Dear Diary | Proxies

xviii. shining souls

Dear Diary,
Healing is in the water.

I felt like I was underwater. That was the only way I could describe it. Sluggishly, as my senses came back, I pushed my arms out, waves rippling as icy water rippled around me. I groaned, eyelids heavy along with the rest of my body. I opened my eyes, looking around the best I could, but it was dark, so dark I could only see my hands stretched out in front of me, pale against the black of the night.

I turned, pressing my hand down to the water, able to make out that the water was only about elbow deep, just enough to have me resting comfortably.

I pulled myself up, groaning as my entire body protested the action.

"You're awake."

I turned, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from, but I knew it was in my head. The faceless man was out of sight for the moment, but when I turned to double check, he had appeared in front of me, bent at his waist so he was closer but still towering above me.

Instinctively, I tried to push myself back, but pain shot up my arm at the movement, forcing me to cry out and stop. He looked at me for a few more moments before speaking.

"Your body is healing - do not move too much. Even at the accelerated rate of the process, he did substantial damage to your body."

I groaned, laying back into the water. "I thought he just fucked up my face."

"He broke your knees and elbows in the process - mainly after you had finally passed out. You broke your hands from stress." He stood fully, and I looked to the sky, trying to not think of how tall he was as he towered above me. Could he control his height? Did he choose to be this terrifying?

"Why am I in this water?"

He walked a bit away. "It has healing qualities. Helps to fix your body before bringing you back to your world." He came back, turning, and I watched in awe as he held out his hands. In it rested a bright, glowing orb of sorts, one pulsing with lights, small wisps of a fog-like substance crawling around it. It was a bright blue, small pops of other colors mixing in, but mostly red could be found in pockets of the blue, intermingling and mixing. "This is your soul."

I shot up, ignoring the way my body cried out, craning to see it more. "What?" He held it closer, and I watched as it spun in his palm, seeming to gravitate closer to me. "Do they all look like that?"

He hummed, shaking his head slowly. "No. Tobias' is mainly orange and bright enough that it annoys even me. Timothy's is more of a blue-green, dulled over time but still glowing. Brian's is yellow with a red core."

I reached forward, wanting to feel it, but before I could touch it, Slender had pulled it away. All I had registered was that it was warm. "Do they mean anything - the colors?"

"Yes."

He didn't elaborate any more, and we fell into silence. The man rolled the orb around his palm slowly, seeming to watch it intensely, and I fell back into the water, relaxing for a long time. I let out low, deep breaths as I listened to the world around me. There was a soft rustling of trees, the water flowing down somewhere, and a very quiet chirp of birds even in the dark.

By the time I was well enough to raise myself from the water without hurting, I was the calmest I had been in a long time. I stood, turning to look at the man standing still, the orb - my soul - was lighting him enough that I could see the trees around him.

"When can I go back?" I paused, a question at the tip of my tongue. He seemed to know because he waited, staring knowingly. "Will... will the smile stay?"