2:18 a.m.
There were three wooden boxes on the porch. Behind Aziz stood a Kiko doll, its head turned 180 degrees. Aziz's phone lit up on its own, displaying a message: _"Thanks for agreeing to look after them, Aziz. My whole family will stop by your house tomorrow to hang out for a bit."_
Aziz's four cats meowed in unison, as if they could sense that something was wrong with the boxes.
Aziz backed away and immediately slammed the door shut. Locked it. Locked it again. Pushed the wardrobe in front of the door.
"Don't open it... don't open it..." he muttered.
From outside, the scratching from the three boxes grew louder. _Scratch... scratch... scratch._ From inside the house, Kiko laughed. _Heeheehee..._
Aziz didn't dare go outside. He turned on every light and plugged his phone into the charger. 3 a.m. The scratching stopped. It was replaced by whispering. Many voices. Overlapping.
_"Aziz... open up... Aziz... play... Aziz... cold..."_
Only then did Aziz realize he was trembling. Terrified, he still tried to contact the person who had left the boxes with him.
He opened his phone and searched for Rina's number. It wasn't there. All he found was the last chat. He took a screenshot and sent it to Mrs. Titi at 3:10.
_"Mrs. Titi, who is this? Please help."_
Five minutes later, Mrs. Titi replied. _"That's not Rina, Aziz. Rina, my neighbor, died three years ago. Along with her younger sister. An accident. Her sister's name was Tina."_
Aziz's blood ran cold.
He looked at the boxes again. On the paper pasted to them, there was tiny writing in the corner. Red ink. Box 1: _FOR AZIZ. FROM KIKO'S FRIEND - 1_ Box 2: _FOR AZIZ. FROM KIKO'S FRIEND - 2_ Box 3: _FOR AZIZ. FROM KIKO'S FRIEND - 3_
And beneath it, a small scratch: _We're going to play._
4 a.m.
Aziz decided to open one box. Just one. He chose the smallest one. His hands trembled as he gripped the crowbar.
_Bang!_ The lid flew open.
Inside... there was nothing. Nothing but dirt. Cemetery dirt. Wet. And a small rabbit doll. One of its eyes had already fallen out. But the dirt was moving. _Grrk._ As if something were breathing underneath.
Aziz immediately closed it again. Nailed it shut. From inside the box came a little boy's voice. "Finally... it's been so long in the dark..."
He didn't dare open the second box. Or the third.
4:30 a.m. Rain. The power went out again. This time, it didn't come back on.
In the darkness, Aziz heard the back room door opening by itself. _Creeeak..._ Even though he had already wedged it shut with a chair.
He turned on his phone's flashlight and aimed it at the back room. Kiko was no longer on the chair. Kiko stood in the doorway.
Dolls couldn't stand.
Kiko walked. _Tap. Tap._ With every step, dirt crumbled from its body onto the floor.
"Kiko's sleepy, Aziz," said Kiko. Its voice wasn't a doll's voice. It was a little girl's voice. "Stay with me, okay..."
Aziz's four cats attacked at once. Charcoal and Ace bit Kiko's legs. Ruby clawed its face. Snow ran to Aziz.
Kiko fell. But it laughed. "It doesn't hurt..."
Aziz ran to the kitchen. He grabbed some salt and sprinkled it around himself and his four cats. A circle. This was something he'd once seen in a movie.
Kiko stopped outside the circle. Its head tilted 90 degrees. "Salt doesn't work, Aziz... this is our house now."
Aziz asked in a cracking voice, "What do you want?" "A home. Friends. Family." Kiko pointed at the three boxes outside. "They're lonely. Just like Tina was."
Aziz remembered. Tina. Mrs. Titi's daughter who had fallen down the stairs.
Suddenly, writing appeared on the living room wall. What was it written with? It looked like charcoal. It appeared on its own, letter by letter. _T I N A_ _K I K O_ _A N D I_ _S A R A_ _B U D I_
Five names.
"I'm Tina," said Kiko. "Kiko is my doll. Andi is the one in Box 1. Sara is in Box 2. Budi is in Box 3." Kiko spoke.