Clockwork had been released without fanfare three years ago. She came out of the prison, and promptly left for Chicago. Who knows why.
Am I curious?
No.
No, I can't be around them anymore. Not now, not ever.
Ben and I do talk occasionally, but it isn't like before.
No, it can never be like before.
I don't know about Jill or Jack, but I don't think I care. I can't care.
They're being released today. Twenty years had passed uneventfully, but I don't care much.
"I'm gonna go see them be released." A voice interrupts me. I look down from the tree, greeted by the sight of Ajacks, "Wanna come?"
"No." I mutter, and they give me a wide smile.
"Come on, you haven't seen 'em in twenty years. Don't you want to see them?" She absentmindedly ruffles her own hair, and I notice the large knife in the waistband her pants.
"You've never met them, why are you going? Or," I realize she isn't interested, "You have to get Toby, Masky, and Hoodie."
"Yeah, I do. Weird, though, considering I've never met them. They're gonna hate me, I know it." Her voice is quiet, and I give out a snort.
"You got that right." I lean back into the tree, and she asks again.
"Just come, please."
"No."
"But-"
"I said no, Ajacks."
She roll her eyes, and walks away, taking her knife out of their waistband, bow and arrows slung over her shoulder, "Fine, run away from them like you've run away from everyone else."
I shift uncomfortably until she's out of sight. I don't want to see them. But I have to.
I bite my lip, knowing that they've changed.
I look down, and see the familiar green tunic and blond hair.
"Hey, Sally." He calls up to me. I look down, and sigh.
"Hey, Ben." I swing my legs over, and jump down. My hair has grown longer, I realize.
"They're being released today."
I nod, and we start walking, not necessarily together, but not apart either.
____________________________________
We wait, hidden, and I notice the familiar light blue hair. I make a mental note to remind Ajacks to dye her hair a different color.
Then, it happens. All at once, they appear, out of the prison. Jeff's in an all too white hoodie and his black pants, Jack's in a clean black hoodie, Toby's striped shirt has been sewn back together, his goggles and mask fixed. Masky's jacket no longer holds the same blood stains, and Hoodie's orange sweater is nearly neon.
They walk a distance, and the police go out of sight, and then Ajacks jumps out. I see her laughing as Masky backs up from them, and she start talking quickly.
Jeff sighs, and starts off, leaving the others behind. Jack walks away in a different direction, leaving Toby, Masky, and Hoodie to talk to Ajacks. They disappear eventually, following Ajacks into the woods, and then they're gone.
As if they never existed.
I stand up, and Ben follows me, and he looks at me.
"So, what do you want to do?"
I shrug, and he shrugs too. I laugh, and he gives me a smile.
"They're gone." I state, looking down the street where Jeff walked away. He nods, his hands in his pockets.
"Yeah, they are."
"I always thought that when we saw them again, there'd be hugging and stupid shit like that." I admit, and he nods.
"Yeah, I get it. I thought that would happen too, actually. But they've changed. We know that much." He points out, and I nod. We start walking towards the town, hands brushing occasionally.
"I can't believe this." He mutters, and I look down. "I always thought we were invincible, you know? I never thought that we'd all be caged."
I nod, and continue on.
"You know what was fun?" I ask, breaking the silence.
"What?"
"Killing that one tour five years ago."
He chuckles, looking at his feet as we continue to walk.
"Yeah, we could do that. I mean, killing now is kind of a bore. It's always the same."
"Besides, they have no right going into our houses."
"Yeah." He agrees quietly, and we continue, passing the familiar graveyard. I hear their ghosts calling to me, like sirens on a sea, but my ears are filled with wax.
I'm not Sally. I'm not anything. I'm just a dead person, wandering around. And I can't run away.
So I plug up my ears, and continue to walk, trying not to turn around.
They say that if you turn around, you see all you've done.
You face everyone you've injured, you hear their footsteps behind you in a ghostly parade.
I've turned around too many times.
I've faced them too many times.
And I'm not going to anymore.
I'm not going to face them anymore.
I'm just going to fill my ears with wax, and bind myself to a mast, and I'm never going to face the sirens.
I'm never going back.
I'm not out of the fire yet.
And I never will be.
Earth was always hell. You can't go up, you can't go down. You just come back, and burn a thousand times over and over, never finding a way out.
And no one else will help you. You think you're friends, but you're not. You're just allies in a dangerous game of cat and mouse.
And I can't win.
I'm never able to win.
But I'm sure as hell not losing either.
_______________________
Jeff left, he's all the way across the country. Jill's in New York, who knows where Jack is. He could be in hell for all I care. Eyeless Jack is in Chicago, doing god knows what. Clockwork isn't Clockwork anymore. She goes under a different name, Nat Leonards, trying to rebuild her life, also in Chicago. Toby, on the other hand, travels around the country, doing whatever Slender asks. Masky and Hoodie are following some kids who can't seem to understand how to shut up and stop filming.
And I'm still here.
It's odd.
I can't leave, no matter what I do.
Ben stays here with me, but that's it.
I've never seen them ever since that day, five years ago, when they were released.
I can't stop the tide against me.
I'm never going back.
Ajacks managed to keep quiet, the public barely knows about her. Only her parents remember her, and they've been brushed off as insane by the rest of the community. Not surprising.
But I've never seen the others.
Until I saw the newspaper, saying an anonymous killer has caused a string of disturbing murders in Seattle. Until I saw the newspaper talking about a large bust on a black market, and found that most of it were organ sellers. Until I saw an article about an unknown woman who was murdering rapists and kidnappers in New York. And how while the kidnappers are declining, the kidnapping rates are still soaring. Another article led me to a now well known artist, known for her lively portraits consisting of blues and greens. And how a man was kidnapped for several months, and talked only of a tall thin man, and two men in masks. Or how a man had caused mass murdering sprees, mainly consisting of ax wounds.
I thought the nightmare, the bittersweet taste in my mouth, reeking of iron, would disappear once they came out.
But it never did.
I can't wake up.
But neither can they.
They're still thriving, but thriving is different than living.
But it's not dying, either.