Long Jawby Manw2FacesI was running as fast as I could, but I knew it was gaining on me. I swear it was trying to step in every puddle so I knew it was running faster. I turned my head to where I could see it. Its arms were limp as they swung back and forth in front of its torso, its disjointed jaw bounced up and down, making an uneasy chattering sound, and its plastic-like face was splattered with mud. How could I have ever let this happen?It all started when my dad came home from work an hour late. Being the realist that I was, I figured he stopped for groceries or something. I guess I was half right when he came in carrying a box about a human child’s size.“You mind helping me with this, James?” he asked.As I went to help him carry the box, I got a much closer look at it. It looked like an antique. The box was made of a very smooth decorative wood and the edges of the opening were made of reddish metal. After we placed the box on the coffee table in the living room, I asked Dad, “What’s in the box?”“It’s a surprise for your birthday tomorrow,” he replied.“How much did this cost!?”“That doesn’t matter. You shouldn’t worry about that.”Expensive. Ever since my mom died, Dad would always buy me far too expensive presents, mostly stuff I don’t need. I really wanted a new mattress for my room. Mine feels like a pile of rocks, and I find it hard to sleep at night because of this. I was still thankful for whatever was in the box, of course, but I have to admit that the thing I was looking forward to most tomorrow was my friends coming over to hang out.That night, when I was lying in bed trying to sleep, I heard a slight tapping coming from somewhere outside of my room. It stopped as quickly as it started, so I overlooked it. I continued lying in bed trying to sleep.Giving up, I turned on my phone to see that I had been trying to sleep for a little over an hour. In about forty-five minutes, it would be my birthday.I began to hear the tapping again. It wasn’t loud enough to wake anyone up, but it was certainly annoying. Unlike the first time I heard it, this time, it didn’t stop, a continuous tap that felt like it was digging into my brain. Eventually, enough was enough, and I crawled out of bed and left my bedroom. I followed the tapping around the house, soon being led to the box sitting on the coffee table in the living room. I sat on the couch and the tapping continued. Not being able to hold back, I began to open the box.I woke up from Dad nudging my head with his foot. I sat up and looked around to see that I had slept on the floor outside the living room. “What are you doing down there?” Dad asked.“I don’t know, I…” I couldn’t finish my sentence as I saw the box laying on the coffee table. That’s when I remembered opening it and seeing two deep brown eyes on a beastly-looking doll that slightly resembled a dog. “What’s in the box?”“That’s why you were sleeping on the floor?” Dad asked me. “Go on and look inside, it's your birthday now.”I stood up and slowly walked toward the box. I opened it to see not a dog, but a ventriloquist dummy, the only resemblance to the doll I had seen last night being eyes. The dummy had bright red lips, cheeks as big as its nose, and dark brown hair made of the same material that the rest of its head was. The bottom jaw was oddly missing from the head, but I did find it under the dummy’s body, which was wearing nothing, with only its bare fabric body. Its plastic head and hands looked like they were held on by tape. The bottom jaw had a big red lip to finish the dummy’s smile and the string that I would pull to open and close its mouth was the same string that held the bottom jaw to the rest of the head. I slipped the string through a hole under the top jaw where I could grab it behind the back of its neck. I tied the string onto the end so the bottom jaw wouldn’t fall off. The way the jaw hung there made it look much longer than it was.“Do you like it?” Dad asked.“Of course,” I replied.“I saw it in a store window on my way home from work yesterday and thought of how you used to love ventriloquism,” Dad said.I did always love ventriloquism. I had a ventriloquist act in my school talent show. While I was a talented ventriloquist, I wasn’t a very good comedian. I didn’t get any laughs. I would have been better off if the audience had booed me off stage.I put on a smile and sat the dummy on my lap. Through the dummy, I said, “Hello James’ dad, I’m Mister Long Jaw. You don’t mind if I stay here a while, do ya?”Dad laughed as he said, “You can stay as long as you like, Mister Long Jaw.”The doorbell rang and I jumped up, putting Mister Long Jaw back in the box as I ran to the front door. When I answered it, hoping to see my friends, I was struck with disappointment as I saw my Uncle Zeke instead. I made sure that disappointment wasn’t visible when he saw me, however.“Hey there birthday boy,” Uncle Zeke said. “How old are you today? I’m gonna need an answer, I really don’t know.”“I’m thirteen,” I said.“What? You’re not that old yet!” Uncle Zeke had bright blond hair and even brighter green eyes. Being my mom’s brother, he was the closest I’ve ever seen of her, genetically speaking.Uncle Zeke went over to the living room as the doorbell rang again. I opened the door to see my two closest friends, Rebecca and Tyler. Rebecca was a kind soul and an absolute freak for the supernatural, and Tyler, while also kind, freaked out with any mention of the supernatural.“Happy thirteenth, dude,” Tyler said. “That makes Rebecca younger than both of us.”Rebecca punched Tyler in the arm. “James is only a week older than me.”I let Tyler and Rebecca in and as we got to the living room, I saw Uncle Zeke holding Mister Long Jaw, jokingly pulling up and down on the string, chattering its teeth. Uncle Zeke noticed me and laid Mister Long Jaw on his lap before saying, “Hey James, would you like to introduce me to Mister Long John?”“Long Jaw,” I corrected. Uncle Zeke picked up Long Jaw and carried it over to me. As soon as I touched it, the bottom jaw fell off and hit his foot. “Dammit!” Uncle Zeke grabbed his foot and threw the dummy into my hands.As I picked up the bottom jaw to put it back on, I realized that the knot I had tied on the string was too thick for it to go through the hole. There was no way it could’ve fallen off. I needed to untie it to put it back on. When I got up, I made Mister Long Jaw say, “Sorry, the sight of James made my jaw drop.”“Wow dude, you’re good at that,” Tyler said.“You should look into being a professional ventriloquist,” Rebecca said.“How do you do that?” Uncle Zeke asked.After a couple of hours of goofing off with everyone, Dad left the room to answer his phone. When he came back, he said, “James, that was the hospital calling; they need me in the ER today. I’m sorry, but I have to go. Keep Uncle Zeke out of the fridge for me.”“Alright Dad, see you tonight,” I responded.“The thing is, you might not - they need me to work late tonight.”“Okay, guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.”“Happy birthday, buddy.”After Dad left, we continued to goof off until it got late. After Rebecca and Tyler left, I put on a ventriloquist show for Uncle Zeke. “You amaze me, James,” he said, “I don’t know how you manage to throw your voice like that.”“I don’t either,” I said, “it just kind of came naturally to me.”“Well, I better get going. I’ll be sure to tell your dad you did a good job keeping me out of the fridge.”I went to the bathroom as Uncle Zeke left. When I came back to the living room, Mister Long Jaw was gone. I figured that I had just misplaced it, so I just went to bed. I didn’t stay in bed for long though, as I heard a loud bang coming from the living room. When I went in there to check it out I saw that the box that Long Jaw had come in was on the opposite side of the room. This shocked me; there was no possible way for it to have gotten there. I was too tired to worry, so I picked up the box and locked it in my closet.Once again, I wasn’t quite able to sleep on my current mattress and eventually, I began to hear the tapping. I was expecting it to sound like it was coming from my closet, but I quickly realized that it sounded as though someone was knocking on the front door. I got out of bed and walked over to the front door. The knocking stopped as I got over there. I looked through the peephole, but saw nothing. I turned around to go back to bed when I heard the knocking again.I went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife for protection, but just the thought of ever needing to use it made me uneasy. Once again, the knocking stopped as I approached the door. I looked through the peephole and, again, saw nothing. I slowly opened the door to see no one around. I grabbed my house key from right inside the door before closing and locking it as I went outside - I didn’t want anyone getting in while I was out.I started looking around the house when I noticed something in the bushes. It looked like a hand, and it was a hand, Mister Long Jaw’s hand. Somehow, Long Jaw got outside and was thrown into the bushes. I figured this was just a prank that Tyler, Jessica, or Uncle Zeke was playing on me, so I said, “Haha, very funny,” before grabbing Mister Long Jaw and unlocking the door… which wouldn’t open. The top lock was locked as well, but I hadn't locked that one earlier.I gripped the knife tighter as I unlocked the top lock and went inside. If this was a prank, it couldn’t have been any of the earlier suspects, because none of them had keys to the house. That’s when I thought “Dad.” He didn’t need to go to work; it was all a part of his elaborate scheme, a prank beyond all pranks. So I yelled, “Dad, this isn’t funny anymore! Give it up!” No response.I heard my phone ringing, so I put Long Jaw dow
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