𝐓𝐢𝐜𝐜𝐢 𝐓𝐨𝐛𝐲 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫: 𝐄𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐎𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐭

Take The Shot

Y/N is beautiful but her striking good looks don't earn any sympathy from Toby. He's standing above her bed, his shadowy figure looming over her sleeping body. He's been observing her for about 2 hours straight, taking in every detail about her face. Even when unconscious, she looks distraught. His fingers graze her neck, stroking the large bruise. It's yellow, it's healing. Toby was a bit upset with himself after he abused her but he will never apologize for it. He doesn't care enough about the woman to truly feel remorse. He is not a liar.

Maybe if he loved her, he wouldn't have done it. But he's not certain. Toby is rapidly loosing himself; he can't determine the motivation behind his actions anymore. Everything is blurred.

Toby thinks Y/N is really hot and a cool chick but love for her? He feels nothing of the sort. He isn't afraid to knock her down if she gets in his way. If she behaves the way he wants her to, he can keep her around for a while.

They have not spoken in a few weeks. Ever since that blowup, Y/N has been on his mind nonstop. Same for Y/N. Things were going in a really promising direction, they were both internally excited for what was to come until everything just stopped.

Toby likes touching her; running his hands through her hair, grazing her lips with his thumb, stroking her cheek. God, he must look like a creep right now but this is so cathartic for him. His reality is so deranged and distorted so when he looks upon Y/N, she is a beam of light for him. Clarity. She clears everything. Toby crouches down, sitting next to her figure on the bed and resting his hand on her waist.

Static buzzes in his ear, drowning out everything except for her. He dissociates until he is focused on Y/N only. He should go but he doesn't want to.

Toby lowers his face ever so slightly towards Y/N, eyes straining through the bleak darkness of her bedroom when he feels cool metal on back of his head and a soft click. A gun. He slowly turns his head to see Tim. Toby calmly reaches up, grabbing the barrel and centring the muzzle in the middle of his forehead, his visage holds the appearance of boredom. Tim's prominent brows scrunch together and he pulls the gun away with a rough jerk, tucking it into his belt and pulling his shirt over it.

"Playing around with Brian's gun, huh?" Toby whispers, smug smirk on his face as he watches the man before him become even more angry. Tim grabs Toby's arm, yanking him up and silently pulling him out of the bedroom into the hall.

"You told Brian and I that you killed this girl." Tim accuses, "I should've know it was a lie; you came home the next morning but I thought you were just getting busy all night and finished her off afterwards."

Tim had suspicions lingering in his mind for a few months since the morning Toby proudly declared that Y/N is dead and gone. At first, he was satisfied with the boy and didn't second guess his claims. It was when Toby started leaving in the midst of twilight and returning before dawn, slinging around the house in order to evade attention on him and his devious behaviour. Tim was unsettled by the faint hickeys on his neck as well. He followed Toby, deciding tonight would be the best opportunity to do it as he didn't take the car like usual. It's a warm night and Toby enjoyed the unsuspecting stroll. He was oblivious to Tim trailing him the entire time as well as the omnipotent being observing without eyes.

The older man watched Toby sneak in through her bedroom window, ridiculing the mistakes made by the woman. She's caught the eye of a madman like Toby and she isn't taking proper precautions to protect her and her home? Women are too trusting when they're in love, he supposes.

Tim contemplated killing the woman himself just to get her out of the way but he knows Toby is too emotionally deprived and damaged to survive a tragedy such as that. He knows this woman restores some humanity in him. Tim hates it.

"Instead of sex, I spent the night having a panic attack." Toby retorts sarcastically. He looks displeased that the truth came forth but that's just the way of the world. It always will be. He is a liar after all.

"Why? What happened?"

"She brought back memories of my sister and dear old dad." Toby learned who the man in his ceaseless nightmares is. He was finally able to name to the bastard that relentlessly continues to torment him even though he's been dead for 8 years.

He was distraught for days after that evening in Y/N'a house. The memories replaying on loop like a broken record, preventing him for sleep. His calloused conscious was incapable of calmness. The particularly saddening occurrences from his past are what he remembers the most vividly.

"Toby, your memory was erased for a reason. Your past will hurt you, it's best to just move on." The other proxy insists, hope in his slim, dull eyes that are filled with undisclosed wisdom.

"I'm getting closer to learning the rest of everything I forgot. I need to know more—" Tim links arms with Toby and they march down the hall together, down the stairs towards the front door. He's ignoring Toby's protests, mildly annoyed he even had to do this in the first place. Tim began to worry that Y/N would awaken and they needed to go now.

"She's going to die because of you, Toby. Get that through your thick skull!" Tim grumbles, his throat hot and tight as he resists the urge to scream at the younger man. He's so frustrated that Toby isn't grasping the severity of the situation.

Tim called Brian and told him to head over here in the car, giving him directions. Their car, that appears as though it's been through hell and back, is sitting in Y/N's driveway, Brian waving at them. They all get seated, strapping in and preparing for the uneventful journey back home. Toby leans his head against the cool glass of the passenger seat window, watching the trees flash by with the rapid speed their vehicle is moving. Without a doubt, his eyes catch a glimpse of Slenderman stalking him amongst the evergreens, menacingly taller than the trees. He shakes his head at the creature apologetically and silently begs him for forgiveness. His master knows what's in his heart and that's what scares him, for he can detect the insincerity Toby truly feels.

Tim is in the backseat dicking around on his phone when he lifts his head, realizing they're only 2 minutes away from their cabin. They hop out and head inside for the night. They put their protective gear away and trudge up the wooden staircase, creaking under the three sets of socked feet. They split off and go into their separate rooms. It's about 2AM.

Toby strips off his sweater, draping it over his bed and lifts up his shirt to examine the healing wound on his left side. He begins changing the stained bandages wrapped around his torse after disinfecting the impalement. He's thankful that Jeff stabbed him on his left opposed to his right side as that's a fatal kill shot if he was knifed in the liver. He hates the rest of the marks that litter his porcelain skin. He feels broken and glued back together again like fine China that fell off its display. You're not ready to toss it out so you get some glue and hope the pieces will stick together but it's one calamity away from becoming complete garbage. That's Toby.

Toby, Brian and Tim recently dealt with a sinister penalty from their master. As a result of their botched home invasion, Brian and Toby got a soft punishment. Mild starvation. Brian was to not eat or drink for 2 days and Toby only had to withhold his fast for a day and a half. Tim on the other hand, his punishment nearly killed him. Their beastly owner took out his anguish on the eldest and made the other proxies watch in horror as he delivered the discipline himself. Tim is still limping.

The eldest and youngest don't often exchange words of wisdom in deep conversation but that night, Toby consoled Tim as if he was his own brother. They were all disturbed after watching what he endured and Toby took him to his room to treat the wounds, listening to Tim air his sorrows. Tim feels like his time to die is nearly here. He fell through death's grasp that night only to plummet into a pit of everlasting suffering. But it will end soon, he believes. He's not afraid to die, this just isn't the way he wants to go.