For All Of Eternity (A Sally Creepypasta Fanfiction)

Chapter 23 - Forbidden Questions

Sally shifted her weight from foot to foot, restless and alert. Her right hand, the one usually holding her knife that isn't present at the moment, is clenching and unclenching nervously.
Toby noticed her nervousness and nodded in understanding. "A cautious one, aren't you? I was like that all the time before..."
His voice trailed off. Sally tilted her head in confusion. Why did he suddenly stop talking? She tried to read his dark eyes, search them to figure out what he's thinking at this moment, but he's either emotionless or really good at hiding it.
"Nice to meet you," he said then, not bothering to finish his previous sentence as he stood, then faced Hoodie.
Sally thought that he's quite mysterious, although a lot of these other killers are mysterious too, in their own ways. They all seem to have have so much running through their mind, but not enough running with their voices. They each have something to hide, whether it be their past, their emotions, or their thoughts.
Sally's curious about them, about their past and thoughts. She also knows that most of them would not tell their memories to her, much less even talk to her. They know of her horrible death, so why not share their own experiences?
It'd be like storytelling, though she doubts any of these guys are interested in something so 'childlike', but she is a child, what can they expect? She's a child with a curiosity that she's willing to resolve, but they might not be so willing to oblige.
"Where's the other idiot?" Toby asked.
"Huh?" Masky asked, obviously confused as to who Toby was referring to.
"The one that lives here."
Hoodie chuckled. "He's upstairs, either sulking or asleep."
"Why would he be sulking?"
"Well, apparently, he was stabbed," Masky explained with a shrug. "I don't know much about it, but what can you expect from Jeff?"
It was silent for a bit, so then Sally took that chance to speak up and make sure of something. "Masky...are you still hurt?"
Masky looked at her, and he didn't answer right away, as if he had to think for a moment about what she could be referring to. "Ah, well I've been better, and I've also been worse. Don't worry 'bout me, Sal!"
Sally still winced at that nickname, but she tried not to show anything.
"O-Okay," she said softly, putting her hands behind her back and looking down at her feet.
"Isn't she just adorable!?" Hoodie exclaimed, walking over to Sally and setting his hand on her head. She bit her lip, and this time, she didn't pull away. Her discomfort was easily seen on her face.
"I suppose she is," was Toby's uttered response.
Then they all heard the back door open and quickly turned to see Eyeless Jack walking in.
"Jack," Ticci-Toby said. "Long time no see."
"Toby, it has been a long time, hasn't it?" Jack returned the greeting, nodding towards Toby.
But then he walked towards Sally, then knelt in front of her to meet her level, pulling something out of his pocket.
It's her knife. Sally's eyes widened and she had the sudden urge to snatch it away from him, but she clenched her fists to fight back that surprising urge.
Eyeless Jack lifted it to her. "Be careful not to lose it again."
Sally slowly reached out and grabbed hold of the cold handle. The feeling of it being once more in her possession filled her with relief. She smiled.
"Thank you," she said as she stared at the weapon. It still holds the blood of those she killed on its blade, and she was reminded of those lives she took. She doesn't regret taking those lives, though. She has no remorse for them. Does that make her bad? Evil?
Does that make her a monster?
Her smile soon faded and she sighed softly.
Then they all heard a thud and a loud curse from upstairs that distracted Sally from her draining thoughts.
"Sounds like Jeffery is awake," Jack muttered under his breath.
Hoodie sighed. "Yep."
Thudthudthudthud is what was heard next as footsteps ran through the hall upstairs and towards the staircase.
Jeff was about to dash down the stairs, but the wound in his waist didn't allow that. He stumbled forward, and then ended up tumbling down the stairs, cursing loudly.
"Pfffft AHAHAHAHAHA!" Masky laughed aloud when he saw Jeff rolling down the stairs.
Jeff quickly regained his composure, pushing himself off the ground and with a grunt, he stood, and then ran right towards Sally.
She gasped, but then Jeff grabbed her shoulders, staring into her eyes with his crazed gaze. This action shocked her to the point of making her drop her knife, and with the clattering sound of it hitting the floor, anxiety began bubbling up inside her.
"Take me back!" He shouted as his fingers dug into her shoulder in a somewhat desperate notion. "Take me back to that house!"
"Wh-What-"
"My knife!" He growled, now shaking her, further inducing her panic. "I need my knife!"
"Why are you worried about that now?" Hoodie asked. "You could've told her earlier."
Jeff ignored him and gripped onto Sally's shoulders tighter, making her wince at the pressure. "Take me back!"
Sally gritted her teeth. Why is he so frantic for his weapon? Is it so important to him that he dares to grab her like this? He's mad with the need to have his weapon in his hand once more.
Sally found herself wanting to reach down and grab ahold of her own knife, but then it hit her that she's not that different from Jeff. She froze. The way Jeff is acting right now, is that how she will act in a matter of time? She remembers how she felt without her own weapon. Is that why Jeff is acting like this?
She pulled herself out of her thoughts and spoke up. "B-But you're still hurt-"
"I don't fucking care about the state I'm in, just fucking take-"
Jack interrupted him. "Jeff, let her go."
"Don't tell me what to-"
"Jeff, calm the hell down."
They looked over to see Ben leaning against a wall, smirking smugly and holding Jeff's knife in his hand, fresh blood dripping off the sharp tip.
Jeff then released his hold on Sally and glared at Ben.
"I don't see how you can use this thing," Ben said, now examining the bloodied knife. "It's not much fun for me. However, I was thinking how fun it would be to mess with you. I was thinking about not returning this to you and see how long it'll take 'till you break."
"You sadistic son of a bitch," Masky commented with a chuckle.
"That's me," Ben agreed casually, but then he tossed the blade to Jeff, who skillfully caught it by the handle, now looking much calmer now that his weapon is once again in his grasp.
Jeff took notice of the fresh blood coated on the blade, then looked up at Ben again. "You used it."
He didn't state that as a question, but Ben answered anyway.
"Yep. I wanted to see how it is using a knife like you do," he shrugged. "What can I say, I'm curious. But now that I know that it's boring as fuck, I know for sure that I'm not using that ever again."
"Good," Jeff growled. "So don't you dare touch it again."
Then he turned to walk out of the room, but once again, with his wound and the blood loss, his movement wasn't the best. He stumbled into an old bookshelf on the way out, muttering under his breath, but then he managed to walk out.
The bookshelf he stumbled into rocked a bit, as if unstable and could collapse any minute, and a few books lost balance and fell off and onto the floor, some falling open and some keeping closed. Dust flew into the air, letting everyone know that those books haven't been used in a long time.
Jack sighed, shaking his head and then walked over to the fallen books to pick them up. Sally became curious and walked over to see those dusty books.
"Can I see one?" Sally asked before Jack set the books back.
Jack looked down at her, then he handed her one of the books and set the rest back on the shelf. Sally held the heavy book in her hands. The rough blue bind holds these old papers together, papers that hold a story that has Sally intrigued.
She remembered when her mother would read books like these, although Sally wouldn't understand most of the words. She would just leave it to her imagination.
Sally sat on the floor and opened the book in her lap to the first page.
She can hear the others talking in the background, but she doesn't give them any attention as she did her best to read the words on the old pages.
"What are you reading?"
Sally jumped and looked up to see Ben standing behind her, looking over her shoulder at the book.
She looked down at it. "I...don't know. I just felt like reading."
"Aren't you, like, five? Can you understand any of that?"
"I'm seven, and...no, not really."
"Let me see that," he said, then took the book out of her hands.
She gasped and reached out to take it back. "Hey, give it back!"
"Just a sec," he told her with a smirk, now looking at the open pages before him as he held the book in his hand.
Sally sighed, crossing her arms and pursing her lips into a childish pout. But then she looked back at Ben as he held the book and read through paragraphs.
"Can you read it to me?" She asked him.
He looked up at her with a strange look. "What?"
"Can you? Please?"
He gritted his teeth. "No."
Sally was about to pout again, but then she did what she hasn't done ever since she died; she made puppy eyes.
Ben shook his head at her. "That doesn't work on me."
Sally continued the face, now making the bottom of her lip tremble to add to the pleading expression.
"Please?" She begged again. She's done this a lot when she wanted her parents to give her something. She'd give them a sad, pleasing expression in order to convince them to give her the thing she wanted.
Ben sighed, knowing she wouldn't stop until he did what she asked. He considered it with a scowl on his face, but then he looked down at the book in defeat.
He's actually going to read a book to Sally.
He groaned and sat on the floor next to her with the book now in his lap. Sally smiled once she realized he's really going to do it.
"Fine," he muttered, flipping through the pages until he found the first chapter.
"Thank you!" Sally whispered with a bright smile and a happy giggle. She hasn't felt this light and fluttery for a long time, and she let this feeling embrace her.
"Yeah yeah, sure, whatever." Ben said as he stared at Sally. There was a moment of silence that passed, and Sally's grin slowly fell as she became more uncomfortable under his gaze.
"Uh, Ben?" She asked. "Why are you staring at me?"
It took a moment for him to realize what he was doing. He shook himself, wincing as if he was in pain. When he spoke, his voice was quieter than usual, and it broke slightly.
"Don't worry about it. You...you just remind me of someone I once knew."
Sally tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows. "Who?"
He shook his head, and when he spoke this time, his voice was hard. It was obvious that he hated that she asked that. "No one. It's not important, so forget about it. Now shut up and let me read."
With another sigh to cool himself down, Ben began reading the book aloud to Sally. It took her a moment to begin focusing on the words, because her mind was deep in thought at what just happened, but then her eyes began following the words on the page as Ben read them, slowly learning their meaning.
Hoodie soon noticed the two, sitting in the corner and reading, then he looked over at Masky and they met gazes. Both of their smirks would be seen if it weren't for the fact that their faces are hidden.
Eyeless Jack's voice interrupted their snickers of amusement. "I'll go find Jeff."
And with that, he left the room, so then Toby, Hoodie, and Masky following soon after, leaving Ben and Sally sitting on the floor, reading.
Ben doesn't know why he's doing this. He shouldn't be sitting here, reading to a little girl! He's only doing this because she wouldn't stop bugging him until he did. Yeah, that's the reason. A nostalgic feeling came over him, and along with it, came pain. He quickly swallowed it down before his mind could process what the reminder was.
"...'No worries, little one.' He said as he set his hand on the top of her head. She smiled at his affection and a light pink spread over her cheeks." Ben read aloud and Sally furrowed her eyebrows.
"Affe...affec...what's that?" She asked.
"Affection? Uh, well..." Ben rubbed the back of his head, thinking of a good way to explain this to a seven year old. "Affection means to care for someone, or to do something that shows that you care."
"Oh," she said, letting the words process in her mind, and then he continued to read.
They sat there for a while, Ben reading as Sally listened to each and every word. They're a few chapters in, and Sally was beginning to get interested in the book, despite the fact that most of the words Ben spoke didn't make sense to her.
But then one question ran through her head, and she thought this was a good time to ask. No one else is here, and this is something she feels she should ask him alone.
"Hey...Ben?" She asked.
He paused in the reading. "What?"
As they met gazes, she asked a single question.
"How did you die?"

--                                                                         

Jeff paced back and forth in his backyard, his thoughts moving faster than his legs.
Getting his knife back wasn't the only reason he wanted to go back to that house; he wanted to be sure he wasn't imagining it all.
Liu is supposed to be dead! Jeff killed him. He cut open his neck. He died before Jeff's eyes!
Then what was that back there? Was his mind playing tricks on him? Did Liu survive his attack?
Jeff stopped pacing and looked down to the throbbing wound on his waist. It stopped bleeding a while ago, but it still hurt, telling him that he's not imagining anything.
Was Liu acting his death? Or maybe he only passed out? But no! Jeff saw the life in his eyes fade away! He watched the funeral!
Then who was that man that looked exactly like his brother back there? That man who knew their childhood?
It must be Liu. Who else could it be? But why was Liu at that house?
What is he doing with that woman?
What is he doing here? Alive?
Jeff growled under his breath, and he was just about to run, but then a voice spoke up.
"Don't even think about it."
Jeff paused, then turned his head to see Eyeless Jack approaching him, his hands in the pockets of his hoodie.
"You're injured," Jack continued. "You shouldn't push yourself-"
"I don't care," Jeff stated.
"I see that, but-"
"But nothing! There's something I need to do, and this isn't going to stop me."
"What do you need to do?"
Jeff glared into the trees. "I need to go somewhere."
"Where?"
Jeff gritted his teeth at Jack's persistent questioning. "None of your damned business."
"Who stabbed you, Jeff?"
Jeff turned to Jack, glaring hard. "My brother. The one I tried to kill eleven years ago."
Eyeless Jack was silent for a moment. "That's who you're looking for."
Jeff turned away and began walking. "Again, none of your business."
"But why look for him? He knows you're a murderer."
"I don't give a fuck!"
"At least tell me where you're going."
"No." Then, Jeff began sprinting, and Eyeless Jack didn't follow.
He ignored the pain that his movement caused him, it's nearly impossible to focus on it, despite how much of a relief it is to feel that pain compared to the torture his thoughts and memories bring him. After several minutes, he found the fence.
He pulled himself to the top of it, and then jumped down on the other side, hissing under his breath at the pain in his waist as he stumbled forward.
He dragged his feet through the graveyard, walking in the direction he needed to, and then he found them.
The graves of his parents and Liu.
Jeff stood in front of Liu's grave and stared down at it.
"Why are you doing this?" He asked the grave, receiving no response, but he didn't expect one.
"This is revenge, isn't it?" Jeff muttered, now kneeling in front of it. "To torment me after death, to remind me. I do enough damage to myself without you coming along to worsen it, dammit. Why the hell are you messing with me?"
"Now, why would I do that?"
Jeff jolted to his feet and turned around rapidly to see Liu, walking his direction.
Once again, Jeff froze, his mind went blank and his throat ran dry, unable to speak.
Liu didn't hesitate as he walked over to Jeff, his brother, the one who almost, almost killed Liu.
Jeff swallowed hard, his hands clenching. "What are you doing here?"
Liu shrugged and stood in front of Jeff. "Probably the same reason you're here, to see our parents."
Jeff stared, then he shook his head. "I thought I killed you."
Liu grinned. "You can't get rid of me that easily, little bro."
Jeff was silent again for a moment before speaking. "I guess not."
Then Liu asked a question that Jeff didn't expect he'd ever ask.

"Will you try to kill me again?"