Dickinson Robinson is a very strange man in many different ways. For one thing, he is suffering from mental illness. For another, he has no wife and no friends. He is a loner but he is rich. His money was inherited from his parents. Before they died, they used to be very successful people who are known all over the world. Although Dickinson is rich, he is very humble and nice. He is a man of fifty-four who is bald and wears glasses. His favorite color is red.

Dickinson was very much respected by all the citizens of Dickentown. But because he’s mentally sick, no one wants to be his friends. Every year Dickinson would donate money and blood for other people especially poor people. He also has a love for antiques. He would collect every single vase and pots and plates, and he would display them in his house.

Dickinson lives in a three-story house in downtown Dickentown. His house is the biggest and the most magnificent in that area. It is painted in a special red color that can only be made by the best painters in the world. There is a large fountain in the courtyard and also a large garden with some of the world’s rarest plants. Dickinson lives with three housemaids and a large Dalmatian dog named Spot.

Dickinson was no happy. Why you may ask? Because he didn’t like the rug in his living room. It was a winter day when Dickinson   that he should buy a new rug for his living room. He strolled around town to see what he could find. He wanted a rug that was beautiful, magnificent and red colored. After walking for more than two hours, he started to give up hope. But that soon changed as he passed an Indian rug store. His eyes were stuck on a large piece of Indian rug that was hung up on the windows. "Holy Crap!” he said when he saw it. The rug was decorated with the finest designs, with pictures of flowers and beautiful shapes. Most of all, it was red. "I’ll buy it!” Dickinson didn’t even want to know anything else about the rug. He bought it for over $5000. The rug was able to change color when you look at it in many perspectives. He thought it was the most perfect rug in the whole world.

As soon as he got home, he laid it in his living room. "It’s perfect” he said. That night, he watched his favorite TV show which was "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?”. Dickinson was so tired that he accidently fell asleep.

"Why am I still here?” Dickinson asked himself when he woke up. It was already passed midnight at that time. He started to walk to his bedroom, which was a 50-meter walk to 3rd floor. It was apparently dark and when he strode forwards he tripped over a huge bump in the rug of the living room. "What the bloody hell is this?” he uttered breathlessly. He managed to stand up and started to examine the bump. Soon after that, he stepped on it over and over again to smoothen the bump, but it was rock hard. He lifted the rug but there was nothing underneath. "I’m going to have to call the store owner tomorrow” he thought.

It was a very cold morning the next day. It has snowed all night and now the snow was 50 cm deep. Dickinson called the owner to come over to his house so that he could look at the bump that had appeared last night.

"Good morning.” Dickinson said as he called the carpet store.

"Good morning.” This is Qolak, the storeowner of the Indian rug store. How may I help you?” Qolak responded.

"I have this bump in the middle of the rug that I just bought yesterday morning. Can you please come here and take a close look?”

"I’m sorry. The snow has blocked the path to go anywhere. But I will come as soon as possible. Thank you for calling and have a good day,” Qolak said. The phone soon hung up.

After the call, Dickinson went back to the living room to examine the bump again. It turns out that the bump had disappeared. He was bewildered. "Where did it go?” he pondered.

Two weeks later, it happened again. The bump reappeared. The good thing was that Qolak turned up the very same day. knock.. Knock Knock.. It turned out to be Qolak. Dickinson was surprised to see him because he thought that Qolak would never show up. "Oh.. Hello. What a surprise to see you here today. Come on in.” Dickinson said. He then showed Qolak the way to the living room.

"Where is it?” Qolak asked when he entered the living room. "Its right…” Dickinson was interrupted. The huge bump in the middle of the rug is now gone. "I swear it was right here,” he said while being mesmerized. "I just saw it right here before you knocked,” he said. "Maybe you were just imagining it. You’re mentally sick, right? Besides, the bump is gone now. There is no need to worry about it.” Qolak said insulting him. Qolak left the house leaving Dickinson insulted.

What Dickinson didn’t know was that the rug has been cursed and that Qolak was behind it. Thirty years ago Qolak specially made the rug for his girlfriend as her birthday present. The rug he gave was blue. He was madly in love with Shanty, his girlfriend. But one day, Shanty dumped him for another guy who was much wealthier and good-looking than Qolak. He became enraged and wanted revenge. So one night, Qolak snuck into Shanty’s house and raped her. Her death happened to occur right on top of the rug that he gave. Because of her blood, the rug turned red. Qolak, afraid that he would get blamed for her death, took the rug and sold it in his store.

The only problem was, everyone that ever bought it, returned the rug because they complained of a bump that popped up in the middle of it. Qolak himself was confused. He did not know what to do and besides, he has never seen the bump himself.

When Qolak left, Dickinson went back to his living room. There it was! The bump was was there again. Dickinson was mystified. "Where could it have gone when Qolak was here? Could he have missed it” he thought.

For the rest of the day, Dickinson stayed home. Occasionally, watching horror movies. Since he was a child, he loved to watch horror movies. He used to be the only one in his class who watches them. After watching for more than three hours, he decided to sleep.

That night, Dickinson had a nightmare. It must have been because of him watching too much horror movies. Anyways, in his nightmare he took a chair and banged it on the bump to smoothen it. But instead, the rug ripped and blood started to spill out of it. The blood started to build up until it filled the whole living room.

Dickinson woke up in a pool of sweat. "It was a just a dream,” he said. "It was just a dream… Just a dream.” He kept saying it to himself but he could not make himself unafraid. "That’s it! I’m going to return the rug if that is the last thing I will do!” He got out of his bed, went down to his living room, and turned on the lights. Dickinson immediately rolled up the up the rug and put it in the back of his Hummer. He then went back to bed knowing that he would soon return the mysterious rug to Qolak.

Qolak was cleaning up his store when heard a Hummer stopping in front of Qolak’s store. "Well well well… What have we here?” he said to himself. "What is Dickinson doing in here? And what is that in the back of his Hummer?” He thought for a while but his worst fears came after all.”Oh no! He’s going to return that awful rug!”

Dickinson entered the store dragging the beautiful red rug that he loved. It was hard to return but he must do what he must do. "Good morning Qolak. I’m sorry but I will have to return this rug to you. I do not need the money back, but please take the rug.” DIckinson begged. Inside his heart, Qolak was starting to get mad but he pretended to be as nice as an angel. "Ohh.. That’s a pity. Do you want to buy any other rugs? You’ll get a discount, you know.” Dickinson soon replied, " No thank you. I think I will be happy with my old dusty rug.” Dickinson never lies. He would always tell the truth. Dickinson then left the store.

Qolak, getting only a piece of rug started swearing. He took a scissor and started destroying the rug. "I hate this rug! Why does everyone keep on returning it?!” This is the source of all my problems! If I destroy it, maybe all my problems will disappear!” he said angrily.

The thing is, he was wrong. That was the least of his worries. The rug started to bleed. "What the hell is this?!” A head came out of it and soon the body came out. It seemed familiar he thought. It turned out to be Shanty, who was killed 30 years ago. She started to get closer to him. "Umm… Shanty!!!” let us rethink about this. How about lets start with a sorry?” Qolak said. He took a step backwards but it was too late. Shanty, the satan was faster. Qolak screamed, "Aaaaaahhh!!!” He tried to get away but a moment later, he was gone. Swallowed by Shanty.

The mystery of Qolak’s disappearance was never solved. There was no evidence of his disappearance but people claimed that he was killed. Some people even thought that they heard a scream the night of his disappearance.  After that day Dickinson overcame his obsession of Indian carpets. He never bought an Indian carpet ever again. He was happy with his old dusty rug. "It’s perfect.” he said.

The END