Can't Say No

Chapter Six

I laughed with glee as I fell from the tree house. Falling midair like this was fun, but I had no intentions of dying. So, I quickly looked around and grabbed the next nearest branch. In one swift movement I was swinging. And then I grabbed another branch. Toby was at the windowsill, just watching. "What are you doing?" He shouted at me. I laughed and dropped to the ground. "Not much. Just having some fun. You should try!" He shakes his head. "No way am I doing something that stupid." I shrug and climb back up. "Suit yourself. For a killer, you're really boring." And I do my stunt all over again. Only I aim higher, so the fun lasts longer. And I drop down, climb back up, and do it all over again. And Toby just watches. I can't see behind his glasses or his mask, so I have no idea what he's thinking. On my fifth attempt, things go a little less than planned. I miss a branch and fall onto the ground, landing on my left leg. "Ow! Damn!" I curse, as my back falls to the ground. "What'd you do?" Toby called from the window. I glare at him. "What do you think?" I say, feeling my leg. "Thank god! I didn't break anything!" I think. Maybe sprained something, but that's nothing. I half walk half hobble to the ladder and climb back up. Despite the pain, I'm still laughing when I flop onto my makeshift bed. Idiocy was funny to me. "What's it feel like?" Asked Toby, who sat beside me for some reason. His voice peeked with interest and curiosity, which seemed odd. "Uh, it hurts." I say, feeling my leg again. I was just making sure nothing was broken, cause the pain was pretty bad. "But what does the pain feel like?" He asked again. I looked over at him. "In description it feels like millions of needles are being injected to my skin. Do you have some problem that makes you obsessed with people's pain?" He playfully punches me. "Don't try me." Rolling my eyes, I say "Answer." He sighs. "I can't fell pain." He says flatly. "That would be an amazing skill to have right now." I think. "Really?" He nods, and his shoulder gives a twitch. "Dude, that's awesome!" He whips his head at me, and I think I said something wrong. "No, it really isn't." I hold my hands up in surrender. "No offense Toby, but it really is. I mean, pain is like hell, so you have a pretty big advantage in life." When he says nothing, I just shrug my shoulders and dig around in my bag. I pull out my Swiss Army knife, and start twirling it in my hands. I've cut my fingers with this bad boy many times, and I started liking the pain of the blade pricking my fingers. "You know, there is a way for you to feel pain." I say blankly. I feel Toby's gaze move from the air to me. "How?" He says in disbelief. "Find the love of your life and get heartbroken. Physical pain is something you can't feel, but you never said emotional pain." He laughs darkly, sending goosebumps down my arms. Yet, I like the feeling. "You're different." Toby says, standing up. Now I laugh. "You haven't noticed?" He holds out a gloved hand. "What?" I ask warily. "I wanna show you something." Arching an eyebrow, I grab hold and stand up. Though my leg protests, I stand straight. "Are you really a killer?" He stares back at me. "You saw what happened." "Fair enough. Where we going?" I ask as we climb down the ladder. "You'll see." Is all Toby says, before taking off down the path. Rolling my eyes, I follow close behind. When Toby runs, or moves at that fact, he's dead silent. The only way I can hear him is by his heartbeat. Even his breathing is silent. So whenever he runs out of my sight, I have to focus my hearing on his heartbeat and follow it's direction. After what seems like an eternity of running, Toby stops in front of a building. "A building?" I ask. My leg is killing me, so I really hope this isn't it. Toby laughs and shakes his head. "Now we climb." "You've gotta be kidding me." He doesn't move, and I have a feeling he's smiling. I look at the fire escape stairs. Sighing, I start climbing. "You should really take off that mask and glasses more often." I yell back at Toby as I start running. "I can never tell what you're feeling and you might get recognized less often." "I doubt that." He yells back. Well, I tried. I climb the stairs higher and higher, until I reached the roof. Toby was right behind me, and I suddenly felt my eyes covered. "Now, no peaking." He said. "Okay, for a killer, you're not that scary. As I've already established." Toby pushes me forward. "One wrong word and off the roof you'll go." He warns. I scoff, but keep my mouth shut. He pushes me forward, turns me slightly, the removes his hands. "Whoa..." I breathe. The city was sprawled out in front of my eyes, and it was a pretty sick view. "Found this a couple months ago, thought you'd like it." Toby says beside me. "Oh, so you were thinking of me." I tease. I can clearly see his cheeks flush red. "Just enjoy the view." I laugh, but I do enjoy the view. It was breathtaking, how much of the city you could see. I could see the beach, I could see the arcade, and I could see the woods surrounding my whole town. I loved it. "I'm coming here on July fourth!" I declare. Toby chuckles. "If you survive that long." He jokes. "Please, my adoptive father scared me more than you. For the first five months of me living with him." We both laugh at this. For a killer, an insane killer at that, Toby is one cool kid. As we walk down the fire escape, I can't help but notice him looking around. "See something?" I ask. "Maybe..." I tune my hearing to around us as we stop on the street. Something seemed...off. Everything was quiet, and no one was around. Which was weird, as it was late morning, around lunch. I couldn't even spot the hobos that lived in the dumpsters. And then I heard it. Radios. "Toby, wait." I say, grabbing onto his sleeve as he tries to walk away. "What?" He asks. I listen closer, and hear many voices over the radio. It was a police radio. And one thing caught my attention. "Toby in shooting range. Missing girl with him, we suspect she's a hostage." Oh god. "Toby, run. To the tree house. I'm going through town. Whatever you do, don't turn around, got it?" He looks at me, then nods and takes off to the woods. Once he's out of sight I yell "I'm the missing girl! Right here! Help, he's got me!" And I start running. I was hoping they thought Toby was running off to get something and was now chasing me. Sure enough, I hear sirens speeding after me. "I have to ditch these guys before doubling back." So I ran down an alley way and onto another street. But more cops were there too. "Crap!" I scrambled to another alley, but it was a dead end. Before I knew it, I was pinned to the ground by two officers. "Don't hurt her." One said. "We only need to bring her to the station." Soon I was sitting in the backseat of a police car, being driven to the station. "This is not what I had planned. I hope Toby got away okay."