Guardian of the Proxy (Ben Drowned story)

Chapter 8

"Child? What are you doing here?" asked Slender. I was in his office. It was around midday and I just had to come worriedly. "I came to see how....Skyleigh is doing," I stated.

"Oh, she's doing alright," said Slender, "you are lucky you didn't get lost."

Well, Slender, guess what? I did get lost, but I managed to find my way here somehow. "May I...see her?"

"Well, I guess you could," Slender stood up from his chair and lead me out of his office, walking me to a strange room. He opened the door as we saw Jeff, looking down at Skyleigh with a frown. Skyleigh seemed to be asleep. The room looked like some sort of laboratory. Jeff looked up at us. "What're you doing here," he mumbled.

"I came to see how Skyleigh is doing," I remarked.

"Well, you saw her, you can leave now," stated Jeff. I wanted to say something, but instead I stood quiet. Jeff let out a sigh and mumbled, "I don't know her. It's frustrating how we don't know how to get her memory back,"

Jeff wiped away a tear and turned to look at Slender. "When are you planning to start training her?" he pointed at me. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Sunday. We're starting with Eyeless Jack and ending with you," remarked Slender.

"Tch,"

"It was nice knowing she was fine. Thanks," I said before getting out of the room. When I didn't notice, I had bumped into somebody. I looked up and saw Masky. "My apologies," I said.

"No problem. I was looking for you, Mrs. Davis,"

"For me? Why?"

He grabbed my hand gently. "You'll see."

He pulled me, walking into a hallway. He opened the door of a room. I made my way first into the room, confused, he got in after. I looked into the room, and saw a silhouette, playing video games in the corner of the room. "Masky, what is this--"

Masky disconnected the TV. I still couldn't see the silhouette. Masky turned on the lights. I hissed, trying to adjust my eyes with the light. "Yo, what the fuck?" I heard a similar voice protest. "Talk to each other." demanded Masky.

I looked at Ben. Ben looked back at me.

"Masky, what are you trying to--"

"Talk. You need it. I know you're avoiding this. Talk about what happened to both of you. But you actually need it. Both of you."

I started to blush from embarrassment. What was I going to say?
Ben and I looked at each other awkwardly. "I'll leave you two," said Masky before leaving the room.

I started scratching my left elbow awkwardly. Ben let out a sigh from his mouth. "You can sit on the bed next to me you know that,"

I gulped before walking slowly towards the bed, my heart beating ten times faster. I sat next to him, looking down and trying to hold back my tears. I finally spoke.

"A-are you the Ben I know....?"

"Sadly,"

".....Benjamin?" I looked up at him. He inhaled deeply and exhaled. "Please don't call me that." he stated. "I'm sorry," I apologized. He took out the blue, hearted necklace from under his shirt. "I'm the one who's sorry," he muttered under his breath.

"Why? You didn't do anything wrong. Whatever happened, happened. And if you don't want to talk about....your past. I completely understand," I said, looking straight at his face. His eyes were watering, but not with normal tears, but what looked like blood.

"Thank you," was all he said.

"Ben," I started,"I-I've missed you.....a lot."

Tears started to fall down my cheeks. Unexpectedly, I felt how he pulled me into a warm embrace. "I've missed you too, Elise,"

I started to silently cry into his chest. He pulled away from the embrace. "Hey, it's okay, it's okay," he said, wiping away my tears.

"But.....what have you become?" I questioned. He stood quiet. He didn't respond.

"Don't worry about me." was all he said.

"How do you not want me to worry? You've become a torturer," I mumbled.

He looked at me, now serious. "Who told you that?"

"Come on, Ben. It's pretty obvious. Look at you. You're literally living in a mansion full of cold-blooded killers." I remarked.

"That doesn't make me a killer. The thing is....I enjoy doing it, Elise. Not killing. But I enjoy tormenting people's head."

"I know, and sadly, I can't change your way of thinking. So there's nothing I can do about it but just wait and see," I said, staring deeply into his dark eyes. "I'm so sorry....Can we just, ignore all this awkward talk and hang out normally? You know? Like before?"

"Um.....I guess that would--"

"By the way, how's your dad? He still has that same haircut, right?" he gave me a smirk. I was getting kind of disturbed and uncomfortable now. "No. He changed it a few years ago,"

"Aw, man, I really liked his haircut," he pouted.

He took the "hang-out-normally" way too seriously. It's like all that didn't happen. What the heck?

"I need to go," I added.

"So soon?"

"Yes, I need to study." I remarked. He let out a chuckle. "Oh, right, I forgot how much of a nerd you are."

I rolled my eyes, standing up from the bed. "Goodbye, Ben,"

He waved at me as I casually got out of what it seemed to be his room. "Did you finally talk or did something else?" asked Masky, who was right next to the door. I jumped, terrified. I caught my breath. "You scared me,"

"Sorry," he apologized, "did you guys talk?"

I sighed. "Yes, we did, Masky."

"What'd you talk about?"

"What did you tell us to talk about?" I asked back, crossing my arms. "What happened to you guys in the past," he responded.

"That's what we talked about. Now, if you excuse me, I need to leave, there's a Spanish test I need to study for," I said before walking through the hallway and downstairs.

What just happened?