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“Yes?” She tossed her empty cup into the recycle bin beside her desk.
“I wanted to know about a specific exhibit out there. The tupilaq?” I followed suit with my cup, and a bot zoomed over to empty the receptacle.
“Creepy, isn’t it?” she asked, standing. “That one was passed down in my family. I think my great-grandfather made it to chase after someone they’d tossed from the village.”
I’d read up on tupilaq and cringed inwardly at the idea of her grandfather masturbating over the doll to bring it to life. I didn’t even want to ask what it was made of for fear of there being human parts in it.
“It must’ve been a pretty awful person that got thrown out,” I said instead.
She nodded. “Sounds from the stories like he was a pedophile and maybe a murderer. Those kinds of people were tossed out to live on their own, which was all but a death sentence anyway.”
I paused at the door when she opened it. “But if that was case, why send a vengeful spirit after him?”
Ila pursed her lips like she wanted this conversation over. “I guess in this case kids were still disappearing from the village.”
“Did it work? Did the disappearances stop?” I asked, unable to help myself.
“Yeah. In our village. But whether that was the work of the elements, the tupilaq, or the predator moving elsewhere is anyone’s guess. Thanks for stopping by today, Rosi, and thanks for the coffee. That was a real treat. I don’t usually drink anything but tea and water.”
Her smile was genuine, but her dismissal was unavoidable. I’d gotten a lot of info though and had quite a bit to think about.
On my way out, I paused in front of the offending statue and shivered as the visceral memories of my nightmare flashed in my mind. It made no sense because this creature was made to take out a murdering pedophile. I certainly wasn’t that, so it wouldn’t be after me, which made the whole thing only a dream, logically. But for some reason my pulse sped up, and I hurried away. In my head I could swear I heard the mocking laugh of a man’s baritone voice chase me down the hall.
