The Hall Monitors

357 17 0
                                    



Bending the air around himself, Slender swipes through the air to appear in the courtyard of the Elementary. Warm humid air embraces his long fingers as he drops a large canvas bag onto one of the park benches, letting it fall in on itself before resting silently. The sky looms darkly overhead, saying night has likely taken the proxies into a deep slumber. Though there is no defining feature to say where the four people are resting, the faceless man knows where to find them. Slender's form swipes through the air again, arriving in a small office area. On one wall is a bulletin board whose papers have been scattered across the floor, leading to the doorways on each side of the room. On a large hook attached to the wall is a withering teddy bear, hung with the metal through its shoulder. It's beady eyes looking downwards at a deserted desk with a rotting computer monitor perched on top of it. However, the light snoring coming from underneath the desk is what Slender is looking for. He walks around to see Toby curled in a ball, his orange goggles gripped tightly in his hands to show that he's comfortable underneath the creaky desk. With a small exhale of breath, Toby rolls over to face away from his master, continuing to snore quietly. Slender crouches down to be closer to the proxy, reaching a hand over Toby's hood. With hesitation, Slender lowers his fingers until he touches the fabric. After a few moments pass, Slender pulls away from Toby, looking down at the teen as he readjusts to his full height. Peeking her had through the doorway of the room is the quiet ventriloquist, silently staring as Slender worked through Toby's head. As the faceless master locks eyes with the white masked proxy, his voice fills her head. "Mouthy, where is Vince?" He booms, and she lowers her head slightly. Not receiving an immediate answer, Slender slowly starts to approach Mouthy with his hands folded behind his back. She steps back into the hall, putting a her hands over her ears to claw at the noises being placed into her mind. Mouthy shakes her head violently, pulling her hand away to hold it up in the air, signaling Slender to stop the ringing. He reaches her, putting a hand on each side of her head, finding the information he needs before traveling to the place she saw Vince last. Standing in a hall where lockers line up to greet them, Slender lets go of Mouthy's head before turning to find the newest proxy. Laying in an out-cove between two sets of lockers is Vince, his shades on his lap as his head leans on one of the metal containers. Slender stares at the man's tired features, reaching a hand to his chocolate hair. Mouthy watches her master weave long bony fingers through Vince's locks, keeping her knees to her chest as she presses into the wall behind her. Slender stands up to look at his proxy that cowers in the corner, before deciding to explain telepathically. "I blurred the four weeks you all were in the underground training facility. Toby will remember most of his experience in the mansion, and neither will be able to recall the times they were unable to get along. That is all I have done." He hums into her mind, walking closer to her. "But I have gone against my word to Masky and Hoody, do you know what I have to do now?" Slender holds his hand out the same way that he did over Toby and Vince. Mouthy pulls her eyes away from Slender's blank face, nodding lightly in understanding before pulling down the grey hood to reveal her uneven hair. Slender inches closer, but Mouthy lifts her gloved hand to wrap around his wrist. "They're back..." She whispers, not looking at the tall man kneeling in front of her. "Will you block them too?" Her whines come in the form of a question, begging for an answer. Slender looks into the black holes in her mask. "The happy laughter of a child and a shadow with a smile?" He asks in confirmation, receiving a nod from the mouthless proxy. Knowing where these two hallucinations sprouted from, Slender wraps his hands around Mouthy's head once again. She nervously lifts her own hands and places them over his. As her limp arms fall to her sides and her neck abandons the job of holding her head up, Slender pulls his hands away from her. He just stares as she collapses into a sleeping position, bending naturally into a heap on the floor. "Sleep, child." He hums to no open mind, silently pondering to himself. "While I figure out how you keep re-opening locked memories." Slender turns to walk out into the courtyard, holding his hands behind his back. He looks up into the star filled sky for a moment, before disappearing as he always does. - - - (Vince the Proxy's POV) "This is the most insensitive, inhumane, disrespectful, disgusting, not to mention stickiest; thing that I've ever been told to do. And I've done a lot of things under those categories." Toby complains, throwing one his axes into a dark heap of grotesque mulch. "How am I ever gunna wash these after this..." He begins to mutter as he works. "Mouthy told us not to waste them; this isn't the mansion, we've got to fend for our own lives now. Once you've finished... mixing it, I'll do the rest." I say in reply, groaning as I reach directly into the wet pile. The tips of the yellow rubber gloves protecting my fingers, grows red and grainy. Holding bile in the back of my throat, I drop the putrid mulch in a tiled plot of dirt. "But I will agree, I'm never disposing of bodies like this ever again." I pull a small hand-rake though the dirt to mix the reddish fertilizer into the ground. As soon as the sun reached over the trees this morning, the girls feds us with our promised supplies then started to put us to work. By the time I got over the fact that Mouthy was fast asleep on the floor beside me, Kate had dragged all of the stray corpses that Slender had mentioned into the courtyard. They were stone cold and half rotten, so Mouthy thought of the ingenuous idea to use the maggot filled flesh to our advantage. So she gave Toby and I some "bonding time" by using his axes to... mash the bodies into a useful consistency. Her plan is to use it to fertilize a produce garden for Toby and I, gross. And I though she was the most sane out of us, I was definitely wrong. "Never again, nope, nope, and nope." Toby chants, scrapping the leftovers off of his ax. "What the hell is wrong with their mind set? I mean I know our line of work isn't exactly ethical but, come on, they've been brainwashed and away from society for way too freaking long." "I guess that is true, I don't remember anything outside of training in that facility, and even that's too vague for me talk about. So, what happens now is all I can care for." I mutter, trying to recall something from the past four weeks, not finding anything other than seeing myself throwing dozens of different objects at a target. "Must be some kind of fatigue in your brain." Toby says in a curious manner, catching my attention. "Like, what if your mind took some major stress damage after being completely wiped, making it struggle to hold on to the things you do remember. Then wouldn't you just have to exercise your memory until it could function like normal." He laughs at his own philosophy, continuing with the mulch project with a more upbeat attitude. I smile lightly, ignoring the smell of the blood-dirt as I consider his idea. "Could be, but how would I exercise my memory? I doubt push-ups is the answer." I mutter the end, confused. I'm unable to recall anything about how to memorize things, this would have to be more than just a learning experience for the two of us as partners, I guess. "I know!" Toby says, turning to me. "I can tell you a bunch of stories about the mansion, then we'll see how much of them you can tell back. Perfect battle plan!" He chuckles, cracking his neck in the process. I play with a lump of mulch, tossing his idea in my mind. "I actually do want to hear about the mansion; that's where those freelancers live right?" I smirk, thinking of their inhuman features and insane view points as I throw hand-fulls of blood-dirt into the empty plot. "I'd love to hear the stupid shit they get into, Slender acted like they piss him off often." "They do, every time that pale-faced Jeff fought with his nemesis, Jane, Slender would have to hold them up by their ankles until their faces turned pink or Jane's dress flipped. Then Jeff would go pink anyways, and Boss would put 'em down again. I'd tease them, sayin' that they'd make a cute couple." Toby explains, spinning his stained ax in his hand, his voice sounding a little nostalgic. His gentle laugh pulls at my mind, bringing a small hint of trust in it. "That's funny, how long did it usually take before they'd snap after hearing that?" I snicker, looking at my partner though the little glint of my shades. "Less than a minute! I even counted," The goggled boy shouts with thick enthusiasm. "Then both of the psycho's would chase me, wielding their knifes; I think that's where I got the most cardio training from." Toby excitingly told me about the mansion, naming the pranks he played on Masky to the times he'd run around with the youngest member of the household, Sally, on his shoulders while they both sang songs. If any other person heard what this kid had to say about them, I'm sure they would want to sow his mouth shut and call him stupid. Because he honestly dissed every monster that was under the roof of the mansion, along with giving a tone of admiration to each while he made fun of them. His laughs echoed around the courtyard as we finished the work Mouthy had assigned us, not caring that our hands got covered in bloodied mud. This kid... isn't a bad kid. With our final comb through the dirt plot, the girls rush out onto the field towards us. I open my mouth to inform Mouthy that we've finished, but Kate quickly claps her hands over my face to keep me from making any noise. Confused and stunned, I grip her hoodie and drop all my weight to the ground to pull her down with me. Kate growls in frustration, as we roll apart and stand back onto our feet. Mouthy pulls a hand to her lips hurriedly, shh-ing us. Toby raises his brow at her, tilting his head to the side. "Why do we have to 'shh'?" He asks, rolling his shoulders. Mouthy points a finger in the direction she and Kate had entered the courtyard from. We all stand silent, staring into the foggy mist she pointed through. Clang, clunk A loud clattering sound echoes throughout the building's interior, and we all jump into a battle stance, ducking down into the fog covered grass. "What the hell is that?" Toby hisses in a sharp whisper. "An intruder." Mouthy snaps back at him, mimicking his own voice. "Get'em!" Kate growls, her hands balling into fist around small grass clumps. Her legs twitching as she restrains to urge to run. "No, their job." Mouthy looks at her partner, throwing back her thumb to motion at us. Our job... Those words repeat in my head, as my eyes find their way through the mist and onto the small hand-rake. Reaching out to grab it, I begin to cook up an idea. "Toby!" I hiss, "Grab your axes." - - - Wandering through the foggy building is a tall young man, his arms hanging loosely at his sides as he walks peacefully thought the pale halls. Dust is kicked up in several places, making the man think that a pack of raccoons or other forest animals may play here now that there aren't any students using the building. With the thoughts of wanting to see the old classroom from his childhood, the man steps slowly around a corner. Behind him is a loud shuffling, causing the man to flip around as he jumps at the sound, calming down once he sees there's no threat in sight. He stands up straight again, falling back on his earlier idea of raccoons as he continues down the hall. Clang, clunk The man grunts, ramming his knee into a old teachers desk, making a series of books fall to the dirty floor. "Shoot." The man groans, leaning down to pick the books back up. Without any complaint, the man places the books on the desk, turning around to look though the foggy room he entered. It should have been a classroom, but it's void of any desks or backpacks unlike it had been before the building was forced to close. The teachers desk, a gratified chalkboard, and a couple sheets of loose paper were the only noticeable features inside. With a sigh, the young man turns to leave, but his eyes are stolen by an object in the corner of his vision. A... bear? Curiosity took over the man's mind, forcing him to turn his head towards the brown blur. A glimmer of silver sticks out of the bear's chest cavity, the man recognizes it to be a hook. He puts his hands into the pockets of his jeans, approaching the hanging bear. Once in front of it, he sees that it is in fact a bear hung on a hook. A pang of mercy shoots through the man, and he finds himself reaching up to take the stuffed toy off it's mount on the wall. "There." He mumbles, imagining a small child holding this in it's tiny arms. Though a small smile crawls onto the man's face, it fades away as the air around him grows heavier. Suddenly filled with the feeling of being watched, the man turns around to see the doorway of the room. A flicker of light runs long the floor in the hall. With the stuffed bear under his arm, the young man walks with a nervous and curious air around him. The strange light moves around the hall, swimming over the concrete floor from a window at the end of the corridor. Without feeling the presence behind him, the man walks closer towards the window to watch the trees sway in the wind. The leaves brush the window lightly, making quiet scraping noises that the man begins to tune his ears on. A rock whistles past his ear, hitting the window and causing it to shatter. "Agh! What the hell!" The man groans, pulling the stuffed bear away from his torso to see that bits of glass cover the floor before him. A large crack sounds around him as he steps on a shard. Thinking himself wise, the man walks out of the circling shards, until another crack finds it's way to his ears; wrapping around his head from behind. "Now there's a draft." A sarcastic sigh chuckles, forcing the man to flip around quickly; his heart beating fast and uneven. "Nice shot though." Toby says, nudging Vince's shoulder. "Perfection follows practice." The shaded proxy replies, flipping another stone in his hand. The man stares in shock at the two men standing at the end of the hall. "W-who are you people?" He stutters out, his grip on the teddy bear tightening as he speaks. "Are y-you gangsters? I'm sorry I didn't think that anyone had control over this area, please I'll just go and there won't be any trouble." The man begs slightly, eyeing the clothes the two proxies are wearing. "Can't do that; you see, once you touch one of those bears, you're life belongs to us." Toby snickers, pulling his two bloodied hatchets into the man's view. "Even if you put it back, we still have a job to do." "What does this bear have to do with anything? Why do you... i-is that blood?" The man's questions are sputtered hastily, tripping over the fear sitting on the tip of his tongue. Toby looks at his ax for a moment, shrugging his shoulders the next. Vince tucks the stone in the pocket of his jeans, tossing the small hand-rake into his dominate fist, curling his fingers around the handle. He chuckles, using his free hand to adjust his shades. "This'll hurt, deal with it." Vince nods to Toby, a sick smile woven on his features. He starts to walk towards the young man, running the tips of the hand-rake across the wall. While it scraps, a high pitched grinding noise pierces their ears. The man panics, flipping around to find some route of escape. Finding none, he drops to the ground, grabbing the largest shard of glass from off the floor. Clutching it in his hand, the man stands to defend himself; but not before the two proxies could reach him. Toby rushes from behind Vince, both hands around one ax, swinging downwards over the young man. A scream rings through the halls as Toby embeds his ax in the man's shoulder. "Tch, the blade's blunt now." Toby complains, lifting the ax out in order to chop down once again. A loud crack resonates, and the goggled proxy puts his hands on the man's bicep and his neck. Toby pulls apart the last few pieces of uncut flesh, dropping the man's severed arm on the concrete floor. More pained screams and tear filled cries erupt from the man's bleeding body as he falls into the wall, sliding down to the ground. The stuffed bear rolls though the blood pooling on the floor, turning it's fur a dirty red to compliment the gaping hole in it's chest. Vince walks up looking down at the hand-rake holds tightly in his fist. "Now, how am I going to make this work?" The light grey proxy walks up with his eyes looking the young man up and down. With an evil laugh, he pulls on the man's ankle, dragging him through the glass shards until he lies flat. Vince jumps onto the man's chest, grabbing the his chin with his left hand before slashing the three pronged hand-rake down his abdomen. With a quick look at his partner, Toby picks up on Vince's request; throwing his ax into the trespasser's sternum, Toby rips open the man's ribs to reveal a set of lungs failing to intake air. The girls listen to the screams from a different room, Mouthy sitting motionless on the floor while Kate paces angrily. With light growls she mutters incoherent words, waiting for the two to finish their business. "Kate..." Mouthy whispers, earning her partner's gaze. "I want to go back to the mines..." She looks down at her gloves, clutching her fists tight. "Kullman..." Kate growls, frustrated with being tied to the newest proxies. She hisses more angry sounds, pacing even faster. Mouthy lowers her head from her partner, trying to reach her master mentally to report to the successful news.


"Cursed to be ignored, angered at the mockery. caution the shadows, incase you've missed Mouthy."
All images and characters belong to their respectable owners.
Thank you.

You've Missed MouthyWhere stories live. Discover now