Dear Diary | Proxies

x. pine and static

Dear Diary,
What happened?

The next morning, the boys were gone, and there was no trace of them besides the collar still on my neck and a note written in weirdly neat handwriting on my bedside table. 'Make sure to drink water. M.'

I had stumbled out of my bedroom around eleven in the morning after pulling the offending necklace off and tossing it onto my bed. Margaret was still passed out but woke up at the sound of me walking around and gave me a lazy grin before standing, opening my backdoor, and throwing up out the back. She went home a few minutes later, claiming she had things to do.

I was left with my house and a bad feeling in my chest. I tried to not look at the faceless man outside my window again.

After a few days of doing just about nothing but healing and talking to my boys, I was finally able to go back to work. The feeling of having something to do was oddly comforting as I ran around the store. It was a slow Wednesday morning, and the store had cleared out around noon. So, after taking a short break, I had begun cleaning some extra things my manager had asked me to do.

I was currently kneeling on top of the high bar, using a damp rag to clean the big globe lights we had around the store. I had put a few dollars in the jukebox earlier, so there was music playing throughout the store. Just country songs because they didn't have much anything else I listened to.

I dropped onto all fours and crawled across the counter a bit more so I could reach the next light, singing along to Blake Shelton as I did so, when the door opened. I glanced over and sat back on my calves at the sight of my boys coming in. I grinned and waved. "How are y'all doin' today," I asked as I sat back up, starting to clean the next light.

"Much better at the sight of you. What're you doin' up there," Brian asked, stepping closer to me.

I rolled my eyes and sat back on my calves again, dropping my hands in my lap. "What does it look like? I'm cleaning."

I turned away from him and looked at the others, snickering to myself at the sight of Tim blatantly staring at my ass. He looked up at the sound, and he snapped his head away, embarrassed at being caught. Toby was climbing into one of the stools in front of the last light I had to do, drumming his fingers on the table. "Thi-this music sss-sucks," Toby grumbled, pushing his face into one of his hands.

I huffed and wiped the last bit of the lamp before side-eyeing him. "I happen to like this song a lot, I'll have you know," I teased.

Toby stuttered for a few moments before getting his words out. "I-I-I mean if-ff you-ou like it, it-it's fi-ine, I gu-guess-sss."

I giggled and shook my head, looking over at Tim as he spoke. He walked over to where Toby was sitting and climbed into a chair next to him. "I didn't know you liked country music," he spoke as I hummed along to the opening of the next song.

I nodded and dropped onto all fours, trying to not seem embarrassed as I crawled closer to them. It was the easiest way to get across the bar, but it was embarrassing to do it in front of people. At the sight, though, Toby's face flushed a bright red, and he quickly averted his gaze to the ceiling. I stopped right in front of him and rose to start cleaning the next one. "I like early 2000's country, and anything before," I said. "Not really a fan of any of the new music."

I turned at the feeling of someone's hand on the back of my thigh and met Brian's gaze as he leaned up towards me. I was still taller than him in this position, but only slightly. "Y'know, I really wouldn't mind seeing you crawl like that in a different context," he whispered, cracking a small smile when I went red and looked away, but he quickly pulled my attention back, grabbing my face with one hand and pulling me towards him. "You look pretty on your knees."