(Don't) Go To Sleep

Hunting

I hadn't slept that night, just out of fear. Instead I sat in the basement wrapped up in a blanket holding a steaming cup of hot chocolate that I was not planning on drinking. Masky sat to the right of me and Smiledog to the left. Ben and Cherry were sat on another sofa watching me with concern. I had sobered up enough that the awful scenes from earlier repeated in my head. I nearly died. I felt like I should still be sobbing uncontrollably but I wasn't. In fact, I was starting to not care. One day I would probably joke about what had happened. Probably. 'Wanna play a game?' Masky asked. I knew what he was doing, trying to distract me but hey, a distraction wouldn't be a bad thing right now. I nodded, trying to focus on something other than the feeling of falling. I helped Masky start up Mario Party and once I got into it, I felt a little better. Obviously Ben was immediately in the lead but he helped Cherry quite a lot along the way. I wondered if Ben liked Cherry but the girl back in the video game made me reconsider. I wasn't really close enough to Ben to talk about anything like that with him. We played Mario until Toby came down the stairs and said, 'Slenderman needs all of you upstairs now.' Then he left just as quickly as he had come. We paused the game and followed him, puzzled yet curious. The kitchen was very crowded and towering over everyone was Slenderman. Once the conversation had slowed and eventually stopped, Slenderman cleared his throat and his spirit-like voice boomed through the air. 'I have a hunt mission for you all,' he started. I wondered how someone with no mouth was able to be so loud. I could hear the authority in his voice and none of the pastas here would cross him, that I knew. 'As you have probably noticed, we are running low on supplies... Also enough money to get the supplies. As well as your usual practice on hunts I need you to raid for supplies and money. You are to go in groups.' Slenderman announced the groups, they were mainly groups of three and four. '-and finally Jane, Masky and Jeff.' My jaw dropped. 'You have got to be kidding me,' I muttered under my breath. The rest of the room were either silently laughing at me or silently praying for me. Maybe both. 'I got the pretty one,' Jeff whispered and wrapped his arm discreetly around my waist and I flinched. His arm was warm and felt like home... But of course I wouldn't let myself think like that. For some reason though, my body didn't move away and my mind wouldn't allow me to. Then his arm was moved with the rest of him when Masky pulled him away from me aggressively. 'Don't you touch her again,' Masky growled. If I thought the room was quiet before then I had no idea what this was. Hearing a pin drop would sound like dropping a metal football. All the attention in the room was just on Masky and Jeff. Jeff was smirking, his chelsea grin was just taunting Masky further and Masky... Well, I didn't know this side of Masky. God give me strength, I am not going to be able to go through tonight with one of those tearing the other to shreds, I groaned internally as they both started to argue loudly. Everyone seemed relieved when Toby stood between them and said, 'W-will you two behave like you're about to go on an important hunt and not argue like pre-schoolers?' That shut them up.

'Will you two just give it a rest for at least a minute?' I groaned. Five minutes into the hunt and they were already bickering. The cover of the night wasn't going to hide us if they were going to wake up every house we walked by. They both stopped arguing and glared at each other. Honestly, just when I thought they were going to get on. We were finally in the 'rich' part of town. All the houses were huge and the brickwork was very intricate. You could tell that these houses were expensive. From our hiding place in the shadow of somebody's front garden, I saw a group of three enter another house across the street. It was Clockwork, Toby and Sally I think and they all seemed to be working well together. I think I would need to lecture these pair about teamwork. 'Jeff check for any alarm systems,' I instruct him. I knew that we would be killing the people in the house but I wasn't risking being shot again. It ached for weeks. Masky grabbed my arm roughly to get my attention and I yanked it out of his grip. 'What?' I hissed. 'What the hell was that back there?' 

'Oh so you're accusing me now?' Masky looked shocked at how stern I was being but I couldn't help it. He was annoying me. I don't think he was expecting my outburst because he opened his mouth to say something and closed it again. I shook my head and turned away. Jeff was returning, not trying to hide himself at all, just strolling along in plain sight of everyone. If it had been anyone else I would have been annoyed but it was just so typical of him that I giggled. He grinned and gave us the thumbs up, indicating that there was no alarm system on or installed. We all tiptoed around into the back garden and Jeff asked, 'Right who's going first?' I gave him an amused look, 'It's a door, not a big deal,' I said sarcastically. He shook his head and laughed to himself like I had said something obviously stupid. 'No, we are going to take the high road... Or window.' 

'What?' Masky asked in disbelief. 'Cool,' I said, 'Me first then.' I eagerly scaled the wall, the brickwork made an easy climbing wall for me. I could hear Jeff and Masky arguing about who was going first as I examined the window. The only way in was to smash it. I clutched the handle of my knife in one hand and slammed my elbow through the window. Some shards of glass grazed my face but it didn't hurt much. 'What are you doing? Are you stupid' Masky demanded. God he was really getting on my nerves. I just stuck my middle finger up at him because I'm classy and I crawled through the window. Lights in the house were switched on and a well groomed man burst in through the door. A woman and two children were cowering behind him. He stopped in his tracks when he caught sight of me and my slightly bloody face. Masky and Jeff tumbled in through the window. 'Hey now it's a party!' I said and then the four of them did something that rarely happened on hunts. They all ran away. 'Quick,' Masky said. 'Oh shut up,' Jeff said and I rolled my eyes but I was slightly grateful because if Jeff hadn't have said it then I probably would have. We all chased them. I caught one of the small children and Masky caught the other. Jeff was already having fun with the man and the woman was nowhere in sight which was not a good sign. I didn't even bother to process what I was doing. I quickly killed the boy and so did Masky and we both went to hunt for the woman while Jeff was still happily sat on top of the man and proceeded to stab him repeatedly. Me and Masky split up to look for her. I found her quite quickly. In the kitchen. Holding a gun. 'Are you being serious? Again?' I asked her. In a shaking voice she answered, 'I know who you are and what you do. They're all dead aren't they?' I nodded, praying that she wasn't going to use that gun on me. She sighed in defeat, lowered the gun and muttered something under her breath while shaking her head. Then she brought the gun up again and pulled the trigger. Her lifeless body dropped to the floor and I stared at her wide-eyed. Okay I didn't want her to use the gun on me but I didn't have that in mind... Masky and Jeff raced down the stairs in panic stumbling over each other's worried questions. I raised my hands up to show that I was okay and when they saw the body, they understood. We all just stood in silence for a while until Jeff perked up again. 'Right so where's this money?' 

Hunting in itself was usually exhausting but I loved the rush of adrenaline it gave me however hunting with Masky and Jeff together was a different story. That was just plain exhausting. It had left me in a terrible mood. I could almost feel the storm cloud hanging low above my head. I got changed into a faded shirt which was about four sizes too big and some shorts and went down to the kitchen to make coffee. Ben and Cherry were there chatting happily and they both greeted me when I walked in. I switched on the kettle and sorted out a cup with some instant coffee in. The kettle began to boil when Ben smirked, 'Masky and Jeff, huh? You are just reeling them in from all directions.'
'Because I'm so fabulous, I wonder who it will be next,' I replied cockily. I just couldn't hold in the sass. Ben scoffed. 'Speaking of which, are you interested in anyone in particular?' I asked, hoping his reaction would prove my theory on him liking Cherry. Cherry blushed a shade similar to her hair but Ben upheld his poker face. 'I'm interested in a lot of people,' he said smoothly, 'Particularly that... Uh... John Green fellow. He's a pretty neat writer. I liked The Fault in our Stars.' I laughed out loud. 'Like you've read that.'
'I watched the film, which is just as good,' he said folding his arms. Cherry giggled, 'Yeah and you cried.' Okay. Watching a love film together, that sheds a tiny bit of light on my theory, and how Cherry blushed. Now I was almost sixty-five percent certain that they were secretly dating or something. This time it was Ben who blushed, his cool front slipping away. 'I did not, I had something in my eye.'
'Yeah, you did. Tears,' Cherry argued. 'Stop bullying me,' Ben sulked. Cherry poked his arm playfully and pouted, 'Awh, I'm sowwie.' When Cherry touched Ben, he blushed a little more. Now I was seventy percent certain. The kettle just finished boiling and I made my drink and took it to my room where I got into bed and just layed, thinking about life.