Chapter Eighteen

||Kit||

"I can't even stand to look at you."

I had my back turned so I couldn't tell what kind of expression he made when I spoke, and truth be told I didn't want to know.

I wanted it to sting.

I wanted him to feel horrible about what he was doing to me, to Amy.

Leaving him in the bathroom, I headed back to the bedroom we had been in earlier, flopping onto the bed with an exhausted huff. The sheets smelled clean and the room was dark enough to make me feel like I was floating in a void.

What to do now?

Chased by a supernatural creature who wants to kill me and the person trying to 'help' is also a killer who has very little self-control and could 'accidentally' kill me himself. My best friend has lost her marbles and literally, everyone I was surrounded by at this point was a hazard to us.

I rested a hand over my face and at the same time the door opened and closed. I peeked an eye open as the person sat on the bed next to me making it dip slightly.

"Hey," Amy spoke in the darkness.

I took a few seconds to respond, "hey."

I imagined we both had no idea what to say at this point but instead she continued on like normal.

"So, you doing alright? Did you and Masky get into a fight again?"

My eyes searched the darkness for a moment as I thought about what to say. After a while I sighed, placing an arm over my face once more.

"I don't think we'll ever have normal lives again."

"Yeah?" Amy asked, I could feel her shifting on the bed to get comfortable.

"Yeah, it's like we just keep going down this rabbit hole by doing more and more horrible things to doom ourselves and we'll never be able to get back out."

"We're not doomed," Amy chuckled a bit, "these guys promised to keep us safe and they're doing fine at that aren't they?"

Easy for you to say, you're not the one getting choked out in a bathroom.

"Listen," she continued, "tonight was a real eye-opener for me. I can really see myself getting used to this."

"Please don't say that," I sat up, grabbing her hand and holding it between mine, "we are not killers, we're high school girls."

"Why not both?" I could see her grinning in the darkness.

"Have you lost your mind?" I squeezed her a bit, trying to get her back to her senses.

I can't believe I've become the only voice of reason. What has the world come to?

She tilted her head to the side and though I could hardly see her face in the minimal lighting I could tell she was upset.

"Why does it sound like you're judging me?"

"I'm just saying that we can't let them influence us and make us crazy."

"I'm not crazy and in case you forgot, you killed someone too, so don't act like you're innocent."

Her harsh words cut deep and I bit my lower lip before answering, "Amy, you know that was an accide-"

"Was it really?" She asked, cutting me off, "because you keep saying that like you're trying to convince yourself and the world that it was. We all know how much you hated her."

"Amy I-"

"You're just as much of a killer as the rest of us."

I let her hand go and stood up, not wanting to hear any more.

Amy was obviously not in her right mind at this point.

"Stop acting like this is only about you!" she called after me as I pulled the door open.

Wordlessly, I closed the door with a sigh before heading towards the bathroom. I needed a hot shower to take my mind off things. Having a fight with two people in one night is so draining.

As I pushed the bathroom door open and stepped in, my eyes landed on none other than Masky.

Standing right in front of me with a satisfied look on his face and absolutely no clothes whatsoever, his hair was disheveled and I could see the series of scars that littered his body, hidden until now by his long-sleeved zipper jacket.

Healed scars and bruises all along his arms and torso contrasted against his pale skin, some so deep they must have been life-threatening and I gulped, unable to stop my eyes from going south.

Immediately there were sirens blaring in my head when too many seconds had gone by.

Abort! Abort!

"Oh my G- I'm so sorry!" I immediately squeezed my eyes shut and backed out of the room, slamming the door behind me, but it was too late.

The image of him, of his-

It had already burned itself into my memory and I was beyond shell-shocked.

I could feel the tips of my ears heating up in my embarrassment and I groaned internally.

Great, now things are bound to be awkward between us, well for me at least. He didn't seem like he cared at all about me seeing him like that. Maybe he was one of those weird exhibitionists.

I shook the thought from my head and walked back to the living room deciding to use one of the bathrooms upstairs instead when I met Toby coming down the stairs.

"Hey, are you f-feeling any b-better?"

I scrunched my face up at him a bit.

Don't even try acting all nice you evil psychopath.

"Er yeah I'm just going to use the shower upstairs," I mumbled out as I passed him, a gasp leaving my lips when suddenly his hand grabbed my wrist, holding me in place. I refused to turn around, holding my breath as his grip tightened marginally.

"Are you sure you feel okay?"

My heart flopped around in my chest and my mouth went dry almost immediately.

He didn't stutter.

I swallowed hard and slowly turned to face him, "y-yeah."

He continued to grip my wrist for a few more seconds as we made prolonged eye contact, his eyes peering deep into mine from behind his goggles and me trying not to look away as I saw a sinister smirk make its way onto his lips.

"Enjoy your shower then."

I felt his grip loosen and as he let my hand go I turned and booked it up the stairs.

What was that?

It's like I was just now realizing how insane Toby really was. How could I be sure he wouldn't try and kill me in my sleep? Or even while I was showering?

No, Masky wouldn't let him. If anything at least he seems to care about what happens to me, even if he did try to kill me before, himself.

I felt like I was just seeing Toby for what he really was, and now- he seemed even more of a stranger to me.

I made sure to lock the bathroom door, securing a chair under the handle just in case, before I showered.

Only when I got out of the shower did I remember I'd left my bag downstairs with my clothes and everything else in it.

I heaved a sigh before wrapping a large towel around myself tightly and removing the chair from under the door handle. I tiptoed down the stairs soundlessly, heading to the room I had left the bag in when I bumped into someone leaving one of the rooms before me.

Just the person I didn't want to see.

My face instantly felt hot and I tried to make my way around him but he had the same idea and so we continued to step from left to right to let the other go by but only successfully blocking each other's paths.

I let out an awkward chuckle and was about to speak when he stopped and grabbed my shoulders, shoving my back against the wall. As if he was just realising what I was wearing, I saw his gaze travel down my towel-clad body and he let out a small "hm," both hands gently reaching up to caress my exposed neck before he brushed his knuckles over collarbone.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, butterflies dancing erratically in my belly.

Wordlessly I watched him drop his hand and walk away, thumping up the stairs.

What was that?

I felt like that one action awakened something in me at that very moment, but I didn't want to think about it. My mind was already frazzled.

After getting dressed I wondered if I should just go to sleep or not when there was a knock on the door.

I wasn't going to answer but the door squeaked open anyway to reveal Amy. She was now wearing a pair of white shorts that accentuated her thick thighs and wide hips, and a purple crop top with polka dots dancing all over it. Her hair was damp and hung loosely around her shoulders.

I rolled my eyes when I saw it was her but was interrupted by her launching herself at me, squishing me roughly into the mattress.

I let out a squeak and she grabbed my hands, pinning them to the bed as she sat on my legs.

"We're not fighting!"

I screwed up my face, looking away from her as I tried to hold back a smile.

"Kit, we're not. It's stupid to fight when we're in this thing together. I'm sorry about what I said earlier, okay?"

'You mean the part where you implied I killed Cassandra on purpose?' I thought.

I'd been trying to not think about it but now it felt like she was right.

I hardly regretted what I did yeah, but that also didn't mean I wanted to run around offing people who didn't deserve it.

I killed a bully, she killed someone's grandad. They're not the same.

Right?

I shifted my gaze to her deciding to drop it and let out a sigh, "apology accepted."

She grinned and rested her entire weight on me, squishing me under her and I groaned wrapping my arms around her body. She smelled so good and as my hands encircled her waist I dug my fingers into her, gripping her tightly.

I really didn't want to be fighting with my best friend right now, her hugs were too good.

"Guess J-Jeff was r-right." I heard someone say from the doorway and I cocked my head in that direction to see Toby silhouetted by the door.

Amy and I shared a laugh as she slid off me, hearing him chuckle as well.

"Y-you girls about to c-call it a night?"

"Yeah, I'll be driving all day tomorrow so I should probably get some rest."

He nodded at Amy's answer and scratched the back of his head for a moment like he had something else to say. Eventually, he gave up and just gave us a small salute, "alrighty s-see you in the m-morning."

After he left Amy turned and gave me a closed-mouthed smile.

"These boys are so weird."

"I think all the murders they've committed already solidified that fact," I said with a laugh.

Amy giggled, pushing my shoulder with hers playfully and biting her lip like a psycho, "They are kinda hot though, right?"

I couldn't deny that, now that I'd seen Masky's face and maybe even more of him than I should have.

"Damn you just bit your lip," Amy commented, flopping onto her back and grabbing a pillow.

She was right, I hadn't even noticed I was biting my lip at the thought of him until she mentioned it.

"Oh god," I groaned in realization, flopping onto the bed as well, staring up at the ceiling.

"And now you've just realized that you like him."

Curse you for knowing me so well.

I covered my eyes with my hands, letting out a groan as I lied through my teeth, "it's not that."

"What is it then?"

"I--I walked in on him in the bathroom earlier and he might have been completely nude."

When 30 seconds ticked off with no response, I turned my head to see Amy staring at me with her eyes bulging out of her head and her mouth in an 'o' shape.

"Say sike right now!"

I couldn't help but laugh, "I'm serious! My poor eyes."

"Blessed eyes," Amy cackled, whacking my face with a pillow, "I bet you're still picturing it right now."

"No, I'm not!"

Lied again. I'm on a roll tonight.

"What did it look like?"

I could feel my cheeks getting hotter by the minute, "I only saw it for like a second-"

"So? That's more than enough time! My brain would have taken a screenshot."

I laughed out loud, "well I mean, it's not like he was you know, or anything either but--it seemed.." I trailed off, feeling too embarrassed to finish the sentence.

"Seemed what?? What did it seem? Tell me!" Amy was shaking my shoulders now making my head bob back and forth as I laughed.

"It's too embarrassing."

She stopped shaking me and arrested me with her gaze, "Okay put it this way then, how likely on a scale of 1-10 are you to suck on it like a popsicle, with one being-"

"10."

"Damn you didn't even let me finish," she cracked up and I used a pillow to cover my face, my cheeks hurting from how much I was smiling.

"Guess we both got lucky tonight."

I blinked, moving the pillow to look at her, "details."

"For someone who is too embarrassed to say the word hard you're surprisingly horny."

I opened my mouth to object but then realized she wasn't wrong there either so I just lifted my shoulders as if to say "it is what it is."

"Well earlier after Hoodie came back from getting rid of the old guy I offered to do his laundry since his clothes were all messy," she waggled her eyebrows suggestively and I immediately knew she just wanted to see him shirtless.

"He's not shy at all," she continued, excitement leaking out through her tone, "he just took his shirt off and it was just--" she lightly smacked herself on the forehead," bam! Abs in my face."

"Oh my god!" I laughed out loud, "just like that huh?"

"Makes no sense for him to be that jacked."

I folded my lips, laying back and hugging the pillow to my chest as I thought about Masky. He was muscular but not ripped like Hoodie, and his hair looked so soft to the touch.

I turned my head in Amy's direction once more, "do you like Hoodie?"

"Hm," she mumbled in thought, "I dunno. I mean as far as sex appeal goes he's pretty hot, but he's so hard to talk to."

I nodded in agreement. I hadn't heard him talk once since we met.

"What about you? Would you date Mr. Overprotective?"

I bit my lip in thought. Would I? He seemed just a little too psycho for me. We hardly knew each other for a week and he already made me run away from home, slapped me when I was having an emotional breakdown, caused an innocent person's death, and almost choked me to within an inch of my life.

If we started dating I could only see him getting worse.

He would definitely be toxic as a partner and that was no bueno, but there was just something about him that made me feel attracted to him in a way I'd never felt before.

With Mason I was clearly crushing on him but when it came to Masky it was a whole different feeling altogether that I couldn't explain which is why my answer would have to be a definite-

"No way," I lied again for the third time tonight.

☆☆☆

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@hoefinity