Forgiveness

Chapter 2

A few weeks passed until our next encounter. Our friend Jay was strolling through Rosswood Park on his own, looking for clues as to the whereabouts of that girl I tried to save from Kralie.

I followed closely enough behind Jay to see him at all times, but far enough, so I wasn’t easily spotted, keeping out of sight as best as I could. He seemed to be headed towards the shack in the woods, the last place she was seen. I don’t know exactly what happened after I had bought her time by fighting Kralie, but based on what I knew, it’s quite probable she’s dead.

A rustling in the underbrush took my attention away from Jay briefly. A very familiar masked figure stepped out of a few particularly thick bushes, hair disheveled and full of little twigs and leaves.

“And so, we meet again.” I sighed, this time trying to concentrate on my task and thus focused on Jay again in spite of the unwanted guest. As I kept following him, the Masked Man stayed by my side. For a while, I simply ignored him, but then I had enough.

“Listen, I don’t want to be rude, but what are you doing here?”

He looks at me, expression unreadable due to the mask that covers his face. “Same thing as you, buddy. Keeping an eye out for him.”

He nodded in Jay’s direction, and I sighed again. I was beginning to get the feeling, that it had a twisted sense of humor, making me run across the Masked Man again and again. I knew, it was only the second time since what had happened at Benedict Hall, but I didn’t think it was going to be the last time. I didn’t like it one bit, considering our history, but it was pretty clear it wanted us to work together again.

We walked in silence until Jay left the woods, having found nothing of interest, and made his way back to the parking lot. We stayed behind, watching him drive off. As soon as the car was out of sight I turned away from the Masked Man and began walking away - my job was done here - but he grabbed me by the back of my hoodie, forcing me to stay.

“Nu-uh. You’re going to stay here a little longer. We have to talk…” Again, he paused at the end of the sentence as if wanting to say something. Due to his hand still holding onto the yellowish fabric of my hoodie, I had no choice but to comply.

“Fine. Talk.”

“I want to apologize for leaving you back then. I know, it wasn’t quite me, but still. Both of us – Tim and I – regret not helping. But I want to go back to how it was before that happened. Remember the time we beat up Kralie together? I want us to be friends again.” He seemed very sincere and almost desperate about it, and a part of me couldn’t help but also long for that time.

“It’s not that easy. You can’t just say sorry for that; no matter how much you regret it, it isn’t enough. You - your alter ego - literally left me there to die, not even checking if I was alive. Instead, he stole one of my tapes. That’s not something easily forgivable.” I answered.

I didn’t know if I could ever trust him again, even though that small part of me nagged me to give in, to accept the apology.

“I know. And I don’t know how I can ever make it up to you, but I promise I will if you just give me one more chance. I won’t let you down. Never again.” He was almost begging by now; it wouldn’t have been surprising if he got down on his knees next.

I didn’t say anything. I wouldn’t know what to answer anyways. It sounded too good to be true, so there had to be a catch, right? Or could it really just be an old friend, desperate to go back to how things had been before?

His shoulders slumped, but he gave it one last try: „Please, Hoods.”

At that moment I broke. I gave in. He hadn’t used that name for years. It was his pet name for me, a sign of our friendship and his affection for me. I couldn’t say no, not if he called me Hoods.

“Okay. I’ll give you another chance. But I don’t know if things can ever be the same again.”

The Masked Man seemed relieved, happy even. “Oh, thank you thank you thank you!” He paused, pondering. Then:

“Can I hug you?”

I sighed. “Sure.”

I wasn’t even completely done speaking, when he put his arms around me, trapping me in a crushing embrace that squeezed the air out of my lungs. He was holding on to me like a drowning man holding onto a lifeline. “Can’t… Breathe.” I managed to say, finally.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Hoods. Guess, I got a bit carried away just now. I’m just so happy to have you back.”

There it was again, the pet name. A warmth flooded through my body as I heard it. It felt like the old days; even more, it felt like home. Still, I wasn’t able to call him by his pet name so I instead settled for the name we agreed upon for him: “It’s okay, Masky.”