Mannequin: A Trender Man Creepypasta

## Mannequin by Jinbeizamezama

(For more information on Trender Man click here: [1])

I think everyone has seen a mannequin before, most likely in clothing stores; those life size models to display outfits and articles of clothing. I’ve never paid much attention to them; they’re just plastic models. Well, I wish that I had been more careful around them. I guess to tell you what happened I’ll have to start from the beginning. It’s not like I’m going anywhere, even if I wanted to.

I was shopping with my girlfriend, Sandra. She enjoyed fashion and clothing more than I did, to be honest I didn’t care much for fashion choices at all, but I loved her so I went shopping with her at clothes stores. We entered this particular store, it was rather large. Popular music played all around, and as expected there were clothes everywhere. There were also plastic mannequins, three kinds. There were the mannequins with no heads, mannequins with faces painted on them, and a single mannequin without a face.

I personally find the ones with faces painted on them to be unnerving; I know it’s crazy, but I always felt uncomfortable around them; as if their painted on eyes were watching me. Putting this rather unsettling thought aside, I tagged along after Sandra.

While she looked at a few shirts, I looked around at random objects. I wouldn’t tell her this because it might hurt her feelings or irritate her, but I was bored. Looking around I noticed that there were more mannequins with faces painted on them than the headless ones; and then that last mannequin; there was something odd about it.

I walked over to inspect it. It seemed taller than average, definitely taller than the other mannequins. It was dressed in an outfit of brown and white, and had glasses on despite being faceless. Somehow it seemed different than the others, besides the fact that it had no face. Its head was just faced forward, but somehow it felt like it was watching me. Suddenly Sandra called out to me, she was wondering why I was staring at a lifeless mannequin. I walked over to her, still kind of in an odd trance of thinking. And, well, I was a bit clumsy. I turned my head to get another look at the faceless one, and accidentally bumped into one of the other mannequins. This one was one with a face painted on.

It wobbled for a moment, and then fell. When it hit the ground its head twisted on its joint as if its neck had been snapped. I know I’m crazy for thinking this, but somehow its lifeless eyes seemed even more lifeless lying there on the ground like that. And I certainly know that I’m crazy for this; I could have sworn that I heard a scream play in my mind. Sandra walked over to me and gasped when she saw the mannequin on the ground, telling me to pick it up before I got into trouble. An employee of the store came by and told me something along the lines of ‘It’s alright sir, just continue your shopping.’ I thanked her and did as she said, continued shopping.

As we walked to another section of the store, I saw that mannequin again in the corner of my eye; the faceless one. I think I may have just seen or remembered it differently, but it was different. It was looking at me. The next day we went again to the same clothing store. Sandra said that she changed her mind and decided that she did want something that she had passed up yesterday, and I went along with her.

The first thing I noticed when stepping into the store was that the mannequin that I had accidentally knocked over was no longer in its place; in fact, its spot was empty. I felt kind of bad, it must have broken. I’m glad that the store wasn’t angry at me, but I still felt guilty for it. As we walked along to get to where the item Sandra wanted was, I once again noticed the faceless mannequin in the center of the store. Now I know it had moved. It had clearly been staring straight forward when I had first seen it. Now its head was turned, and it was staring at the empty spot where the now broken mannequin used to stand. But, the store clerks change the mannequin positions all the time, right?

Sandra made her purchase and we were on our way out. On the way there, my eyes wandered again to the faceless mannequin. But then again, they didn’t; because when I looked at where it had been, it wasn’t there. It was gone. I paused, but Sandra prodded me to continue, so I did. It was a little late, but I felt I needed to calm myself down, I felt on edge, so I decided to take a walk. Sandra said that she was tired, so she went home in the car and I was going to walk home.

As I walked, I felt more relaxed. There was a nice breeze, birds in the sky, and not much traffic to annoy me with loud noises. It was all good until I felt an odd presence, like that weird feeling you get sometimes as if someone is watching you. I ignored the feeling at first, most of the time it was just paranoia or a wild imagination; but the feeling lingered and didn’t go away. I supposed that someone must have been walking on the same sidewalk as I was. Turning my head slightly, I saw that there was someone behind me. I didn’t stare at them, which would have been rude, so I didn’t notice any of their features. They were quite a ways behind me, so it was alright.

Then I started hearing the faint sound of their footsteps. The pacing seemed to be different, but they were getting closer. Still I paid no mind to them; maybe they just wanted to get home before dark. Suddenly they seemed to be right behind me. I expected them to pass me and continue on their way, but they didn’t; they slowed their pace and stayed right behind me.

So I turned to see if they wanted something from me; I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t turned. Maybe this wouldn’t have happened, but maybe it would have. I recognized them immediately. They seemed to be a normal person in an outfit of browns and whites but with one key difference; this person had no face.

*It* *was* *the* *mannequin.*

Now, I’m not the type who would normally scream at something like a horror movie or a screamer video; but this got to me. I almost screamed, but suddenly slender tendrils shot out of its back. They seemed to coil, almost like live serpents, and were black with streaks of purple and white. They shot towards me and grabbed me, shutting my mouth so I wouldn’t scream. I stood there, ensnared and unable to move. The thing, I don’t even know what to call it now, bent forward a little and stared at me with its nonexistent face.

Suddenly the tendrils made a quick twisting motion. I heard a loud snap, and it dropped me to the ground. I couldn’t move. I think it had snapped my neck, yet I didn’t seem to feel any pain. I saw it standing over me and staring at me for a few seconds that felt like hours, and then everything faded to black. When I came to I felt fine. Well, fine as in my neck didn’t feel like it was snapped and I didn’t feel any pain. I guessed maybe I was in a hospital bed or something; maybe even dead.

So, naturally, I tried to move and look around. I couldn’t. My neck wouldn’t move, my head wouldn’t tilt. I thought that maybe I had a neck brace on or something. So I tried to move my arms, still, I just couldn’t. Getting scared, I tried to blink my eyes; I still couldn’t. It was like I was made of stone, or wood, or . . . plastic . . .

I could still see though, and I seemed to be able to look at my surroundings. It was dark, but I recognized the clothing store. And there were many mirrors around, and I could see myself in one of them. I was plastic. I was a plastic mannequin with the face painted on it. I wanted to scream. I really did. But I couldn’t; my mouth wouldn’t move. I could see in the mirror, my painted on face. My mouth in a permanent smile, my eyes lifeless and staring. They didn’t move when I looked around; I guess that was a bonus for me.

It was night, no one was there. Well, except for myself and all these other mannequins. I didn’t know what to do. I could see the other mannequins, but of course they weren’t moving. I couldn’t call for help either. Suddenly something interrupted the silence of the night; it was footsteps. As they neared, the speakers that played popular music during the day turned on. But they weren’t playing the latest hits by famous music artists. They started out quiet, a small and scratchy sound, and then slowly got louder as the footsteps approached. They were blaring static now.

And the creator of those footsteps stopped at the door to the store. They reached out a hand and placed it against the automatic sliding doors. With a bit of force they caused it to open, and strolled inside. I was scared, but I wasn’t surprised; it was that faceless thing. It strolled in casually, turning its head and looking around. I noticed that it wasn’t looking at the clothes; it was looking at the mannequins. Not the headless ones, but the ones with the painted faces.

It walked on, but then stopped. In front of me. It stared at me, not moving; just staring; looking down from its tall stature. Static in the background was still blaring. I of course couldn’t tell what it was thinking, but if it had an expression, if it had a face, I think it would have been smirking. It turned its head, and continued forward. It stopped again at the center of the store, where I had first seen it standing there, thinking it was a lifeless mannequin. It stepped forward and onto the platform where it had stood, and posed like it had been when it was a mannequin.

The speakers seemed to get quieter, and the static faded. Leaving everything in silence. The faceless thing, now looking like a normal mannequin, was perfectly still. So now I stand here; unable to move, unable to talk, unable to do pretty much anything. It’s like being dead. But then again, I’m still alive; at least I’m pretty sure that I am. I don’t have to eat; even if I wanted to I don’t think I could. I don’t have to do any of the other requirements to live that I had to as a regular person either. All I can do is stand here.

I can’t remember how long I’ve been here. I counted the sunrises and the sunsets before; but days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months, and I just can’t keep track anymore. Every day I watch at the store is opened, and I watch as people come in to shop. I saw Sandra a few times. I miss her dearly, but she’s moved on. She looks very sad and depressed most of the time, and she’s with another man. I want to call out to her, at least to say goodbye, but I can’t. I wish her the best of luck; I just hope she doesn’t suffer the same fate as I do.

And at night, when everyone leaves; it’s mostly still. *Mostly.* The monster starts moving at night. It walks down from its post as a mannequin and walks out of the store. I have no idea what it does, but it always seems to come back right before the sun rises. I have a feeling that it might be looking for more victims.

But now I can only stand here. I can hardly remember what it feels like to move. I feel like I’ll be here forever, but that can’t be right. Maybe one day they’ll throw me out, and I’ll die, right? Or am I cursed to this plastic body forever? But for now, I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere soon; now all I can do is stand here.

No one is aware of my sentience, but I’m here, and I’m watching.