COMMUNICATIONS jumbled

【Storyteller Encounter 2】

A Bandaged person walked silently behind them. They dragged a noose behind them, trying to hold back their laughter.

Whenever the two looked behind them, they hid somewhere where they couldn't be seen.

When Bri and Avery found their way back home, that's when they struck.

They slung the noose around Avery's neck, pulling her close. She screamed and cried out, trying to tear at the rope.

Bri ran back. "Hey, let go!!" They shouted, trying to get the noose off of their girlfriend.

"You know, I don't think I will..." The person said, pulling tighter. Avery shrieked in pain. And they chuckled a bit.

"God, I sure am getting a reaction out of you..." They laughed.

"Stop it!" Bri yelled, their voice cracking. They pulled back at the rope.

Avery was panicking at this point, struggling to breathe between her girlfriend's fingers and the the bandaged person's rope.

Without progressing in the freedom of their girlfriend, Bri grabbed their house key. They quickly unlocked the door and ran to get something.

A knife.

Bri ran out the house, pried their fingers between Avery and the rope, and began slicing. Avery's screams grew louder, terrified that she'd get cut. But Bri successfully (and harmlessly) cut the rope off. Bri threw the knife and pulled Avery close.

Avery sobbed into their arms.

"It's okay..." Bri whispered softly.

It wasn't okay.

Because the bandaged person grabbed the knife and stabbed Bri in the back.

Bri yelped in agony, collapsing onto their knees.

"NO!!!" Avery shouted, and tackled the person. They still had the knife, and tried slitting her throat. But she firmly grabbed their wrist.

"How fucking dare you stab my girlfriend!" Avery scolded, her grip tightening.

"That wasn't my intention..." They said casually.

"Then why did you do it? What on God's green earth compelled you?" Avery demanded, twisting their arm a bit.

"Like I said, that wasn't my intention. I was planning on hurting you, not them..." Their voice was still casual and they remained calm.

"Wh-why...?" Avery twisted their arm mo

"Oh, don't worry about that," They said. They shoved Avery off them and stood back up. They threw the knife at Bri, and it landed straight between their legs. Bri shrieked in fear, but sighed in relief when they saw it in between their legs.

"I'll be on my way now. Ta ta~" the bandaged person said playfully before dashing away.

Avery came up to Bri again and let herself cry once more. Bri hugged her back tightly, letting tears fall into her shoulder.

They felt safe together, and that's the way they wanted it to be.

"Are you okay, babe?" Avery asked through her tears.

"Yeah," Bri responded. They kept their hands together and their fingers intertwined.

"I was scared for you..." Avery breathed a shaky breath.

"I'm okay, love. And besides, it's not the worst pain I've ever felt in my life," Bri joked, pointing at their twisted back.

The two laughed. "Sorry, I shouldn't laugh," Avery apologized after.

"Don't be. It's funny," Bri reassured.

"Oh, it's not..." Avery said, chuckling a bit.

"It is. And it's rare. It's, like, the second recorded case of this," Bri laughed.

Avery laughed too. "Thanks for saving me, babe."

"No problem," Bri said quietly. They planted a kiss in Avery's lips.

××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××

"You guyysssssss," Evelynn whined, "We didn't kill theeeeeeeemmmmmm."

"We couldn't," Ray said, sadly as if to sympathize with Evelynn. "That Avery kid is much tougher than I anticipated..." They tossed their gloves away and sat down at the round table, lighting a cigarette.

"But we sure did get a reaction out of them," They said next after billowing smoke from their mouth.

"You can say that again," Evelynn said, crossing their legs.

Nathan laughed along. "Ah, who should we target next?"

"I was thinking that one woman. What was her name..." Ray looked down, trying to remember. They snapped their fingers. "Frances!" They exclaimed and pointed at Evelynn. "You know, Henry's mother?"

"Oh, yeah!" Evelynn said, remembering too. "Oh, yeah..." They said again, more mischievously than the last.

"I think she'll be an easy target, to say the least," Nathan said, running their fingers through their hair. They straightened their hoodie and let their hair fall over their eyes again.

"I agree," Evelynn said.

"Same..." Ray said too, before letting themself laugh out loud. The other two joined as if it were a ritual between the three. And it may as well be.

After their laughing fit, Nathan said, "Okay, I'm gonna go outside. See if those two lovebirds are still out there." And with that, they left the house.

When they got out, they saw that the two were indeed still out there, kissing away. Nathan stared them down, not fearing that they'd see them.

Eventually, they did leave, and Nathan laughed a bit at them.