Masks

Chapter 26

I woke up in the forest. Agony laced through me as I slowly got to my feet. I couldn't remember what happened... not fully at least. I could remember being in the Ark, being chased, and... Zac betraying me.

"But I was dead... right?" I looked down at myself, searching for any injuries or signs that would match up with what I could remember.

My shirt and pants were still bloodied and my jacket was missing but my arms still bore the same scars as before- although the jagged marks from falling through the floorboards were oddly thin and pale white, as if they'd healed much faster than normal. I glanced around before lifting up my tattered shirt to reveal smooth, unmarred skin.

"What? That can't be right... it... it's not possible! I had to be dead. No one could've survived that!" I glanced back at the tunnel, feeling like I was forgetting something important. "It's probably nothing. I should get home... if I still have my apartment... seems I've been gone a while..."

I began limping back into the trees while the autumn breeze blew through the colorful leaves above me. Thankfully, I didn't see anyone despite how sunny and nice out it was. I wouldn't exactly want to explain why I looked like I'd murdered someone, especially when I was in the woods... No doubt cops would've been called. How would I explain anything?

"How am I going to get home?" I stared at the exit of the trail, happy to have quickly found one and gotten out but now faced with being forced to walk in the open. "Rosswood? That sounds familiar- wait, I've been here before! This is where I was in those buildings and- and where Brian, um Hoodie, was... Great... definitely need to find a way to drive home then."

In the end all I could do was wait until nightfall and start walking home in the dark, hoping I was remembering the directions correctly. I tried my phone once more before shoving the destroyed device back into my pocket; I'd have to get a new one. Car lights occasionally passed over me but no one seemed to pay attention to me or my ragged appearance as I followed the road back home.

By the time I got back, I was feeling ghost pains from the now nonexistent injuries. My body shook with both the cold and exhaustion, which only made me more relieved to finally be back. Soon I'd be able to go to sleep in my bed and figure out this mess once I woke up again. My eyes landed on Tim's car parked outside next to my own.

"Did he make it out? ...Or is it just still parked here from when they came and attacked him?" I slowly limped over and checked the cars, relieved when I saw my keys sitting in the driver's seat. "The groceries are gone though... So is it a trap? Someone took them in, so why leave the keys?"

My suspicion rose even more when I tried the car door and felt it open without resistance; it wasn't even locked. I glanced around before snatching the keys and slamming the door shut, pressing my back against it and tensing as I scanned the area once more. No one. At least no one I could see. The feeling of being watched made the hair on my neck stand on end. Someone was out there... and they knew I'd need a way to get into my apartment, which meant they knew I was alive and going to come back eventually.

"It isn't Slenderman or The Operator... I'd feel it. A proxy? ...No, they wanted me dead." I continued standing there, waiting to see if they'd reveal themselves. "Tim wouldn't hide from me... What about Hoodie? I don't know what he wants- maybe it's to help... I don't like this."

Giving up, I retreated to my apartment and unlocked the door. It seemed empty when I walked inside and everything looked just as I'd left it. I began making my way to my room, intending to change clothes before I fell asleep, but froze as the faint sound of a drawer in the kitchen rolling closed. My head snapped in that direction in time for a heavy force to crash into me and shove me to the ground, forcefully holding me down.