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"I came to school like every other day. Except more afraid. I saw you kill the Principal. Everyone asked why he wasn't here, so I told them. And we saw that you weren't here either. Or you."

Reese looked at me and then closed her eyes.

"Everyone knows what you two are up to. Everyone knows that you killed him, they know that you're insane too."

I gritted my teeth in frustration. He must've heard. He gripped the ruler tighter and tapped it on his leg as a warning.

"Classes were cut short. We all just sat in the cafeteria the whole day basically. Then we went home. But we stayed afterwards to find out more. We didn't see anything, but we stayed hoping you two would come. And you did."

She worriedly looked at both of us. "That's it. I swear."

I shifted my weight to one leg and shrugged. "Good enough of an answer for me."

"I thought we were friends, (Y/N). I thought we-"

I cleared my throat as a warning. "Did I ask you to speak?"

The power I had over her felt twistingly amazing. I could make her do whatever I wanted and she'd have to listen to me. The thought of that ran through my head on repeat. Why was I enjoying this?...

Reese choked up and shook her head. She told me everything that I wanted to know.

Baldi laughed, a distorted and sinister one. "She isn't lying, so she's off the hook." He looked at me and then back at her. "For now."

"Also, I figured I'd let you know..." I reached down to hold Playtime's tiny hand. "School is back in session tomorrow. And I'll see you there. You better have a good excuse if you aren't."

"How?" She whispered. "The Principal is dead. We can't have school without-"

"We do have a Principal." Baldi said with a smile. "I̸͔͙͕͓̿͐̒́͊͆ͅt̷͚̗̹̟͕̪̣̱̒̌̅̄̊̒͐̽̕̚͜͝'̶̩̺̩̦̈̌͒s̷̨̜̖̥͚͖͇̠͍͋̄̾͜ ̵̢̥̳̦͎͈̥̘͙̀̉̊̍̓̀̒͋̍̇̚m̵̛̲̏ȩ̷̢̜̺͍̱̘̯͚̲̗̍͌̈́́̅̚̕!̸̡̹̹͚͈̘͊̿̃͗̀̕͝"

All of their faces dropped. Collective mumbling erupted from the group of huddled kids. Alice began to cry. Others pushed her and told her to be quiet.

Seeing them in such despair caused my energy to crack. My mouth twisted to the side and I growled. "You can't do anything about it. Just accept it. This is better for you."

"It isn't!" Reese shouted. "He has complete control now! He can kill us if he wanted to! He could kill you!" Her voice shook as she spoke. "Look, (Y/N)! Just take a second to think about this!"

My nails dug into my palms. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

Silence filled the room for a painfully long minute.

Playtime took a step into the middle of the fight and raised her tiny voice. "Princie will be back. He doesn't die."

Everyone in the room darted their eyes to her.

No way. He's dead for sure. He is coming back. Baldi stabbed him through the heart. You can't come back from that.

"What do you mean?" Alice's voice chimed in from the crowd. "We saw him spear his heart. Then the body disappeared. Along with the blood."

"He can't die," Playtime repeated herself, looking up at me and Baldi. "He almost died before and he came back." She talked like she knew everything. And she did.

Baldi looked to the side and seemed to get lost in his own thoughts. Then he flinched as the realisation hit him.

"You're right." He said lowly, his normal voice returning.

"What do you mean? What the hell is happening?!" I screamed, grabbing my hair. "Sure, he has voids for eyes and can teleport for fuck's sake, but he is not immortal."

I didn't want to believe it. He was the bad guy. The one that brainwashed Baldi into doing all of the cruel deeds he's been doing ever since he was hired. Baldi finished him off, for the better. He can't come back. He just... can't.

Playtime turned to me and shook her head sadly. "Believe me. Please."

Baldi growled and plunged the ruler into the side of the wall with a loud crack and snap. How he even did it was beyond me.

"Well, then I can deal with him again tomorrow." Baldi sneered and wriggled his fingers. "And I'll do it again. And again. And again." He laughed and held his hand out to me with a dastardly smile. "Come on, (Y/N), we've seen everything we had to see and heard everything we needed to hear."

I looked at him and felt Playtime tug on my leg.

"Let's go home for the night."

A glimmer of light bounced off the ring sitting on my finger. I reached up and took his hand. I looked down at Playtime, who seemed distraught and terrified. The most I could do was ruffle her crazy hair and smile at her.

"We'll be back," Baldi scoffed, glaring at my friends. "And you ought to behave better than today, or you know what's coming."

He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me to his side as if he were hiding me from something. He gave a loud sigh as the exit doors reappeared in a flash.

"Don't leave," Playtime said quietly, squeezing the jump rope's handle. "We didn't get to play."

Turning my head to look at her, I gave her a promising expression. "Just wait for me, I'll be here tomorrow. And I'll bring you something."

Playtime sadly smiled at me and nodded, watching Baldi and I exit.

As soon as my foot stepped out of the school, I felt like a weight was lifted off of my chest. Baldi's demeanour changed too. He led me to his car and hummed a small tune while I replayed the last hour in my head.

"Your birthday isn't over yet," he looked at me with a genuine smile. "We still have time to kill if you're looking to do anything special."

His sudden cheery attitude was unsettling, but it made me forget about what just happened. And he was right... it was only the afternoon.

I racked my brain for things that I wanted to do. But nothing really came to mind.

"I don't know, you've already done so much for me," I laughed and looked away. "I'm thinking of just checking out for the night."

"Oh, really?" He tilted his head and shrugged.. "That's fine with me, I just love spoiling you." He grinned and turned the car on, setting a course for home.

Red spotted my cheeks and I leaned against his arm as he drove.

A few moments of silence passed.

"Today has been... a rollercoaster." I giggled and interlocked my arm with his elbow. "A fun rollercoaster though." I held myself from talking about all of the maniacal events that unfolded with Reese.

"And I just wanna say thank you again." My face heated up more. "For everything. Seriously. You make me feel like a princess or something."

Baldi laughed and looked at me for a quick second. "That's how I want you to feel. You're a princess to me, at least."

I just smiled and closed my eyes, embracing the little warmth I could get from his arm.

"Happy Birthday, (Y/N)."

~

Baldi Fanfiction 101: Make every chapter a shitstorm of emotions and publish it.