Chapter Fifty Three

||KIT||

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"Kitani are you listening to me?"

I lifted my head to look at Sara as I pushed the food around on my plate, appetite lost. I was way too excited to eat, knowing that Toby was waiting for me just outside.

"What?" I asked.

Her eyes narrowed marginally before she spoke again, "I was thinking we could all take a trip to Claremont this summer. Go see Great-aunt Josie and our Tia Rosa? You remember cousin Lilly? She spent Christmas with us a few years ago."

I lowered my eyes to my food again, pushing the beans to one side of the plate, "I'm not going."

After a long pause she spoke again, "and why not?"

Because I'm not leaving Masky, obviously.

"I don't want to."

"Well I think it'll be good for you to get out of the house sometimes, Kit. let some sunlight touch your skin, you're starting to look pale."

As if you're not the one who grounded me for life.

I stabbed at a piece of chicken with my fork, deciding not to answer and after a while she spoke again.

"How was your session today? Made any progress?"

I continued to push the food around on my plate.

"I'm talking to y-"

"I got my report card," Nick spoke up, cutting her off before she could finish and I was grateful for the distraction, waiting until Sara turned her attention to him before I pushed my chair back from the table.

I should have known she wouldn't let me go that easily though.

"Where are you going? You hardly touched your food."

Sighing, I pushed my chair under the table, "not hungry."

When I dumped the untouched food in the trash I heard the screech of a chair being pushed away from the table and a few seconds later Sara joined me in the kitchen, grabbing my elbow when I made a move to go by her.

"What's gotten into you lately?" She questioned between gritted teeth.

"What? I just said I'm not hungry!" I tried to pull my arm out of her grip but she held fast, glaring down at me.

"Don't raise your voice at me young lady," she was too close for my liking and my palms were starting to sweat, my heart in my throat as I focused my gaze on the floor in order to not lose my cool.

If she knew the things I could do, the things I have done, she'd never be so bold as to grab me like this.

Turning my eyes to the side I could see the wooden knife holder just across from us, with its assortment of knives and I swallowed, turning my eyes away again.

No. I can't.

"Now are you going to talk to me or continue with this attitude of yours?"

I was quiet and when her grip didn't loosen I wrenched my arm out of her grasp and made a quick getaway, stomping up the stairs and down the hallway. After slamming my bedroom door behind me, the lock clicked in place.

My hands were shaking and I pressed my back against the door, taking a few calming breaths as I heard hurried footsteps approaching down the hallway.

A few seconds later there was a knock on my door, "Kit? You need to talk to me, please."

I pushed myself away from the door and crossed the room, grabbing my mask from the desk.

I got my school backpack, emptying its contents into my bed before grabbing Masky's camera and his forgotten bottle of pills and shoving them inside. I stopped to stuff some clothing into the bag too, just in case, before heading over to the window.

"Kitani Marianne Blair are you listening to me? Open this door right now!"

The knocking was getting louder now and I huffed, shoving my head out the window to see Toby waiting for me down below. He gave me a small wave and I smiled, pulling my head back inside and deciding it was probably smarter to go out foot first.

I was doing well initially, putting one leg before the other until my whole body was through the window and I started having a hard time holding up my bodyweight. Grappling at the windowsill, I tried using my mind's eye to find secure footing but in the end I slipped and a shriek left my lips when I lost my grip, falling backwards.

Toby broke my fall however (with his own body) and we laughed as we both lay sprawled out on the grass in a mess of limbs.

When he squirmed under me, I rolled off of him and he got to his feet, helping me up afterwards.

"Sorry," I mumbled, brushing grass off my pants.

"Don't worry, I can't f-feel a thing," he laughed again.

I wasn't sure if he was serious or not.

"You r-ready?" He asked, eyes crinkling with a smile and I cast a last glance up at my dark bedroom before slipping the mask over my face.

"Yeah, let's go."

×××

Ten minutes into tramping through the thick undergrowth of the woods I turned to look at Toby from behind my mask as he swung his hatchet playfully, making 'swoosh' sounds.

It made me smile and I was finally able to relax. Everything was behind me now. For some reason, I felt more at home around Toby than I did with my own family.

Maybe Masky was right about me belonging with them.

"Hey, Toby?"

He stopped swinging and looked over at me from behind his yellow goggles, "yeah?"

"We're not just walking in circles are we? I know these woods and they only lead us back to the bypass."

"T-that's where you're wrong kiddo," he slung an arm over my shoulder, pointing ahead of us with the hatchet, "these w-woods lead to a whole new world."

"Oh, you're a disney princess now?" I laughed, "and who are you calling kiddo, you're like nine!"

He clutched at his chest like he'd been struck by a heavy blow, staggering backwards, "fuck, that's b-brutal."

I laughed again, shaking my head, "how old are you then?"

"Nine-teen."

Close enough.

"You don't happen to know Masky's age do you?"

"What, you d-didn't ask him that?" He asked.

"We don't usually talk about much," I mumbled, kicking at some pebbles in my path.

"Yeah? Too b-busy playing the devil's tango, huh?"

I shoved him playfully, embarrassed that he might be right, "shut up."

"Well let's see," he drawled, stroking his chin as he tilted his head to the side, "Brian is twenty-one so that m-makes Tim... twenty-three– I think."

I nodded, chewing on my lower lip a bit.

"Hey," Toby came closer, shoulder brushing with mine as he spoke in a hushed tone, "what do you think are my ch-chances with your friend Amy?"

I held back a laugh, covering my mouth, "what, you like her?"

"Of course, she's a badass. No o-offense," he patted my head, "I'm sure you are too."

I shook my head on a smile, pursing my lips, "well, I don't know really. I don't even know if we're friends anymore at this point."

"What happened?"

I shrugged, unsure of what to say. It was really my fault for not talking to her but I wasn't ready to admit that.

"We just didn't see eye to eye on things," I mumbled.

I was glad when Toby didn't press further and after a few more minutes he slowed down, pulling me over to a large tree that was marked with one of the pages I remember seeing from that day we all started our 'road trip'.

It was a somewhat childish drawing of trees, scrawled in ink, with a slender faceless figure between them.

"D-don't let go of my hand," Toby spoke and I nodded, watching him place his hand against the tree. He muttered a few words and I felt warmth flow through me. In the next instant the scenery around us dissipated and was replaced with an even denser mass of trees and shrubbery.

I could immediately tell we were no longer in the familiar woods behind my house as there were no signs of life apart from myself and Toby. Not even a light breeze accompanied the chill that suddenly settled over me.

The crickets and frogs that had been chirping and croaking earlier, hidden in the undergrowth, were replaced with an unnatural silence and I found myself grasping Toby's hand tighter.

"Don't worry," he chuckled, "no one's gonna h-hurt you here."

I nodded, still unsure, and he led the way through the trees, seeming to know his way about.

"It's so quiet," I spoke after a while.

"Yeah, the Rake don't really let any critters live once he catches them."

"Who?"

"Slenderman has a h-habit of taking in strays," he chuckled, "sometimes they're more m-monster than human."

That didn't really give me much to go on but if there was a monster in these woods I wasn't going to leave Toby's side for a second and I heard him chuckle again when I pressed myself closer to his side.

"You're okay. L-look," he pointed in the distance, "we're home."

I turned my eyes to where he was pointing, seeing lights up ahead. Beyond the treeline, a massive structure loomed manacingly, seeming straight out of some dark academia or gothic novel.

You'd expect a vampire to live in a place like this.

I'd already seen the inside, thanks to the footage on Masky's camera, but the outside was even more captivating. Large leafy vines were climbing over the moss covered walls and the yellow lights from inside barely escaped the lofty windows to light up the area of grassland that disappeared into the treeline.

"Wow. It's huge," I breathed in awe, pushing my mask up to rest on top of my head.

"That's what she s-said," Toby chuckled before he pulled me along, out of the final dotting of trees and marched us up the front steps to the door.

When he pushed the door open I was glad for the warmth that greeted us and I shuffled inside ahead of him, rubbing my hands together and waiting until he closed the door behind him before I turned around.

Leading away from the foyer was a massive staircase and I was about to speak when a figure poked their head out from behind a large bannister at the top before his whole body came into view.

He was tall.

Wearing a polka-dotted suit and a comic smile on his 'face' he took a few long strides down the stairs until he was before me, bending dramatically to look into my eyes.

I swallowed.

"And who might you be?" He asked in the kindest voice I'd ever heard.

"T-That's Kit," Toby answered, as I was currently speechless, wondering if this was the so-called Slenderman. He was certainly slender, but he seemed too harmless to be the person in question.

"So cute," he spoke, taking my hand and twirling me before letting go, "oh, it's been so long since I've seen a fresh face around here."

I looked over to Toby for an explanation and he came to my side, pulling his mouth-guard down, "we c-call him Splendor. He's Slenderman's more... agreeable brother."

"More handsome too," the being added with a chuckle, "welcome to our humble abode."

"Thank you," I smiled, biting down on my lower lip, "is it okay if I call you SP?"

I heard a sharp intake of breath from the creature and the colors on his outfit seemed to brighten as he clasped his hands before him with a large smile, "of course you can!"

How the hell is someone this pure associated with a band of killers?

"You came just in time too," he continued, "we just got rid of that meddling fellow. It's a good thing he put the place back together before you got here. Wouldn't want to make a bad first impression."

"Um, which fellow?" I asked, amused by his outdated way of speaking.

"Zalgo," Toby answered, following behind SP when he walked away.

"I thought he wasn't allowed to come here. At least that's what he said last time I asked," I followed behind them to the large living room I've seen before.

"He's n-not but he found a way, somehow."

"Oh you were unfortunate enough to meet the wretch?" SP asked.

"He's not so bad," I smiled.

"She's s-sorta under his protection now," Toby spoke up, "he offered to help when Slenderman was g-going to get rid of her."

"Get rid of?" Seeming appalled, the tall figure came to a stop and turned to look down at me, "who'd want to hurt something so precious?"

I blushed, despite being called a thing.

"Right?" I agreed, hand on heart, "I'm literally an angel."

"Debatable," Toby said with a grin and I elbowed him.

As we entered the living room I could see a few new faces I hadn't seen before. Sitting on the floor was a little girl in a pink dress and a boy dressed in green, they stared at the screen of a massive TV set, playing some kind of game and on the couch sat the girl I'd seen on the camera.

After watching more videos I'd learned her name was Tamara and she was supposedly with Jeff.

She had their son on her lap, her red eyes turning to us as we entered.

Behind the couch stood Liu and he made his way over to us as we entered the room, looking at me from head to toe.

"Hello," he drawled, making a show of checking me out.

"Goodbye," I spat dryly and he pressed his lips together, taking back the hand he'd extended for a handshake.

"Yeah, that's my usual effect on girls."

I chuckled at that.

"Please don't harass our guest," Splendorman took a seat on one of the larger couches, "I like her."

"You like everyone," Liu rolled his eyes and Toby grabbed my hand.

"T-That's Tam and Micah, Liu and Ben and that c-cute little princess next to him is S-Sally."

I nodded, waving to everyone I'd been introduced to, but no one really seemed to care about my presence.

All I got was Liu waggling his brows at me suggestively.

"Come on," Toby spoke, pulling me from the room, "let's see if boss is around. He'll want to know you're here."

I followed him up the long staircase and then down the even longer hallway that was lined with doors on both sides until we came to a door with a brass knocker that had the familiar proxy symbol on it.

I reached up to touch my choker as Toby knocked on the door.

"Come," A stern voice called from behind the door and Toby pushed it open, leading me inside.

Behind a large mahogany desk sat a faceless figure looking almost identical to Splendorman but instead of bright attire he was wearing a plain black suit. As we entered he stopped writing with the large quill he held between his long fingers and sat back against the chair built for his size, seeming to be focused directly on me.

Behind him stood Hoodie, holding a stack of papers in his hands.

I chewed on my lower lip, giving Hoodie a quick wave.

"What do we have here?" The creature asked, his voice deep. I realised, since he had no visible mouth, that his words were directly in my head.

Strange.

When no one answered I realised they were waiting for me to speak and I gulped.

"Uh, h-hi? I'm Kit... Sir?"

A few seconds ticked off as I wondered if the faceless creature had even heard me until he leaned forward in the chair.

"This is the girl you all said showed promise? She is but a child."

"Tim likes h-her."

"Yes, enough to disregard my direct orders. I haven't forgotten," he rose from his chair, a dark aura sorrounding him and I shrunk back behind Toby.

"I have half a mind to punish him for his disobedience," as Slenderman stood tall, the room began to feel no bigger than a cage and I felt trapped, heart thudding wildly in my chest when I saw large white tendrils begin to snake out of his back and make their way towards me.

I can't die now. Not before I've seen Masky again.

I squeezed my eyes shut, turning my head away as I pressed my back against the wall with Toby blocking me. After a few seconds where nothing happened, I peeked and eye open to see Brian with a hand on Slenderman's arm.

"She's good boss," he spoke before letting go.

I watched, relieved to see the tendrils retreat and Slenderman went back to sitting at his desk, gathering his quill again and waving us from the room.

"Go now before I change my mind."

"S-sure thing boss," Toby grinned and grasped my hand, pulling my from the room. Once we were outside with the door closed I finally released the breath I'd been holding.

"Holy shit," I breathed, bending over and resting my hands against my knees for support as I took deep breaths, "I thought I was a goner for sure."

I heard deep laughter from behind the door and righted myself, huffing in realization, "he was scaring me on purpose, wasn't he?"

"Y-yeah, he does that," Toby nodded grinning.

"Asshole," I frowned, "gotta be related to Zalgo for sure."

Toby shrugged and once I'd composed myself I gave him an expectant smile, "so, which room is Masky's?"

He turned and pointed down the long hallway, "s-second to last door on the left. It may be locked though I d-dunno. He d-doesn't really let anyone in there."

I nodded, hiking my bag up onto my shoulder and deciding to try my luck. My chest swelled with each step I took and when my hand closed around the doorknob and it turned freely I was relieved, pushing the door open a crack.

"I'll be d-downstairs if you need me," Toby spoke with a smile before turning and heading back down the way we came.

I gave his back a small wave before pushing the door open fully and stepping inside.

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