Shattered Minds - Ticci Toby and Masky - A Creepypasta/Marble Hornets Story

Chapter 7: Confusion

Toby managed to get up off the floor and into his room after Tim passed, but was now just sitting on his bed. He remained where he was. Silent, but calm. Much calmer than he was before. That was good. But he wasn't sure to do, if anything, when he was suddenly distracted by something. He glanced away from whatever space he was staring off into, toward the door, or the floor, or somewhere around there. It sounded like someone was yelling, however muffled as it was. It sounded like a male, only it wasn't Toby, for once.

It sounded like Tim.

He wanted to go down, to check out what the commotion was. He knew what Tim could be like. He knew how bad things could get for him, if he didn't take his medicine. Previous fight or not, he wanted to make sure the older man was all right.

Quickly the proxy was on his feet, grabbing his orange goggles and face mask and fitting them back onto his face. He didn't know if Tim was actually yelling at anyone or not, but he could never be too sure. Without his disguise on, Toby felt vulnerable. Especially after last night. He didn't need anyone else seeing that.

He opened the door and went out of the room, shutting it behind him. He then headed down the hall, walking down the stairs into the main room. He got there in time to see the unmasked man continuing his pacing.

That was when Toby noticed the other person who was there, the person Tim must have been yelling at. He stiffened at the sight of Crim, glancing away with a glower behind his mask as he glared at nothing in particular.

That was when Tim turned around, and saw the younger man. Already back in his disguise, not having said a word yet. "Great," Tim muttered, gesturing toward him before letting his hand drop to his side. "What words of solace do I get to hear from you?"

Toby looked up, anger flashing in his eyes for a moment, before he realized what he was doing, about to react with irritation and derision. He decided to ignore the comment. "What's the p-problem?" he questioned.

"Nothing you can handle," Tim shot back. "Nothing you can just hack to pieces with your little hatchets!"

"Really?" the other proxy glared, taking a step forward, deciding to challenge the claim he hadn't even brought up. "And what's that?"

"Zalgo."

There was a pause, silence filling the air. "...Zalgo?" the skepticism was clear in Toby's tone. And in case it wasn't obvious, the boy rolled his eyes. "That thing isn't real."

Tim just decided to ignore the younger proxy, as he pointed behind him. "Check the camera," he said. "There's something you need to see."

Toby turned around, only to find the device with a blinking red light flashing back at him, and he let out an automatic groan. "You c-can't be serious...You really expect me to be-believe you caught Zalgo on camera?"

The older man bit his lip, glancing away as he cursed. What the hell good came of Toby being here if he didn't want to even look at the thing?

Tim didn't say anything, and Toby twitched, his neck cracking. Did he really have to give this pointless junk a try? Clearly whatever it was the man caught on tape wasn't Zalgo, otherwise he would have said so.

It wasn't that Toby didn't trust him, it was just that he knew Tim had given reasons in the past not to trust him. Crim was still a stranger to Toby though. A newcomer. An intruder. Why would he want to take her word? But Tim wanted him to. And he clearly wasn't going to let this go until he did look at the tape.

Toby let out an impatient sigh. "Fine..." he said, turning and grabbing the camera off of the shelf it sat on. He looked at it a moment, before realizing he didn't know how it worked, and didn't care to take the time to examine all its buttons. He handed it back to Tim, practically shoving it in his hands. "Set this up," he ordered.