Mannequin Girl chapter one

A humanoid shape bangs on a bowl-shaped object in the darkness. Thank god it isn't a new moon, else we wouldn't be able to see this.There is a jingling noise. I take it they have found their keys. Oh, uh, while they aren't doing anything particularly interesting, I'll tell you who I am. I'm the formless narrator for the first part of this novel, and yeah I'm self-aware. I could generate a form but that'd be distra-wait they've done something. They've finally opened the door. There's more light now. They look ... well it's quite hard to describe, mostly because I can't actually tell for myself. And it's rude to assume pronouns, so uh. We'll wait for them to be mentioned? That could take a while. And they've driven away. Great. Hang on, why aren't we following them? Uh sorry guys I thought it'd be their story. Apparently not. I wonder why they left? It can't have been me, I don't think they were aware of us. Fine. We'll take a look around then, shall we?

Well I'm not sure why I paused just now, but there's uh. There's a bunch of other buildings. They don't look that tall. Not many people around, which is natural I suppose, it being nighttime and all. Even so, you'd expect to see at least some people in this sort of area. Oh well. There are trees, too. Not many proper gardens or anything, just trees. Actually you remember what I said about it being night? Well I think there's something moving. I don't mean like, planes, I mean like asteroids. Possibly. I'm not sure how long I've been in existence actually, but this is odd. The building the person was in earlier looks kinda like a warehouse or something? Design studio maybe? I don't even know. But yeah no there is something in the sky. It's taking it's time, isn't it? Is that what we're waiting for? Is that why we're not following the person? Some dumb rock?

Yes. And it would explain why there are so few people, too. Maybe it'll hit here? I'm glad we agreed that my taking a form would be too distra-oh my. What is ... it's going to hit the building the person came out of at the beginning of the story, isn't it? Oh this is so cliche. Maybe later.

Yep. It's gone through the skylight. And what do you know? It's in pieces. Chunks in a coffee mug, chunks in a mannequin, chunks all over the fabric, chunks all over the floor. Tiny chunks. Oh and look! Technicolour science! I's glowing green. Must be radioactive or something. Nothing seems to be happening though. It's going to be a long night, huh?I guess I'll take a short break then.

Yeah okay I'm a little freaked out now. I know I don't even have a form, but this is creeping me out. You know how I said there was a chunk in the mannequin? Well it's moved. Through the mannequin. It's spread through the mannequin. Maybe it isn't radioactive then? Maybe it's some sort of alien plant thingy that was hidden in the rock and it was only glowing from the heat of entry into the atmosphere? Maybe it's sentient? Is it an egg, or a parasite, or what? Is it even alive? Well it's got tendril-looking things coming out of it, I guess those are sensor-thingies?

Okay wow it's figured out how to move. I'm a terrible commentator, I know but that's what it's doing. It's somehow bent the legs of the mannequin and has ... fallen over. Oh god ohgodohgod it's on all fours. Oh my. It's going in a spiral, and it seems to be looking for something. Something? Someone? Just information? Huh. It didn't actually knock anything over when it hit the desk? I guess it's - they're trying to be gentle or something? They've started checking the desk now. It's a good thing that whatever those chunks are made of are glowing, otherwise I'm not sure it'd - they'd be able to see. Assuming that sight is what those tendril-things are doing. It seems to have identified that the mannequin it inhabits resembles one of the people in the sketches that were on the desk. It's giving itself eyes. This involves a sharp-edged mass of the organism forcing two cuts through the tough material of the mannequin's face where the eyes would be. I suppose we're pretty lucky that the person who works here was eccentric enough to not only have this mannequin, but eccentric enough to put pins where the eyebrows would be, otherwise this would be far more creepy than it already is. Actually, it's almost comical the way the eyes are opening and staring. Staring right at where I'm observing from. I look at the back of it and it clumsily turns to follow me. Can it ... can it hear me? Is it learning language from me? Does it have a proper brain? Or maybe it'll give the mannequin a brain of it's own to start afresh? What purpose has this thing got? I'll shut up for a bit now, to see what happens ...

... This seems to have been long enough. It just closed it's eyes and started walking -on two feet this time - clumsily towards where I was last observing from. Now that it can hear me again, it's eyes are open again. Perhaps it would normally sense using something else, and shut it's eyes to avoid sensory overload or something like that? Huh. Well I'm going to talk to it for a bit longer until it learns, I'll tell you when something worth reporting happens.