the mannequin thing
Current mood:  angsty

So, now that I've gotten home from school, I guess it's probably time to start writing up the story that started this in the first place. All of the names are changed, with the exception of the mannequin.

To understand the mannequin thing, you probably need to know a little bit more background about me. I go to a... scouting affiliated leadership camp once a year. Last year I went as a participant and learned a lot, and this year I went as a member of staff and learned even more. It goes for about a week in July, but there are a few staff-training weekends before the actual thing. It's quite the production and my role to play was a member of the Office (rather than, say, Kitchen Staff. Kitchen Staff members, if you're reading this, I love you all ♥.) Anyway, the Office Staff did some paperwork here, filmed these little short videos, took pictures and stuff, and we had a little newspaper.

Some of that is... hardly relevant. I must say that this camp holds a very special place in my heart, so I'm very sorry if I tend to get away from myself in respect to it.

Anyways, this story is set on one of the staff development weekends. We're at the camp which is in the middle of nowhere, and it's maybe 10:30pm. We've just finished reviewing someone's presentation on, like, the importance of goals or something. Cut me a little slack on the finer points of this article, it's been some time since it happened and recently the days have stretched out longer for me: this feels like it happened years ago.

Our group is maybe 20-30 people strong but it's mostly adults. There are perhaps a dozen scouts there and of them, we are not a very diverse group. There's a cub-scout pack elsewhere on the camp, but they've already tucked in at this point and are deep into quiet time. We're about to hit the sack as well, and as such, people are either goofing off or wrapping up. My fellow Office Staff members are firmly in the former camp on this one.

I'm going to take a moment here to introduce the characters here. The only named characters are myself, Jeffery, and... oh.... we'll call him D*ck. Short for Richard. There's me, obviously, and there's another 3 or so guys with us. Just to clear this up before this gets started, you know, nip it in the bud, I am not a guy.

Wow, there sure are a hell of a lot of words on this page for it not having said ANYTHING ABOUT THE MANNEQUIN. Sorry.

So, the Mannequin. She's the type of gal (and she is a she, we checked. She has breasts.) to show up to a scout camp dressed like a farmer. She's the type of gal that you find at a garage sale and can't help but strike up a conversation, except she is also the merchandise. Anyway, Jeffery bought her a while back at a yard sale and dated her to the 50s, which is pretty funny. She looks pretty old, too. She's made of foam everywhere except her head, which is made of plastic, and she has an iron skeleton. Someone's busted her nose (I'm not kidding, the plastic is all peeled up) and the painted... skin??? on her face is peeling in places. Her rusty iron finger-bones are stripped of foam, which now hands around the posable wire digits in tatters. To put it simply, she looks like a horror movie prop, but we would grow to love her anyway. Her name is Bobette.

Jeff brought her to star in some of our little films and stuff, right? Only D*ck, who's a fan of ironic humor and larger than life comedy or whatever you want to call it, has taken a HUGE shining to her and has, up until this point, been sleeping in her arms. That's just D*ck.

Our scout leader girl is wrapping up (we'll call her Carol, she seems like a Carol in my head) and she's thankfully turned the other direction when this happens. D*ck's got Bobette hauled up on his shoulders, which is pretty funny since D*ck is shorter than me. Predictably, the sudden movements of a high school boy are plenty to dislodge Bobette's little... hat, fedora thing. And that's when the sh*t hits the fan.

The hat falls to the floor and I wouldn't realize until later that it was that second that the lights went out. I barely believe it now, and there's nothing in this story that can't be chalked up to coincidence, but I swear they happened at the same time. I figure the adults just turned the lights out on us to get us to stop being rowdy, but Carol's confused, too. She tells us the laptops went out too, and D*ck practically throws Bobette.

We are now in a camp, with less adult supervision by the minute, and the power is completely out due to, apparently, a possessed mannequin. The adults don't think much of it (why would they? They're adults!) and we can't leave her there on the floor! That'll only make it worse, yeah?

These are the events I am reflecting on as I personally carry Bobette bridal style with 6 guys to the boys lodging. Now due to... reasons (youth protection) I can't sleep in the boys cabin, and there is no one else there I can sleep with so I have to, theoretically, bunk by myself, in this huge, probably haunted cabin with a big hole in the ceiling but not the roof and the bunks where footprints show up and the big fireplace with a snakeskin draped over it. I can't even go in the boys lodging but they all need their flashlights and stuff thanks to the power being out.

The Mannequin hardly pulses threatening vibes or anything, but standing out in the woods alone in the dark with her is not a fun experience. I keep sort of hoping that the guys will hurry up but I have too much dignity to tell them that, right? And besides, we made a plan, and me having the Mannequin while they get their stuff is a big part of it. We were going to throw the Mannequin in a fourth building's basement- the Office. It's actually the only building on camp with a basement.

So they get down and we're having these tense but lighthearted on the surface conversations about... who would make out with the Mannequin, what the Mannequin's sexuality is, etc. More on that later, maybe? We get into the Office and they sort of... slowly pry open the basement door.

The basement stairs are set up in such a way that there is a turn about halfway down, a teeny tiny little landing. D*ck goes down there first and the rest of the guys follow after him, and all the sudden all of them turn around and go thudding upstairs to me (I'm the one holding Bobette at this point) shrieking bloody murder. Maybe they felt a spiderweb, or maybe they saw something move on the shelves. I can't seem to get a straight answer out of any of them.

They slam the door and like, three of them lean against it. Eventually though, they calm down and take the Mannequin from me (thank God.) They go quietly down, I hear some thudding from my station at the top of the stairs, and come shrieking up again sans Mannequin. They tell me all about how she's in the chair down there, and it's So Funny, and so on. But all the sudden Jeff freezes. We ask him whats up, and it turns out.

We. Left her hat in the dining hall. The few jokes about how the hat being off is responsible for the power being out fall flat as can be. We troupe back up to the dining hall with no further discussion and retrieve her hat, tense in the pale moonlight through the field.

So the guys end up going back down to put a hat back on a rotting, antique, be-titted excuse for a mannequin and as soon as they do, as soon as they do, the power comes back on. We can't f***ing believe it and I swear D*ck and his friend tried to jumpscare us on the way out of the Office, and I almost strangled them.

I guess it's just a weird coincidence, but I can't deny, sh*t like this is piling up. I wrote all of it down in a notebook once, but I can't find my notebook at all now. I think I actually left it at camp, on course week. Maybe Bobette has it now.