【 IX 】

                                    

                                          
A few hours had passed since Jack had left her with Natalie and Toby, and surprisingly, it had been the most comfortable time Y/N had spent since her abduction. 
The constant knot of fear in her stomach had loosened, and while she wasn’t exactly relaxed, she felt safer with them than she ever had with Jack.
She hated to admit it, but she got along with Natalie fairly well. The girl had a sharp tongue and a no-nonsense attitude, but there was a kindness underneath that Y/N could see. Toby, on the other hand, was quieter, more reserved, but he was a decent listener when he wasn’t fidgeting or twitching. The two were apparently dating, something Y/N hadn’t expected but found oddly comforting. They had met here, in this twisted mansion, each carrying their own traumas. They didn’t share much about their pasts, but Y/N could sense the weight of what they’d been through. And she understood why they kept their walls up.
A part of her was relieved that they were so welcoming. But another part of her couldn’t shake the feeling that they had already told her too much. They had talked about their boss—the faceless entity from her dreams—about his intentions for her, and even shared some things about Jack. The more they revealed, the more Y/N realized how deep she was in, how impossible it would be to escape this now. And she knew they knew that, too.
Perhaps they pitied her, sensing that she still had a shred of humanity left, a life she might’ve once called normal. Maybe they saw themselves in her and offered her sympathy because of it. Whatever the reason, Y/N found herself wishing she could stay with them instead of being dragged back into Jack’s orbit.
The room they were hiding in wasn’t much, but compared to the rest of the mansion, it felt like a haven. No more run-ins with other residents, no more lurking threats—just a heavy silence that only occasionally reminded her of the impending doom hanging over them all.
Natalie had explained that the man in Y/N’s dreams was called Slenderman. The name had almost made Y/N laugh, despite everything, but the weight behind it quickly stifled any humor. How could this entity appear in her dreams, manipulate her life so easily? It defied all logic, all the rationality she’d clung to in the real world. She had never paid attention to the supernatural before—couldn't believe in it if it wasn’t right in front of her. But now, here she was, sitting with two people who had been consumed by a paranormal world, just like her.
As she stared off into space, half-listening to Natalie and Toby gripe about the other members of Slenderman’s web, her thoughts drifted back to Jack. He had a certain arrogance, an air of superiority over the others, and now she wondered if it stemmed from what he had become. His unnaturally dark skin, his sharp nails, his towering height—Jack wasn’t human, and maybe that made him think he was better than the rest of them. If Y/N had been transformed into something like that, she couldn’t say she wouldn’t be tempted to gloat, too.
Y/N sighed softly, her gaze drifting over to Natalie. For someone who looked like they had crawled out of a nightmare, Natalie was surprisingly put-together. Despite the scars, the strange clock embedded in her eye socket, and the stitches on her cheeks, she carried an air of composure. Her hair was neatly tied back, her clothes were clean, and even her nails were meticulously painted black. It was like she was clinging to some shred of normalcy, a tiny fragment of the life she had before all of this madness. Y/N couldn't help but feel a twinge of pity.
She wondered what Natalie’s life had been like before she ended up in this decaying mansion, working for some malevolent entity. Had she once been just a normal girl, like Y/N? How did someone go from that to… whatever this was? It made Y/N’s head spin.