Chapter Fifty Four

||KIT||

†

I don't know what I was expecting when I pushed the door to Masky's room open and at first I wasn't even able to make anything out in the darkness.

I closed the door behind me before blindly running the pads of my fingers over the wall. Locating the light switch a few seconds later, I flicked it on.

Squinting at the sudden blinding light, I looked around the room. The first thing that caught my attention was the manic scratching along the walls that I imagined to be some kind of artistic outlet.

Random words stood out, scratched deep into the paint, and following the trails of lines with my fingers I realized the medium used to create them in the first place was a small sharp object, probably a knife or maybe a shard of glass based on the amount of red that accompanied the scratch marks in certain areas.

I knew what dried blood looked like by now.

The words were scratched so haphazardly across the wall that I couldn't tell if they were supposed to be random or if they had some kind of significance only he would know.

Taking my hand away I looked around.

His room wasn't messy but it was cluttered in a way that made me wonder if he was becoming a hoarder. Boxes upon boxes were stacked on top of each other, spilling over with different articles of odd trinkets like jewelry, which I knew he didn't wear.

I dug my hand into a random box, coming up with the soft fabric of a long black and white scarf. Lifting it from the box, I ran my fingers along its length with a smile until I felt an odd texture greet my fingertips and I turned it over to see that it had dried blood stains dotting its fringes.

Could it be possible these were souvenirs he kept from his victims?

I laid the scarf back into its designated box when something else caught my eye. Moving a few boxes out of the way, a smile instantly bloomed on my face when I saw what was scratched into the wall next to the bed.

I could recognize that hair anywhere.

My fingers trailed over the large eyes and lips of the image that looked almost exactly like me, if only slightly exaggerated. The lines were deep, much deeper than any of the harmful words he'd dug into the paint and red stains littered the entire portrait.

I stepped back to admire the work in all its glory.

I never pegged Masky as the artistic type.

My fingers trailed over the cheeks with the large red teardrops rolling down them and I let out a small breath.

Is this how he saw me?

I spent a few minutes looking at the caricature before me, chest swelling with emotion.

That was his blood on my cheeks, wasn't it?

Why did he do this? What did it mean to him?

After a while, I went to sit on the bed, sighing heavily. It didn't seem to have been slept in for a long while now and as I sat, I looked around the sparsely decorated room. There wasn't much in terms of furniture so he was quite the minimalist. The only table next to the bed had a few miscellaneous items and next to them was a stack of what appeared to be polaroids.

I gathered the pictures, sitting with my back against the headboard as I sifted through them.

There were various pictures of everyone I'd met in this place and a few more people I didn't even recognize. Each one more unique than the next. Despite being who they were I suppose they still managed to form good relationships with each other and it caused a smile to come over my face again.

I'd judged him so harshly when we met, thinking he was just a heartless psychopath, but there was more to him wasn't there?

I placed the pictures back on the table and after rummaging around in my bag I took the camera and pills out, placing them on the table as well.

I knew he kept his pills but I'd never once seen him take them. How long had it been since he stopped?

Taking the mask from where it had been resting on top of my head, I placed it on the table as well before I kicked my shoes off and padded barefoot to the en suite bathroom.

After taking a scalding hot shower I put some shorts on that I had brought with me. Finding a large black t-shirt in Masky's closet, I buried my face in it with a happy sigh. It had been washed but there was still a hint of his smell. I slipped it on over the bra I was wearing and went back to sitting on the bed, hugging a pillow to my chest.

Would he come back tonight? Just seeing him would be enough for me.

Would he be happy to see me when he did came back? Would he want me to stay?

Or would he be upset?

The thought made butterflies flutter in my stomach and my mouth went dry the instant I heard footsteps outside the door.

I sat upright just as the door creaked open but released the breath I'd been holding when Toby popped his head in to look at me.

"You d-doing okay up here?"

"Yeah I... yeah," I slid off the bed and made my way over to him, "do you think he's going to be back tonight?"

"Can't say for sure," Toby rubbed the back of his head, "you w-wanna get something to eat while you wait? You've been l-looking a little uh... smaller, lately."

I looked down at myself, seeing Masky's shirt had practically swallowed me up, coming to stop at my knees. It had been a while since I'd eaten and I had been punishing myself for it the whole time but maybe now I could finally let it go.

I nodded, slipping through the open door as I gave Toby a smile, "what's for dinner?"

"Who the fuck ordered vegetarian again?" EJ's voice was raspy and black substance dripped down his mask as he turned his head about the room.

We were gathered in the living room, boxes of pizza stacked onto the kitchen island and one large box of vegetarian pizza was open on the coffee table next to the massive gray couch that was so soft and comfortable it threatened to swallow me up.

Ben and Liu were busy grabbing drinks while Sally was sprawled on the floor, shoving a slice of pizza against her teddy bear's fuzzy face. I'd learned his name was Mr. Death.

"Come on Mr. D," she cooed as she smashed the pizza into the bear's already filthy face, "eat up!"

Toby was snickering to himself after EJ's question and he ducked when a slice of pizza was suddenly thrown at his head.

"Rodgers, I'm going to fucking rip you apart and use your guts as the toppings you little shit!"

I laughed, watching EJ chase Toby from the room as I picked up my second slice of pizza.

"Nice to have a fresh face around here."

I turned from where I was sitting on the couch to see the Tamara with a shark-like smile on her face.

"That's what everyone's been saying," I chuckled.

"Yeah, makes sense. Not many people crazy enough to live in a place like this."

"Oh, I'm not crazy," I said defensively, "not that there's anything wrong with that. I just mean that I'm not, y'know?"

"Yeah?" She was still smiling but this time it seemed more malicious, "I get that."

I nodded, glad that I hadn't offended her at least.

"My sister and I are just like you," she continued, "we're not crazy either. I mean, just because we killed a bunch of people and set a few towns on fire doesn't mean we're crazy right?"

She laughed hysterically then came to sit next to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me against her side, "right now she's actually planning on going back to living in society, how cool is that?" She paused for a moment as if getting a sudden realization.

"But I don't really want to. I mean, I love my life here and I have Jeff and Micah-" she paused, pulling away to look into my eyes, "have you seen him around?"

"Seen who?"

"Jeff, silly," her sharp smile grew and I swallowed hard when her even sharper nails dug into the skin of my shoulder, "have you seen him?"

"I only met him once a long time ago," I tried shrugging my arm out of her grip, "Toby said he and Masky were out finishing a job."

"Oh," she let go, a friendlier smile replacing the malicious one from earlier, "that's good then."

I nodded, chewing on my lower lip in thought.

I better watch my back with this one.

"So you're Masky's girl?" She asked after a few seconds and I felt a light flutter in my belly.

"Y-yeah."

"That's nice. You know he and Cam were real close a while back."

That caused my ears to perk up instantly, "yeah?"

"Yeah, but then Offender found out and that was the end of it."

Offenderman. He was there the day we met Zalgo. The one who Masky said had left him with 'a few broken bones'.

"Did they... were they in love or what?" I asked.

"I dunno really. For Cam I don't think so. Can't say the same about your boy toy, however."

That's what I was afraid of. What if she was the thing holding him back from loving me wholeheartedly? What if he was still in love with this 'Camilla' and using me as a rebound? It had been a long time since then but for someone like Masky, would time mean much?

He was the overly obsessive type.

Tam chuckled next to me, pushing my shoulder playfully with hers, "don't worry he's over that now. Everyone can see how into you he is."

I held back a smile, "you think so?"

"Yeah, you're his girl," she smiled reassuringly.

"And you're Jeff's girl."

A blush spread across her face before I watched her smile falter, replaced with a frown, "yeah I don't know. He's been avoiding me a lot."

I was about to respond but she kept talking, her tone somber "I mean everything was great you know? We'd fight but we both loved the challenge. We used to spend so much time together and now he just keeps going off for weeks and he knows I don't like it. He knows it drives me crazy that he won't even talk to Micah. He acts like he doesn't exist even though it was his idea for us to have a kid in the first place. Now it's like he doesn't even care about either of us. And the sex is great you know it's mindblowing like wow but I can't keep doing this with him!"

At the end of her rant she slammed her fist down onto the pizza box, squishing the rest of the greasy goodness under her hand.

I folded my lips, looking around the room awkwardly.

"Uh-"

"You know," she laughed pitifully, shaking her head, "someone should've told me that it wasn't going to last. I mean Cam did try to warn me but I guess I was just too caught up in him to care. Getting just an ounce of attention from him was enough for me."

Her voice cracked and tears came to her eyes, "All the butterflies were just warning signs and I ignored them. I keep going back every single time even though the only person he'll ever love is himself."

Tears were pricking the corner of my own eyes at this point. It was too sad to bear. From what I'd seen she was obviously still crazy about Jeff but he wanted nothing to do with her. How unfortunate that she still wanted him when she deserved so much better.

I didn't like how familiar her situation was beginning to sound when compared to mine. I didn't want to think about it.

I can't end up like her.

No, I won't.

Because we aren't the same. Not really. Masky might not have said the words but there was no denying that he cared about me.

"Hey you don't need to beat yourself up about it," I placed a hand on Tamara's back to comfort her but she was already getting up, wiping the greasy pizza off her hands with a wad of napkins.

"I wonder if they've got ice cream."

I raised a brow at her sudden shift in mood, a large smile on her face, "you want some ice cream, Kit?"

"Uh, no I'm good."

She left the room for a few minutes then came back later with a spoon between her fingertips, a large tub of ice cream tucked into the crook of her elbow, "I'm going to go eat this up in my room and cry until I throw up or pass out. Goodnight."

I watched her leave the room, at a loss for words, and my appetite went with her.

I plopped the half eaten slice of pizza back in the box just as I heard the front door open. At first I didn't pay it any mind but the hairs on the back of my neck raised when the door closed again and I heard footsteps heading up the stairs, accompanied by melodic whistling.

Could it be?

I got to my feet, crossing the room and watching with my heart in my throat as Masky jogged up the staircase. He paused halfway up and I swallowed when he turned his head ever so slowly. His mask was resting on top of his head and a devious smile spread over his face when he saw me at the bottom of the stairs looking up.

"H-hey," I gave him a small wave, palms sweaty, "surprise?"

×××

Thanks for reading!

This pic 💀