Endearment

Chapter 10: Raindrops and Conversations

It's been a few days since I've made any communication with Toby since he was on a trip with Slenderman to teach him what it really meant to be a proxy. After hearing a few sneer comments from the others in the mansion about Toby being Slender's new pupil and that I was old news, I found myself distancing myself from everyone and becoming slightly more lonely that I originally ever was.

It wasn't that I felt jealous that maybe Toby would become Slender's favorite. It was that being Slender's favorite was the only title I've ever held. If I wasn't Slender's favorite proxy, what would I be known as? It was more of an identity crisis to me than it was a jealousy crisis.

Walking around the halls of the mansion, I walked past a young woman, shorter than me, and noticed long, red locks. Eyes widening, I realized it was Ann. "I can do this," I said to myself in my head. "Just make a conversation. That's all."

"H-hey Ann..." I shyly approached as I rubbed the back of my neck with on hand and wave with the other. Looking up from her book and turning to face me, she cocked her head in confusion and hesitantly waved. "Hello, Masky. I don't believe we've met."

"Y-yeah, sorry about that."
"It's perfectly fine. I would introduce myself but it seems as though you already know my name."
"Yeah I've heard it a few times before.."
"I can say the same to you. Not everyone gets the title of Slender's favorite proxy."

That was exactly it. Almost everyone in this mansion knew me as that exact title. For a moment, I thought of what would become of me if Toby were to take that title instead. Who would I be? Some guy with a clipboard?

"Uh, yeah. I guess that's what I'm known for." She smiled a bit. Oh gosh...that smile made my heart race a bit. "Well, I'll see you around." Waving goodbye, she began going back to reading and walking away. "Uh, yeah! See you around!"

Although it was nice to have finally spoken to her, I kinda Hoped she would of stayed for a bit to chat. Then again what would we chat about since we barely knew each other? Going downstairs to roam around a bit, I jumped onto the couch and switched on the television. The first thing I see was a gay porno in a hardcore scene and quickly go to the DVD player to eject the CD. Cheeks burning behind my mask, I set the CD down but not before reading the title that was hand-written on it. 'Property of BEN, do not watch.' Eyes a bit wide, I shake it off and go back to watch some TV, not really picturing BEN being the gay one around here. But hey, who was I to judge?

Hours passed and I began to doze off a bit, feeling a bit of drool passing my lip. Closing my eyes, a small creak of a door was to be heard but it didn't really catch my attention. Figuring it was one of the others, I went back to dozing even more off before I heard creaks in the floorboards of someone coming closer. After years of experiencing Jeff trying to sneak up on me and trying to jump scare me, I've become immune to it. "Good luck scaring me, Jeff."

However, no jump scare was to be found. In fact, the only thing I could hear was rain pounding against the window pane. I didn't notice it was pouring and the fact it was dark out until now. Feeling something creep up beside me, I laid perfectly still hoping to attack whenever the person was in close reach. Right when I was about to strike, arms went around my waist and something heavy that felt more like a head was laying against me. Opening my eyes and looking down, Toby was found cuddling against me, both shaking, wet from the rain most likely, and out of breath as if he were running. Trips with Slender usually lasted up to a month, not just a few days. So I went away with the assumption that Toby ran away from Slender and found his way back here. "Hey.. You okay?" I asked softly as he jumped and fell back on the other side of the couch. "S-sorry I didn't know you were awake! Could've said something, dipshit!"

Rolling my eyes at his such predictable attitude, I laid back down and closed my eyes. "Could've told me you wanted to cuddle because you're afraid, dipshit." I retorted. Making an offended face and crossing his arms, Toby opened his mouth but didn't say a word. After several minutes, he spoke again. "A-and if I was afraid and wanted to cuddle...?" His voice cracked as he asked.