Chapter 18
"Dead to Me"
The next few days were hard. I spent most of my time planning my mothers funeral or driving my car around town.
It was hard to be around Toby. I suppose he didn't fully understand. I tried to apologize for how I acted in the cabin, and even though he took it, it wasn't the same. I wasn't the same.
Toby and I left Lacy tied to a chair at the cabin. Toby would bring her food, and would check on her once a day. He let me sulk in my room for as long as I needed, but I couldn't sulk anymore.
I tied my hair up into a tight bun. I had a long black dress draped over my body. A dress my mother had always loved. I couldn't help but tear up at the thought of my mother. I raised my head and fanned my tears away. I looked at myself in the mirror, once again.
I rubbed my eyes, they had dark bags under them. I took a deep breath, and turned away and walked out of the room. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Toby, standing in the bathroom mirror, trying to tie his tie. I stopped and watched, as he struggled.
His eyes met mine, and quickly averted away. I walked over to him. I wacked his hands out of the way. "You're doing it wrong." I started wrapping the tie around itself. "No shit." He said back. Finally I finished the tie, and looked up to him. I immediately got flashbacks to my dream. I stepped away from Toby, and pushed the thought out of my head. I didn't have time to worry about a stupid dream.
I turned around and looked at the two of us in the mirror. We looked just as gloomy as the day itself. "Are you ready?" Toby's voice rippled through the silence. I nodded. "Yup." We filed out of the bathroom, and eventually to the car.
I stood in front of the driver's seat, patting my pockets down for my keys, only to realize they weren't in my pockets. I groaned and leaned my head onto my car. "Hey." I heard Toby call from the other side of the car, then something clang on the ground next to me. "I think you need those." I looked up, and down to where I heard the noise. I saw my keys laying on the ground. I groaned once again, and leaned down to get them. "You couldn't just give them to me?" I heard a distant, no, as I got into the car.
The car ride was long. I had to drive all the way to my hometown, to a small church. I found it strange that my mother wanted to have her funeral held in a church, when she had never gone to church before.
Toby and I waited in the parking lot for a while. I wanted to watch the people that attended my mothers funeral.
Finally I got out of the car, Toby followed quickly behind me. We entered the church together, where I saw many pictures of my mother. Just how I wanted it. I smiled slightly. I walked over to the guest book, and sighed my name. I turned around to look for Toby and saw him looking around the room in a daze. I walked over to Toby, and placed my hand on Toby's shoulder. He jumped a little, and turned to face me. "Are you alright?" I looked up to Toby, I knew funerals could be tough. "The last funeral I went to was Lyra's." I remembered Lyra from the report I read. Crashed into a ditch, I couldn't imagine that happening to any of my loved ones.
"Right." I sharply inhaled, and Toby finally looked away from the spot he was staring at. "Maybe you should visit her grave." He quickly shook his head, and took a deep breath. "We should go sit down." He nodded his head towards the room with my mothers casket. I nodded and walked into the room. There was a seat in the front with my name, next to it was an empty one of Toby. We sat down in our respective chairs, and stayed silent. I looked around the room. Plenty of family members, and friends stood around the room. Some wiped tears away from their faces, others laughed and joked.
I turned back around. My mothers casket sat in front of me.
"Y/N!" I turned around as I heard my name shouted. My aunt ran up to me, panting a little. "Beck, it's been so long." I stood up, and put a smile on. She immediately wrapped her arms around me. "I am so sorry." She put my head on her shoulder. "It's okay. She was getting older." I spoke softly so I wouldn't cry. I felt her shake her head. "It's okay to cry." I pulled away, and wiped some tears. "No, I'm okay. Really." She gave me a concerned look, then moved her gaze over to Toby.
"Who's this?" She smiled warmly, as Toby looked up at her. "Oh- this is Toby." I grabbed his arm and tugged him up to standing. "Hi." He awkwardly held his hand out. Beck grabbed his hand and firmly shook it. "Is he a friend, or more than a friend?" She turned to me with a little smile. I stared at her until the question processed through my brain. "No, no. We're just friends." I spat out.
She gave me a questioning smile. "Okay.. Well, I'm going to sit down." She turned around, and started walking away, then she flipped around again. "And, you'll get through this, okay?" She gave me a comforting smile. She always knew what I was thinking, or how I was feeling.
I nodded, and turned back to my seat. I sat down, and again faced my mothers casket.
Soon a priest walked in and started speaking. I wasn't quite sure why my mother wanted a priest at her funeral. From what I had known my mother never went to church. She preferred spending her Sundays writing in her journals.
I didn't mean to, but I blocked everything he was saying out. "Achem-." My head shot up. "I think her daughter wanted to say some things." I nodded, and stood up.
When I made my way up to the stand I cleared my throat. I looked up at all the people waiting for me to speak. All family, no friends. "Hello everyone." I got choked up on my words. "You all knew my mother." I looked over to Toby, his head was down. "She was kind, and strong. Really, really strong. When I was a kid I would always run into the woods, and get lost. She always knew how to find me." I smiled at the memory, tears ran down my face, and I wiped them away.
"She always knew how to make someone feel better, and she made the world's best cookies." I laughed, and so did many other people in the room. "You all knew what an amazing person she was. She went through so much, just to raise me." I wiped some more tears, and realized I didn't have anything else to say. "If anyone else would like to say something, then you're welcome to." I nodded and walked off.
I sat back down next to Toby. He looked just as dazed as I did. His eyes watched each person who got up to speak, but he wasn't listening to them. Eventually his eyes broke off from their gaze, and he looked over to me. I looked away.
The rest of the funeral was blurry. I couldn't focus on a single thing. By the time the funeral was over I was exhausted, barely awake enough to walk. Toby drove us both home, where I ended up falling asleep on my couch.
A few days later I got a call from my mothers lawyer. He said that he needed to talk to me about my mothers finances. We were set to meet today.
I sat at a table in, the Ugly Mug Cafe, waiting for Mr.Gregory, my mothers lawyer, to show up.
After waiting 30 minutes, a disheveled older man came running into the cafe. His hat was nearly falling off, showing his widow's peak off. He looked out of place, as he awkwardly looked around. I stood up. "Mr.Gregory?" He turned to be and immediately brightened. "Y/N?" He walked over to me, and held his hand out. I grabbed it and shook it.
"It's nice to finally meet you, and I'm so sorry about your mother." I nodded. "It's okay." We both sat down. "Okay, let's get started." I nodded along with his words. "Your mom left most of her belongings to you. The house, her car, all of the furniture. Uhh.." He licked his fingers and flipped through the papers he was reading. He read the paper, then looked back up at me. "She left you quite the fund." I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, "She did? How much?"
He looked back at the paper. "250,000." He gave me a smile. "Nice inheritance, huh?" My mouth fell open a little. "Where'd she get all that money?" He shrugged, and continued. "I'm not sure, but what I do know is that she also left some money to charity, and a few hundreds to your aunt, cousins, and other relatives." I nodded, still a little dumb founded. "Okay.." I slowly said, as I squinted my eyes. "Well, this has been really interesting." I stood up and so did Mr.Gregory. "Do I need to contact you again, or?" He shook his head, and smiled. "Nope, you just need to call the bank and everything will be set up." I nodded and gave him a smile.
I drove home in silence. I couldn't take my mind off of my mom, and her secret money stash. She had more secrets than I thought she did.
I pulled into the parking lot, and shut off my car. I took a deep breath, and laid my head on the steering wheel. When I looked up I immediately got flashed by a bright beam of light. I groaned, and opened my center console to grab my sunglasses.
I stopped when I saw my mother's note. I couldn't believe I had forgotten about my mothers note. I grabbed it, and studied it for a little. From mom, it was written in her nice fancy handwriting. I slowly opened the letter. The tearing filling the air.
Dear, Y/N
I hate to write you a letter like this. You are reading this because I'm dead, and I need to warn you. You have been distracted by something, or someone, and I get it, but you have to snap out of it. Weird things will start happening to you. A man, with no face, will start following you. He'll make you crazy. Please don't fall victim to him like I did. Destroy him, somehow. I don't know how you should, or would do it, but I'm sure my notebooks could help.
I love you very much, please stop this curse.
Love, Mom.
I looked at the letter with my mouth open. The slenderman, or operator, whatever his name was, killed my mother. Or at least I'm pretty sure he did. I re-read the letter, bringing more tears to my eyes. I wiped my eyes, stinging the skin around them.
I huffed and got out of my car, slamming the door behind me. I crunched the letter in my hands. I recalled the notebook I found in Tim's apartment. I stomped up my stairs, almost barging into my home, when my name was called.
"Y/N!" I turned and saw Bee running towards me, holding Ivan. I gave her my biggest smile. "Bee! It's been a while, how are you?" She gave me a hug with her remaining arm. "I'm great! You know about all the murders that happen in those woods, right?" She pointed to the woods. I gave her a worried smile. "Yeah? What about them?" She steadied Ivan on her hip. "They have a suspect. It's the first suspect in like ten years!" She squealed. "Anyways I won't keep you up anymore, bye Y/N!" She walked past me, whispering to Ivan. "Bye."
I turned back to my door and opened it. I opened the door to see Toby, and Seth sitting on the couch. Seth was in his usual suit. I slowly stepped into my house. Toby looked panicked, and worried. Then Seth turned to me. "Ah, Y/N. I've been waiting for you. Sit down, we need to talk."