Morning comes too soon. I get out of bed feeling like solidified gum that just got peeled from the bottom of a boot. Kate and Toby seem fine though, as they wake up bright and cheerful as ever.

We make a quick breakfast of eggs and bacon, then brush our teeth, grab our weapons, and go straight to the woods. Toby works with me on muscle building and swinging my bat, since it's similar to swinging a hatchet, and Kate works with me on agility and knife throwing.

I throw the knives to the tree, but none of them stick because I'm too distracted by my own thoughts of last night. I can't believe Ben and Serena went on a date. They just met! He hasn't done anything like that with me, so it's obviously not something he does platonically. That jerk doesn't deserve romance after what he said to me.

Last night, imagining Ben's face over the tree only seemed to mess me up, but today it makes me throw harder. I've hit the tree more than I've missed and, although none have stuck, I've been leaving dents in the wood.

I keep throwing, glaring at Ben's imaginary face and trying to hit the knife right between his eyes. Every miss just fuels my rage, and my rage just fuels my strength and speed. It doesn't help my aim, though. My throw is getting so strong tho that I find myself grunting occasionally from the force of my own arms. It helps that I tune everything else out. The only thing on my mind is Ben, Serena, and that tree.

I hit the knife onto imaginary Ben's forehead, then onto his chin, then his cheek, then his hair, but none of the knives stick. This isn't working. Aiming for Ben's face isn't enough fuel. What else could I imagine that could make me somehow angrier?

Serena.

That bitch.

I imagine her face instead, and suddenly everything else around me blurs out and fades to red. All I see is her face floating in front of the tree trunk, and when I throw the dagger, it lands right between her eyes...

...and it sticks.

"Woah, (y/n), you-you did it!" Toby cheers, running up to me and nudging my arm. Kate follows suite, giving me a friendly punch to the shoulder. They cause me to snap out of my tunnel vision and look at them, and I remind myself to smile at their cheering.

"I say it's time for lunch! Maybe we can go for a swim to cool down too!" Kate offers. I accept, grateful because I feel like I'm boiling. The hot sun, constant exercise, and my own anger have made my body temperature rise way too high for comfort.

We all strip to our underclothes and hop into the river, too tired to do much other than float.

"(Y/n), are you okay? You seem a bit off today," Kate asks.

"Yeah, I-I noticed too," Toby adds. Dangit, I didn't want them noticing.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just, uh, didn't sleep well last night, that's all," I lie. They both seem suspicious, but we drop the subject then and there.

Or so I thought.

When we get out of the water, set up a fire and eat some fish, Kate confronts me again.

"I know something's up. You seemed awfully angry when throwing your knives. What's wrong?" She asks. Toby stops too and looks at me expectantly. I sigh. I can't hide it from them.

"I got in a fight with Ben yesterday, and now he's running around with the new girl. I don't know why him being with the new girl bothers me so much, but I'm just really angry at him," I answer, almost feeling a little relieved to finally talk it out.

"W-why did you two fight yesterday? What happened?" Toby asks.

I replay the story for them, trying to recall word for word what both he and I said so I can tell the story as honestly as possible. After hearing everything, they both sit in silence for a while, thinking it over.

"That's... rough," Kate says. Toby nods his head in agreement. "May I be totally honest?" She asks.

"Sure," I say.

"I think... I think you were actually the one being a dick," she says. Wait, what? Isn't she supposed to side with me? "Of course he messed up in Slenderman's office, but I don't think he meant it like how you took it. I saw how he looked at you and how he talked to you yesterday before Slenderman, so I know for a fact that he does care about you."

It hurts to not have my own friend back me up, but I know she only has our best interests in mind. I just have to remind myself that she's right.

"I think he-he's scared of you not being his proxy because then he can't look out fo-for you and spend as much time with you," Toby says. I don't want to believe that he'd care about me like that, but at the same time it would make me feel a lot better about, well, everything. That makes more sense too. "But he should have considered how seeing your family would make you happy..."

Yes. He should have...

...but maybe I was a little mean too.

"Also, I know you said he gets everything he wants, but he really doesn't," Kate adds. I look to her in confusion. He's gotten everything he wants since I've been here so what makes me think he wouldn't all the time? "You should ask him about his past if you two ever become close enough to talk about it. Then you'll see that he has hardly gotten anything he's wanted."

His past... it sounds like it's a dark one. Maybe that's why he got so sensitive that first night when I asked about the lives he'd taken.

Wow, I have been a jerk. I even called him names yesterday too... sure he hasn't been super nice but I've been way too cruel. At least yesterday I was. I can't control his behavior, but I can control my own. I should apologize.

"Welp," Kate starts, "we'll give you time to think on that. In the meantime, let's get back to training!"

.:*'*:._.:*'*:._.:*'*:.

It's late and I'm back in Ben's room, stretching on my bed to relieve some of the pain in my muscles.

After my anger had cleared, I was able to focus more on my form and other basics of knife throwing. I even landed a few more without having to imagine Ben or Serena's face over the trunk. I'm quickly making progress, which is a good sign. Hopefully I'll master it within the week.

However, my arms and hands hurt from all the throwing, not to mention my whole body being sore from all the other intense training. That's why I'm trying to stretch all of the pain out now, and luckily it does seem to be helping.

It's late though, already 12:15 am, and if I plan on waking up early in the morning then I need to get to sleep—

The door opens and Ben walks in. I'm instantly hit with a nervousness that I was not expecting, but I continue to stretch to try to distract myself from it. When he sees me, he freezes. Maybe he's nervous to see me too. No, not maybe. It's obvious that that's the case.

"Oh... are you not staying the night with Kate again?" he asks awkwardly.

"Uh... no..." I reply just as awkwardly. The conversation dies there, but we continue to awkwardly look at each other, waiting for the other person to continue talking. Finally, I look away and just stare at the bed, so he walks over to his dresser and pulls out a t shirt and shorts and begins to change clothes, so I turn the other way. I feel awkward just stretching, so I hop off the bed and crawl under the covers instead, and when he's done changing he turns off the light and crawls into bed too.

We sit there in a heavy silence. Everything seems to stand still, even the air. It's so... awkward. I guess that means now is the perfect time to do it. My heart begins to race with nervousness.

"Hey, um... I'm-I'm really sorry... about yesterday," I mutter. "I said some pretty mean things that I really shouldn't have..." my face heats up from embarrassment. Apologizing is hard, especially when you don't know how the other person will react.

He takes a deep breath before answering, which just makes me feel even more anxious.

"It's okay. I'm sorry too for not being happy for you and saying you wouldn't be able to do it. You're strong, so you'll definitely be able to become a great proxy for Slenderman."

I let go of a breath I didn't know I was holding. I'm relieved that he accepted my apology, and for him to apologize back to me too is even better than I expected.

"Thanks," I reply. He turns his back to me without another word, which makes my newfound hope sink a little. If I want things to go back to normal... if I want to talk, I'll have to start the conversation.

"So, um... I've started training," I start, "Toby and Kate helped me pick out my weapons. I decided on a bat and throwing knives."

"A bat? That's an odd weapon."

"Yeah, but I'm an odd person."

"Touché." He rolls back over to face me, so I turn on my side and face him too. "Why a bat?"

"Dunno. I thought it would be less bloody than a knife but Kate and Toby said a bat was brutal," I say with a humored grin.

He smiles. "Yeah, it definitely can be. Doesn't have to be, though, so it's perfect for you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I say, jokingly offended.

"Read between the lines, shawty," he says with a wink, which makes me laugh. Another silence hangs in the air now, so I decide to fill it again.

"So... was that actually a date that you and Serena went on last night?" I ask quietly. I'm afraid of the answer.

"Nah, she asked me to go stargazing with her since no one else wanted to," he answers dryly. I feel a little relieved.

"Oh, that's fun," I say. I'm not sure how else to respond or what else to say, but I know I do have one more thing I want to talk about. Would it be okay to switch topics so soon?

"You and Toby have spent a lot of time together lately," he comments.

"Uh," I start, not knowing where he's going with this. "Yeah, I've been spending the last two days training with him and Kate."

"Yeah I figured, 'cause I've seen you guys run into the woods in the morning and not come back 'til night." He shifts to prop up his head on his arm. "I also saw Toby hold your face yesterday. You two seem awfully close~" he says, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

What?! Me and Toby? Definitely not.

"He was checking the cut on my face to make sure it wasn't infected," I respond, narrowing my eyes at him playfully.

"Uh-huh, totally," he dismisses, waving his hand down at me. "Give me the tea, bestie," he says in a valley girl voice. I burst out laughing, as that was not what I was expecting from him at all.

"Okay bestie, listen up," I say, mocking his valley girl voice and shifting onto my elbow to look at him better. "Kate definitely has a crush on Toby, so I'm tryna get them together."

"I asked about your drama, not Kate's," he says with a fake and definitely exaggerated eye roll.

I giggle. "Well then you're out of luck. No love life here, no sir." I wave my hand for dramatic effect.

"None? Not even with me? Your hot and sexy roommate?" He asks with wide eyes.

My mouth falls open with surprise and amusement at his comment as I can't help but let myself laugh again.

"Shut up!" I say, throwing my pillow at his face. He lets the pillow knock him over and lets out an 'oomph' as his head hits the mattress. This just makes us both laugh so hard that our beds shake.

"So does that mean you're madly in love with me?" He asks, pulling the pillow away from his face and craning his neck to look at me. His goofy smile only makes my smile bigger.

"In your dreams, elfie," I reply. He flops back onto his bed, letting out a groan of defeat, making me giggle again. I lay back down and we continue to talk and make jokes, and this becomes goes from a night I was fearing to a night I now treasure. This moment with Ben can surely now be labeled as one of my favorites.

All the laughing and talking makes me tired, not to mention all of the training from the day, so it doesn't take long for me to close my eyes and start to doze off. Ben notices and stops talking about the FNAF lore.

"Good night, (y/n)," he says softly. I can hear the smile in his voice.

"Mm, good night, Ben," I murmur, trailing off into sleep.

"Sweet dreams..." I hear him say before I fall unconscious.

(Word count: 2269)