Archive of Our Own

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For the month of October, the day was quite warm. It almost felt like summer. I enjoyed the weather as I walked home from school. The day ended early because of a flood in the basement. The stupid principal didn’t have the pipes checked regularly and one had burst causing water to rush down an entire hallway. I was actually happy that we got out early because the days were growing darker and when school is supposed to end it was so dark outside that I needed to use a flashlight to see anything. Normally I didn’t mind walking in the night as I loved the dark but I also loved sunlight. It was so warm and comforting and that day I was able to walk under the sun. There was still a good few hours before it was supposed to set so I could enjoy the rest of the day.The walk home wasn’t that long but it was a decent walk. On most days it took me a good twenty minutes which gave me plenty of time to clear my head from stressful classes or to just think. On that particular day I had something quite troubling on my mind. The third anniversary of my friend’s death was quickly approaching... Him, his brother and their parents all died nearly three years ago now... I still found it hard to believe. They were basically like brothers to me. The three of us had been inseparable. Jeffrey, Liu and I were known as the Trio of Trouble by our parents. I missed them dearly.Fall was our favourite time of the year and once again, the two weren’t here to share it with me. I watched as some dead leaves fell from the trees as I walked past a wooded area. I remembered how Jeff, Liu and I would rake up a bunch of leaves so we could play in the pile. We would then take handfuls of leaves and throw it at each other. Sometimes I would tackle one of the brothers and shove the dead crunchy leaves down their shirts. I smiled sadly at the memory. I remembered everything. Their smiles, their laughs and the games we would play. The day I saw the news of their deaths... After watching the report I became numb inside. I didn’t know what to do or how to react. At first I didn’t want to believe that it was even real. I thought that maybe it was just a bad dream and that I would wake up to find another letter sent by the brothers to my house, telling me how their week had gone.I went into a severe depression after that. I still remember that day. I remember going to get some food from the fridge when the news report came on. At first I didn’t pay much attention to it but when I heard the names I froze. When the reporter said that the whole family was dead I dropped the glass I was holding and rushed over to the TV. I saw pictures of their house. They even flashed some pictures of the family. The first picture was of his parents and they were smiling. I remembered when and where it was taken. It was taken at my sixth birthday party at their house. They were standing in their living room drinking some wine when my mom snapped the picture for her photo album. She made one for Jeff, Liu and I each year. She was basically their second mother. Then the next picture appeared on screen. It was of the two brothers sitting on the couch in their superhero pajamas. I couldn’t exactly recall when that was taken but it was probably when I wasn’t at their house.I remembered that I didn’t cry at first. I just sat on the ground in front of the TV, completely frozen as I processed the information. I didn’t know how to react. I didn’t even believe that it was real. When it finally hit me I burst into tears. I cried so much that I felt like I couldn’t breathe. My mom tried to comfort me but when I felt her hand on my shoulder, I shoved her off and ran into my room where I slammed the door shut. I didn’t want anyone to comfort me. I just needed to be alone so I could process the news. I didn’t even make it to my bed. I leaned against the door as I sat on the ground and cried until the tears stopped coming. My parents let me stay home from school for the next week so I could try and recover. From that moment on I refused to eat, sleep or even leave my bed. After a few weeks of this my parents forced me into therapy but it didn’t help that much. It took a while, months before I began to move on with my life. I still thought about the two but I had no choice but try and live a normal life. After the first year it got a bit easier but it didn’t hurt any less. The second year passed and I felt a little more like my old self but I didn’t smile. After the day I saw the news I never smiled, not once. It was like I forgot how to smile. The third year was approaching and while I adjusted to life without them I knew I would never be the same. Without those two, life wasn’t as fun anymore...To help me, my parents thought it was best that we move out of my childhood home. It had too many memories of the brothers and in order to move on I had to stop thinking about them every second of every day. In the beginning I begged them to drop the idea of moving. I wasn’t ready and even though I knew they were dead I wanted to stay in case they came back. My parents told me that it was not going to happen but gave me a full six months to prepare myself before we packed up and moved. It was hard to say goodbye to that house as it held so many memories but in the end it was the right thing to do. Before we left that house I looked back at it one last time and saw a memory of the three of us playing in the front yard. Jeff and I were laughing as we played tag with his brother who was it.A single tear rolled down my cheek as I continued my walk home. I took a deep breath and did my best to hold back anymore tears that threatened to fall down. I didn’t notice at first but the world around me was eerily silent. There was no wind to rustle the remaining leaves on the trees. No birds flew by or chirped. No animals wandered the forest floor. It was all silent. All that could be heard was the sounds of my shoes against the pavement. As I walked I got lost in my thoughts. I tried focusing on something other than my friends but since the anniversary of their death was just days away, they were all I could think about. I let my mind bring up happy memories of us as my body went on auto pilot. I had walked this way many times before so my body knew the route. I was so lost in my thoughts that I failed to hear the sounds of footsteps coming from the forest even though the world around me was dead silent. With the whole street so quiet, the sounds of crunching leaves sounded incredibly loud but my brain had blocked everything out. The mysterious person who had been following me quickly approached me from behind when they noticed I didn’t hear them. When they were in arms reach they grabbed me. One arm wrapped around my waist while the other covered my mouth to prevent me from screaming however that didn’t stop me from trying. I fought back against the person the best I could but it was no use. They were much stronger than me. They lifted me off my feet and ran with me deep into the forest where no one could see us. I tried to kick or punch them but even when I did make contact this person didn’t seem to flinch. I was stunned. A normal person would have at least reacted with a grunt or something but it was like I was hitting a statue or something. It frightened me because if they didn’t react to pain then how would I be able to break free?We got fairly deep in the woods and the person must have gotten fed up with me as they dropped me on the ground. I grunted as it was unexpected but before I could try running away they pinned me down with their full body weight. I screamed at them to let me go and tried my best to kick at them but nothing worked. What I found odd was the whole time I struggled the person didn’t say anything. They didn’t even make a noise. It was like they were a zombie or something. Eventually I grew tired of fighting and began to calm down. I gave in and accepted my fate. This person was going to kill me but that was okay. I didn’t care. At least I would be reunited with Jeff and Liu. I closed my eyes and prepared myself for my inevitable death but it never came. I waited for five minutes, then ten but nothing happened. When my kidnapper was positive I had calmed down and wouldn’t run off I could feel their hands release me and they even moved off me. I could hear them move on the ground to my left. It sounded like they sat down on the ground.I opened my eyes and turned to face them. I was horrified by what I saw. Crouching beside me was a man in black pants and white hoodie but the thing that caught my attention was his face... His face was white, white as snow and looked like it had a leathery texture... His eyes were wide and never seemed to blink and that smile... That smile, if one could even call it that was the most terrifying thing about him... It went from ear to ear and was quite clearly carved into his flesh... The sight made me want to throw up. I wanted to run from this... this creature but fear kept me in place. I felt like a deer in headlights. A deer who wanted to throw up. Carefully this... this monster took a step towards me which made me take a step back. “Don’t be afraid.” It said. It’s voice sounded a bit raspy, almost like it smoked and drank quite a bit. I scoffed. Don’t be afraid? How could this creature tell me not to be afraid when it looked like a walking nightmare?“How do you expect me not to fear you?!” I exclaimed. “What even are you? Are you some demon? A monster?” This shocked the monster as it took a step back in surprise and somehow showed a look of hurt and confusion. At the time that didn’t register to me. I was full of adrenaline and fear. I was ready to run for when this creature decided it was time to kill me.“Do you not remember me?” That made me pause. I snapped out of my thoughts just long enough to process the sound of its voice. That voice… Not only was the tone one of sadness but it seemed oddly familiar to me… I don’t know how but I thought I knew that voice. “It’s me. Jeffrey. You know, Jeff, your best friend in the whole world? The leader of the Trio of Trouble?”“No… No! That’s impossible!” I replied. “Jeff and his family are dead! And you… you are a monster! You aren’t my Jeffrey!” I was about to take off running but this monster was smart and grabbed me before I had the chance. We fell to the ground and he got on top of me as I struggled to get away. I punched and kicked at the figure but that didn’t seem to have any effect.“Just calm down and let me explain!” He said as he tried to restrain my flailing arms. “I am not dead! It’s true that my parents and brother are dead but I’m not! I survived! I am alive and I finally found you after all these years!”“No!” I started to cry. How dare this monster drag me into the woods and claim to be my deceased friend. How did he even know that I knew him? I didn’t care. I just wanted him off me so I kept fighting but eventually I grew tired. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off. He noticed this and waited until I no longer had the energy to fight. I was just a crying mess on the ground. After a few minutes of crying it shocked me to feel the rough hands on this creature gently wipe my tears away. I opened my eyes when he was done and looked up at the horrific face. The expression was surprisingly gentle… He got off me and pulled me into a sitting position, confident that I wouldn’t try to run again. He then sat in front of me and pulled out a photo from his pocket and handed it to me. I took it with a shaky hand and looked at it. I gasped. The photo was of Jeff, Liu and I just before they moved away. My head snapped up at the person and I glared at him.“Where on earth did you get this? Were you the one who killed my friends!?” I pounced on him before he even had the chance to explain himself. I must have taken him by surprise and he didn’t try to block my punch. I punched his ugly face over and over again as I screamed at him.“I am Jeff! I already told you!” He said through my punches. “I have been holding on to that picture ever since we moved away!”“I don’t believe you! Jeffrey is dead!”“No I’m not! I am not dead! I’m here! It’s me!”“Prove it!”“Banana pants!” He screamed. That made me freeze. ‘Banana pants’ was the horrible nickname Jeff gave me when we were younger. My parents had bought me underwear with bananas all over them and one day when I was playing with Jeff, I tripped over my pants because they were so long and it caused them to come right off. He saw my stupid underwear and for weeks he called me ‘banana pants’. “See? It’s me. It’s me you stupid banana pants.” He chuckled.I didn’t know what to say. There was no way anyone could know about that nickname. The only person who ever knew of it was Jeffrey himself... “Jeffrey...” I said with a shaky voice and I looked into his piercing blue eyes. He nodded. I gave my brain a few moments to process the situation. This monster... no... He wasn’t a monster... This was my best friend... This was my Jeffrey... The one I thought was dead for three years... Those big blue eyes were indeed his when I took a closer look. Even though he was frightening to look at, I couldn’t stop myself from flinging my whole body at him and tackled him in a big hug. We fell to the ground, me on top of him and I cried into his chest. I couldn’t believe it. Jeff was back. He wasn’t dead. He was alive and he was here.I cried into his chest for what felt like hours. This all felt like a dream to me and if it was then I never wanted to wake up. I hugged him as tightly as I could. I was probably squeezing the air from his lungs but I didn’t give a shit. When I finally calmed down I pulled away from the hug and looked up at Jeff. Even with the eerie carved smile in his face I could see him give me a loving smile. It was contagious as I smiled back. “I can’t believe it’s you... You... You definitely have changed over the years...”“Yeah... and so have you.” He said, gesturing to my updated wardrobe. We laughed as we sat on the forest floor. We didn’t say much after that. We just sat there enjoying each other’s company. After a few hours I suddenly realized that the sun was beginning to go down. I got to my feet and turned to Jeff.“I’m sorry Jeff but I really need to go home. My parents must be wondering where I am.”“Oh... Yeah, no I get it. Go back before they start to worry. I’ll see you around some time.”“Do you live in the area?”“Yeah, I guess you could say that.” I raised an eyebrow but didn’t question him. I had to hurry home before my parents called the cops or something. I gave him a big hug before dashing off to my home. Luckily my mom was still asleep and my dad was still at work so my absence wasn’t noticed. I sighed with relief and went to my room. It was the end of the week and I was tired. I just wanted to take a shower then relax in bed with a good book.As I searched through my dresser for a fresh pair of pajamas a tap on my window almost made me jump out of my skin. I turned to the window and almost screamed at the sight. It was Jeff. His face was pressed against the glass as he looked in the room. For a moment, I actually forgot that we had just reunited. I was still not accustomed to his terrifying face. Before I could move, he slid open the window and hopped in the room. The both of us froze when we heard the floor creaking from my mom’s room as she was moving around. I dashed to my bedroom door and closed it quickly but quietly so I wouldn’t draw her attention. I then turned to Jeff who was now sitting on my bed.“What the hell are you doing here?” I hissed as I approached him.“I just wanted to visit. Not to be creepy but I have been watching you for a while now and noticed that you guys moved.”“Are you serious?” I scoffed. “You are so creepy!” I smacked him with my pajama pants and the both of us laughed. We quickly quieted down when we heard my mom walk past and at first I thought that she might have heard us but she didn’t knock on the door. Instead she kept walking to the kitchen where she made herself some tea.“I know it’s risky to be here but I just wanted to check the place out.” He whispered and got up. I gave him another smack and we smiled.“Now get out of here you freak.” I said and pushed him towards the window.“Yeah, yeah, I’m leaving you loser.” Jeff replied as he climbed out the window. I watched as he jumped down then took off down the street toward the forest. I was glad to see that even after his drastic change in appearance and three years Jeff was still the same boy I used to know before he and his family moved away. It still felt so unreal. My friend was back from the dead.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It had been months since Jeff and I had gotten into a relationship. We thought that the boss would react negatively when he found out and possibly try to separate us but he didn’t. Instead he simply told us to not get distracted on a mission and finish it in a timely fashion. That actually surprised me. It surprised all of us but I was happy it turned out that way. Perhaps Slendy was expecting this to happen at some point which would have explained his lack of surprise when we told him. Now that the anxiety of telling him was over with I just had to worry about my parents potentially finding out. They knew Jeff but as far as they were concerned, he was dead just like his parents and brother... As far as the world was concerned the whole family was dead. I wish I could take Jeff to my parents and tell them that he survived as they loved him but because of his appearance now we both knew it would be a bad idea. It killed me to have to keep such a secret from my family but I had no choice. I chose this life when I met Slenderman and agreed to be his proxy. No one but him and other proxies could know about my new life. Luckily for me I didn’t have any friends in school or the neighbourhood so when I wasn’t in school I could spend time with Jeff and our friends. It also was a relief to me that I didn’t have to lie to people other than my parents about where I was going.It was a Saturday morning so because of that my parents were sleeping in. Normally my mom was a morning person but she had stayed up later than normal the previous night and with nothing to do she decided to stay in bed. My dad was always so busy with his work and stayed up late so on Saturday mornings he would take the opportunity to sleep in. With them sound asleep I didn’t have to worry about lying to their face about where I was going at eight in the morning. Sure they knew I had friends but they thought they were other kids from school but at this age, who would be leaving at eight in the morning to hang out with friends? They would be suspicious. Instead I left a note on the kitchen counter that I went to see a friend who said it was an emergency. Leaving a note was easier for me but I still didn’t like lying.I quietly left the house through the mudroom door and made my way up the street to the park. Normally it was a quiet area but unfortunately for me, as I approached I saw a bunch a figures roaming around and the sounds of voices. I grunted in annoyance when I got closer and saw a small group of teens littering and talking shit. It was a new school year which meant new students. These kids looked to be first years in high school. I hated dealing with stupid kids. I was nearly seventeen and anyone more than two years younger than me annoyed me. I sighed and walked in the park. This caught the attention of the kids and they tried talking to me. They wanted me to go over to them and do some drugs but that wasn’t my style. I never thought of smoking or doing drugs. I was interested in drinking but I would never want to get wasted and Jeff would never allow that. I ignored these kids the best I could as I made my way to the forest but I didn’t make it. Just before I reached the trees, one of the boys grabbed my arm and tugged me toward him.“What do you want?” I snapped as I turned to face them.“Hey now, don’t be so rude.” The person who grabbed me said. He had a smirk on his face and his friends circled around me. I had no clue what they were planning but it was clear they didn’t want me to escape. I looked into their eyes and saw that their pupils were dilated so they must have been high on something already which would explain their aggressive behaviour.“I don’t have time to chat. I need to meet up with someone.” I tried pulling my arm away but this kid was quite strong. He was tall for his age and with me being on the shorter end of the scale, he loomed over me. He was also much stronger than me even though he looked like w twig. It was unfair as he was born a male so with all that testosterone, even with him being on the cusp of puberty, he had a serious advantage over me. That and he had some kind of drug in his system.“I think they can wait for a bit.” He replied. I assumed he was the leader of the group as he was taller and did all the talking. “We can’t just let a pretty thing like you go so easily.”“Piss off you freak!” I yanked my arm out of his grasp. He did not like that at all. The smirk on his face went away and turned into a frown.“Well that wasn’t very nice.”“I don’t have to be nice to you. You are making me feel uncomfortable and unsafe. I am going to leave now and there is nothing you can do to stop me.” I turned around and was ready to leave but forgot about the others. I bumped into one of his friends who smirked.“You can’t talk to my friend that way and expect us to just let you leave.” He said. I opened my mouth to speak but he didn’t give me the chance. He shoved me and I stumbled back into the arms of the leader. I tried shoving him off but he was quite strong and held me close. I didn’t like the feeling of being so close to a punk like this. The feeling of his breath on my neck was absolutely disgusting.“You don’t want to do this.” I warned. This just made them laugh.Clearly they didn’t think I was any kind of threat but they were quite wrong about that. I reached in my jacket picket and grabbed my knife. I looked at each of the boys and saw they were all looking at each other and mocking me, saying that I ‘couldn’t do shit’. Oh I was about to prove them wrong. I pulled out my knife and stabbed the leader right in the thigh. He screamed in pain and shoved me to the ground. His friends jumped and rushed over to him.“Hey! What the hell?” One of his friends exclaimed and looked down at me.“I did warn you but you didn’t listen. Now get out of here before I kick your asses to hell!” I got to my feet and pointed my knife at them. The blood of their friend was still on the blade and dripping on the ground. They now believed that I was a threat as they actually looked scared of me. I grinned.“Let’s get out of here, this bitch is crazy!” One of the boys said in a panic. I watched as they picked up their injured leader hauled ass out of the park and down the street. I hoped they wouldn’t report me but I doubted they would. They all probably had one or more drugs in their system and the last thing they would want to do is go to the police in their state. I watched as those brats dashed out of the park and down the street.When they were out of sight I went into the woods. During the day, we agreed to meet up at the tunnel deep in the woods instead of our rock. There was too big a risk that we could be seen. To get there it took a good ten minute walk. There we were far away from any streets or homes so we had all the privacy we wanted. I arrived at the tunnel and went in where I found Jeff. He was leaning against the wall with a smirk. I eyed him suspiciously as I walked over to him. “What’s that look for?”“It has been six months to the day that we officially became a couple.” He didn’t even give me enough time to respond before pulling me against his chest and kissed me in a passionate yet loving kiss. I smiled against his dry and cracked lips. When he pulled away he helped me out of my jacket and gently pushed me on a blanket he had spread on the ground. It didn’t take me long to figure out what was about to happen. We were about to have sex. I wasn’t sure how to feel about it but I didn’t want to stop. Yes, I was still a bit traumatized from what happened with Chad but it was time to move on. I couldn’t let that stop me. If I backed out now then I would back out the next time and again after that. It was now or never.My face burned when Jeff got on top of me. I felt something happening in between my legs. My body was reacting as it knew what was about to happen. He kissed me again but this time it was all lust. I nervously wrapped my arms around his neck. I wasn’t sure if I would know what to do. I wanted to be able to please him but I honestly had no clue what to do during sex. Yes I had sex education and I might have watched a few porn videos out of curiosity but watching and doing were two completely different things. Jeff was very open with me ever since we reunited and told me that he too was a virgin but I trusted him in taking the lead. Surely instinct would kick in and he would have an idea of what to do.The kiss continued and the air in between us began to heat up. Jeff pressed his hips against mine and I gasped when I felt something poking me. I realized what it was almost immediately. The heat from my face spread down to my neck. When Jeff pulled away we both took a deep breath in. We nearly forgot that we needed to breathe. I looked up at him, waiting to see what he was going to do next. I shivered in anticipation when I felt my pants and underwear slip down my legs. I watched as he tossed the articles of clothing to the side. Next came my underwear. My lower half was now completely exposed. Since we were not in the privacy of a home it was best we didn’t remove all of our clothes. I watched as Jeff unzipped his pants and pushed them off along with his underwear. They joined my pants, discarded to the side.I could feel the blood rushing down in between my legs. I was breathing heavily as I waited for Jeff to penetrate me. This was it. I was going to have sex for the first time. Even though it hadn’t been that long since the attack I really felt ready for this. This was Jeff. I loved and trusted him. He would never do anything to hurt me. He wasn’t Chad. Chad was a monster who did a horrible thing to me but he was dead. I took a deep breath and looked up at Jeff. He looked a bit concerned, probably wondering if I was having second thoughts. Before he could ask me if I wanted him to stop I gave him a nod, letting him know I was ready. He leaned down and kissed me. This kiss was gentle. It was loving. I smiled into the kiss and felt him position himself in between my legs. I wrapped my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. I grabbed on to the fabric of his hoodie and tightened my grip when I felt him push the tip in. It didn’t hurt but I did feel myself being stretched out. He went slow and waited for me to adjust to the intrusion before completely burying himself inside. I gasped which turned into a moan as I felt him move inside. My back arched in response and my head fell back on the blanket. The feeling was amazing. I could not describe it in words.When Jeff was sure that I was ready he began to thrust. I gasped every time his manhood filled me up. I squeezed my legs around his waist as the pace picked up. I could hear Jeff grunt above me. It was the hottest sound I had ever heard. One thrust was quite hard which caused me to tighten around him. In reaction I heard his grunt turn into a low moan. I brought his head down to mine and kissed him. His thrusts slowed down a bit as he returned to the kiss but that didn’t last long. The moment he parted from the kiss the thrusts picked up again. I was panting heavily in between the moans. The thrusts were near violent now and I could feel that his climax was approaching. Mine was too. I could feel the buildup in the pit of my stomach.“J-Jeff!” I said with a strained voice. My back arched as I felt my end approach. My eyes clamped shut as I felt overwhelming pleasure. I felt Jeff lean down and start biting at the skin of my exposed neck but it barely registered at the time. All I could focus on was my pending release. My moan turned into a scream when it hit. The feeling pushed me off the edge. My vision went white. I could faintly hear Jeff’s moans over mine as his climax hit too. I felt a warmth inside me and in the back of my mind I knew what it was but didn’t care. I probably should have made sure he had condoms beforehand as I was not on any type of birth control but I didn’t care. I would just take the morning after pill later.When it was over Jeff collapsed on top of me. The both of us were panting and covered in sweat. I felt my shirt stick to my skin and when he pulled out, I felt his semen leak out of me. It was an unusual feeling. I opened my eyes and turned my head to face his. He did the same and our lips brushed against each other. I smiled when he pulled me into a gentle kiss. “I love you.” I said in a soft voice when he pulled away.“I love you too.” He replied in an equally soft and quiet voice. His face was so close that I could feel the warmth of his breath on my face. I turned over on my side and cuddled up close to Jeff’s chest. His arms wrapped around me and held me close.“Six months into our relationship and you couldn’t wait any longer to have sex?” I asked him in a teasing tone. I giggled when I saw the look on his face. He looked almost embarrassed.“I um, I hope you don’t mind. I mean, it is a bit soon considering...” His voice trailed off. We both knew what he was referring too but didn’t want to bring it up. What’s done is done.“Of course I don’t mind. It was an amazing experience.” I kissed his cheek and he smiled. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go through with it at first but I’m glad I did. I kept telling myself that you aren’t Chad and that you wouldn’t do anything to hurt me and that I didn’t have anything to worry about. This is not a repeat of what happened that night...”“Hey if you felt that way then why didn’t you say anything?”“Because I really wanted to have sex with you, to feel what making love is like. I didn’t want to stop just because something bad happened to me a few months ago. It’s time I moved on from all that...”“You know I wouldn’t have judged you if you did.” He kissed my forehead and I let a small smile spread across my face. “I understand that you went through something horrible and I know that those feelings might return after a trigger, so don’t be afraid to tell me you want to back out of sex. I won’t get mad.”“I know and that’s why I love you so much.” We shared a final kiss before deciding to get dressed. Since we still had plenty of time before I had to go home we decided to move from the tunnel to the bridge I discovered when running away from who I thought was my stalker but it turned out to just be Ben. He said that Ben and possibly E.J would be there depending if he finished his mission. It would be nice to see him as he’s been on his mission for nearly two weeks now. Apparently the boss had sent him out of state as some sort of punishment for messing up on his last mission. Oh E.J... always getting into trouble...When we got dressed he folded up the blanket and kicked it to the side then picked up a backpack that I hadn’t noticed before. I questioned what was in it but he told me that I would have to wait and see. I let out a small whine which caused him to chuckle. He took my hand and we went off to the bridge.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When we made it to the bridge I saw that BEN, Smile and E.J were already there. They were sitting at the edge with their feet hanging off the side while Smile was curled up in the middle. I don’t blame the pup for being scared. The fast moving water below was enough to frighten me. “Hey guys.” I said with a smile as we walked over to them.“Hey you two.” BEN replied. He had a knowing smirk on his face. My face turned red as a tomato when I realized why he was giving us that look. He knew what we had just done. I tried to subtly fix my hair, thinking that maybe my wild hairdo was giving it away. I looked over at the other two to see their expressions. Smile was also giving me a smirk but when it came to E.J I couldn’t see his face because of his mask although I knew that underneath he had to have been grinning like a madman. “So how was your little ‘date’?”“It was fine.” Jeff shrugged and sat down. I nodded and sat beside him. I saw BEN frown. I guess he was expecting juicy details but Jeff and I were not going to share anything, especially with him. He loved to gossip.“What? That’s all you have to say? That it was fine? Come on guys!”“Seriously.” E.J said with his arms crossed. “You can’t tell us what you plan on doing for your date then not give us the juicy details later! That’s not right! We want to know what happened!” My face was burning now and I snapped my head in Jeff’s direction.“You seriously told these idiots what you were planning?”“Well yeah... they were curious...” Jeff mumbled. He lowered his head, almost in shame and I sighed. I didn’t really feel like picking a fight after our wonderful date so I settled for slapping his arm and moved on. I saw him rub his arm then he pulled his backpack on his lap and opened it. He pulled out some Tupperware full of food and handed some to me while keeing the rest for himself. He then pulled a big bag of Doritos out and tossed them at BEN who lunged for them. He snatched the bag right out of the air and tore it open like some savage beast. “Kids...” Jeff said as he rolled his eyes. I giggled and watched as BEN tried to hog the bag from E.J when he tried reaching for some chips.“Come on dude, I just want a few...”“No! They’re mine bitch! Go eat a kidney!” BEN snapped.“Can’t I just have one? Just one? Please!” BEN eyed him suspiciously and gave it a thought for a few moments. Eventually he decided to give in and give him a single chip. He took the smallest one he could find out of the bag and gave it to E.J and even with the mask on we could tell that he was giving him an annoyed look.“You did say, just one didn’t you?” BEN smirked. Jeff and I burst out laughing at BEN’s response. In all fairness, he was right. E.J did ask for just one. E.J of course wasn’t amused by this but knew better than to bug BEN for more chips. That boy loved his Doritos and would fight anyone to the death over them.I opened one of the Tupperware containers Jeff have given me and was hit with the smell of delicious homemade pasta. “This smells amazing!” I thanked Jeff when he handed me some cutlery and dug in. It was the most delicious thing I had ever eaten. Jeff was one hell of a cook. “How did you make this?”“In an oven.” He replied bluntly.“No, silly,” I laughed and smacked his leg lightly. “You know that is not what I meant. I know you use an oven but how did you have access to one?”“Jeff has a home.” BEN replied. His voice was muffled as his mouth was full of chips. I looked at him in disgust as I saw the chewed up food in his mouth. He saw my face and quickly shut his mouth and continued chewing.“You have a house now? When did this happen? And how did you buy one?” I asked and looked over at Jeff.“Well it’s a home but not a house.” I raised an eyebrow out of confusion which he noticed and quickly continued. “I didn’t go out and buy a house, obviously. We all know that would not work but I do have a home. It’s just not a conventional one. I found an abandoned asylum when hunting in the woods so I checked it out and found that it was empty so I moved in. It was probably forgotten long ago so I don’t get any visitors but if I do I can easily dispose of them. I was actually going to bring that up at a more appropriate time and ask if you wanted to come over and see...” He looked over at BEN with a slight glare on his face. BEN simply looked down at the bag of chips on his lap and continued eating.“Sorry...” He said timidly.Jeff just huffed at him and turned back to me. “With the help on E.J and this loser I was able to get some basic appliances and even make up a room suitable for anyone to sleep in.”“Yeah, he even painted it and put a big rug on the ground. It looks amazing. You would never have guessed it used to be a mental asylum.” E.J piped up.“Wow. Impressive. I would love to see what you did with the place."“We can go there after we finish our lunch.” I nodded and we all hurried up, especially me. I wanted to see what Jeff did to make an abandoned building livable. When we were all done we packed up and started walking. Jeff was in the lead while I walked by his side. The other three walked silently behind us. I could feel BEN and E.J giving off smug auras when I took Jeff’s hand in mine but chose to ignore them. If I gave them a reaction it would only encourage them to continue their teasing which was the last thing I wanted. I was glad that Jeff couldn’t pick up auras because if he did then he would end up picking a fight with E.J. He normally didn’t pick fights with BEN making it really easy for the kid to piss Jeff off and get away with it. He probably excused his behaviour because he was still technically a thirteen year old boy. E.J on the other hand was the same age as us so he should be more mature than BEN so he was never let off the hook. Not with Jeff or even our boss.The walk took much longer than I had expected. It seemed like these woods just went on forever with no end. Already the bridge was pretty far in. Just how big were the woods that surrounded our little town? I would have to go on Google Maps when I got home to check it out. After a while of walking we finally arrived. We had walked through tall and dense grass and bushes. It was obvious no one had been out here in some time. The small gravel road that lead up to the property was almost buried in grass and twigs that had built up over the years. A little further up the path we came to a clearing. Jeff must have cleaned up a bit in order to get to the door. I looked up and gasped when I saw what was before us. There stood a large building that looked like it was built in the fifties and due to lack of maintenance, it was falling apart in some places but most of it was still standing.It was quite big, bigger than I expected. It looked like it could maybe hold 1,000 patients although in reality it probably held way more than that. These places were known for overcrowding back in the day. I found it strange that it was built to house so many because our town never had more than 2,000 people in its entire history. Maybe they brought in other patients from neighbouring towns that probably didn’t have asylums. It was the only thing I could think of.As I looked at the building I could not believe it had gone forgotten in our town. I loved to research old abandoned building and not once had I ever heard of an asylum being built anywhere in the area. The town must have been so ashamed at what happened in it that they covered it up. It was the only thing I could think of that made sense. Perhaps they were so ashamed that when the age of the internet was born, the town never bothered to include this in the town’s history. I then thought it was strange how not one person had gone hiking in the woods and came across this place in all these years. Not one person. Well I was glad that it had gone forgotten because that made it even more secluded from the rest of the world and would mean we wouldn’t have to worry about trespassers.As I admired the building I could see Jeff looking at me out of the corner of my eyes and could tell that he was grinning at my reaction. “I take it that you like it.”“Oh I love it! This place looks so amazing! I can’t wait to explore it!” I jogged up to the door while the others chuckled. Jeff was quick to follow me and opened one of the grand double doors. They weren’t the biggest but they were beautiful and appeared to be solid wood. Over the two doors was a window in the shape of a half circle and two magnificent windows with arched tops were on either side of the doors. “This is absolutely beautiful!” I exclaimed when I went in. Most people would have probably described the place as creepy but I lived to explore abandoned places. I wished that Jeff had told me ahead of time so I could have brought my camera but I guess that could wait for another day seeing as Jeff had made this his home. Oh I was going to get so many good pictures of this place for my photo album. That was one perk of not only knowing a bunch of Slenderman’s proxies but also being one. On more than one occasion a mission had taken us to abandoned buildings which I took many pictures of. Of course I waited until after the mission was done and we had reported to Slendy. He wouldn’t have liked it if I stopped midway to get a bunch of ‘useless’ pictures as he called them. He would never understand how happy these pictures made me. My mom said I was born to be a photographer after seeing the many photos I took around town.“You really should see the changes Jeff made. It doesn’t look like the rest of the place at all.” E.J said, snapping me out of my thoughts.I looked over at Jeff and he nodded. He took us up the stairs that were located right in front of us upon entering and we went to the top floor. The whole place so far looked like you would expect a building that was abandoned to look. There was dust and dirt everywhere and paint peeling off the walls. As we climbed the stairs I was relieved to see that Jeff had cleaned the steps. The last thing I wanted was to slip and fall. Any and all debris that had accumulated over the years had been removed, making the steps clear for us.The whole building consisted of three levels except the main part. That was the part where the front door was located and the main staircase. It protruded from the rest of the building to show it was separate and had an extra level. I wasn’t sure why it was designed like that but it looked cool. As we walked up the seemingly endless staircase Jeff explained that the whole fourth floor was converted or in the process of being converted into a suitable living space. Sure he was a murderer but even he wanted a nice place to live in. He was still human after all even though his appearance suggested otherwise to those who didn’t know him. I listened as he talked about fixing up his room which was separated from the main living space and that he even had a bathtub and fireplace. The bathtub was basically a giant metal tub but it would do. In his position he couldn’t be picky. He even had the others on the lookout for old furniture that still looked to be in good condition on people’s driveways and if they found something, to bring it back. I was shocked to hear that everyone, even the boss agreed to this and in no time at all he had everything he could want in a house. I hadn’t even seen the place and I was already impressed.When we finally reached the top floor I gasped. He repainted the whole floor making the place look brand new. It was all white paint so it made the place look clean but would also mean that keeping it clean would be tricky, especially with a certain elf hanging around. That wouldn’t be a problem for Jeff as he was very picky and cleaned frequently but not enough to be considered OCD. He just liked things to be tidy. It’s just how he was raised. I was impressed with the amount of work that went into this floor. He must have had everyone help sweep up the rubble and patch things up. It looked expertly done. “I feel like this whole floor went back in time to when the place was first built.” I said as I looked around.“That was the plan.” Jeff replied. He showed me to the area he designated as the living room. He knocked down a few walls the open the space up a bit. It was big enough for three sofas that had three seats each. He also added two love seats and two coffee tables. Absolutely nothing matched but that was life. As long as it stayed in one piece, the looks didn’t matter.“Why so much furniture?” I questioned.“Well the boss agreed to me staying here on the condition I make it available to everyone else. All the proxies have their own room or share a room all on this floor.” He explained. I was puzzled as the floor didn’t have that much room.“Their rooms must be really small then.”“Oh they are but we don’t need much, remember?” BEN said. I nearly forgot he and the others were here. “We tore down almost every wall and built new ones with a different layout so we would have enough rooms for everyone. Sally and I share a room which is mostly filled with dolls and girly things but that doesn’t really bother me. We have enough room for one desk that she hardly uses so it has become mine which I put my laptop on. Then E.J and Hoody share a room, Masky and Jane have their own room and so on. There is enough space for everyone. Hoody doesn’t have much in the way of belongings so his and E.J’s room is mostly full of bookshelves for E.J’s crappy textbooks.”“Hey, my textbooks aren’t crap, okay Zelda?” Oh boy... Here we go... I rolled my eyes and the two began to bicker. Jeff and I let them argue and he took me to his room. It was at the end of the hallway at the front of the building. Probably so he could look out and make sure there were no trespassers coming. The room was a decent size. It was actually bigger than mine and he said it was the only one that had a fireplace. The advantages of being the one to find this place, I guessed. The bed in his room was built from scraps of wood that were sanded down and polish before being put together and because it was custom made, it was big enough for a king sized mattress.“Oh this is amazing!” I said and threw myself on the bed. It was so high on the ground that my feet couldn’t even touch the floor. I giggled as they dangled in the air. The mattress was soft and the sheets felt like they were new. I looked over at him with an eyebrow raised. “Are these new sheets?” I asked.“Yup, and a new mattress too. I made a decent amount of money stealing from my victims so I went to a store and bought these. There is no way I’m using ones that were pre-owned. That’s disgusting.” He had a point. And if they were used there was no telling what could have been on them.“And no one questioned someone like you walking into the store?” I asked in a teasing tone.“Nah, sunglasses and a medical mask does wonders at hiding this sexy face.” We both laughed and he joined me on the bed. I snuggled next to him and we looked up at the ceiling. Even that was freshly painted.“When on earth did you guys have the time to fix this place up like this?”“We did most of it during the night after we parted ways. We worked well into the nights and to keep us from all being tired the boss put us on different shifts so those who needed to go on missions could rest up beforehand. It was all quite organized and when some were on missions they kept an eye out for things I would need and bring them back when they were done. We stored them on the main level then brought them up when the renovations and painting were done.”“Wow, you guys are amazing. The place looks so nice now. You all did a great job.”“Why thank you, I did most of the heavy lifting.” We laughed and I leaned over to give him a kiss.“Of course you did. You are so strong.” I said as I rubbed his chest, feeling the muscles there. We smiled and shared a few kisses while lying on the bed. We probably would have taken it further had there not have been a knock at the door.“You two coming out any time soon?” I heard BEN say from the other side of the door. “The boss says he has a mission for you two and wants to discuss it further.”“Yeah okay, give us a minute.” Jeff called back.“We’re coming.” I said immediately after. I didn’t want to give BEN any ideas. I could tell that he and E.J were planning on teasing us from their knowledge of our date and I didn’t want to give them any more inspiration. I gave Jeff a playful slap to the arm and we both got up and went to the door. He, being the gentleman he is opened it and let me go first. “Oh why thank you good sir.” I winked at him as I passed.“You are very welcome, beautiful.” He responded.
“Oh stop it you.” We laughed and made our way to the area that was made into our living room to hear what our new mission would be.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

In the living room stood our boss, Slenderman. He stood facing one of the grand windows and appeared to be looking outside even though he had no eyes. None of us were sure how he saw the world without eyes but it was clear that he could. I tried asking him about it once but he dodged the question. I wasn’t surprised. He hardly told us anything about himself because none of that was important to our missions. If it didn’t relate to a mission then he didn’t say anything.“Hey boss.” Jeff said as we entered the room. Slendy turned his head to face us.“Ah, you’re here. Good.”“So what’s the mission this time boss?” I asked.“There is a young adult male who I have been watching for some time. He lives in your neighbourhood but I don’t believe you know him so there will be no personal attachment.”“Always a plus.” I responded. He chuckled and continued.“He lives with his wife who usually works nightshifts so it shouldn’t be hard to get him home alone at night, which is your preferred time for hunting.”“This has to be the easiest mission you’ve given us so far boss.” Jeff said.“Not exactly…” Jeff and I perked up at that.“Why not..?” Jeff asked suspiciously.“This target is quite strong and is trying to convince the world that we exist…”“We? As in you and us proxies?” I was shocked. The boss nodded his featureless head slowly and the room went silent. Jeff and I looked at each other then back at the boss. “Has he seen us? What about me? Do you think he knows I am a proxy?” I began to panic. If the police knew about me then it could mean trouble for my family and I would have to go on the run. My father was quite high in society and a very respectable man so having a child who is a murderer would greatly affect him. Just as I was on the verge of a panic attack, I felt Jeff’s hand on my back.“Don’t worry. We will get rid of this douche and our secret will be safe.” He reassured me. “We can have BEN search the internet to see if your picture appears.” I nodded and when I calmed down we turned our attention back to the boss.“You will need to partner with the boy for this mission as I do not want our secret getting out. The world needs to believe that we are nothing more than urban legends. Take out this target and bring back his devices so BEN can wipe them of any and all information he might have collected about us. Take as long as you need. I want this done carefully and thoroughly.” We nodded in agreement and the boss handed Jeff a piece of paper with writing on it. It was the name of our target.
Carl Daniels.
After handing over the paper he vanished right before our eyes. The sound of static lingered a bit in the air but stopped after a few seconds.“We should get started as soon as possible.” I said to Jeff who nodded.“Yeah, you go find the target’s house while I tell BEN to look online for anything he might have posted.” He kissed my cheek then ran off to BEN’s room to tell him what his new task was. I watched him leave then walked over to the window Slendy had been standing in front of. I still had to process this information. What if this guy had seen me on a mission and snapped a picture? The chances were low as I hadn’t sensed any auras but just because I didn’t sense him didn’t mean he wasn’t following us…  We had to find this guy and take him out before he revealed proof that not only were the proxies and Slenderman were real, but that I was also a proxy.I left before Jeff returned to the living room. I took off down the stairs, out the door and into the woods. I ran as fast as I could and reached the park in just fifteen minutes. I would estimate the walk from the park to the asylum to be a good twenty to twenty-five minutes but with sprinting I cut it roughly in half. I was glad to be in such great shape as I wasn’t dying by the time I reached the park. I felt like I took a quick, five minute jog. I walked fast down the street until I reached my house and went inside. I was hoping to go straight to my room without anyone seeing me but my mom was sitting on the couch watching TV as usual. There was no way I could sneak past her as the main floor was fairly small and all open concept. “Oh hey dear, you back already?”“Hey mom. Yeah, I uh, wasn’t feeling well so I came home to take a nap.”“Oh that’s too bad. Do you have a cold?”“I don’t know, maybe. I just need some sleep.”“Well when you wake up do you want me to make some chicken noodle soup or something?”“Nah that’s fine but thanks anyway.” I said rather quickly then retreated to my room. I hope she didn’t suspect anything but unless she felt I was in danger, she wouldn’t pry. My parents both respected my right to privacy and usually I am very open with my mom so she figures that if I want to tell her something then I will. I closed the door to my room and for safety, I locked it. I didn’t want mom or dad to disturb me for the next little while.I went over to my desk and started up my new laptop that had been a birthday gift. I loved it. When it was booted up I signed in and opened up the internet browser. The name Carl Daniels was familiar to me but I don’t remember where I might have seen or heard it before. Maybe he used to work with my dad. He usually named so many people that I had a hard time remembering who he was talking about. With him being so important he worked with so many people over the years.I typed up the name Carl Daniels and found a bunch of results for him. I was right and that he did work with my dad a few years ago but after all the talk about Slenderman and his proxies he was let go. That wasn’t surprising at all since no one really believed that we were real so this guy must have seemed like a nutcase. It was shame though because he used to have a good job that paid well.After scrolling for a few pages I found his social media and even a website he made that was dedicated to Slenderman and his proxies. The site was called slenderman-is-real.com. Of course it was. I clicked on it and was surprised at the amount of energy this guy put into this site. He made it look aesthetically pleasing along with multiple sections with all sorts of information. The main page explained what the site was all about and gave information about the boss. It was eerie just how much he knew. Sure, lots of the information was nonsense but there were many things he got right… The only way he could know any of this is if he had found out where we hide out and watched us for days…I looked at the other pages and there was one dedicated to Jeff… On it he mentioned that Jeffery Woods had a partner who had been doing the killing in the last six months. Shit. That was me. So this Carl guy did know about me and I was on his site! I quickly scrolled through the page to see if he had posted any pictures of me and to my relief, he hadn’t. I read the whole section and I found out that he had taken some pictures of me but he never got my face. He said that it was so dark out that nothing could be seen except for my silhouette so he didn’t think they were worth posting. Thank god.For the next hour or two I browsed through his site to see what information he had on us. I found that he had even added a chatroom and surprisingly there were quite a few people on it. I read through some of the messages and most of the people thought this site was just a big project this guy was doing for fun. None of them seemed to believe we were actually real, probably because he hasn’t posted any pictures even though he claimed to have taken hundreds. Hundreds! How long has he been following us? From what I read before he has at least known about us for the last six months but he could have known about us much longer than that… I would say that was likely because he said the last six months it was Jeff’s partner had taken over the killing six months ago. Suggesting he knew about us before then and knew how we handled our missions.I felt like I was on the verge of yet another panic attack. This guy knew about me. Even if he didn’t have a picture of my face it didn’t mean that he hadn’t seen my face at least once. I got up from my desk and went to sit on my bed. I needed a break from that site before more thoughts appeared in my head. When I calmed myself down I went back to my laptop and opened a new tab. I went to Cleverbot and tried to get in touch with BEN. He responded quite quickly. He must have been on the computer still searching for anything on the Carl Daniels guy. BEN:
yo

what’s up?
Me:
Jeff told you about our target, yes?
BEN:
yup
Me:
www.slenderman-is-real.com

This is his site.

Idk if you found it yet so here it is.

He has a lot of info and clearly has invested a lot of time on it.

It’s scary…
BEN: no I haven’t found it yet
damn you’re fast

thx for this I’ll check it out now
Me:
Ben…

This guy, Carl knows about ME.
BEN:
…
Me:
He wrote about me on his site.

Look under the section called JTK.
 I waited for a bit while he looked at the page. The whole time I just stared at the screen. Soon I saw the three little dancing dots that told me he was typing and I sat up straight in my seat. BEN:
damn he knows a lot…
Me:
IK!
BEN:
tho some of this info is total bs
Me:
Yeah I know but the part about me has me really freaked out!

He clearly has been following us for a while now, my guess is at least six months and I never picked up on his aura!

Has he even seen my face?

Does he know who I am?
BEN:
k you clearly need to chill out

freaking out won’t help
Me:
HOW CAN I NOT FREAK OUT??!
BEN:
dude chill

just think about killing the dick

have you thought about how you want to do it?
Me:
No...

Not yet.

I’m thinking.
BEN:
lol good

make it bloody
>:}Me:
Oh I totally will.

I will make him SUFFER.
BEN:
yasssss

im gonna look into the rest of the site and see what else this douche has posted

hopefully the rest of this is just bs
Me:
Me too…

The last thing we need is people to actually believe we exist…

Things could get messy if police get involved
BEN:
if the police try to fuck with me then they will be sorry
Me:
Boy calm down.

You’re like five feet tall.
BEN:
HEY

>:(

MEANIE

I KILL TOO YOU KNOW
Me:
You’re still short.
BEN:
SHUT UP
Me:
Lol whatever

Shorty
 After that BEN stopped responding to me. I chuckled to myself. It was so fun to make fun of his height and since we were such good friends there was no way he would do anything to me and in an hour or so he will talk to me like nothing happened. Jeff never understood our friendship but that was fine. He didn’t have to understand us.I closed the two tabs I had opened and went to look at random YouTube videos for the next little while. I made sure to use my headphones as I had told my mom I wanted to sleep. Three hours went by super quickly and just as I finished a video, a new tab opened all on its own and it was the Cleverbot page. It was BEN. I clicked on it and BEN messaged me. BEN:
so I read everything on the page

that dude it totally nuts

pretty much the only thing that he got right was Jeff has a new partner

this bitch didn’t even get Jeff’s last name right!

like wat

also

while we are on the topic, why did he even change his name?

and why Woods?
Me:
I don’t know.
BEN:
you don’t even know??

dont you guys tell each other everything????
Me:
I never asked him why.

His family changed their name when they moved in beside us.

I would have been under a year old at that point and he would have been maybe a year old.

I doubt even he knows why.
BEN:
well then how does he even know what his real name is?
Me:
He told me that after he killed his family he looked through his parent’s bedroom and found old IDs with their real names.

Maybe witness protection or something?
BEN:
could be

im gonna find out after we finish this mission
Me:
Why?
BEN: cuz im a curious bitch
thats why

duh
Me:
Lol ok

If you find out let me know.

I am also curious.
BEN:
lol no probs

you find out where this dude lives?
Me:
No but I can.

That’s the cool thing about the internet, you can find out just about anything on anyone.

And even if I can’t there is always the IP address
BEN:
lol nice
 I opened a new tab and searched up Carl Daniels again. This time I was searching for anything that could reveal his home address to me. I checked his Facebook but he hardly had anything on it so that wouldn’t be any help to me. I checked his Snap and Instagram but he must have disabled location sharing on everything. That made things a bit harder for me but not impossible. It would just take me a bit longer but that was okay. I guess I would have to find out his IP address. It took a while but I soon found it then plopped it into the chat with BEN. Me:
Found it.
BEN:
awesome

gonna trace it now
 He messaged me with an address just seconds later. He was quick. I was so thankful to have BEN because he was super good with electronics. It probably helped that he could possess them. I copied and pasted the address into Google Maps and found that his house was located on the street beside mine… He literally lived just a few yards away from me… That would have made it super easy to stalk me. OH GOD! What if he already knew where I lived?! What if he had stalked me at the same time Chad was? Both of their auras could have been the same as they were intent on watching me or maybe he was just really good at hiding his. BEN messaged me before I went into a full blown panic attack. BEN:
he lives like super close to you

like one street over
Me:
Yeah I can see.

That’s creepy…

What if he already knows where I live???

What if he followed me home one night???
BEN:
ok dude

chill

im sure that if he did follow you he would have sent you a letter or something threatening you or at least letting you know he knows where you live

you haven’t gotten any creepy mail recently have you?
Me:
No…

At least not that I’m aware.
BEN:
have your parents told you about a creepy letter?
Me:
No…
BEN:
then there is a good chance he doesn’t know where you live

think about that

no point in freaking out just yet

k?
Me:
Okay…
BEN:
as crazy and this dude appears to be on his site I dont think hes dumb

hes smart

he wouldnt be so dumb as to follow two killers to find out where they live

that would just be asking for trouble

if he has been following you guys for, lets go with your assumption of 6ms then he must have seen you kill at least once

at the very least one time

and we both know that you have improved the last 6ms and you have become quite violent

its actually scary

so what person in their right mind would follow you guys?
Me:
But BEN, that’s the thing! He isn’t in his right mind.
BEN:
according to the people around him

they think he is some crazy nutjob who believe urban legend characters are real

lets face it dude, we proxies are the only ones stupid enough to follow a person we saw kill to their hideout

we know we can take them on

but any normal person would be like, yeah no
Me:
I guess you’re right…
BEN:
hell yeah i am ;)

feelin better?
Me:
Yeah

Thanks
BEN:
as they say

thats what friends are for!
Me::) I said goodbye and shut down my laptop. Now I really felt like I needed a nap. All of this worrying and near freak outs had really drained my energy. I changed into my pjs and crawled into bed where I relaxed my very tense body. I wasn’t even aware just how tense I was until I snuggled up under the covers. I hugged one of the many pillows I had on my bed with me and in a matter of minutes I was out like a light.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When I woke up it was completely dark outside. The moonlight was shining in my room through my large window. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and sat up in bed. I blinked a few times to clear my vision and when I could see I looked down at my clock to check the time. I hoped it wasn’t too late but when I looked at the big red numbers I saw that it was almost midnight… Oops. I slept way longer than I had planned to. I really should have set an alarm on my phone when I take a nap… Otherwise I just end up oversleeping and this is how I mess up my sleeping schedule… I picked up my phone and texted Jeff.I’m on my way over.I changed into some dark clothes which wasn’t hard to do as the majority of my wardrobe consisted of black clothing. When I was dressed I quietly made my way to the front door and grabbed my shoes which I took to the mudroom. I put them on and was on my way. As I walked down the street I regretted not grabbing a jacket from the front closet. It was spring and the nights were still quite cold. I pulled up my hood and tucked my hands in my pocket as I walked. Only when I reached the park did I realize that I had only been to the asylum once and it was during the day. Even if I did remember the way there the whole forest looked completely different at night. I decided to go to the bridge and hopefully I could find my way from there. I looked around me to make sure I wasn’t being followed and when I didn’t see or sense anyone I went in the woods.I stumbled quite a bit but I didn’t want to turn on my flashlight. I had no clue how this Carl guy followed us for so long without me being able to sense him and it was quite possible he was following me even now. The last thing I wanted was to turn on my phone which would give away my position if he didn’t see me already. That was if he was even out here with me. After being in the dark for a while my eyes adjusted and I was able to make out the path I always took when walking out here and in no time at all I made it to the red bridge. I looked around again and listened carefully for any sounds around me. The woods were completely silent. I felt quite confident that I was alone so I took out my phone and turned on the flashlight. I shined it around, trying to see if I could recognize the way to the asylum but got the shock of my life. When I turned to my left I came face to face with Jeff. I yelped and jumped back and stumbled over a damn rock. I would have fallen to the ground but Jeff was quick and caught me before I fell.“Am I that scary?” He chuckled.“No but I was not expecting you to be here.” I glared at him. “You scared me to death!”“Sorry about that. Scaring you is the last thing I want to do. I probably should have texted you that I was going to meet you at the bridge.”“That would have been nice.” My heart was still racing from that scare and I was still a tad angry at him but I couldn’t stop myself from smiling when he kissed my cheek.“Come, let’s go home.” I nodded and he took my hand then led me in the right direction. I shone the light of my phone all around us and tried to find anything I could use as a marker to find my way to the asylum so I wouldn’t need to be escorted every time. I saw some boulders which I memorized and even some odd looking trees. Perhaps the boss manipulated them so I would be able to find my way because I don’t remember seeing them the last time we walked this way.When we arrived we quickly went in and up to the top floor. We were both cold and wanted to warm up by the fireplace which Jeff was lucky to have in his room. The whole floor was dark as many people were either asleep or on missions for the boss. The only light I could see was coming from BEN and Sally’s room. The poor girl. How on earth can she sleep with BEN on his laptop? She must be a really heavy sleeper if she could ignore the bright light of the screen and him typing away at the keyboard. I opened the door and peeked in the room.“Sup?” BEN said without even looking away from his laptop.“Hey BEN.”“Have you been to the dude’s house yet?”“No. I think it’s still too soon.”“Too soon? The boss said to finish off the bastard as soon as possible. There is no such thing as too soon.” He turned in his chair and looked at me with a serious expression. It was actually kind of funny because I had never seen him look serious before. “This guy is devoting his whole time trying to expose us to the world. Do you really want your name and face all over the news and have your parents find out about your secret life?”“Well no…”“Yeah that’s what I thought.”“But the boss told us to do this carefully and thoroughly. I don’t want to risk going to his house without knowing his routine and when his wife leaves for work.”“The boss said she works night, right?”“Yeah.”“Well then there’s a good chance she’ll be long gone by one in the morning.” He turned back to his computer and began typing away. “Either one or two would be the best time for you two lovebirds to strike and I suggest you do it within the next few days so we can all stop worrying about this.”“Yeah I guess…” I wanted to change the subject and was rather curious about what he was doing so I walked over to him and looked over his shoulder. “So what are you up to?”“I’m trying to hack into his website which I will then use to hack into his computer. I want to see what he has on it and see if I can delete anything but this is proving rather challenging…”“Why is that?”“He has some heavy security on this site but I am close to cracking it but I can only imagine the security he has on his computer… This might take me all night…”“Oh well keep it up. I have faith that you can do it.” I gave him an encouraging pat on the back but he didn’t look amused.“You know what would be easier? You and Jeff killing him and taking his devices.”“I know you are impatient but give us some time, okay? I promise that tonight we will go scope his place out.”“If you do and see get the chance then kill him.”“Deal.” I gave him another pat on the back then went to find Jeff. He was already in his room and sitting on the ground in front of the fireplace.“The elf still up?” He asked when I entered.“Yup. He is working on hacking into Carl’s computer but would really rather us take him out. Preferably tonight.” I explained. Jeff groaned.“It’s still too early for that…”“That’s what I said but he made a good point in that we really need to stop him as soon as possible. His wife works nights so we might have a shot at killing him tonight.” I went over to him and sat on his lap facing him and wrapped my arms around his neck. We shared a quick kiss and I smiled when he wrapped the blanket around me. The two of us had become a little burrito.“I guess we can go check out his house tonight but I don’t think it’s the best time to kill him.” He said after a while of silence.“But if we see an opportunity then we need to take it.” I said. “This is one target that has to be taken out as soon as possible before he manages to convince people that we exist.”“Yeah you’re right…”“I think the boss would be pleased if we got rid of him tonight but even if we don’t there is always tomorrow night.”“Yeah that’s true. I think tonight our goal should just be to observe his habits and what part of the house he is set up in. Then maybe see which way would be best to enter. Hopefully he leaves a window open or something so we won’t have to break in.”“If we have to break in then I could be the one to smash the window, get his attention and lure him to a spot where you can take him down.” I suggested.“Yeah that could work I guess.” I kissed him again but this time there was lust. It seemed that he wanted to have some fun before we left. I could feel his cold hands lift up my sweater as we continued to kiss. As we kissed I suddenly felt sick and pulled away. He looked at me with his head tilted to the side in confusion. “What’s wrong?”“Sorry… I just feel a bit queasy… I think it’s because I didn’t eat all day…”“We need to fix that. We can’t go after our target with you on an empty stomach, now can we?”“No I suppose not.” We got up off the floor and made our way to the kitchen. It was in the same space as the living as they saw no need to make a separate area for it. The kitchen contained some coolers which I suspected were for drinks and against the wall was a very old looking fridge. Well it wasn’t old but old fashioned. It was a modern version of an ice box fridge. “Wow. Where on earth did you find this?” I asked as I admired it. It had a rustic style to it which was my favourite style.“Jack found it on someone’s driveway. It wasn’t broken and they left a note saying if you wanted it you can take it so he did.”“It was a lucky find. This thing is not only beautiful but just what you need out here in the woods. While we’re at it, where is the oven?”“It’s out back.” Jeff said. “It’s an old wood burning oven and the last thing we need is smoke to full up the room.”“Makes sense. So what kind of food do you guys have?”“So far not much as we are still settling in but we do have some left over pasta that I can go heat up.”“That would be lovely.” Jeff nodded, got out the pasta and went downstairs so he could heat it up. I expected it to take a while so I sat down on one of the sofas. While I waited my stomach began to grumble. I was starving and could hardly wait for the delicious food. My stomach continued to make sounds which just kept getting louder and louder and with that I felt sicker and sicker with each passing minute. It was so strange because this wasn’t the first time I went a whole day without eating and I know that isn’t good for you but I never felt this sick before. I wondered what was wrong with me. Maybe it was because I haven’t been eating much the past week so my body was just telling me that I should eat more.Only moments later I felt bile hit the back of my throat. I would have thrown up but I had nothing in my stomach to throw up. Even so the bile lingered and soon I began to heave. I got up, rushed to the garbage can and began coughing up mostly stomach acid and possibly some of the water I drank before leaving the house. Even without the food, throwing up just water and stomach acid was a horrible feeling and when I was done I fell to my knees. I coughed up a bit more until my body told me that it was done. I felt a bit better but was still sick to my stomach. I was definitely sick with something and I hoped it wasn’t a stomach virus.I stayed on the ground until Jeff returned. He put the dish on the ground and rushed over to my side. “Hey what’s wrong?”“I don’t know… I just threw up…” I said weakly.“Do you know why? Is it a stomach virus?”“I don’t know… I hope not…”“Do you think you can eat right now?”“Yeah just give me a minute...” He helped me off the floor and over to a sofa where he gently sat me down. When I felt better I told him and he brought the food over to me and I took little bites so I wouldn’t upset my stomach. With each bite I began to feel better and according to Jeff, I looked better too.“You really need to remember to eat more.” He said. “You are looking so much better now that you have food in your stomach.”“I think it’s your food that is helping me.” I smiled.“You’re too sweet.” He kissed my cheek and let me continue. His cooking was really good, super delicious. It was better than anything I could ever make as my only skill in the kitchen was making grilled cheese sandwiches. When I finished I got up and put the dishes in the bucket he told me was their makeshift sink until they found something better.“Are you sure you are okay for tonight?” He asked as we made our way to his room to get our weapons.“Yeah I’m fine. I really think my body was lacking food and that’s why I threw up.”“Are you sure? The last thing we need is you to throw up at a crime scene…”“I know but there is no need to worry. I feel fine now and I promise that if I feel sick I will retreat before I throw up. Okay?”“Okay…” He didn’t sound convinced but didn’t try to stop me. We got our knives, made sure they were sharp and as for me, I got my mask. It was almost like Hoody’s mask as it was a thin layer of fabric that I slipped over my head but the design was very different. Instead of simple dot eyes, mine were very big and sharp on the ends. Almost like venom’s eyes and the mouth was a big, toothy grin and unlike Hoody’s mask, mine had white eyes and mouth, not read. It was very cartoon-like but still creepy. I found it a lot creepier than Hoody’s mask but he of course argued that. When we asked the others they decided to play it safe and not voice their opinion so they wouldn’t upset us. Very kind but I wanted to know what they thought. The only one who said anything was Jeff and for obvious reasons, he sided with me.When I first made this mask I had Jeff take a picture of me with it on and with my dark clothes I thought it looked pretty spooky. It would be great for Halloween this year. I wished I had made this in time for last Halloween but I made it almost a month after the incident with Chad which was well after Halloween. After I pulled the mask over my head, I pulled up my hood, put on my gloves and turned to Jeff. “Ready?”“Yeah and you look sexy.”“Shut up.” We laughed and left the room. We made our way down the stairs and out into the woods. I was ready to take down this target tonight but I had the feeling that wasn’t going to happen. We didn’t know a whole lot about him such as his habits and skills. For all we knew he could be skilled in martial arts or something. That would be a useful bit of information that we did not have. If we found the opportunity to kill him tonight then we would need to be prepared for any surprises. Our best bet was to take him out from behind. Another issue I had with this target was that his house was in the middle of the neighbourhood which meant we couldn’t observe him from the comfort of the woods. I liked the mission where I had to take out Jason because we were in the middle of the woods, away from everyone which was comforting to me but this time we didn’t have that luxury. It just meant we would have to be extra cautious and make sure no one was awake at this hour who could possibly see us.If I remembered correctly, the house right behind his was empty as the previous occupants were evicted for growing weed in the basement. Due to the damage they caused the whole house was being renovated so people would want to buy it and the renovations could be a while. At least we had some place to hide out and watch Carl. It was also nearly two in the morning so I doubted many people would be awake at this hour. Everything should be fine. I was just worrying over nothing. Thinking negative thoughts wouldn’t help us. I took a deep breath and we made our way to the park. To be on the safe side, I didn’t turn on the flashlight on my phone just in case Carl was in the area. We could never be too careful, especially with this particular target…

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We made our way from the park and to Carl’s house. We took a left but instead of going to his street we went one over. We were headed to the house that was currently under renovation. Luckily for us there was no form of security cameras or even a lock on the fences leading to the backyard so sneaking on to the property was easy. We went straight to the backyard and looked at Carl’s house from behind the fence. This type of fence did nothing to hide us but because it was so dark and we were dressed mostly in black, we would be very hard to spot from inside of the house even if someone were to look really hard.“Can I have the binoculars please?” I asked. Jeff nodded and pulled out the small binoculars out of his pocket and handed them over to me. I put them to my eyes and adjusted the focus until I could see into the windows. Carl and his wife luckily didn’t have any blinds or curtains covering any windows so we were able to look in every room. Most of the lights were off and the house looked almost disserted. It looked like every other house on the block at such an hour. Maybe we would get lucky and Carl would be asleep. That would make things super easy but somehow I doubted that even at this hour he was asleep. If he was obsessed with exposing us then I could only imagine the ungodly amount of hours he spent either on his site or looking through whatever “evidence” he had gathered of us. I looked for any source of light coming from inside the house and the only light I could see was coming from the basement. The light was a light blue colour meaning it had to be coming from a computer monitor and a big one at that considering how bright it was. Perhaps he even had multiple monitors. “It seems like he is downstairs.” I said.“Yeah and judging from how bright that light is, his monitor has to be facing the window which means his back will be facing us.” Jeff added.“Just the way I like it. Let’s see if we can get closer.” I gave the binoculars back to Jeff and he put them back in his pocket. He then gave me a boost so I could get over the fence. It wasn’t that tall so I didn’t really need a boost but Jeff being the way he is insisted he help me. I climbed over and landed with a soft thud. Jeff, being the acrobat he is, jumped up and leaped over the fence. He grabbed on the top and used his arm to help launch him over. He landed beside me and together we made our way over to the window where the light was coming from. It was fairly small so we were quite cozy but that of course didn’t bother us. We looked in and there was our target. There was Carl sitting in front of his massive computer monitor and from what I could see, he was working on his site. Jeff had been right in guessing that his back was turned to us. This was advantageous to us.I examined the room which looked to be his little “office” if one could even call it that. There was no other word to describe it. Well, perhaps a psycho den. He had pictures taped all over one whole wall with papers beside them which had writing on them. My guess was they had details of the pictures written on them. It was important to be organized I guess. I squinted to get a better look at some of the pictures but they weren’t very clear. Many of them were dark and had silhouettes of I assumed, me and Jeff. It was possible he snapped some pictures of EJ and Jane but it was impossible to make out any sort of detail from here and I doubt we could tell anything if we got up close. If this guy was so obsessed with catching us on tape then why hasn’t he purchased himself a night vision camera yet? I wouldn’t be surprised if his wife refused to pay for it as she was the only one working now and he probably spent a good deal of his money on his computer and security for his website. I was thankful he didn’t seem to have a night vision camera in his arsenal as that prevented him from taking any quality videos or images of us.My eyes soon wandered back over to him and that’s when I noticed the noise cancelling headphones he was wearing. Perfect! If this window turned out to be unlocked then we would be able to easily slip in undetected and finish him off before he even knew what was going on. I decided to try opening it but nothing happened. I tried again but with a bit more force but again it didn’t move. Shit. It was locked. Well he wouldn’t have any reason to open it as it appeared to be a fire escape window and he probably stopped caring about fresh air long ago. I was a bit frustrated as this was a perfect set up to kill him easily and without much hassle but this stupid window was locked but of course it was! I pulled on it with more force and in my little fit I didn’t realize just how loud I was being. The window made a creaking sound as I tried it again which was loud enough to make Jeff uneasy. He grabbed my arm to stop me.“What are you doing?” He hissed.“Trying to see if I can open the window, duh.” I replied.“Are you insane? He is going to hear you which will cause him to turn around and then we will be spotted!”“Babe. You need to relax.”“Relax? I-” I held up a hand to stop him before he had the chance to say anything else.“Have you not noticed his headphones?” I said and pointed to them. “He can’t hear anything but his music and those appear to be good quality noise cancelling headphones. Besides, if he did hear that small sound then he would have turned to see where it was coming from but he hasn’t moved at all except for clicking away at the keyboard.”“Oh... I didn’t see those...”“Well I did which is why I felt confident enough to try the window. I wouldn’t have done that otherwise as he would have totally heard.”“Makes sense I guess...” He was pouting and I had to resist the urge to laugh. It was adorable when he did that and I assumed he was bitter at the fact that he completely overlooked the headphones. Normally he was very observant so on the times I picked up on something before him he got all pouty. “So since that failed now what are we going to do?”“I think I have a plan.”“Oh? What is it?”“Well obviously we need to find a way inside. We should look around the house and see if they left a window open. This week has been the only week with good weather so far so after all that snow who wouldn’t want to have at least one window open? I mean, look around us. Many homes have open windows.” I pointed to the surrounding homes and all of them had at least one window open. Everyone wanted some nice fresh air after being all stuffy over the long winter. “Once we get inside then we will lure him upstairs and take him out when we get the opportunity. If we want all of this to work then we will need to figure out an escape plan before getting him upstairs in case things don’t go as planned.”“I’m not sure about this plan...”“Well do you have a better idea?”“No...”“Exactly. I think that is our best bet.” He sighed and sounded displeased but since we didn’t have any other option he agreed to the plan. “Let’s go see if he left a window open or something.” He nodded and we got up from our position and scouted the house. All of the windows appeared to be closed and they were all probably locked. The only one that we found that was open just so happened to be up on the second floor because of course it was... Why would things be easy for us? I guess challenges were good as they tested our skills but they sure were annoying especially since I just wanted to get this mission over with.“How are we going to get up there?” I wondered out loud as I looked up at our only entrance. I was stumped.“Over there.” I looked over at Jeff and saw that he was pointing to something. My gaze followed his finger and I saw what he was pointing at. It was an outdoor canopy that was positioned right next to the house and with the way it was designed we were able to get onto the roof from the canopy.“Good thinking. I didn’t even notice that.”“I guess it was your turn to miss something.” We chuckled and went over to inspect the canopy. I felt the material and knocked on it. It appeared to be made out of solid wood. Perfect. This should be able to hold our weight. The only issue was getting on top of it was it was rather tall but Jeff had another idea. There was a heavy duty glass table underneath so we moved it over so we could hop up. There was still a decent sized gap from the table to the top of the canopy but we were both in shape so it wasn’t that much of an issue but of course Jeff just had to give me a boost. I tried protesting and told him that I was more than capable of pulling myself up but for some reason he wanted to help me. If he kept this up the rest of the night he just might be a second casualty...I waited for Jeff and when he pulled himself up we made our way to the open window and entered the house. I looked around the room and it looked like it was the bedroom he shared with his wife. It was a big room which indicated it was the master bedroom and there were quite a few family pictures hung up on the walls. There were some of three kids that were school portraits then a few group photos of the children. I wasn’t at all surprised that he had children and he was a totally normal guy until recently. Some of the pictures were of the kids all grown up so it was safe to say that they no longer lived here which was good. The last thing we needed were potential witnesses. I watched Jeff as he walked up to a picture of Carl and his wife and he had a black sharpie in hand. I rolled my eyes as he put the boss’s symbol on Carl’s face.“Do you really have to do that for every victim?”“Yeah, why not? It’s just for fun.”I rolled my eyes once more and gave him a little slap on the arm before leaving the room. I heard him chuckle behind me as he followed me downstairs. I examined the layout of the main floor and saw it was all open-concept just like my house. Creating an escape route should be easy enough. If we left through the front door then we could run up the street and into the woods. At full sprint I estimated it would take perhaps two minutes at most but we were pretty fast and the street wasn’t very long so it could be more like sixty seconds. I went over to the front door, unlocked it and used a book I found to prop it open. I then went over to Jeff and pulled out my knife. “You ready?”“I guess so.”I looked around the room and tried to figure out the best way of going about this. The stairs leading to the basement weren’t hidden behind a door like at my house so we would need to hide after making a noise to get his attention. We would also need to make a noise loud enough for him to hear through his headphones. “One of us can hide in the closet while the other hides in the office.” I said to Jeff and pointed out the hiding places.”“I don’t like this. What if he finds us?”“You haven’t liked my plan from the start. Jeff just trust me, alright? And when he opens the door we have to be ready to attack him. We will have the element of surprise on our side.” He grunted and reluctantly agreed. I took the position in the closet and closed the door while he went to the backyard to pick up a rock, got into position and threw the rock at a window. It was such a hard throw that it shattered the thick glass and caused quite a loud noise. He quickly darted into the office and shut the door with just seconds to spare. I heard heavy, fast pace footsteps stomp up the stairs and it was followed by a gasp.“WHAT THE FUCK?!”I opened the door as carefully as I could and peeked out to see what was going on. Luckily, the closet was in just the right position for me we look down the hall and therefore I had a good view of what was going on. I saw Carl run over to the living room where the broken window was located. He looked down at the glass and yelled at the top of his lungs, “WHO THE FUCK DID THIS?!” This was going to make things a bit challenging as adrenaline would give him quite the strength boost...I watched as he looked out the window, trying to find the person responsible for the broken window but of course he found no one. He then stomped back over in our direction and began opening all of the doors in the hallway. Shit. He was one big ball of rage and almost double Jeff’s size. If he found him then Jeff wouldn’t stand a chance... His agility wouldn’t be able to help him this time.When Carl opened the door to the room Jeff was in I reacted without even thinking. He must have heard Jeff or sensed something was up because he went in the office. I left my hiding spot and dashed over to the door. Carl was standing in front of the closet and opened the door just as I arrived. He yelped in surprised when he saw Jeff’s face and Jeff being Jeff had a smirk on his face. “Surprise mother fucker!” He exclaimed. He jumped out and plunged his knife in Carl’s arm who screamed out in pain and held his arm when Jeff pulled the knife out. Carl then backhanded Jeff’s face which stunned Jeff and that gave him the opportunity to grab Jeff by his hoodie and he threw him across the room. I was amazed and quite scared because he threw Jeff like he weighed nothing at all! Crap... This guy was stronger than we thought... I winces when I heard Jeff’s body slam against the wall. It sounded like he got the wind knocked out of him judging from the sound of his breathing. I watched as Jeff struggled to even move as he struggled to take in air.Carl was facing Jeff as he hadn’t seen me yet. He took a step towards him and that’s when I made my move. I ran up to him with my knife in hand. I lifted up my arm and was ready to plunge it in his neck but before I hit my target he turned around to face me. My footsteps must have gotten his attention. When he turned I brought down the knife and it embedded right in his shoulder. Not what I had in mind but it was something. He screamed out in pain again and shoved me back. I stumbled a bit and smacked into the closet door. I looked up at him and saw him stagger back with my knife still in his shoulder. FUCK. I let go the moment it pierced his flesh. I did the one thing I wasn’t supposed to do! This wasn’t my first rodeo so how was I so stupid?!Carl looked at me with pure rage in his eyes. “I’LL FUCKING KILLYOU BOTH!” He screamed. Without breaking eye contact he sucked in his breath and ripped my knife from his shoulder. He probably did it to show us that he wasn’t weak but when the knife came out the wound began gushing blood. I must have hit the subclavian artery. I smirked as I watched his expression turn into a look of horror when he saw the amount of blood that was coming from the wound. “YOU FUCKER!” He gripped tightly on my knife and charged at me. Oh shit! He recovered quickly!I jumped to the side and zipped past him before he could reach me. I dove for Jeff’s knife that had fallen to the ground and turned to face Carl but he was too fast. He might have been big and muscular but he still had speed. Right as I turned he was right on top of me and if it weren’t for Jeff, he most certainly would have stabbed me right in the neck. Jeff had recovered just in time and tackled me to the ground. He landed on top of me and acted as a human shield. I heard him scream in pain and shortly after I felt something warm and sticky soak through my clothes. Shit. Carl must have stabbed him. I shoved Jeff off of me, gripped his knife so tightly that my knuckles must have turned snow white and stabbed Carl right in the side. This caused him to drop my knife which I immediately picked up.I helped Jeff to his feet and together we moved away from Carl. He didn’t appear to be much of a threat now but I wasn’t willing to take a chance. Especially with Jeff in the condition he was in. I was about to go over to Carl to finish the job but Jeff grabbed my arm to stop me. “What are you doing?”“We need to get out of here.”“What? Why? We are so close to completing our mission!”“I have a feeling that the neighbours heard the window smash. We need to leave before the cops arrive.”“It will take me a second-!”“No. We leave now.” He began dragging me to the door and even though I wanted to protest I knew he was right. Carl couldn’t possibly survive long enough for someone to find him and save him. Our job was done here. We had to leave before we were caught. I let out a sigh and gave in. I put our knives in my pocket then helped Jeff walk. Together we hurried back to the forest and we were lucky to leave when we did. Just as we made it a few yards in I heard police sirens and a car speed past the park. “Fuck!  We were lucky.”“Yeah. You were right.” I looked at his injury to make sure we wouldn’t be leaving a blood trail to the asylum. I took off his hoodie then wrapped it around his torso to try and halt blood flow and off we went.

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The walk back to the asylum felt like it was taking forever. Just reaching the bridge took almost twice as long as normal because of Jeff’s injury. I helped him walk by putting one of his arms around my neck and held it to keep it from slipping and my other hand was pressed over his wound. I could feel the blood leaking from it and soaking my hand. This made it a little tricky to keep pressure on the wound but each time my hand slipped, I moved it back into place and each time I did, Jeff hissed in pain. I apologized and told him that we would be home soon but I’m not sure he heard or even understood me. He was starting to grow whoozy and seemed like he wasn’t all there. That had to be because of all of the blood he lost. I was so worried that he would bleed out and die before we reached the asylum. We had to make it and I prayed that EJ was still there and not on a mission as he was the only one who had the skill to save him. Hoody did have some medical knowledge that he got from EJ but I wouldn’t trust him with such an injury.We continued walking and I was so thankful that Jeff’s adrenaline had lasted this far but now it was beginning to wear off. With every step he took he began to go slower and slower and he began to feel the pain. “Come on Jeff, just a little longer.” I encouraged. He grunted but picked up the pace a little but he was still going too slow for my liking. We made it to the bridge and managed to cross it but didn’t get any further. He collapsed right after crossing it. “Jeff please, we are so close now! Don’t give up on me!” All I got from him was some mumbled response that I couldn’t understand what he said. Perhaps it was something along the lines of “gimme one second” but I couldn’t afford to do that. I turned him on to his side and tried to sit him up but he made no effort to get up. He let out a loud moan when I tried to get him to stand and that is when I realized just how quiet the forest was. His moan sounded incredibly loud and it was as if it went on for miles.I frantically looked around us in hopes I would find someone, anyone in the woods. This deadly silence meant that either the Boss or another proxy was in the immediate area. “Hello? Is someone there?” I called out. I could hear the panic in my voice which cracked as I spoke. Without Jeff’s willingness to get up and attempt to walk I had no way of getting him back home and if he didn’t get to EJ in time then he would not make it. He was losing blood quickly and it was showing. He was already starting to feel cold and was quite dizzy and nauseous. I was so worried that he was going to go into hypovolemic shock, a condition that EJ told me about and why it was so important that if we got hurt, to get back to our hide out immediately. I called out again and heard the sound of footsteps nearby. I felt so relieved! I was about to call out again but whoever was out there turned on a flashlight and shined it on us. The light stunned me and it was so bright that I had to lift my hand to cover my eyes. I couldn’t see anything but I could hear the person walking towards us which got faster when the light hit us. I was going to ask who was there but before I could open my mouth the person spoke up.“The fuck happened?” That was EJ’s voice! EJ was here!“EJ thank god! Please you need to help Jeff! He’s been stabbed and he’s lost a lot of blood!”“Shit...” He rushed over to us, gave me his flashlight and kneeled down beside us. I held up the flashlight with a shaky hand and watched as EJ moved the clothing away and we both got a good look at the injury. I gasped when I saw it. I had seen injuries before. This sight was nothing new to me but it was different from all of the other times. I had seen everything from cuts to burns so I thought that nothing would shock me anymore... or so I thought... This wasn’t some stranger who we had attacked. This was Jeff. This was my best friend from childhood and the man I loved. Now he was on the ground, barely moving and bleeding out with each passing second.“I’m going to have to stitch him up now.” EJ said after maybe two seconds of looking at Jeff’s wound.“Alright,” I said in a weak voice, “let’s hurry back.” I got on my feet but was stopped in my tracks when he grabbed my arm.“There’s no time. I’m going to do it here.” “What? Here? Are you crazy?”“Well it’s not like I have much of a choice! You want your boyfriend to live don’t you?”“Yeah but-” I was cut off when he pulled his medical kit on his lap and began searching through it. He had brought it will him but I was in such a panic that I didn’t notice until now. I watched as he pulled out some rubber gloves which he put on then took out a sterile drape and spread it on the ground where he put a bunch of tools.“I need you to bring that flashlight closer to the wound so I can see what I’m doing.” He said to me as he got ready to start operating on Jeff.“O-Okay...” I said weakly. I got down on my knees beside EJ and held the flashlight up near the wound. EJ took my arm and positioned it at the right angle then got to work. According to him, the wound was too small for him to do anything so he took my knife and opened it up. “What are you doing?!” I screamed when he put the knife to Jeff’s skin.“I need to be able to see where the blood is coming from so I can stop it but I can’t do that with such a small wound!” He yelled at me. “Now calm down and let me work!  Or do you want him to die?” That shut me up and I let him work. I had no clue what he was doing. All I knew was that he was doing it very quickly. He certainly knew what he was doing. I watched as he used a tool to push the skin to the side so he could get a better look at what he was dealing with.“Shit.” He said to himself.“What’s wrong?” I was starting to panic all over again.“It looks like his kidney was stabbed.”“That’s a bad thing, right?”“Um, yeah! From the looks of it, the arteries that supply blood to the kidney have been damaged which is why there is so much blood!” I watched as he looked around. “Oh fuck, okay, I think I got it.” He took a tool that I first thought was a pair of scissors but turned out was a clamp. He took that tool and clamped it down on something inside of Jeff and sighed in relief.“What did you do?”“I just clamped down the artery that was damaged which has solved the bleeding problem. I just need to stitch it up and pray that the stitches will hold but the problem is I can’t see what I’m doing with all this blood.” He tried to look around, moving things out of the way with a tool but he couldn’t see anything. When I looked down I could see that it was basically a blood bath... All I could see was red. “Can you text Hoody and ask him to bring the surgical pump? He’ll know what it is.”“Yeah. Sure.” I took out my phone with one hand while the other kept holding the flashlight. I unlocked it, found Hoody in my contacts and quickly texted him. Me:
EJ and I are at the bridge.

Please bring surgical pump ASAP.
 He didn’t text back but my phone told me that he had seen the message almost instantly. I could only hope that he was fetching the pump and bringing it out here. I put my phone back in my pocket and turned my attention back to EJ. “I texted him.”“Good. I’ll see what I can do but my guess is not much until he gets here.”“Will Jeff be okay until then?”“I don’t see why not.” He shrugged. “I have the bleeding under control so we don’t have to worry about him getting any worse. The only thing we need to be concerned about is dirt getting in the wound but that can be solved with this.” He held up a second sterile cloth to show me then draped it over Jeff’s torso. He was so calm that it infuriated me! How could he be so calm at a time like this? With Jeff lying on the ground and a big open wound on his back!I snapped out of my anger when EJ asked if Jeff was still unconscious. I crawled over to Jeff’s face and gently tapped the side of his face. He didn’t flinch. “Yeah. He did lose a lot of blood.”“Yeah it’s probably that and the pain that knocked him out.” And so from then on we waited for Hoody to arrive. It didn’t take that long for him to arrive, perhaps a good five minutes but my god those were the longest five minutes of my whole life. The whole time, EJ and I were sitting on the forest floor waiting for Hoody with Jeff in front of us, a huge wound in his back and a clamp keeping him from bleeding out. When Hoody finally showed up I was so relieved but I knew we weren’t out of the woods yet.“I got the pump!”“Great! Can you set it up?” EJ asked. He held up his hands to show Hoody they were covered in blood. He saw them and nodded then began doing whatever he needed to do to set it up. When it was ready he took the tube and put it in the wound and it began sucking up the blood. When EJ was able to see he began to stitch up Jeff. He then did something I didn’t expect. The kidney had not been completely severed but it was so cut up that it had to come out. When everything was cut, EJ took the organ and pulled it out of Jeff. I felt like I was going to throw up. I had seen human organs before as EJ did have a little collection and would bring some home but those were from people I didn’t know. Sure I thought it was gross but this was something completely different. This organ wasn’t from a stranger but from Jeff.EJ tossed the shredded organ on the ground and focused on stitching up Jeff. I didn’t watch it. I didn’t have to. EJ had everything under control. I was much more focused on the unrecognizable organ that had been discarded on the ground. I just stared at it as my thoughts swirled in my head. This was the first time that Jeff had gotten so seriously hurt on a mission. If something like this happened before my arrival then I was not made aware of that which was for the best. As I thought about the past hour, my panic died down and now anger replaced it. I was angry at Carl for what he had done to Jeff. He could have killed him had EJ not found us in time but most of all, I was angry at Jeff. I was angry that he so stupidly used himself as a human shield to protect me. Something I didn’t ask nor want him to do. I would have been able to handle Carl on my own and even if I couldn’t, I didn’t want protection. I am a cold blooded killer who can kill a man without a second thought. I didn’t need someone protecting me during a fight. When Jeff was better he and I were going to have a serious talk about this and if it continued I was going to ask the Boss to give me a new partner. I couldn’t keep going on missions with Jeff if he was more concerned with me than taking out our target.I felt something happening in my abdomen. I began to feel uneasy and my stomach was beginning to act up. I felt the bile creep up to the back of my throat and into my mouth. Then there was a sudden rush. I dashed to the river and just as I made it, I began throwing up quite violently. It was so bad that it caused me to fall to my knees. When I was done, I scooped up some water and washed the horrible taste from my mouth.“Are you alright?” It was Hoody’s voice. He sat beside me and rubbed my back.“Yeah...” I nodded and smiled at the kind gesture. “I’m just stressed with all that’s happened tonight... I should be better after some rest.”“Then let’s get you back home.”I finished washing out my mouth then walked with Hoody back to where EJ and Jeff were. I saw the flashlight I had dropped when I ran away on the ground and it was facing Jeff. I could see his wound and it was all stitched up and I was quite impressed with EJ’s work. It was so neat. He had taken the time to stitch it carefully so the scaring would be minimal. I knew Jeff wouldn’t care but I did. “Hey, how are you doing? What happened back there?” EJ asked when I walked up to him. I must have looked pale and shaken up as he sounded very concerned.“Oh it’s nothing. I just threw up because of stress. No big deal.” I shrugged.“No big deal? You look like death itself.”“We all should get back so these two can get some rest.” Hoody said.EJ packed up his things and washed off his bloody tools in the river. He explained that he would sterilize them later when we got back when I questioned him about it. I was handed back my hoodie which had some blood on it but I didn’t really care. I would soak it in cold salt water when I got back and if that didn’t get all of the blood it didn’t really matter. My hoodie was pitch black so one would have to really look to see the stain. I thanked Hoody for my sweater and picked up the flashlight. I shined it on Jeff and together, Hoody and EJ picked him up and we were on our way. I walked beside them so I would be able to warn them of any hazards on the path but we made it safely back with no issues.When we made it to the front door I rushed over to it and opened up the old door. It creaked as I pulled it open and the two came in with Jeff. When they entered I closed the door and followed them up the stairs. We got to our room where the two carefully set Jeff on the bed. “Thanks so much you guys.” I said. I went over to them and gave each a big hug.“It was no problem.” EJ responded.“Now you get some rest.” Hoody said after I pulled away from the hug.“Oh I can’t.” I replied. “I need to get home.”“And how do you plan to do that?” I turned to EJ. “There is bound to be multiple police cars at Carl’s house and they will totally be on the lookout for the killer. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have patrol cars going around the neighbourhood. It’s too risky for you to go home now.”“But EJ, I have to get home before my parents wake up! I have to go!” I began to make my way to the door but EJ blocked my path with his body and looked down at me.“If you go home, or try to then there is a big chance you will be stopped by police. It’s like four in the god damn morning! Do you really think they will just let you walk on home without suspicion? No normal human is out and about for a walk at this hour unless they are up to no good. You know it and so do the police!”“But I have to be home before my parents wake up!”“I think I have a solution.” We turned to Hoody when he spoke up. “You can rest here for the rest of the night and when say, five thirty arrives we will wake you up and you can head home. Your mom usually wakes up at six, right? You should be able to sneak in before she wakes up.”“That could work. Good thinking Hoody.” EJ said.“Okay fine...” I reluctantly agreed. Now that EJ was satisfied, he and Hoody left the room and closed the door behind them. I changed into some of Jeff’s spare clothes then crawled into bed beside him. He was still unconscious and I knew it would be a while before he woke up. His body needed time to heal and create more blood. I hoped he didn’t lose enough for any serious side effects to occur. I should have asked EJ while he was still here but I didn’t want to know how probable that was. I just wanted to wait and see what happened and deal with it when the time came. Since EJ was calm the whole time and gave no indications that anything was seriously wrong I assumed that he had gotten to Jeff in time. I hoped that was the case. That thought weighed on my mind and even though it frightened me, I was so tired that I quickly fell asleep next to Jeff.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I groaned when I felt something jump on the bed and put its weight on top of me. I was so tired that whatever it was, I nudged it off of but it just came back. “Go away...” I mumbled but the thing didn’t budge. After this thing pestered me for a few minutes I got frustrated and sat up to see what it was. I blinked my eyes a few times and when my vision cleared I looked down. Sitting on my lap was Smile who was doing just that. Smiling. “Oh hey Smile... I’m guessing it’s time for me to head home, yeah?” He barked in response and I could feel his tail wagging.“Morning sleepy head.” I turned my head to the door where I saw BEN standing by the door. “It’s five o’clock. Time to head home.”“Are there still cops in the area?” If anyone would know it’s BEN.“Like one car is still at the house but the others have pretty much left the area. It should be safe for you to return and even if they are there, if you don’t wear your mask you will look like a regular person going for an early morning walk.”“Do you think anyone will question me for being out so early?”“I doubt it. It’s not uncommon for people to go out for walks early in the morning.”“Yeah, adults. Kids, not so much.”“Oh well. We can’t worry about that. Just go and pray you won’t be stopped. Just don’t wear your mask and you should be fine.”“If you say so...” He and Smile left the room so I could get dressed in private. When I was done I went back over to the bed and looked down at Jeff. He was breathing steadily and looked a bit better than before. I leaned down and gently kissed his forehead. “Love you. I’ll be back later.” I left the room and said bye to BEN and Smile who were in the living area. They waved at me and I left the asylum.The moment I left the building I began jogging back home. I wanted to get back as quickly as I could before my mom woke up. Normally she woke up at six or six thirty but on occasion she did get up at five. I didn’t want it to be one of those days because then I would have to make up some excuse as to why I was up at this hour. As far as my parents were concerned, I was a regular teen who loved to sleep in and was grumpy when you tried to wake me for school.I jogged rather quickly and made it to the park in roughly ten minutes. When I reached the edge I slowed down and looked around. I didn’t see or hear any police cars. That was a good sign. I dashed to the edge of the park and looked down the street. Still no signs of police cars. Perfect. I pulled up my hood and jogged down the street to my house. There I went around to the back, went in the mudroom and quietly shut the door behind me and looked it. I took off my shoes, picked them up and crept to my room. I sighed in relief when I saw that my parents were still asleep. I had made it in time.I went to my room, shut the door and got ready for bed. I had only two hours before my mom would come wake me up for school. It wasn’t much but I needed all the sleep I could get if I wanted to survive classes today. I changed into my pjs, hid my clothes under the bed and plopped down on the bed. The moment I pulled the covers up I was sound asleep.I was woken up approximately two hours later to my mom opening my door and saying in a rather loud voice, “it’s time to get ready for school!” I groaned. She went to the kitchen and did the thing all moms do which is leave the door open. I sighed, got up and closed the door so I could get changed. When I had a fresh set of clothes on I went to the bathroom and got cleaned up then went to the kitchen to make myself some coffee. When it was ready I let it cool for a bit then took three big sips. “So good.” I said happily.“Long night?” My mom asked in a teasing tone.“Yeah I guess so...I was up reading late last night.”“Of course. Did you finish your book or were you able to put it down after a few chapters?”“I finished it...” My mom chuckled to herself then went to the living room to watch TV. I sighed in relief to myself when she bought my lie. If only she knew what I was really up to at night... I took a few more sips of coffee then grabbed my school bag and left the house. I hopped this large cup would be enough to last me the whole day but if not I would dash home for another cup at lunch. I hated going on missions on school nights but somehow I managed to stay awake (mostly with the help of coffee) and get all of my work done and I kept my place near the top of the class.The walk to school took way longer than normal as I was still tired and therefore walked slowly. That and I also sipped my coffee the whole way there. When I made it to school I had just enough time to grab my books and make it to class. I just barely walked through the door when the bell rang. “That was a close call.” I thought as I sat down at my desk. Only minutes later the teacher began the class but I didn’t pay attention. I was too busy thinking about what happened last night. Not only had we failed to kill our target but Jeff had gotten seriously hurt and I had no clue how he was doing. I hopped he was alright but with no updates I couldn’t know for sure. Given the severity of his injury it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he took a turn for the worse after I left. I rubbed my eyes and tried to clear my head of any negative thoughts. “Jeff is going to be alright.” I kept telling myself. EJ was there so if anything were to happen he would be there to help in any way he could and Hoody would be there to assist as neither had a mission currently, at least as far as I was aware.The whole class, the only thing I could think of was Jeff. Nothing the teacher said even registered in my brain but it was fine as I knew all of this material from last year. Sure I would need to refresh my memory but Jeff could help me with that as math had always been his thing and that nerd studied it for fun! For fun! That was one thing I would never understand about him. I smiled to myself as I remembered the many nights we had off and he would be sitting on front of his laptop looking up math equations and learning how to solve them. I would always tease him for it but at the same time I was grateful as he was the reason I had passed my math classes. I didn’t get great marks in them but I passed which was all I cared about. If I went to college I wouldn’t be doing anything related to math anyway so my marks weren’t that big of a deal to me. My dad wanted me to get higher marks so I could get a good job like his but that never interested me. If I did go to college then I was going into a program that was related to the arts and nothing that had to do with math or science. However, I didn’t really see myself going to college ever since I became a proxy as this line of work made it hard to have a normal life.My plan was to finish high school then work for a while and spend more time on missions. I knew my parents would not be happy with the decision of not going to college right away but I would just say I wanted to save some money until I decided which program I wanted to go in but if the police investigated the attack on Carl and got close to pinpointing me as a suspect then I would have to take off sooner than expected. When I got home I would need to pack some things that I deemed not important and take them over to the asylum as a precaution. I had no clue what was to come so the less things I had at home the better because then I can move to the asylum full time quickly. I thought of a plan should the police start suspecting me, on the rare chance they did but as I did, my stomach began to act up. I felt like I was about to throw up so I raised my hand. “May I be excused please?” The teacher must have picked up on how sick I felt as she let me go. Normally she told everyone to wait until the end of class to go to the bathroom but the look on my face must have convinced her that something was up.I quickly got up and left the room. I was thankful that there was a bathroom only a few feet down the hall from that particular classroom which I went in, rushed to a stall and heaved into the toilet. I was surprised at the amount of vomit that came out since I hadn’t eaten anything all morning. I wondered what could have caused me to throw up but I just assumed that it was due to drinking a bunch of coffee on an empty stomach. My body was telling me that it was not happy about my poor decisions. I just had to wait a few more hours until lunch. Then I could put actual food inside me. I guess I wouldn’t be going home to get more coffee at lunch. Just the thought of it made me sick again. I heaved a bit more but nothing came out so I assumed that it was over. I flushed the toilet and washed my mouth out in the sink. When I looked up at the mirror I could see why the teacher let me go without a fuss. I looked awful. I had dark circles under my eyes and looked pale which was probably due from throwing up. I looked like death itself. I washed my face with some cold water to try and wake myself up, dried off then went back to class.The rest of the class went by like normal except at the end, when the bell rang the teacher asked me to stay. I agreed and went to see her when everyone left. “Are you doing alright? You look quite ill so if you need to go home then you should. You can afford to take a day or two off with your marks.”“Oh no, I’m fine. I just had trouble sleeping last night and ate nothing but a big cup of coffee this morning. I just need to grab some food at the cafeteria and I should be good.” I said. She didn’t look too convinced but let me go.“Alright, but if you need to go home then please do so. Don’t force yourself to stay if you are sick.”“Okay, thanks.” I left the room and went to my next class. One more then it was lunch time. I should be able to make it. I did my best to concentrate the entire class and was able to make it the whole fifty minutes without feeling the need to throw up again. When the bell rang I had already packed my things so I dashed out of the room and went to the cafeteria. In school, if you didn’t make it to the caf in the first five minutes of lunch you would be waiting in line for the entire period and wouldn’t have enough time to eat your lunch. It sucked but that was life. This is why everyone rushed to the caf at the beginning of lunch every day.I made it to the line when only a few people had arrived. I was so thankful this class was close to the basement where the caf was located. Today of all days I just had to get sick. I hoped I would feel better after putting some food in me. When I got my food I went to an empty spot at a table and sat down. Right next to me were a group of girls who were of course on their phones and chatting about something. I was in my own little world and ignored the conversations around me but something the group of friends said caught my attention.“Did you guys hear that some dude got attacked last night in his home?” One of the girls said.“What? No! What happened?”Another replied.“The news said that he was up late when he heard a window smash and when he went to check it out he got attacked by two people. One looked like a monster with white skin and a wide smile and the other was wearing a mask that the victim said resembled a skeleton.” Everyone at the table gasped and I looked at them.“Do the police know why the victim was attacked?” I asked. “Sorry for interrupting. I just couldn’t help but overhear what you were talking about.”“Oh it’s fine.” One of the girls said. “And no. The police are still investigating and the victim is in the hospital. That’s all we really know.”“How bad were the victim’s injuries?”“The news said that they weren’t that bad. If he had been left undiscovered all night then he would have died but it would have taken a while.” Oh great. Just what I wanted to know... That we fucked up on the one thing we are skilled at. I didn’t plan on telling Jeff or the boss but who knows, they might find out on their own. I hope the boss would go easy on us since Carl was way stronger than we anticipated. We should have observed him for a few more days before trying to attack. “The news said he was stabbed in a few places and that the blades went deep. Whoever attacked him must have really hated him so the police are looking into anyone he might have had fights with.”“I wonder who he could have pissed off to have not one but two people attack him.” Another girl in the group said.“I wonder what he could have done that would have pissed two people off enough to want to attack him.” I said.“It must have been something really bad.” Someone else said. We all agreed and the group of girls all got up.“Sorry but we need to go to a club meeting.”“Oh that’s fine. Have fun.” I said and waved at them. They all waved back and left. I had a feeling they didn’t actually have a meeting and just wanted an excuse to leave but I didn’t mind. I needed to text BEN and let him know what was going on. I finished up my food, threw out my trash then went outside to a quiet place. I took out my phone, went on Cleverbot and tried to get into contact with BEN. It took a while but eventually he got in contact with me. BEN:
wazzup?
 Me:
Is Jeff awake?
 BEN:
um kinda

hes not saying anything yet

hes still out of it

but he is waking up

ej checked him and said everything is ok

he should recover in the next few days
 I sighed in relief. Jeff was alright and he was going to make a full recovery. Thank god EJ got to us in time. I would not be able to thank him enough. Me:
Thank God.

That’s good to hear.
 BEN:
so whats up?

you cant be texting just to find out how ur bf is doing
 Me:
Yeah I actually got some news on you know who.
 BEN:
oh?

whats the t?
 Me:
The police are obviously investigating what happened but the issue is that Carl is not only alive but his injuries don’t appear to be that severe from what I understand.
 BEN:
well fuck

you guys done fucked up

good job
 Me:
Very funny.

I need to take him out ASAP before he can tell the police anything that might point towards me.

That and we need to get our hands on everything he’s gathered on us.
 BEN:
k

but how u gonna do that without jeff?
 Me:
I am going to do this alone.
 BEN:
ur joking right?
 Me:
No.
 BEN:
THATS INSANE

YOU CANT GO AFTER HIM ALONE
 Me:
Well what else and I supposed to do?

Wait until Jeff recovers?

I can’t wait for x amount of days!

This is something that needs to be taken care of now!
 BEN:
how will u do it?

im sure at the hospital he has police around him
 Me:
Since the injuries aren’t too severe I have a feeling he will be released soon.
 BEN:
k

then how you gonna get to him?
 Me:
That, I’m not sure about...
 BEN:
which is y u cant go after him

u might die!
 Me:
I won’t die.

Chill out.

And I will think of something.
 BEN:
im not liking this...
 Me:
You don’t have to.

I’m doing what I have to in order to protect not only you guys but me too.

Like it or not, I am going after this guy in the next two days and I will finish what we started.
 BEN:
u r crazy

plz dont do this

plz

come over after school so we can talk
 I had had enough of the conversation so I closed my internet browser and locked my phone. The bell rang signalling the end of lunch so I went inside and to my locker. I needed to think of a plan and fast. I only had one shot at this and this time I couldn’t fail. I couldn’t afford to fail a second time.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When school ended I rushed back home. It wasn’t even an hour after lunch when the feeling of wanting to throw up came back. It seemed as though my stomach was really upset today and I had no clue why. I almost never got sick and now that it was spring, cold season had pretty much passed so it couldn’t be that. Well I guess it could as one could get sick at anytime of the year, not just the winter time. I got back home at record speed and ran straight to the bathroom where I bent over the toilet and got ready to throw up but nothing came out. My stomach was really upset and it felt like I could throw up at any second but I didn’t which was confusing. I stayed over the toilet for a while as I calmed my breathing and prepared to throw up again but nothing happened. After about maybe fifteen minutes I figured that if nothing happened by now then it wouldn’t happen at all so I sat on the ground next to the toilet. I did get the feeling of acid in the back of my throat but it didn’t seem like I was going to throw up anytime soon.I waited a few minutes to make sure that my stomach had completely settled before attempting to stand. I felt a bit light headed so I decided to grab some crackers and water before retreating to my room where I could get some rest. I had no clue what I could have but whatever it was, it made me feel like shit. I left the bathroom and retrieved my backpack which I had thrown to the ground when I entered the house. I figured that I had the house to myself as no one responded to the commotion I had made. Given the time of day my dad was probably at work and my mom was either out doing errands or out with her friends. Thank god they weren’t here to witness that. They would have babied me and made sure I was comfortable which I thought was nice but way too smothering. I was seventeen after all and my eighteenth birthday was coming up in a few months. I wasn’t a baby anymore but that didn’t stop them from treating me as one.I grabbed some crackers and a glass of water then went to my room and closed the door. I changed into some comfortable clothes which was just an oversized t-shirt and some sweat pants then sat down at my desk. I opened up my laptop and went to the website run by our local paper to see what was reported on Carl’s attack. The article was surprisingly short which I assumed was due to the little information the police gave out to the reporters since the incident happened early this morning. The article was titled: 
FORMER ENGINEER ATTACKED IN HIS OWN HOME LATE AT NIGHT BY UNKNOWN ATTACKER
 I wondered what the reporters knew about this mysterious attacker and if they had a description on me. I didn’t get further than the first two paragraphs when hit me and I quickly scrolled up to the title. It said “unknown attacker” meaning only one. Just one? Is that was the police said? I started reading from the beginning. 
At approximately 2:30 in the morning, Carl Daniels was attacked while home alone. The attacker broke into his home by throwing a rock at his window and made his way in. From there the attacker made his way to the main hallway where he was confronted by Carl and attacked him. The victim was stabbed twice, once in the arm and the other in the shoulder. The wounds were deep but not immediately life threatening which allowed him to survive just long enough for help to arrive. He was found lying on the floor of his office by police who were called to the scene by concerned neighbours who heard when the window was broken.

He was quickly rushed to the hospital in serious condition but doctors expect him to make a full recovery. Apart from some blood loss and the two stab wounds, Mr. Daniels was not seriously hurt during the attack. If all goes well for Mr. Daniels, he may very well go home tonight as his wife is a nurse who will look after him.
 How on earth did Jeff and I mess up this badly? This wasn’t our first time doing this and we had taken down targets the same size as Carl! Angrily, I kept reading to see what else the article said. 
His attacker was described as a skinny young man, possibly in his late teens standing at around 5’5”. He was dressed all in black accompanied by a disturbing looking mask. It was described as resembling a skeleton from a horror movie with a wide grin and sharp eyes. It is not something one wants to see in the middle of the night when they are home alone.
 Well at least I was scary. Good thing too because I worked hard on that mask. 
Police offered Carl police protection until his attacker has been arrested but he refused and stated that he will be ready for when the he returns as he thinks they will. When interviewed earlier today about potentially going home today and without police protection he stated:

“There is no way they would be stupid enough to return tonight so I’m not worried about another attack but if they do show their ugly face then I am armed and ready!”
 I rolled my eyes when I read that. He was an idiot. Given what happened last night, he should know that someone wants him dead so why would he assume they wouldn’t try again? Sure it is a little crazy to think that someone would try to attack two nights in a row but if someone wants you dead, they will keep coming back until they are arrested or succeed in their mission and that is what I planned on doing. Thank god the person who wrote this article was dumb enough to include the information on when he was being released and that he planned on returning home. Did they not think that his potential killer would read any and all articles about the attack?This article had all the information I would need but I kept scrolling through the search results just out of boredom. Since our town was so small there weren’t that many articles about this and it wasn’t big enough to become country wide news so about halfway down the articles changed from his attack to when Carl started going crazy as the town described him and started talking about these “creepypastas”. Of course no one believed him when he said that they were real and dismissed this as some psychotic breakdown or something as he did have a history of mental illness in his family. I remembered my dad had said something about how his mom had schizophrenia around the time he got fired from his job. A few people who were close to him tried to get him into help but he refused so they gave up and went about their normal lives. He wasn’t causing a danger to the public and when people told him to piss off he stopped being vocal about this. That’s when he took to the web and created his page with all the “evidence” he had collected on us.I read through some articles before growing bored. I had what I needed and now I just needed to plan for tonight. If all went well, he would be dead and I could go report to the boss. If I succeeded tonight then it would be my first, actual solo mission. My first kill didn’t count as EJ had been watching me the whole time to make sure I was safe but tonight I wouldn’t have that luxury. I would be going completely alone and no one would know about this plan until I told them of my success. I admit that this was a totally dangerous idea but I didn’t have much of a choice. I didn’t have time to return to the asylum to tell anyone of this plan which had to be carried out tonight. Sure I could try going during the day but I would risk being seen and followed so I would have to wait until night but by then I would need to head to Carl’s house for the mission. It was now or never.I closed the internet browser but didn’t shut down my computer. I was probably going to come back and watch some YouTube videos later but first I had to pack and prepare a plan. Well two plans actually. I pulled out my rather huge suitcase from my closet and plopped it on my bed. I then went about my room and picked things that I couldn’t live without. I went through my clothes first and packed my favourite pieces of clothing. I had so many t-shirts and pants that if my parents were to look in my closet they wouldn’t suspect anything was missing. I was a bit of a hoarder but that worked out in my favour. I folded everything neatly then moved on to my books. I didn’t have very many physical ones as most of them were on my tablet. Luckily I had bought it with my own money (in cash) so even if my parents did find out about it, it couldn’t be used to track me for when I had to disappear. I packed the few physical copies of books I had then my art supplies.I looked around the room and didn’t see anything else that I would absolutely need at the asylum. Really, all I had was on my laptop and tablet. When I had gotten the thing I transferred any apps, games and data from my phone to the device so I would be able to leave my phone here. That would be the only thing that could be used to track me. My computer, not so much as BEN had fiddled with it and hacked it to keep it from being detected. I’m not sure how that works but he said if I brought it over then not even the CIA would be able to trace it.I closed my suitcase after packing everything I absolutely needed and put it back in the closet. I then took out my favourite backpack and packed my tablet and its charger, my camera with its accessories and left it open by my desk. At the last minute I would throw in my laptop and charger. My phone I planned to leave right on my desk to hopefully communicate to my parents that I would not be returning. Sure the end of high school wasn’t for a while but I had a feeling that after this mission I would need to leave for the sake of my parents. It was already hard enough keeping this double life from them and it was only a matter of time before I was suspected, especially if Carl installed security cameras in his home which I had a feeling a guy like him might do.With all of that set up I went over to my bed, got down on my knees and pulled out an old trunk I kept underneath. It was something that belonged in the family for generations and since my mom didn’t want it, she gave it to me. I liked it because it had a lock and I was the only one with the key. I took off my necklace which held they key and unlocked the old trunk. Inside I had stashed a bottle of chloroform that EJ had given me and five handkerchiefs. I put two of them in the pocket of my hoodie then moved the clothes I would be wearing into the trunk, locked it and pushed it back under my bed. It was a cool looking trunk and I wished I could bring it with me but I could probably get my hands on another one in the future.Now that everything was set up I went back to my desk and got back on my laptop. I had just opened YouTube when a second tab opened all by itself. I knew it was BEN and sighed. I clicked on the tab and was brought to the Cleverbot page where I saw that BEN had already sent me a message. BEN:
hey!

dumbass

dont tell me you are still thinking about going after carl by urself!
 Me:
Of course I am.

I already told you, I have no choice.

This is something that has to be taken care of right away before he exposes us.
 BEN:
its a dumbass idea!

i dont agree with this

but i have given it sum thought...

and realize i cant stop u

so i will help
 Me:
I don’t need your help.

I have a plan and I am perfectly capable of doing this on my own.
 BEN:
plz

tell me what ur planning

im seriously worried about u

u have made many dumb decisions before

but this has to be the dumbest considering what happened to jeff

plz lemme help
 Me:
Be bitter about this all you want, I am not changing my mind nor am I telling you what I have in plan or for when.

The last thing I need it one of you idiots to show up and ruin it which could very well get me killed!
 BEN:
but u will most definitely get killed by going after this dude alone!

u and jeff could barely take him on together!
 Me:
No I won’t.

You need to relax and have faith in me.

What has the boss said about this?
 BEN:
i havent told him...
 Me:
What?

Why?
 BEN:
cuz...

if i do he will show up at ur house all pissed and im sure thats the last thing u want
 Me:
Very true...

But if he finds out you kept this from him after I tell him...
 BEN:
yea ik im in for shit

ill worry about it when the time comes i guess...

but u r in 4 shit too

he will not be happy u did this alone
 Me:
I don’t see why he would care.

All he is concerned about is that the job gets done.

Why would it matter to him if I did it by myself?
 BEN: what if u mess up? Me:
I don’t plan on messing up.
 BEN:
so u have plan b?
 Me:
Yup.

I have plans A-Z.

I have everything under control.

Don’t you worry about me.

I will complete this mission and this time I will not fail.
 BEN:
i hope so 4 ur sake

otherwise we will have a very angry slendy on our hands...
 Me:
Have faith in me elf boy.
 BEN:
piss off
 
Me:

>:}
 I chuckled to myself and was about to say goodbye when I remembered something. This was probably worse than an angry boss... Me:
Hold up.
 BEN:
standby mode activated chief

waiting 4 ur command
 Me:
Oh haha

Very funny

But seriously...

If you haven’t told the boss yet is it safe to assume that you haven’t told Jeff either..?

How is he?
 BEN:
if i didnt tell the boss then what makes u think i told ur bf?

in the end i don’t really give a flying fuck if the boss gets mad at me

its jeff im worried about

if he finds out that i knew about your stupid plan and didnt tell him then hed probably perform an exorcism on my game!
 Me:
Oh no!

We can’t have that, now can we?
 BEN:
dude im serious

he would do everything in his power to kill me if he finds out i kept this from him
 Me:
Very true and you still haven’t told me how he’s doing by the way.
 BEN:
ur stupid bf is doing fine

he can finally talk and is eating altho hes being super picky

apparently nothing ej or hoody makes is good enough for him
 Me:
Yeah that sounds like him.

He’s always been a picky eater.
 I laughed when BEN sent me a picture of the “you don’t say” meme. He always made me laugh when sending them because I never knew when he would. Sometimes he sent them, other times no so they were always an unexpected surprise. In fact, BEN was the one who tried introducing them to Jeff and I. I say try because it didn’t really work out as we didn’t really get them and became “grandparents” as BEN called it. I got the idea of some of them but never made an effort to use them so it stayed as a thing that only BEN did which was just fine with me.I ended the conversation then closed my laptop. I had no clue what to do for the rest of the day. I guess I could go to sleep since I needed to be up late tonight but then my parents would question me about it the next morning. I could have gone on the internet but I wasn’t too interested. I contemplated reading or drawing but neither interested me. My mind was focused on the mission. I lay down on my bed and went over every likely scenario. I thought about what could happen if it was just Carl in the house, if Carl and his wife were home or if his wife came back from work for whatever reason. I thought of the best way to enter and how. I couldn’t break another window if both he and his wife were home. God, there were so many different scenarios that it made my head spin.I decided to at least make some dinner even though it was a bit early. I had no clue what my parents had in mind for tonight so I figured I would let them deal with it. I made myself two grilled cheese sandwiches, sat on the sofa and turned on the TV. I was too lazy to change the channel so I watched the news. There was nothing really exciting going on in our small town. A few kids got arrested for minor things, a fire broke out in a restaurant, the community centre was going under construction for renovations... All of it was so boring! But I was still too lazy to change the channel and maybe I’d fall asleep and get a little nap before my parents got home. If anything could put me to sleep, it was the news.I finished my dinner and continued to watch the news. About an hour in of listening to nothing but boring town updates my mom returned home. “Oh hey there.” She said in her usual cheery voice when she saw me on the sofa. “Are you actually watching the news?”“I wanted to watch something when eating dinner and when I turned on the TV it went to the news channel. I was too lazy to change it so I just went with it.” I shrugged. This made her laugh and she went to her room to get changed into more casual clothes. After that she started dinner and I decided to help her. I had nothing else to do anyway and it might keep my mind busy. I needed a distraction at this point. I was stressing about this mission when I had no reason to be. Everything would be fine. I had a few plans in mind and one of them was bound to work.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I watched some TV with my mom after dinner then around eight we all went to bed. Well my parents did, I was going to have more of a nap, if I could even sleep that is. I was so anxious about this mission I wasn’t even sure if I would be able to sleep or not. I got ready for bed then crawled under the covers and attempted to get some rest. I closed my eyes and even though I did feel tired I couldn’t fall asleep. I was tossing and turning for hours. When I finally gave up on trying to get some sleep I sat up in bed and looked over at my clock. It was midnight. Perfect. I could start preparing now.I quietly got out of bed, got on my knees and pulled out my trunk. I unlocked it, took out my clothes and changed into them. In this trunk I stored everything, black shoes, black jeans, a black t-shirt, my black hoodie that Jeff gave me, my gloves and finally, my mask. I put them all on except my mask. I would put that on after I left the house. I doubled checked to make sure I had what I needed and when I was sure, I locked the trunk and shoved it back under my bed.I quietly crept out of my room, closing the door behind me and began to make my way to the mudroom door. A floorboard creaked under my foot and I cringed. I paused and listened for any signs that my parents might have woken up but when I didn’t hear anything. I sighed in relief and went to the mudroom. I unlocked the door and slipped out of the house, closing it quietly behind me. That’s when I put on my mask and made my way to Carl’s house. I was careful this particular night because I was worried that there might be police patrolling the area. Given what happened last night, I wouldn’t be surprised if they arranged for a patrol car to come by the neighbourhood every thirty minutes or so. Maybe not even the neighbourhood, maybe just at or around Carl’s house. They might have a car parked just across his house but that was fine. I planned to go the same way I went before which would keep me out of sight from any police officers facing the front of his house.When I came to the turn on the road, I looked closely and couldn’t see any police cars but they could be using an unmarked car if they were in front of his house. I checked for any signs of movement and when I felt like it was safe, I dashed across the street and made my way to the vacant house. When I got there it seems that the police never considered that the attacker might have used this way to get to Carl’s house as everything was still unlocked and easy to access. A fatal mistake on their part. With a smirk, I entered the backyard and went over to the fence where I crouched down and observed Carl’s house. All of the lights were off as he was probably asleep. It would be rare for him to be asleep at this hour but he was recovering from the attack so his wife must have forced him to go to bed at a reasonable time.I looked for a possible way in and surprisingly I didn’t have to look long. The window to their bedroom was wide open. I chuckled quietly. So I guess that since they assumed Jeff and I entered through the broken window, they never gave their bedroom window a second thought and decided to keep it open. It would make since that they would assume we didn’t enter that way as it was on the second floor but that mistake would cost them dearly. I looked over at the patio and noticed that they didn’t even move the table back to its original position. Did they even notice it was moved? It was quite dirty so they must not go in the backyard a lot or even look outside for more than five seconds to notice that it was moved. So far, everything was going just the way I wanted it too. This was going to be too easy but I couldn’t get cocky now. Things still could go wrong. One of these two could be light sleepers or I could accidentally make a noise. I needed to be careful.I climbed over the fence and made my way over to the table while crouching. I needed to make myself as small as possible in case any neighbours happened to be up and look out their window. I made it over to the canopy and climbed my way up to the roof then went on the roof of the house. At the open window I peeked in and saw both Carl and his wife were sound asleep in bed. I watched them for a bit and judging from their breathing, they were both in a deep sleep. Perfect. I decided to knock out Carl first as he was the only one who could do actual damage to me. Perhaps his wife knew how to fight and was strong too but if so I wasn’t aware so for now I would assume she was weak. I needed to take out the one I knew was a threat first. My plan wasn’t to kill her, she wasn’t a target and the boss would be pissed if I took out someone without permission but I had to at least knock her out so she wouldn’t wake up when I killed her husband. That would be a pain in the ass if she woke and tried to fight me. I wasn’t in the mood for a fight. I just wanted to go in, get it done and get out and go back home.I quietly climbed in the room and took out my bottle of chloroform and the two handkerchiefs which I soaked with the liquid. I took one and delicately placed it over Carl’s face. He flinched a bit in his sleep but didn’t wake up, thank god. My heart began to race when his eyebrow twitched as I feared he was going to wake up but I calmed down a bit when he didn’t. I waited for a bit over five minutes and when I was certain he was asleep, I left the handkerchief on his face and made my way around the bed and did the same to his wife. This time it didn’t go smoothly as just when I reached her side of the bed, a stupid floorboard decided to creak under my foot which woke her up.Well it turned out that she was a light sleeper... The moment her eyes opened I dashed over to her and put the cloth to her face. She tried to fight me off and screamed but it was muffled under the fabric and my hand. She attempted to sit up so she would have a better chance at fighting me but I used my whole body weight to push her back down. When she saw that wouldn’t work, she resorted to grabbing and scratching at my face. Luckily for me, her nails could not pierce my mask which was actually surprising because the fabric wasn’t that thick. She then tried to pull my mask off but she was so frantic that nothing worked. I got tired of her flailing her arms so with my free hand, I grabbed one of her flailing arms and moved it away from my face as I continued to press the cloth to her face. This made five minutes go by very slowly. After maybe three minutes I got sick of her fighting me so I let go of her arm and wrapped my hand around her throat and squeezed a bit. Not enough to kill her but just enough to restrict her airway. It worked and slowly she stopped fighting. She made a muffled sound under my hand and her hands began to fall to the bed. The chemical had now kicked in and she was once again, unconscious. I sighed in annoyance and relief. I left the cloth on her face and went back over to Carl.I pulled out my knife, flicked it open and slit his throat. I watched blood spilled from the wound. This didn’t satisfy me. I had to be absolutely sure he was dead and that there would be no chance of saving him when he was discovered. I raised the knife and brought it down in his chest. I stabbed his torso over and over again. Blood splattered all around and even landed on his wife’s face.  I chuckled and kept stabbing. My knife cut through his skin like butter and it was an amazing feeling. It was so satisfying. No wonder Jeff enjoyed this so much. After about maybe forty stabs I stopped and backed away to get a look at what I had just done. Carl’s chest was soaked in blood and there were so many stab wounds that his whole upper body was ripped open. The skin was just absolutely shredded. Finally this bastard was dead and there would be no more talk about us. We would once again become nothing but urban legends who could not possibly exist. This fucker made a big mistake when he began talking about us to the public. If only he knew that that would be his downfall.I looked over at his wife and she too was bathed in his blood. Boy was she going to freak out when she woke up. I removed the handkerchief from Carl’s face and put it in my pocket but kept the other on his wife’s face. I took out the bottle and poured a bit more of the liquid on the cloth to make sure she stayed unconscious. While I was here, there was something I had to do. I had to get rid of everything Carl had complied on us and take it back to the asylum where no one could ever find it. Even if most of it was bullshit, I couldn’t let anyone get their hands on it. I was also curious to know what he knew about us that he hadn’t published on the site. I’m sure there was a bunch of stuff he hadn’t published yet.I ran down to the basement and went in his little room where he kept his computer and the wall of papers and photos. That sight still creeped me out as I had only seen it in movies and TV shows as the killer’s wall... Creepy. Sure there were things that showed this was how a genius organized their thoughts but I only saw it in horror shows or movies. That was all I ever watched. When I had had enough of the wall I began taking everything down and stacked the papers in a neat pile. As I made my way over to the computer, my foot hit something and when I looked down I saw that it was a backpack. It appeared to be a hiker’s backpack given its size. Excellent. I picked it up and shoved the papers in then went to the hard drive, unplugged it and shoved it in the bag too. I checked the drawers of the desk and closet of the room to make sure I had everything as I knew for sure that I would not be back.I was glad I looked around because I found Carl’s camera and all of its supplies stashed on the floor of the closet. I packed those in the bag too then zipped it up and made my way back upstairs. I went back to the bedroom and removed the cloth from his wife’s face. She should be out for a while longer. It would be more than enough time for me to make my escape. I then went back downstairs and simply walked out the backdoor. There was no need to leave by the window when I could freely move about the house.Even with this weight on my back, I still managed to hop the fence without much noise and landed in the backyard of the empty house. I hopped to my feet and left the backyard and headed back to my street. When I reached the park I began to slow down and thought about the two choices I had. I could go to the asylum with this bag and tell the boss about what I had done but by the time I was ready to go home I was sure the wife would wake up and see her dead husband next to her and that would cause her to call the cops. That would make it almost impossible for me to return home unnoticed. On the other hand, if I went home I would have to hide these things and pray to God my parents didn’t go in my room and find them while I was at school. Either way, there were risks. I just had to choose which risk I was willing to take... I had to make a choice and now.I went into the park then into the woods. Even though I didn’t need to, I jogged the whole way there. It’s not like anyone was following me, I would have sensed them if they were so I didn’t need to hurry but I was just so excited to tell everyone what I had done. This was my first kill that I did all on my own. I hoped the boss would be proud of me. He did say he wanted this particular mission done as quickly as possible. There was no way he could be mad at me. Jeff on the other hand... Oh he was going to be super pissed off but hopefully we could get him to calm down. I was alive. I was unharmed. He would realize in time that that was all that mattered. I had a feeling I would get some harsh words from the others but I didn’t care about their opinions.Finally I reached the asylum. I opened one of the doors and went in. I hadn’t even gotten one inch inside when I came face to face with the boss, BEN and Jeff. None of them looked pleased at all but the boss seemed more relaxed and Jeff, as expected was quite pissed off. BEN was somewhere in the middle. He looked guilty if anything.“Hey guys.” I said with a slight smile to try and cheer up the mood. “What’s up? What’s with the welcome party?”“BEN informed us that you were planning on going after Carl, TONIGHT, on your OWN!” Jeff snapped. I was actually taken aback by this outburst.“Sorry...” BEN said in a quiet voice and his head bowed down in shame. “I had to tell... It didn’t feel right to keep this a secret...”“Yeah I understand...” I replied. I closed the door behind me and approached the trio.“Have you completed the mission?” I looked up at the boss as he “spoke”.“Yeah.”“You are absolutely insane! Why the ever loving FUCK did you not wait for me to heal?!” Jeff was yelling, just screaming at me. I could see in his eyes that he was fuming but not only that, he was also worried and concerned. That must have been fueling his anger. “Do you know just how much danger you put yourself in?! Do you?!”“Jeff.” The boss said and held a hand out to stop him from further approaching me. “You need to calm down and hear what they have to say.”“Oh yeah, I would LOVE to hear what they have to say about this!”“Well, if you insist.” I snapped back at him. “I couldn’t wait for you to get better because I knew it could take days. It’s a miracle that you’re even on your feet right now. You need lots more rest before you’re ready for a mission and since this was something that had to be taken care of ASAP, I decided to go it alone. It’s not like I had much of a choice.”“But you did! You could have called and asked EJ or hell, even JANE to come with you but NO! No, you decided to go all by yourself knowing full well what that fucker was capable of! You put yourself in unnecessary danger! And all for what?! To impress the boss?! What a dumbass way to do that!” I could feel his anger just shaking the walls around us. His anger actually made my hands shake. I wasn’t sure if it was because it made me upset or actually afraid. I wasn’t afraid of him hurting me although... with him you never know... I just never liked people yelling at me. Sure if it was a target screaming at me, I didn’t care. It was a whole different story when it was coming from someone I know and love. I bowed my head in shame and held back the tears that began to form. “I cannot believe you would be so stupid!”“JEFF! That’s enough!” We all jumped at the boss’s booming words. It felt like there was an explosion inside our skulls. Even though I jumped, I kept my eyes on the ground and I felt the pain that comes with tears. “I agree, it was risky to put yourself in that situation but you have returned and it doesn’t appear as though you are injured. Is it done? Is he dead this time?” I couldn’t speak. I was afraid that if I did, I would burst into tears so I just nodded.“You got lucky...” Jeff said in a low, raspy voice. It was like a dog snarling at an intruder.“I said enough, Jeff.” He shut up when the boss repeated himself. If there was one thing you didn’t do, it was make him repeat himself. He hated that. “What’s done is done and we should be glad they returned safely.”“Whatever...” That hurt. I knew he was mad at me and that’s fine. He’s allowed to be angry because we all knew what a dumb idea it was but his words still hurt. I knew it was all in the moment but I could stop myself from crying. I dropped the bag on the ground and burst into tears. I had no clue why I was so emotional about this but I couldn’t care in that moment. All I wanted to do at that moment was to cry and so I did. Not long after I started this breakdown, I felt arms wrap around my waist. From the feel I knew it had to be BEN but his hug didn’t make me feel any better. If anything, it made me cry even more.“Jeff, you may now leave.” I heard Slenderman say. If Jeff responded I couldn’t hear it over my crying. When I calmed down after many long minutes I looked up and Jeff was gone. I had no clue where he could have gone but I didn’t give a fuck. “Do you have all the information he collected?”“Yeah...” I croaked out. I pointed to the bag and was about to bend down and get it but BEN stopped me.“I got it.” He said and rushed to pick it up before I did. “I’ll look into it right away.” He gave me one last hug then dashed off upstairs to examine what was in the bag. I wiped the last of the tears off my face and looked up at the boss who put a hand on my shoulder.“I’ll take you home.” I nodded, closed my eyes and when I opened them again, we were standing in my room. “Get some rest. You earned it.”“Wait.” He tilted his head to the side and watched as I went to my closet and pulled out my suitcase. “Can you take this back with you? I have a feeling I might need to move to the asylum permanently sooner than expected.”“I see. Of course I can do that.” I handed it off to him and with a nod, he vanished into thin air with my suitcase. The sound of static lingered in the air as it always did when the boss disappeared.I changed into my pjs, put everything back in the trunk and when I shoved it back under my bed. I got in and pulled the covers up. When I was in bed I thought about what had just happened and began crying all over again. I knew Jeff would be mad, I was prepared for it but for some reason I couldn’t control my emotions. It was stupid. Normally this wouldn’t affect me like this. What was going on with me?That night I cried myself to sleep while thinking back to what Jeff had said to me.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The next morning I woke up about an hour earlier than necessary. I was a bit irritated from waking up at such an hour but I decided to stay awake, rather than attempt to go back to sleep. I knew that if I did, I wouldn’t be up in time to get ready for school. As I made my way to the bathroom my stomach began to act up again. I groaned as the feeling of wanting to throw up came back. Why did my body seem to hate me so much? Maybe I just needed to use the bathroom. I didn’t really want to miss school today but if I still felt sick then I just might have to. Since I never stayed home sick before I was sure my parents would let me. It’s not like I ever used this to get out of school before.After cleaning up I went back to my room and changed into clean clothes. I thought about what I could do for the next hour. I could have read a book or go online but I was feeling too sick to do anything. The only thing I could do was sit and watch TV so that is what I did. I got myself comfortable on the sofa and turned on the TV which showed some home improvement show. None of it was really interesting but since I was so sick, I didn’t really focus on it so I just let it be. At least this could provide some sort of distraction for me.Only minutes after turning on the TV, I heard someone moving around in my parent’s room. It must have been my mom as she was always the first one to wake up. Soon enough, my mom emerged from the room and was quite shocked to see me sitting on the couch as I was never up at this hour. “Well you’re up early.” She said as she looked over at me.“Oh. Yeah. I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep.” I shrugged. She chuckled and went to the kitchen to make some coffee and when it was done, she came and joined me on the couch. I knew she would probably want to watch something she liked so I handed over the remote. I didn’t really care what was on as my stomach was still acting up. When she switched to the news I perked up in interest. I wondered what they were going to say about Carl although since it was still early the police probably haven’t released much information yet.We watched the world news for an hour until my dad got up and had his breakfast. Since my stomach had settled at this point I decided to join him and when we had our food, we sat on the couch with my mom. She kept the news on as we were all talking about school or work until something happened on the TV.
“Breaking local news! Early this morning, resident Carl Daniels was found brutally murdered in his home.”
The camera pointed to Carl’s house where we could see multiple police cars with their lights flashing and the property was covered with police tape. The clip they showed was taken early in the morning when it was still dark out and it captured the moment Carl’s body was loaded into a medical van, zipped up in a body bag. My parents gasped in horror while I watched in silence, not showing any reactions. To my parents, I must have appeared to be in total shock.
“His wife found him slaughtered in bed next to her early this morning. According to her, a masked stranger broke in to their house and used what we assume to be a rag soaked in chloroform to sedate her before killing her husband.”
They then switched to a video of the wife for her statement. I actually felt bad for her. She was hysterical with grief, but of course who wouldn’t be after waking up to something like that. I would have killed her to spare her from the trauma but the boss was clear that only Carl was the target, not her so she had to remain alive. I watched as she tried to calm herself enough to give a statement.“What happened last night?” A reporter asked her as they held a microphone to her face.“Last night... A person... No! A thing... broke into our house last night. I don’t know how and frankly, I don’t care... They managed to break in and it was clear they wanted my husband dead. I don’t know why! He hasn’t done anything to anyone!” She choked out. It took all of my will power not to scoff at that last statement. If only she knew... “I don’t know if he was killed before or after I was knocked out... But when I woke up... I looked over at him... and... oh god!” She burst into tears once again and the news reporter tried to get her to calm down. I would have thought they would cut to something else but the camera kept rolling.“It’s alright.” The reporter said in a soothing tone. “Take all the time you need. You suffered quite a tragedy.”“Dear Lord...” My mom whispered. I looked over at her and saw that both of her hands were covering her mouth in shock. When I looked over at my dad he didn’t really have much of a reaction. He just looked seriously at the screen. “Oh my god!” My mom said more loudly than her last exclamation.Soon, Carl’s wife regained her composure and was ready to answer some questions the reporter had. “What did the person who attacked you look like? Can you describe them?” The reporter asked.“They... no... it... was just like a shadow... They didn’t look human at all...” She replied. “They had sharp, long eyes... And a wide grin... So wide that it was inhuman... The smile revealed big, white teeth... It looked like the devil himself...”“Oh... oh my...” Was all the reporter could say in response.“Oh my god!” My mom said again. She was getting more freaked out the more the news went on. I rolled my eyes and tried to focus on the report. I loved my mom but when she freaked out she was incredibly annoying. No need for such a big freak out. Geez. Calm down woman! When I looked back at the TV, the news switched from Carl’s devastated wife to two reporters sitting at a desk.“What you saw was our interview with the wife just an hour after she phoned for police. The sheriff didn’t give us much information on the murder except that it was the most gruesome thing any of the officers have seen in their whole careers. They said this has to be the most violent murder to ever happen in the town’s history!” One reporter said.“And the person responsible for this horrific crime is still on the loose!” The second reporter said. I could see in her eyes how terrified she was even though she was doing her best to stay calm. If my parents weren’t in the room I would have let a smirk spread across my face as this fear pleased me. I let my home town know just how frightening I could be. I hoped to be even scarier than Jeff was in his home town and I think I was pretty close with this kill. When Jeff calmed down, I will be able to brag to him about this. When it came to our reputations, Jeff loved to be known as the most notorious killer and his only rival was EJ, until now that is. I hoped they were watching this back at the asylum right now.“Here is a sketch of what the intruder and killer looks like, based on the wife’s description.” The first reporter said and there taking up the whole screen was a police sketch of me. Well, me in my mask that was.

My mom gasped at this and I had to admit, it was a pretty frightening thing to look at. Whoever drew this made me look way scarier than what I actually looked like. I loved it. If the artist had drawn my more cartoonish look then not many people would be scared of me. They might even think I was a joke and have a hard time believing that something looking like that could commit such a horrific murder. I would have been seen as a joke so maybe the artist drew me in such a way to make the people fear me.As I looked at the screen I hoped BEN took a screenshot of that if they were watching because I wanted to keep that picture. Knowing him, he is watching the news right now to see how I did and since he knows me so well, he would most definitely get a screenshot of that for me. If not for me then for himself because my god that sketch was everything!“Oh no! No! No! No!” My mother exclaimed. “That thing is in our neighbourhood and now we have to move!”“Mom, calm down!” I said. “We aren’t moving anywhere. This person was after Carl and they killed him. They probably won’t come after us.”“You can’t know that!” Oh mother... If only you knew... I can and I do. Slenderman promised me that killing you or father was not something I would have to do. You aren’t important enough for him to even care about. The only way you would become targets is if you suspected me of being a killer, in which case you would have to be taken out. It was for this reason that I was careful to hide all the evidence. If my parents had to die, would I be able to do it? Maybe... When I put on my mask I feel like a totally different person. It’s like I am not me but someone else entirely. It is possible I would be able to kill them but I would need Jeff with me in case I backed out at the last second. Hopefully I would be able to run away in time so that would never have to pass. Only time will tell. “Honey, we need to pack and go stay somewhere else! Your family is closest! Call them and let them know we are coming!” My mom got up from her seat and was about to rush to her room but what came next stopped her in her tracks.“Because of this horrific murder the mayor has sent the town into a full lockdown.” The second reporter said with a serious expression on her face. “All citizens, you must lock all your doors and windows and to not go outside for any reason, especially at night. Arrangements will be made for food and drinks to be delivered to your door should you run out. Please check out the town website for more details and how to get food delivered to you. Police will be patrolling the streets every ten minutes and will arrest anyone who is found outside their homes in suspicion of them being or working with the killer. The town will not rest until the killer is caught and justice is served for poor Carl.” I nearly scoffed at that. He was a crazy asshole who dedicated his whole time to exposing us. He got what was coming to.I looked over at my mom who was freaking out. I was fairly sure she was about to go into a full blown panic attack at any second. She was walking around the whole main floor and saying how we were all going to die and that it was only a matter of time. I was very concerned about her. I looked over at my dad and we shared worried looks. “Well I guess I’m not going to work today.” He said as he got up and went over to my mom. “Come, let’s get you to bed. A nap will do you some good.”“How can I sleep when there is a vicious killer on the loose!”“Don’t worry, I’ll stay awake and keep watch.” My mom didn’t really seem satisfied but she gave in and let my dad guide her back to her room and when she went in he turned back to me. “Will you be alright by yourself?”“Of course. I’ll double check to make sure everything is locked but I’m not too worried about the person trying to break in during the day. No one would be so stupid and this killer seems to be very smart as they used chloroform on the wife.”“Alright... Well you know where we are if you need us.” I assured him that I was fine and with a sigh he went in the room and shut the door behind him.I looked back at the news and they were just talking about safety precautions and what the town planned to do from here. It wasn’t really interesting to me and if there was anything important that I needed to know then BEN would message me and tell me. I decided to turn off the TV and head back to my room. Since I wasn’t going to school today and possibly the next few days I was able to do whatever I wanted as all my homework was done. This meant I could read the book I was currently on and hopefully finish it. I was excited to see how it ended and was waiting for a time to pick it up again.Before I went to my room, I went all over the house pretending to lock all the windows and doors but since I was the killer, I wasn’t too worried about an attack. When I finished checking I went right to my room and closed the door behind me. I was barely in the room when I heard notifications go off on my computer. I jumped. I totally forgot that BEN was able to manipulate any electronic devices even when they were closed and locked. He must have turned up the volume on my laptop so I would be able to hear the notifications but all it did was give me a damn heart attack. With a grunt I went over to my desk, sat down and opened my laptop. When I logged in I was met with a browser tab open on Cleverbot and a bunch of messages from BEN. BEN:
DUDE

OMG

I SAW THE NEWS

HOLY FUCK

GREAT JOB!

U MANAGED 2 SHUT DOWN UR WHOLE TOWN

HOLY FUCK

AMAZING!
 I rolled my eyes and typed back. Me:
Thanks but to be honest I didn’t intend for it to be so brutal.
 BEN:
srsly?

from wat i heard its nasty af

how was that not intended?

like wat?
 Me:
I lost control.

I was so angry at him for following us and trying to expose us.

And it was so creepy how he knew quite a bit on us.

It disgusted me.

Plus...

I have been feeling different lately...

I’m not sure how to explain it...

It’s like...

I don’t know...

It’s just like my emotions... took over...

I have no clue what’s up but I will try to control it.
 BEN:
yeah

i have noticed you are acting different

but i thought nothing of it as i just thought jeff yelling at you was too much

but normally u dont cry
 Me:
Yeah I think that was it.

That and I was tired.

Who knows but I feel fine now.
 BEN:
thats all that matters

soooo

since the news didnt say shit about the attack...

spill

i want the t

how bad was it?

wat did u do?

wat did he look like when u were done w/ him?

tell meeeeeeeeee
 Me:
Ok.

Fine.

Damn.

Chill dude.
 BEN:
noooooooo

not till u tell meeeeeee
 I chuckled. Me:
Alright, alright.

Here we go.

Be prepared.
 BEN:
mah body is ready
 Me:
Alright.

So

I went to the house the way Jeff and I did last time.

I went to the backyard of the house behind theirs which is vacant and has been for a while now with very little security so it was super easy to get on the property.
 BEN:
noice

continue
 Me:
Alright so I’m not sure if Jeff told you of the time we went but we climbed up their outdoor canopy and entered through a window on the second floor that they just happened to leave open.
 BEN:
nah he didnt

lol

dam

they dumb af
 Me:
Haha yeah.

It’s barely the middle of spring and they keep a window open?

I mean, who does that?
 BEN:
idiots
 Me:
Very true.

So anyway, these dumbasses left the window open AGAIN last night so I just went the same way I did with Jeff.
 BEN:
FUCKING DUMBASSES

they left a window open the night after their house was broken into AND carl got attacked?

fuck

they made it too easy 4 u

wow

i cant even rn

just

wow

ded
 Me:
Lol yeah I know.

But hey, at least I got lucky.

I was able to go in, kill the fat fuck and get out of there in record time.
 BEN:
so did u drug him first or his wife?
 Me:
Oh him first.

Definitely.

That dude was a mountain of muscles and I am pretty sure he was like six feet tall.

There was no way I would have been able to take him on on my own.

He had to put under first.

At least with his wife I had more of a chance and she was easy to hold down.
 BEN:
yeah she looked fairly small on the news but that could have been because of how upset she was
 Me:
Yeah but she really wasn’t that strong.

Although that could have been because I caught her off guard.
 BEN:
yeah probs

now the gory details plz
 Me:
Alright.

If you insist.
 BEN:
i do

spill the t sis!
 Me:
So after he was unconscious I went over to the wife but just before I could put the cloth on her face, the bitch woke up!
 BEN:
that whore

how dare she
 Me:
Lol

So yeah, there was a struggle but soon she was out and I got to work.
 BEN:
Yassssss gurl!
 Me:
I slit his throat but that didn’t satisfy me so I stabbed him in the chest and when I started I just couldn’t stop.

I kept going and every time I pulled the blade out, blood would splatter everywhere.

It even landed on his wife.

The while bed was soaked with his blood when I was done.

His wife too.
 BEN:
ha

lolz

nice

you have finally become a murder machine

yas sis!
 Me:
Oh shut up.
 BEN:
lolz
 I laughed to myself and said goodbye. I told him that I wanted to read so he let me go but said he might text again later. For what reason, I didn’t know. Maybe he just wanted to chat or maybe give me some info on what he discovered... I had to ask him what was on the stuff I stole from Carl’s house when we talked later. That and find out how Jeff was doing... Perhaps I could text him but I had a feeling he wouldn’t respond. He was so mad at me the last time we saw each other... My chest hurt when I thought back on it... I wiped a tear that began to roll down my face and stood up. I had to stop crying! Why was this even happening? I’m not this sensitive! God! Stupid hormones! Being a teenager sucked ass.I collected myself then took out my book, got in bed and opened it to the last page I was on. In a matter of time I was absorbed in the book and forgot all about the real world.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The next few days were quite boring for me. The town was still on lockdown and no one was allowed out of their homes. I felt like I was slowly going crazy as we were basically like animals trapped in cages so one night I decided to try and sneak out to the asylum. That turned out to be way too risky as the police were still driving by every five minutes or so. I was only able to make it two doors down when I heard a police car coming down the road. Luckily, I was able to hide in the backyard of a house without being seen by the police or the home owners but it was a very close call. So close that I decided that this wasn’t worth the risk to get to the park, let alone the asylum. Just as I hide in the backyard I could hear the cop car slow down. They must have seen movement and that was one of the most frightening moments of my life. I could hear the car engine as it was stationary while the cops looked at the house. I thought that one or both of them might have gotten out to come look around so I got ready to fight but luckily for me they soon started driving again. Too close. Way too close.I made my way home after that little incident and snuck into my room without waking my parents. That night I barely got any sleep as I was on an adrenaline high from that close encounter. Being up most of the night, I ended up sleeping most of the day away but my parents weren’t too concerned. It was to be expected after being forced to remain indoors for days on end with not much to do. I kept to myself most of the time because it was hard to be around my mom. Ever since the town went into lockdown my mom hasn’t been the same. She was gotten so many panic attacks and could no longer watch the news as all it talked about was The Skeleton and it triggered an attack. I felt so bad for her. I hated seeing my mom so upset and my dad promised her that after the lockdown was lifted, we would go stay with his brother and his family until we found a new place to live.
That was going to be a problem.
I checked the town website but it didn’t say when this would be lifted and I doubted they would stop lockdown anytime soon. I assumed they didn’t say anything because they didn’t want to give the killer a heads up because when lockdown was lifted they would be able to resume killing again. Smart on their part but it was annoying for me. I also didn’t want to move as this was my hunting ground and now that we were all settled in the asylum I couldn’t just leave with my parents. I had to stay here and perform my duties as Slenderman’s proxy and I’m sure Jeff wouldn’t want us to move either. I still heard no word from him on how he was doing and BEN avoided answering me whenever I asked. That wasn’t a good sign. That meant that Jeff was still mad at me. I understood why he was mad as I admit it was very risky now that I look back on it but it’s been a few days since the murder. I would have thought he would have calmed down by now... I guess he needed a bit more time...I sat on my bed and looked out the window. It was late at night and I couldn’t sleep. I was bored and agitated from being forced to stay indoors. I watched as another police car patrolled the street and watched as the lights grew brighter as it approached my house then darker as the car drove away. I kept doing this for well over an hour. I felt like I was going to go insane... When a car passed by for what felt like the one-hundredth time I got up from my bed and pulled the curtains closed. This blocked out the lights for the most part but I could still hear the tires grind on the pavement as the car drove by. To solve this problem I got out my MP3 player and put on my headphones. I put on a rock song which did the trick on blocking out the noise of the police car but it also blocked out the sound of my computer going off with a bunch of notifications. I did leave it open but it was on sleep mode and locked and the screen didn’t turn on when a notification came in so I remained completely oblivious.I closed my eyes and began to feel a bit drowsy now. Just before I could fall asleep, there was a tap on my thigh and I nearly shit myself. I tried to scream but a hand over my mouth silenced any sound I made. My eyes flashed open immediately but it was hard to see anything as my room was pitch black. I tried to shove the person off and to call for help but it didn’t work. This person got on top of me and held me down while keeping their hand on my mouth to keep my quiet. My hands tried to find their face so I could scratch them and hopefully stun them long enough to shove them off but it didn’t work. A few seconds after the person got on top of me, my headphones were ripped off my head and I heard a very familiar voice.“Dude! Shut it!” The voice hissed. I froze and let my hands fall on the mattress. The person seemed satisfied that I wouldn’t make any noise and pulled their hand off my mouth and got off me.“Ben..?” I asked in a whisper.“The one and only!” He said in a cheery yet hushed voice. This caused my eye to twitch.“I fucking hate you...” I growled. He let out a quiet giggle and I glared in response. Even though I couldn’t see very well in the dark didn’t mean he couldn’t. One of his many demonic powers was the ability to see in pitch darkness so I knew he could see my face and just how annoyed I was with him. “What are you doing here?”“Well the boss was just wondering if you heard anything that will give us an idea as to when this shut down will be reversed. Maybe your dad has some contacts who know something?”“No I don’t. I wish I did but I know as much as you do.” I replied.“Fuck.” He hissed.“Yeah I feel the same. I want to get out of this house.”“You know, now might be a good time to move permanently with us.”“I was thinking that but the plan was to wait until after high school...” I was very reluctant about it but the more days that passed, the more tempting the idea was.“I know that was the plan but plans do change under certain circumstances.” He had a point. “Think it over but honestly, I think this is the best plan.”“Mmhmm. I also need to tell you... My dad plans on moving us after the lockdown is lifted...”“Dude... Ok seriously, consider moving in with us. Where will he move you too?”“I’m not sure but for a while we will go stay with his brother which as you know is in the next province...”“Ok yeah, now is seriously a good time for you to move. Think about it. It will be easier on all of us.”“Yeah I know...” I sighed. I knew that this was the right time to do this but it still felt too soon. I felt him get up and stopped him in his tracks. “Oh, before you go...”“You want to know how Jeff is doing. Don’t ya?”“Am I that predictable?”“Well yeah. You have asked a few times already. Not hard to figure out.” I rolled my eyes and even though I couldn’t see him, I could tell that he was smirking at me. “He’s doing alright. He’s still a bit pissed but he has calmed down.”“I figured he was still mad at me. That’s why I haven’t texted him yet.”“Oh. I thought you didn’t text him because you were upset with him.”“Well I mean I am a bit because that was a bit of an overreaction but I understand why he reacted that way.”“Yeah. He was super worried about you and said that you could have gotten killed. He told me he wouldn’t be able to live if anything happened to you.” I felt my face turn red when he said that. Well at least I know that he still loves me. That was a comforting thought. Since the past few days were uneventful my mind wondered to what might happen to Jeff and I. What would happen with our relationship. I was worried that he was so mad at me that he might end it but that didn’t appear to be the case. That was a sigh of relief.“You know... I think you’re right... I think it is time I move in with you guys.”“You sure you don’t want to think it over some more?” He asked. I could tell he sounded a bit concerned and I thought that was very sweet of him. “This is a big decision. Bigger than anything anyone could ever make. You’d be leaving this life behind and won’t have any contact with anyone in your family ever again. This is something that needs more time than a few minutes to think about.”“No. I know this is something that I have to do sooner or later and now would be a good time. It would only be a matter of time before I am suspected and I want to be long gone before that happens.”“Okay but if you just up and vanish all of a sudden then you will most definitely be a suspect.”“Not if it looks like I was kidnapped...” I said after a few seconds of thinking.“Shit. Good idea.” BEN said in awe. Oh he was cute. “So how we gonna do that Chief?”“Well first I need the boss to take the few things I have here back to the asylum.”“’Kay. That can be done.” He sounded as if he was taking mental notes and that made me chuckle. “What’s next?”“Next, we are going to need to have someone, preferably EJ come down here and from there I’ll sort out the rest.”“That might be a bit of a challenge since the police patrol the streets so often.”“Yeah but if we are really sneaky we can stay out of sight. It will take a while to get there but I am confident we can do it.”“Oh I know you can but it will be time consuming. Also why EJ? Don’t you want Jeff?”“I still want him to relax and recover from his injury.”“Aww how sweet! Alright, I’ll head back and tell them the plan. When will this take place?”“Tomorrow night. I’m going to sleep all day so I will have the energy to do it.”“Sounds good! I’ll let them know!” I couldn’t really see but I knew that BEN had gone into the screen on my computer and back to the asylum as his aura had vanished. It was so cool how he had that ability. I wish I could use electronics to teleport to places but I wasn’t about to kill myself so I could become a ghost or demon. Fuck, I had no clue what he really was. Maybe I could see if that would work when I was older and ready for death. That is, assuming I live for a long time and don’t get killed while on a mission.Now that he was gone I put on my headphones again and tried to get some sleep. I was excited but also a bit nervous about what was to come. I was going to leave this life behind and become a full time proxy. Was I really ready for this? Was I ready to just pack up and leave my family behind? This plan of mine was going to hurt them. I would go missing and they will never know what happened to me. They might assume I was killed and dumped somewhere, sold into slavery or trafficking or being held and tortured in someone’s basement. My heart hurt when I thought about how my mom would react. She was so emotional and given how she reacted to the news... God I hope she wouldn’t die of a broken heart... She was totally the type to die such a way if something were to happen to a loved one, especially if that loved one was her only child... It hurt to think about but on the bright side, I wouldn’t be there to see how she’d react.All of this was happening way sooner than I expected and I was still unsure if I was really ready. I didn’t have much time to mentally prepare myself for this. I was going to become a totally different person when I got to the asylum. My identity here with society was going to disappear and I would now forever be known as Slenderman’s proxy. The Skeleton. I wondered what the others thought of that name. Did they like it? Hate it? Think it was cool? I hoped they liked it because I loved it! I was a skeleton, prowling in the dark, hunting for my next victim! I was already planning my next mission and whoever I killed, I was going to write in their blood “THE SKELETON WAS HERE”. Jeff had his way of marking a body as his kill by carving a smile into their face and EJ took the kidneys of his victims. I needed a calling card of my own. I first thought about carving a smile like Jeff does but that was his thing. I needed my own thing. Perhaps I could do that along with removing their nose and eyes so they looked more like a skeleton. It was definitely something to think about but that was all for a later date. Right now I had to focus on what was to come tomorrow night.I needed to think about this and let my brain process everything. It didn’t matter if I was ready or not for this next step in my life. Due to the recent events I had to move. Now was the time. Before my dad moved us. I had a feeling this was going to keep me up all night but that was fine. The plan was to sleep as much as I could during the day anyway. I already did that before so for it to happen again wouldn’t be too much of a surprise. I was bored as fuck being locked up in this damn house. I wondered how my parents haven’t lost their minds yet. I guess my dad was busy doing paperwork for his job which he was a bit behind on. He did have a lot. I wondered how he managed to stay on top of it most of the time. I would never be able to do his job and on top of that, he was a damn professor and taught university students. I will never understand how he managed to juggle everything.As I thought about the upcoming plan I did feel relieved that I wouldn’t have to worry about the struggles of figuring out what I wanted to do for a living like everyone else my age. I already had that sorted as I made money being a proxy. Unfortunately I didn’t steal any money from Carl’s home but perhaps after we were done with the camera I could sell it and everything that went with it. That camera was high tech and in fairly new condition so it could easily go for seven hundred at a minimum. Or maybe we could keep it because it looked like it would take stunning photos and I am in need of a new camera anyway. Mine is so old and out of date. I would have to keep an eye out for a new one when I get back into killing again if I really wanted to sell this one for some quick cash.I tried to get some sleep but gave up after three hours. It was now almost two in the morning. If I couldn’t get any sleep by now I doubted I would be able to at all. I got out of bed and went over to my desk. I did one final check of everything to make sure I had packed everything I would need. I had packed most in my suitcase which Slenderman had taken back to the asylum but it didn’t hurt to double check. I turned my whole room upside down to make sure I was absolutely sure I had everything I needed but made sure to keep the room looking like normal. The last thing I wanted was for my parents to suspect me of running away because that could raise suspicion and I could be seen as possible suspect for the murder of Carl and perhaps others from the town.I ended up packing a few more articles of clothing and the only book I had left behind along with my laptop. I went through my phone and made sure everything was clean. I deleted all of my messages and all information regarding accounts and such. I wasn’t stupid. I knew the police would be able to see my texts by getting them from my service provider but I wasn’t too worried about that. Jeff and I never texted anything to each other that would set off red flags. Mostly it was just regular convos asking how we were on that particular day and when we started dating it become all “lovey dovey” as BEN called it. If the police ever became suspicious of Jeff’s number there was nothing they could do as he always used a burner phone which was purchased with cash. I felt confident that no one would discover us.Now everything was packed and ready to go. All I had left were the pjs I was wearing. They were my favourite so there was no way I was going to leave them. They were warm and very comfortable. I would change into my clothes and pack these at the very last minute. The few things I had in my chest were also packed in my bag except for my clothes. I was now prepared to take off and start a new life at the edge of town, hidden from society. I got back in bed and tried to go back to sleep but the anxiety I had kept me awake. It frustrated me but eventually I knew the exhaustion would take over. Or at least I hoped so... Perhaps around six in the morning I finally fell asleep. It was a rough night but I was going to sleep all day anyway so it didn’t matter.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When I woke up, the first thing I did was check the time and found that it was nearly four in the afternoon. I had pretty much slept all day. I collapsed back on the bed and sighed. Tonight was the night. Tonight was the night that I was going to leave my family and this life for good... I still wasn’t sure how I felt about it but I knew that I had no choice. I had to leave now. If I waited any longer then I might not get the opportunity or worse. I might be discovered and arrested which was something that could not happen. Me leaving would also be the best thing for everyone in my life. I would get to be with the proxies in the asylum 24/7 which would make going on missions easier and should the police find out what I’ve done, my parents won’t have to witness me being dragged out of the house and into a cop car. It sucked that this was all happening just weeks before I was scheduled to graduate but this was something that wasn’t in my control. At least I wasn’t planning on going to college. We all made out money stealing from victims so I guess it didn’t really matter that much but that is a big part in someone’s life so I was a bit sad that I was going to miss out on it.I got out of bed and went to the kitchen. I was starving. When I left my room I wasn’t too surprised when I didn’t see my parents anywhere in sight. My mom was sleeping at this time of day and I assumed that my dad was either asleep too or just sitting in the room with her so she would feel at ease. I was glad I didn’t have to deal with them at the moment because I really wasn’t up for it. It would actually be easier to go the rest of the day without seeing them because then I would be quite emotional when it was time to leave. I quickly grabbed some food and retreated back to my room before my parents left their room. I got back in my bed and after eating I decided to try and go back to sleep. I know I slept for so long but I had nothing else to do to pass the time. It did take a while but eventually I managed to go back to sleep.When I woke up again it was quite dark in my room. I rolled over and saw that it was just after eight-thirty. I had to start getting ready to leave. I sat up in my bed and looked out the window and just as I did, yet another police car passed by. I sighed. Tonight was going to be quite a challenge. I hoped EJ was going to be able to make it and I really hoped we would be able to make it back without being spotted. This was going to be the ultimate test of our stealth skills... I got out of bed and closed the curtains. The boss would be here soon and the last thing I needed was for a police car to drive by and the officers seeing him in my room. I then went over to my desk and began packing up my bag. I put in my laptop, book then changed out of my pjs and packed them too. With my clothes on and my bag packed I now just had to wait for the boss to show up. I sat on my bed and within a few minutes he appeared before me.“Are you ready?”“Yes sir.” I stood up and handed him my bag. One large tendril reached out and took it from me.“Eyeless should be here soon. Be prepared for a long night. Don’t make any sudden decisions. Watch carefully for the police and move when they are out of sight.”“Okay, okay. Geez. I thought you were supposed to be my boss, not my dad.” I said with a bit of attitude.“Very funny.” Holding on to my bag with a tendril, the boss vanished before my eyes. I heard the small pops and crackles of the static that remained in the room. The static died down pretty quickly and I figured I’d go to the mudroom to wait for EJ. There wasn’t much else for me to do. Not long after entering the small room a dark figure appeared on the other side of the door. Even though it was dark I could tell that it was EJ so I opened the door and let him in just seconds before another patrol car passed by. That was lucky because with the way our house was built, anyone in that car would have seen him clear as day.“Too close.” EJ whispered.“Yeah.”“So BEN said you had something in mind or are we just gonna take off and see what happens?”“I was thinking of just taking off but that would look very suspicious when my parents report me missing. I can’t just take off so I have a plan. Follow me.” I turned around and the two of us went back to my bedroom. We made sure to step as quietly as physically possible as we passed by my parent’s room. When we were safely inside my room I shut the door behind us and turned to face EJ. Without saying a word I took out my knife and held it out to him. Even with that mask on I could tell he was shocked as he looked down at my hand then back to me.“Why are you giving me this? That’s your knife.”“I want you to stab me.”“WH-!” I cut him off by punching him in the stomach and found that it was very effective. His voice was cut off and he let out a soft grunt, almost like I knocked the wind out of him. “What are you talking about?! I’m not gonna stab you!” He wheezed.“Well I’m going to need you to if we are going to make this plan work!” I hissed.“What plan is this that involves me stabbing you?!”“I need you to stab me so it makes it look like I was kidnapped. Maybe the police will assume I was taken by The Skeleton and killed. That was I will legally be registered as deceased.” I explained. “This way it will keep the police from suspecting me of being the killer which they would if I just vanished suddenly with no evidence!”“I think they would either way because you packed all your shit...”“True but I only packed the clothes I really liked and with the money I’ll get from stealing I can easily buy new ones. I have so many clothes no one will even notice that some are missing. As for the rest of my shit... I normally keep it in my closet or dresser so there is no way my parents will even notice they are missing as they will be too freaked out and worried from my disappearance. Besides, if they do realize shit is missing it will be long after I’m gone.”“Smart but I can’t just stab you! I need you to be able to make it back home on your own and you can’t do that if you are injured!”“I know so stab me in the arm or something!” I shoved my knife in his hands before he tried to protest again. I watched him as he looked down at the knife in his hands. He was conflicted. He was a good friend of mine so this was going to be hard for him but I didn’t care. “Now do it!” I rolled up the sleeve of my hoodie and held out my arm. He gripped the knife and hesitated. I glared at him until he finally did it. He held on to the handle of my knife and plunged it into my arm. I grit my teeth and held back the urge to scream. My other hand shot up to my mouth and muffled the sounds I did make. I let out another sound when EJ pulled the knife out. He got me pretty good because I could hear the blood drip on to the floor. Pat pat pat pat. It was dripping rather quickly. I hoped I wouldn’t bleed out or something but EJ had spent time at medical school. He knew where to stab someone to hit major arteries or even miss them.“We need to hurry. Do what you gotta do and let’s stop the bleeding then get out of here.” I nodded then rushed towards him. He didn’t have any time to react. I pounced on him and grabbed on to his hoodie. In response, he grabbed on to my upper arms and pinned me to the bed. I fought against him and made sure to smear my blood on my bed covers. I felt my arm sting where he had stabbed me as I did so. The feeling increased when he grabbed my arm and squeezed it. I hissed at the pain but ignored it. We struggled for a bit longer then he let me go and we stood up next to my bed. “Damn... You got me good... I was not expecting that.”“Well I knew you weren’t going to fight me if I told you to. You already had a hard enough time agreeing to stab me.”“True. You think this is good enough?” We both looked over at the bed and I was actually pretty shocked. Some parts were soaked in blood. My blood. I looked back at my arm and even in the darkness, I could make out the injury. It was fairly long but not too deep. Just deep enough for blood to gush when I flexed my arm.“It will have to do.” I took out a handkerchief and handed it to EJ who tied it around my arm. It was quit tight but pressure was the only way the bleeding was going to slow down. When it was secure I pulled down my sleeve and we made our way back to the mudroom. We made sure to be extra careful when walking, just in case my parents heard any of that. Just before we left I pulled on my mask the gloves and nodded to EJ. We waited until the next patrol car passed then left the house. EJ was first, then me and as I left I made sure to leave the door open a crack. I even heard my shoes squeak on the tiled floor which told me that they were covered in blood. That would make nice bloody footprints for my parents to find.After leaving the house we dashed to the neighbour’s yard, hid behind their car and when we were sure no one had seen us, we went to the next house. We did this for quite a few homes before we heard the tires of a car grinding on the pavement down the road. We both made a mad dash for the next house and managed to hide behind a van in the parking lot just as the car rolled by. We moved around the car as the cop car went by to keep out of sight then we watch it go down the street. “That was a bit close...” EJ whispered to me and I nodded in response. We waited until the car had made a good six homes down before sneaking to the next property. We made it about halfway down the very long street I lived on before we heard another car approach. I wanted to go to the next house but EJ felt there wouldn’t be enough time so he held me back and we waited for the car to pass. When it passed we continued onward. When we made it to the end of the street I could feel my chest tighten. It felt like three minutes had passed which didn’t leave us much time before the next car came by. We got up from our crouching positions and ran like hell to the park. EJ of course, being EJ managed to trip on a tree root just as we entered the park. The idiot actually twisted his ankle when he fell. I slapped his shoulder before helping him to his feet and towards the trees. With his injured ankle we were only able to go about half our speed if not more which gave me anxiety. The next police car would be coming by any second now and we had barely made it across the park!About ten feet away from the tree line I heard the car begin to approach. Shit! I forced EJ to walk faster but he was in a great amount of pain. He must have really hurt his leg. He tried to keep quiet but it was hard. Now that I was all tense my arm began to ache again but I couldn’t let it stop me from dragging him to where we would be hidden. We reached the trees just as the police car passed the park but as it did it slowed down. FUCK! They must have seen us! I didn’t look behind us as it would have slowed us down but I could hear the car pull to a sudden stop and two doors open and slam closed followed by a “hey! Stop right there!” Oh like hell we were! I tightened my grip on EJ and basically dragged him as I jogged deep into the woods. We had a bit of a head start but the police weren’t injured in any way so they were bound to catch up to us. Shit! EJ why the fuck did you have to fall?“You need to put me down and go on.” EJ said.“EJ! Are you crazy?! I can’t do that!”“You have to make it back. I’ll be fine on my own. These two will be nothing!”“But your ankle!”“Let me deal with them. You go on.” He stopped walking which forced me to slow down. It was easy to drag him when he was making an effort to help me but now he was nothing but dead weight. I looked around and saw that we were close to the tunnel so I brought him in and set him on the ground. I then took out my knife. “What are you doing?”“Well I can’t just let you fight them on your own. If you are staying then so am I.” I replied. “Friends don’t abandon each other.”“Jeff is already pissed at you. You seriously want to make it worse?”“He’s just gonna have to deal with it.”“Okay...” He didn’t sound too convinced but there was nothing he could do. I had made up my mind to stay back with him and nothing was going to change it now. We both listened as the two sets of footsteps got closer and closer. We could hear their voices as they talked to each other and I was pretty sure one of them was on the radio calling for backup. Oh boy. We needed to get this over with and quickly. Thankfully the tunnel was a good few miles from the asylum so even if a squad of police did come out and perform a search there was no way they would think of going that far. It was basically at the edge of town. I felt their auras as they got close. They must have been right outside of the tunnel.“Come in! We need backup! Is anyone there?!” I heard one of them say, presumably in the walkie-talkie. If no one responded then the signal must have been cut off... The only one I knew who could be behind that was the boss. Maybe he was in the area but was letting us take care of them as that was what we were there for. “Fuck! I lost the signal!”“But how? I come in these woods all the time for walks with my dog and the signal was always strong.” The other cop responded.“Well it isn’t working now! We have no backup so it’s just us and those killers!”“Ready your gun.” Oh fuck! I didn’t think of that... They have guns and we have knifes... and it’s as they say... never bring a knife to a gun fight... Shit! I sensed them approaching the end of the tunnel and got my knife ready. I was stupid and let EJ stab my dominant hand so this was going to make things a bit tricky but I was gonna have to suck it up if I wanted to live. If the boss was nearby like I thought he was then he would intervene if he saw things weren’t going in our favour.I quickly hid behind a pile of random trash that had been left by god knows who. It had been building for a while so it provided the perfect cover. While EJ distracted them I could easily sneak up from behind and take them down. I watched as they turned on their flashlights and quickly spotted EJ who was slumped against the wall. He looked very dead. “Hey you! Freeze!” Of course he didn’t move. “Hey...” The officer said in a quieter voice. He carefully approached EJ as his partner watched. Both had their guns on him. He reached out and tapped his shoulder to make sure he was really ‘dead’ and when he didn’t move, for whatever reason the cop took off his mask. Both of them jump back and yelped in surprise. It was to be expected when anyone saw EJ’s face. While they stood there in shock, EJ made his move. He jumped to his feet and lunged at them. They were so shocked that they fumbled with their guns and just before they could pull the trigger EJ slit the throat of the one closest to him while I ran up to the other and stabbed their neck.The guns fell to the ground and the sound echoed down the long tunnel. Shortly after that the two bodies fell to the ground and all that could be heard was the two cops gargling and trying to breathe as the blood rushed from their necks. I felt bad for the cop I had stabbed as it would take a while before they died so I crouched down and stabbed them right in the eye. My knife went right through to their brain and they stopped moving. No sound came from them. They died instantly. I could tell EJ was judging me for a mercy killing as that isn’t what we do but I didn’t care. There was just something inside of me that told me to do it. I felt bad to let him suffer. Since the other was still alive I repeated my action again. Normally I wouldn’t have done this but I couldn’t ignore the feeling inside me telling me to have mercy. It was strange. Something was seriously wrong with me and I wanted to know what it was.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I went over to EJ who as leaning against the wall of the tunnel and once again, became his crutch. We hurried away from the tunnel as fast as we could and went to the direction of the asylum. It was very dark and I was still unfamiliar with the area. I had no clue which direction the asylum was in but I had a vague idea, or so I thought. There were quite a few times where I went in the wrong direction but luckily I had EJ with me to guide me on the right path. Thank God for him because if it was just me then I would be out here all night. The walk took way longer than I would have liked but there wasn’t much I could do about it because this dumbass just had to fall and hurt his ankle. Slowly but surely we made our way back to the asylum. Back home... This was now my home... My heart began to race as I processed it. I was excited but also nervous. Jeff also lived here and we had not had any contact since the night I reported to the boss that I had killed Carl. I wondered if he was still angry at me for that little stunt I pulled... I still didn’t understand why he was mad. Yeah it was a bit of a bold move but I survived and made it out with no injuries and got all the evidence he collected on us. At least the boss was proud of me...We eventually made it the the front doors. I let go of EJ and propped him against one of the doors then pushed open the other. The hinged creaked loudly as the heavy wooden door was forced open and I was sure the others would be able to hear it all the way from upstairs. When the door was open I helped EJ up and we went inside where I let him walk on his own so I could close the door. By now the pain in his ankle should have gone down enough for him to limp the rest of the way. My arm was killing me and I really wasn’t up for helping him up all those stairs... I let him go first and he was able to get up the stair pretty well on his own but I watched him closely to make sure he wouldn’t fall. Eventually we made it up to the top floor without any incident. I was relieved. I helped him to the couch where he plopped down and I got a box for him to prop his foot on. In the living room sat Hoody, BEN, Sally and Jane. All of them looked at us when we entered. All of them looked shocked except for Jane. As I looked around I noticed that Jeff was nowhere to be seen. I wondered if he was in his room or out on a mission...“What happened to you?” BEN’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I looked over at EJ.“This dumbass tripped and fell, resulting in a twisted ankle.” I explained. I heard Jane scoff at that and knew she was trying her best not to laugh.“Of course.” She said. “I’m not surprised at all. He’s so clumsy that I’m surprised he hasn’t gotten hurt sooner.”“Oh very funny...” EJ groaned. “Hey, I’m fucking hilarious!”“You alright Jack?” I heard Hoody say in his soft and rather concerned his voice.“Yeah I’m just fine...” EJ didn’t sound very convincing to me and I knew Hoody didn’t buy that either. I watched as Hoody kneeled down in front of EJ and checked out his ankle. He was very tender and I would say almost loving as he lifted up his pant leg and looked at the damage on his ankle. In the light I would see that it was swollen and there was a very dark bruise all over the skin... “Damn. That’s worse than I thought.” I said. “From where I was it didn’t look that serious to me.”“You’re going to need to rest your leg for the next few days. I’d say even a week.” I watched as Hoody gently touched the bruised area. EJ hissed even under Hoody’s gentle touch. EJ really did some major damage to his leg.“You sure it’s not broken?” I asked with concern.“I don’t know. Can you move your toes for me?” EJ held his breath and moved his foot. He wasn’t able to move it very much due to the swelling but it was enough for Hoody to confidently say that it wasn’t broken. I was suspicious with the way Hoody was treating EJ. It made me wonder if there was something going on between them. I glanced over at Jane and she too was giving those two a look. When she sensed me looking at her, she looked at me and we shared knowing looks but didn’t bother to say anything. “So um... where is Jeff..?” I asked, breaking the silence.“The boss sent him off on a mission like, two days ago.” BEN replied. “He’s expected to arrive back in like five days or so.”"Is he still... you know...""Pissed? "I looked over at Jane and she nodded. "He really was not happy with you going after that Carl guy. He cooled off a bit but not enough to satisfy the boss so he sent his grumpy ass on a week long mission."“I see...”“Hey you know what. I’ve been looking at the shit you gave me from Carl’s house.” BEN piped up out of nowhere. Possibly to distract me from the thought of Jeff.“Oh? And what did you find?” I asked.“Well as I suspected, a lot of the shit was pure bullshit. Some of it didn’t even make any sense and I think some pictures might have been photoshopped but there was one thing I did find that you might want to have a look at.” He hopped off the couch and made his way towards his room and waved at me to follow so I did. When we entered his room he brought me over to his desk where he had set up the hard drive. It was connected to a monitor that I assumed one of the others stole on a mission. He sat at his desk and began clicking away and pulled up a folder. I watched him open up a word document that was rather big. It must have had pictures in it and I was right. There were pictures taken out in the woods at night but what bothered me about the whole thing was that the whole document was dedicated to me... It didn’t really have much of a title. It was just called “hooded figure #2”. How creative. He scrolled through the document which was in total 30 pages long. Man, I had no idea one could write so much about me without even knowing who I was. There were a few pictures but not many and they hardly took up half of the page. All 30 pages were filled with text. It was chilling. I watched as BEN scrolled to the last bit of the document and there was a heading that said “aura”. So this guy did know about my ability to sense a person's aura… but how? “So one way or another this guy was smart enough to figure out you can pick up on someone's aura which I guess makes sense if he's been following you around for months now.” BEN explained as he searched for a specific page. When he found it he turned the monitor to face me so I could get a better look at what was written. I was shocked. On the page he had written a decent length paragraph.  
After a few months of following around this hooded stranger I have come to realize something very interesting about them. I believe they have the ability to detect a person's aura. I will be testing this theory out in the next few days but I am almost positive this is correct. When I follow them, they seem to be able to detect my presence in the area even when I am being cautious and don't make a single sound. In the dark, it is impossible for any normal person to sense another. Even if they did, they wouldn't give it a second thought but this person does. When I'm in a 10 foot radius of them, they will stop what they are doing and look around for me but I always hide behind a tree or boulder. This ability is unheard of so I don't know how they could have it. Either they developed it over time or were born with it. Either way, this borders on the supernatural. 
 “Okay this is super creepy.” I said after reading it. BEN nodded in agreement. “Yeah but that's not all.”“There's more?” “Yup. Keep reading.” I groaned but looked back at the screen. There was a small part of me that was curious but really I just wanted to forget about all of this. He was dead so it didn't matter anymore. Not to me at least. I read the next paragraph.  
Update:

I followed the stranger as they went on another outing. I still have no clue where they live but it's somewhere in the neighborhood. I'm a bit nervous about following them as they could see me and possibly kill me. I have seen what they can do and they have easily taken down targets as big as myself. I'm not willing to risk my life to find out where they live. At least, not yet. I wait for them in the woods just by the park and they are very punctual. They come at the same day and same time every week. From there I followed them deep into the woods and throughout the last two weeks I've been carrying around different gemstones and crystals. Many spiritualists says they each have their own unique power so I wanted to test it and see if what they say is actually true. Turns out, it is. Today I carried fluorite and was able to go up quite close to the hooded person. And by close I mean five feet away. 
 Five feet! He was five feet away from me one night! Possibly more than once! “How on earth did he get so close without Jeff or I noticing?!” I exclaimed. “The dude must have been super sneaky. I mean with practice anyone can basically become invisible. The military train for that sort of thing all the time.”“I guess you're right but still… That is super unsettling…” “Well he's dead now so what does it matter?” “Yeah he's dead but who knows, another person can figure it out too!” “I doubt it. You need to chill.” I wanted to slap him. I wasn't as experienced as he was. I didn't like being stalked. It bothered me. To him it would be nothing but it was seriously creepy to me! “Also in this document it says the effects of certain crystals. I'm sure you know them as Jeff mentioned you looked all this up like a year before he moved.”“Yeah. That's when I found out about this power so I got curious but if course my parents told me it was all nonsense.”“Oh how wrong they were.”“Yeah. So what does it say?” “Well most are kinda boring but here, it has the power of fluorite described in detail.” BEN said as he scrolled to the next page. “From the looks of it, when I read the document he must have gotten all this info from various websites then put it in his own words then gave some details he discovered when following you.”“Joy.” I said sarcastically. I looked at the screen and read the next part.  
The Effects Of Fluorite

Fluorite is known to cloak a person's energy signature from others. What this means is that it hides one's aura which can pretoect you from black magic or any dark forces. It is known to protect one against curses, spells and psychic attacks from an evil being. By hiding an aura is essentially takes a person of the radar so they cannot be detected. The only way to get the full effects

I have tested this quite recently and it has been proven true. Whoever this person is, they are evil and the fluorite has done wonders to protect me from them. Or more specifically, my aura from being detected by them. It is clear they were evil as they have killed a few people from what I have witnessed and of course, they can sense my aura. If I keep fluorite on me at all times then I can successfully hide from this monster. 
 “Well he's done his homework…” I said in slight shock. “Yeah.” BEN seemed shocked too but he read all of this before so his shock must have worn off. Unlike me, he had time to process what he was reading. I didn't. “It's a good thing you got him when you did. Imagine if he had posted this on his site.”“Fuck, I don't want to even think about what that could have done. If someone who was just as crazy as him read that…” I let my voice trail off. Both of us knew what I was about to say. If that information had gotten to someone who believed we were real like Carl then they would hunt us down and take them out. Thank god Carl was dead. He was a major threat to us. I prayed we wouldn't run into someone like him again but we were always ready for the possibility. Who know what could happen. Everyone has their secrets which they hide from the world. There could very well be a person in the town who read that page and believed what Carl had said was true. If there was one person then there was bound to be a second. We had to be careful and prepare for something like that happening again. “So what about his website? Is it still up?” “Nope. Since I have his computer I was able to go to it and take it down. It made things much simpler on my end.” He replied. I sighed on relief. “Taking down the site was literally the first thing I did to prevent anyone else from stumbling across the information on it. Even though most is bullshit. It took like three hours.”“Why so long?” “Well I had to hack into his computer then get into all his files. A lot of them were locked with codes and shit. He didn't make it easy to get into them. This guy was super smart.”“Yeah…” I felt my stomach acting up again. It made a rather loud sound and I felt the bile creep up the back of my throat again. “Excuse me…” I covered my mouth and ran to Jeff's room where I grabbed an empty bucket and heaved into it. My stomach still had some food in it so all that came up. It was disgusting. When I was done I sat on the ground and leaned against a wall. I closed my eyes and tried to calm my breathing. Something was up with me. It couldn't have been food poisoning because it had gone on for too long. It could have been the flu but the only symptom was throwing up. I had no fever or aches in my joints. Maybe when EJ was feeling better I could talk to him about this. Hoody might know but I'd trust EJ before I trusted him. EJ just had more experience and went to medical school. I don't think Hoody went before he came to live with us. “Hey. You doing okay?” I looked up at the door to see Jane peeking in the room. She looked concerned which was a bit unusual for her. She normally stayed out of everyone's business if it didn't concern her. “Oh… Yeah...I'm fine. Thanks Jane.” I said. She gave me a look and walked over to me. “You aren't very good at lying.” She sat on the ground in front of me and looked at me. I felt like she was looking into my soul. “Cut the crap darling. What's going on? No one throws up for nothing.”“To tell you the truth… I don't know what's going on with me…” I admitted. “I've been feeling sick for a while now and have no clue why. I thought maybe I ate something my stomach didn't agree with but it's been going on for too long for that to be the case.”“Mmhmm. That is strange. Maybe the flu?” “Yeah I thought that too but I have no other symptoms other than throwing up.”“And that's all that's been wrong?” I nodded. She thought but even together we couldn't think of any possible options. “You gonna talk to EJ about it?” “Probably. He's the only one who would know what could be wrong seeing as he's been to medical school. I'll see him later when he's had some time to relax.”“Good call. Something is not right with you.”“You're telling me.” “For now you should get some rest.” I agreed and she helped me to my feet then over to the king sized bed. I told her she didn't have to help as I was perfectly capable of doing it myself but she insisted. She was just as stubborn as Jeff so there was no talking her out of something she put her mind to. It was annoying but it just meant she cared. I wasn't used to her fussing over me like this and I actually kind of liked it. It was way better than her usual self which was very reserved and quiet.  Once I got settled in bed she asked if I needed anything to eat or drink but I assured her that I was fine. She told me she would be back to check on me in a few hours and even though I told her it wasn't necessary she insisted. At that point I just gave up. She left the room and I tried to get some sleep but I found it quite difficult. I had slept almost all day so I wasn't feeling all that tired. Inside I just laid in bed and thought about the last conversation I had with Jeff and how he would feel when he returned. Would he still be mad at me? I guess I was going to find out next week…

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I rested for a few hours and even managed to get some sleep. When I woke up, Jane was right by my side and asked me how I was doing and if I needed anything. This irritated me. I had just woken up and already she was asking me a bunch of questions and making a fuss. I was not alive enough for this… I did my best to politely tell her to back off and to assure her that I was fine but that didn’t do anything. She refused to stand down. I let out a sigh of frustration and got out of bed. “What time is it?”“It’s almost five.”“In the morning?”“Of course you silly.” She smirked. I rolled my eyes and changed into some clean clothes then went to the living room with Jane following me. EJ was nowhere in sight so I assumed he was sent to his room to rest. Hoody wasn’t there either. He must have been looking after EJ. I was seriously wondering if those two were a couple. It really seemed like that from what I have seen. The only ones in the room, aside from Jane and I were BEN and Sally.“Yo Skelly.” BEN said as he turned to face me.“Skelly?” I asked in confusion.“Yeah. The people of the town are calling you The Skeleton so I figured that we could call you Skelly. It’s not as formal.” He explained.“Huh. Skelly. I like it.”“Yeah. It’s totally cute and it suits you!” Jane said and gently smacked me on the shoulder. “We are so calling you that from now on. Now we just need to find a cute nickname for you, BEN.”“Hell no.”“We can call you Benny, or maybe Benji.” Jane teased. BEN didn’t looked pleased at all. His little pointy elf ears went down and the tips turned a light shade of pink. It was so cute but neither of us dared to say anything to him. The last thing we wanted was to anger him what with Sally being in the room and all. She didn’t need to witness that.“I think BEN suits him just fine.” Sally said from across the spacious room. She was busy playing with her dolls and didn’t bother to look up at us.“Thanks Sally.”“I got you bro.” Jane and I watched as BEN scooted over to her and gave her a fist bump and we both laughed. I went over to the couch closest to Sally and sat down.“How are you feeling?” The little girl asked. She stopped playing with her dolls and looked up at me. She looked a bit concerned. It was a sad sight to see. “Jane said you weren’t feeling well. Are you better now?”“Oh, yeah. I’m feeling much better.” I smiled and looked over at Jane. “Thanks to Jane’s fussing I am back to my normal self. She wouldn’t stop nagging me until I got some rest.”“I gotta take care of my friends.” Jane said.“That’s good. I’m glad you’re feeling better.” I smiled and for the next few hours I spent time with Sally. She had come to us a little over a month ago and when we heard what happened to her our hearts broke. She was so young and to have something like that happen to her… It was awful…The boss had told us she was killed in the 60s but he only discovered her a month ago and decided to bring her to us. Jeff had found the asylum so he felt that it was a good time to add her to our little family. She was very shy when she first arrived and still was but EJ had spent so much time with her that she was now more comfortable and open with us. She did have her moments when she reverted back to her shy self but when EJ was around she became a completely different person. It was so sweet. He took on the protective big brother role. We all loved her but EJ was the one who spent many nights and days with her trying to get her to open up with us. It was still a work in progress but when comparing her now to when she first arrived, she was doing much better.After playing with the dolls for a while Sally got bored of that so she invited me to a tea party. Of course I went because there was no way I was about to say no to her big green eyes. She dressed me up with a frilly pink tutu which of course had sparkles, a tiara with a big pink gem in the center and a very sparkly necklace. This was not what I would normally wear but for Sally, I was going to wear them with a smile on my face. She changed into a pink princess dress with all of the sparkles on it. It was her favourite dress as I saw her in it maybe 90% of the week. It was a gift from EJ so she treasured it just as much as she treasured the teddy bear she received from the boss.Our little tea party lasted for over an hour. We had real tea that Jane made for us to make it feel a bit more grown up for Sally. We sipped our tea and talked about many different things. She played the role of a princess while I took on the role of her personal bodyguard so she told me of all the things she had done that day. She said things like, ‘I got my hair done by my lady in waiting (who was Jane), got my nails done and waited once again for my knight in shining armour to fight off the dragon and save me’. She had quite the imagination just like any normal little girl.It saddened me to know that she had her life robbed of her when she was killed all those years ago but I was glad that she got the live it now. The boss spoiled her with all these toys and dresses. He was acting like a doting father. Before Sally, we had never seen this side of him. I wasn’t even aware that he was capable of being soft but this just proved us wrong. It was almost laughable to see him with Sally. Here was the perfect killing machine. He was frightening to look at, used his abilities to drive his victims mad and once he killed, the bodies were never found. How could something like him be so soft and loving? The majority of his usual targets were children so I was confused as to why he took a liking to Sally. Maybe it was because she was dead like EJ and BEN? But he found those two quite annoying. The boss was an interesting figure and a puzzle none of us would ever solve.When Sally had enough of the tea party we got up and decided to take a walk in the forest. Jane tried to talk us out of it but Sally really wanted to explore and I thought that a walk would be good for me. Getting out would do well for my stomach even though I wasn’t feeling sick at that very moment. I hoped that maybe it would help keep me from throwing up. I insisted that Sally and I would be fine so off we went. Jane for whatever reason gave up on arguing with me and let us go.The two of us left the building and went off into the woods. The way in was a bit difficult for Sally as it was so cluttered with bushes and branches so I had to lift her over it but once we passed the mess she was able to go on herself. When I set her down she was close to taking off but I held on to her. The last thing I needed was for her to run off and get hurt. If anything happened to her then the boss would have my head on a spike…“Stay close.” I warned.“Fine!” She whined in response. I rolled my eyes and off we went on our little walk. We didn’t plan on being out for very long. At this hour there would be some people walking about in the woods and I wouldn’t doubt that at least one person would wonder nearby. It was possible for someone who loved walking to venture off deep into the woods and if they got deep enough they would run into us which is something I wanted to avoid. It would be very hard to explain to a regular person why a teenager and a young child would be out walking at this hour…“Why did you and Jeff have a fight?” Sally asked after a few minutes of walking.“Oh…” I was taken aback by that. I couldn’t exactly lie to her like I would a normal child her age. She had lived nearly fifty years and knew more and was smarter than others her age even though she was still just a child. “Well I did something that he didn’t like so he got mad at me.”“Did you know he wouldn’t like it?” Damn I hated how sharp kids could be.“Well yes…” I admitted.“Then why did you do it?”“It was something the boss said was important and had to be done quickly. I had no time to wait on Jeff. He, as you know had been injured on our first attempt and the mission had to be completed right away. I knew I was able to do it without him so I went ahead and got it done. He is allowed to be angry at me but the boss did pressure us. I had to listen to him, regardless of how Jeff felt. In the end it turned out that the boss was proud of me so that’s all that matters.”“But you cried after Jeff yelled at you…”“Yeah I did… He was quite harsh with his words and tone but that is to be expected. He was angry at me and I don’t blame him…”“Are you still upset with him?”“Why would I be upset?”“He yelled at you.”“I was hurt but I moved on. I can’t dwell on the past. When he gets back he will have cooled off from the little spat and we will be able to talk to each other like the adults we are.” Sally accepted my explanation and dropped the subject entirely. She waited for a bit before speaking again and decided to change the topic to something else. She talked about the new dolls the boss had gotten her and how they had many buttons that made the light up and make music. Those were quite fancy. Most of the dolls I had growing up didn’t have those features.I would have gone on for another fifteen minutes or so but our walk was cut short when I saw a dog walker not too far away. I grabbed Sally and hurried back in the direction of the asylum. The whole time I kept looking back to make sure that they did not see us. We were lucky. Neither the person nor the dog had noticed our presence. Thank god. We made it back and up to the top floor. Once there I sent Sally off the play and BEN came up to me.“Yo. You gotta see this!” I followed BEN to his room where he had the news playing on his laptop.“What is it?” I asked. He didn’t say anything. Instead he just ushered me to sit on the chair so I did. When I was comfortable I looked at the screen and he turned up the volume.“The police were called and they were reported missing just under an hour ago. The mother found bloody footprints leading from the bedroom to the mudroom where they lead off outside. The police haven’t released much more than that and it is suspected that an intruder found a way inside and attacked and kidnapped the teenager sometime during the night.” I heard the reporter say. Judging from the background I could tell they were standing in front of my house. I hoped they weren’t trying to harass my parents as they often did but knowing my dad, he would be keeping them away from my mom. Poor her… She must be hysterical with grief right now… “We have tried to interview the parents but have been denied several times. As of right now we cannot say for certain what exactly happened or when it took place. All we know is that their child went missing sometime last night and was brutally attacked. The motive remains unknown.”“It seems that plan of yours worked. They bought it. Also where did the blood come from?”“Oh… Well you see… I kinda had EJ stab me…” I reluctantly admitted. BEN’s eyes went wide as I expected and he jumped in surprise and shock.“YOU WHAT?!” He exclaimed rather loudly.“Quiet!” I hissed. “The last thing I need is for Jane to find out! She is already worried about me when she witnessed me throwing up earlier!”“DUDE! Where were you stabbed?! Let me see! What is cleaned?! Bandaged properly?!”“No… I kinda forgot to do all that…” He practically shrieked and rushed out of the room. What a drama queen this child was… He didn’t even know how severe this injury was and acted like I was about to die or something. He seriously needed to chill…I waited for him to return with supplies needed to fix me up. There was no other reason why he would bolt out of the room other than fetching supplies. I only waited like maybe two minutes before he was back with a box full of stuff. He must have gone to EJ’s room and asked for things needed to treat an injury. The very moment he entered the room he demanded to see the wound so I lifted up the sleeve of my hoody to reveal my poorly bandaged arm. I heard him gasp and I looked away. The handkerchief was still wrapped around my arm and it was soaked in blood which had dried up by now on the surface. Underneath it was probably still wet and most likely in chunks as it clot. I knew I should have at least cleaned it when I got here but I totally forgot… “Please don’t tell Jeff about this…”“I won’t. Don’t worry. This is the last thing he needs on his plate right now...” I felt relieved and let him get to work on cleaning up my cut. It stung when he removed the handkerchief but I did my best to suck it up. A proxy couldn’t show weakness. This was nothing but a small cut.. I was a cold blooded killer who felt no pain. “Fuck… He did more than stab you. The dick basically slashed open your forearm!”“Well it can’t be bad enough for stitches so just clean it up and wrap it in gauze.”“Sure thing chief…” I could tell from the sound of his voice that he disagreed with my statement but didn’t want to say anything in case it angered me. I took some deep breaths and mentally prepared myself for the stinging that could come when he poured the betadine on the open wound. EJ always had the stuff handy for when we got hurt. Thank god because that meant we were less likely to succumb to any infections. It would be a real problem for the boss to have one of his proxies out of commission. Hopefully he didn’t find out just how bad this was. I didn’t want to be put on the sidelines for however long it would take for the wound to heal…Even though I did my best to prepare myself for the pain, there was no way I could prepare enough. The pain was so intense that no matter how strong someone was they would break when the betadine was poured on a large wound. I couldn’t stop the sounds that came from my mouth when BEN poured the liquid on my arm. I tried to keep it quiet but found it quite difficult. “Sorry! It will be over in a second!”“Hurry up!” I said through my teeth that ground together. He quickly finished with disinfecting the wound then began to wrap it. I could feel the skin move under his touch. It was the grossest thing I had ever felt. Maybe I was wrong and I did need stitches. I didn’t actually know just how bad it was as I received it in the dark so I didn’t get a good look. Maybe I would have EJ take a look if it looked like it wasn’t healing fast enough. I would give it about two weeks before going to a ‘professional’.“All done!” He finally said. God that felt like it took forever! I let out a sound that I couldn’t even begin to describe. It was like a mix between a moan and a sigh. I moved my arm a bit and found that he had wrapped me up securely but not too tightly.“How did it look?”“Pretty bad honestly… I really think you could use stitches if you want it to heal in a timely fashion.”“I will be fine. I’ll just put my arm in a sling. Thanks.”“No problem… Also I don’t have to tell you this but when Jeff gets back and finds out just how series that is he isn’t gonna be very happy…”“I know… He hasn’t been very happy with the choices I have made lately. I’m prepared to get yelled at again.”“Well to be fair, you didn’t exactly make the smartest of choices…” I gave him a glare which effectively shut him up.“Since we are done here I think I will retreat back to my room and unpack.” I got up from the chair and without another word I left the room. When I got back to the room I now share with Jeff I shut the door behind me and went over to my bags that the boss had left by the desk. There wasn’t much I could really do since I really had to rest my arm but I was able to bring out my tablet and connect it to the wifi that BEN had set up for us so that is what I did.I took the tablet out of my bag, plopped down on the bed and turned it on. I wanted to look up what was published on news sites about my disappearance but I doubted there would be any new information since I saw the news earlier. I would check again at the end of the day. For the rest of the day I just surfed the web and basically did fuck all.

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The rest of that week I didn’t do much. The boss found out about my injury pretty quickly so he told me to get as much rest as I could which basically meant that I should stay in bed. BEN visited me in my room throughout the day and made sure the change my bandages and clean the wound to make sure there would be no chance of infection but with all the visits and having the boss telling me to rest, the others became suspicious. Jane was the first one to figure out what was going on and of course she was the one who walked in on BEN treating my wound. I had never seen her freak out the way she did when she saw just how bad it was. She started screaming and demanded to know how I got it. I was hesitant at first because I knew that she would go after EJ but she terrified me and I told her just to get her to shut up. When I did, all hell broke loose…“EJ YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!!” She yelled at the top of her lungs and dashed out of the room. BEN and I called out to her to try and get her to stop but of course she didn’t. She went straight to EJ’s room. I caught up to her just in time to watch her throw EJ to the ground and begin to kick him. He held his arms over his head to try and protect himself but it didn’t do much good. “HOW COULD YOU!?” She screamed over and over as she kicked him.“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT YOU BITCH?!” He screamed back.“YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID!”“Jane, stop it!” I begged. I rushed over to them and tried to pull her away but there wasn’t much that I could do. Unlike me, she wasn’t injured so she had her full strength and the gash on my arm prevented me from using it at all. Trying to get an angry Jane away from EJ with only one arm was an almost impossible task but I didn’t give up. “Jane please!”“THE DICK DESERVES IT!” She screamed back at me. I was not expecting her to direct her rage at me so I flinched. That must have been when she realized that she had to calm down because when she saw my reaction, her eyes went partially wide and she relaxed her body. “Sorry…” She said quietly.“It’s alright.” I reassured her. “You have every right to be angry because he is the one who stabbed me but he didn’t want to. As I explained to BEN, EJ was very reluctant to do it but I insisted that he did. It was all a part of my plan.”“He still shouldn’t have done it!”“Well I wasn’t about to stab myself and I don’t know if you’ve seen the news but my plan worked and it looks like I was kidnapped instead of me just vanishing.”“Just wait until Jeff gets back…” Wow… She still sounded quiet angry… “EJ you better prepare yourself because Jeff won’t stop until you are dead…”“Jeff doesn’t have to know.” I said. This made everyone’s heads in the room turn to me.“What do you mean, ‘he doesn’t have to know’?” BEN asked in shock. “Even if you don’t tell him, he is going to find out eventually and when he does he’ll be super pissed off that you hid it!”“I don’t care. It’s really none of his business to know about every single detail about my life.” And with that I left the room. I could feel the tension radiating from the others as I left but I didn’t care. I was sure they were wondering why I would say such a thing as that was completely out of character for me but I couldn’t be bothered to even care about their reactions or what they might say to me later on. Hopefully they knew me well enough to just drop the subject and not bring it up later on.I went back to my room and got in bed. I wasn’t tired but it was the most comfortable spot in the whole house. I got comfortable and pulled up the covers before picking up my tablet and going on YouTube. I didn’t leave my room for the rest of the day as I needed the time to cool down from the conversation earlier. The only time I left my room was to go grab some food which I did fairly quickly and without speaking to the others. I did notice a few times that Jane or one of the others give me a look but I just ignored it. I didn’t want to deal with this right now. I quickly lost track of time and the rest of the week just flew by.
Soon Jeff came home.
I was in bed on my tablet when he returned. The door of the room opened and I looked up. He looked at me then looked away. I watched him as he went over to the desk and put his bag on it. He then proceeded to unpack every last item from the bag and put them away. This was unusual for him. I assumed he was still mad at me and was doing everything he could to avoid talking to me. I tucked my injured arm under the covers and went back to looking at my tablet. I could feel the atmosphere in the room tense up the moment he entered. It was uncomfortable for the both of us but neither of us said a word. The last time we saw each other, it didn’t end very well.When he was done unpacking his bag he went over to the wardrobe and pulled out some clean clothes. I looked up at him a few times and when he caught me staring I looked back at my tablet. “You got something to say?” He said rather flatly. I couldn’t tell if he was still angry or not with his words alone. That’s where my ability came in. From his aura I could tell that while he wasn’t angry with me, he sure wasn’t pleased.“Um… Welcome back…” I said in a quiet and timid voice. He stopped what he was doing but didn’t look at me. After a long pause I thought that maybe he was going to say something but he didn’t. He just took a deep breath and went back to organizing his things. By now he had removed every item out of his bag and to occupy himself he was looking them over. He checked his phone to see if it still had any power. I couldn’t tell if it did from where I sat but either way he picked up his charger and walked over to the furthest outlet from me and plugged in his phone. He was doing everything he could to avoid me and it hurt. I know we hadn’t parted on the best of terms but it had been long enough that I thought that maybe we could talk and try to fix things but he was having none of that. I decided to try again. “So um... How was the mission?”“I was fine.” He snapped at me.“Jeff...” I said in a pleading voice. I hoped that maybe if I was pathetic enough he would at least look at me but he didn’t break. He was seriously pissed off at me and it hurt. With each passing moment his aura flared up more and more as the anger began to build up inside of him. I didn’t mean to make him so upset and as I explained, this was something the boss wanted us to finish up as quickly as possible. Sure it wasn’t the smartest move on my part but I planned everything very carefully and made sure to minimize the danger by taking certain steps in a certain order. I wasn’t entirely stupid. Yes, he had every right to worry about me but I am my own person and an adult. I can do whatever I want and I shouldn’t be blamed for something I did. “I know you’re angry with me but the boss did say that we had to kill him as quickly as possible before he had the chance to leak further information about us. What if he had shared the bit about my ability to sense auras? BEN looked through his computer and found a document that explained not only my ability but what crystals can be used to hide a presence from me. What if he shared it and someone read it and managed to find me? They would be able to kill me without me ever detecting them. You can be mad all you like but I still think I made the right call by going alone. There was no way you could have gone with me in the state you were in.”“SHUT UP!” His loud, booming voice stopped me in my tracks. It was so sudden that I almost jumped out of my skin. My heart was racing and my hands began to shake. I gripped on to my tablet which I held close to my body and I slowly looked up at him. He was facing me now and the look on his face was one of pure anger. “JUST SHUT UP! YOU WERE A COMPLETE IDIOT! YEAH YOU MIGHT HAVE MADE IT OUT UNHARMED BUT ONE WRONG MOVE AND YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!” I flinched when he slammed a fist on a nearby wall and it actually broke a hole in the drywall. His voice felt like it shook the walls around us. If it was any louder I was sure it would cause the whole room to cave in on us.I was frightened. I had never, ever seen him so angry before and now this anger was directed towards me. I felt so small. I wanted to cry and run out of the room but the fear kept me still. I was afraid that if I ran he would follow me. What would he do if he did? Would he grab me by the arm and pin me against the wall? Would he grab me and throw me to the ground? Would he actually stab me? I thought I knew him well but now I wasn’t sure I even knew him at all. He was a completely different person. This wasn’t the Jeff that I knew and loved. I had no clue who this was. I held back the tears that were beginning to form in the corners of my eyes as I watched him. He pulled his hand from the hole in the wall and stared at me with a menacing look. It was a look I had only seen directed towards the people he would eventually kill. I was terrified now. What was he going to do to me?I dropped my tablet and began backing away the best I could as he approached me. It felt like he was a predator and I was his prey. I tried to scramble away from him but the mattress was so soft I sunk into it and with my shaky limbs I wasn’t able to move that fast but that didn’t stop me from trying. I made it to the end of the bed but as I did I felt Jeff’s hand grab onto my arm which he gave a good squeeze. I shrieked as he gave a hard tug and pulled me towards him. I broke down into tears and pleaded with him not to hurt me and to just let me go. “SHUT UP! YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW WORRIED I WAS ABOUT YOU!” I heard what he was saying but I wasn’t able to process it. I was too scared and feared for my life at this point. I was in flight mode and just wanted to get out of here. I struggled against his grip which just resulted in him pinning me down on the bed. I tried hitting him in order to free myself but he held both of my arms to the mattress. When I realized that wouldn’t work I tried kicked him but that resulted in him getting on top of me and holding me down his with full body weight.“LET ME GO!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. I said it so loud that my throat hurt. Even though he had me pinned I didn’t give up. I still tried to fight him off. “JUST STOP FIGHTING!” He yelled back but I didn’t. I just fought harder. He quickly grew frustrated with this and the only way he thought to shut me up was to slap me across the face. My cheek stung when his hand made contact. It stunned me and I stopped making any sounds. I was in shock. I whimpered and squeezed my eyes shut as I got ready for another hit but it never came. I was barely aware of anything around me anymore. I barely heard the door slam open and Jane screaming. I then felt the weight of Jeff lift from me and there was the sound of a loud thud on the ground nearby. My heart was racing, my cheek burned and I could barely breath due to shock. I tensed up when I felt two hands on either one of my shoulders and they pulled my up into a sitting position. I whimpered again and found the strength to open my eyes. In front of me sat Jane. She looked concerned but there was also rage behind her dark eyes. She checked me over and her eyes widened when she saw my arm. My wound must have opened up again but I couldn’t feel it. I couldn’t feel anything but the stinging sensation on my face. I wasn’t even all there when she pulled me to my feet and ushered me out of the room. One arm was around my waist and the other holding onto my arm.She brought me to her room and sat me on the bed. I stared at the floor and heard the faint sounds of voices. I couldn’t tell what was being said but from the sound I could tell that Jane and EJ were talking. My lungs burned with every breath I took and my hands were shaking uncontrollably. I felt someone gently take my arm. Even though the touch was gentle I still tensed up and tried to pull away. I heard something that sounded like “it’s okay” but I didn’t believe it. No. No, it wasn’t okay. Nothing was okay! I had just been attacked by my boyfriend! Someone I thought I could trust and someone who I loved and who supposedly loved me! I was attacked by someone who had promised to protect me for as long as we lived but what did he do? He hit me!I felt sick. I felt the food I had eaten earlier at the back of my throat. I began to heave and when it came up I didn’t try to push it down. I leaned to the side and let it all out on the floor. I heard more talking around me but still I couldn’t make out any clear words. I was weak and shaking all over now. I felt two people manoeuvre me against a wall into a sitting position. I slumped back and let someone, presumably EJ treat my arm. I felt some stinging and I assumed he was stitching the wound closed. This was something that was long overdue. Did he give me a local anesthetic? I didn’t know. I was in such shock he probably skipped that step and went straight to stitching me up. When he was done he cleaned the incision site and wrapped up my arm in some gauze. I was then laid down on the bed and the covers were pulled up over my body and tucked just under my chin.I still felt the tears running down my face and as soon as someone wiped my face dry more poured down my cheeks. Someone wiped the tears on my right cheek. I flinched. It was the cheek that had been slapped. Even though the touch was gentle it stung terribly. My cheek must have been incredibly red and depending on how much time had passed, it was probably beginning to darken into a nice bruise. I looked up at the person who was next to me, wiping my face but everything was still a blur. I couldn’t focus on anything. Even if I could I still wouldn’t be able to see anything. The tears blocked my sight. I heard a hushed voice that was probably telling me to calm down and that I was safe now. Somewhere I must have known I was safe but I didn’t believe it. I was still in flight mode and was ready to bolt given any opportunity. I felt a hand push the covers down a bit and two fingers pressed against my neck. This was too sudden for me and I panicked. I started to scream and tried to push this person away. I tried to get out of the bed and run but two sets of hands held me down. I fought with all my might but these two worked together and overpowered me. I could only fight for so long and soon I grew too tired to go on any longer. I gave in and let the two people tuck me back in the bed.The clarity of my hearing slowly returned as I calmed down and I could hear EJ’s voice telling me to calm down in a soothing voice. I felt a hand brush wet strands of my hair off my face then a cold cloth dab the sweat away. My crying now had been reduced to nothing but whimpers. I heard Jane’s voice whispering in my ear and telling me that everything was alright and that no one was going to hurt me now. I nodded now that I was capable of doing so. I lifted up my good hand and tried to find her but I didn’t have to. She grasped my hand in hers and pressed her lips on my knuckles. “Don’t worry Skelly. You’re safe now. I promise. I won’t let the bastard hurt you ever again.” She kissed my knuckles again then leaned up and planted a few kisses on my forehead. This reassured me and helped me calm down. Slowly my heart rate went down as did my shaking hands. The whole panic had drained me of all my energy. I soon fell asleep with the help of Jane’s soothing words.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

When I woke up I had no clue where I was or what had happened. I didn’t even know how much time had passed. How long had I been asleep for? Hours? Days? I opened my eyes and looked around the room. A single lamp stood on the night stand and illuminated the room. I didn’t know whose room it was at first. All I knew was that it wasn’t my room. The mattress was as hard as a rock and the pillow was incredibly thin. It wasn’t very comfortable and I was sure I was going to develop a sore neck or something. After a while of processing I figured out that I was in fact in Jane’s room. I recognized the photos of us on her desk and there was even one on the nightstand. I smiled as I looked at it. It was a photo of the two of us after we met and we became instant friends.I sat up and heard the bed frame squeak as I did. It was old and every small movement caused the springs to make an awful sound. It was loud and wherever Jane was she definitely heard it. She rushed into the room and sat on the bed beside me while wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “Hey, you alright? You don’t have to get up just yet.”“I’m fine...” I croaked. My throat was incredibly dry and sore. Jane must have heard it in my voice as the second I stopped speaking she rushed to the cooler on her desk and fetched me a cold bottle of water. She opened it up for me then helped me drink. “Thanks but you don’t have to help me drink...” I said after a few sips and clearing my throat.“I know but after what you went through I just want to take care of you. Is that so wrong?”“No. Thanks so much...” My eyes glanced over at the door and Jane followed my gaze. She then looked back at me and gave my hand a reassuring squeeze.“Don’t worry sweetie. He won’t hurt you. The boss took care of him.”“What happened?” I asked but I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer. I was still scared of him. It didn’t matter that he was my friend from childhood. He attacked me. He hit me. He actually hit me. I never would have thought he could do something like that but I guess you never really know a person no matter how long you know him.“Well we all heard you two yelling. Poor Sally was terrified and ran to her room while we all went to see what on earth was going on. We lingered outside the door for a while to hear what was being said. That’s when I heard it. I heard him slap you. I opened up the door and saw him on top of you and he was pinning you down. I didn’t even give him time to explain himself. I rushed over to the bed, grabbed him and threw him to the ground then checked you to see if you were okay. I saw how red your cheek was and I was horrified. I never thought he would ever hit you.” She explained.“Neither did I...”She took a deep breath before continuing. “After I removed you from the room BEN rushed in and went to keep Jeff from following us. He of course was trying to explain what had happened and that it wasn’t what it looked like. We all knew it was bullshit. Who did he think we were going to believe? Him, or the one he had pinned underneath him and that had the injuries? We didn’t buy his shit excuses. BEN and Masky took his ass to the boss and he kicked out Jeff for the next few weeks. He will be allowed to visit in about two weeks and then gradually will be allowed to live here but for him to do that he needs to prove that he isn’t a threat to either you or anyone else. When he is allowed to come back he will not be allowed back in the master. That’s your room now. It will be probably months before he’ll even be allowed to talk to you again.”“I still don’t understand why he would do something like that... I know I pissed him off but... for him to hit me...”“I suggest you don’t dwell on it. We can never know what drives people to do certain things but one thing we do know, it isn’t your fault. The blame lies on him and him alone.” I nodded and squeezed her hand. She squeezed back. “How is your arm?”“It’s fine...”“It doesn’t hurt?” I shook my head no. She let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good to hear. The bastard grabbed your arm hard enough to completely reopen your wound. The blood soaked right through the gauze on your arm and the sleeve of your hoodie. EJ was afraid he might have torn open some artery in your arm because of the amount of blood you lost and when he got ready to stitch you up it turned out that he was right. No surprise there. There was a decent tear in the artery and he said from the looks of it, it was caused when Jeff grabbed you and not the night he stabbed you. If it was from the original injury then it would have been a clean cut but it wasn’t. It was all shredded looking and nasty.”“That’s how hard Jeff grabbed me..?”“Yeah... But it’s as I said. He won’t hurt you again.” I nodded. I had to trust her even if I was afraid he would. Jane was a very good friend of mine and always kept her promises unlike... him... “So EJ stitched you up and thinks everything should close up completely in a few weeks or so. He will keep a close eye on you to make sure everything is healing right. Tonight maybe if you are ready we can move you back to your room.”“Why wouldn’t I be ready..?”“Well... I mean... That’s where Jeff attacked you. It’s understandable if you’d be too scared to go back there right away.”“I’ll be fine.” I reassured her. “Yeah he attacked me there but so long as I know that he won’t be back I should be just fine.”“If you want, I can stay with you for the first few nights. I won’t sleep on the bed if you don’t want me to. I can just sleep on the floor.”“No, I should be fine.”“If you insist. You know where you can find me if you get freaked out.”“Yeah... Can I go back to my room now?”“You don’t have to rush you know. You can wait some more.”“I would but your bed is super uncomfortable...” She laughed.“Yeah I know. I don’t blame you for wanting to go back to your luxurious bed. Alright let’s go.” She removed the covers from me and helped me to my feet. I felt weak so for a few seconds I had to just stand there to let my legs adjust to bearing my weight. I must have been out for at least a full day for my legs to feel this weak. Jane was patient and let my body adjust to standing and when I was ready she helped me walk back to my room. We made our way there slowly, slowly but surely. When we made it to the door I hesitated. Jane noticed this and gave a look of concern. “Are you sure you are ready? Like I said earlier, you don’t have to do this now.”“No. I’m ready. Just... Just give me a second...” I looked at the door and took a deep breath. My heart was racing. Maybe I wasn’t ready to go back there just yet. I couldn’t get the image of his face out of my mind... It frightened me... That look... The anger behind him... The strength he used to pin me down... It all came flooding back. My heart rate picked up. I felt like my heart was about to burst out of my chest. My breathing also increased. I was breathing so fast that I no longer got the required amount of oxygen and began to feel lightheaded and dizzy. I stumbled a bit and if it wasn’t for Jane, I would have fallen to the ground. She secured her grip on me and brought me back to her room. Since my legs didn’t work she practically dragged me back. Luckily for her I was small so it didn’t take much effort.When we got back to her room I was in a full blown panic attack and no longer registered anything in the world around me. It wasn’t my first time having a panic attack so I knew that I had to calm my breathing. I tried taking some deep breaths and when I was able to hear Jane’s voice her soothing voice eased the process. When I had gotten my breathing to a regular rhythm I could feel my chest just burning. Jane was right. It was too soon for me to return to the room. I needed more time. She was sitting beside me and rubbing my back. “Do you want anything to eat or drink?”“No... I’m fine...” My throat and lungs burned as I spoke. I picked up the water bottle she had left on the night stand and took a huge sip. She watched me the whole time and looked concerned. I wanted to keep reassuring her that I was fine but I had to rest my voice. I wasn’t used to all this fuss and attention before and I really didn’t like it. I didn’t like the fact that I was weak and that I was showing it to people who cared about me. It was almost humiliating to me. “I’m going back to bed...”“Alright and when you wake up please try to eat something.” I wasn’t sure if I would be up to eating anything but I nodded just so she would leave. I put the water bottle back on the night stand and pulled the covers over my body. Jane of course just had to tuck me in and kissed my forehead. She had taken on the mother role quite seriously with me. Even though I wasn’t entirely pleased by this as I am a grownup it did comfort me a bit. I guess I just needed a mother’s love right now. Jane shut off the light and left the room. I heard the door click as it was closed and I sighed.All of this was unbelievable. I still wanted to know why Jeff felt the need to attack me like that. I thought he loved me and when you love someone you don’t hit them. That is usually the first real sign a person has to leave the relationship while they still could... but Jeff would never kill me... Would he? If he hit me after saying he would never do it then who’s to say he wouldn’t try to kill me the next time I pissed him off? It was all so strange. This was not his usual self. I felt like maybe there was something going on with him. He seriously can’t be that mad at me for killing Carl. If he was when I told him then surely he should have calmed down by now... What could have caused him to snap like that? I thought about it until I fell asleep. 
“Jeff?” I called out. The world around me was black. I couldn’t see or hear anything except for my own heartbeat. The sound was pounding in my ears. I looked around for any signs of Jeff but he was nowhere in sight. I decided to start walking and hoped I could find him. I wanted to speak with him. I wanted to know why he attacked me. Did he even love me? I had to get answers.

I walked forward. I took small steps. I had to be careful. With it being so dark there could have been things on the ground that could trip me but I wouldn’t know until my feet hit them. Slowly I made my way forward, or at least what I thought was forward. After what seemed like an eternity of walking I finally saw a light. I followed it and squinted as I got closer as the light got brighter. My eyes adjusted and I could see that I was outside. I was in the forest and from the looks of it, I was close to the tunnel. I decided to head there and hope Jeff would be there.

I made my way to the tunnel and peaked in. It was empty. I sighed. Where could he have gone? I heard the sound of a twig snapping nearby and looked in the direction of the sound. I couldn’t see anyone. That was strange because there weren’t any places for someone to hide. The trees were way to thin for anyone to hide behind. “Is anyone there?” I called out but go no response. “Jeff?” Still nothing. I felt so exposed with the forest around me so I went in the tunnel for shelter. It was a chilly evening and I only had on jeans and a tshirt. Not the clothing one should wear in these temperatures. I shivered. What was I doing here? How did I get here? I was supposed to be in bed.

I heard the sound of another twig snapping, and another and another. The sounds were getting closer now. Someone was coming and from the sounds of it there were really close. I could sense their aura now that they were in range and the aura was menacing. This person intended on harming me or worse. I frantically felt around for my knife but it wasn’t on me. Fuck. I must have left it back at home which was strange because I always carried it on me. I heard a twig snap right outside of the tunnel. I didn’t wait to find out who it was. I took off towards the park. After leaving the forest I kept running down my street and to my house where I banged on the door. “Let me in! Please! Open up!” But no one did. I looked in the windows but all the lights were off which was strange. My parents were always up at this hour.

When banging on the door didn’t work I decided to go around back and try the back door. It might have been locked but the whole door was made of a strong glass so my parents were bound to see me if they were in the main living space. I reached the back door and before I got close I knew something was wrong. The sliding glass door was open just enough for someone to have slipped in... I carefully approached the door and peaked inside. “Mom? Dad?” No answer. I pushed the door open and went inside. Again I called for my parents but the house was deadly silent. I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I put a hand on my stomach to try and calm the feeling I had but something felt off. I pressed down in a few places and found that my stomach was rock hard. That wasn’t a good sign. Did I have internal bleeding? I would have to check with EJ but first I had to find my parents.

I went over to their bedroom and immediately I sensed a presence. It was the same one from the woods. How did they get here before me? The door to my parent’s room was cracked open ever so slightly and in the light of the moon I could see a trail of dark red liquid coming from the room. Blood... “MOM! DAD!” I ran up to the door and swung it open and felt sick at the sight that was before me. My parents were in their bed but were covered in blood... “No...” I gingerly approached the bed. My hands were shaking. I felt like throwing up. Their bodies were so mutilated that I couldn’t tell who was my mom or who was my dad... I felt tears fall from my eyes and soak my whole face. The sight was too much for me. I ran to the bathroom and threw up in the toilet. It was violent and my whole body was shaking afterward... I went over to the sink to rinse out my mouth and that’s when I heard it. The faint sound of a person chuckling. It made me freeze in my tracks. It sounded like it was coming from the closet in my parent’s room...

I looked over in their room which was right across the hall from the bathroom. I don’t know what took over me but I went back into the room instead of running. It was like something was drawing me to the room. I went in and cautiously approached the closet. I didn’t notice it before but the door was open just a crack and even in the dark room I could make out an eye peering back at me. I was so scared I couldn’t even scream. I watched as the door slowly opened and there stood Jeff. He was covered in blood, absolutely drenched in it. It was all over his clothes and even his face. “What... What did you do..?” He didn’t give me a response. He stepped out of the closet and walked towards me. Each step he took, I took one back. This wasn’t the Jeff I knew... The Jeff I knew loved my parents. He would never do anything to harm them... I looked down at his hand and saw the gleam of his beloved knife. He held it up to me and grinned.

“Now it’s your turn! The both of you will die!” I screamed. I tried to run but he caught me by the arm and threw me to the ground. I tried to get back up but he kicked my stomach. It hurt so much that I couldn’t even move. I looked up at him and saw him raising the knife, ready to bring it down on me. I screamed again and closed my eyes. I felt a strange moving sensation in my stomach. It didn’t feel like gas... It felt like... like a baby... There was something inside of me that gave me the courage and the strength to run. I pushed myself off the bloody floor. I slipped a bit but I didn’t let that stop me. I moved out of the way just before Jeff could bring the knife down. “GET BACK HERE!” He called after me.

As I ran I could hear his footsteps close behind. I didn’t look back as I ran out of the house and back to the park. My lungs burned and I grew tired but I refused to slow down. I had to get away from him. I had to for my baby’s sake. The baby moved after he kicked me. That meant they were still alive. They were alright. That was good. I put one hand on my stomach as I ran and I could feel the baby kicking violently. Good. Please keep kicking little one. I’ll get us somewhere safe. Just hold on a little longer. I could hear Jeff’s screams behind me. No... us... I took a deep breath and found the strength to give me a boost in speed. I ran faster than I ever thought was possible. The shouts and calls from Jeff died down. We were losing him. I’m not sure if it was because he couldn’t catch up with me or if he decided to give up on following me. Either way we lost him.

When I felt like we were far enough away I began to slow down. I took in huge breaths of air and wiped the sweet from my head. “We did it. We’re safe.” I heaved out. A hand went to my stomach and I rubbed the area protectively. “You’re safe now... I promise to always protect you...”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I woke up with a start. I was covered in sweat and was breathing heavily. My heart was racing and my mind was a blur. What had I just dreamt about? I remember seeing Jeff... I was running from him... I... I saw my parents... Dead and covered in blood... Then... Then I was pregnant... I was carrying a baby in my dream... That’s all it was. It was a dream. I wasn’t pregnant. I kept telling myself it was just a dream but I couldn’t stop myself from touching my stomach. I felt around here and there but I felt nothing. My belly was soft and felt just like it was supposed to. “What the fuck am I doing? That was just a dream...” I told myself.I looked around the room for Jane or anyone else but I was alone. I took some sips from the water bottle and decided that I needed to get out of here. I didn’t like being cramped in this small room with nothing to do. I would go for a small walk in the forest to get some fresh air and hopefully clear my head. I didn’t want to think about that dream any longer. I hopped out of bed, put on my shoes that Jane had left beside the bed and quietly opened the door. I listened for any sounds coming from the living room but it was silent. Everyone must be in bed or on a mission. That just made sneaking out easier for me.I slipped out of the room and made sure the close the door behind me then went down the four flights of stairs to the main level. I approached the front doors but stopped just as I grabbed the handle. These doors were insanely loud. If I opened one, everyone who was upstairs would be able to hear it. I couldn’t leave this way. I looked around and when I thought about it I realized that I had never really explored the rest of the asylum. The only part I had been to was the top floor. I wonder what kind of things I’d find. This building was huge and had multiple floors. I was bound to find some interesting things. Did they perform electric shock therapy here? Did the people leave things here when the left the building? Only one way to find out.I decided to start with exploring the left side of the asylum and work my way over to the right. I went over to the rounded arch that separated this main part from the corridor and looked down the hallway. It looked like you would expect an abandoned building to look like. There was dust and dirt all over the floor and the paint was chipping off the walls. Aside from some wear and tear, the place looked almost like it must have back when it was operational. How many years had it been since people were last here? From the looks of it, it couldn’t have been more than forty years.I walked down the halls and looked out the windows. Outside I saw some buildings nearby. The property was so big. I was amazed that it went unnoticed for so long but then again, the designated jogging trail that was made decades ago was on the other side of town. Perhaps that’s why no one has found this place before. Why go off the trail the town made and go on unexplored territory? Even so, I was still surprised that in forty years not one person went on a hike on this side of town.I explored for a while but didn’t really find anything of interest. Almost all of the rooms were empty with the only thing in them being dust and debris. Not much to look at. As I continued exploring I came across a door which lead to an overpass. This overpass connected this main building to the one outback. I was curious as to what was in it so I went to see. I had to be careful on this overpass as it was old and since it hadn’t been maintained for over forty years or so it could easily give out from under me. Luckily for me it was a short distance and the floor managed to hold my weight. When I made it into the other building it became obvious that it used to be the cafeteria where the patients had their meals. The space was huge. It appeared that it was build to hold more than the building could house. It did look a bit newer in comparison to the main building so it had to have been built after to accommodate all of the patients. After some exploring I discovered that the floor I arrived on was the eating space but the first floor was where all of the food was stored and prepared. Behind the counter where the food was served were a set of stairs that lead down to the first floor. The space was huge as they had to feed a lot of people. It was too eerie for me to stay for very long so I made my way back up to the second floor.Walking around the space I noticed there were some more stairs. The door to these stairs read STAFF ONLY. That peaked my interest. What could be up there? Only one way to find out. I pushed open the heavy metal door and went up to the third floor. I found that most of the third floor was where the staff slept but there were some storage rooms where I assumed they kept supplies. There were so many rooms and each room looked like it could hold maybe three people. They would need a big staff but even accounting for all these rooms there would not have been enough people to look after the patients if I assumed correctly and this place housed more than it could handle. If it happened in other asylums then it probably happened here too. I looked in almost every room but they all looked the same so I didn’t see the point in checking out the rest.I was getting ready to leave the building when I heard a noise coming from the end of the hall. I didn’t check any of the rooms down that particular hallway. I was now curious to find the source of the sound. It sounded like something banging on metal but I couldn’t tell what it could be. I carefully made my way down the hall. I didn’t know who or what could have made that noise. It could have been one of the other proxies or a wild animal. If it was a wild animal then it could carry rabies or some other disease which I did not want to catch. I had to be careful. Every few footsteps I took there was another bang and this allowed me to pinpoint which room the sound was coming from. Of course it had to be the very last one at the end of the hallway. Sure. Why not? I slowly pushed open the old metal door and was not prepared for what I saw. In the far left corner of the room was a person. They were curled up in a fetal position on the ground and rocking back and forth. Their back was facing me but just by looking at them I could tell that it was Jeff. I froze when I saw him. He was the last person I wanted to see... When the door opened he turned to see who had entered and the look on his face told me that he was not pleased to see me.“What are you doing here?” He snarled at me. The words dripped from his mouth like venom. His deep, raspy voice sent chills down my spine.“I’m sorry!” I quickly replied. “I had no idea you were in here! I was just exploring the building and came across you... I swear I wasn’t trying to bother you!”“Get out!” He snapped.“Sure...” I turned and was about to leave but I stopped myself. I hesitated but turned around to face him once again and saw that he hadn’t taken his eyes off me. He was probably waiting for me to leave and when I didn’t he eyed me suspiciously.”Before I go... I wanted to talk with you...”“About what?” He spat.“Well... The one thing I want to know is... Why did you attack me..?” I watched his every move. I was looking for any signs that he might attack but he didn’t. I waited for him to respond but all I got was silence. Instead he got up from the ground and stalked over to me. I tried to back away but he closed the door before I could reach it and backed me against a wall. I was scared but I refused to show it. I held my ground even when he pinned me with his whole body and leaned his face close to mine.“Why did you go after Carl by yourself?”“Oh. Is that what this is about? Seriously?!” I shoved him away from me and stood my ground. “Really? You’re still upset about that! Let it go already! What’s done is done! What is wrong with you?!”“Me? What’s wrong with me? You’re the one who decided to go after him without backup! You could have been killed!”“But I’m still alive! Get over it! You can’t stay mad at me forever!” I tried to leave but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back. I was so surprised at this sudden action that I couldn’t even make a sound. He yanked me back over to him and pulled up my sleeve to reveal my gauzed wrapped arm.“Not only that but you didn’t tell me that EJ stabbed you! Fucking stabbed you!” I winced as he tightened his grip on my arm.“I told him to do it...”“That doesn’t matter! You didn’t tell me!”“How could I have told you when you attacked me! You barely let me say anything before grabbing me!” I yanked my arm out of his grip and turned to leave but he wasn’t done with me yet. He grabbed me by my arm again and threw me against a wall. I slammed hard against the wall then fell to the ground. I coughed as the air left my lungs.“First you didn’t tell me you were even planning on going after Carl but you also didn’t tell me that EJ stabbed you!” He didn’t even give me a change to say anything. He lifted his foot and looked like he was getting ready to kick me. My eyes widened when I realized that he was aiming for my stomach. I quickly got on my hands and knees and managed to move just as he brought his foot forward. He didn’t get my stomach but he got my hip which hurt quite a bit. I cried out and fell to the ground. “Why didn’t you tell me?! What else are you keeping from me?! You having an affair perhaps?!” He braced himself on the wall and kept kicking me all while I did everything I could to protect my stomach. After that dream I had earlier I felt the strongest urge to protect my abdomen.“No! I’m not! I’m not having an affair!” I yelled at him. “Where did you get that idea from?! Do you not trust me?!”“No! After two lies how can I believe anything you say?!” I did a decent job at dodging his attacks for far but it was only a matter of time before he got my stomach and I couldn’t let that happen. I had to get out of here. I tried crawling for the door but every time I got close he grabbed my legs and pulled me away. I tried this for a few times before giving up. That wasn’t going to work. I looked around the room and saw an old metal pipe hanging from the ceiling. It looked like I would be able to pull it off and I hoped it would be strong enough to use against Jeff. I had to try. I kicked one of his legs and got him right on the shin. He screamed out in pain and that was enough to stop him long enough for me to get on my feet and race to the metal pipe. I ripped it off and turned to Jeff. He had recovered now and when he saw me with a weapon he snarled at me. “So that’s how you want to play... Alright...”My heart skipped a beat when I saw him reach in his pocket. Shit. He had his knife on him! I watched as he took his knife out of his pocket and flipped it open. I tightened my grip on the pipe and prayed it would be enough. I doubted it. At the end of the day it was a piece of old rusted metal and stood no chance against Jeff’s knife. He kept it clean sharp. I prepared myself for a fight and he charged at me. I dodged at the very last minute, turned and smashed the pipe on his shoulder. He grunted in pain and struggled to regain his balance as that hit was enough to throw him off. I hit him a few more times and on my last strike I brought the pipe down on his head. That got him to scream. I heard his knife fall to the ground and both of his hands shot up to his head. He fell to the ground and I saw some blood leak down his face. This was it. This was my chance to escape. I dropped the pipe and ran to the door which I threw open but before I left the room I looked back at Jeff.He was on the ground and holding his head in pain. He was no threat to me now. I almost felt bad for hitting him but if I didn’t then who knows what he would have done to me. This wasn’t the Jeff I knew or fell in love with. This was someone completely different. I listened to his sounds of pain which actually broke my heart but when I really listened I realized that it wasn’t just moans of pain. He was talking. Was he talking to me? I took a step toward him and focused on what he was saying. It was so quiet that it made his words hard to decipher but I was able to make out a few. “Liar... They are a liar... You’re right... They must die...” Who on earth was he talking to? And was he talking about me? Was it me who had to die? I was so frightened that I got out of there as quickly as possible.I left the room, shut the door behind me and ran down the hall. I made it to the stairs, went down to the second floor and left the building the way I came. When I got to the main building I didn’t slow down. I dashed up the stairs to the fourth floor and to my room. I was done with Jane’s room and her hard as a rock bed. I needed a real bed. I got to the room and slammed the door behind me. Finally I let myself relax. I took deep breaths to calm my breathing and sunk to the floor. I couldn’t believe that had just happened. What on earth was going on with Jeff? Was he hearing voices? Normally I would point the blame on the boss as he had that ability but why would he do that to Jeff? He would never do that to any of us. There had to be another explanation for it. I had to find out the cause so I could help Jeff and have him return to normal. I wanted my Jeff back...My Jeff... That sounded strange now... Neither of us vocalized it or confirmed it with the other but we both knew our relationship was over... Of course it was. Why would I remain with someone who now attacked me twice now? It hurt to think about because Jeff was my first real love. He was the first person I had ever been in a relationship with... He was the one I lost my virginity to... Even though he attacked me I still loved him. After witnessing that I knew that he was no longer in control of his thoughts or at least didn’t have full control. None of this was his fault. He needed help. Maybe EJ would have some answers... I just had to convince him to see Jeff and confirm that he was hearing voices but that was easier said than done. After the attack I imagined most of the others would not be happy with Jeff and the last thing they would want to do is to be in the same room as him. I had to try. I needed to help Jeff. I loved him.I got up from the ground and opened up my door. I was not prepared for the sight that was before me. Standing just outside of my room was BEN. I jumped back and held back a scream. “Good God BEN! Don’t sneak up on me like that!”“Well sorry... I wasn’t trying to. I was actually about to knock and ask if you are okay. I heard you slam the door just now and I’m concerned.”“That’s sweet but it’s nothing to worry about.” I looked around for any signs of EJ but BEN was the only one in the hallway. He looked at me then in the direction I was looking at.“You looking for someone?”“Yeah. Do you know where EJ is by chance?”“Uh yeah. I think he went out on a mission or something.”“Damn. I missed him.”“Why do you need him?”“I need to talk to him.”“What about? If it’s about your arm then maybe Hoody can check it out.”“No it’s not that. It’s something else.”“Well okay I guess you’ll be waiting for a while. He’s expected to be gone for like three days at least. Maybe four.”“Great...”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I went back in my room as I had nothing else to do for now. I looked around and even though I did feel uneasy in the room I didn’t feel scared. The attack shook me up but I was better now. Soon that will all just be a distant memory. It won’t be any worse than a bad dream. I took a deep breath and walked over to my suitcase which still remained unpacked. I rummaged through it and took out my books. I needed something to distract me. I read the backs of each to see which I was in the mood for but it was a hard choice. I wished I could read them all at once.I was so focused on my task that I didn’t hear the door open. I set a book down to look at another when all of a sudden a hand covered my mouth to prevent me from screaming. I still tried to scream but it came out as quiet muffles at best. “If you want to live I suggest you shut up!” It was Jeff. Why was he here?! More importantly, how did he get here? I just saw BEN not long ago. He was here and alert so he should have heard Jeff come up the stairs! What about Smile? Was he aware we all hated Jeff now? Sure they were best friends but I can’t imagine the pup approving of his owner hurting me the way he did. Did he not even smell him when he came up here? I guess none of that mattered now. I had to get away from him and back to the others where I would be safe. Judging from he said earlier, he was going to kill me. I struggled to break free from his grasp but he was stronger than me. Doing this just pissed him off. “Stop fighting!”“No!” I said through his hand. It was muffled but clear enough that he understood what I said. He growled and threw me to the ground, grabbed me by the hair and smashed my face on the hard floor. I was dazed by this. I swore I was seeing stars. He did this again and again until he was sure I wasn’t going to fight back and I didn’t. I gave up. I knew I didn’t have much of a chance since he surprised me and had the upper hand. Whatever was about to happen I just accepted it.I heard the click of his knife and assumed he was getting ready to kill me. Even through my dazed stated I was able to hear him speak but it wasn’t directed towards me. He was speaking as if there was another person in the room but I knew there wasn’t. It was just the two of us in the dark. “I don’t want to... I love them... I can’t kill them... No... No, you’re wrong! They aren’t the enemy!” What the fuck was he talking about? And who was he talking to? This was so strange and terrifying all at the same time. I heard a deep chuckle come from him and I froze. I knew that laugh. That’s the laugh he made right before he brutally killed a target... “You’re right... They are nothing. They are just pathetic and not worthy of love!” I gasped when he grabbed my shoulder and rolled me on to my back so I could face him. I saw the knife in his hand. It was raised in the air and at any second he could bring it down on me and end my life which is exactly what he had planned.“Jeff... Please...” I pleaded. I grabbed his arm and looked up at him with hopeful eyes. With any other cold blooded killer it wouldn’t have any effect but this was Jeff. Even though he wasn’t himself this was the same Jeff I grew up with and who I fell in love with. He loved me too. I knew it. The real him was still in there. If I could just bring him out I would have a chance to escape. I had to proceed carefully. “Jeff... It’s me... Your childhood friend... Don’t you remember? We would spend almost every waking minute together. Don’t you remember all of the games we used to play? And now that we are all grownup we are in love and in a relationship. Surely you won’t hurt someone you love, right? You love me don’t you?”“Shut up!” He moved his hand from my shoulder to around my neck and squeezed. I gasped for air and clawed at his arm. It didn’t have any effect on him even when I dug my nails in his flesh. He didn’t flinch at all. “I don’t love liars!” His grip on my neck tightened and I kept gasping for air. I pleaded with him the best I could and begged him to let me go. I said I would do anything. Anything at all if he would just let me go.“Jeff...” My voice was quiet as the air left my lungs. My vision was blurring and tears ran down my face as I knew this was it. This was the end for me. My hands fell to my sides and I stopped moving as my body redirected any remaining oxygen to my brain. Just before I blacked out he pulled away from me and I took in the biggest breath of air I could manage. When I had enough I began coughing. A hand shot up to my throat and I could feel a bruise already forming. It must be turning a nice purple at this point... I looked over at Jeff and he had backed away to a corner and it looked like he was processing what he had just done. He looked... scared... No. Terrified. But why? “Jeff..?”“I...What... What happened..?” He must have been in a delusional state and now was coming out of it. “I...” He couldn’t even speak. He looked at me and the condition I was in and his eyes went wide. Did he even realize that he was the one who did this to me? He must have because after taking all of this in, he bolted for the door. I tried to call out to him and ask him to wait but my throat was too sore. I barely made an audible sound. All I could do was watch as he ran out the door and down the dark hallway.I sighed and leaned against the nearest wall. This is the third time this week that Jeff had attacked me... I wasn’t safe here... The boss could kick him off the property for good but if he wanted to kill me then he would find a way to do so. He might take the chance while I was leaving for a mission. If I wanted to live I knew I was going to have to leave but the problem was the boss wouldn’t allow it. Even if I told him that my life was in danger. I was his proxy which I agreed to so I had to do what I was told but I feared for my life. What if Jeff made another attempt on my life? He seemed to realize what he did just before he left but if he was hearing voices or something it was only a matter of time before he came back for me... That’s it. I made up my mind. I was going to leave. I didn’t give a shit about the others and what they might think. I wanted to live and not be afraid that someone was going to break into my room and try to kill me. I was going to do it. I was going to leave.I looked over at my bag and suitcase and knew I would need something better if I was going to run away. My suitcase was huge and really heavy. It wasn’t something you took with you while on the run. I need something lighter and smaller yet still big enough for all my clothes... I needed a duffle bag and I knew that we had one. I saw Jane bring one back after a mission. She had stolen it from a victim because she said it was cool and we could possibly use it in the future. She put it with all of the other bags and random items in the far corner of the living room where everyone had access to them. Maybe BEN put the hiking bag I took from Carl’s house in the pile. I could use that too.I got up and snuck as quietly as I could into the living room. No one was there. That made thing easier for me. I went over to the pile and rummaged through everything. I found the duffle bag and hiking bag. Perfect. Just what I needed. I picked them up and was about to return to my room when I heard a noise. “Someone there?” I called out. My heart began to beat faster as I was afraid it was Jeff. I got ready in case of another attack but it wasn’t Jeff. I calmed down when I saw Sally’s small figure step into the moonlight. “Hey Sally.” I said with a small smile.“What are you doing with those?” She asked in her usual quiet voice.“Oh. Well I need them to pack. I’m going on a mission that will take a few days and I plan to snatch a few things from the target’s house which I why I’m bringing this.” I held up the duffle bag. She looked at the bags then up at me. She was suspicious but seemed to buy my lie. No matter how long she lived, at the end of the day she was still a child.“I thought the boss didn’t want you going on missions for a while.”“Well yeah, not at first but I really need to get out of the house. I’m going crazy not doing anything.”“I guess it’s pretty boring for you.”“Totally. Now off to bed with you.”“Okay.” I watched as she went back into her room and when I heard the door shut I dashed back to mine. I closed and locked the door behind me and began the long process of transferring all of my belongings from my suitcase to the duffle bag. I split the clothes and books in both bags to keep one from being heavier than the other. I packed everything I owned. I was never coming back here. Once I left no one would ever see me again. I had no clue where I would go but at this point anywhere would be better than here. It probably took an hour or more to pack everything but I got it all done. Everything from my suitcase and backpack were now in the duffle bag and hiking bag. I took the money I had been saving out of the tin box I kept it in and counted it up. I had a few hundred dollars which were all in bills 20 or smaller. That was good as it wouldn’t raise suspicion. This would be enough to last me a few months if I spread it out. I stuffed perhaps 50 dollars in my pocket and the rest in the hiking bag. I put all of the coins in a handkerchief then put that in the pocket of one of my pants to keep the sound at a minimum.With everything ready all I had to do was pick up the bags and make my way downstairs which is what I did. When I made it to the main floor I went up to the doors and pushed one open. I heard the loud squeak from the old hinges. The sound made me cringe. I wasn’t sure how many proxies were actually upstairs aside from BEN and Sally. What if one of them other than Sally grew suspicious enough to go check my room to see if I was there or not? If someone was upstairs I hoped they would assume it was someone else returning. I didn’t stay to find out. I didn’t even bother to close the door behind me. Once it was open I picked up the duffle bag and made my way outside. I had looked at a map of the place a few days ago and saw there was a road that lead from here right to the highway so that’s the way I went. I decided I was going to hitchhike until I found a place I wanted to settle down in. Maybe I should have planned this out but I had to leave right away so there really wasn’t any time for planning. Who knows if I would have gotten the chance to escape later on. Tonight just happened to be the quietest night in the asylum and was my only chance to leave. I guess I would have to plan as I went.The walk to the highway was a bit long since I had two bags weighing me down but I made it without a problem. No one found me. Things were going in my favour so far. Once at the highway I started walking. It was late at night or maybe it was very early in the morning. I didn’t check the time but it was quite dark out so I didn’t expect to get a ride from anyone at this hour. I braced myself for a long, long walk and long walk indeed. Without any way to check the time as my tablet was buried under clothes I had no way to tell just how long I had been walking for but it felt like hours. It felt longer with the luggage but I had to have been walking for an hour at the very minimum. The journey continued but all of a sudden I heard the grinding of tires on the road. I looked back and saw that just a little ways down a car was coming. I was about to stick out my hand for a lift but I didn’t need to. Once the car saw me it slowed down and came to a stop right beside me. The window lowered and when I looked at the driver I saw it was a middle aged man.“What are you doing out at this hour sweetheart?” Oh great. He was one of those guys.“Traveling. Do you mind taking me to the next town over?” I asked with a sweet smile. I was already uncomfortable but I had to get a ride. I needed to put as much distance as I could between myself and this place.“I don’t know... What you got?” He said suspiciously.“Well I don’t have much in terms of money but I could offer you as much sex as you want if you get me where I need to go.” I said flirtatiously. I even batted my eye lashes to be more seductive. He chuckled and I heard the car door unlock.“Hop in sweetheart.” Oh god was I ever uncomfortable but I had no choice. I put my bags in the back seat and got in the front passenger seat. I did everything I could to hide the fact that I was extremely uncomfortable. He smirked at me and off we went. I felt relieved with every mile. The asylum and my home town were getting further and further from me. With every mile I felt more at ease. Soon we made it to twenty miles. Then thirty. By forty miles we should have been close to the next town but I didn’t see any signs advertising any restaurants or motels. I got a bad feeling. This is what you got for getting in a car with a creepy old dude and offered sex as payment. Little did this bastard know that I was a killer and that I wasn’t afraid to kill him if I had to. He turned off the highway on to some dirt road and we went for maybe another fifty miles before he stopped deep in the woods. “I’ll take you as far as you want but only if you get on top of me right now.” Great. I felt the weight of my knife in my pocket and planned my next move very carefully. We were in a remote location so if I killed him then there would be no witnesses but at the same time if I let him live then I would be able to get quite a distance without raising suspicion. I was eighteen. To tell people I was on a road trip all by myself would raise some eyebrows. What was I going to do? I didn’t want to have sex with this old fuck but I also didn’t want to ride around with a dead body in the trunk. I guess I could dump his body somewhere but that would mean I would have to abandon the car after a day or so because he would be found sooner or later. I weight my options heavily. I made up my mind.I took a deep breath as I unbuckled my seatbelt. “Alright.”“Good.” He smirked. I saw him unbutton and unzip his jeans and he was already erect. I shivered and moved to sit on his lap. Just as he went to pull my pants down we heard a noise from outside the car. We both turned our heads and tried to see what it was but since he turned the lights of the car off we couldn’t see anything. “Hold on. I’m going to check to make sure it ain’t a cop or something.” He pushed me back in the passenger seat and zipped up his pants before exiting the car. I let out a deep sigh a relief. I watched as he got out and went to look around. He left his door open which gave me an idea. I was fairly certain that the sound was caused by a moose walking around. What cop would be out here at this hour? It was still quite dark out.I crawled out his door and took the knife out of my pocket. I carefully switched it open, making sure to keep the noise as quiet as possible. He didn't hear it and I snuck up behind him. He was looking around for the source of the sound and I took the opportunity to strike. I went up behind him, jumped up and brought my knife down in his neck. I hit him right in the jugular. I felt the blood soak my knife and hand and heard him gurgle as the blood filled up his throat. I pulled away and watched as he reached a hand up to his neck in an effort to stop the bleeding but that didn't do much good. He had already lost so much blood. He fell to his knees then fell face first in the dirt. He shook slightly but soon he went still and quiet. He was dead.I figured with this area being as remote as it was I could just leave him here. I was sure there were predators in the area that would make quick work on his body. I looted him and grabbed his wallet, watch and jewelry that he had on. At some point I would stop off at a pawn shop and sell them to make some money. He also had quite a bit of cash on him which I of course took. I got back into the car and got some alcohol wipes from my bag which I used to clean the blood off my hands. When I was done with them I discarded them on the floor of the car along with his wallet and hopped in the driver's seat. I started up the car and made my way out of the woods.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I drove for the rest of the night. I was running on pure adrenaline for the majority of the ride. Adrenaline from killing that creep and from running away. I didn't stop. I was going to empty out this gas tank and when I glanced at the gas meter I saw I would be able to go for maybe another hour or so. I should probably start looking for a remote location to dump this car. I must have gone three towns over at this point. I was far enough away to take a break. I pulled off the highway on to a back road and drove until I made it to a lake. From where I was, all I had to do was push this heap of metal off a cliff and it would be submerged under water. I parked it just at the edge and unloaded my bags. I then took out another alcohol wipe and wiped down the whole interior of the car. I couldn't risk the police lifting my prints if the water didn't wash them away. When I was positive that every inch of the car had been cleaned I put the car in drive, walked to the back and began pushing with all my strength. It was just enough to tip the car off the edge and I watched as it tumbled down the steep cliff and into the water below. It sank to the bottom and when it reached the bottom it was impossible to see even after the dirt settled. Perfect.I picked up my bags and went down the long road which led back to the highway. Back to hitchhiking for me. And that was my life for the next six days. It took a bit longer than I expected but I did have to walk for a while before coming across some people who were willing to help me. Most drove right by me which was understandable. There aren’t that many who would want to pick up a total stranger walking along the road. I did encounter two genuine people who wanted to help me and they were older woman who had a strong maternal instinct. Those two I let live and we actually had nice conversations. Of course they wanted to know why I was hitchhiking and I said I was on the run from an abusive ex which wasn’t that far from the truth. After hearing that they both surprisingly offered to buy me a meal which I kept as cheap as possible. I felt bad for them paying for me but they gave me no chance to deny them. At least I was able to save some money but what they didn’t know what that I had made quite a bit already.I had to unfortunately get into three different cars with guys who were just like the first man who had picked me up. It turns out they were all rich men who carried lots of cash on them. I of course offered sex for a ride which they accepted but before anything could happen I killed them and robbed their bodies. I then drove the cars as far as I could before dumping them somewhere deep in the woods. I knew they would be discovered in a matter of time but it would be long enough for me to get far enough away that it was no longer my problem. Including the items I took from the bodies I made a grand total of 12,768 dollars. I sold most of the items along the way and when I arrived at my destination of Denver, Colorado I sold the last of them and counted up how much I had. When I combined that amount with the money I already had I got 13, 368 dollars in total. I was super rich and this would be enough to sustain me for quite a while. Now I just needed to find a place to call home that was off the grid but where to go? I was halfway across the country and far enough away from the asylum that I could settle here but I wasn’t sure if that’s what I wanted to do.I decided to stay in town for the next little while to think over my next step. I avoided going to any public tourist attractions because I wanted to keep as much attention away from myself as possible but it was hard in such a big city. I had never left my small town in my life so this was quite the shock. The population here was around three-hundred and fifty times bigger than my town and I felt like I got lost after two steps. The woman who had dropped me off was kind enough to leave me at a nice café with Wi-Fi so I pulled out my tablet and did some research on the area. I took some screenshots from Google Maps to keep in case I got lost then went on my way. I needed a place to stay which was out of sight of the police should they somehow track me down. I didn’t think my disappearance would get media attention outside of my town as the people probably suspected I was a victim of The Skeleton but you never know...I walked around the town and enjoying the sights but I couldn’t carry these two bags much longer or else someone might become suspicious. I had to find a place to rest for the night and unfortunately staying in the woods was not an option. By early evening I made my way to a quiet residential area and found a motel that charged a hundred per night. It was even right next to a TGI Friday’s. I loved their food. I went in and checked in for one night. The clerk was a bit suspicious that an eighteen year old was checking in and carrying two large bags but I told them I was a traveler and that my parents had money which they sent to me. I don’t think they were entirely convinced but I had the money to pay for a room so they didn’t question me. They gave me a key and I went up to my room. I dropped my bags on the ground and sighed in relief. It had been so long since I slept in an actual bed. Tonight was going to be great! But first I needed to get some food so I decided to spoil myself and go to TGI.I made sure my knife, mask and gloves were in my pocket as I thought that maybe I’d break into a house when it got darker. I didn’t really need cash but I did need a car. If I left sometime early in the morning I might be able to make it out of town before the cops found out. I couldn’t afford to stay here longer than I had to. I left the motel and headed on over to TGI’s and had a nice meal. I took my time and when I was done it was fairly late in the evening. Not many people were here at this hour. I paid then left for a walk around the neighbourhood. It was about the same size of my whole town, if not a bit bigger. I felt a little more at home here but not much. It was still very different than home… Former home… I would never be going back and my parents would go to their graves without knowing what happened to me… They were still young enough... Would they try for another kid? Or would the heartbreak of losing me be too much for them? It hurt to think about and I did regret causing them that pain but it was better than them finding out that their child was a cold blooded killer… I didn’t want them to live with that fact hanging over their heads for the rest of their lives… It was better this way...The neighbourhood was quite nice. If I had a normal life, finished school and got a job I would want to live here. It was peaceful. Quiet. Child friendly. I paused. Children. Did I really want one? Did I want any at all? I placed a hand on my stomach and thought about the dream I had. Surely I couldn’t be pregnant. There was no way. Still… I wasn’t too sure… I shook my head to get rid of the thoughts and resumed walking. I needed to get my mind off things. I hid behind a car and slipped on my gloves and mask. Time for The Skeleton to do some damage in Denver. I looked around from my spot behind the car and looked for any potential targets. It didn’t take long for me to narrow it to just one house. This house had something on their driveway that I wanted. It was a nice pickup truck that had an RV attached to the back. This RV was nice and just the thing I was looking for. I even noticed that it was solar panels so I wouldn’t have to worry about finding a power source. I just had to get it.I made my way over to the house and made sure to hide from the view of anyone who could be looking out their window. It was hard but I made it to the house without incident. Now I just had to get in. I looked in the window closest to me and all of the lights on the main floor were off. The family must all be upstairs. I went in to the backyard and didn’t see anything to indicate that they had any children which was a sigh of relief for me. I really didn’t want to kill a child and wasn’t even sure if I was able to. As I entered the backyard I noticed they had a window open on the main floor so as quietly as I could I let myself in. I was stupid and didn’t bring my chloroform so I would have to kill on sight to keep anyone from making a noise. That made things more challenging but I should be able to manage. I liked a challenge every now and then.I crept up to the second level and looked in all of the rooms. No one was in any except for the master. There I found a couple who looked to be maybe in their 30s and both were sound asleep. I grinned as I slowly went up to the bed and quickly stabbed the man in the throat. I slashed his whole neck destroying his vocal cords and cut his jugular. He wasn’t able to call out for help and in minutes he would be dead. This of course woke up the woman but before she could even sit up I lunged at her and did the same thing to her. I slit her throat before she knew what was going on and she fell to the ground. I stabbed each a few more times and waited until they no longer moved. I had to be absolutely sure they were dead. When they were, I grabbed as much jewelry and cash as I could before finding the car keys. I found them on the kitchen counter. Bingo. That truck and RV were mine! With a wide grin I turned to make my way out of the backdoor but a figure stopped me. This person looked to be a bit lean and barely any taller than me. They had rather large glasses and a mask covering the lower half of their face that looked like they had a large, toothy smile. It almost resembled the smile on my mask but on a larger scale. I also noticed that this person was holding a hatchet in each hand.“What are you doing here?” He snarled.“Why is that any of your business?” I snapped. If he decided to charge me then I would have a good chance at fighting him off.“This is my land!” He raised a hand and I saw the moonlight reflect off the blade of one of the hatchets he held. He must be the local murder or something. Killers never liked it when someone invaded on their territory. I had to be careful with this one.“That’s fine, you can have it.” I shrugged. I put my knife in my pocket and showed my hands to let him know that I wasn’t a threat. “I’m just here to grab a car then I’ll be out of your way for good.”“Why do you need a car?” His hostility towards me went down a bit now that I put away my weapon. He lowered his arm and looked at me with curiosity. I couldn’t tell this from the look on his face due to the glasses and mask but I could tell from his voice and the fact that he tilted his head to one side ever so slightly.“Well I am on a road trip of sorts and since I don’t have my own I wanted to take one. I saw one out front and just had to have it.”“Where are you going?”“I’m not sure…” I admitted. I heard him grunt and he tucked his weapons behind his belt. As he did he twitched and cracked his neck. I was slightly startled by that sound and looked at him with my head titled to the side in confusion.“Don’t worry about it.” He said flatly. “It’s just a tic. No big deal. I’ll tell you what. I will let you go on the condition that I come with you.” Well I certainly wasn’t expecting that.“Why?”“I need to get out of here. I’m trying to escape from someone…” I noticed that he hesitated when he said that. For some reason I got the impression that he was another proxy. His aura was very similar to ours and ours were very different from regular humans.“Are you running from Slenderman?” That got his attention. His head shot up in my direction and I was sure his eyes went wide. Not many people knew about the boss so it would be very unlikely to come across someone who did. And most who did know about him didn’t even think he was real.“You know of him?” He asked in surprise.“I know him. He’s my boss. Well… former boss I guess you could say. I used to be a proxy but I had to run…” I admitted.“Why?”“Can we discuss this in the car? I don’t want to stay here much longer.”“Oh. Yeah sure. After you.” I started walking and behind me I could hear him make another sound. A tic. We left the house and I got in the driver’s seat of the truck.“I need to pick up my things at a nearby motel so you can wait for me in the parking lot.” I explained as I pulled out of the driveway. “I didn’t unpack my bags so I should be quick.”“Okay.” I didn’t trust him. When we parked I took the keys to keep him from driving off, went up, grabbed my bags and got back in the truck. This guy looked like he didn’t move the entire time I was gone. I threw my bags in the back, started up the car and off we went. “I say we go to Oregon.”“Why there?”“I always wanted to go there.”“Fine by me.” I had nowhere else to go and maybe that was far enough away that the boss couldn’t find us. We traveled for almost a day straight and managed to get to our destination without being stopped by the police. By the time we arrived the bodies were probably found and the neighbours would surely point out the missing truck and RV. That wouldn’t go unnoticed in a neighbourhood like that. We were able to get there in such good time because we took turns driving. When I got tired we pulled over and the guy who I learned was named Toby took over. We actually got quite close during that time. At first neither of us trusted each other and he was quite hostile with me but we talked about our experiences as proxies and what we thought about the boss. I told him of the other proxies who he never really had any contact with and why I was on the run. He actually felt bad for me when he heard my story. I even showed him my bruises and he said that Jeff deserved to die for what he did. I didn’t think that was necessary and yeah he should pay but I was far away from him. Nothing matter anymore. The only thing that I wanted to do was build a new life for myself and that was the same thing Toby wanted to do too. We decided to build our new lives together.We arrived in Oregon and from there Toby took over the wheel as I was quite tired. We pulled up in a small town where I asked him to stop so I could go to the drug store. I didn’t tell him what for. He didn’t need to know something that personal about me yet. We had only just met 24 hours ago after all. I picked up a pregnancy test along with some snacks and off we went. He drove us into the nearby forest, far away from the prying eyes of the town. We followed a small river that we stumbled across and made it to a cave after a few miles. This spot was very pleasing to look at and it was perfect for us. The cave was big enough for us to park the truck and RV inside. It wasn’t that deep so I wasn’t sure if we could even call it a cave but we did anyway. The river ran past it and up the small mountain we were on. We had gone of the main trail some time ago so there was next to no chance a person would stumble across us. It would take about an hour long hike from the main trail to where we were. What helped hide us was the denseness of the woods and the fact that there were vines hanging from the top and once we parked inside, someone a few yards away would barely be able to tell we were here. Just by luck we happened to stumble upon this area and this is where we would call home for the foreseeable future. I was excited to see what the future held for us.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Over the months Toby and I got used to each other. We got to know each other bit by bit and since we had all the time in the world to do whatever we wanted we bonded pretty quickly. I told him about the journey I made and what my life was like back in my small town. He then told me about his past before meeting me. He said that the life he had before Slenderman he couldn’t remember. The boss erased all of his memories which he probably did to keep Toby in line and to keep him dependant on him. That sounded like the boss to me. After that was out of the way we talked about various things like how we kill and our hobbies. With all of the time on our hands we ended up telling each other every little thing about ourselves.About a week after we I arrived I finally took the pregnancy test. I was too scared to do it sooner. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer but I soon found out. It was positive. I couldn’t believe it. I was too embarrassed to tell Toby so I kept it to myself but I couldn’t do that for long. Eventually my stomach began to grow and Toby grew suspicious of my mood swings. He brought this up to me and I confessed that I was in pregnant and told him why I didn’t say anything sooner. Of course he was mad that I had lied and at first I thought he might hit me but he proved to be different than Jeff. When he saw me flinch he hugged me and reassured me that he wouldn’t hurt me. Jeff said the same thing… I was wary but overtime he proved to be telling the truth. He did everything in his power to make me comfortable throughout the pregnancy.While I was in our RV home he went out killing and robbing. He gathered quite a bit of money which he used to buy everything we would need for a baby. Maybe it was just my emotions but I started crying when he brought home the first batch of items. They were clothes ranging from the sizes of newborn all the way until four years old along with some blankets and stuffed animals. When he brought home a stroller which we would also use as a crib I lost control, pulled him in and kissed him. He tensed up at the beginning and I thought he might pull away but to my surprise he relaxed and returned the kiss. That was the moment we went from being just friends to being lovers. I had time to move on from Jeff so at that point I was mentally prepared to enter into a new relationship and I had a good feeling about Toby. He did have some mood shifts from time to time but when he was angry it was never directed to me. I was amazed that even in his little episodes he always made sure to steer clear of me. He would leave the RV and go off somewhere until he cooled down. It was one of the many things I loved about him.With us being so deep in the woods and partly up a mountain we had no medical care except for the few skills we knew. This concerned us when we thought about what we were going to do for when I went into labour. In order to prepare for the birth Toby took my tablet into town and watched videos and read articles on natural childbirth. He did this for days to make sure he was ready as the birth. The good thing with being pregnant and starting a relationship with someone like Toby, I was very spoiled. He went into town pretty much every day and got anything I asked of him. Normally I wasn’t demanding but I was pregnant so I didn’t care. I was a human incubator and when I wanted a certain food I was gonna get it. Bless Toby because he didn’t seem to mind.We had a great life and it only got better when the baby arrived. When I went into labour we both panicked. Even though we had prepared ourselves we still weren’t sure if we were really ready for it. Ready or not, this baby was coming. I didn’t want to give birth on the bed as I didn’t want to soil the sheets so Toby helped me off and into the kitchen area where we had more space. It wasn’t a lot but it was better than the cramped bedroom that had just enough room to walk around the bed. I leaned against the counters and tried to breathe as the contractions came and went but found it very difficult. As I suffered through that, Toby gathered a bunch of blankets and the tools he would need to cut the cord. When the blankets were settled on the ground I sat on them. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing but it would have to do. I sat there and let my body take control. It knew what to do so I listened to my instincts. Toby set the supplies on the counter then sat next to me. He whispered comforting things to me as the contractions continued. It didn’t help with the pain but it helped ease my spirits a bit. It was all he could do. This was a complete and natural childbirth. No pain medications or doctors. It was scary to the both of us but we didn’t have any choice. We couldn’t go to the hospital. Even if something went wrong, we couldn’t get any help. It would be too late by the time Toby reached the town. All we could do was pray nothing went wrong.Labour went on for over a day. Hours and hours of pushing went by when finally I could feel the head. “Toby! It’s time!” I called out. He was right by my side and got ready to catch the baby. He felt around and I noticed the biggest smile on his face when he felt the head.“I feel it! You’re so close. I think two big pushes should do it!” I nodded and gave one push. I screamed as I felt myself being stretched out. He did his best to reassure me with words but it didn’t help all that much. I took another deep breath, gave another big push and that was all it took. I felt a rush of relief as the baby came out. Toby caught the little one and wrapped it up in a blanket. He made sure he had a secure hold of her then took out the tools he would need to cut the cord. First he tied it off on both ends then got out the scissors he had sterilized earlier. Snip. And that was that. The baby was no longer dependant on me and now was ready to use their lungs for the first time. I barely heard any sounds from them at first which concerned me but Toby was on it. He took out a little suction tool he had picked up at the store and began clearing out the nose and mouth. It was full of fluids which were keeping the baby from taking in a full breath of oxygen but when the airways were cleared up they let out the loudest screams. Those screams brought tears to my eyes. I was so full of emotion. Their first breath. Their first cries. “We have a girl!”“A girl.” I repeated. The tears flowed down my face and mixed with the sweat. “We have a baby girl.” He looked up at me and had the biggest smile on his face. I was so tired I could only manage half a smile. He kissed my cheek and helped me sit so I could hold our daughter. When I was as comfortable as I could get he passed me the small screaming bundle and I felt a rush of emotion. This was my baby. I carried her for nine months and just gave birth to her. She was mine. She was ours. “Look at you. You are so beautiful.”“She looks like me.” Toby joked. I let out a small laugh and agreed. He was right in that she had the same hair colour as him but I knew that it wasn’t from him… This was Jeff’s baby… I made her with Jeff… She even had his bright blue eyes... My goal was to keep her hidden. I didn’t care if the boss found me and brought me back. So long as none of them knew about her… There was no telling what Jeff would do if he found out I kept this from him… I feared that he would actually kill me…I kissed my baby on her forehead and held her close to me. I would never let any of the proxies near her. I would protect her with my life.“What are we going to name her?” Toby asked after some moments of silence. I thought for a moment before speaking.“I want to name her Feronia. I remember reading that it is a Gothic name meaning forest goddess. I think it’s the most appropriate.” I looked up at Toby to see his reaction. When he nodded I smiled.“Yeah. It’s perfect.” He kissed my cheek then kissed her forehead. “Just like the both of you.” I let out a small laugh then felt another contraction. I struggled to keep my composure and handed her off to Toby.“The placenta is on its way.” I said. “Take her and clean her up. I think I can handle this.”“I’ll get her settled but then I’m coming right back to help you.”“Don’t be silly. I got this.”“Oh don’t argue. I’ll only take a few seconds.” He flashed me a smile then took Feronia into the small bedroom. There we had squeezed the stroller in between the wall and bed and it would act as a crib. When she got to big then she would move in the bed with us. I chuckled to myself as he walked out of sight and got to work on delivering the placenta. When I felt it coming I got on my knees and placed the bin Toby had brought under me. I gave a big push and out it came. It landed in the bin with a disgusting plop and some blood splattered on my thighs. Gross. I pushed the bin away from me and stretched out my legs. I would tell Toby later to take the bin far into the woods and dump it. Some animal could make use of it as I was sure it had many nutrients in it.I struggled to get to my feet with my wobbly legs. I had to lean against the counter but I managed. I was incredibly sore and had some sharp pains here and there but it was nothing I couldn’t handle. Slowly but surely I made my way to the small bathroom where we had some towels ready for cleanup. Toby returned just as I finished cleaning myself. “Why didn’t you wait for me?” He asked as he rushed to my side. I didn’t need help standing but I gladly accepted nonetheless.“I didn’t know how much longer you’d be and I wanted to clean up. You try sitting in your own blood and god knows what other bodily fluids. I’m sure you wouldn’t like it either.”“Yeah that’s fair… Come. Let’s get you settled in bed and you can cuddle with Feronia.”“That sounds wonderful.” I held on to his arm as I was still very tired and weak and he helped me on the bed. When I was comfortable he picked up Feronia and placed her in my arms.“Our little forest goddess is all cleaned up and I think ready for some milk.”“Is she now? Well I think my body has some already prepared.” We laughed and I got ready to feed her. I wasn’t sure how to do it as I didn’t have anyone guide me but surely it couldn’t be that hard. Even if it was a challenge I would get the hang of it eventually and oh boy… was it ever. She had some trouble latching and it took both Toby and I a few minutes to guide her but when she did latch I felt something. It was like a rush. It must have been the bonding hormone as it was often called. I admired the sight of her as she suckled. She made the most adorable little sounds. This day was certainly going to be written in my diary. I started on the day I confirmed the pregnancy as I knew we would want to look back on these moments. On the days I didn’t feel up to writing, Toby took charge and wrote the important events of the day from his point of view. I was glad he did. Those were precious moments we will look back at fondly in our old age.When she was done eating I gave her back to Toby who held her close and looked down at her lovingly. Now that she was cleaned up and ate she was quiet and looked around at her surroundings. There wasn’t much she could see just yet but in time she would get used to her home. I smiled as I watched Toby. He never took his eyes off her. Not even for a moment. He talked to her and told her just how beautiful she was and how happy he was to meet her. I felt so blessed. I couldn’t imagine Jeff helping me to raise a daughter in the state he was in before I left. Maybe before the strange behaviour he would have been able to but now… It would be way too dangerous to let him near her. Thankfully, I wouldn’t have to worry about it. He was on the other side of the country and the chances of him finding us were next to zero. I had Toby and I knew he was going to make an amazing father. 
And he was.
 Together we raised little Feronia out in the woods. We were able to provide for her by each taking turns and venturing off into neighbouring towns to kill and rob people. We took every valuable we could then brought them to a shady looking pawn shop. We formed an alliance of sorts with the owner who turned a blind eye to how we obtained these possessions. So long as it brought it money, he didn’t care where they came from. Since many of the items we took went for a lot we made a deal. We would split the profits 50/50. We made a decent amount with every single thing we brought so we didn’t feel the need to keep all of the money and this way he made money too which kept his mouth shut. This ensured that he wouldn’t go to the cops or give any answers if somehow our killings were traced back to him. We kept up this system for years.As Feronia grew she joined us on our little killing sprees and we taught her everything we knew. This was the only life we had and if she was going to survive she had to learn these skills too. We told her as she grew that we were no ordinary family and what we did went against the laws of the land. She understood that it was wrong but it was the only way for us to survive. By doing so we made sure she knew that she could never live with regular people and would have to live this way for the rest of her life. She didn’t seem too bothered by this but there were days I caught her looking out the window of the RV with a look of longing on her face. She wanted a real life and to fit in with regular people and I felt absolutely horrible that I couldn’t provide that. It wasn’t fair to her but there wasn’t much we could do about it. This is the life she was born into. I never regretted bringing her into this world or keeping her here. If I wanted her to have a normal life I would have left her in town but I couldn’t stand the thought of living without her. Even if she wanted another life she never complained about the one she had with us. What a little trooper.She had made Toby and I so proud. She was a perfect little girl who was strong, intelligent, curious, and so much more. She was everything we could ever ask for in a daughter but as she grew up she of course started developing some rebellious habits. It was nothing we couldn’t handle but they did cause some issues for us. She was a teenager who wanted her own room but all we had was the RV which was all open and had one bed. So far it was able to fit the three of us but of course, what teenager wanted to sleep in between their parents? The only solution was for Toby and I to give up the RV to her and set up a tent outside. There was no way we could ask our little girl to sleep outside while we got the bed. We thought it was too dangerous. What if someone like a cop or forest ranger stumbled across us? They would surely go for the tent first and god knows if they would shoot or not. Or what if a bear approached our home? We had the means to defend ourselves as we had bought some guns from our friend at the pawn shop and he also supplied us with ammunition. We needed it living in the woods but didn’t dare teach Feronia. I didn’t want her holding such a powerful weapon which was fine by her. She seemed quite happy with her two push daggers. I had no clue where Toby had picked them up from but one day he brought them home and gave them to her on her fifteenth birthday. Judging from her reaction it was the best birthday gifts she had ever received.Another gift for her fifteenth birthday was the news that it was her first solo mission. We were letting her go into town and making her first kill on her own. It was a big moment for all of us. She had been training for this day ever since she could walk. When she turned five we began to bring her with us so she could see how it was done. She of course was nervous at first but quickly became desensitized to the whole process. We taught her every single trick to make killing more efficient and how to cover her tracks. That was an important thing to know early on. By the time she turned ten we let her make her first kill. To make it easier on her we drugged the target as they lay in their bed and all she had to do was go up to them and slit their throat. Simple. She barely had a reaction to it at first but when we got home she had a nightmare and vowed never to do it again. We calmed her down and Toby made her favourite oatmeal and chocolate cookies. About a week later she came to us and told us she wanted to try again and from then on she grew accustom to it. Growing up with Tobias and I as parents really desensitized her to pretty much everything really quickly.Now she was ready to go on her own. She was ready. She had prepared for years now but were Toby and I ready? A lot could go wrong and if something did then we wouldn’t be there to protect her. I guess we just had to trust that she could handle it… She’s been with us on more than enough missions. She knew what to do. We just had to let her go.
It was time she left the nest.