Byron's Secret (Slenderman Romance)

Chapter 81. Cleanup

【Tim's POV】

Byron weakly shook Brian's previously broken wrist to make sure that even his bones have healed. Brian's wrist moved normally again, as opposed to Byron's left hand which is dangling from his arm. I couldn't help but eye it weirdly and stopped a shiver as I imagined how it must feel like right now.

"That's good. Just heal yourself and you can rest." I hurriedly told Byron who looked like he's going to pass out no second later. His eyes are glazed over, it doesn't seem like he even heard what I said.

He wouldn't do anything else but stare at Brian's wounded legs. He stared blankly at them until his eyes eventually closed shut and his breathing became less labored. I wonder if I should wake him up or finally let him rest since the bone in his wrist is still broken, not to mention his shoulder and back still had the wounds from when that stupid kid attacked him. He's still bleeding a lot from those.

While I examined his injuries to keep tabs on how it is healing later, I noticed that the blood-stained sweatpants he wore slowly began to turn into a darker shade of red near his left knee and right thigh. I immediately realized that his sweatpants were soaking up more of his own blood on the two areas and checked for any more wounds. I remember that Byron's blood is darker than most people's.

I don't think I've seen Byron get hurt near his legs and if he were, these should've been bleeding already.

I searched for the scissors Byron used to cut the bandages on the kid's arm before and found them beneath the table. Everything is eerily quiet now that I'm the only one conscious. I took the scissors and used it to cut through Byron's sweatpants, around the bleeding areas. The sweatpants were going to be thrown out or burned anyway due to the stains. The only clothings we bother to clean repetitively, even if it is blood, are my yellow jacket and Brian's orange hoodie. Those two pieces of clothing, paired with the masks, became one of the icons of fear in this town and fear is good news to us.

My jacket used to belong to Byron's father, so I'm always careful with it. It was too big for me the first time I've worn it. Over the years, I grew into it when I turned into an adult, or someone trying to be. The origin of Brian's hoodie is less meaningful. He bought it online because he said he liked the color. He owned it before Byron even had the curse. Brian had ordered the same hoodie a few times already in the past because unlike me, he's never careful with things. But last year, when he thought he stopped growing already, he ordered a load of the same hoodie to always have extras in case they stop selling it or if he fucks up again and destroys another one. It's better to have it ready than ordering and waiting until it arrives.

Byron told us to only wear them when we needed to, like when we're stalking people or looking for his next victim. I don't wear the jacket around that much, but it's not a big problem for me since a lot of people in this town technically owns a yellow jacket similar to mine. Brian is the issue. It's rare to see other people wearing such a bright-colored hoodie, yet he wears it around. It's like a big sign saying he could be one of the proxies. He even gets joked about it, but at least he can lie and laugh it off with others. People in this town believes that the proxies and Slenderman are supernatural beings. Maybe it's why it never crossed their minds that we could all just be blending into society and that we are, in fact, humans. Unless that belief is broken, no one would suspect us.

That's why that teacher, Joy, became a problem. She assumes we're human, and she's right. She even tried to tell Byron, not knowing she's talking to the one who gave the order to torment her. It's all because she saw me get hurt and bleed that one night. I really didn't like being assigned to her . . .

It took me a while to snap out of my thoughts and realize that I was done cutting through Byron's sweatpants, revealing a deep cut running from the side of his left knee, towards the back of it. His right thigh also looked like it had been chopped, presumably by a hatchet. I don't remember Byron getting attacked there.