The Puppet

Entity No: A17685

Class: Energy Form

Encounter Type: Discovery 

Hostility: Level A

Obviator: Sheldon Montgomery.

I slept through the evening in the car on the journey to the village called Chrysalia. Kenny was vigilant and alert to the directions offered by the Shed. We reached our destination before we had anticipated. It was pouring down in buckets. Our rendezvous point was a small hotel in the outskirts of the village. We were escorted from there by a Shed officer. We were taken to a market which resided in the middle of the village. Shops closed for the night packed next to each other like books on a shelf competing for space. The villagers were tense and hadn’t slept. I saw lights from some houses and faces peeking through windows to get a glimpse of the proceedings. I wasn’t sure if it was the entity or the presence of the Shed officers that unsettled them. I understood the necessity to complete the proceedings at utmost urgency.  

The origin point of the entity was Vernon’s Toy Shop. By now the rain had lost its intensity and drizzled in spurts. The members of the Shed had created a perimeter around the shop. I met the Obviator, Sheldon Montgomery, who briefed me of the entity that resided inside a puppet and used ropes and strings as an enabler. He said that the entity targeted Vernon’s son Jeremiah. For proper classification of this entity, I would suggest reading the Obviators log.

I next interviewed Vernon who was six foot five with a thick moustache that covered part of his chin. He wore a two sided black cap and a large overcoat that draped over him like feathers. On my assessment he was much like every other subject I encounter on my trips. When not taking a puff from his cigarette, he bowed his head looking at the wet soil as if searching for a lost coin. He mentioned that he had brought the toys from his usual supplier ‘The Pyke Brothers’. The Shed officers have reinforced that they would further investigate this source. He had brought the new supply last week and had dumped it in his store room. Some fresh looking toys were added on display but the puppet remained in the store room as he didn’t perceive it of much value. 

Vernon’s son Jeremiah is six years old and after school often stayed in the shop playing with some of the toys. But since last week, the boy spent more time inside the store room. Vernon mentioned that due to the Faerie festival there were a lot of customers and often he forgot that Jeremiah was in the shop. The absurdity started to unravel two days ago. It was past 8:00 PM, when Vernon decided to close the shop, and remembered about his son. On walking towards the store room, he observed that the room was locked shut from inside. But he heard voices. It was Jeremiah, but there was someone else. “It was a low pitch voice; I couldn’t make anything of it” said the boy’s father. Vernon knocked on the door but there was no response. After a few knocks, the door opened and Jeremiah was alone in the room. He saw the puppet hanging by ropes to the ceiling. It was motionless. He asked Jeremiah whom he was speaking to, but the boy didn’t respond. 

On reaching home, Vernon discussed this with his wife. They decided to keep Jeremiah away from the shop. He thought that it was some sort of imaginary friend and decided to keep an eye on the boy. But nothing about the boy’s behavior the next day gave them reason to be worried. That was until Vernon woke up in the middle of that night. After he went into the washroom, he decided to check on Jeremiah. He wasn’t there. Vernon immediately woke his wife and neighbor - the Prescotts. He also alerted the cops in Quinetown. Something in his gut directed him on where the boy must have gone.

He went to his shop in Mr. Prescott’s car. The lights in the backroom were on but once again it was shut from the inside. Vernon smashed his body into the wooden door with full force. In his second attempt managed to break through it. He saw Jeremiah was swinging on the ropes and laughing like a mad man, his wrists and elbows tightly bound. There were blood marks where the rope braided and tightened against his skin. And then there was the puppet, which lay on the floor, motionless, but its jaw moved up and down. 

The Demonstration 

Mr. Montgomery felt it would be okay to complete our observation at the spot. On our mutual consent, the Shed officers reproduced the puppet. With permission from Mr. Montgomery I ran my hand through the toy. It was made of spruce and was polished recently. I suggested that the polish may well be the inducing agent. But the Obviator leaned more towards the wood and the final form as the likely explanation. The room had ropes with bowline knots suspended from the ceiling forming loops. On my inquiry, the Obviator told me that the Shed officers had hammered nails to the roof on his request. The nails didn't exist when Vernon discovered the boy. The ropes hung out of sheer tenacity. 

I handed the puppet to the Obviator who spread the puppets arms wide. And like a surgeon he inserted its wooden limbs inside the loop with great care. As if in a reflex the rope was grabbed by some form of energy and knotted firm around the puppets hand. The Obviator released his hand and for a moment the toy remained suspended stationary in the air. Then in a flash with an unknown jerk it started swinging. And then there was the waggling of the jaw. The puppet kept picking speed but there was no sound other than the rope squeaking against the wood. 

I mentioned that I had seen enough. The Obviator requested me to leave the scene so he could neutralise the entity again. 

I inquired with Mr. Vernon about Jeremiah’s whereabouts and his present condition. He mentioned that the boy was currently with his mother. I was later told that a couple of Shed officers have been placed outside Mr. Vernon’s house. When I met the Obviator again, he asked if I would be interviewing the boy. I told him that we would need to give the boy and the family some time to recover. On our approval, the Shed members retrieved the toy and decided to wrap the proceedings.

Six Weeks Later…

On Wednesday, I arrived at Mr. Vernon’s home at 2:00 PM. I introduced myself to Mrs. Vernon and learned from her that  husband has restarted the toy shop after it was closed for a month. The incident has taken a huge hit on their business and things had fallen hard on them. The news about Jeremiah had gone around the village. They were worried if the boy would be bullied in school. I recommended that they should consider psychiatric help for the boy. And if permitted the Shed would recommend a good doctor and bear all expenses. The mother mentioned that they would give it a thought but she felt that “going to a shrink could only make matters worse”. 

Jeremiah was back from school at 2:30 PM. To build a rapport, I had brought an action figure which he accepted with a unperturbed demeanor. Then I asked him about school and friends. He was quite forthcoming with his answers and it never felt like he held anything back. When he became comfortable, I pivoted to the subject in hand. What happened inside the store room? What did the entity say to him? How did he end up tied to the rope? 

The boy’s memory about the incident was sloppy and the responses unreliable. I felt that despite my years of expertise of handling children, the boy wasn’t ready to divulge anything. Has the entity managed to infiltrate Jeremiah? I cannot tell. I spoke to the mother if she had seen any changes in behavior. She mentioned a few things, but they all seemed rudimentary. My suggestion is that Jeremiah needs to be evaluated by a specialist at least a year. Before leaving, I once again proposed the offer of the psychiatrist. It is a high recommendation that we follow this through. It's necessary to ensure that the entity has not created an escape route.