Perseverance

Chapter Eighteen: A Fight

"Yes, why hello, [     ]. I'm the Bloody Painter." that Helen guy greeted me with a grin to his voice. This time, he had a mask on. This mask was white with a stupid red smile painted on it, and two blacked-out depressions to resemble eyes.

"Take off the fucking mask. Once I tear you to shreds, I want to see your face distorted in pain and your very blood." I ordered him.

"All right then." he agreed condescendingly and undid the mask. He threw it to the ground and stepped on it; damaging it slightly as if someone had stepped on his face.

"Happy?" he cooed, shaking his hands as if to say, "Surprise!"

I shook my head, glaring at him, "Not quite. Where's Zalgo? He promised he'd be here."

The painter shook his head and pouted, patronizing me. "As if he'd let anyone off the hook that easily..."

My blood boiled and I soon began running at him. He was only seven feet away. I took out my Swiss army knife and scanned his neck for a good vein to nick when he dodged.

"Do you need help?" Clockwork inquired towards me from behind. She was only a couple of feet away from me.

"No." I told her. Masky stood directly behind me, calculating the distance between Painter and me. The two of us clashed head-on, but we both managed to parry and block the others attacks.

"[ ], I truly enjoy fighting you, but doesn't it make you feel guilty when you hit a parent?" he asked me. I was thrown off guard by the random question and whilst in my stumped state, he gave me a swift kick to the jawline.

"Ah fuck! God, dude! What the fuck was that? What did you say?!" I demanded as I furrowed my brows, holding my jaw.

"I didn't say anything odd, did I? I simply asked you a question. Don't you feel guilty about fighting your father?" he asked, standing above me, a wicked smile on his face. My heart nearly stopped, "I never fought with my father! He's-"

Before I could finish my sentence, he had kicked me in my rib cage. I practically flew halfway across the open space of the mill and tumbled into some crates. By now, if I wasn't in so much pain, I'd be making some dumbass comment.

"[ ], I'm going over to help you!" Masky called out as he charged at the Painter.

"No! Stay back, please! This just got personal!" was what I was trying to yell, but all I ended up with was a bunch of incoherent wheezing. "Mine." was all I got out as I stood my ground, shaking in my boots. God, I didn't expect any of all that had transpired!

Clockwork managed to escape most of Painter's attacks towards her as she made her way to me, "C'mon, we gotta go. He might have fractured something and I don't wanna take any chances with you."

I shook my head, all the while thinking about the Painter and his twisted words. He's just messing with me, right? That's all it is... Zalgo relayed information to Painter and now Painter's using it to fuck with my mind. God, these sick freaks truly are goddamned demons. Masky was fending off the Painter from coming any closer to us, their grunts tearing me apart from amidst the fighting...

"Just go; I'll be fine. I'll slow you guys down if we wanna report back to Slender. I can hold myself for the time being, but time is of the essence." I explained, chortling slightly at my little joke, though the laughing did hurt the left side of my ribs.

"How can you do that when you look like shit?" Clock huffed at me. We watched Masky get tossed about, only rarely did he land a hit.

"Listen to me, I want you to rip Masky away and run to find Slenderman. Don't make me say it again, please."

Clockwork shut her eyes for a moment, flicked my forehead, and tore Masky away from Painter. She dragged him out towards the way we came. Masky was screaming my name, but I watched him with wistful eyes. I just hope he wouldn't use this against me later...

"Well, [ ], it's just you and me."