, but so could the mannequin. If it was using my voice, then that could mean that it had my eyes as well, since it was black like mine. But I don't care, just end this nightmare already.

It let go of the needle, I did the same.

Is it over? It has to be over, right? Just let me drop dead, I don't want to see what's next anymore. Why the hell didn't it stitch up the other eye? If it did, then I would definitely have it easy by not feeling or seeing anything, as if I were already dead. I might have been dead already. I have fully accepted in my mind that I will die, I'm just waiting for it to happen.

As the moments passed, I knew, this was it. It’s definitely over. I wish that I at least had time to do everything that I wanted to do in life. I want the dress to be delivered to the client, I want the client to enjoy my masterpiece, I want her to be happy, I want to work on another one, I want to refine my skills, I want to be famous, I want to be rich, I want my family to be proud of me, I want to build a company, I want to hire skilled workers to work for me, I want to... apologize to my assistant, I want to be surrounded by my friends when I die, and... I want to live.

My mind went blank. I can’t think anymore, but I can still see.

The mannequin opened its hand, I did the same.

It grasped its neck, I did the same.

It grasped it tightly, I did the same.

Its head detached and fell to the ground, I did the same.

It closed its eyes.. forever, I did the same.

I’m scared. I’m right in front of the store’s door. I don’t want to go inside. What if Ms. Daphne yells at me again? I’m only doing this job because it pays well. I wouldn’t subject myself to such mental torture from her if I had a choice, but I’m deeply in debt from college tuition.

"Ms. Daphne! I’m here to deliver the dress!" I nervously knocked on the door. The sign still displayed "closed."

"Ms. Daphne! Are you home!?"

I called and called again, and even tried to call her on the phone, but she didn’t respond.

Realizing that she might not be home, I eased up a little, as her being gone removed all the anxiety and nervousness from my body. I sighed in relief.

"Guess I’m not gonna get yelled at today." I happily muttered to myself.

I took out the spare key that Ms. Daphne gave me and opened the door. I opened the lights. The room was just as messy as yesterday. I looked around a bit, but the dress wasn’t there. I went to the back door that goes into the house portion of her building. I knocked again.

"Ms. Daphne! I’m here!"

There was still no response. She really is not home today.

I tried twisting the doorknob, and to my surprise, it was open. I entered the room to see her living room. I didn’t want to intrude any further because she might yell at me if I did, so I’ll just hastily search the rooms until I find the dress.

"This is the last room." I muttered to myself.

I stood in front of a door on top of the stairwell. I opened it and walked inside. It was her bedroom. The room was cleaner than I expected. She definitely lives a simple life, as there is barely anything out of the ordinary in here, only the necessities.

I walked to the other side of the room, and I finally found it. Next to her bed was a mannequin that wore the dress. I couldn’t help myself and stared at it for a few minutes, admiring how beautiful it was.

Even though it was made by such a horrible person, I can’t help but praise her for her work.

It was truly a masterpiece.