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October started two days ago and Nicky was already dragging the twins and Neil to a Halloween store. No one shared the same enthusiasm Nicky had for all things Halloween and fall but, for reasons Neil wasn’t entirely sure about, the twins still went shopping with very little grumbling. He followed after Nicky and Andrew while Aaron broke away from them at some point, bored with perusing the aisles at the painfully slow pace Nicky had set them at. Neil was bored out of his mind and let his thoughts drift towards Exy but was brought out of his head every so often when Andrew eyed a few costumes and raised a brow in question toward him. He always answered with a firm no. He didn’t want to be whatever the hell a ‘Shrek’ was but knew his voting power would only last until it was closer to Halloween when they'd need costumes for Eden’s. Andrew would not let him go costume-less.
“That is the creepiest thing I have ever seen,” Nicky said halfway through the aisle of decorations they were on. Neil looked over Andrew’s shoulder to see a doll that didn’t initially seem creepy. It was porcelain, probably about a foot in length. It had long white hair, white eyelashes, and tear-streaked cheeks, and was dressed in a pale blue dress. “I hate it so much.” Nicky quickly disappeared into the next aisle, Andrew following behind at his leisurely pace. Neil stayed put, staring down at the doll. Something about its eyes didn’t settle right in his stomach. He swayed to the left as far as he could go without taking a step, and then to the right, and felt that its eyes were following him. It did kind of creep him out but it was a doll. That was a lot less scary than his father.
Neil was about to go look for Andrew when an idea suddenly popped into his head. He glanced around to ensure he was alone on the aisle. He clocked only two security cameras when he entered the store. One at check out and one upon entry or exit. It had been a while since he last shoplifted and definitely something as big as the doll but he reached for it and slid it under his hoodie, nestling it into place. Once it was secured, he found Nicky and Andrew a few aisles over, neither the wiser of what Neil had done or what he planned to do in the future. A weird giddiness settled over him but remained calm as he offered to put the bags in the trunk for Nicky so that he could slip the doll inside. Andrew watched him curiously but said nothing.
Nicky had them go to a few more stores after that and managed to bring a good amount of bags out of each one. Most of it was fall-themed items Nicky had found and only a few things were Halloween-centric. Neil was able to confiscate the doll from the bag and sneak into his and Andrew’s bedroom to hide it in his bag. He fell against the bed, arms laid out wide, a sigh escaping him as he thought about what he wanted to do first with his new possession.
Andrew didn’t leave him alone for very long though. He came into the room rolling a pint of ice cream in his hands and a spoon in his mouth, and shut the door with his foot. Neil sat up so that Andrew could sit beside him. “So what did you steal?” Andrew asked.
Neil looked over at him, honestly surprised that Andrew knew Neil had stolen anything. “How?”
“It’s been four years. I know you.” Neil scoffed but didn’t argue because it was unfortunately the truth. Even if it did surprise him from time to time. He walked over to his bag and pulled the doll out to show Andrew. “And what do you plan on doing with that?”
Neil shrugged. “Nicky didn’t seem to like it very much. Figured I could fuck with him a little bit.”
“He’ll know it's you.”
“Yeah, but I’m a great liar.” Neil shrugged, putting the doll up and going back to sit next to Andrew who huffed at his statement.
“So where are you going to put it first?”
“He always gets up in the middle of the night to use the restroom. I figured after he goes to bed I’ll put it on the back of the toilet.” Andrew remained silent as he opened his pint of ice cream so Neil took it to mean that his idea wasn’t half bad.
Nicky was so drunk after Edens that night that he could barely walk straight. Aaron had to keep a firm hold on his arm to stop the man from veering off the path towards the house and his bedroom. Andrew headed straight to their room and Neil waited in the kitchen, pretending to drink some water while he waited for Aaron to get Nicky settled and go to his own room.
Soon, the house was dark and quiet. Neil headed to the bedroom to retrieve the doll. Andrew was lying in bed, head propped up on his hand, and watched Neil quietly. He didn’t bother to tell him that the idea was stupid or a waste of time but Neil could see it in his eyes. He didn’t care though. He felt giddy at doing something so juvenile and it was kind of exciting. Neil went to the bathroom and placed the doll where its head was cocked down so that its hair covered a portion of its face and folded its hands in its lap.
When he got back to the bedroom, Andrew had laid down so Neil turned off the lights and replaced his Edens clothes with the hoodie and sweatpants Andrew left out for him and crawled into bed. “Happy?” Andrew asked.
“Content,” Neil replied as a smile spread across his face.
Perhaps he should have thought through his plan a bit more because when Nicky was scared, he screamed. A scream that was so loud that it woke up the entire house. “I’m going to kill you,” Andrew said, shoving a pillow roughly at Neil’s face.
“Nicky was the one who screamed. Kill him,” he grumbled, rolling over to try and get comfortable again so he could go back to sleep. But then he sat up. If they didn’t at least pretend to worry over Nicky’s scream then they might as well have a giant neon sign saying it was them who put the doll there. “Come on, we have to get up and check it out or he’ll know it was us.” Neil pushed the blankets away and got up.
“There is no us,” Andrew replied but even so, got out of bed and followed after Neil, tugging his long sleeves down over his arms. Aaron was already outside the bathroom, staring into it with a sleepy scowl.
“What’s going on?” Neil asked, feigning innocence as he looked into the bathroom. Nicky was plastered against the wall, opposite the toilet, staring wide-eyed at the doll. Neil noticed that it wasn’t in the same position as before. Its hands were no longer folded and its face was pointed towards him. For a moment it creeped him out. As if the doll was looking at him and accusing him of the position it was in. But reality set in and Neil knew the likelihood of Nicky punching it out of reflex was much higher.
“What the hell is that thing doing here?” Nicky asked, looking accusingly at Neil.
“I don’t know,” he answered with a shrug.
“Don’t lie. You bought it, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t have any money on me today, plus I was standing at the checkout with all three of you. Someone would have noticed me buying it.”
“Then you stole it,” Aaron said, crossing his arms.
“Why would I risk getting in trouble for shoplifting over a stupid doll? The FBI was very clear about me staying out of trouble.”
Aaron narrowed his eyes, not believing the bit. “Doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t risk it for something as stupid as this.” Okay, that was fair but Neil wasn’t ready to concede so soon. He had at least two other great ideas that could work when they got back to Palmetto.
Neil met Nicky’s eyes and said, “I did not steal the stupid doll.”
Nicky looked at Andrew as if he would back up Aaron’s claims but Andrew was done with the spectacle as he turned around and walked back to the bedroom. Aaron followed his brother's lead which left Nicky, Neil, and the semi-creepy doll. Nicky picked it up carefully and held it as far away from his body. “I’m throwing this stupid thing away. Sorry you wasted your money,” he said, heading toward the back door. Neil watched him open the door slowly as if any faster would awaken the doll, then dropped it into the outside dumpster. He shut and locked the door then dusted off his hands as if he just accomplished something hard and nodded in satisfaction. He glared at Neil and pointed a warning finger at him. “Do not get it out of the trash.”
Neil held up his hands in mock surrender. “I’m not a trash panda,” he said, then headed back toward the bedroom. Andrew was on the cusp of sleep when he crawled back into bed. “Three hundred and fifteen percent,” Andrew said sleepily.
“Yeah-yeah,” Neil replied, burying his head into the pillow, a smile playing on his lips as he slowly fell back asleep.
Neil only remembered after he woke up the next morning that he’d need to hurry and get the doll out of the trash before everyone woke up but when he looked, the doll wasn’t in the garbage. He shrugged it off. His fun coming to an end too soon. However, when he was getting clothes to change into after his shower, he found the doll in his duffle bag. He smiled to himself, knowing Andrew must have snuck it out of the dumpster despite his displeasure of being woken up by Nicky screaming.
. . .
Perhaps Neil was taking it a little too far. Or in Andrew’s opinion, using too much energy to scare Nicky. But he couldn’t quite explain why doing this was giving him such a giddy feeling. He wouldn’t be able to convince Nicky that the doll was truly haunted but for now, it was fun. So what if he had to do a little extra work? He was having fun and when was the last time he ever felt so childlike?
The next place he planned on putting the doll was in Nicky’s locker. Neil could easily sneak out after he’d gone to bed or while he was in class but no. Nicky had to see Neil at all times and believed that it was near impossible he could be the one placing the doll. So after morning practice, they all headed back to the dorm. Both Nicky and Neil had a few hours before their first class of the day so he put his plan into action. He made a show of needing a nap before class and climbed up to the top bunk. He placed himself where his covered back was clearly visible. Aaron and Andrew eventually left for class. And Nicky was in the kitchen, making something to eat. Carefully, Neil rearranged the blankets and pillows into the shape of a person then quietly got down from the bunk, grabbed the doll, and peeked his head out of the bedroom. Nicky was still in the kitchen, his back facing the rest of the room. Neil quietly but quickly went for the door, picking up his shoes along the way and exiting the dorm. He slipped on his shoes then took off down the hall, down the stairwell, and out of Fox Tower. He sprinted all the way to the Foxhole Court and to Nicky’s locker where he carefully placed the doll. He had it sitting over the edge of the top shelf and leaning against the side of the locker, its head facing straight ahead. It will be the first thing Nicky sees when he opens it this afternoon.
As he was leaving the stadium he came across Wymack who gave him an assessing look. “Do I want to know?”
“Nothing illegal,” Neil replied, walking past him.
“That’s all I ask,” Wymack said.
Neil jogged back to Fox Tower and waited out in the stairwell, a floor above, as he texted Andrew the ‘go ahead’ message. Something Andrew was only willing to do after Neil made a deal that he didn’t have to expend any effort whatsoever at night practice since he was using said effort for Neil’s prank. A few minutes later, Nicky entered the stairwell and went down to the basement where Andrew had asked him to look for a ‘missing’ hoodie. Once Nicky was far enough down, Neil snuck to their floor and quickly slipped back into the room, leaving his shoes by the door, and got back into his bunk. He only had to lay there for another ten minutes until Nicky returned to the room. A few more minutes and Neil pretended to wake up and entered the living room.
“Good nap?” Nicky asked from where he sat in one of the bean bags.
“Yeah,” Neil replied, adding a yawn for good measure. “Did I dream the door shutting? Did you go somewhere?”
“Andrew thought one of his hoodies got left in the basement after laundry day and asked me to check.”
“Oh, which one?”
“I’m assuming the black one,” Nicky deadpanned. Neil shrugged, trying for nonchalance as he got ready for class.
The rest of the day wasn’t going to be too difficult. He just had to make sure to be in Nicky’s line of vision as much as possible throughout the day. So that meant walking over to campus together and when he had downtime he tried to be in Nicky's vicinity. Other times, he was with someone who could collaborate on being with him. Lastly, he made sure they arrived back at the dorm together. There should be no doubt in Nicky’s mind that there was any way Neil had time that day to place the doll.
When they went to night practice, Neil trailed behind Nicky as they entered the stadium and then the locker room. He worked slowly on getting his practice clothes out, waiting impatiently for Nicky to hurry up and open his locker. Neil wanted to see his reaction but he was completely distracted with talking to some of the younger Foxes. He was about to give up and just head to the shower stalls to change when Nicky reached for his locker and opened it. Out of the corner of Neil’s eye, he could see Nicky go ramrod straight, his eyes widened, and his body going utterly still.
“What’s wrong?” Asked one of the younger Foxes.
“What the hell is that doing here?” Nicky asked, looking over at Neil.
He feigned confusion once again, burrowing his brows slightly. “What is it?” He walked over and looked over Nicky’s shoulder into his locker. The doll was where he left it on the shelf except that it was sitting up straight, not leaning, and its head was slightly turned in Neil's direction, its creepy little eyes seemed to be staring straight at him. He shivered, hating that his own prank was kind of starting to creep him out.
“I told you not to dig it out of the trash,” Nicky said.
“I didn’t. I went back to bed like the rest of you.”
“Then you got it out the next morning.”
“Say I took it out of the trash,” Neil surmised. “Then how the hell did I get it into your locker?”
“You put it here after morning practice,” he replied, crossing his arms.
“We left together this morning.”
“Then you came back after.”
“I was in the dorm all morning and we went to class together.”
“I don’t know how but you got the stupid thing in here somehow,” Nicky grumbled but Neil could see the doubt on his face even as he reached into the locker and took the doll out. He walked it over to a nearby trashcan and dropped it inside then rounded on Neil. “Do not take it out this time,” he warned.
“I won’t,” Neil said.
After practice and a shower, Neil went into his duffle for clean clothes to change into when he saw the doll back inside it. He looked over his shoulder but the locker room was empty except for one or two other people who hadn't gone to the showers yet. He wondered how Andrew was able to sneak it back into his back without him or Nicky noticing. But it wasn’t a big issue so he shrugged it off, zipped his bag back up, and went to the showers.
. . .
Andrew’s involvement with placing the doll grew. They were able to get Nicky in the locker room once more. They even got Roland to put the doll behind the bar one weekend and shared amused gazes when Nicky threatened to burn the house down that night if the doll made an appearance back at the house. It didn’t. But it was in the trunk when Nicky went to put his bag in it Sunday morning and punted it across the road and into the neighbor's yard. Getting it back before they went back to Palmetto and without Nicky noticing was a challenge but Neil had accomplished it.
Neil and Andrew were sitting in the beanbags towards the end of week two of having the doll, planning out the logistics of what to do with the doll next when Aaron came into the dorm. The two fell quiet and Aaron scowled as he made his way into the kitchen. Neil continued their conversation in a whisper. Aaron acted as if he didn’t care but when Neil looked at him for a third time in under thirty seconds, he apparently had enough. “What are you two yammering about?” He asked, standing a few feet away with a water bottle in hand.
“Nothing,” Neil answered. Aaron scoffed and turned to walk away but Andrew elbowed Neil in his side. “Okay, fine.” Aaron stopped and turned around to look at the two. “You have a class next to Nicky’s on Thursday, right?”
Aaron raised a brow, the look too similar to Andrew’s but lacking in heat. “Sort of. My lecture starts at 10:00 in room 254 and runs to noon. Nicky’s class in 255 starts at 11:45.”
“Yeah, so…” Neil trailed off, looking at Andrew, hoping he had another idea. But it seemed that Aaron would be their best bet. Andrew had therapy with Bee that day and wasn’t willing to cancel on account of a prank that Neil had started. And Neil would be on the other side of campus in his own class so there would be no sneaking out and back in a good time frame. “All you have to do is leave your class for a bathroom break at 11:30 and place something in Nicky’s seat. I have intel on where he sits so it’ll be perfect.”
“Why not get this intel to just do the task for you?” Aaron asked.
“Because the intel has therapy with Bee,” Neil replied sourly. It earned another elbow in his rib but a little harder this time.
“Ah,” Aaron said with a huff of laughter. “So you two are placing the doll.”
“Well, yeah. Who did you think it was?”
“I was genuinely beginning to believe that it was haunted. So you want me to put the doll in his classroom on Thursday?”
“Yes.”
“Okay,” Aaron agreed.
“What? You’re going to help? Just like that?” Neil asked, caught by surprise. He didn’t expect Aaron to agree so quickly or even easily.
“Well, yeah. Nicky kind of deserves it. This is payback for some of the shit he put us through when we first moved in with him. Remember when he took us tee-peeing but didn’t know they had dogs? We got chased around the entire block! I thought I was going to get bit,” Aaron said, looking at Andrew who huffed in amusement.
“Why did he have you tee-pee a house?” Neil asked.
Aaron shrugged. “Said it was the spirit of Halloween. But I don’t think he even knew what he was getting us into. It was our first Halloween with him and he wanted us to have fun. I don’t fault him for that. I do, however, fault him in not checking that the neighbors owned two Dobermans who absolutely hated flying rolls of toilet paper over their trees.”
Neil swore to get the story out of Andrew later on what exactly transpired that night. “Okay, I’ll give you the doll.”
“And how do you want to get it back?”
“Nicky will probably throw it away in the nearest trash can. My class gets out at 12:45 so it’ll give me enough time to get to the building and retrieve it.”
“Deal.”
. . .
In the middle of class on Thursday, Neil gets a very angry text from Nicky.
WTF NEIL JOSTEN??? HOW DID YOU GET THIS STUPID THING OVER HERE??? AREN’T YOU IN CLASS??? I HATE YOU. WHERES ANDREW???
Along with a picture of the doll in a trash can. Neil covered his mouth to silence his laugh as he took a picture of his worn-out shoes on top of the empty seat in front of him and sent it over to Nicky as proof that he was in class. Then added a message that Andrew was with Bee. He didn’t receive a response from Nicky but wasn’t too bothered by it as he headed over to the building across campus after his class was over. He stayed out of sight as Nicky’s class was released shortly after one. Nicky was empty-handed save for his backpack and a textbook and Neil watched him walk down the hall and disappear from sight. Once the hallway cleared some, Neil entered the classroom in search of the doll. He checked all the trash cans that were inside but found them all empty. He checked the seats just in case someone pulled it out but they were empty as well. Next, he went out to the hall and looked into those trash cans and even the ones in the bathrooms but found nothing. Well fuck. Someone must have taken it and now Neil’s fun was over.
He didn’t think much about the doll the rest of the day. Too busy with midterms and Exy and Andrew finally settling on a Halloween costume for them to wear to Edens. But as he was rifling through his drawers that night, looking for a particular sweatshirt, he came across the doll squished between his stack of shirts. He glanced over his shoulder and found that he was alone. Maybe Nicky threw the doll out into one of the trashcans in the hallway and Aaron came across it and decided to pick it up. Neil would try to thank him later if he remembered but for now, he was just glad that the doll wasn’t gone for good.
. . .
Over the last two weeks of October, Andrew, Aaron, and Neil worked together to place the doll in various places. Nicky never suspected the three of them working together. Andrew had feigned disinterest in the doll so vehemently that Nicky stopped accusing him of working with Neil. And there was no way he’d ever believe that Aaron and Neil would work together. But after each various placement, Nicky’s belief that it was Neil was dwindling. Especially when it showed up in the dorm room at one point and Nicky said quietly to himself, “I’m being fucking haunted by a doll.” Neil felt a little bad about it but Halloween was just around the corner and then he’d come clean about it.
. . .
Edens on Halloween weekend was as it typically was: Overcrowded and obnoxious. They all ended up at the bar, waiting for a table to open up. Roland automatically gave Neil’s free costume drink over to Andrew, long since stopped trying to get Neil to drink. “Are we telling him tonight?” Andrew asked.
“Yeah, I thought about waiting until Halloween on Tuesday but he looks miserable. I think he started talking in his sleep about the stupid thing.” They both looked over at Nicky who was about to knock back his fourth shot when Aaron intervened and said that if he was too plastered to walk then he’d be left at Edens. Nicky replied with, “At least Edens isn’t being haunted by that doll!” Aaron rolled his eyes but didn’t bother to say anything on the topic.
“Didn’t think you’d be able to pull it off. Nicky believes in a lot of dumb shit but a haunted doll was not one of them.”
“I didn’t think I would be this successful. But thank you.”
Andrew scoffed. “I didn’t do anything."
“You helped even when you could have easily shut it down and ratted me out.”
“Well,” Andrew shrugged. “It was kind of fun.”
“Oh?” Neil asked with a smile. “ You had fun.”
“I said kind of.”
“It’s a win in my book,” Neil said, leaning into Andrew’s space so that their shoulders were touching.
Although Nicky tried valiantly, he did not get blackout drunk. He did pass out in the car. And Aaron had to steer him inside the Columbia house. Neil and Andrew went straight to bed, both too tired to do anything else.
Neil was up before anyone else in the house the next morning so he went for his run, showered, kissed Andrew who quickly fell back asleep, and then went into the kitchen to start coffee and breakfast. With both smells lingering in the air, it pulled Aaron from bed first. He sat down at the kitchen table, bleary-eyed and sleep rumbled. His gaze caught on the doll sitting in the middle of the table and frowned. “You’re going to tell him?”
“Yeah,” Neil said, removing the pancake from the pan and adding it to his growing stack. “He’s been tortured enough.”
“He did nothing but cry about that damn thing last night.”
“Because he’s a baby,” Andrew said, walking into the kitchen. He was a little more awake than Aaron but still squinted from the bright lights. He wrapped an arm around Neil’s hips, placed a kiss on his shoulder, then reached for a cooling pancake and ate it quietly. Soon the twins were sitting at the table with coffee and a stack of pancakes. Neil had just cooked the last batch when Nicky came out of his room. He was halfway into his seat when he noticed the doll and stopped. “No,” he whined. “I don’t want to deal with this today.”
“Nicky,” Neil said, bringing him a plate of pancakes topped with syrup and whipped cream. He placed it in front of him as an apology. “There’s something I need to tell you.” Nicky looked up at him expectantly. “I did steal the doll from the store and have been placing it around the last couple of weeks.”
“How?” Although Neil didn’t really want to go into detail on how each placement occurred, he felt that he owed it to Nicky. So he went through each detail in chronological order. Nicky looked satisfied after each explanation, pausing to glare at the twins when they came into play.
“Okay, so how did you sneak it out of the trashcan that first morning?” Nicky asked.
Neil glanced over to at Andrew who stared back blankly. “I assumed you got it out.”
Andrew shook his head. “I didn’t know it was in there.”
“Andrew.”
“Neil, I did not dig in the trash can for that doll.”
“And the locker room? You didn’t put it in my bag?”
“No,” Andrew answered, not a single visible sign that he was lying in his tone or his eyes. If anything his brows were beginning to scrunch in concern. Neil turned his gaze to Aaron. “After the classroom, you didn’t put it back in my drawer?”
“No. You said you’d get it after Nicky left.”
“Yeah but when I looked, it was already gone.”
“I didn’t grab it,” Aaron said.
Neil looked to Andrew who shook his head. They all looked at the doll then, noticing that its head was now pointed towards them whereas it was originally pointed away from them towards the backdoor.
“That thing was looking somewhere else, right?” Aaron asked.
“Nice try guys. How did you pull this one off? I didn’t see any of you touch it.”
Andrew, Aaron, and Neil all looked at each other, hoping that one of them could provide an answer but it seemed none had planned on one last scare.
“Okay,” Andrew said, rising to his feet. “We’re burning this thing.” He picked it up with his finger and thumb and walked it outside to the backyard, the others following after. No one spoke a word as Andrew set it on fire. They all stood around and watched it disintegrate. A shiver ran up Neil’s spine as the doll’s face melted from the fire, its gaze ever present on him. Once it was in ashes, they all looked at each other and made a silent agreement to never speak of the doll or the possibility that it may have very well been haunted.
And Neil vowed to never shoplift again.