A Man of Many Masks || 'The Grabber' x Reader

The Black Van

TW: KIDNAPPING, DESCRIPTION OF TOXIC PARENTING

Y/N is female/afab but I'll be using they/them and have their gender identity remain up to you

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'I never wanted you.'

'You're a waste of money.'

'Don't bother coming back.'

Your mother's words still echoed inside your head. You couldn't help but replay the fight over and over in your head.

'I finally spoke up for myself', you thought, 'And now I have nowhere to go.'

You could go back to the house, forget all of this and try to dodge your mother as much as possible until you could move out.

But that place wasn't a home. You should feel safe at a home. You should feel happy at a home. That toxic, abusive, place was not a home.

Going back to that house would mean having to go back to her. A woman who's so toxic that someone would need to wear a hazmat suit just to be in the same room as her.

'So fuck it. I won't go back.'

You didn't know what you were going to do, but you were sure you'd figure it out.

You couldn't help but feel grateful for the warm clothes adorning your body as you felt the small breeze brought on by the night time air, chilling the once hot tears you haven't bothered to wipe from your face.

As you peered up at the empty and dull sky, you allowed yourself to clear your mind. You let your extremely tense shoulders relax, and loosened the stiff way you seemed to have been walking.

You allowed yourself to dissociate from reality, give yourself a break for a second. You turned from looking at the inky sky to staring at the pavement you were walking on, taking note of every little crack and patch of moss that would grow from between them.

With your eyes fixed on the ground, and your mind going blank, you weren't able to see the somewhat ominous black van you were walking towards.

You were only pulled back into reality when you felt someone tap your shoulder, causing you to lightly gasp while turning around.

"Oh, I apologize for scaring you." The strange man spoke while tentatively retreating his hand to his side. There was a somewhat cheerful, dare I say playful tone in his voice.

The man was wearing a black jacket over a red sweater, black pants, sunglasses—even though it was night—, a black top hat sitting atop a head of almost-shoulder-length and greying hair, and what looked like white makeup covering his entire face. To put it bluntly, he looked creepy as shit.

'It's like midnight, what the fuck is this sketchy ass guy doing out?'

"Uhm- it's fine." You choked out, quickly flashing a small smile.

His expression quickly tuned quizzical, before he asked, "Are you alright? Looks like you've been crying." He slowly traced one finger from his eye to the bottom of his face, imitating a tear going down his cheek.

Quickly wiping your face with the sleeve of the sweater you were wearing, and ignoring the sinking feeling in your stomach telling you to run, you replied, "Um, yeah, I'm okay." You pushed out a small, single-syllable laugh.

"Well, I think I know just the thing to cheer you up! You wanna see a magic trick?"

You thought about an answer, on one hand, he's really creepy looking, he has a black van, and there's an unidentified kidnapper on the loose. Plus, why the hell was he out this late?

On the other hand, however, you didn't want to be rude. So you answered with, "Sure, I guess I don't see why not."

"Perfect! Well then follow me." He started walking towards the back of his van, you following behind him.

He opened up one of the doors in the back, while saying, "I am a part-time magician. Had to run to the store to pick up something so I could practice a trick." He pulled a can from the inside of his jacket. "Well come closer, don't be shy." He giggled at the end of his sentence, a high-pitched and happy sound.

Complying to his words, you stepped closer to him. You shouldn't have don't that.

Without any warning, he wrapped his arm around your neck, putting you you in a headlock. Adrenaline immediately started coursing through your veins, and in a second you were screaming, "HELP!! PLEASE, SOMEBO-" He sprayed whatever was in the can into your mouth before shoving you into the back of his car.

The last thing you saw before passing out was the man standing outside the car, a bunch of black balloons flying away from behind him.

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Word Count: 773