Dawn Chorus (Proxies x Reader)

"I've got her."

Masky's voice breaks through the crust of my haze. Flaky and pealing like blood. Sadie's blood. I'm not coated like I had been with Mason. I did not touch her in her last minutes of bleeding out, oblivious to the lingering pain. I stared at her. I fought and fought until all I could do was stare. Too caught up in myself to note her last words and take them with me. The borrowed clothes have mostly dried, stiff and scratchy against my skin. I lift myself from my slump, discomfort crawling up and down my back, before I open my eyes.

Despite just speaking, Masky isn't there. Cool wind drifts in through the open car door. The grey-beige seats falling off to the ruddy brown forest floor. I can tell from the way the leaves rattle that we are back. Parked in the same spot. I glance up to the surrounding foliage and confirm it. The light moving between them is golden with dawn. Being back should have been obvious from logic, not the rustle of leaves. But weirdness has been flickering through my mind and body lately. Best case scenario, I misconstrued why I realized we are back. Worst is that whatever happened in the house is lingering.

Masky and Toby are behind the car, whispering. Angry whispers. Arms move a lot, move aggressively. Toby slides a foot back, widening his stance, like he could turn to go or throw hands. Hoodie is nowhere to be seen. At least, I don't look for him. Some of Sadie probably still stains his clothes.

Toby's eyes catch mine. His goggles are in his tussled hair, so I can see his eyes are bloodshot and glossy. Pealing polka dots of a dark, rusty tone of red are splattered over his face, only breaking around the place his goggles had rested during the night. I wonder who his skin is decorated with. I never learned anyone's name, beyond Sadie. Never saw their faces. He shakes his head then turns away, stalking off between the trees. I lose sight of him too quickly. The chill in the air seems only to bite deeper.

"He's fine," Masky's voice says to my left.

I spin to look at him standing by the car door, bent down to peer in. He still has his mask on, pristine. The bit of blood on him is only in his clothes, sunken deep into the fabric and not all visible at this angle. He must have wiped his mask off. It had been blood marked when Sadie and I broke from the tunnel. One hand holds the door to support his harsh degree of lean. Fingers tap softly at the window.

"Are you coming or do I have to drag you out?" He asks as he backs out of the door.

As if he had not been blocking my way. My limbs are stiff and numb as I crawl out of the backseat. My bruises whimper when I bump into the car in my attempt to stand up too soon. I manage to keep my voice quiet. It's hard to move in a way that I am no longer used to it being hard to move. Hard to move in the way it should have been hard to move when I found Mason. I mourn him alongside Sadie and that only deepens my guilt. Too freshly dead for me to grieve them separately. Dead at all so I have to grieve. Concern over my own grief. When I straighten up again it is intentionally too soon. I drive my back hard into the car. The pain is temporarily blinding. I gasp in my tumble out. Leaves slide and crackle beneath my feet, nearly slip out from underneath of me.

"Idiot," Masky sneers as he slams the car door shut.

I jump at the sudden sound breaking the quiet of the forest. I am an idiot. He brushes past me, his own posture stiff. He shoulder checks me hard enough to nearly send me sprawling to the ground a second time.

"Keep up, sunshine, warning from the first day is still in effect," he calls back when I don't immediately follow.

I hardly recall those warnings. They've hurt me plenty, but also not nearly enough. The closest I've come to serious harm and near death had been self-inflicted and they pulled me back from that with implications of care and concern. Outright care and concern as well maybe, but I try not to read such things onto other people. I test my luck, allow him to nearly leave my line of sight before I force my legs to shuffle after him. Does he not understand I can't move right now? That I deserve the harm he threatens?