the killer's obsession | the whistling man

On the Road Again

You woke up in the backseat, your lungs heavy in your chest all of a sudden as sweat covered your head.

You sat up, taking a few deep breaths until you felt you could breathe normally again.

When you could and you stopped seeing spots in your vision, you looked around.

The car was empty and parked.

"Henry?" You asked, looking in the backseat too just to see all your stuff.

You get out of the car, observing your surroundings before seeing you were in the parking lot of a hotel.

And just as you were about to walk in, Henry walked out with a key with a number on it.

"Henry, what are you doing?" You ask when he's within distance and he sees you.

"I got us a room so you can get a full nights sleep." He tells you, handing you the keys.

"Bed or not, I'm not sleeping normal until Peggy's in the ground." You sighed, looking at the key.

"Fair enough. But it beats sleeping in a cramped car for a change so let's lay low here for a while." Henry said, taking his bag and yours from the trunk.

You followed after him into the building dejectedly, your nightmares still on the back of your eyelids every time you blinked.

The way the knife felt driving into you, just barely scraping against one of your ribs, the white hot searing pain taking over your whole body as you slowly and painfully lost control.

It was driving you insane by the second.

Once in the room, you tossed your things into a spot as Henry took a much needed seat on the bed, laying back as he sighed.

"I needed this." He said before noticing your silence. He looked up, watching as you examined the parking lot from the window, parting the blinds with your fingers.

"Hey," He said getting your attention before you turned to him. "No one followed us. It's gonna be—"

"Henry, no offense or anything but you're one of the last people who should be saying everything's gonna be okay, okay?" You snapped, turning your glare out the window again.

Henry was caught off guard by your tone, sitting up.

"Why's that?" He questioned.

"She's your aunt, Henry, and she's not out to get you because she found it thrilling scarring you for life by driving a knife into you." You said and as if it were listening, you felt your aged scar throb before you put a hand over it.

Henry stood up now, walking around the bed to come up to you.

But when one of his hands found your shoulder and you flinched he backed off.

"Are you... you're not afraid of me, right?" He asks carefully.

"No. It's your fucked up family I'm worried about." You crossed your arms.

Henry turned you around so he could look at you.

"I made sure to put Marie in the ground, I'll do the same with Peggy." He said to you, looking into your eyes without showing a hint of doubt or hesitation making you tense up.

"You... you killed Marie..." You felt yourself tremble, remembering spotting a small grotesque detail in the paper one time but not wanting to mention it to Henry. "Henry, you... you chopped off her head."

"I did it to protect you." He held your hands, bringing them up to his lips to kiss your fingers.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" You ask, shaking your head in disbelief.

"I... I didn't want you to think I wanted to hurt you too. I'd never hurt a hair on your head. I'd do anything and everything in my power to protect you." His eyes never left yours, his hands coming up to gently caress your face with his thumbs.

"Please, I—" You forced yourself to step back against the window before you looked up at him with understanding eyes. "I just need a minute to process this..."

Henry nodded, putting his hands at his sides.

"Okay. If you need anything, I'll be down the hall getting a drink, there's some vending machines to the right near the stairs." He told you making you nod before turning back to the window and biting your thumbnail anxiously.

Henry took his leave shortly after, gently shutting the door.

Once he had, you turned and grabbed the nightstand beside you before flipping it over with a pained grunt of effort.

Henry heard the commotion but fighting back the urge to turn around he walked down the hall to get you both a soda.

Giving Peggy just enough time to sneak up to the open door and creep inside.

Wearing the same mask her sister and nephew wore almost a year ago along with a long tattered coat, she shut the door earning your attention.

"Wow. You don't think that's at all insensitive right now, Henry?" You asked, huffing as you looked down at the mess you made. "Since you wanna play dress up, you wanna help me clean this up too?"

Peggy just shook her masked head, taking out a fishing knife, spinning it in her hand.

You stepped back knowing Henry wouldn't go this far when it came to pulling jokes on you.

"Henry...?" The horror in your eyes made Peggy begin to walk closer, her sharp knife scrapping against the wall giving you flashbacks strong enough to knock you to the floor.

You crawled back, your lungs feeling like they were getting smaller and smaller as your chest heaved for air from your panic.

Your back was soon against the sliding glass door leading to the balcony however, leaving you with nowhere to go as you watched Peggy drew near, the painful memories of your first wound coming back to you with every step she took towards you.

"Oh yeah, I'm gonna enjoy this..." Peggy said, her voice dark and sinister under her mask as she raised her blade and grabbed you by the shirt.

But just before she could bring the blade down into you, the door slammed open.

Peggy spun her head around to look before she's tackled sending her and her attacker through the glass door as you ducked and covered your head.

Having her against the railing now, Henry began punching her.

She grabbed his arm, elbowing him with hers before kicking off him and sending herself backwards.

Over the railing.

And down about eight stories.

Peggy landed on the vehicle, caving the roof in and causing the alarm to go off immediately.

Getting up, carefully avoiding the broken glass, you joined Henry on the balcony, looking down to see Peggy unconscious on the vehicle.

"Are you okay? Did she hurt you?" Henry was immediately turned to you, looking you over for any injuries before you shook your head.

"I'm okay. I'm okay...." You panted, hugging him in relief.

But upon pulling away, you both looked down again to see Peggy was gone and the owner of the vehicle was outside crying about his car.

"We should leave." Henry suggested and you nodded, both of you grabbing your things and turning in the key.