Watched By Our Little Rose

Chapter 3

Chapter 3
[Elisabeth's POV]

"Elisabeth?" Jeff mumbled, eyes wide. I step forward, the wind not as strong.

"Hello, Jeff." I smiled lightly at him, joy spreading through me like a virus.

"B... but how?" He almost whispered, looking extremely confused. All I could do was look and smile. Tears burned the back of my eyes and I wanted to do nothing but run up to him and hug him. I couldn't take it anymore and ran to him. With his arms held open, he picked me up and crushed me in his arms. I didn't care, I was too busy crying into his hoodie.

He tried soothing me by stroking my hair and quietly shushing me. My sobs were loud and messy, shaking my body to its core. "I... I missed y-you so much." I sobbed, my eyes clenched shut, tears still leaking from them.

"I know, I know. I missed you too." He said quietly, practically mumbling it. I felt a drip on my head and looked up, my eyes now open. When I looked up, a tear dripped onto my cheek and rolled down. What I saw made my heart clench.

Tears streaked down Jeff's cheeks, his lip was quivering and he looked like he just wanted to burst into tears and sob. I reached my hand up and placed it onto his cheek, his hand coming down onto mine, holding it against his cheek. He started to shake, tears falling faster. I reached my other hand up and placed it onto his other cheek, both of my thumbs rubbing softly on his cut cheeks. I leaned my head up and placed my forehead against his.

"Shh... It's okay." I said softly. He nodded silently, tears still streaming down his cheeks as he looked into my eyes. He bit his lip, trying to hold back a sob but it broke through and it was the most heart breaking thing I had ever seen as he collapsed to his knees and sobbed. I knelt beside him, hugging him.

I had never seen him like this. Sure, I had seen him get emotional sometimes, but never this bad. This was new for me, and I'm certain it was new for him too.

After his sobbing had died down and was just now broken hiccups, I helped him up, swiftly grabbing his knife as I stood. I smiled softly as I watched him rub the tears away. "Lets go home." He looked up at me, his eyes red, and nodded.

-

I stood silently behind Jeff as he knocked on the door. It was early in the morning, around five AM, so the sun was just barely showing its head. I had given Jeff back his knife when we were walking back home when he realized, very loudly, that he had forgotten his knife. It made me smile when he seemed to be acting normal. On the walk back, he would every now and then look back to see if I was still there, still with him; and I would smile at him, and reassure him that I wasn't going anywhere, yet. He didn't need to know that last part yet.

The door clicked open, previously being locked, Jeff finding out the hard way when he smacked face first into the 'should be' open door. He was so red when I started to laugh. The door opened a little, a very tired and annoyed BEN wearing his green pajamas and very tousled, bed hair was standing there, behind the crack. He glared when he saw Jeff, not yet seeing me, and opened the door wider.

Before anyone could say anything, BEN grumbled about how he didn't get enough sleep because of 'hacks' in his game and walked off, not giving Jeff a second look or me a first look. Jeff looked back to me, and I shrugged, him shrugging in response. We walked in, me quietly closing the door behind me, as to not awaken anymore demons in the house. I swear, they're all like demons when woken up.

I yawned as I turned around and Jeff gave me a look. "You should get some rest." He said, taking my hand and guiding me towards his room. I had my own bedroom, but I think he just wanted the company and I'm sure he was still worried I would disappear, so I didn't say anything when we started to climb the stairs. "We'll tell everyone about you when everyone is awake and not ready to kill anyone that disturbs their sleep." Jeff mumbled, sitting me on his bed.

I looked around the room. Still messy. I smiled as I saw a picture I had drawn for him when I was seven framed on his bedside table. I had drawn in a very seven year old way with stick figures and crayons. It was was of him and me, holding hands, in his other hand he was holding his knife that was bloody. He saw I was looking somewhere and saw the picture. "Uh... yeah, I still have that." He said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

I just smiled at him and patted to spot next to me. He instantly sat down. I opened my mouth to speak but thought better of it and closed it, looking down to my hands in my lap. What was I going to say? How were the others going to react? How am I going to explain to them why I'm down here? How are they going to take that I'm not going to be here permanently? My head was full of questions like these and I didn't know where to start or if I should even start. I closed my eyes, deciding to go with one of the most obvious.

"How are the others?" I asked, looking up at Jeff with sad eyes. He looked sad after I asked that and I wished I hadn't asked. It was a moment before he spoke.

"Not good. Everyone has changed... for worse." He said, looking down at the floor.

"How so?" I asked quietly, my words coming out slow, my brain not wanting to say them but my heart pushed the words out.

"Sally doesn't laugh as much anymore, EJ is completely silent now, LJ is hardly cracking jokes and laughing, BEN is always shut in his room, Masky and Hoodie don't talk to anyone but to each other, Grinny spends most of his time outside, we don't see him much, Smile too, but he comes back every night to see me, then leaves at around four." He was silent.

"And Slendy?" I asked quietly. Jeff stiffened a little.

"He... he's completely shut everyone out. I haven't seen him in days. The last time I saw him... he was a mess. I had never seen him like that, no one has! It's made everyone worry, everyone scared. None of us know what he's doing, cooped up in his room for days on end. It's scaring Sally." Jeff looked at me. "You need to get to him, make him come out and not do that again. Please." I nodded. He looked back down again and put his head on his hands. "Good. I'm really worrying."

I gave Jeff a hug, and then stood. "I think we should both get some sleep." I said. He nodded and stood. I climbed into the bed while he went to turn the light off. The room was in sudden darkness, the only light coming from the crack in the curtains from the sun. I felt the bed go down behind me as Jeff got into bed. I could feel his breathing on my back and neck.

"I..." He started to say but stopped himself, keeping quiet. I turned around, looking into his eyes, in his hand his sleeping mask.

"What is it?" I asked. He looked hesitant, as if he didn't want to say it. I was about to tell him he didn't have to when he spoke.

"I... I've been having nightmares... of when you... died." He said it quietly, his eyes looking away from me. "Before... the nightmares were about... Liu... but then all of that happened... and they got worse. I... I haven't had proper sleep since you..." He didn't continue, but I knew what he was saying. I wrapped my arms around his head and pulled him to my chest, my eyes closed.

"It's going to be okay. I'm here now. You'll be okay." A smile played on my lips as I said the next part. "I'll chase those monsters away." He would say that to me when I would wake up from nightmares about when my family was attacked and come crying to him. I took the sleeping mask from him and slipped it onto his head, covering his eyes. I snuggled closer to him, my breathing coming out slow.

I smiled softly when I heard his silent snores. He was deep asleep, with no nightmares from the way he wasn't tensed and that he was smiling softly when I looked down at him. He may be older than me and be stubborn and cold sometimes, but he was just as fragile as anybody else.

My eyes slid shut, and I drifted into a dreamless sleep.