𝙃𝘼𝙉𝘿𝙋𝙍𝙄𝙉𝙏𝙎 𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝙎𝘾𝙍𝙄𝘽𝘽𝙇𝙀𝘿 𝙒𝙊𝙍𝘿𝙎; 𝙃𝙊𝙊𝘿𝙔

Chapter 14

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" I harshly swore under my breath as I looked around. "Where do I go and how do I find Stacy?" I asked myself as my flashlight landed on a new figure I'd never seen before. I jumped a little, stumbling back a few steps. Fear crawled its way under my skin, my fight or flight instincts kicking in. My body froze as my foot faced the other way, ready to run at any moment. I scanned their body and clothing, eyes stinging a bit.

They wore a dark tan-colored jacket with a matching hat. Black pants and boots were barely visible in the beam of light. Their white mask stood out with the slightest hint of eyes peeking through eye holes and black markings to symbolize a skull.

A distorted voice scraped at my ears as they began to speak. "You Starlight?" My body calmed just slightly as I lowered my flashlight a little.

At first, I wanted to deny it and say I wasn't, but Hoody's voice in the back of my head reminded me of my nickname and basically told me it was okay to trust them. "I am. Who are you?"

"Skully."

My eyes widened as I remembered when Hoody briefly mentioned them. "The combined spirit of all of those who died to it, right?" Skully tilted their head, seemingly confused before their eyes seemed to light up as their head moved back into its position.

"That is us. Please, follow along."

I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I just couldn't. I knew it was okay to trust them, but I had to be weary. "Where will you be taking me?"

"Brian."

It took me a second to realize what they were implying before I hesitated. It's okay, you can trust them. I told myself before making my way to them, body tense.

"Are you worried? Scared?"

"A little, but I am in a dark forest with a decently unknown person and a-" A hand stopped me from saying anything more as Skully looked around.

"Don't."

"What?"

"That only attracts more."

Staring at them blankly, it took me a minute before I realized they were talking about the Operator. I nodded and they removed their hand from my face. The fact that everything was dead silent and dark set off multiple alarms in my head. "How do you deal with the dead silence?"

They glanced back at me, their feet moving a little clumsily, yet steady as they walked in front of me. "Clear head."

"When you think, are your thoughts loud?"

"Extremely. There is more than Jay."

It made sense and I felt a little bad for them. "I can't imagine what that's like, but I bet it sucks. Sorry you have to deal with that."

"You are fine. We have one shared goal."

"May I ask what it is?"

"Defeat." There was a silent 'the Operator' after the sentence.

"I'll try and help in any way I can, as long as Hoody's okay with it." They nodded and we fell into silence.

It took a while of paranoid walking and silence before we reached the barn from when Hoody had kidnapped me before. Quiet shuffling was heard inside and the barn doors slowly opened up. The sight of that familiar yellow hoodie almost made me tear up in relief. I was finally somewhere decently safe.

He ignored Skully to stare at me instead. "Why are you here?"

"I-"

"Inside. Nearby, yet far." Hoody stepped aside, letting us in. Skully went inside first and immediately headed toward the stairs. I followed them, nodding my head at Hoody, who only let out a small huff.

The three of us sat down once at Hoody's station. He sat on his mattress with Skully and me in front of him. "Explain everything." I could feel nerves swell in my gut at his serious tone, his eyes behind his mask, staring me down.

"My friend Stacy asked me to go on a walk, so I said yes because why wouldn't I, and then she brought me here. I told her I wasn't comfortable going into the woods, but she insisted and I gave in because I knew she wasn't gonna give up. After a while of walking, she kinda just stopped and I tried to get her attention, but she didn't respond other than just taking off running. I took off after her, but she was too fast and at some point, I saw it out of the corner of my eye, which caused me to trip, and then Skully just appeared out of nowhere and convinced me to follow them. Oh, and while walking along the trail, Stacy seemed off, like she wasn't her usual, preppy self."

It was the briefest, most information-filled explanation I could come up with. Hoody sighed and rubbed his covered temples with gloved hands. "Skully, how'd you know to find her?" He turned his covered face to the being beside me.

"I saw her alone and 'Hoody' on her neck, so I brought her to you."

He stood, heaving a sigh. "We need to get you out of here. The last time you were out here, you were out too long and got marked. After the mark...you'll find out."