Paranoid

Strange

Twilight woke up to a knock on his door. He yawned and stretched, then got up to open the door.

There was a wide-eyed Sky at the door. He looked like he had seen a ghost.

"Uh, Twi? Uhm... well, you might want to come downstairs and see this... it's about Wild and Time... they... uh..."

Twilight nodded and went downstairs. He wasn't sure what Sky was talking about, but it couldn't be too good if Sky was that... shocked.

He didn't see anyone downstairs.
But when he got down there and looked around, he spotted something he didn't want to.

Outside.
Two people, lying on the ground.

He ran out. Over to them.
It was Time and Wild.
It looked like Wild had been stabbed. And like Time had been shot.

But Wild was breathing. And Time was not.
But he was. Barely. Somehow.
But it was gradually slowing.

Twilight ignored his panic as best he could and pressed down like he had seen Time do when Wild shot himself.

He heard Sky talking inside. He didn't hear what he was saying. Hopefully he was calling the police or something.

Hylia, the police must be so confused. They were called here, like, every other week. And if they weren't called to the house, someone that lived here had to be taken to the hospital.

Soon enough, he heard the blaring sounds of ambulance sirens. He had never loved a sound that much.

The rest went by in a blur. They check Wild and Time over and stuff, put them in the ambulance, and left.
Twilight didn't bother going with them. Everything felt too fuzzy to do anything. He didn't have the energy or willpower. Not even to make coffee.

So he just sat on the couch and stared at his phone.

Shy kept worrying over him, asking if he was okay and offering to make coffee. He only replied with grunts and shrugs.

The only things that went through his mind were questions.
What happened?
Who did that?
Did it have something to do with what Wild said last night at dinner?
Why was Time hurt, then?
When did it happen?

Not long after the ambulance left, police arrived. They set up an area around where Wild and Time had been.

There was a knife on the ground, and markings on the ground in blood.
It was a little disturbing.

The knife had strange fingerprints on it. The pattern was no pattern that had been seen on a Hylian. Not even reminiscent of one.
The pattern was basically horizontal lines with a single crescent shape in the center, where the spiral would usually be.
That was definitely abnormal.

Was this the work of the smiling kid? The one with big eyes? Probably.

Who would it go after next? Would it kill everyone? What did it have against them? Against Time?

○》●《○

"So. Nice of you to join me. Friend."

He looked around. He appeared to be in a void of some sort. He saw the kid standing- or floating, whatever they were doing- before him.

"We aren't friends."

Why was his voice the only thing that felt and sounded real? Everything else seemed like a dream. Maybe it was.

"What are you talking about? Of course we're friends."

He noticed something he hadn't before.
Its mouth didn't move when it spoke. It never moved. And it never blinked. Its face was static. Never changing. Never moving.

"What are you talking about? We've never been friends. You're always trying to kill me."

"And I succeeded. So we're friends now."

"What are you?"

"Hehe. Silly, naive boy. You really haven't changed in the last seventeen years."

"Go away. Leave me alone."

"Never."

"Why are you suddenly trying to kill me again?"

"I wanted to wait until you recovered, then when you were fragile once more. And it worked out perfectly. Seventeen. What a number. One of my favorites, actually."

"Why did you want to kill me in the first place?"

"For fun."

"But why me specifically?"

"You're a good target. A tough man on the outside, soft on the inside. Tearable, like fabric. You're awfully easy to get to. I just love getting up inside your head and messing around."

"So why not Wild?"

"Too easy. He's like an egg. An easily broken shell, goo on the inside. You, though... nothing like that. Similar, but not."

"But why did you target me when I was a kid?"

"You were still fun to break. Foster parents, no idea what happened to your real parents, and the fact that you were a child made it fun."

"How old are you?"

"A number beyond comprehension!
....
20,000-ish. I don't count anymore."

"What?"

"I'm not a normal Hylian. Some people called me a cryptid, some thought I was a hallucination, others thought I was a ghost. Not you, though. You acknowledge that I'm not your everyday Hylian, yet you don't call me something weird like a ghost. None of you do. You call me a kid. It. Smiling kid. The kid with big eyes and a big smile. Big-eyed kid. All that. You all are the nicest victims I've ever met."

"You all?"

"What, you don't know? You all must keep a lot of secrets from each other."

"What? What secrets?"

"Oh, wow. Okay, so, Twilight boy worries, Sky child is sad, Legend guy keeps having really bad nightmares which is messing with him, you already know what's up with the Wild kid, and everyone else is just plain scared. Also, I know it would hurt both you and the Wild kid more if I killed everyone else first. The reason I nearly killed you two was to talk to you. I wasn't going to actually kill either of you. It was just to scare you. Also I only just now realized that killing everyone else would be more effective."

"You're sick. Also, why are you telling me your plans? This is like that stupid thing where the villain tells the protagonist exactly what he's doing, making it easier for the protagonist to defeat him."

"I just want you to know what's going on, knowing you can't do anything about it. You'll have to watch everyone you love die, and you can't stop me. You'll never be able to stop me. I'll always be there, tormenting you. Hurting you. Killing you from the inside."