:Ticci Toby:{A Rewrite}

20

That night passed, and so did another week, and another. It was now summer break for the kids who did go to school, but for Toby, he was sitting in Lyra's room in a chair. She sat next to him, reading from a textbook and helping him with basic algebra. This was their excuse for homeschooling. Lyra stayed home with Toby all day everyday. Their parents usually weren't home during the day, however their dad would show up occasionally to grab stuff from the fridge, just to leave again soon after. The two would have to be very quiet when those times arose.

And when their parents were home, they would bicker constantly downstairs. Lyra would have to teach her brother while they both wore headphones to block out the yelling they'd hear.

Toby was learning but it was still hard to stay focused, having those same delusions over and over, he even started to hear things coming from his pillows, his closet, and behind closed doors. Yet when he checked, nothing.

It was around 2 AM, Toby was fast asleep for once. This sleep didn't last long however, someone shook him awake. It was Lyra, speaking out in a worried tone, she had been crying.

"Toby, Toby get up, i think he's hitting her." Lyra sniffled out between sobs. Toby shot up, leaving his room. Lyra kept a small distance but tagged along quickly, kinda worried about her brother's anger.

Just as assumed, his father had his wife by the hair. He had her against the wall, tears in her eyes.
She was the first to notice Toby coming up behind the man.

"Toby don't!" The woman yelled out.

That's when everything broke out. To keep it short, Toby threw multiple punches, only giving the man a fractured nose and even knocked one of his teeth out.
The two would constantly switch for the upper hand, the man was drunk so Toby took advantage of it.
Lyra even got involved, also trying to pull her dad off of her brother at times, but this resulted in him shoving her violently against a table. She hit her back on the side of it.

Toby saw this, lashing out in anger. He threw vital blows at his dad's throat, yelling that he needed to leave.

Both his mom and Lyra were trying to help each other, both were now pretty bruised up.
They were all pretty much screaming at the man to stop, but he didn't, he didn't know when to stop. Neither did Toby.

The fight seemed endless, from Toby being woken up from dead sleep, to the drunkard. Both were pretty groggy. Finally, Toby fought off his dad, causing the man to storm out angrily, getting into the car and driving off.
The tires squealed loudly as the vehicle disappeared down the road.

Was he finally gone?

They all thought. They all hoped.

At this point, Toby was half conscious himself, having to sit down on the couch to gain his full lucidity back. Both his mom and Lyra joined him, trying to calm eachother down. All Toby could do was apologize for how violent he got.
He really couldn't control how he reacted.

He didn't care if he got hurt, but when the man laid hands on his sister, he blacked out in anger.

"Warum muss das leben so schwer sein?'' ''Andere haben es so einfach." Toby would ask himself, later that night. He made sure that his family was asleep and safe. Toby was sitting on the porch, watching for a car to pull into the driveway. He didn't want that man coming back.

By that point Toby was almost completely fluent in German, but never used it much. Occasionally he would find himself accidentally mumbling to himself in it.

"Ich bin wirklich verflucht…" Toby added, still wiping dried blood from his beaten face. That was probably one of the most violent fights he's ever gotten into. It beat the one he had at school months ago..

His knuckles were all bruised up again and the bandage on his face also stained with blood from his cheek.
It must've opened up more wounds.

The wind was strong, it wasn't like that an hour ago. Toby just had this feeling, this paranoid feeling. He knew it was here to visit him.
Toby glanced across the street to the forest, the trees stood taller than usual. Just another delusion, he thought.

Deep in the trees, he could see it. A silhouette of a perfectly tied noose hanging peacefully from a branch.

Toby stared, keeping his gaze upon it, while in the street stood the tall creature.

The boy finally noticed it. He saw its lanky fingers reaching out.
Toby just turned his head, ignoring it.

"刀口れ'匕 乃モ ㄥ工Ｋモ 匕卄丹匕,
匚卄工ㄥ刀. "

The distorted voice echoed through his head.
Toby hugged himself tightly, keeping his gaze away.
"What do you want from me? Can you j-just say it? Is it my life? My sanity? You a-already took those three kids, you're not taking me too.."
Angry tics left his body. He was still trying to stay calm after what just happened.

In the blink of an eye, the creature was gone, the noose was gone.
Toby felt relief flood over him, but it mixed with guilt. He didn't want to be rude, but he couldn't trust it.

It was a demon after all.

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