Praying for a sinner || Ticci Toby x Reader

☾🌧 | Chapter 6 | 🌧☽

Devastating news in the riverside today. Parents of the missing student y/n y/l/n were found deceased in their home this morning. Their neighbour had reported her concern after she could hear their car running almost all through the night. Police are saying that the older couple took their own lives last night in their garage. Police came to this conclusion after finding a note. Unable to handle the loss of their missing daughter the couple decided that together they would go. The neighbourhood of Riverside mourns alongside each other in the devasting losses that have shaken our community in the last week. If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out or call our mental health hotline. Thank you and goodnight.

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YOUR POV

The night did not pass peacefully. I couldn't remember what time it was but at some point, I woke screaming and in a sweat. I couldn't hear anything over the strange numbness in my ears, almost like there was a sheet of cotton around my mind muffling everything. I remember Toby jumping awake, he said something, but I couldn't hear it... and then I threw up. Before I could really process how or why, I was on the bathroom floor. Heaving into the toilet. I spent the majority of the night throwing up nothing into the cold porcelain. I didn't have much in my stomach to begin with and now I was just throwing up stomach acid and water. Water, that to my surprise Toby kept getting for me. He remained there, in various spots around the bathroom as the night went on. In the doorway. Leaning against the sink. Sitting on the edge of the bathtub. At one point I think he even held my hair back and ran his fingers up my spine. Though it's all very blurry. My mind flashes and focuses on everything terrifying about the last several days. My friend's blood on me. Their faces... I couldn't handle it. I thought about that fucking creature out in the woods, the way its skin clung to the bone, its disgustingly long features. Its screech plays in my mind over and over again. Then... that thing that tall, insidious, thing. Its voice haunts me. That static feeling is so intense that I can still feel it linger throughout my entire body, it feels like a violation to my senses. Like I could run for weeks and still not be far enough away from it.

At some point, I must have finally just pushed myself to exhaustion. The afternoon sun beamed in through the window, and I blinked a few times, my throat burned, and my head pounded. It was the most intense migraine I've ever had. I slowly sat up, my hand running up over my face and into my hair. My brows furrowed as I felt a softness under me, I looked down, seeing my pillow on the floor, but I'm not on the floor with it. I'm in a bed. I'm in Toby's bed. I look around, he's not in here? I slowly kick my legs over the side of the bed, my feet planting softly on the floor. That's weird.... no rattle, no cold metal around my ankle. Did he forget? No that's not right... he never forgets. I stand up slowly, my head throbbing. I take a few steps towards the door and listen for any sounds, but there's nothing. It's all just... silent. I open the door and start moving down the hallway, there isn't a single sound. Have I finally gone deaf? I click my fingers, the noise bounces off the walls of the deathly silent hallway. Nope, not deaf.

After an embarrassing amount of time, I navigate the hallways and end up at the top of the stairs, still nothing. Not a single sound besides my own footsteps and breathing, I walk down the stairs, my brows furrowed, and looking around constantly. Not even any of those servants are here. No one in the dining hall. No one in the large living area. I end up in the kitchen and still.... nothing. What the fuck? Is this some sort of test? Is this the kind of thing where if I run, they'll all jump out and slaughter me? Or... have they all just gone about their lives and I can make an escape? With that thought I don't waste another second, my migraine momentarily forgotten. My feet move quickly but quietly, and I scan almost everything that's in my line of sight. I get a few feet away from the enormous front doors and take a shallow breath. The doors open, but not from my hand. I stand frozen for a moment, my eyes slightly wide. Time feels as though it has slowed and after what feels like an eternity, Toby steps inside. My heart rate quickens. He is definitely going to fucking kill me. But he doesn't... Instead, he almost takes a sharp breath, his brows are furrowed in almost a confusion, but I can tell there's something else there. My eyes flick down to his hand, he's carrying a grocery bag. My heart skips a beat as I read the name on the bag. Pierre's. My towns local grocer, there's a small warmth that fills my chest for a moment before my eyes flick back to his, and that feeling is immediately squashed. Something isn't right...