Go to Sleep My Love

Chapter 9

Nyxie's POV

        Jeff slapped his last card on top of the deck face-up. My ego shattered; I had been defeated by the apparent UNO Master once again. He had beaten me in the past eleven rounds, and I was resolved on winning at least one game.

"I WIN AGAIN!" Jeff hollered from atop of his chair.

"Don't stand on my dining chairs." I grumbled as I flicked a stray crumb off of the table.

"You're just pissed cause I beat you again." He laughed as he leaned over the table to ruffle my hair.

"I'm going to beat you before we leave tonight." I declared. Jeff glared at me. "Come on, one more round before we go?" I asked hopefully. This was mostly because I wanted to beat him but partially because I wanted to put off the killing for as long as possible. Jeff groaned theatrically as he slumped all the way down into his chair.

"Finnnnnneeeeeee." He sighed as he snatched up the cards and began to shuffle the deck.
    
        
        The game went on for several heated minutes before we heard a crash. Jeff and I exchanged a worried glance. He grabbed his knife out of the pocket of his hoodie and motioned for me to follow behind him.

"Shit." Someone muttered. My fingers gripped the sides of Jeff's blood-splattered hoodie. The roles were being reversed back to their original state; one of the former intruded who had become one of the intruders was now becoming one of the intruded again. I wasn't sure which role I detested more.

"BEN, is that you?" Jeff asked into the darkness.

"Yeah, it's me. Geez, it's so goddamned dark in here. I think I broke a vase." The voice answered. I released my grip on Jeff's hoodie as he flipped on the light switch. 
    
        The boy named BEN became visible as my foyer was flooded with light. I nearly fainted upon seeing him. He was so short that his height rivaled my own, and he looked rather young. He had blonde hair that was long but not nearly as long as Jeff's. He was dressed in an... Outfit. Well, it looked like he was cosplaying as Link from The Legend of Zelda. Not even joking. Okay, this next part is why I nearly fainted: his eyes were like dark pools of black with glowing red ireses that seemed to be dripping blood.

"Jeff, who's your friend?" I asked shakily. He ignored my question and ran into the arms of the boy.

"Nice to see you, buddy!" Jeff greeted with an animated voice that was full of life. He hoisted his tiny friend into air and spun him around. 

"You too!" BEN replied as he smiled down at Jeff. "Everyone back at the mansion misses you." He added with a trace of sadness in his voice.

"The mansion?" I interrupted. Jeff spun around as if he were surprised to see me there.

"Some friends and I live there with a tall, faceless man named Slendy." He responded casually. He continued after seeing the confusion on my face. "We're all subjects of internet horror stories. Some of us, like myself, are just humans who do terrible things, but some of us are more like 'mythical creatures' than actual humans." Jeff explained.

"My father drowned me in a pool and now I haunt a video game called Majora's Mask." BEN chirped. I officially don't understand life. 

"The Link outfit makes a bit more sense now." I mumbled. "I'm afraid you lost me with that story though." I added.

"After he drowned me in the pool, the chlorine caused my eyes to deteriorate. The Nintendo 64 Majora's Mask video game cartridge was in my pocket when I died. My spirit connected with it and now I haunt the game." BEN elucidated.

"Right... Except that's not possible." I chuckled. They both looked back at me with blank expressions. I felt a pang of jealousy upon noticing that
Jeff was still holding BEN, and that the blonde boy had his arms wrapped around the killer's neck. This didn't surprise me; I'm the most jealous person I know.