The Puppeteer

Just The Beginning

"Guys-"

"Mark what happened?!?" Amy cut him off, examining his wounds with wide eyes. Mark nervously fidgeted with his shirt sleeve that concealed his stitches, glancing over at Jack for help.

Jack could tell they were both thinking the same thing:

Shit.

"Um...we were walking around town and Mark got attacked." Jack lied, praying Amy wouldn't question them further.

"Did you call the cops?" Bob interjected.

"Yeah, they already took care of the guy." Mark assured his friends.

"I'm glad you're okay." Tyler placed a hand on Mark's shoulder with a small smile, seeming to not notice Mark flinch slightly.

"Why'd you leave so suddenly after tour practice?" Ethan questioned Mark.

"I asked him for help moving." Jack explained hastily.

"Oh, cool! We can always help too if you want." Wade offered.

Everything was in boxes, so all that was left was placing them in the moving truck.

"Sure, that would be great!" Jack exclaimed.

Ethan disappeared into the kitchen and grabbed the box of dolls off of the fridge, about to take them to the moving truck.

"I'll take care of it." Jack took the box from him.

"Didn't know you were a fan of dolls." Ethan teased.

"Yeah, a fan made these for me." Jack explained, watching as Ethan took a doll out of the box.

It looked like Signe.

"Like I said, I'll take care of them. They're really fragile." Jack quickly put the doll back in the box before darting into his recording room.

"Is he okay? He seems a bit stressed." Kathryn observed with concern for he green haired Irishman shining in her chocolate brown eyes.

"I'll check on him." Mark told the group before he followed Jack into the recording room.

Jack was wrapping the dolls in pieces of white linen with sea salt, although Mark wasn't sure why.

"Jack, what are you doing?" Mark gestured at the wrapped dolls.

"Trying to get rid of them." Jack muttered as he finished tying all of them up in scraps of linen filled with sea salt.

"That's supposed to work?" Mark frowned doubtfully.

"Well not this alone." Jack scooped up all of the wrapped dolls and gently placed them back in the box.

"What else do you have to do?" Mark raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Nothing extreme, just leave them in stream. I'm going to my parents house and dropping the off in the stream there." Jack stated.

"Want me to go with?" Mark asked. He wasn't comfortable with how much his friends were fussing over him, and he didn't want to lie more than he had to. If they found out about his arm...that would be hard to explain.

"Sure." Jack shrugged, allowing Mark to lift up the box while he opened the door for him.

"We'll be right back!" Jack told the group, not even bothering to make up an excuse for why they were leaving. Worst case scenario, Signe's smart and can think of something.

They hailed a cab that took them back to Athlone not too far from Jack's old cabin.

"You gonna say hi?" Mark glanced over at Jack as they got out and walked through the woods to stop at the front door of the cabin.

"Nah, I want to get rid of these things as soon as possible." Jack shook his head.

"So, you ready to drop these demon dolls off then?" Mark adjusted the position of the cardboard box in his hands.

"Yeah, follow me." Jack walked to the back of the cabin where a small stream ran through the woods.

"You sure this is the way to get rid of these?" Mark eyed the river suspiciously.

"Ye have little faith." Jack adopted an exaggerated Irish accent, causing Mark to chuckle.

"Alright, here goes nothing." Mark dropped the dolls in the stream one by one and watched them float away with a large sense of relief.

Finally they wouldn't have to worry about being controlled like puppets by the dolls.

"Adios fuckers." Jack muttered as he watched the dolls disappear from view.

"You here to visit ma and dad too?"

Both Mark and Jack jumped in surprise and whirled around to see Jack's older brother Malcolm standing behind them.

"Yeah, just told them I'm moving to Brighton." Jack lied with a genuine smile as he hugged his brother.

He had gotten taller since Jack had last seen him, his caramel brown beard extremely long compared to Jack's small, trimmed goatee. His short hair was curlier, his hazel eyes sparkling with mischief behind his black rectangular framed glasses.

"This that Mark guy you keep telling me about?" Malcolm glanced over at the awkward black haired man.

"Yeah, he's helping me move." Jack nodded.

"Cool, good luck in Brighton!" Malcolm waved goodbye to the two before walking towards the house.

None of them noticed the black hooded figure watching Mark and Jack in the woods, a small smile playing on their lips as they watched the two gamers leave.

"The Puppeteer as plenty of work to do." The person whispered before leaving as well, a bag full of salty, wet, linen wrapped dolls in a bag in their hand.

Mark and Jack had no idea this was just the beginning.