Nine

Once the light died down, I could see the three figures properly. Judging by their build, I'm guessing they're male. The person in the middle had their face covered by a white mask with black coloured in eyes, lips, and eyebrows. They had mahogany brown hair, some of which tumbled down over the mask. They wore a tan, high-collared jacket with navy-blue jeans and black combat boots. They were around 5'6, and I noticed a gun poking out from their jacket's pocket.

The person on their left had their face and hair covered by a black ski-mask, that had eyes and a frowning face sewn into it with red string. They wore a loose-fitting yellow hoodie- the hood up- and black jeans. On his feet were also a pair of combat boots. They had their hands covered by black gloves, a bloodied crowbar in hand. They stood at around 5'8, the tallest of the trio.

The third person was the same height as the seeming leader of the group, standing at 5'6. They had untamed chocolate brown hair, and skin so pale it was almost gray. They wore a mouthguard over the lower half of their face, orange tinted goggles covering their eyes. They wore a brownish hoodie, which had gray stripes on the arms and a blue hood, with tight-fitting blue jeans and converse. On their back holsters, a semi-new looking hatchet with an orange handle in one, a hatchet with a blunt blade and a wooden handle in the other. Every few seconds, he would 'twitch'. I knew immediately that it was a tic.

They were all covered in blood. The three stopped in place, staring at us in shock, as we did the same to them. "Ah, My proxies. Good to see that you're back in one piece." Slenderman said in our heads. I continued to stare at them, before I pulled a smile onto my face, extending my hand.

"Hi, I'm Mel Woods." I smiled, waiting for any of them to accept the handshake. The one with the hatchets immediately pushed their goggles onto their head and pulled their mouthguard down. Definitely male. He had caramel brown eyes. When he pulled the mouthguard down, I let out a small gasp at the sight. There was a large scarred over gash in his face, exposing some of his left molars as well as his gum. Seems younger than me.

"He…. hey." He began, stuttering slightly as he ticked. "I'm Ticci-Toby.... but you can…. you can just call me Toby." He took my hand, giving it a shake as he gave me a smile.

"Can I ask you something?" I blurted out, making my brothers groan.

"Already?" Keith shook his head, as I gave him a playful glare.

"I'm a nurse, you see. I just want to know if either your injury there," I began, nodding to the gash on his face, "Or your tics ever hurt. If it does hurt, I can help." I smiled, as Toby looked at me, jaw dropped.

"I…. like this one alre….. already." He cheered, before turning serious. "Th…. Thanks for your con…. concern, but no, nothing…. hurts."

I then turned to the other two. I looked at the seeming leader first, raising an eyebrow. "So, who are you?" I asked.

They pushed their mask up onto the side of their head, revealing a male in his mid to late twenties. He had dark brown eyes and sideburns. "Masky." He simply said, digging around in his pockets. He pulled out a box of cigarettes, pulling one out of the box before lighting it with a lighter he had also pulled out of his pockets.

"What do you think you're doing?" I snapped at Masky, frowning as he took a drag from his cigarette.

"Smoking, obviously." He dryly replied.

I shook my head, grabbing his arm. When I did so, he flinched slightly, pulling his arm out of my grip. "Wait." I muttered, staring at him. "You're injured, aren't you?"

He let out a dry laugh, nodding. "It'll heal."

"Sorry people…" I whispered as I grabbed Masky's un-injured arm. "See ya!" I yelled out as I began to drag him across the field toward the mansion.

"What do you think you're doing?" Masky growled, putting his cigarette out before putting it in his pocket. He didn't stop, though. Just walked at my pace- which was pretty fast.

"Didn't you hear me earlier?" I shrugged, pulling him up the stairs of the mansion. "I'm a nurse." I pushed open the doors to the mansion, seeing a large, red-carpeted staircase in front of me, a living-room area to my left. To my right stood a closed door to a room.

"That room's the infirmary." Masky muttered, nodding over to the room to my right. I nodded, thankfully, making my way over to it, opening the door. It was empty.

We made our way into the room, Masky going over to a bed in the corner of the room, sitting on it. I didn't even focus on the details of the room, immediately pulling my empty backpack from my shoulders. I made my way to where Masky was sitting, plopping myself down beside him. I opened my empty backpack after thinking of what I needed, seeing antiseptic wipes, tweezers, gauze, and bandages.

"Tweezers?" I asked myself as I pulled the things out of my bag.

"It's a gunshot wound." Masky grumbled. "You don't even have to do this, y'know. I'm a proxy, I'll heal within a day or two."

I shrugged. "Masky. It's literally my job to do this. I'm qualified." I stated with a laugh. I gave him a look, as he nodded, taking his jacket off, revealing a black and red flannel shirt. He rolled up the sleeve of the shirt until the wound was visible. There was a bullet hole in his lower forearm.

"Okay. This might hurt a bit, so I'm sorry if I hurt you." I said, holding up the tweezers as I held his arm still. I could feel the veins and muscles on his arm, but I brushed it off; I gently prodded the tweezers in, slowly extending them further until they were secured around the bullet.

"Okay, Masky, I've got the bullet, so I just need to pull it out now." I informed him as he nodded, gritting his teeth. I slowly pulled it out, trying my best not to hurt him. Once it was fully out, I placed both the bullet and the tweezers on a metal plate beside the bed.

"Now I have to clean the wound." I stated, pulling out antiseptic wipes. I slowly began to clean all the blood off his arm, then moving to the actual wound. As I was wiping around the bullet hole, Masky spoke up.

"So, you're the famous Melanie Woods?" He asked, and I stopped what I was doing, looking up at him.

"Yeah, that's me." I responded, continuing to wipe away the blood and clean his wound.

"Jeff and Liu haven't stopped talking about you during the past eleven years." Masky chuckled, as I stopped again.

"Really?" I asked, and he nodded immediately.

"Yeah," He confirmed, "I didn't think the big man would actually allow you here though." He muttered, and I shook my head.

"I don't think he has." I replied, making him raise an eyebrow. "I have to take these pills so that I don't suffer from the Slender sickness, and I shouldn't even suffer from it if I was allowed here, I know."

"Oh." Masky said, face blank. "I had to take those for a while before I became a proxy. Hoodie too." He explained, before seeing my confused face. "Hoodie was the other dude with us."

"Can I ask you something?" I asked him, making him raise an eyebrow in response.

"First of all, that was a question. Second of all, go ahead." He said.

I grabbed the gauze after placing the bloodstained wipes beside the tweezers. I began to wrap the gauze around the wound as I asked my question. "If you don't mind me asking, Masky, just how old are you?" I wondered, looking up at him for a second.

"Well, I'm in the body of a twenty-six-year-old, but I'm older than that." He responded, making me tilt my head in confusion. "Time doesn't move here." He explained, making me nod slowly.

"Is that why Jeff and Liu look younger than they are?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Not only that, but we're also immortal so we're stuck at an age." He explained, making me frown.

"But... Keith and I aren't immortal," I began, "What will happen when we grow old and die and Jeff and Liu are still young? I wouldn't dare let them see me die." I muttered, shaking my head.

"I guess you'll just have to wait and see what the big man does. Keith's your brother, right?" Masky queried, and I nodded.

"How old are you and your brother?" Masky asked, and I looked at him with my eyebrows furrowed.

"I'm nineteen, and Keith's twenty-nine. Why?" I answered his question, but he only shook his head.

"No reason." He bluntly replied, but I brushed it off, continuing to dress his wound.

I put down the remaining gauze, trading it for the bandages as I wrapped it over the gauze. I stood up when everything was finished, slinging my backpack over my shoulders. I put all the used equipment in the small bin before going back over to Masky, who had put his jacket back on. I extended my hand as he took it, helping him up.

"I'll be keeping tabs on that wound, Masky." I grinned as we made our way to the door.

"Little Woods, call me Tim." He smirked as he took hold of the door handle, holding it open for me to go through.