Dear Diary | Proxies

xxv. tall, tall libraries

Dear Diary,
I can't tell if I'm hallucinating or not.

I had woken up to them leaving.

The night before, I had fallen asleep between Brian and Tim, but I had woken up to Toby on top of me, too, curled up between Tim and me. Tim had been the first to crawl out of bed, annoyed as he wiped at his eyes. I had jolted awake as he left, forcing Brian up, too.

I was only half-awake as they got dressed. I had almost drifted right off again, but then, Tim woke Toby up, and I was awake all over again. The boys had each given me a goodbye kiss with promises to be home as soon as they could, and I was passed out again in an empty and cold bed.

When I finally woke up on my own, I took a long shower, somber at not being able to see the boys for a while. The rooms were so empty without their presence. At least during the past few days, I knew they were somewhere in the house, but now they were already probably hours away.

Sally wasn't in her room, and as much as it scared me, I ended up making my way down the stairs, shaking a bit but wanting to explore a bit more. I wondered if I could find the library that Brian had shown me last night.

I passed through halls upon halls, even passing a few normal-looking people who barely glanced at me before continuing on their path. It eased my nerves a bit, but still. I stuck close to the wall, head down, but as I turned a corner, I slammed straight into another person.

I hit the ground at the same time as they did, both of us making a low 'oof' upon impact. Apologizes spilled from my lips as fast as my ass had hit the floor. "Oh my god, I am so sorry. I wasn't looking. Are you okay?" I scrambled to my feet before sticking my hand out for them. It took me a second to realize I recognized him. What had his name been? Cody? It was the one that looked similar to Toby.

He took my hand, heaving himself up with a low sigh. "I'm fine. Are you okay? Sounded like you hit the floor pretty hard."

"Ah, no, no. I'm good. Just- uh, heavy, I guess." I chuckled awkwardly, and he quirked an eyebrow before giving a single huff as a laugh. "You wouldn't happen to know where the library is, would you? The one without, y'know, Slenderman."

Cody nodded, turning around and motioning for me to follow. "Come on. This way."

I quickly followed, stuffing my hands in my pockets as I went, curling in on myself a bit. We were silent as he led me down a few more turns before stopping in front of the library. "Oh, thank you."

He smiled. "Are you too busy right now? I'd like to talk for a moment if that's alright. Inside, of course." He pressed his hand to the door before pushing it open to reveal the beautiful room.

I paused for just a moment, blinking owlishly, but I nodded, letting him follow me inside. What did he want to talk about? I hadn't said but a few words to him before, just seen him at breakfast. Had I done something? Was this some sort of trick?

I decided to sit on one of the couches near an already lit fireplace. I could search through the seemingly endless amounts of books after whatever this conversation would be about. Cody sat beside me, but he kept an entire cushion between us out of respect. He kicked up his feet on the coffee table before turning to look fully at me. "So, you're June, then? The one who fought Jeff and such?"

I nodded slowly. "Uh, yeah. That's me." I gave a shaky smile.

"Tell me about yourself." He said it in a professional way, like a therapist at a consultation, waiting for you to dump all of your trauma in a long anger-filled rant. He must have seen my confusion, or maybe even discomfort, because he continued after a moment. "Not in a weird way. I'm just interested in whoever my cousin has decided to start dating. Gotta make sure the boy's not in wrong hands, after all."