Are You Mad? I Am Your Daughter.

Story Sent in by Robert:

Joann and I had been dating for a little less than a month when she invited me to her apartment to hang out and then go out to dinner.

Se welcomed me inside her place. It was clean, but very hot. I sat down on her futon as she went to grab us a couple of drinks. I opened a window, just next to the futon, to let some air inside.

When she returned with two glasses, she saw the open window, let out a little yelp, then jetted to the window and slammed it shut. She then spun to me and said, "Not that window. Never, ever that window."

I glanced from her to the window and back again. "Why? Is it broken?"

She looked around several times, notably up at the ceiling, then leaned in close and whispered, "That's their favorite window. It's how the spirits come in."

I shifted a little away from her. "Spirits?"

She said, "Shh!" then went on, "The little girl with big white eyes. She comes in through that window and it's impossible to get her out. She stares at me when I sleep."

She looked terrified, but I wasn't sure what to say to that. She went to a nearby closet and pulled out, from a pile on the floor, a life-sized, floppy dummy, wearing a pink sweatsuit and with dark hair on its head, similar to Joann's own hair. She lay it down, next to me on the futon, and said, "We have to go. It'll take interest in the dummy, then leave once it sees it's not moving."

We left a few moments later, for a Starbucks on the block where she lived. I hadn't planned to quiz her more about her purported spirit visitors, but she told me enough on her own: "The visits started the day after my birthday, two years ago. There's a little girl and sometimes a tall woman. Only ever one or the other, never together, and they just climb in, stare at me for a few hours, then leave. It didn't matter if I left, then came back. They'd just be there, waiting for me. But since I've started using the dummy, that seems to trick them into leaving before I come back."

"Maybe you're just imagining them?"

"Uh, no. I'm not crazy."

I did my best to reassure her, and she did seem to feel better by the time she finished her drink. We went out to a short dinner, small-talked, I walked her back to her place, she asked me to help her look around for any non-corporeal house guests, and when the coast was clear, she dragged the dummy back into the closet and bid me a hasty goodnight.

I vanished from her life.