Up The Ladder

Memories

The metallic taste in his mouth made him double over once again, but Brian quickly stepped in and checked his pulse. "Hey, hey you okay now?" The man questioned and placed his hands on Toby's shoulders, "Here, you should take a sit" Jeffrey pulled over an old wood chair, his face devoid of emotions and completely unreadable.

"Now you understand what's happening?" Tim insisted once again, and this time Jeff admitted that there was actually no more options.

"Who is it that is trying to kill him? because I swear to god, if it's just a basic-", the scarred man was interrupted by Toby, "The puppeteer is hun-hunting me, he didn't kill-ill me the first time so it seems like-, ...he just wants to tor-rment me to de-dead" His neck jolted intensely to the side mid sentence, cutting him off.

It was getting late, and Toby was getting weaker second by second. Tim disappeared to a room, leaving the other men alone. "Where can we stay?" Brian asked, "We will share the room, there's no problem with that." he clarified, hoping to make Jeff more comfortable.

Tim reappeared with a wet cloth, cleaning the mess on the floor and disposing it on the plastic bag he had on his other hand. The owner of the house stood silent, lost in his mind.

"Y'all will take the basement and will be under my circumstances, remember this is my home." He spoke devoid of emotions, just making clear that his house should not be disturbed. "You can go settle in, I really don't care, and if there's mess just clean it up." Jeffrey finished and retreated to his room upstairs, closing and locking the door.

Toby gave himself the goal to make it until they can completely settle in and succumb to his tiredness. Which is extremely unknown regardless of his almost supernatural stamina and endurance, his mind already sending him warning signs that maybe the puppeteer did actually hurt him in some way. His thoughts completely vanished when his head hit the uncomfortable stiff pillow.

He was bolting through the woods again, the same moment from earlier on the day, but instead of being forcefully knocked out he slammed against something, or someone.

He fell backwards, succumbing through an almost liquid blackness, gulping lungs of breath, but still feeling asphyxiated. Paranoia and horror quickly took a grasp of his body
and made a blood-curling scream come out of him.

Flashes of crime scenes appeared in his mind. He identified the people, the light was taken out of their eyes by his own hands. All his victims screams mixing, impossible to distinguish between theirs and his.

Dullness quickly soothed him, all the poisonous horrible feelings from before disappearing. Then, memories of his family unsurprisingly made their way into his subconscious, but before he could comprehend such illusions, a very familiar silhouette with golden eyes wandered the images that his mind produced.

Just in that moment he could feel his body go into shock. He lunged with a shout of terror to the hand that pressed into his shoulder, driving the person to the ground and punching them straight in the jaw. He could make out a groan from all the sounds his ears were trying to reach as well as process, still blowing his fist to attack.

The painless penetration on his thigh of a blade caused him to abruptly exit his violent state, taking in what was happening. "There you are...Hi, Welcome back, earth to Rogers." Brian lied below him, split lip bleeding profoundly. The man didn't seem upset, just tired and probably tense of the drill, but still cautious from the moment prior.

Toby shakily stood up, lending a hand to the taller man which flinched at the action, still weary of the brunette. "They'll kill m-m-" He begins shaking and whispering, an almost wail forming with his words as his thoughts start
escaping his quivering lips. His wrists are roughly grasped and tugged, pulling him closer to Brian as a gloved hand covered his mouth. "Don't you fucking dare finish that sentence." He hissed into Toby's ear, his gaze roaming through their surroundings, as if expecting something to jump out of the bushes.