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Pathless: Portraits of Shadows
Umbrae Viventes - Infantia Perdita

Umbrae Viventes - Infantia Perdita

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A dirty, ragged doll lies discarded, almost forgotten in a dark corner where light seems not to reach. Its faded fabric, once vibrant and colorful, is now worn and stained, gray from years spent in solitude. Once, it might have been a cherished toy, an innocent companion in a child’s play, but time and neglect have turned it into something entirely different. Now it looks more like a relic, a dusty, sinister object best left untouched.

The doll has the form of a child, but its face seems strangely empty, almost lifeless, even though someone once painstakingly stitched a smile onto its fabric. That smile, though originally intended to be cheerful, has over time turned into something unsettling, crooked, as if telling a story of dark secrets hidden through the years. The frayed line of its smile is delicate, but when you look at it, an unease fills you – the impression that this smile isn’t real, that it’s merely a mask concealing something entirely different.

But it’s not the worn fabric, the empty smile, or the frayed stitching that draws your gaze the most. It’s the needles – dozens of thin, rusted needles piercing various parts of the doll. Some pierce its chest, others its arms and legs, and one has even punctured the button eye, long devoid of its former shine. The needles stick out at odd angles, forming a grotesque image, reminiscent of a voodoo ritual or a kind of macabre ceremony.

Each needle seems placed with precision, as though the person who did this held some deep-seated anger or grief, something they wished to transfer to the doll. These needles are like traces of silent suffering, evidence of a dark, intangible energy someone poured into this object. The doll looks like the victim of a ritual, yet there’s something more – something that draws you in, even as you know instinctively it would be better not to approach it. Sometimes, when you look at it, the shadows around it seem to thicken, and the silence in the room becomes heavier, almost unbearable.

Its button eyes, once perhaps shiny and full of charm, are now dull and lifeless. One button barely hangs on by a thread that’s almost worn through, as though it could fall off at any moment, revealing something unknown. But the other eye, the one pierced by a rusted needle, is particularly disturbing. Despite being just a button, it feels as if it’s watching you, keeping vigil, gazing straight at you even when you look away. That feeling lingers, as though the doll holds some strange awareness, as though it remembers each person who dared to look upon it, as if it were a witness to things that happened in the shadows.

An aura surrounds the doll, hard to describe – heavy, suffocating, filled with unspoken words and emotions. It seems that in its presence, the air thickens, becomes harder to breathe, as though the doll itself exudes something beyond just its physical existence. A faint chill runs down your spine when you are near, and every glance at it stirs restless, chaotic thoughts.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

You can’t shake the feeling that this doll is more than just an object, that it harbors a story that may never fully be revealed. Perhaps it was once a beloved plaything, hugged at night, or maybe it has witnessed something it should never have seen. Every stain, every tear in the fabric seems to tell of something that happened long ago, of forgotten moments that will never be spoken of.

The dark red stains covering the fabric almost look like dried blood – though it could just as easily be paint or ink, it’s hard not to sense something ominous in them. They’re like traces of past events, marks of hands that were connected to this doll, hands that may have left fragments of their souls on it. The stains seem to speak of pain, of people who touched the doll, or perhaps of someone who used it as a medium to express their own suffering, their frustrations, their desires that were never fulfilled.

You can’t help but think that this doll has witnessed something terrifying, that its empty eyes have seen things no one should. Perhaps it was present at a tragedy, maybe it heard words that should never have been spoken, perhaps it felt the presence of someone as lost as it is. Every needle piercing its fabric seems like a symbol of what the doll has experienced, as though each mark is a testament to a dark ritual it was part of.

Looking at the doll, you feel as if something is calling to you, as though some invisible whisper hidden in the silence is urging you to get closer. You feel an almost irresistible urge to reach out and touch it, to see if its fabric is really as cold as it seems, to feel whether it’s just dirty cloth under your fingers or perhaps something deeper, more disturbing. But even the thought of such a touch brings a shiver of unease, as if instinctively knowing that this is no ordinary doll, that everyone who comes near it leaves a part of themselves behind.

The longer you look at it, the more it seems as though the needles in its body begin to tremble, as if they’re alive, as if they’re moving in response to your presence. The feeling that this doll is not a lifeless object grows stronger, as though you’re witnessing something that no one should ever see. It seems that the doll has some form of awareness, that it waits for someone brave enough to touch it, someone willing to come close enough to hear its silent story.

Finally, with difficulty, you look away and try to move away from it, but the feeling of being watched doesn’t disappear. You feel as though the doll is still following you, its button eyes boring into you, as if it left its mark on you, something that will follow you wherever you go. With each step, you hear a quiet, invisible whisper, almost imperceptible but still there, like the echo of your own fears.

This is not a doll that belongs to the world of childhood games. It’s like a shadow, like darkness left lingering at the edge of light. It is full of the past, full of sorrow that will never be explained, full of whispers that no one will ever hear, but which will always be there, in that silence, in that presence, in that dead, icy gaze.

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