Seconds (An Eyeless Jack X Oc Story)

Chapter 37

    I couldn’t help but feel my heart hurt. Jane works for Zalgo? So she spied on everyone in the mansion. She wants me alive since I am just an innocent person who stumbled into this place by EJ and should be going to college and getting a real life. But why? Why did she do this and betray Slendermans trust, when he trusted her? Maybe she just works for Slenderman and spies on Zalgo! I couldn’t comprehend all of this at once. 

   “Jane? What are you doing?” I asked. She sighed.

    “Tori, the truth is that I work for Zalgo. I took this job for a better life with me and Mary. If I didn’t, she would have been in danger from the proxies of both Slenderman and Zalgo.” 

    “Man, thought I could get a kill in!” Kit said. Jane stared at her while Stripes rolled her eyes.

    “Whatever, what is important is getting Tori out of here and my sister while we stop Slender’s proxies. So Tori, get out of the way and leave with us,” Stripes said. “You will be safe and no one will hurt you.”

    I shook my head over and over again. I clenched my fists and my legs shook in fear and in anger. I couldn’t allow myself to betray my friends like this. No, I need to keep everyone safe.
 
    “I’m… I’m not going. Can’t you all find a way to make peace with Slender and his proxies? What is the point of fighting when you are all the same?” I asked.

    “I’m nothing like Jeff! I'm nothing like those murderers. I keep people safe, we all do. Zalgo is the good guy and Slender is the bad guy. That is how it will always be for eternity. All this fighting will stop if we stop Slender. He ruined the lives of his proxies and this is what you do? Make sure they can’t go back to their old life?” Jane was proving a point in a way. If I stopped them, Slender’s proxies would live a normal life. They could do what they want in life, get a job, start a family. Maybe Zalgo would turn them back to normal and they would be human and have sanity again. But is it what they want? Is it what they would choose to do? Live a life that they originally wanted and had set for themselves. 

    EJ could go back to college and see his mom again one day. Sally could find her parents if it isn’t too late for them but if it still is, she could be an adult and start a family herself. Masky and Hoodie can still be friends and live a normal life with a family. Toby can hopefully find his mom and maybe even get his disorders taken away. Jeff can be with his brother, Lui and fix their house, do whatever they want. Jane and Mary can live freely with each other and make memories together. So many of them can live with lives that they intended on having. Lazari and Stripes could even have each other and Lazari could meet her father.

    I felt my heartbreak at the thought of this stuff. My choice would come back to me and affect the others. If I chose for them to go back, could there be some issues like being alone or losing more than what they gained from Slenderman. If they stayed, they wouldn’t live a normal life and the cycle of proxies would repeat and children and teens will give up their lives for a life of murder. 

    “I… I can’t do this…” I felt like I needed to cry. “I don’t know what they want but all of this seems useless. Fighting… will make everything worse here. You're just killing people who you want to save.” 

    “I know what you mean. But we can’t just change things right here and now,” Kit said.

    “Kit, what are you doing!” Stripes scolded her.

    “She has a point about this! What if we just stopped fighting and fixed this!” Kit pointed out.

    “I mean… we could stop fighting,” Puppeteer said.

    “No, we are Zalgo’s proxies! We have to listen to him no matter what!” Stripes said.

    “You could be endangering your little sister by this. How many of them know what she looks like and that you're related?” I asked. Stripes immediately stopped talking and stood there. None of them know about Lazari? So… the people in the cabin can be endangered!

    “Where is the fighting happening? We have to stop it if everyone is in danger from this,” Kit said. 

    “We can’t trust her, stop trying to listen to her!” Stripes said.

    “Stripes is right, if you want to work to betray Zalgo, go ahead, but we will stop you from trying to ruin this for us!” Puppeteer shot back.

    “N-no, I wouldn’t betray Master Z-Z-Zalgo, y-you guys know that!” Kit stuttered. 

    “Just get rid of the girl, we need to stop Slenderman,” Stripes said. Jane tensed up and looked fuming.

    “I said, we aren’t going to harm her. She doesn’t need this,” Jane said. Stripes rolled her eyes and made a hand signal to Puppeteer. He got the message and then took a large rock from the ground. He was already behind Jane and hit her in the head with the large rock, knocking her unconscious. The others turned to me and I knew I had to start running. I just noticed that I didn’t have shoes on and that there were small cuts and splinters in my foot. It hurt to run but I had to. I ran back to the lake since swimming was my strong suit and I could grab the stuff quickly.

    They didn’t run after me for a second, probably because they wanted to taunt me and then run straight for me at full speed since it was easy for them. I took in a large breath of air as I sprinted all the way to the lake. The others were right behind me and about to catch me when I suddenly jumped into the water. They didn’t get in though, it was strange.

    “What are you waiting for, jump in!” Kit yelled.

    “I can’t swim, dummy!” Puppeteer and Stripes said at the same time. The little spell I did on me was off so I was freezing in the water as I swam. I kept my stuff above me as I swam and set it at a dock once I reached it. I started getting the splinters out and once I did, I got up and put on the second layer of clothing. I put my shoes on and started to run around to see where everyone was. Before I could get a few feet from the dock, someone grabbed me from the water and pulled me under. Kit was trying to drown me as she held me down and kept me under. Air bubbles from my mouth rose to the surface as my vision became blurry.

    Everything felt so dark, so cold. I was about to give up all hope to escape from her grasp. A voice raged inside my head. A voice of friends and family, memories of them supporting me and how I supported them. I couldn’t get up though. I wasn’t strong enough.

    My arm moved around until I grabbed the flare gun I had and pointed it straight in her face. I fired the gun as it penetrated her skull and her grip on my neck was gone. She fell over to the other side and I got up fast. The sight made me want to puke. Her face had a hole in the center as blood and small pieces of organs fell out and into the water. Her mask came off but I still couldn’t tell what she looked like from the flare gun's bullet. I grabbed my stuff and went off running so I could stop the fighting when Kit stood up. I turned around and fear took over. Her face was forming back somehow, and she looked just like me.