ʚMy Strange Friendɞ

21○𓂅Catch Up.

☁︎☁︎

It was free time so Toby grabbed a sleeveless turtleneck along with baggy joggers from the draw closest to his bed and walked into the changing rooms, he thought it was a good idea to get used to the woods and probably check out the routes as the woods was going to change once in a while, everyone else seemed to know the ways and he felt left out of sharing this knowledge.

The woods were cold and of course, it was different, the trees were bigger and the ferns were smaller. Toby thought about the last time he saw his mother,
had I overreacted?
It's something that's been on his mind for a bit because of a dream he had, Toby shook his head, he was supposed to be adapting to his new lifestyle and not thinking about the past.

He followed the stone path until there was a gate that opened to an empty clearing of the woods, with no flowers, fewer trees and logs that were growing fungi and soft green moss.

The place was quite pretty, hopefully, the next time he comes here he can bring lunch and just relax, maybe he'd check the rules on the wall to see if that was allowed.
He'd first have to recognise the patterns of the shifting woods and how many days it'll last before it changes again, maybe he can even watch that happen.

A few voices echoed through the woods and Toby pondered the idea of checking it out yet wasn't sure if that was allowed, yet he felt rebellious and decided to check it out, he'd just have to stay out of sight.

He crept through the shadows making sure to stay hidden behind trees and bushes, he'd occasionally peer out yet saw no one, 'how far could they possibly be?'

He travelled further and finally saw two shadow figures walking into the woods, they were similar in size, he focused harder and they were most definitely twins, a girl and a boy. Seeing them reminded him of Lyra, he hadn't talked to her since their reunion. He remembered that Lyra had made a harmless joke about him liking Jack and it confused yet also flustered him.

Toby wasn't sure if he had feelings for the other but it messed with his head, he knew him well but he didn't know him long enough.

To be fair he didn't know any of his friends for that long, he knew Tim for eight days at its best. He had been living in this mansion for five days now and it was chaotic, it was mixed with the sweetest and the most fucked up people he had ever met in his life that was way worse form the ones at school and worse than the ones he had met at the institution, and that was saying a lot.

He decided to head back to the Uplands and made his way back slyly while making sure to not be caught, he passed the gates and dragged his hands across them, the wood was smooth yet the metal was rusted, the woods made him think a lot,
'Could humans get into the Uplands?'
'What if they saw it shift?'

Maybe he'd figure it all out one day, he decided not to rush things and let things fall into place, he had his whole life to figure this all out, literally.

While walking he spotted Lyra sitting on a bench, she turned to face him and gave the space beside her a pat, offering Toby to sit beside her.
He walked up and rolled his eyes playfully and Lyra dragged his arms down in a forceful way to sit him down.

She combed her hair with her hands as she crossed her legs.

"How are you, how do you feel about living here?"
she asked politely, her arms sat on her lap and wore a soft smile. Toby thought about it, he had a few arguments with certain residents due to him not knowing the rules, how was he supposed to know that there was a curfew at 10?
"The rules suck, some people suck and the mansion sucks," he confessed and he groaned.
"Bloody Painter most definitely hates me," he muttered as he hid his face in his face.

"Oh I totally understand, people here can be dicks but you'll get used to it," she said.
It was obvious she was used to living like this, she came at such a young age that this must all seem like a normal childhood,
I wish I had a normal childhood.
Toby sighed, he wished that he could've been a somewhat normal kid, not a murderer and not someone who enjoys taking life's from others.
'So that's why Tim got upset, I felt nothing.'
He finally figured out Tim's sudden dryness.
'Maybe I am a monster.'

"Toby, Toby?" Lyra called out, her voice laced with worry and concern. "Huh?" he asked, he felt tired and his body felt weak.
"I think I should go," he whispered as he got up using the table as support.

He wandered the hall for Tim, he needed to apologise for what he had said, though it wasn't his fault, it wasn't something he would be able to change about himself.

He found Tim sitting in the canteen talking to Brian and Bloody Painter,
yikes.

He softly padded over to the three trying his hardest to not made much noise.
As soon as he was met with the others back he decided to make this quick and easy and tapped Tim's shoulder.

Tim turned around and instantly understood, he followed behind to a more quiet and vacant part of the hall. "I'm assuming you figured out what you said was wrong," Tim spoke as his arms crossed, Toby didn't feel like responding and pulled the other into a tight hug, Tim paused to think before returning it.
"Friends?" he asked, Toby, smiled. "Friends."

Sorry, this was short and bad but I wanted to post and I wasn't very motivated. :')