Mr. Hodek and His Little Minion

7

"...alright, but you should know my twine's not strong enough for us to climb up a wall. Do you have anything else?"

After a moment, Jeff sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Then why would you even...fine. Just, give me your knife."

"How did you know I—"

"Because I knew you'd take one. Hand it over," he answered, twirling his own knife between his fingers in preparation. I reluctantly gave him mine, hoping it would be enough for whatever he had in store. Without another word he stabbed them straight through the wood of the house, one above the other as if he were going to climb that entire distance with just them.

Which is exactly what he ended up doing.

Luckily, the window wasn't too high off the ground and it had a charming little balcony right in front of it so Hodek could toss the knives back down to me and wait there. But let me tell you, climbing a wooden wall with nothing to hold your feet and pre-made carvings causing your knives to occasionally slip is a lot harder than he made it look. I'd had practice with these kinds of things before, of course. But it took a full upper-body workout and probably five "come on" and "stop breaking's" to get me to the top. I tried to mask my panting as coughs, but Hodek was able to see through that. I couldn't be sure of whether that was good or bad, because he let me rest for a minute or so, but I also knew he was never going to take me seriously again. Maybe almost killing him in his own home wasn't enough, after all.

After I'd gotten some of my energy back, I stepped inside first and found some crying teenage girl curled up in the corner of her bedroom. There were visible scratches on her arms, her hair was soaking wet, and what I assumed to be her phone lay almost completely broken on her bed. And based on her room's decor...she was a total spoiled brat. She didn't even realize I was there, though it may have had to do with the fact that she was crying incredibly loudly and her face was buried in her arms.

"Dude, why are you just standing..." Jeff came in behind me and faltered when he saw the scene. "Oh."

The girl finally lifted her head and jumped at the sight of us. But she didn't seem necessarily scared. She looked almost relieved that there was at least one other person there.

"Oh! Oh, my god, I...please, help me. I don't know how much longer I can take this. I shouldn't have picked on them so much, I shouldn't have listened to her when she told me to do it, and now..."

Jeff seemed to quickly regain his usual demeanor and stepped towards her, armed with a knife and a wicked smile. "Sorry, sweetheart. We're not here to—"

"Help you with what?"

I spoke without thinking, and suffered the consequence of knowing that Hodek was already deeply disappointed in me. He slowly turned his head in my direction, and it took all my willpower not to look back at him. I kept my gaze on the girl. She let out a shudder of a sigh, tears still leaking from her eyes.

"I-I don't even know what it is. My phone started acting up, and then something poured, like, a bucket of water on my head. I've been getting all these awful texts, and from people I don't even know! I'm starting to think...it all might be the same person. I know it sounds crazy, but—"

The phone buzzed, and she let out a yelp and covered her face.

"I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have done it," she said, over and over again like she was being forced to. Like someone had drilled those words into her head. I turned my attention to the phone, its screen cracking even more by the moment. Slowly, and carefully, I walked over and picked it up to read the message.

"Would you two mind?"

I felt a chill run down my spine at that, and nearly jumped when Jeff placed a hand on my shoulder.