I moved into a rundown apartment complex. There's angels in the attic.

In what short life I have to look back on, I've briefly lived in a park, taken on multiple weird craigslist jobs to pay for school, had run-ins with people who were definitely out of it and also suffered a mild concussion once because I tend to bump into things whenever I don't wear my glasses. So I've seen some ****.
That means it's saying something when I tell you that being under the influence of an "angel"?a very misleading name for a creature like this?puts all of these strange, confusing and oftentimes terrifying experiences to shame.
The only way I'm able to tell you this story in its entirety is because it happened a little while back and my fellow tenants filled me in on everything I missed out on. I'll explain what I mean by that in a second, so bear with me. I won't be able to tell you this in just one post anyways.
After the Doctor's odd diagnosis, he had told me to meet up with him in the entrance hallway. When we did, he explained some rather interesting things to me, such as what had happened to me, what was going to happen to me, and that he didn't know exactly how to prevent it. To make a long story short, he said that it was quite probable I would die sometime during the next 48 hours.
I don't remember how I reacted, but Doc said I was horrified. He said I started to cry so hard my glasses got wet from the inside and the outside. Honestly, I'm not sure about that last part but I do believe I cried.
"How can you even see I have this?" I asked him, rubbing the side of my face. "There's nothing here?"
"It's like a mark. I can just see things like that," he replied. "Cora can too, but I'm guessing you didn't talk to her on your way there."
I believed him. He had treated my toothache so he had to at least somewhat know what he was talking about, even if I didn't. I asked him to explain everything, but of course it was way too much for me to take in all at once. In the end, I had only bits of information swimming around in my foggy head. But I did piece together what there was to know about the angels.
The apartment complex we live in has an attic. No one ever goes there, partly because the roof is leaking, rendering the space completely useless, but also because it's occupied.
There's angels in the attic.
No one knows who came up with that term. Why would you call creatures like that angels? Not even their appearance fits that name. They're large porcelain dolls dressed in all white. They "live" in the attic, which is to say they're always lying around there in a huge pile, doing nothing whatsoever. Presumably at least.
Nobody has ever seen an angel get up and walk around. If they do want to change locations, they'll simply manifest in a different place. Sometimes, they do it just to scare people. Big John had one appear in his late wife's favorite chair one time?a cruel joke and pretty terrifying as well. If it was only the sudden manifestations though, the angels really wouldn't be that much of a problem.
The angels can sense when somebody is lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is what I did when I first passed out here and it's also what happened when I was knocked out on Doc's medicine. I know a lot of people have had different experiences with lucid dreams, like they could get up and move around, but according to Cora, the ones I had are the only type of lucid dreams the house allows. I have no idea what she meant by that but I guess it doesn't really matter. Doc explained that while I was having that dream, an angel came down from the attic and put its mark on me, the "kiss", as they've all been calling it. He told me he was the only one who could see these marks as they were invisible to their owner and most others around them.
"Why can you and Cora see them though?" I asked.
"Unimportant."
Not a very satisfying answer but I had to accept it.
Once an angel has marked you, it can gain partial control over your mind and by extension your body. It weakens you by making you hallucinate and often hurt yourself in some way, and once it deems you defenseless, it will come to harvest what's left of you.
"That means it's going to kill me?"
"Yes. Not always, I've seen some that were affected by them do it themselves. The angels make them jump out of a window or, if the affliction lasts longer than just a few days, they starve them to death by forcing them to refuse food or water. But in most cases, the angels do it in person. No one sees them coming, except the poor soul they're out to get. That's why we have to keep a very close eye on you from now on."
"How often has this happened before?"
"I haven't been living here forever but personally, I've had four cases like that. John, Cora and I always try to help but so far, we only managed to save one."
I asked when the angel's influence would take over and he said it would presumably start that same night. Doc was right.
He called Cora and Big John out to let them in on the situation, along with another man who introduced himself to me as Orin. Orin's in his early forties, tall and muscular with blond hair and a very pleasant voice. He's handsome too, just not in a way that speaks to me personally. The guys stayed pretty calm but Cora freaked out. She hugged me over and over again, mumbling stuff in a strange language I didn't understand. One time, she grabbed my face in her hands and whispered, "I swear I'll make him spit you back out if he takes you." I didn't know what she meant but it unsettled me even more.
"Focus, everyone. Slee?Mary, you're still in your right mind now but it's gonna change soon. Can you describe the doll you saw in your dream?" Doc asked.
"I told you, it was just? white. There's not much else to say, is there," I muttered.
"Yes, there is. What was it wearing? How long was its hair? Did you see anything in its face that might make it stand out?"
Cora gave him a confused look as I rubbed my temples. "I think it was wearing, like, puffed white pants and stockings? it had black shoes, with these buckle-things on them, you know? it had its hair in two ponytails and it also had a really lacy shirt. But I'm not sure about any of that, I mean?"
"That's okay, that might be enough," Doc replied. "As long as you remember. We need to get you up to the attic. John, you'll take her there."
The large man gave a curt nod and the Doctor went on. "You two are going to find the right doll and get it down here. Cora, you and Orin and I are gonna have to come up with a way to destroy it. I've got some ideas but we'll have to see what works."
We split up. John and I went up the stairs while the others made their way out into the courtyard. The way up to the attic surprised me. The many stairs we had to climb gave me a feeling for how big this house actually was. Sure, a building's size doesn't matter as much when half of it is too broken down to be used or inhabited, but it was still kind of impressive. The old man knew his way around these walls very well, he moved through the corridors like a prowling cat. I had trouble keeping up with him. Eventually, we reached the topmost floor and came to a halt in front of a wooden door. It looked old and weather-beaten so my first thought was "we can just break this down."
Big John however had something else in mind. "Turn around," he said. "Shut your eyes for a moment. Don't look."
I was weirded out, but I did as he told me. There was no time to lose. I heard his movements behind me, but they grew increasingly muffled. Then, there was a little "click" and a loud creaking noise. I opened my eyes and turned to face him only to find that he was standing in the now open doorway, his fingers wrapped around the inside handle.
"How did you??"
"No time. Come, we've gotta be quick."
The door had given way to the smallest, tightest and darkest staircase yet. The steps themselves were so moldy and rotten I was legitimately afraid they would break down beneath me if I placed my foot on one. Even with Big John who was considerably heavier than me leading the way, I couldn't help but try to tiptoe my way up to the space we were headed for.
The attic was large and cold. The wind blew in through the wide holes in the roof. Thankfully, that also meant a lot of the afternoon light could come in unhindered, so there was no darkness to obscure the large pile of white porcelain in front of us. The dolls were lying on a big heap in the corner of the room. Those that had their faces turned our way looked like they didn't really care we were present. I took that as a good sign.
I scanned the pile from afar, walking around slowly, careful not to get too close. "I can't see it anywhere," I whispered, growing increasingly nervous.
"Must be deeper in then," John replied.
"What are we gonna do? I'm not putting my hand in there," I whimpered, breaking into sweat.
"Your hand wouldn't be enough anyways. We'll need to look through the entire heap. But no, you're already in enough trouble with this thing as it is. I'm going in." With that, he took a determined step towards the doll pile, but before he could take another, I gently pushed him aside.
I swear I could feel my pulse quicken the further I proceeded into the doll pile. I cautiously moved the first few aside with my shoe, keeping my arms out of reach from any of them. My sweatshirt didn't cover my hands so I didn't want to take the risk of exposing bare skin to the dolls' touch. Soon enough, I was up to my knees in white lace and porcelain.
"What the hell are you doing?" John hissed. "Get out of there!"
"No," I answered in as low a voice I could muster. "I'll find it, you'll see?" My squeaky tone did not convey a lot of confidence. I pushed aside more and more, trying not to disturb whatever sense of calm they might have had. Who knew, maybe they were all asleep? I tried to stay hopeful, despite walking on eggshells.
Out of nowhere, the pile started to shift. Some of the dolls sank down, hitting the floor with a soft clatter. I heard John gasp behind me. I briefly squeezed my eyes shut, trying to calm myself down. It was useless though. I was close to tears. Hold still, they're just trying to scare you, I thought. I figured some of the angels had simply gotten nervous and teleported to God knows where. Wading through this lake of porcelain, I looked out for the familiar features I remembered of my dream visitor. While the dolls looked similar, they weren't all the same?some were wearing dresses, others skirts, some had curly hair, others long and straight.
Finally, after a lot of kicking and shoving, I spotted mine. Turning to look over my shoulder, I gave Big John a nod. He motioned for me to come back. I took a deep breath, grabbed the doll by its hand and then bolted. We wasted no time in making for the door. John threw it shut behind us and I heard a lock click. I was scared, I didn't know if there was an actual threat we were running from but it sure felt like there was. We burst through the courtyard door to find Cora, Orin and the Doctor standing there, talking agitatedly. Orin was holding a large sledgehammer, leaning it on his broad shoulder for support. Not a welcoming sight.
"We've got it!" I called out, panting heavily as I thrust the arm holding the doll up in the air.
Cora perked up, hopping a little?something she does when nervous?and poked the Doctor's shoulder like he hadn't already seen us.
"Good, get it over here. No time to lose," Doc said as he began walking towards us.
I ran over to him to give him the angel, but just as he reached out for it and I was about to squeeze it into his arms, it disappeared into thin air. I staggered and almost fell over, but regained my footing, staring at my empty hands. It took me a moment to comprehend what had happened. Doc caught on a lot faster, and that was the only moment, the first and last time, I ever heard him put emotional emphasis on a word. It was a twelve-letter expletive.
That's when stuff hit the fan.
X


Source.