andrew dressed as santa, because most likely when this is published it's late november or early december. or anywhere after thanksgiving. thanksgiving is over which basically means it's christmas time now. prepare.
also, this is the chapter that I didn't wanna publish. this means that it's very intense. this was probably the most intense chapter that I've written so far and I beat my record for the longest word count in a single chapter of 8481. obviously, this chapter isn't 8481 words and way beyond that.
TW: strangling/choking, fighting, punching, nose bleeds (no death, ofc)
~
Simon sat in his chair, reading the [UNDISCLOSED LOCATION] newspaper. He took sips from his coffee as he read. Totally wasn't planning to stalk the tallies again by looking through the newspaper! Nope... That's when his eyes glanced over the recent baking contest winners. In 2nd place were Ross Federman & Andrew Horowitz. Simon smiled.
"Oh! See they're back in town," Simon said as he set down his coffee. "It's my chance to shine."
He ripped the section about the baking contest out of the newspaper and taped it on his wall. Besides it, there were maybe hundreds of notes about the band and pictures of them Simon had taken or pulled from somewhere. He grinned at the "little" collection he had. Actually, collection was an understatement. Horde was the right word.
"Oh, tallies...I'll come back. I don't always do, but I will. Eventually..."
Simon's laugh echoed through his office as if it were a cave. He had that weird but also scary villain laugh, also with him laughing for too long. After he coughed and straightened his tie. He was...plotting his revenge for the tallies. Many ideas were in his head, but he had one sticking out from all the other ones. It was an idea with fire. MUCH fire.
To the tallies, they all sat on the floor, watching a horror movie from Joe's laptop. The hotel room was dark. The only light was from the screen and the moonlight from the windows. Everyone was horrified or almost about to scream. Ross was a mix of both. He knew there was gonna be a jumpscare any minute now so he tried to prepare himself by setting the bowl of popcorn down beside him so he wouldn't spill it.
Joe was different from everyone else (quirky haha). Since his second emo phase, he got used to horror so he didn't flinch at the jumpscares. Soon as the jumpscare popped up everyone either screamed or flinched so hard. Joe didn't at all. Ross, of course, ended up knocking over the popcorn bowl anyways. He awkwardly tried to scoop it back up into the bowl quickly.
"Ew man! Don't put it back, it's already been on the floor." Zubin said as he saw Ross scooping the popcorn back into the bowl.
"5-second rule." Ross replied.
"That's just a lie made up by gross people so normal & clean people like us can accept them."
"Zubes. Leave him alone." Joe said. "I don't blame him for being him, but he can't blame you for hating it."
Rob heavily sighed and paused the movie. "Stop quoting Fall Out Boy! You know what- that's it!" He looked around everywhere in all the drawers of the nightstands. He huffed when he finally found what he was looking for. It was duct tape.
Joe's eyes widened. He had already got his mouth taped this year! HE DIDN'T NEED TO DO IT AGAIN. He started to run into the bathroom, screaming as Ross did that one time. But it was too late... Rob had jumped on him and started taping him.
"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, N- *muffled*" Joe shouted as the piece of duct tape went over his mouth. To make sure he couldn't take it off Rob taped his wrists together too.
"Why do you always tape him up? Like, does he give off that vibe to where he needs to be taped up? You first did it at my birthday. Now, you do it because he can't stop quoting Fall Out Boy. Why?" Ross questioned.
Rob turned around, his side figure shown dramatically like he was in an anime. His glasses sparkled as he pushed them back up to the bridge of his nose. Rob held the duct tape roll in the air. "Do you want to be taped up as well?"
"NOPE!" Ross replied. He gave a forced smile to Rob as he scooted away from Rob who seemed to walk towards him before sitting down.
"Good!" Rob unpaused the movie as if nothing happened.
For the rest of the night, Ross was in fear of Rob. He seemed harmless (for now) but Ross looked over his shoulder a few times to see what he would do. Unfortunately, Joe was still taped up and pouting in the corner. He looked like a child who just got in trouble and was punished by their mother but the child was emo. ...and Joe Hawley.
When the movie ended they all had their nightly share of feelings and went to bed. Rob had forgotten to untape Joe, so he untaped him before he finally fell asleep. Joe couldn't sleep. Of course. So he decided to go to the vending machines downstairs of the hotel to make himself more tired and to stretch his legs.
As Joe walked out of the hotel room and walked down the dark & lonely halls of the hotel, he swore he could...feel someone. Like someone was following him or watching him somehow in those halls. They were tiny but dark. Because of that, Joe thought there was a low chance that someone was. But it wasn't zero.
He kept turning around to see if there was someone there. Maybe he was still nervous from the whole Hawaii thing, maybe it was true. But Joe knew he couldn't live in fear forever so he had to go to the vending machines anyway. When he got to them he sighed in relief as no one was there and he was just paranoid.
"See! You're just afraid." Joe thought to himself. "Everything will be okay."
But just as he calmed down, he heard footsteps from behind him. This fueled Joe's anxiety so he tried to hurry up and just get the snack. But the person had already arrived. They stood next to the vending machine that Joe was at, looking at what they could choose. Or pretending to (which Joe thought).
They looked quite like Simon. Just without the whole "emo Onceler" look. He wore casual clothing but their face and hair...it looked just like Simon's. They even had a look on their face that was the same little smug grin he had. Joe shivered when he looked up at them.
"New look, I assume?" The person said. Their voice was incredibly like Simon's.
"W-what?" Joe muttered back.
The person cleared their throat. "What's got you up at this hour?"
Joe thought this was almost him. That somehow he'd come back from Hawaii and continued to stalk the band. But then he started to think with the positive side of his brain. It could have been just an uncanny look-alike, or Joe's mind making him believe that it was. Simon couldn't be back to his old ways so quickly. "Just hungry, you know."
They laughed. "Yeah..."
The little seconds that the person was there felt like minutes. It killed Joe to keep standing there. He should have left by now, so he finally took the chance but the person also ran to the exit at the same time. They said a little "sorry" before heading out and to whoever knows.
"God, that was awkward." They muttered as they walked down the hallway. "But I can't blame him! He's in a Wattpad book so of course, there has to be some awkward moments. I guess..."
Simon grinned as he walked out of the hotel and into the night. Presumably back to his weird "lair" or whatever he called it. Meanwhile, Joe stood there bewildered. He finally knew that it was Simon. Somehow he had found them and wouldn't hide himself as he did before.
"What's a Wattpad...?"
After he wondered what Wattpad was for a minute, Joe ran to the elevator to get back to the hotel room. He didn't know what to think, the same person who made him stay at this hotel came to here. Just to taunt him. To remind Joe that Simon was still there and wasn't going to let them get off that fucking easy.
Meanwhile, Ross woke up from the door opening before Joe went downstairs. He just laid in his bed staring at the ceiling wondering about really nothing. Simon wasn't even on his mind at all. But then, Joe ran into the hotel room panicking while holding a bag of chips.
"Joe!" Ross whispered. "What are you doing? Are you okay?"
"NO," Joe firmly whispered back. "I just saw Simon. He talked to me and everything."
Ross's face of concern dropped into an emotionless one. One side of his brain thought that Joe was just joking and being an asshole. But on the other, he thought that he wasn't joking and the panic on Joe's face was genuine. That Simon snuck his way into here and managed to scare the absolute shit out of Joe. But Ross wanted to be in denial about it so he went with the one side of his brain that was more light-hearted.
"You asshole. Stop joking. Do you want me to wake up Rob?"
"No! I'm not joking, I swear. He was there. He even mumbled random things that when you'd say something about it, they'd say completely something else."
Ross now knew he wasn't. Panic filled his mind as he imagined what Simon had been doing in the meantime. He could've been watching all this time and didn't make himself known until just now. His hands turned into fists, his fingernails digging into his palms in anger.
"...go back to bed. We'll deal with this in the morning."
The feeling that Ross was feeling was turmoil. Just as he thought they got away for a minute, he came back. The hall was never really free from Simon's horrifying grasp. It had been some time now since they last saw him but this means he could've gotten worse since he hadn't seen the tallies. Fuck.
Even though he didn't wanna think about it and wanted to go to sleep it was still on his brain. Ross cursed quietly and smushed his face in between two pillows, exhausted from just thinking about him. You know what - Ross wasn't gonna say his name anymore. Maybe it would help to not think about him so Ross wouldn't lose his mind thinking about him. It would be so hard to fall asleep trying to not say or think about his name but it could work.
~
Ross woke up in the morning to the sound of the others talking. He didn't care enough to listen, all he cared about was what was going on in the world he just woke up in. His eyes slowly opened up as he saw both of the pillows that were once on both sides of his head. Almost like a pillow sandwich.
"Mmph..." Ross groaned as he pulled the covers off of him.
Then, a silhouette appeared in front of Ross. Was it Joe? Wait, maybe Andrew. He couldn't really tell since he couldn't see. But it spoke to him.
"Morning," Joe said with a subtle smile. It was so weird after Joe turned emo to see him smile. But soon enough the smile was completely wiped off his face just in a matter of seconds. "How was your sleep?"
"Mediocre. Actually, bad." Ross replied as he opened his eyes and sat up. Only a few people were up. It was Joe, Zubin, and Rob. They all looked at Ross as if he were an oddity.
But the strange glares were only for a second. They all went back to their conversation as if nothing had happened. Ross rolled his eyes and waddled to the bathroom. When he got into the bathroom and shut the door, he looked at himself in the mirror and he didn't like what he woke up as. His eyes had bags under them and his hair was all messy from the pillows.
He didn't get much sleep since he was trying not to think about Simon, but he still did anyways. Ross tried putting his mind on any other thing he could think about but Simon still lingered in his mind as if he put a spell on him. Wait - ever since the whole dream thing that could be a possibility. If someone taught Simon how to do that, then he could be taught literally any other thing.
It was a scary thought but also Simon must have consequences too, right? If he did he would probably enjoy them because that's how much of a sick bastard he was. But Ross didn't wanna think about all that anymore. He just wanted to start his day and do whatever he could do today. So that's what he did, he didn't even bother to have breakfast and just started getting ready.
Outside of the bathroom the 3 were all still talking. Joe didn't really think about the whole Simon thing since he was so stressed out about it that his mind made him forget most of the thing. And other stuff too. Zubin & Rob noticed this, but didn't bother to bring it up because this was the first time once in a while that Joe wasn't acting emo! He was just...scared.
Joe wasn't as scared of Simon as Ross was anymore because he sort of fucked up his mind. The whole "fear" part of his brain didn't make him scared of things as much anymore. But obviously, Joe didn't know that! He thought that maybe facing Simon after the infamous dream didn't make him as scared anymore. He was a tiny bit glad about that. Just a bit.
"We haven't done anything in a bit all as a group," Rob said. "I think we should do something this weekend. A little fun for all of us."
"Like going out...?" Joe questioned.
"Yeah! Something fun." Rob replied.
"Sure. But what will we exactly do?" Zubin asked.
"Hm. Maybe go to a carnival because I've heard that somewhere in town there's gonna be one. Seems fun enough!"
"Okay," Joe said.
Some hours after deciding that they were gonna go to a carnival on Saturday, Ross got out of the shower and Andrew woke up. The 3 told the other 2 and they were fine with going. But of course, Ross was a little weary. It seemed as if Joe hadn't told the others yet about seeing Simon. He could've been there but this was something random that he could've not known about.
Well, he had his whole thing with the fucking tape recorders. Since he visited them and now knew where they were staying why wouldn't he place them around the hotel room? There hadn't been any signs of someone breaking in but there also weren't any signs of Simon breaking in back at the house either. He did sneak in through the window, but that wasn't the point.
Simon was still crazy enough to do it. This meant that Ross had to look through the hotel room for them all; ugh. Another thing to add on to the list of things he had to do this week. Thankfully he could get this thing done by today since some of the guys were going to go grocery shopping later.
Maybe Ross could come up with an excuse so he won't look like an absolute crazy person while searching every little nook and crevice of the place. But what could it be? What would be a thing that people would normally do to look around everywhere? Cleaning. That was it. The hotel room wasn't really messy, but Ross could claim that it was bothering him and that he needed to clean.
So that's what he was gonna do! Ross smiled. He couldn't wait but as he laid down on his bed and tried his best to be patient and wait for them to go but they weren't going any time soon. He didn't wanna wait what seemed like an eternity, so he took a nap and went to sleep. It would probably give him at least 2 hours of extra sleep time.
~
Ross's eyes slowly opened as he woke up to the sound of talking. AGAIN. But this time instead of taking 5 minutes to get up and out of bed, he instantly sat up at looked at the door where Rob & Andrew were standing near. They were 99.99% going to the store.
"Oh look who's up," Rob said while holding a tote bag with his left arm facing the 3. "Do you wanna add anything to the list before we go?"
Ross's face almost lit up with joy, but he realized that he didn't wanna make everyone find out his plan. "Uh...no." He muttered.
"Ok. See you guys later!" Andrew said as he and Rob made their way out of the hotel room and on their way to the store.
Everything was now according to plan. Ross would get to save himself from Simon's plans early for once, and maybe he would get to go home. But he didn't wanna get too cocky about it all. He stood up with a smirk as he faced the 2.
"So, I'm gonna go clean up the room for a minute. Just saying so you guys won't think I'm going through your guises' stuff," Ross said.
"Why the hell would we think that?" Zubin said as he looked up from his phone that he held in his right hand. He was petting Winter with his other.
"I don't know. You could be as paranoid as I am."
"But you're not paranoid?" Joe added on.
Sure Ross wasn't. He didn't believe he really was but he just wanted to convince them that he totally wasn't looking for tape recorders since Simon paid Joe a visit last night. "Okay." He said as he gathered the little amount of cleaning supplies that were there. He said he was gonna clean, why not actually do it?
First, he started off in the bathroom. No one ever paid attention to the random places of the bathroom so it would be the greatest place to hide things. Ross looked all around but still no tape recorders. He also cleaned, but that wasn't the point! He was surprised that there weren't any so he looked under all of the beds. Especially his bed since last time there was some under his bed.
None. None at all. Ross was absolutely puzzled. Had Simon actually been sane for once?! What he'd done to the tallies so far seemed as if he was long gone. He could've taken a break since Ross guessed that even stalkers take time off. But this is also Simon that we're talking about. The absolute maniac that forced them out of their home.
Ross still continued to look but 13 minutes later, there weren't any in the room. If Simon stopped using tape recorders then what could he use? At this point, Ross was tired of "cleaning" so he sat on his bed wondering what Simon was doing to spy on them. Maybe he'd just plainly spy on them when he could. But that was too simple for Simon.
Everything seemed...odd. Everything was peaceful after Simon came here? How could that be? Ross didn't wanna exactly interrupt that short little break so he just shut up his thoughts and enjoyed the time. He was still a bit scared but a small smile went up on his face. Peace. Even only just for a few hours.
Zubin noticed this and was a little weirded out by the whole thing. He knew Ross hadn't been cleaning since he forgot to make it look like he was. But he didn't exactly know what he actually WAS doing. "What's with your little smile?"
Ross's smile instantly dropped and his cheeks blushed with embarrassment. "Nothing. Just happy that everything's clean now," He said as he looked Joe directly in the eyes. He was trying to signal to Joe that everything was okay for a bit. Obviously, Joe didn't notice and gave him a weird look.
Zubin laughed. "Sure."
For the rest of the time that Rob & Andrew were gone Ross enjoyed this little time. They eventually came home and all enjoyed dinner. It was a Thursday and that meant they had to wait 2 days until Saturday. Not that hard. They thought it would feel so long before it came but when it did, it hit like a train.
It was now Saturday. Everyone woke up at 10:00 so they could also wake up early, but save some time because the carnival wasn't starting until 5:00 PM or so. It would be pointless if they woke up when they would usually and then boringly wait the time to get ready. Meanwhile, Ross was excited to go out with his best friends but also a bit nervous.
He had already thought all about Simon on Thursday. But what if this was the time for Simon to strike? It would be perfect. They would be all out in a public place where Simon could hide and watch them from everywhere without them even knowing. But wait - shouldn't Joe have told them by now? He still guessed not since they still went through with it and haven't mentioned anything about it. Great.
But Ross didn't wanna think negatively and then it would happen, so he put his mind on what he would do when he would get there. He probably hadn't gone to a carnival since he was 18 and barely even focused on the rides because he was with a girl. But that was all in the past now! There could've been new rides or something.
Thinking about it all was awkward but he had to think of something else besides Simon. Wait, wasn't he gonna not say his name anymore? Eh. He couldn't hold back. But something he could think about was getting ready like what he was gonna wear. Whatever he would look his best in.
Meanwhile, Zubin sat on his bed with Rob while holding Winter in his lap. Rob was folding laundry while talking with him. Zubin was totally focused on the conversation but the question of if he could bring Winter with him or not remained. On one hand, it was a bunny. How harmless could it be? But on the other hand, maybe she could get hurt or even worse; lost. Zubin DID NOT want to lose her.
"Weird question, but, is it allowed to bring a bunny to a carnival?" Zubin asked with some fear in his tone.
Rob looked back at Zubin with the most "why are you asking me that?" face ever. "Zubes...it's a bunny. Do you really think that it could go?"
"No," Zubin replied. "But do you think they would notice if I snuck her in?"
"How the hell would you sneak a bunny in?" Andrew questioned as he overheard the two's conversation.
"I don't know. Sneak her in my jacket or something." Zubin said.
"I don't think you should try since people might notice. Clearly not good."
Zubin looked at Winter with a sad look. He didn't wanna leave her alone, but he didn't wanna make her feel unsafe by bringing her along to some loud place in public where she didn't know where was. "Okay..."
~ (I am actually sorry for the quick time skips it's just I don't know what to put here)
The 5 all walked up to the entrance of the carnival, it glowed with lights and the loud sounds of people and carnival rides were heard. It seemed almost like a chaotic place but since it was fun it couldn't be. Zubin sadly didn't end up bringing Winter since the band all advised him not to. But with sadness, he took the band to some games before actually getting on rides. Because of him almost arguing with them they arrived a little later than they planned.
Ross was ecstatic whenever he would play the games. He was so happy to be good at them, he just knew right there that he would win. And he always did. The other tallies seemed to be a bit pissed off at him but that didn't matter. He was thinking about something other than Simon! Yay...
But to burst his safe little bubble, Ross thought that whenever he looked around him or slightly behind him he could see Simon or someone's face that looked similar to his. He brushed it off as only his mind playing tricks on him since he was his only thought earlier in the day. There was a possibility it could be him, but really? Simon could find out where they were going in just the span of 3 days? Not all that possible to Ross.
When they were done with the games Andrew really wanted to go on a carousel. The band said yes, because why not? Carousels were fun if they went the right speed. Andrew dragged everyone to a little blue carousel that was beautifully decorated with bright-colored lights and white horses. Everyone took a seat on a horse and waited for the ride to run.
Only a few seconds after they sat down and waited the carousel turned and the horses went up and down, the tallies were smiling and laughing. It didn't go too fast but it for sure wasn't slow. Everyone was having a good time.
"See guys? You should all listen to my ideas more often," Andrew said with a little smirk.
"I guess. But do we ever reject them?" Rob questioned because he didn't remember most of Andrew's ideas.
"Yeah..." Andrew frowned. "But that doesn't matter. What does is this carousel."
"True."
Ross laughed at the two's conversation. It seemed as if the carousel went faster, but he wasn't gonna fall off so he didn't care all that much. As the carousel turned he kept seeing Simon's stupid face. His stupid little smirk. It seemed as if he was standing by a booth, Ross could only see him when the carousel turned. But then it hit him. Ross wasn't seeing him. He was actually there.
Simon was actually standing there, now starting to wave to him as the wind blew through his emo hair. He wasn't in his "emo Onceler" attire but more in normal-ish clothes. As Ross started to notice he walked into the shadows with a smirk. Ross HAD to chase him. Thankfully the carousel was over by the time he noticed Simon, so he dashed off the carousel and went into whatever little "alley" Simon walked to.
It seemed like every little corner that Ross turned, Simon had just escaped from. Always out of reach. Always in the distance. But all of a sudden Simon had tripped on something and that's when Ross took his chance and started running. Simon instantly got up and did the same, but ran...out of the carnival and into the parking lot? This really confused Ross.
Maybe he was leading him somewhere. Obviously Ross didn't wanna know, so he sped up and tried to tackle him but it didn't work and ended up tripping just as Simon did. All Simon did was laugh in pity at Ross.
"Awh!" Simon cooed. "Rossy couldn't get me."
His voice was so taunting. Especially in the over-exaggerated mocking tone that Simon had in his voice in that moment. Ross wanted to get up and throw him to the ground, probably breaking some of his bones. But he knew he couldn't so he decided to punch him instead. When Ross got up he had never gotten up faster than that in his life.
"Shut...shut the fuck up." Ross groaned.
Ross's arm swung at Simon's face, completely hitting him in the face. Simon was all cocky and didn't realize it until he felt blood drip from his nose and onto his chin. He held his nose and ran out of the parking lot and to the sidewalk. Ross tried to catch up to him but he was gone. He deeply sighed.
Anger filled his mind. He let him get away! For what he did to him Ross felt as if Simon deserved to have his own little "dream" of his own or something to that equivalent. This fight was that equivalent, or at least Ross thought so. He went back into the parking lot and looked around for anybody who may have seen the two fight. An innocent bystander was okay because they didn't know the drama between Simon & Ross, nor knew who they were, but one of the tallies (or the whole group of them) would be worse. They would know that Ross & Joe lied to them.
Since Simon was stalking them too, Ross thought that if they found out they would think it wouldn't be fair for them to not find out too. But Ross & Joe were only trying to protect their minds from filling up with panic. And themselves, of course. But no one was in the parking lot or even looking in it. He didn't have to even face that guilt, but only if they didn't find out. Ross sighed again but with relief.
He walked back into the carnival and went back to the carousel. The 4 all stood there by it confused, and giving Ross a dramatic look when he came back to them. How was he gonna lie out of this one this time? He hoped he was a good liar in this moment.
"Where the hell have you been?" Rob questioned with a mix of concern and annoyance in his voice.
"Uhm...let's just say I needed to go to the bathroom," Ross replied with an embarrassed look on his face.
"You had to go THAT badly where you had to run off of the carousel?" Zubin asked.
"...yes."
Zubin's eyes then went wide as he realized the situation. He nodded. Ross was indeed a good liar in this moment. But only for now. Sure it had to be awkward, but any lie would work to keep them from finding out about him and Simon's fight. Anyway, they then went to go get some food for Ross since he asked. A bit weird since he apparently went to the bathroom but they went along with it. In truth, he was actually a bit hungry since he didn't have much to eat for breakfast.
Only carnival popcorn could make Ross not hungry. Ah, how the butter tasted so good to him. He smiled as he sat on the little bench table thingys with the 4 eating popcorn out of a flimsy paper bag. While he was gone everyone planned to go on a ferris wheel or maybe even go on the swing ride. They really couldn't choose.
Sadly Ross now couldn't go because after eating a whole bag of popcorn (he could eat one in under 9 minutes approximately, he counted one time) or else he would throw up. They of course didn't want him to throw up so while they went on one of those rides, he could go out on his own. Not a good idea since he just fought Simon and he could possibly come back and go for round 2. But they didn't know that! And Ross didn't want them to know that. So he sucked it up and continued eating his popcorn.
By the time the tallies had gone to a ride Ross wasn't done with the popcorn. But that was okay. He didn't know what he was gonna do in the meantime, but once he saw a cute bunny plush he knew he had to get it for Zubin. Maybe. The only problem there was that he had to win it from a game of mini basketball. He wished Andrew or Zubin had been there since they were the only ones good at it.
Even though he was mediocre at basketball, Ross still played the game and tried to win that bunny. In the first round, he lost. And the second, and the third. But not the fourth. He smiled as he won the small plush lavender-colored bunny. Eh...maybe this didn't have to be for Zubin. Maybe it could've been for him. As long as he kept it away from him then he could keep it.
After the game, he didn't know what to do next. He probably wouldn't do anything else because by now the others were off the ride. As he wondered what ride they'd choose next, he got a text from Andrew.
andy :)
hey, we're gonna go on the ferris wheel now. you wanna come? I don't think you can get sick when riding a ferris wheel lol
(sent 7:35 pm.)
hm...nah. I think maybe I'll play another game or something and then I'll meet you guys up at the food place again.
(sent 7:35 pm.)
okay! I'll let you know when we're off.
(sent 7:36 pm.)
okay :)
(sent 7:36 pm.)
Maybe Ross was gonna go through that cool "Maze of Mirrors" he had seen earlier. It seemed risky but he had seen a lot of people go in and out of it so if Simon DID wanna go for a round 2 then he'd at least be seen. So Ross, with his bunny, made his way into the entrance. The hallways were all lined with mirrors (even the floors) and lights. They sort of lined out the way, but this was still a maze.
Since it was lined with mirrors, how hard could this be? It didn't even look that big from the outside. But after walking around for a bit it seemed as if he walked into a labyrinth. Ugh. He hated seeing his annoyed and confused face in the mirrors every time he looked down a path to see if he could go down it.
But as he started to lose himself more in the maze, he noticed that there weren't many people around anymore. Where did they go? Maybe they were in some other part of the maze but it seemed like he'd been in there for at least 10 minutes. Ross would've come across them now. Odd, but he was more focused on getting out than finding other people or getting found by Simon.
Simon was crazy but this maze would probably drive him even more crazier; so he would probably get tired of it and go on weirdly watching the tallies with not fighting Ross again. The thought of that actually made Ross laugh because of how funny the scenario was. But he didn't wanna laugh really, he just wanted to get out of this damn maze.
He could almost hear the sound of other carnival games and rides when he went down a certain hallway. This meant he was almost at the end. After such long silence, he would get out and hear the talking of his friends and know he'd be safe. It honestly brought him bliss just thinking about it.
"Heh, I'm gonna get to go home and then sleep in my bed until Monday," Ross quietly laughed to himself.
But as he was near the end, he felt...something. As if another person were there. He even heard footsteps. Fuck. This wasn't good; either Simon was actually there or his mind was playing tricks on him. He was so close! And he also didn't wanna fight again, so he turned around and looked behind him. But no one was there. Only his own reflection.
!! TW for strangling/choking begins here. Skip to "Ross had gained back some air" if you do not wanna see it. !!
Well...not only his reflection anymore. Ross's eyes widened as he saw Simon sneak behind him. And put an arm around his neck choking him and putting him in a headlock. He struggled for air, grabbing behind him to try and get Simon off of him, but from every little grasp, Simon just kept holding onto Ross's neck tighter.
"Looks like you've found me," Simon laughed. "Well...I think I found you."
Ross tried to scream, or at least say something back so someone can hear him. But no. His choking stopped him from making any sounds besides struggling for air. Simon then turned him towards the wall making Ross look at himself in this situation. He looked so scared, while Simon was full-on grinning.
"Look at your pathetic self. Look at how you're trying to breathe but my 'little' arm keeps getting in the way. You're trying to escape, but you can't! Hah!" Simon mocked.
It was a scary sight. Ross didn't wanna see it anymore but it was a hold that he couldn't get out of. So he decided to forcefully collapse himself onto Simon making him fall, getting on him, and escaping his headlock while tackling him. He was pointlessly trying to wiggle his arms out of Simon's hands grabbing them so Ross could punch him. But all of a sudden, Simon flipped him over and let go of Ross's hands. But he did it to strangle him.
"You think you can get out of this, Rossy? Nope, can't beat me," Simon grunted as he basically gripped Ross's neck, pressing on his windpipe harshly.
With all of Simon's choking, it seemed like Ross was actually gonna get strangled. That was gonna be how he died. Death was near. He had almost accepted it but the only thing that held him back from giving up trying to fight Simon off of him was the tears rolling down his cheeks. His vision began to blur as the tears flooded his eyes.
But he couldn't help but let his mind wander and imagine things. What if he was gonna die? His whole life flashed before his eyes, before eventually flashing to his funeral that he had always imagined. His family was all there with sorrowful looks on their faces; while the other tallies were there too. They all huddled around him. It scared Ross deeply how near this could've been.
All Ross could do in response is try to kick or push Simon off along with his noises of him gasping for air. Simon manically laughed at this, seeing it as futile for him to try to escape. The way he was choking him it was impossible for him to get out. He didn't want to exactly "kill" Ross but he didn't wanna just hurt him.
~
The tallies got out from the separate little cars on the ferris wheel and laughed as Rob sort of tripped on the door on the way out. Andrew had let them know that Ross was probably somewhere out in the carnival playing a game and that Andrew was gonna text him to meet them at the food place. He sent a quick text and then led them to the food place.
One little odd thing happened. When the 4 all got there, Ross wasn't there or hadn't texted back yet. Ross was usually a fast texter who texted back maybe a minute after it got sent. But they had maybe waited 5 minutes and he still hadn't sent something back so the tallies got a bit worried.
"You think he's playing a game right now?" Rob suggested as the 4 all sat at the bench table thingys.
"Maybe," Joe replied. "Or he could be lost somewhere. You know how he gets lost in semi-large areas easily."
"Hmm...you're right. But if he is then we've got to find him. And I might know where." Rob said.
"Where?" The 3 all asked in unison.
"That 'Maze of Mirrors' thing. When he saw it, he wanted to instantly go in it with us but we wanted to play games."
"Oh! Yeah. He doesn't do well in mazes. Heh, we should go in there and try to scare him." Zubin said.
"Good idea."
So the 4 tallies went, going to the maze so they could scare the shit out of Ross while he was probably lost. They all giggled at imagining finding him and giving him a nice little scare. But Joe had a bad feeling about this. Why wouldn't Ross come or respond? It seemed unusual. Deep down, he felt...Simon. Simon could've had something to do with this. He stopped giggling as his mind started to wander.
When they got into the maze Rob told them all to be quiet so Ross wouldn't hear them. But as they were quiet, they heard sounds. Sounds of laughing. Like a crazy person laughing. Who the hell would be laughing in a maze like that? Until it hit them - it was Simon's laughing. Oh no.
"Wait, that's Simon's laughing. Wait...OH SHIT." Andrew exclaimed.
They all ran through the maze, desperate and hurrying to find Ross. No one knew why Simon was laughing but they worried for Ross. He could've been in danger. Even if he wasn't, they wanted to get Ross away from Simon as soon as possible because they didn't wanna see what would happen in that situation.
"ROSS! WE'RE GONNA FIND YOU!" Joe yelled out, hoping that Ross would hear.
And Ross did hear. He just couldn't respond. Simon then realized that the tallies found him & Ross. This interrupted his plans, so he started to choke Ross harder and tried to finish the job sooner. Ross had high hopes and they went higher each second that he would be saved and wouldn't die. He now tried to scream out so they could find him.
Joe found him first. When Joe and eventually the other tallies saw Simon & Ross, it was something straight out of a movie. Absolutely horrifying. Simon was on top of Ross basically sitting on him manically laughing and smiling as he strangled him. Ross was choking while noises came out of his mouth, mostly gasps for air as he cried.
When they had found them, Simon stopped and stood up, frozen. He almost wanted to put his hands up in the air to "surrender" but he wasn't gonna do that for his own sake. His eyes were wide and all he could feel was fear. He had finally been caught in his actions. Ross inhaled and exhaled intensely. The 3 went to comfort him as Zubin had a look of anger on his face; he was gonna beat the shit out of Simon.
Simon tried to run but Zubin grabbed the collar of his shirt, made a fist and raised it high, and then punched him in the face. Blood instantly rushed out of his nose as if it hadn't before. Zubin kicked him to the ground and Simon crawled back before getting back on his feet and running out of the maze. Zubin followed and ran after him.
!! TW ENDING !!
Ross had gained back some air now but he was hyperventilating because he was crying. He held onto his plush bunny and his friends held onto him tighter.
"I'm so sorry Ross," Joe said. "This is all my fault. I should've told them."
"N-No it isn't, I was so close to getting out of the maze when he came up to m-me..." Ross sniffled.
Andrew & Rob were confused. Why did Joe blame himself for this? What didn't he tell them? So many questions went through their heads as they cared for Ross.
"What did you need to tell us?" Andrew questioned.
Joe sighed. "2 days ago when I was going out to the hotel's vending machines to get a little snack, I saw Simon. He seemed to be normal this time and even spoke to me but I knew it was him. I told Ross but we didn't tell you guys. I'm sorry."
"I actually even saw him earlier today. I-I fought him." Ross added on.
"It's okay. We're glad to just have Ross alive." Andrew responded.
"I forgive you guys but you fought him earlier today?!" Rob exclaimed.
Ross nodded. He didn't worry, he was just grateful that they came and saved him just in time. If they didn't he would've passed out or died from lack of oxygen. He held the plush bunny to him tight. Eventually Zubin came back panting, saying that he fucked up Simon pretty badly. They then told him everything and he forgave the two.
After a few minutes of comforting Ross, they all found their way out of the maze and drove back to the hotel leaving the carnival. The car ride was quiet. Not an awkward type of quiet, a sad type of quiet. No one even dared to try and put on music to lighten the mood. When they came home Ross ran to the bathroom and shut the door. The other tallies didn't even care since they knew Ross was still recovering from the whole incident.
When he looked in the mirror he was shocked. Ross couldn't really recognize himself. His neck was red and had bruises, some of them were in the shape of Simon's fingerprints. His hair was messy. His eyes were red and his cheeks had dried up tears on them. No, he didn't wanna look at himself anymore. Looking at himself again reminded him of the event. Reminded him of what Simon did and when he made him look at himself choking.
He then came out of the bathroom and went into his bed, putting the covers over his head and cuddling the plush bunny. Ross didn't wanna talk to anyone or do anything at the moment. He just wanted to sleep and forget it. Wish that it was a dream and he'd get to wake up now. Tears started to roll down his cheeks again.
Of course, the others realized this and left him alone. They understood that he was more fragile than ever. He was scared of Simon but he was now horrified by him. Everyone was. Since Simon found out where they currently stayed, they had to relocate. Somewhere further. Some place where Simon wouldn't be able to find out so easily. They wouldn't be able to go back to the house just yet. Well, permanently.
Rob started to have an idea. What if they checked out of the hotel for a few hours and then stayed at their home, looking for a further place? It seemed possibly like a good idea. A good enough idea to suggest it.
Rob cleared his throat. "Uhm, guys, I have an idea."
Everyone was either sitting or laying in their beds. They all turned their heads and looked at Rob with a confused look. Even Ross looked at him.
"We're obviously not safe here. I think we need to move again before we can truly go back home. But, this plan involves us actually going there for a bit. We can check out of here in the morning and go back to the house but only for a few hours. We'll use those hours to look for safer places to stay. It doesn't matter where we'll find. Just...just so we can be safe from him. For at least a day or two." Rob said.
"Okay. But what about Ross? Will he feel safe there?" Zubin asked as he turned his look to Ross who was still in bed.
Zubin was holding Winter, mostly petting her and playing with her ears. He knew Ross was gonna take a bit to speak so he waited the time away by tracing the prints on her fur with his index finger. Ross was still thinking about if he wanted to go back home or not. On one hand, he would get to feel the comfort of being in his own home. But on the other, it wasn't safe for him there. He didn't even feel safe in his own home.
"I don't wanna go there," Ross quietly said in a small, raspy voice. It sounded way different than his usual one.
"Okay. Maybe you could go somewhere else for the time being." Rob replied.
"I'll...I'll go visit my mom."
Ross had no idea where else to go besides there. He needed to tell her what happened, anyways. He hadn't told his mom anything about what happened with Simon. She didn't even know that he existed. Before this whole thing happened he was really close with her but recently stopped telling her things because he was afraid that she would do something that made Simon maybe even go for her. That constant thought terrified him so he never told her.
The 4 all talked out the plan, but Ross didn't listen. He didn't wanna listen. He could hear some bits and pieces of the plan when his mind went silent so he had somewhat of an idea of what was gonna happen tomorrow. All he wanted to do was sleep; so he did. He wanted to save the trouble for the morning.
Everyone didn't notice until they were done talking out their plan. But they didn't care, they understood. To be honest they were all tired from today too so they all went to bed without doing their nightly share of feelings. But everyone knew how everyone felt. Absolutely nothing was hidden from them now.
Joe, however, couldn't sleep. He still felt guilty for not telling the 3 that he saw Simon. Feelings of guilt overwhelmed him, could it have been his fault that Simon found Ross in the first place? Maybe (or so he thought). It almost felt as if every little problem he had that he thought of as pebbles turned into boulders and all fell on him. He didn't wanna think about it anymore so he grabbed his iPod and tried to fall asleep while listening to Fall Out Boy. To drown out all of the thoughts.
This night was for sure one to remember. Not for good reasons, but still for reasons. It would definitely leave some trauma behind for the tallies. Especially Ross who was the most physically hurt in this situation. He hated how he had to be saved by them all the time and he was the main target to Simon. He didn't ever wanna be that ever again. Not the next time, if there was one.
~
Simon sat in his chair, leaning back and resting his legs up on his desk. The horde of pictures of and notes about the tallies was all on the walls and especially on the wall facing the desk. It was almost like a starting point for it all. He held an icepack to his black eye that Zubin gave him, which he wasn't too happy with. He also had some other damage but that didn't matter. Simon had a life outside of stalking the tallies, which he didn't want to combine together.
What Simon was doing was only known to the tallies and him. No one else knew. He seemed sort of normal outside of this whole "persona" he put on for the tallies. The black eye wouldn't add to that at all since no one knew what he actually liked to do in his spare time. He was gonna have to hide it to seem normal, somehow.
He deeply laughed. "Oh, Ross..." He cooed as he held a picture of Ross and stared at it. "What can I say? You're my favorite. Sorry that I tried to kill you. I guess. I just...well, I didn't wanna really deal with you anymore."
There was obviously a difference between Simon and the Simon that the tallies knew. The regular Simon was shy and quiet, but if you got to know him he'd be fucking insane. But the Simon that the tallies knew was much more of a dramatic and exaggerated version of his regular self. He was acting around them; as he liked to think.
That part of him was much more dramatic because he didn't want to come across as weak. Stalking them was sort of a way to let that side of him out once in a while, also just because he had a horrible obsession with them. He would've said that it was never meant to get this far but deep down that was his plan all along.
But why Simon had that side of him in the first place? That was a tale for another time. All that was gonna happen now is that he was gonna plot. Plot things. This meant that he had to take a break from stalking the tallies in person and had to stalk them some other way. He was fine with that. For the tallies, they were gonna isolate themselves more further from Simon so he COULDN'T stalk them.
For now, it seemed like a war just happened and the night after everything was the sad mourning of it all. But in the morning it would be okay. The tallies would carry on and maybe even recover from this if Simon left them alone for the right amount of time. But those were just hopes; little wishes that Simon would leave them alone. They didn't know it yet but they were lucky that their wishes were gonna soon come true.
~fin~
word count: 8853 words (broke my own record, wow)
so. uhm, that was intense. I didn't wanna publish this chapter because of how intense it was. I didn't mean for it to get that intense but it just did. it's not an excuse but I'm just saying. I didn't wanna be weird and break boundaries which is something that I'm terrified of. I'm sorry if this made some people uncomfortable (which was not my intention) or made them think this is weird in a bad way. I have never truly hated any of the work that I have written but this one I just fucking hate. I don't like it at all, it wasn't worth the ideas and the time I put into this. I think maybe I'll delete it and write a new version. I really don't know. alright; I'm gonna end this shitty chapter now. have a good day or good night, and I'm sorry. I apologize.