Broken (Ticcimask, Masky's Side)

Chapter 6 - Unusual silence

I walk into the kitchen and I decide to make myself a basic sandwich. I'm not sure why I wasn't woken up for dinner, but it's useless to dwell on that now.

Suddenly, I get the familiar -- and unsettling -- feeling that I am being watched. I try to ignore it, but then I hear a slight ticking noise coming from behind me. I turn on my heels startled, and I see it was just Toby standing in the kitchen doorway.

"Could you not stalk me?" I snap without thinking. Toby flinches and lowers his head in guilt at my words.

"S-sorry, I d-didn't mean to," he says, sounding a bit scared. I feel a bit guilty for snapping at the kid, but it's his fault for sneaking up on me.

An odd silence fills the room, but I ignore it. I finish making my sandwich, and I turn to find Toby hasn't really moved. Normally, I like silence, but for some incomprehensible reason it unnerved me that Toby wasn't talking.

"Why did you follow me out here anyways?" I ask, sounding a bit more accusing and suspicious than I should have.

"W-well I um . . .," he started but trailed off. I don't rush him and wait for him to finish. "I . . . d-don't want to be a-alone," he finishes meekly, his voice barely above a whisper.

"That's understandable," I reply casually, starting to eat my sandwich. He simply nods in response and walks over to the fridge to get some water. When he moves his mouth guard down to drink his water, I notice the gash in the side of his mouth.

"What happened to the side of your face?" I ask without thinking.

"H-huh? Oh that," he paused to reach a hand up to the gash before continuing, "I k-kind of burned my face when I set the neighborhood on fire."

"You burned down your neighborhood?" I say a bit shocked. I'm, honestly, more shocked about how casually he said that than anything else.

He laughs nervously and scratches the back of his neck before responding, "y-yeah, I would have died in that fire too if Slender hadn't saved me and brought me here."

I stare at him in further surprise before I say, "you seem remarkably open about your past."

He just shrugs. "I s-see no reason not to be," he states casually.

"I suppose you have a point. Anyways, I'm going to head back up to bed," I say before he can respond.

I go to my room and lay on my bed staring at the ceiling. I don't generally sleep very easily so most of my nights are spent like this -- staring blankly at the ceiling. Now that I think about it, it is a bit weird how easily i fell asleep earlier.

Shortly after, I hear the door open and someone walk in, closing the door behind them. I panic for a second before remembering that I'm sharing my room with Toby. I hear Toby sigh and sit down on the air matress in the corner.

The room is silent for a second before Toby speaks. "Y-you still awake?" he asks.

I consider ignoring him, but I know he won't shut up if I do. "Yeah," I answer with slight agitation.

"D-do you ever have nightmares?" he asks a bit timidly.

"Yes, and no i'm not going to talk about them," I state.

The room falls silent again before Toby breaks it again. "H-how did you get here?" he asks.

"Didn't I tell you to stop asking so many questions?" I hiss, turning to glare at him. He shrinks away from my glare and lowers his head.

"S-sorry," he apologises weakly. I turn to face the wall and go back to staring off into space.