Chapter Nine
6 Years Earlier
"Are you sure you still wanna come?"
I looked over at CJ warily from my spot on the couch as I paused typing. I had an essay to finish in three days and this was also the day of his parent's annual family reunion. He'd been constantly pressing me about whether or not I wanted to go because I already had so much on my plate and his family was just going to be more stressful.
I took a moment to inspect his face, unlined and sculpted features with deep-set blue eyes and a firm mouth, his eyebrows furrowed in worry as he slowly paced back and forth in the living room.
He really was the most attractive man I'd ever laid eyes on and although he had the figure of someone who worked out as if their life depended on it, he was so sweet and soft and gentle in ways only I would know.
A smile slowly etched itself onto my lips and I placed my laptop on the coffee table before getting up from the couch and going over to wrap my arms around his waist. He hesitated a bit before enveloping me in his warmth and bending his head down to kiss the top of mine.
"You know I wouldn't miss it for all the money in the world."
"You're right," he said in the softest voice as if to convince himself because I'd had this talk with him so many times before, "it's just-"
"Shh," I placed a finger on his lips, looking up at him with a huge grin, "you know you want me there because you're awkward around large gatherings anyway. I swear if you bring it up again I'm going to bite you."
I could almost see his eyes sparkle at that and his arms tightened around me ever so slightly.
"Promise?" his voice was partly a growl and I let out an embarrassing laugh that ended in a snort.
"Jesus, I can't believe you guys."
We jumped away from each other quickly at the sound of Tamara's voice from the kitchen, turning to see her entering the living room. I'd almost forgotten she was home too.
CJ scratched the back of his head awkwardly and I rolled my eyes at Tam for interrupting a possible makeout session with my hot boyfriend.
I was so glad we'd be getting our own apartment soon.
"Mom said she'll be home in ten minutes so-"
"I know, I know," I rolled my eyes again and took CJ's arm looking up at him again, "Time to go."
There were a few reasons why I hadn't already told my family about our engagement but the main one was that both my mom and dad were heavily religious and CJ, however soft he was, seemed like the devil incarnate to them with his tattoo sleeves and lip piercing.
We'd been close ever since we were kids, having play dates and bible study together but once we hit high school CJ and I had other ideas and my parents blamed him for my rebellious stage and forbade me for seeing him but even that didn't stop us and we dated from ninth grade well into our final year of high school. I was planning on telling Mom and Dad soon that we had gotten engaged. He'd bought me a ring but I kept it hidden in a secret box in the attic.
We walked slowly down the driveway, his large hand holding mine as the street lamps guided our footsteps accross the street to his house where we stopped at the door.
He heaved a sigh and cupped my face with his free hand, using a thumb to gently brush against my lips.
"So..." he trailed off as I looked up at him expectantly.
"So?"
"I was thinking, after the reunion we can tell your parents the good news."
My heart-rate picked up a bit and I only nodded, leaning into his touch even more.
He chuckled and moved his hand up to pat my head, "you're just like a cat, you know that?"
I pouted and moved closer to him, hugging him again, "I'll miss you."
"You can call me, like you always do."
"Should I sneak out tonight?"
"You haven't done that since we were kids," his laugh made my heart clench.
"C'mon it'll be fun."
He chuckled again and pinched my cheek, "fine, I'll leave the door open."
"Not the window?"
"I don't want you hurting yourself."
"Pfft I won't!" I scowled and he laughed a bit more shaking his head.
"You're crazy, but fine I'll leave the window open."
We kissed goodnight and I made it back home just as Mom's car pulled up in the driveway. I swiftly ran up the stairs and locked myself in my room to avoid talking to her.
It was around midnight when I'd finished getting showered and dressed to go visit CJ when there came a frantic knock at my door.
"Y/N! Y/N!"
I almost jumped out of my skin. My mother has never sounded that panicked before. I pulled the door open to see her holding up a note with a visibly shaking hand, her eyes filled with tears and my heart stopped beating instantly.
"M-mom?"
"It's Tamara."
***
Present Day
I stumbled back in a daze. There were so many things happening inside me from the flood of memories that were taken away from me, memories of feelings that were so overwhelming I wondered how I could have ever forgotten them in the first place. I'd been numb for so many years that I felt like my mind was going to melt from the sudden wave of emotions.
New emotions too. Emotions I'd thought I would never feel again. Two days ago I was sure I was the happiest person alive and now I realise that it was all a farce. Offenderman wasn't who he'd claimed and our daughter-
Bile rose in my throat and I almost threw up, tears flowing down my cheeks.
Offenderman had made me forget everything before that night in the woods.
According to my newly restored memories I'd gone off to look for Tam with both my parents (my dad had rushed home when he got the news).
A few more people in the neighborhood joined in, crying out Tam's name.
CJ joined me too, along with his parents and for the first time my Mom and Dad didn't frown at him in disapproval. It was close to an hour into searching for Tam that I started to feel an urge to slip away from the crowd.
The feeling clouded my senses, telling me if I just went that way quietly I would find my sister. So I followed it, diverging from the path I was currently walking with CJ as we both called for Tam to come home. I noticed CJ turning to see where I'd gone and that was the last thing I would forget as I slipped behind a tree to continue the search that ultimately led me to... him.
It was weird, after all this time, to suddenly regain some of my lost memories. To remember someone I'd forgotten I ever lost in the first place. It was like a hole had opened in my chest.
There's no way to explain it, how I felt in that moment.
Offenderman had taken my most important memories and corrupted my mind with emotions that I couldn't tell if they were real or fabricated.
I'd had a normal life, a normal love, we were going to get married and have a dozen kids and watch them go off to school and grow into their own selves as we got old together after a lifetime of happiness instead of being locked away from the world, only coming out to carelessly take away the lives of people who were considered nothing but sport. A game for the sick, a fetish for the depraved.
An obsession was steadily forming the more I thought of the boy I had forgotten.
CJ was like a dream to me. A faroff dream of normalcy that I longed to experience again. I wondered if he had been searching for me too. Could it be that I wasn't crazy afterall?
Was this real, the revelation that the creature Sexual Offenderman had made me forget everything before that night in the woods? That he had manipulated my life from then on, somehow making me believe over time that I had fallen in love with him.
He had driven me to insanity.
I snapped out of my trance to see Tam entering the office with a worried look on her face and tears welled up in my eyes again.
Tamara.
She had it even worse than me, falling for that asshole Jeff and altering her appearance so drastically it would be impossible for her to assimilate into society again even if she wanted to. That kept her going back to him every time, even when things got extremely bad. Now she killed to vent all her frustrations on the world.
"So did it work?" She took in my appearance and a few tears plopped onto my chest.
"T-tam. It was all a lie."
"What?"
"It was his plan from the beginning. He was stalking me the whole time. I...I remember when we first met he told me his plan worked better than expected but I didn't think he meant this. Tam, he took everything."
"You're not making sense," although Tam was confused I saw tears pooling in her eyes as well.
I gasped back a sob and wiped my eyes but the tears kept flowing, "He took CJ away from me."
At the sound of his name Tam's expression changed a bit, "CJ? He sounds familiar. Who is he?"
"He was...my fiancé, before all of this. I was engaged, I loved him, only to find out Offender took everything! You had such big dreams too and now-"
I felt her arms around me and I held her back, sobbing uncontrollably.
"I don't care about that. What are you gonna do now?"
"I..." I wiped my eyes again with my sleeves and looked at her, "I'm going to find him."
"Are you sure? It's been so long. What if he forgot you too?" she looked behind her to the closed door before looking back at me, "are you sure you wanna do that? If he finds out-"
"He killed our parents too."
Her body went rigid for a few seconds before I saw her eyes start to turn red with bloodlust, "He said they died in-"
"That's what he does. He lies and manipulates you into thinking he's good. He made it seem like he was your savior, " I cut her off, venom leaking out of my very pores.
"I'll fucking kill him!" Her words were laced with pain and I held her arm.
"You know it's no use. All we can do now is get the hell away from here."
"How the fuck am I gonna do that? After everything I– I dont even remember who I was, I don't even know what I am."
She sank into a heap on the floor and my heart broke even more.
"We'll figure it out." I stooped down and hugged her tightly before getting back up, "If anything I'll ask Zalgo for help. If he could undo Offenderman's spell I know he can help us. First I'm going to find CJ. I need to know that he's okay."
She nodded and I helped her to her feet, at that same moment Rose ran into the office, her eyes wild with excitement, "they're fighting!"
"Who's fighting?"
"Everyone!"
My brows furrowed in confusion, as did Tam's when we both heard a crash, rushing downstairs to see a commotion in the living room.
It was Toby and Masky, both going at it. Masky had Toby pinned inder him and was stabbing him wildly.
LJ had used his long claws to pin Natalieto to a wall and Hoodie was pummeling someone I didn't immediately recognize. .
We need to get out of here.
"C'mon lets go." I spoke to Tam and she shook her head.
"I have unfinished business." I watched as she marched over in the direction of Jeff who was slashing wildly at Ben. I grabbed Rose's hand and started dragging her upstairs quickly.
"Mommy why is everyone fighting?"
"I don't know honey," I swiftly took her down the hall and pushed the bedroom door open,"all I know is we have to get out of here right now."
But-"
"No buts."
"What about Daddy?"
I turned to her angrily, my eyes blazing hatred for that evil sadistic bastard, "we're leaving him and never looking back! Your father's a very bad man and you shouldn't talk about him okay?"
It must have been the desperation in my eyes that made her nod in agreement and I grabbed a suitcase, starting to pack things for both of us in it, wanting to leave as quickly as possible before Offenderman returned. He might take my memories again, or worse. I shuddered at the thought.
"Is it because he makes people sick?"
Her wide eyes were so innocent and I almost started crying again, "yes. You shouldn't make people sick the way he does."
"What if they want to hurt you?"
"W-well yeah I guess then you can..." I was barely paying attention as I filled the suitcase.
"What if they think of hurting someone else?"
"Rose," I turned to face her, surprised at her expression. For the first time ever she looked upset and it drove a shiver down my spine.
"You'll hurt Daddy if you leave," She spoke softly, not sounding at all like herself.
"Rose," I shook her shoulders, "your father's a monster, he'll be fine. I doubt he even has feelings."
"But...I have feelings. Am I a monster?" Her expression seemed so pained I had to hold her close to me.
"N-no of course not, honey! You're just a little girl. You're my sunshine," I kissed the top of her head hurriedly.
Large tears fell from her eyes and she hugged me tightly making my chest constrict.
"C'mon," I urged her away from me to look down at her before I grabbed the suitcase and took her hand in mine.
"Now, remember the house I showed you, the one I told you I grew up in?"
She nodded and I smiled at that, "good, do you think you can get us there?"
She nodded again and I grabbed all I'd packed and kept holding onto her hand.
Because Rose was like all the Slenders, she didn't need any special means of transport but her mind. It would make things much easier. Before I could leave however the room door burst open and Tam came in.
My heart lept in my throat.
"You decided to come?"
She shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Where are you gonna go?" She questioned softly. Thankfully I had thought of that, in fact I had really planned everything and as Rose held on to my hand I knew why Tam was asking.
"Granddad's cabin. It's safe and far away from people. We can all go. Come with us, you and Micah.."
I saw her eyes fill with tears again.
"C'mon hurry, we have to leave before he comes back."
"Okay, I'll be right back."
She left the room quickly and soon returned with Micah in her arms and a packed bag on her shoulders. We all stood by Rose. She'd never been to the cabin so she wouldn't be able to transport us there and I had already planned on going back to our old house first. There was something I needed to get. If I found it then it would mean everything was true and Offender really had derailed all my life plans, all my hopes and dreams and selfishly kept me to himself all these years.
I was lucky the house hadn't been burned to the ground that night but it had been abandoned ever since and I didn't have the heart to go in there since then either.
There was a quick flash and as I blinked my eyes open I noticed we were all standing in the backyard which was now overrun by tall dew wet grass.
Micah was looking all around with wide eyes and Rose's cheeks were now tinged with pink, seeming to be going back to her normal self. Good. I didn't like it at all when she was upset.
We entered through the back door, a wave of nostalgia going through me as I took in the familiar kitchen and dining area, the curtains were all blackened by smoke and dust hung in the air in a thick cloud, covering most of the furniture in sight. Vandals seemed to have come and gone in the years as it seemed to have been ransacked but I didn't care about that. I only needed one thing.
I heard Tam talking to Micah, telling him stories of the past but I had another mission.
"I'm going upstairs, I'll be right back guys."
They nodded and I ascented the stairs carefully in case they had rotted by now, not wanting to fall through. As I got to the top of the landing I passed by Tam's room, then mine. My fingers toyed with the hem of my shirt anxiously. Before long I was standing under the attic door, the string that had been tied to it in earlier years for easy access was just long enough for me to reach and I used it to pull the door down with the stairs attached.
I made my way up, poking my head up through the floor to see the pitch darkness. There were no light bulbs in the attic but I remembered we always kept a flashlight next to the entrance. I felt around until my hand closed around it and I switched it on before getting the rest of the way inside.
The attic was even more dusty than downstairs and thick cobwebs clung to the boxes on the floor that held the old Christmas decorations and family pictures we had stashed up here ages ago. With a heavy heart I crept to the far end of the tiny room, pulling back a heavy box filled with my old text books and saw the small black suede box that held a truth I'd always known. My hand closed around it and I made my way back downstairs.
Once out of the stuffy room I could see clearly and although the box was covered in years of dust it felt so precious to me.
I slowly pulled it open and saw it. The ring seemed to gleam even in the dim lighting. It was a plain silver but had inscriptions on the inside that promised a long life filled with love and prosperity.
I needed to find him, to let him know that I still.... love him? Did I? I knew I once felt that way but it had been so long and now I... I'd experienced so many things since then. What if he'd given up looking for me? Or what if he was still searching? I couldn't let the thoughts go.
I was going to find him, I just wondered if he still lived accross the street.