The Marionette of Madness

16

When Toby woke up again, having dozed off after Mari left for food, he found his hands untied, though his torso and legs were still thoroughly tied up, and a pile of granola bars in his lap.

Mari was pacing not to far away, his eyes closed. He was wearing a pair of headphones, attached to what appeared to be an old ipod in his hand. Every once and a while, he would pause, aggressively shaking his head or hands back and forth before continuing to pace.

Toby, not sure if he wanted to bother the strange young man, made the decision to tear into the pile of granola bars, his stomach nauseatingly empty.

The crinoline of the wrappers must have been louder than Toby thought, because Mari's eyes popped open and he pulled off the headphones, tossing them and the ipod aside like he didn't want to be caught with them. His shoulders relaxed when he only saw Toby.
"Oh, its just you."
He padded over to wear the discarded items had fallen, clearly checking to see if they were broken. He seemed satisfied by their condition.
"I didn't have much cash on me, and I didn't wanna steal, so I figured granola was your best bet."

Toby didn't comment on how he managed to buy anything looking like he did.
"What were you doing?"

He looked up at Toby from his crouched position.
"It gets boring when I'm alone. Carmilla doesn't like when I stim or tic when she's around, so I do it when she's gone. The underestimation and overstimulation can make me testy."

Toby hadn't noticed it before, but Mari did indeed have a tic, though not as much as he did. Every minute or so, the right side of his face would scrunch up and he'd make a clicking noise with his mouth.
"You have tourettes?"

Mari shook his head.
"No, I think its just a mild side effect of possession. But it gets on her nerves so I have to focus on not showing it when she's around."

Toby chewed absent-mindedly on another granola bar, not responding. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing he'd ever heard. As he ate, Mari stuffed the forbidden items into his backpack and pulled out a bottle of soda. There was still condensation on the bottle, suggesting Mari hadn't been back for long. He held the bottle in his hands a second, as if absorbing the cold, before opening it and taking a sip. The image reminded Toby of something.

"I really have to pee."

Back with the masked dou

Tim and Brian had gone back to Tim's apartment, in search of both supplies and relief for their bladders. Tim, hoping for some info, plugged the camera, having found it and his phone on the path outside the cabin.

The footage was majority just them sitting around in the woods, but then it got to the point where their memories cut out.

The stranger with the bright green eyes stumbling into frame as static masked any audio. The frame went black for a few minutes, and when it came back, they were all fighting. Toby was unconscious behind the stranger, who was locked in a struggle with the masked Tim and Brian. It went on for a minute before he pushed them both off and dragged Toby into the woods. Tim and Brian's masked forms giving chase, but not before grabbing the camera and turning it off.

Tim didn't see it as very helpful.

Once they had both showered, used the bathroom, and eaten, they climbed into Tim's car, which had been sitting where he left it at the park. While the map Tim had drawn wasn't particularly useful, they were able to make out a scribbled address which Brian looked up online. It was an abandoned Walmart outside of town.

They were off to save Toby.