The rain didn't stop. Instead, it started pouring harder. You could've sworn it started hailing, though Hoodie said it was just large droplets of rain. You had walked to the point the town was out of sight but the rain was still above your heads.
Soon you came upon an abandoned shack. It still had most of its roof and the walls seemed to be in halfway good condition. You had begged Hoodie to stay there. He seemed reluctant at first but eventually said yes.
You sat against the wall and took off the raincoat. Stuffing it back in your bag you take out some dried fruit. You had noticed Hoodie was yet to eat anything. Well, you hadn't seen him eat anything. You put a piece in your mouth.
"Have you at all eaten or drank?" You ask while swallowing.
He nods. He didn't seem to want to say anything. You eat another piece and jump when you hear Hoodie start coughing. You look over at him. He clears his throat. He keeps a straight face before coughing again.
"Are you okay?" You ask a little worried.
He nods while waving you off. He opens his bag. You watch as he takes out a bottle of pills. He opens it, dumping a couple out. He swallows them dry. He coughs a little more.
"Hoodie, are you on some sort of medication?" You ask.
He looks over at you. Breathing a little heavier and coughing a little bit. "No..." He says quietly. "I'm a... I'm a drug addict." He says. He sounds quite ashamed. "I don't need these... Well I do but..." He trails off.
Your eyes widen. You never thought he was a drug addict! You look at him for a long while. His breathing eventually goes back to normal. He stops coughing as well. He looks down. He doesn't speak to you as he puts the pills back in his backpack.
You sigh quietly. "So... How are your hands?" You ask quietly.
He unwraps them. He looks at the blisters. "Fine... I guess..." He says quietly. He slowly rewraps them. You watch. He seemed quite sad after telling you about his addiction. You push your hair back awkwardly.
"Good..." You say.
A few minutes pass before Hoodie starts tapping his foot. You look over. It looks like he would be keeping rhythm to a song. He began to hum a tune. You listen quietly. Slowly he starts moving his lips mumbling the lyrics. You strained your ears to hear what he was saying.
"Heey brother. There's an endless road to rediscoverr. Heey sister know the water's sweet but blood is thickerr. Ooh, if the sky comes fallin dooown, for yoou. There's nothin in this world I wouldn't dooo." He sighs, a small smile appearing on his face.
You smile clapping quietly. He blushes heavily. You chuckle.
"You sing beautifully." You say, blushing slightly.
He looks away, his smile growing. "Thanks... I'm usually singing with Masky though. He'll be playing his ukulele or keyboard and we'll sing together." He chuckles quietly. "It's weird not being around him..."
You look at him, hugging your knees. The rain hit the tin roof. It echoed around the shack. It was loud and annoying.
"So Masky knows how to play instruments?" You ask.
He nods. "Yeah..."
You drum your fingers on your knee. Looking at him you can tell that he's zoning out. You knew how hard it could be to have to be away from a close friend. He seemed to be taking it quite hard. You scoot closer to him. You wanted to become his friend but if he were to be your master, as he called himself, you two couldn't really grow close, could you?
"How long before you see him again?" You ask while resting your chin on your knees.
He shrugs. "Don't know... We're to train our proxies by ourselves until everyone has their own. Then we go home to work together on training our proxies. If everything goes as planned they'll replace us in later years if anything happens to us." He sighs quietly.
"So it may take years before I see him again. It should take over a year. I'd go to our home to train you but we were ordered to train our proxies far away from home. And to try and do it in a different climate from what they're used to."
You nod slowly. "I'm guessing you miss him?"
He nods again. "Dearly." He blushes slightly. "Not to mention... I was his first actual friend. So he's probably taking it a little harder than me."
You lean against the wall trying to get comfortable. You felt bad for Hoodie. He grunts as he leans forward and gets a camera out of his bag. You look at him, curious as to what he was up to.
He turns it on. "Well... I guess it's now or never..." He mumbles to himself. He gets up. Walking to a window ceil, he sets it down. He pulls his mask completely over his face before coming back over. He sits back down and takes out a water bottle. He lifts up his mask to reveal his lips, takes a drink and pulls his mask back down.
"What are you doing?" You ask.
"Me and Masky did quite a bit of recording back a few years ago. We even tried out for a college film. But... Recording kinda stuck with us. So we just record events every now and then." He answers quietly, as if trying to keep the camera from picking up his voice.
You both remain quiet for sometime. Eventually you get bored. You walk around the shack, looking under boards and picking up glass. There wasn't much to do. Hoodie remains silent. You lean against the wall. A breeze hits you. It felt nice.
"I bet I can beat you." You say, wanting to do something.
He looks at you. You can only guess he's giving a are you serious look. You shrug then smirk.
"Scared that your own proxy can beat?" You challenge.
"I highly doubt that." He says quietly.
"Then prove it."
He sighs and gets up. He shoots his hand out to grab your arm. You quickly side step, falling to the ground. You kick away from him and stand up. He lunges at you, staying on his feet. You jump back just before he can grab you. He makes a strange chuckle.
"Stop playing with me. I'll get no where if you don't actually try and attack me." You pout. You knew he wasn't trying. It annoyed you.
He quickens his pace, his actions less sloppy. You actually break a sweat. He brings his leg behind you, knocking your feet out from under you. You try to crawl away only to have him grab your waist and pull you back. You role over kicking your feet up, getting him in the chest.
He steps back, grabbing at his chest. You quickly get up. You quickly put some space between you two. He stands straight, chuckling darkly. You swallow.
"That's better." He says.
He charges at you. You jump and dash to the side trying to circle around him. It doesn't help. He quickly pins you against the wall. You push against him, though you only allowed him to get a better grip on you.
You try to pull away but he just tightens his grip. You struggle trying to get out of his grip. He merely chuckles at your motives. You growl as you pull away just enough to allow space between the lower half of your bodies. You quickly bring up your knee, hitting him in the stomach.
He backs up coughing slightly. You quickly get behind him, shoving him against the wall. You pulls his arms behind him, trying to keep them in place. You grunt as he begins pulling them back to his sides.
He turns around grabbing your wrists. You start backing up. You couldn't get pinned to the wall again. He walks with you, though his pace is faster. You turn as you get closer to the wall. Hoodie grunts as he moves his hands to your forearms and shoves your side into the wall. You try to think on how to escape. Kicking probably wasn't going to help, he'd be used to it by now.
You turn so that you're shoved against the wall. You can probably guess that Hoodie has a confused look. Pressing your foot against the wall you shove yourself forward. Hoodie falls back releasing you so he can catch himself.
It was a good plan until you realized that you too, were falling. You tried to catch your balance but it was too late. You fell onto Hoodie. You both gave a slight yelp of pain. As you looked at him you could feel your face heating up. Hoodie looks at you. You can't see if he's blushing or if he's angry.
You quickly stand up, dusting yourself off. Turning away, you walk to the opposite wall. You hurt a lot now. Hoodie remains seated while he pulls glass out of his arm.
"Nice job." He says while standing up and turning off the camera.
"Thanks" you say quietly.
He pulls up his mask to reveal a small smile. Your face burned again. So he thought you did a good job? It felt nice to know he was proud of you. Your knees still hurt from when you fell though.
"I think you did better because you were ready. You know how I like to fight. I hope you'll be this good or better when fighting the other proxies."
You jerk your head up. "Fighting the other proxies?" You barely whisper.
