Puppeteer by James Setele

It was a Wednesday. I had just gotten home from work. I was watching tv because it was raining outside. About half an hour into a movie a loud roll of thunder hit and the power went out. I went down into my basement to get a flashlight. On my way back up, right as I passed an open closet, lightning flashed and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw an old rag doll. I quickly aimed the flashlight but nothing as there. So i sat back down upstairs and read by flashlight. Five minutes later, lightning flashed again and I saw it again. And once again I aimed the flashlight and still nothing.
"There's nothing there. Just my imagination."
So I continued to read and then, my phone rang.
"Hello?" I answered. But the other side was just silent. I quickly hung up. I was starting to freak out a little bit. Then one more flash of lightning. I saw the thing on my bookshelf. And as before I aimed my flashlight and nothing was there. I decided to light a fire. After I lit it, lightning flashed again. I didn't see anything this time. This happened two more times. I was starting to think it was the dark playing tricks on me. But then, I heard an un-godly shriek. Almost like nails on a chalkboard. I followed the sound into my kitchen. This time the rag doll showed up on my light. But unlike the other times, it was holding a bloody axe. And instead of just sitting there, it stood up, jumped off the counter and started towards me.
"Oh my God!" I yelled while running from it. I thought I had lost it but then, it jumped out in front of me. I quickly turned and ran towards the fireplace.
"What the hell do you want from me?" I yelled. When I made it to the fireplace, I thought I was safe because I couldn't see or hear it. Then' suddenly it appeared out of nowhere. I quickly grabbed the charcoal shovel and with a clean swipe, sliced its head right off. I thought I won but, almost immediately it picked its head up and popped its head right back on.
"Damn it! What does it take to kill you?"
Then it occurred to me. I grabbed the fire tongs and used them to grab the thing. And I quickly threw it into the fire. And as I hoped it would, it burnt to a crisp.  As it was burning I saw a black cloud of something come out of the doll and dissolve into the air.   It was finally over.  Moments later, the power came back on, and the rain cleared up.
The End