Story of the Old Woman

Once upon a time there was a girl who grew into a woman. She was intelligent for a woman of the 15th century, but intellect only got her so far. This woman grew into an old woman that was like every other, but that doesn't mean that she wasn't different.

The woman was killed slowly after contracting the Black Death at the age of fifty-seven.

Mission The Second Part Two (Volatile Times)

Look at me

Days passed and the small group seemed to become rather attached to Violet. Many of them would come to me for advice not just about Slendy and running, but life in general. Everyone except Adrian of course. Everyone else thought that we had something going on between us and, in a way, they were right. But it wasn't romantic - we were just planning on killing them.

One night, three days after I got there, we were sitting inside his tent while everyone else was asleep and Luke was on watch duty.

What have I become?

"You know I still don't believe that you're a proxy, you could just be some crazy-ass runner. Or a fed. Show me where you're marked."

"I'd rather not..." I muttered, looking away from him.

"You got to see mine."

"Yours is on your arm."

Adrian did very little to hide his mark, and he just played it off as a scar he got from fighting a proxy when he started out.  Which was probably true, but it seems like those who are marked early on usually end up becoming Proxies - at least it seems that way to me.

I am lost I was once...

Suddenly he was hovering over where I had been laying on my back, nearly pinning me. "I'm not above finding out for myself," he smirked.

"And I'm not above kicking you in the balls," I smirked back. We both laughed softly at this. "Besides, I'm not marked on the front part of my person."

Adrian cocked an eyebrow before grabbing me and rolling me over. I let him. I felt him sit down on my back. I turned my head in an attempt to see what he was doing. When I finally twisted my head around in a way that I could see him, I could see him smirking. I raised my eyebrows, silently telling him that he would regret trying to take my clothes off. He rolled his eyes and got off of me.

"Fine, I'll show you..." I sighed and sat up, facing my back towards him. "Oh and by the way, I have about a million scars pretty much all over my body."

A "gentleman"

"So that's why you're wearing jeans and long sleeves in - holy shit V!"

"Hey, I wasn't kidding," I smirked. I had my shirt lifted mid-way up my back. I flinched when I felt his finger brush lightly against my back.

"How the hell...?"

"Back when I was still running, I thought I could take on a proxy that was pretty to close to being a Revenant as you can get. I was wrong. Got myself carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey as well as both of my legs and a few fingers broken. Internal bleeding. Fractured ribs. And I just about went crazy from being in a wheel chair for a long time," I shrugged. "Anyway my mark? Think tramp stamp."

"What do you...?" He trailed off before I felt him poke the top half of the operator symbol. "Oh."

"Yeah. You believe me now?"

"Yeah, I do," he muttered as he traced over some of my other scars, causing me to shiver. Eventually he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me back to lean on him. He continued tracing the scars on my stomach. "You know, these are too sexy to cover up," he whispered in my ear.

"Hmmm, that seems to be the popular opinion," I chuckled. "So what're you doing with this group?"

But I will remember the ups and the down

"Easiest way to snag runners. I just kill them off one by one every few weeks. But I always make sure to leave a few that will find me new ones." He moved his hands up slightly so he was tracing the scars at the bottom of my ribs. "What about you?"

"Orders from Father. I kill runners without blogs. I used to be a medic, but apparently he wants all hands on deck or something." I rolled my eyes.

"Oh so you run a blog? You sound like the writer type," he chuckled.

"Yeah well I'm not that great of a writer. Honestly it's just a way to talk to people that know about this kind of stuff, you know?" I moved so I was facing him, but still close. His hands were on my sides, still tracing over my scars.

"You live alone then I'm guessing?" The question was innocent but suddenly I felt like I needed to get out of there, and I needed him to stop touching me like this. It felt wrong when just moments ago... Well I'm sure you can guess.

"Sorry to cut this short, but I should get back to my tent before Luke calls you to take over his watch." I backed up but he grabbed my sides and started to lean over me.

"We have about an hour," he smirked.

Adieu to the fuckers that think that it's funny

"No, I should really get some sleep. Maybe some other time?" I smiled at him and brought my hands up to rest on his arms, gently pushing them away from me.

Adrian smirked and squeezed my sides lightly. "Didn't think you were such a damn tease," he growled.

"Get used to it," I smirked before crawling over to the opening of the tent.

Once I was in my own tent, I sat there, numb. Why had I reacted that way when he asked that? I shook my head and pushed it out of my mind - I had to focus on my mission not... that. Regardless, I knew that I had to study this group's dynamics before slaughtering them all.

A full week passed. In that week I learned that there was no leader of this group, but Luke was looked to as the authority figure. Apparently he had been running the longest. The twins were new to the running game and James fell between Luke and the twins. I also learned that Adrian had been running since he was eighteen and that he was actually twenty now.

The six of us were sitting around one of the camping lanterns that they had eating what little we had managed to scrounge up for dinner. I just needed to test out one more thing before I could start setting an attack plan in stone.

I just wanna turn the lights on

"What's the point of all of this though?" I asked suddenly. The other five looked at me with varying degrees of "the fuck is she talking about?" expressed on their faces, Adrian included. "Running I mean," I clarified.

"So we don't die..." James answered, sounding unsure.

"To protect our families," the twins spoke up, talking in unison. They too looked unsure.

"It's way better than being a damn proxie - a mindless servant," Luke spat.

"Instinct," Adrian piped up.

"Does running really solve that though? I mean, you can still get killed by proxies or Slendy, and your families aren't always safe. And we're the ones running mindlessly - like chickens with their heads cut off. Our instinct as humans is to survive in the best way possible, is this really the best way?"

"How the fuck can you think that Vi?!" Luke growled.

In these volatile times

"I have looked death straight in the eyes; I'm not afraid of it. My biological family is dead; I have no need to protect them. I have a mind of my own and that mind is telling me that this is going to backfire on us one way or another! So why not just give in?" I sighed and stared glumly at the camping light.

"Just because you're tired of it all doesn't mean it's not worth it you know," James said.

"What's the point in running when I haven't got anything to run for?" I stared at him.

"Hey, you've got us now right?" Natalie asked.

"We can be your family if you want," Melody smiled.

I smiled at them and murmured a thanks. We lapsed into silence for the rest of "dinner."

I just wanna turn the lights on

Later that night, Adrian ducked into my tent. I was awake still, making sure that my weapons were clean, sharp, and ready.

"Tomorrow night?" he whispered, eyeing my guns and throwing knives.

"Sounds good. I think that the twins and James are open to conversion... If the stakes are high enough."

In these volatile....

"Sounds like you already have a plan little miss," Adrian smirked as he pulled me over to him, trying to get me to lean on him.

"Don't call me that," I snapped. "But yes, I do have a plan. You up for a little acting?"

Adrian smirked at me and motioned for me to go on. I told him the idea and rough outline I had for the plan and by sunrise we had a fairly concrete plan, as well as alternatives if something happened.

"Get some sleep little miss, we have a big night tonight," Adrian winked as he exited my tent.

I fell into a fitful sleep that night, wrought with guilt and a sick feeling of elation.

Volatile Times

I'm Not Dead, But My Laptop Was

I had to get a new battery for the damn thing. Dell + Age = crap. Next time I'm getting a Toshiba...

Anyway I don't feel like typing up what has happened because a lot has and it deserves its own post. I will say this though - Slendy's pay is shit (read: $0.00) so I got myself a job at a convenience store/pharmacy. No name because it's against company policy or something. It's like Fight Club - but just the name. I will have stories for you because I'm a cashier and people are weird. as. fuck.

I've been going through my old files on this shitty laptop and I found a relic from my old blog. Behold: January 2012 me, in all my natural hair colored glory.

Mission The Second Part One (Kill The Lights)

This story's missing a wishing well....

Once again I found myself checking and rechecking my weapons in my room. Satisfied with the state of them, I shoved them into a duffel bag amid the clothes I had in there. I sighed and tugged at my worn jeans and faded long sleeved shirt and pushed my black-rimmed plastic glasses back up, I had forgotten how much they liked to slip down my nose.

This isn't exactly what I had planned to do when I had gotten the orders for this mission but it was a group of them this time, and I had to do this job the right way. And the right way meant doing this and not showing true compassion to these people.

"Are you sure about this Tori?" Skye asked. I turned to see that he was leaning on the door frame of my room, as he so often did.

"Yeah. I... I have to get used to this job, and the only way to do that is to do it this way..." I sighed.

"Well I'll make sure not to blow up the house while you're gone," he joked. 

"Make sure not to blow yourself up with your runes is more like it," I muttered before heaving a sigh. "And make sure to feed Alaska around five at night. And you can use the punching bag in the basement to replace sparring. And-"

Skye cut me off with a laugh. I looked over at him questioningly. "I know Tori you told me before."

"I know... I just..." I gave a defeated sigh and slumped my shoulders. "I feel like shit about this decision..."

"Well it's like you said..." he trailed off. I knew he wasn't comfortable with this either.

"I know... Just... Be safe alright?" I looked up at him. 

"I will. And I'll keep Alaska safe too," he smiled. I smiled back at him.

"Trust me, if there was any other way..." I trailed off.

"I know."

Every prince is a fantasy

We stood there awkwardly for a bit, both not knowing how to say goodbye. He opened his mouth to say something and I opted for the more direct route. I walked over and hugged him with more strength than my hugs normally had. I felt him hesitantly wrap his arms around me. "A-are you r-really gonna m-miss me that m-much?" he stuttered. 

"No I'm gonna miss your cooking," I mumbled into his chest. My glasses were pressing awkwardly into my face and probably slightly painfully into his chest, but I didn't really care. He tried and failed to start many sentences before I pulled away from him. 

I sighed once more and grabbed my bag. I looked back up at Skye to see that there was still a faint blush on his cheeks from when I hugged him. I chuckled softly before adjusting my glasses (again) and pulling on some beat-up fingerless gloves. "I'll be back in about a week hopefully..." I trailed off.

"Well I'm not going anywhere so don't worry." He smiled at me again. I smiled back before closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. I opened them right before I stepped into the path to see that Skye's mouth was open, as if he wanted to say one last thing.

We kill the lights

"Well he can tell me when I get back," I mumbled to myself and set off. The black figures that I had seen at a distance last time were closer now, like they were curious about me. I shrugged it off and walked another minute or so before stepping out of the path and into an alleyway between two blocks of houses somewhere outside of Baltimore. The area I had been given wasn't very specific this time - apparently this group moved around a lot. I sighed and went to my left, figuring that I'd just walk the alleyways until I found the group, or signs of them anyway.

After about an hour of wandering I was getting frustrated. No sign, no people, only rats. I let out a growl of frustration and kicked someone's backyard fence. The chain rattled, louder than I thought it would be.

"Whose there?" a voice shouted from the end of the alleyway that I had just come from. Instinctively I gabbed my revolver out of my bag and aimed it down the alley.

"I have a gun, show yourself," I shouted back. I watched as a figure slowly made its way to me from the end of the alleyway, hands raised with a blade in one of them. When the figure was close enough, I could see that it was male, probably around nineteen with shaggy blond hair and dark eyes. "Where am I? Is this still Maryland?"

And put on a show

"We're in Dundalk," he replied, eyes narrowed.

"How the hell...?" I trailed off sighing. "I thought I was at least in PA by now... dammit..." I muttered, loud enough for him to hear but soft enough to make it sound like an accident.

"What are you running from?" he asked, smirking.

"Demons with no faces and great taste in men's finery," I muttered sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

The male bit out a chuckle. "Not exactly a demon, but you're close. Come on, you look like you've been wandering a while." He put his switchblade back in his pants pocket and held out a hand to me. I eyed it warily before I clicked the safety back on the revolver and put it back in my bag. Self-consciously I tugged my sleeves down again before lightly placing my hand in his. He gripped my hand lightly before leading me though the streets and alleys.

"It's like 85 degrees out here, what's with the jeans and long sleeves?" he asked, smirk evident in his voice.

"I got on the wrong end of a knife of one of the Tall Bastard's lackeys," I sighed.

"I'm sorry..." he trailed off and gave my hand a small squeeze.

"You couldn't have known, it's fine," I brushed it off. "So where are we going?"

"Well first, we need to cross this road that's coming up..." he murmured.

It's all a lie

"What road is - Dude this is a highway!" My voice shot up an octave and I ripped my hand from his grasp. "You're insane! We'll get hit by some jerk-off who doesn't have his headlights on or some shit like that!"

"You're running from some eldritch horror-terror and you're worried about getting hit by a car," he stated dubiously.

"Admittedly I'd rather be done in by a car than that... thing..." I trailed off.

Suddenly, he grabbed my hand and ran across the road. I was too shocked to do anything but run with him, hoping that some jackass with his lights off didn't come barreling down the road at 80 miles an hour (about 130 kilometers per hour for those who use the metric system). Luckily, we weren't turned into road pancakes.

"Come on, we're camped out on the roof of that building over there," he said as he pointed to the empty parking lot of a shopping center. I looked up to see that there were walls around the roof of the building, giving the group of runners some cover. Smart, I have to admit. However, deciding to trust some random stranger who you found walking around alleyways wasn't smart. I sighed and shook my head. Keeping up this character was starting to get to me, and it hadn't even been two hours yet.

"You alright?" he asked as we walked around to the back of the building.

"Yeah, just thinking is all," I shrugged.

But you'd never know

"Ladies first," he smirked, gesturing to the ladder that was on the side of the building.

"And let you stare at my ass while I climb up? I think not," I scoffed. "Lead the way..." I trailed off. He hadn't told me his name, nor had I told him mine.

"Lucas Greyfield," he smiled. "You can call me Luke if you want though," he shrugged.

"Alright Luke, I'm Violet Stevens," I smiled back. "And you can just call me Vi if you want, I don't really like being named after a flower."

The star will shine

Luke smirked and held up my hand before brushing his lips against the cloth that covered my knuckles, never breaking eye contact. "I think it's a beautiful name."

"HEY LUKE!" a voice yelled down from above. "STOP TRYING TO SEDUCE THE NEWBIE!"

"HEY JAMES!" Luke yelled back, "SHUT UP."

"HEY LUKE! THAT'S MEAN!"

Luke rolled his eyes and started up the ladder. I followed close after wondering in the back of my mind what he would've done if James hadn't have called down when he did. Well one thing's for sure, I thought to myself, I certainly wouldn't be here for a week if he would have tried anything.         

And then it will fall

He pulled me up when I got to the top the ladder, and I pretended not to notice how his hand trailed down my side lightly when he let go of my hand. I looked around to see that they had small tents set up that didn't rise above the wall around the roof, which was about four feet tall. There were only about five or six tents, and it looked like it was one person to a tent if the small crowd that had gathered was any evidence.

"So that's what took you so long!" one of the two girls called out.

"Figures, we send him out for food and he brings back a girl," the other girl laughed.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Luke exclaimed. The four other people just laughed.

And you will forget it all

"Anyway, introduction time!" the guy who had yelled down called out. "I'm James. You already know this guy's Luke," he pointed at a fuming Luke. "The two girls over there are Melody and Natalie - they're twins. And that guy smoking over there is Adrian. HEY ADRIAN GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE AND SAY HI!"

I winced at James' sudden change in volume. The other guy, who also looked to be about 19 but could pass for 21, walked over. When we met each other's eyes the song changed. Before it was slightly approving, he knew of my plan, with violent undertones. Now it was... well as melodious as I've heard the song get. The last time I had heard the song sound like this was back at Antithesis when I lived with a bunch of proxies.

"Have we met before?" Adrian asked me, sounding as confused as I felt.

"I... I don't know you seem... familiar..." I mumbled. I just wanted to say it right out, because I knew that he was like me but I had to stay Violet and not become Tori.

"Maybe we lived in the same neighborhood or something," he shrugged, but his eyes were trying to tell me something.

And after midnight we're all the same

"Yeah, I think that we went to the same school before I started running actually. That dumb catholic school where we had to pray to Father and call everyone Brother and Sister?" I raised my eyebrows and stared hard at him, hoping he would get it.

"Saint Twiggy's, oh I mean Saint. Thomas. The. Third's," Adrian stated the name like he was a teacher drilling the name into student's heads. But what he had said first confirmed it for me.

"Ah yes, Saint Twiggy's. So many grueling assignments... We should catch up later," I smiled at him.

"It would be my pleasure," he smirked, looking me from head to two. "You've grown."

"And I see you still haven't kicked your sinful habits," I smirked back, gesturing to his cigarette, before turning to Luke. "So where am I crashing for the night?"

Every story's a waiting game

"With me of course!" Adrian laughed and went to wrap an arm around my waist. I had him pinned with his arm held behind his back, threatening to dislocate his shoulder in five seconds flat. His cigarette was on the rooftop.

"Not funny," I growled before getting closer to his ear. "I'll find your tent sometime tomorrow night, we need to talk," I whispered in his ear. "But seriously I do not give two fucks if you're a proxy or not. I will castrate you with a rusty spoon, got it?" I hissed and gave his arm a painful jerk.

"Jesus girl your threats got scarier!" Adrian exclaimed as I let him go.

"Where can I sleep?" I asked Luke again, sounding tired.

"We have an extra tent that you can set up. I would suggest with the twins, but these tents aren't exactly big, you know?" Luke laughed. The rest of us laughed along with him.

It's all a lie

Luke lead the way while James, Melody and Natalie went back to whatever they were doing before. Adrian tagged along with us. We stopped at a dull blue tent and Luke went in and came back out with a bundle in his arms, which he promptly deposited in mine. It was a dull red colour and had some spots where it looked like it had been bleached. I didn't want to know.

With the help of the two guys, we got the tent up eventually, but we kept putting the poles in the wrong place. By now the sun was starting to light up the horizon. I groaned when I realized that I had stayed up through the night.

"Get some sleep Vi, someone will wake you up around noon - we usually have food then." Luke patted my shoulder before walking over to James.

But you'd never know

"My tent's the green one right there," Adrian pointed to the tent that wasn't even ten feet away from mine as he tried to light another cigarette. The wind kept blowing the flame on the lighter out. I rolled my eyes and grabbed it from him. He cupped his hands around the end of his cigarette and I used my hand as a shield from the wind for the flame. It lit the first time. "You smoke too?" he asked, blowing some of the smoke into my face. It was cherry-scented.

"Nah, I'm just good with lighters." I shrugged before yawning. "Sorry, I'm tired as hell. Mind if I take a rain check on the catching up?"

He looked down at me and half-smiled. "Anything you want. Just one question - you planning on killing them all at once?"

The star will shine

I started to nod, but then shrugged. "Initially yeah, but I'm not too sure now. I need to see how they work as a group first. This is probably gonna take a while longer than I guessed it would. And I would prefer to convert them if possible, you know?"

"Yeah... So how long were you planning on staying here?" he asked me, blowing the smoke away from my face.

"About a week at most..." I trailed off.

And then it will fall

"That won't cut it and you know it," Adrian smirked, green eyes dancing with amusement.

"Yeah yeah," I mumbled through another yawn.

"Go to sleep, we can talk about this some other night," he smirked before running his fingers through my hair. At this point I was so tired that I didn't care that he was touching me again.

"Alright..." I yawned again before crawling into my tent, dragging my bag with me. I stayed up for about half an hour, a sinking feeling in my gut. I figured that it was because I was planning to kill most of these people, but that wasn't all of it. Before I could identify what was eating away at me, I fell into a dreamless sleep.

And you will forget it all...