"We lost ourselves..."

Chapter 6: Excepted

You and Lulu walk out of the bathroom, looking for Ej. After a while, you see three guys: Masky, Toby, and another guy you didn't know.

"Masky!" Lulu calls out to Masky. All three men turn around.

"Y/n!" Toby exclaims as he runs towards you, grabbing the sides of your arms. "You ok?" he examines you as he twitches a bit

"I'm fine. I- I just felt a bit overwhelmed, that's all," you say nervously

"shit, you got Ej screaming at everyone to find you. He was worried sick," The guy with a black mask said as he walked up to you, extending his arm to shake your hand. "I'm hoodie,"

you shake his hand "Y/n"

"nice name, now uhm," he looks at Masky " Where the fuck is Ej-"

"Uhm...I think he's near his room-" Masky says. "Come on," Masky says as he starts walking

You run up to Masky, following next to him, now and then peaking at him. "So-"

he cuts you off. "I'm not in for small talk." He sounded annoyed. You knew, from earlier, that he didn't like the idea of you staying here. Clearly, to him, you were weak. You wouldn't last a day here.

"right..." you stay silent.

You guys approach Ej's room. Masky opens the door to see Ej inside and pacing back and forth.

"you ain't gonna find her by walking in your room," Masky speaks up As he pushes you inside. "How about you control your pet,"

Toby slaps the back of Masky's head. "Shut up"

Masky turns to Toby. "What the hell!"

"Sorry! t-t-tick," Toby says as he ticks.

"how about you get your ticking ass out of here," Masky says, grabbing Toby by the collar of his shirt.

"make me," Toby says, his voice getting more serious than before.

"How about you both leave!" Hoodie shouted at the two as he pushed them out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Lulu watched as Hoodie left with Toby and Masky. She turned to Ej and you. "I guess this is my sign to leave," Lulu said as she quickly left the room.

After Lulu left, You slowly turned to Ej. "where were you." Ej spoke up as he walked up to you, grabbing your arm and examining you. His grip was rough and tight.

"I... I got overwhelmed... sorry," you spoke softly, remembering the events that had unfolded that same day.

Ej stood quiet, almost as if he didn't know what to say. You, on the other hand, stared back at him. It was hard to tell how he felt, "...you're fine..." Ej muttered as he walked to his bed and sat on it.

"So. You're not mad?" You asked, nervously fidgeting with your nails.

EJ stared at you, no emotions on his mask, and his body was still. Shivers went up your spine, worried.

"Yes. I am mad, but I have no reason to. This is your first time here. Everyone's gone through it... even me," EJ got up from the bed and walked toward you. "I..." he sighs, "I am not mad at you... I was. Worried, you ran off, and I thought something bad happened..."

EJ stood in front of you for a while. "It's late... go to sleep," Ej spoke. He turned around and went back to his bed.

You stood in place for a minute. Before you walked toward your bed, you dropped down on it, turning toward Ej, who had already tucked himself in, probably already asleep. You tried to sleep, but you kept twisting and turning, not getting an ounce of sleep.

Your stomach growled as you had nothing to eat that same day. You slowly got up from your bed and crept toward the door, carefully leaving the room not to wake up Ej.

You walked down the hall, looking for the kitchen. After a while, you stumble upon the kitchen. You heard a couple of voices. You recognized them. It was Masky and Toby talking, and occasionally a couple of hums that were most likely Hoodie. You carefully peeked through the corner of the hallway into the kitchen, and you were right. Toby was sitting on the counter while Masky and Hoodie stood in front of him facing each other, surprisingly they weren't wearing they're masked, Hoodies mask only covered his eyes, and Masky's was on the side of his head, making it hard to see his face from your angle and Toby's googles and mask were hanging from his neck.

You tried to make out what they were saying.

(Bold = Masky, Italic = Toby, Underline = Hoodie)

"Isn't it weird how easily Slenderman accepted Y/N?" Masky spoke as he took a sip of his coffee.

"If Slenderman accepted her so easily it's most likely for a good reason, we have to trust him, we can't do anything else about it,"

"I agree with h-ho- -fucker- Hoodie," Toby spoke as he ticked.

"It just doesn't add up. What the hell can she help with? Exist?" Masky spoke, sounding more irritated by the second.

"Give the girl a chance. Maybe she will learn quickly and catch up to our level fast,"

"Dream what you wanna dream Toby, but I'm not gonna trust her too fast, you know what happened the last time that happened,"

Toby stood quiet, staring at the floor.

You felt as if someone was staring at you. You looked to the side a bit to notice hoodie was looking in your direction, causing you to quickly hide behind the wall, causing the others to look you're way. Your heart beating fast as you were most likely caught snooping. You took a deep breath and looked around the corner again.

"Who's there?" Masky spoke.

They all put their masks back on. Clearly, they don't like sharing their faces.

You took another deep breath, slowly stepping into the kitchen. They all stared at you. You gave a small wave with an awkward smile.

"how long were you there-?"

"I-, uh," You glanced over at your previous spot, then back at them. "Maybe for like a s-second?"

They all looked at each other.

"I- I can leave, uhm, -sorry," You nervously spoke.

"hm." Masky hummed in response before walking past you, Hoodie and Toby following behind, Toby giving you a small shrug before leaving the room.

You stood there, confused and asking yourself so many questions.