FicWad

Doll from Hell:

Simone's Notes:

The difficulties associated with precisely defining this term are well documented. Having been used since at least the sixteenth century to refer to a prowler or a poacher, the term stalker started to be used by the media in the twentieth century to describe those who pestered and harassed others, initially with specific reference to the harassment of celebrities by strangers who were described as being obsessed. This use of the word appears to have been coined by the tabloid press in the United States. Pathe and Mullen describe stalking as "a constellation of behaviors in which an individual inflicts upon another repeated unwanted intrusions and communications". Stalking can be defined as the willful and repeated following, watching, and/or harassing of another person. Most of the time, the purpose of stalking is to attempt to force a relationship with someone who is unwilling or otherwise unavailable. Unlike other crimes, which usually involve one act, stalking is a series of actions that occur over a period of time. Although stalking is illegal, some of the actions that can contribute to stalking are initially legal, such as gathering information, calling someone on the phone, sending gifts, emailing or instant messaging. They become illegal when they breach the legal definition of harassment e.g. an action such as sending a text is not usually illegal, but is illegal when frequently repeated to an unwilling recipient. In fact UK law states the incident only has to happen twice when the stalker should be aware their behavior is unacceptable e.g. two phone calls to a stranger, two gifts following the victim then phoning them etc. However, the victim may feel they have been the victim of a stalking after one incident e.g. being followed home.

It's been getting worse.

Not just the calls anymore. But, the Hughes family keep seeing her. She's always watching them. The family couldn't escape her.

Maes first saw her on Saturday night when he was returning home from work. He could never erase that image out of his head if he could try. Her eyes made him feel like he stared into a pit of darkness.

He first saw those eyes across the street as he left the building. They literally stopped him dead-on in his tracks. He was walking and then he found himself not walking anymore. There was no mistake in it; she only stared at him.

Maes tried to play off this encounter as a trick of the mind. Maybe he was seeing things? The man looked all around him for other people in sight. For some reason that night, he found himself all alone. Not a single soul in sight. He turned back across the street.

She looked like an angel just standing there. A rather scary-looking angel at that. She wasn't really doing anything. She was just... standing there. No emotion. Just standing. Her pale, dainty feet looked to be floating off of the sidewalk. One could've mistaken her for a poltergeist that night.

Hughes pushed himself to move, but his feet wouldn't give. In fact, his whole body wasn't moving. His eyes stayed glued to this pasty creature across the street. /Why?!? Why?!? Why won't you let me be?!?/, he screamed in his mind at her. Those words pushed themselves against his mouth, but they wouldn't come out. Trimmers moved up and down his spine as he stared on at her.

"Do something!" he shouted at her. "Why?!? Why do you keep haunting my family and me?!? Who the hell are you?!? What do you want from me?!? Why?!? Why?!?" She didn't speak, only kept her eyes on him. Hughes drew back as he bit down onto his lower lip.

"Hughes?" he heard someone ask behind him. The man whipped around to see Mustang walking towards him. His old friend forced himself to calm down. The general gave him a strange look.

"Maes, is something wrong?" he asked. His friend quickly shook his head.

"No, no!" he lied. "I just though I saw somebody across the street there." He pointed in that direction. Roy looked on with a raised eyebrow.

"There's no one there," he said.

"Huh?" Hughes asked as he looked up. The poltergeist in white had vanished into thin air. He blinked many times at that empty spot. Mustang still looked at him funny.

"Are you sure you are okay, Hughes?" he asked. "I think you should go home and rest." His old friend nodded at him.

"Yeah, yeah!" he said quickly. "I'm going to do that now." The man ran away as fast as he could. Mustang looked on at him with a puzzled look.

"Okay..." he mumbled.

That was just the first night. She's been coming after the Hughes family ever since.

It's only going to get worse in the next nine months.

Next Night

Next Time: Edward makes another startling confession to Derdra as he declares his love to her.