Upon the Gaze (Ghostface X Reader 18+)

CHAPTER SEVEN - Put Out the Passed like A Cigarette

It had been a week now since the last time I saw the masked killer in my home. The art piece I was working on still remained unfinished on my monitor, the magazine I brought home from the library rested on my bedside table. I continued my job at the library. I liked it there. It was a quiet place that gave me something to do, so I wasn't in my head all day, and on my breaks I'd go to the Serial Documentaries section and read while snacking on a small bag of chips generally. I was trying to carry on bravely but the truth was I was starting to feel devasted that the Ghostface still hadn't snuck into my house again, and haunted me with his figure, his hands, his voice.
Everyday I came home, I'd remove my shirt, and look at the laceration on my side. I'd trace it, feeling the scabs start to flake away. For once a cut seemed to be healing well, which I hated. My one good life bookmark, and it might fade away like the Ghostface had.
While reading on my break I heard two people talking. I peered over the side of the stairwell, across the way where there were seats. There looked to be a police officer talking to a women, likely someone just there to read. What piqued my interest was hearing the word "serial killings" from the cop. "Yeah, it's crazy. Everyone at the station is dumbfounded. It's like the guy just disappeared or something, no leads, just poof! I guess they call him Ghostface for a reason."
"Ghostface," I whispered under my breath. He was talking about my killer. His killings stopped? He disappeared? Dread took over my emotions again. I turned back to the wall of serial documentaries, and held in the tears that wanted oh so badly to spill. He hasn't been caught, clearly, so where had he gone? Did he skip town? Move to another city? Maybe a place where he was better hidden? I hated it. The killer who stalked me yet gave me one good reason to continue existing, even if just to be his toy, and he suddenly leaves? One tear let loose down my cheek. I'd rather him have killed me than let me live, I thought to myself. Suddenly my sorrow turned to anger. The whole rest of my shift I was in a bad mood, but kept my composure.

It rained again on my way home. I didn't even try to avoid getting wet. I slowly got out of my car and walked to the door, getting soaked as the heavy rain hit my body. I unlocked the door and came inside. After closing the door I simply stood in the in-between hallway of the home. I felt defeated, thinking about how the last time I saw him I had fallen asleep. At the very least I could have seen him off. Watched his figure disappear into the dark of the forest. Not to have just been left with a false sense of hope, just to wake up and feel like it was all just another maladaptive dream.
I shook my head, and laughed to quell my distraught emotions. My lip quivered, and I let myself fall to th floor, sobbing with my arms wrapped around myself. A half an hour passed before I managed to raise myself off the floor.
I went to my kitchen, and made myself a drink. In an attempt to brighten my own mood, I dropped a maraschino cherry into my beverage. I sat at the dining room table, and stared out the window. Looking into the black forest. "Maybe I can walk into it and never come back," I scoffed and proceeded to sip my drink. I lit a cigarette and sat with my emotions. Waiting for the alcohol to do it's job and numb them.
Abruptly my phone rang. Feelings of hope entered me, and I quickly grabbed for my phone off the table. Without even checking the caller ID I frantically answered. "Hello?" I answered, so excited to finally hear the voice of the man who was pursuing me only days prior. "Hey! (y/n)?" This wasn't his voice, but rather a voice that if I had caught the caller ID, I wouldn't have answered. "Lisa?" I questioned. "Yeah! Hey! How have you been?" She had her usual fake, girly tone. "I've been...okay. How about yourself?" Truly I didn't care about how she had been, but I didn't feel like starting something over the phone right now. "I've been great! I got that job I really wanted, you know the one we were both looking at when you were still living here, in the city?" I rolled my eyes and had the back of my hand pressed against my head with my cigarette between my fingers.
I had been trying to get a contract going with a company to work on the designs of small movie titles. It would have been a great job, and really would have helped me get my foot in the door. Unfortunately that was around the time my situation back in the city began to crumble. That was my last attempt at remaining there, but I never got hired. "Really? How is that?" I asked unexcited, taking a drag off my cigarette. "Oh it's great! You know-" she drawled on and all I could think was how I wanted this conversation to end. I started wondering if I could have hired Ghostface to kill this awful fake of a friend. I then realized how morbid of a thought that was. Meanwhile, Lisa was still chatting away. However she paused when a voice started speaking to her. I recognized it. "Freddy? Is that Freddy?" I asked. "Oh..yeah, Freddy's here." She answered. "What are you and Freddy hanging out together for?"
Freddy had been my boyfriend while I was still living in the city. It was an unhappy relationship. He often would flake on plans for dates, only come over when sex was on the table, and ditched me for his friends more times than I could count. He basically dated me for the convenience of meeting his needs. When it was no longer convenient for him, he left. Now, I don't walk myself into these situations the way people assume. Freddy was charismatic at the time. Funny, handsome, and did cute little things like pick flowers for me while we walked through our friends college campus grounds. He seemed nice in the beginning, they always do.
"Yeah, so Freddy and I have actually been seeing each other." I froze. "For how long?" I asked. She hummed in responce at first as if it was a difficult question. "Since like July?" Rage began to build in me. "July? What do you mean? Him and I were still dating in July!" She stuttered, realizing she just let the cat out of the bag. "W-wait! Sorry, no! I meant August actually! Yeah, it was the end of August!" I was silent for a moment. The ashes of my cigarette were now dropping on my fingers. "You expect me to believe that...?" I said. She was silent for a moment, and then tried to speak, but I didn't even give her the chance to try and cover her tracks. "Don't call me ever again! You selfish fucking bitch!" With that I hung up on her and the call was over. This was not what I needed, I thought to myself. My world had already felt like it was crashing down, and now this? I had no more energy left to cry at that point. I was already emotionally spent. I sighed deeply. I looked at my cigarette in my hand. It was close to burnt out. Without thinking about it really, I took what remained of it and put it out on the back of my hand. I stood up, shot back the rest of my drink and headed for the door. I grabbed my keys that sat in a bowl on a small table next to the door, and walked outside into the rain. I was in such a bad mood I didn't even remember to lock the door before leaving. I walked down the puddled road for a bit until I saw a suitable place to sit. I walked off the side of the road and sat myself under a tree. It looked to be oak. I rested myself against it, and closed my eyes. Feeling my body buzz between a mixture of my emotions and the alcohol.

I don't know how long I sat there in the rain of the night. At one point I was no longer feeling the rain as much on my body. I was cold but my body did not shiver. Strangely I started feeling a warm breeze hit my face. It proceeded and I started recognizing it had a certain rhythm to it. As I started to mentally come back to myself, without opening my eyes, I felt something against the skin of my cheek. It had a bit of warmth to it, and soon I recognized it as a hand. It pulled the hair our of my face, and ran it's fingers through my hair in a comforting manner. Thunder rumbled in the distance. I gradually now began to open my eyes.
There before me, was a kneeling figure, shrouded in black, with a white face and a shrieking expression. Tears began to roll down from my eyes as I recognized the figure, though nobody would be able to tell due to the moisture on my face from the rain.
"Longtime no see, sweetheart." Ghostface said to me