Mine (Unedited) (Discontinued?)

Chapter 23

"Kendra?" Slender asked, entering the girl's room with a worried tone. She hadn't left since she entered three days ago. He understood that the girl was probably hurting, and he knew she probably needed to be alone but every meal he sent up to her came back untouched. He couldn't let this continue.

The redhead was lying face down on her bed. What was with everyone and moping in their beds? Slender would've preferred if they moped by cleaning, he could use some help around the house.

Shaking his head, Slender sighed and sat on her bed. She made no sign that she knew he was there, no movement or sound to respond to him. Concern and pinch of fear shot through him, making him put a hand on her shoulder.

"Kendra I know you're upset, but I need you to eat. You cannot continue like this," he said softly, silence filling the room.

Confusion settled over his mind. Silence? It was never quiet for him, not when he could hear the thoughts of others.

Panic gripped Slender, and he shook the girl's shoulder.

Nothing. Not a single reaction.

Slender's panic increased, and he forced Kendra to turn around.

It wasn't Kendra.

Slender felt relief fill him at the sight of the bizarre constructed body before intense worry filled his gut once more. Where was she?

Kendra curled up on herself, hugging her knees tightly to her chest. She was scared and alone and devastated, surrounded by the giant trees of the forest and hidden in an alcove formed by a root jutting from the ground.

She had wanted to be alone without risk of anyone interrupting her, so she snuck out of her room and left, but now she was hopelessly lost. She'd been lost for two days, and she could only hope that she wasn't near the section of forest that the Rake was in.

Kendra had just gotten out of this situation, why did she have to be stupid enough to barrel right back into the forest?

She'd been roaming for the last two days, and she was pretty sure she'd made herself more lost by doing so. Now she was resolute to sit in this alcove until she died or was found by someone from the mansion.

A rabbit darted past her, soon followed by a fox, and she jumped. Oh God, Kendra was going to die out here, wasn't she?

The thought made her lip quiver and she let out a sob. She didn't want to die, not out here all alone. Not when she needed to apologize to BEN, not when she had so much to work out with Jeff. Kendra had too many problems to work out for her to die now.

"Please come find me, Benny Bunny," she whimpered, sniffling and wiping her nose on her sleeve.

"Who the hell is Benny Bunny?"

Kendra let out a short shriek, jumping again, this time hitting her head on the thick root above her. Looking up, she saw a blue mask painted with black eyes that were dripping black goop.

"Wh-Who are you?" she asked, hiccupping slightly.

The masked figure stared at her, not answering for a few minutes before sitting down in front of her.

"You can call me Ej. Now you get to answer my question. Who's Benny Bunny?"

Kendra hesitated, drying the tears on her face while she debated answering the question.

"My ex," she answered finally, her voice quiet and tense.

Ej tilted his head, not saying anything as he stared at Kendra. She shifted uncomfortably, a stick suddenly stabbing her buttcheek. Wincing, she grabbed the thin piece of wood and started to fiddle with it.

"I have a house not far from here if you wanna hang out there. You look terrible."

Kendra couldn't keep the giggle from her voice, "I feel terrible. I would actually like that a lot, but I have to pass."

"Why?"

"Because I don't know if you're a serial killer or not. And while I've had my fair share of experiences with those, I don't know if you're friends with the same people I am."

Another couple minutes of silence descended between them. Kendra wished she could see his expressions through his mask so she wasn't left so in the dark about what he was thinking. The silence dragged on, and Kendra continued to fiddle with the stick.

"Benny is BEN, isn't he?" he finally asked, the sudden question taking Kendra off guard.

"Well, yeah? I wouldn't give him that nickname if his name wasn't Ben?" she answered, her brows furrowing in confusion.

Ej shook his head, "no, I meant BEN Drowned. 5'2", looks like Link with black eyes?"

Kendra blinked, then nodded.

"Yeah, that's him," Kendra confirmed, snapping a piece of the stick off.

"Then you have nothing to worry about. If you're friends with that group, I won't hurt you," Ej said, standing and dusting off his black jeans.

Kendra felt the urge to trust him, crawling out of her little alcove when the man got out of the way. She stood, stretching her arms over her head and letting out a long, satisfied groan. She didn't realize how long she'd been sitting in that cramped spot.

Ej waited for her to stop stretching before leading her away from her hiding spot. Kendra followed him willingly, glad for the chance to use her legs.

There was another long stretch of silence as they walked, and Kendra felt just as uncomfortable as before but this time she used the opportunity to think about everything that's happened in the last month and what she had figured out during the last three days.

Kendra had to fix things with BEN, that was a no brainer. She doubted she'd be able to get her relationship with him back, no matter how much she wanted it, but she needed to at least keep his friendship.

Of course, there was also the issue with Jeff. Kendra didn't know how to approach that particular problem, especially since he kept kissing her. Not that she didn't like the kisses, Jeff was definitely a great kisser, but she couldn't just forget that he was the reason that she wasn't dating BEN anymore.

Kendra sighed, attempting to run her fingers through her curls before she yelped at the sharp tug when her fingers got caught in the tangled mess. She massaged her head, pouting at the ground.

"Are you alright?" Ej asked, making Kendra jump and look up to see he had paused in his walking to look back at her.

She smiled sheepishly and nodded, "yeah, I'm fine, thanks," she answered, locking her hands behind her back.

Ej nodded, then returned to his walk. Kendra kept her eyes on his back, tilting her head in curiosity. What was he doing out here? If he was really like the others, why didn't he live in the mansion with them? She frowned, righting her head and pausing in her walk. Should she have really trusted him as easily as she did?