Boogeyman (Markiplier x Reader)

chapter six

I didn't sleep last night. And I have work today. Great. I just felt I was overdosing on those pills way too often. I got ready, got to work, and skimmed through my day. Supposedly Erin's coming home tonight. I could barely hold myself up on the walk back, so I had to prop myself against a building whilst trudging through the sea of people.

I seem to have no life, because the highlights of my days are when I get to meet Mark. So what if I can't get my head out of my own hallucinations? I made it back in one piece, thankfully, but by then it's like my soul had half escaped me. I just toppled to the floor and laid there.

Then I realized how awful I must've looked so I got up and took a shower.

"Hello."

"What the FUCK!" I screamed, squeezing into the corner of my un-shower-curtained shower. I just stood there in a defensive pose of my genitals, looking around. Mark.

"Come on, we just hugged that day! That doesn't mean you can watch me shower!" I hissed, blushing bright red. He seemed to know what I meant, so his cheeks turned red as well as he hurriedly apologized and left the bathroom. Or more like, glitched through the walls.

I finished my shower cautiously, and slipped into my pyjamas. Yes, I have pyjamas. He was right outside the door, and I nearly ripped my door out of the hinges. I just stood there studying his face, and if it's possible, he looks tired. Fatigued, even.

"Are you alright?" I asked. He seemed startled by my question, but nodded. His mind seemed to be wandering somewhere else and his eyes looked distant. I knew something was wrong.

"Hey, talk to me." I reached out to touch his shoulder, and he flinched. My hand stayed frozen. "I'm sorry." He said quietly, his eyes refusing to meet mine.

"I hate liars." I said coldly. A look of panic flashed through his face. His eyes hardened and his lips straightened to a line. He looked like the person I saw in my office. Emotionless and cold.

He turned around, and slipped his top off. What I saw horrified me. Deep red gashes across his back, still shining with viscous blood, burying deeper in some places more than others. My voice had escaped me, the only thing I could do was stare.

As quickly as he revealed, he concealed. When he turned around, he looked stoic. Angry, even. "I did not lie." He said. "I am fine."

"Why?"

"I am not supposed to break the balance between the Keepers and the humans. But I did."

Keepers? What sort of cult thing is that? I kept that blunt question to myself. This all must be my fault. "Who else is there besides you?"

His features lightened a little. "There's the Sandman, he makes sure people are asleep and well. Unless that person is haunted by myself." I contained a scoff because he looked so serious. "There's the Blacksmith, which I'm not too fond of.." He trailed off with a distasteful look. "He welds shields to fend off bad spirits for chosen people. There are many others, which I would gladly enlighten you about, like the..-" "No no, that's fine." I interjected.

He didn't look offended. "Does it.. Hurt?" I said slowly. He seemed thoughtful. "Yes." Not even going to deny it. Slick. "Then why are you still here?" I didn't mean to sound hostile, but somehow I came off that way.

"I don't know."

"Don't leave me." I said before I could stop myself.

"I don't know if I can ever leave you." He replied. His expression stayed unreadable. Whereas I, had gone red like a little school girl. I changed the subject. "Did you see anything in the bathroom?"

".. Yes?" He ended with a slightly high note and looked immediately scared.

"There's no question now. You're never leaving me." I announced with a straight face, staring at him dead in the eye. He nodded hurriedly. I grinned, breaking the tense atmosphere. "Why are you always around me? Don't you have other people to haunt?" I asked curiously, sitting down by my dining table and propping up my chin on my palm.

"I thought there was no question now. I am never leaving you." He repeated robotically almost. I tilted my head a little. He seemed to get what I meant. "I am everywhere and no where at once. I am dead and alive, I am just as human as you are and I am not. Like Schrodingër's cat."

I couldn't really grasp the concept of what he was saying, but I nodded. My heart suddenly started beating rapidly as I remembered the night I touched him. "How did I feel?" I asked.

"You felt like.. I don't know how to explain it." He squinted and thought for a while. I expected that kind of answer from him, and I was content. I smiled.

"Well, you shouldn't do that again."

"Why?"

"I don't like seeing you hurt."

"It would hurt more if I didn't do that again."

Silence.

He really knows how to pull on my heartstrings, that sly bastard.

A few glances at the clock and it was already three.

"I suppose it's just you and me, tonight, Mark."