Trapped (A Ticci Toby Story)

Chapter 8- Closer Than Kin

I hear the wind blows through the trees and the leaves flutter in unison.
Rays of sunlight slip through the swaying foliage and send fragments of light onto the grounds around us.
I keep moving.
My breathing is labored and my muscles are tensed.
I glance in Masky and Hoodie's direction and I see Hoodie is leaned causally against a nearby tree. No matter how many times I look at him, I can't get enough of his prideful smile and clear amusement.
I see that Masky's expression is relaxed and eased with a sense of satisfaction.
They are proud
I watch in awe until I see Masky's expression becomes apprehensive and I realize I have made a mistake.
Jeff's fist almost makes contact with my face.
Taken back and almost knocked off my feet, I move and stumble over the uneven earth.
"Pay attention, Toby." Masky warns and I feel my embarrassment creep up my neck.
Jeff cracks his fingers in his fist and pulls back his lips into a snarl.
"Listen to mommy, Princess." He mocks.
I swallow back his insult and force myself to stand my ground.
The anger in his face was real and the look in his eyes was something I grew to know well.
I've over stepped my line.
He wasn't training anymore.
He wanted to kill me.
He wasted no time and aimed for my chest.
Straight for the heart.
He knew that each second was a second he had before the proxies decided this was going too far.
Before he had to stop and let me get away with bringing him down again, and again, and again.
I deflected his fist and he swung again.
His fist contact my forearms, hands, and sometimes even my wrist.
He grabs at me and I duck and stumble only to be hit again.
His swing were forcing me to move away from him until I felt I had nowhere to go.
I knew I needed to get around him, but he allowed no time for me to think.
He overwhelmed me and counted on me to make a mistake.
He knew I wasn't going to keep up with him.
He knew I was the weakest of the three.
And he was right.
I wasn't nearly as strong or as coordinated as Masky and Hoodie,
but there was something he didn't know.
I was faster.
When my heel knocked against the base of a tree, I knew I needed to move.
I caught his right fist in mid swing and slipped past him.
His body moves with his arm and he falls to the floor with a grunt.
"You little fucker!" he yells into the dirt. "Let go of me!"
I don't.
I am afraid of what will happen if I do.
My breathing comes out in gasps and my limbs shake violently, but my hold on his arm doesn't ease and I keep my knee shoved into his back.
"How does that dirt taste, Jeff?" hoodie laughs.
"You think this is fucking funny?" Jeff snaps back, still trying to pull from my grip.
It was Masky who answers.
His voice was humorless and stern with warning.
"I think you should ease up on your swing next time." he stands from his kneeled position in front of our bag and pulls out a water bottle for me.
Water....
I lick my dry lips at the sight of it.
I didn't realize how thirsty I was...
It didn't make sense. Masky made sure I had enough water before we started. I... Shouldn't be this thirsty.
Jeff scoffed.
"Aren't you going to tell your little bitch boy to get off of me?"
Masky didn't have too because I let go of him.
The fight was over and he lost.
Again.
Jeff crawled to his feet and rubbed his wrist bitterly.
"Next time? You think there will be another fucking next time?"
I eyed the water bottle in Masky's hand.
The one we left behind on the forest floor.
I need it.
"There won't be a next time! I'm going to slit that fucker's throat!" Jeff's hand slips into his pocket at pulls out a switch blade, but I wasn't surprised.
Not how I was that day.
I remember this.
Jeff has always been a sore loser but being beat again and again by the weakest link threatened his pride.
It enraged him.
He was willing to get rid of me and face the consequences after.
Jeff grabs me as I pull away from him, I fall to the ground and he raises the knife.
Masky only had time to drop the water bottle and run towards us when Jeff lowered the knife and struck me with the back side of it across the face.
He dropped me and I was left dumbfounded by his actions.
He didn't kill me.
He left then.
Storming away into the brush before the others could catch him.
He knew that they weren't going to go after him right away.
Not while I was hurt.
And he was right.
They were by my side in that moment.
"Are you alright?" Masky asks urgently.
I tore my eyes away from the brush where Jeff disappeared into, but I didn't have a chance to answer before they were already seeing for themselves.
Masky touched the area where Jeff struck me. I didn't know I was cut until his fingertips shined with red liquid when he pulled away.
He turned to Hoodie.
"Call Jack and fill him in. Tell him we'll be there in three minutes."
"What about Jeff?"
"We'll deal with him later."
I numbly reached up and felt the freshly formed gash across my cheek and the ache in my chest grew.
It wasn't because of what happened. I've expected Jeff's aggressive nature early on.
It was because I knew.
When Masky pulled me to my feet. I didn't feel the bell pull on the back of my foot.
I grew more and more aware of my dying thirst and the tears that poured down my face.
I was aware that my time with them was fading.
Masky pulled me with him, but I didn't move.
I couldn't.
I wasn't with them anymore.
I was missing.
And I wasn't going to make it home.
Their expressions reflected the pain I felt the moment I realized I wasn't coming back.
The pain I felt for so long.
"I'm so sorry." I choked "I screwed up." I didn't bother to hide my tears from them. They weren't here. "I miss you." and they weren't going to hear my goodbye. "... So much."