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Better decisions could have been made, Jeff had decided. He could've never decided they make the channel. He could've never let the slender man prank proceed.
He could've been a better brother.
But now wasn't a good time to be thinking and regretting the past. At the moment, he was in one of those shitty kiddie chairs, and someone was currently zip tying his hands behind him. He was aware that he could totally get up and run, but what good would it do? A little extra time or just a longer time for torture.
The man chuckled when he finish, and stepped in front of him, staring down at him (even if he was 3 inches shorter than Jeff, Jeff was sitting, so he seemed slightly shorter) as if admiring his work. Jeff glared up at him. The man laughed. Jeff repressed a shiver.
"The whole tied up and waiting for death thing looks good on you." He said, smiling evilly. "I wonder if you'll look better covered in your own blood, huh?"
Jeff felt his breath start to get shallower. He kept his mouth closed. He suddenly realized how Alex must've felt when he would go nonverbal.
"It's rude to not reply to someone, especially when they give you a compliment." The man growled, stepping forward. Jeff simply stared at him blankly. The man grinned wider. Jeff felt his head snap to the side as a searing pain hit the side of his face. "What do you say?"
Jeff looked back up to him. "Fuck you." Jeff spat, which only led to another hit. He saw out of the corner of his eye the man grabbing something from his back pocket. Jeff moving his head to look at the man and see what he was grabbing, but the man was a bit too fast to let him see.
"Wrong choice." The man said. Jeff yelped as something was thrust into his side, right under his ribs. That was what he grabbed. A knife. He should have figured, considering the man was using Evan's body.
That was the thing about the situation. Jeff had noticed something was wrong with Evan, and had advised Alex to stay away. He noticed the strange behavior, and the violent outbursts. Not to mention that while it started, he noticed things about his physical appearance.
The first changed he noticed was how Evan's skin grew paler. He figured he was maybe stressed or just sick. Then he noticed how Evan's green eyes had a strange purple color in the sides. He didn't know how to explain that. Then the whites of his eyes turned darker. Then his teeth started to seem to grow sharper. It all happened so quickly, too.
He felt the knife twist in his side, and he hissed in pain, feeling his eyes start to water. His breathing hitched, and he tried to steady his breathing, but that idea was thrown away when the knife was pulled out and then stabbed right back into the same wound. He could feel blood start to drip from the wound and down his side and stick to his shirt. He felt the tears start to pour down his face.
"Oh, don't start crying now!" The man said, ruffling his hand through Jeff's hair, avoiding the beanie. Jeff flinched away from the touch, but the man grabbed his hair and pulled it back roughly, forcing his head to turn upwards. He felt his beanie start to slip. "We've barely even started, buddy!" He said, so cheerfully.
The knife was pulled out of his side, and the searing pain faded only slightly. The man cackled, making Jeff shudder. He hated that laugh. It made him feel absolutely disgusting.
The man walked out of the room, and Jeff was confused. He was in no way leaving and he knew it, but a small voice in the back of his head cheered, thinking he was gone. He felt disappointed and tensed as the man walked back in, holding something else in his right hand. Which was odd, considering Evan was left handed.
Jeff bit the inside of his lip as the man approached. "Y'know, branding has never really been a very interesting thing to me, but honestly, it seems appropriate." He explained, holding up a different knife. Jeff swallowed. He knew what branding meant, and he did not want to be involved.
"So, I'll let you choose here." The man shrugged. "Left or right arm?"
"R-right." Jeff stuttered out quickly. He had been scratching at his left arm with his nails that had been chewed so much they had been able to cause wounds. He would rake his nails up and down his arm, leaving red marks and sometimes making it bleed. He didn't want people seeing the scars and scratches on his arms.
"Left it is!" The man said, smiling cheerfully. Jeff stared at him with wide eyes. "You should've figured, honestly." He said, using the knife to cut into the cloth of his jacket on his left arm. Jeff bit down on his lip, screwing his eyes shut. He hated this. That was the point. Hatred and pain.
The man paused after he pulled the cloth down towards his wrist. He started cackling. "Well, you sure seem to have been stressed, huh?" They laughed. "Guess that's my fault, but whatever!" Jeff felt awful.
He felt even worse when a searing pain went downwards on his shoulder. He scrunched his shoulders up and hissed. He was used to the feeling of his nails when he was in a bad mood. But this was a different feeling. A blade felt much worse, and he wasn't in a bad mood necessarily.
Another cut downwards, a little further away from the first one. He felt the tears start to come back again. A final cut was made, between the two, connecting each cut. Jeff suddenly recognized what he had cut into him. 'H'.
"In the older times, those who were committed with religious blasphemy were sent to become slaves, and were branded with the letter 'H' for heretic." The man explained, pressing his hand against the would, making Jeff yelp. He felt blood start to seep down his arm. "Quite ironic, if you ask me."
The man cackled again, and Jeff tried to stifle his cries. The man walked behind him and Jeff felt worse. He didn't know what was happening, especially since his tears were blurring his vision.
Suddenly Jeff felt his head pulled back and something was around his neck, and he couldn't breathe. He struggled to breathe, inhale, take in any oxygen, but he couldn't. He felt his throat start to burn and started gagging, making a gross noise. He felt his tears on his cheeks flowing even more as he felt himself start to black out.
Suddenly the item around his neck was removed, and he took long and hard breaths as he fell forward in the chair. "Oh come on, did you really think I'd choke you out?" The man said, walking around the chair to face Jeff. Jeff wished he did.
Jeff still leaned forward in the chair, until the man pulled his hair back again, and Jeff felt some of his hairs rip out. He felt the man let go, and his head fell back down. Jeff tried to stop himself from making a noise due to drying, but had trouble suppressing a sob.
"Oh, don't cry." The man reassured. He suddenly perked up a bit. "Hey, I have an idea." Jeff looked up at him. "You feeling hungry?" Jeff froze. What could he do to him with that question?
Jeff shook his head. He did feel slightly hungry, but he didn't wanna know what was gonna happen. "Oh, I can tell when you're lying, Jeffery."
Jeff watched as the man walked out to grab something else. He walked back in with a much larger knife. Jeff felt his heart skip a beat, feeling sick again. The man walked closer to him, and brought the knife to his arm, right above the elbow. Suddenly a deep cut was made a searing pain shot through his arm, as Jeff screamed.
Three more were made, connecting them all together, and then he pushed his knife into the same wound, and cutting the underside, ripping a chunk of flesh out. Jeff sobbed at the pain. Suddenly his head was pulled up by his hair again, and the knife with the square of flesh was held in front of his head.
"Open your mouth."
Jeff's eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen, he grit his teeth and kept his lips closed together.
"Don't make me cut your mouth open for this. Just open your goddamn mouth." He growled. "Don't make this any harder than it needs to be."
Jeff paused before he shakily opened his mouth slightly, to which the knife and piece of flesh was forced into. It cut the corner of his mouth, and he pulled it out, leaving the piece of flesh inside. He let go of his hair and his head dropped down. Jeff contemplated spitting it out.
"Come on, you can eat it." He assured Jeff. Jeff could taste the blood and the worst part was it tasted okay, good even, just slightly like sweeter uncooked meat. He felt disgusting. He hesitated before shakily chewing on the meat as best he could. The man chuckled and Jeff did what he could to swallow it.
Jeff felt sick to his stomach. He wanted to vomit, and he probably would have if he let himself. But wasn't that what the man wanted?
"Good." The man praised, patting the side of Jeff's face. "It tastes nice, doesn't it?" He asked. Jeff made a choking noise as he tried to hold back sobs. "Exactly. You feel guilty for liking it, don't you?"
"Shut the f-fuck up!" Jeff screamed. He just wanted it to stop. He wanted to get out of there. He wanted to kill his attacker. The man simply laughed. He grabbed at Jeff's chin, pulling his head up, his thumb resting near Jeff's lip.
'Fuck this.' Jeff thought.
He bit down as hard as he could on the finger, tasting blood. He heard the man gasp, and he pulled his hand away, forcing skin to be pulled off. Jeff spit the skin that had been left between his teeth, and glared at the man.
He looked shocked until he suddenly gained an angry countenance. He immediately left the room, stomping his feet as he walked away. Jeff smiled to himself, until the man walked back inside the room, holding a pair of pliers. Jeff froze, his shoulders rising slightly.
"How about, I just make it so you can't bite an me, huh?" The man said, angrily. He grabbed onto his face and forced his mouth open as best he could. Suddenly the cold tools were grabbed onto his bottom front teeth. Jeff shivered at the feeling.
A sudden pain ripped through his jaw as the pliers bent and then pulled back, ripping the tooth from the socket, making blood start to pour out. This action was repeated multiple times on his canines, molers, and front teeth. One of the teeth even chipped instead of being pulled out. Jeff felt blood leak out of his mouth, dripping down his chin and onto himself.
The man smiled. He threw the pliers onto the floor. "Well, what do you say we take a bit of a break? When I come back, things are gonna be worse, so you might as well rest a bit, huh?" The man suggested.
Jeff looked up at him. He wasn't that far from his face, so Jeff did the first thing that came to mind. He spit right into his face, a collection of both blood and saliva mixed together hitting him. The man paused before wiping it off with his hand.
"That's-that's definitely not the first time that's happened, but definitely the grossest." He said, looking at the saliva on his hand, before wiping it off on his shirt.
Jeff grinned, more blood leaking from his mouth.
"Alright then. We'll take a break, and while I'm gone, I'll be having fun taunting the vessel, alright?" He said. He didn't give Jeff any time to respond before he got up, walked out the door, and shut it behind him. He heard him laughing as he walked away.
It was suddenly extremely dark. So dark, in fact, that he couldn't see. He sighed, and felt like he should take the mans words into consideration. He could rest. He did feel exhausted after all that happened. What if he bled out? That would be better than waiting.
It suddenly occurred to him that he didn't know how long the man would be away. He could leave him here. He could've just left entirely. He could've left him to die. That would be nice.
He felt his eyes close and himself fall forward as he fell into sleep. It was more of passing out, but it was still rest.
He woke up suddenly in his room, in his bed. "Jeff, are you okay?" Alex asked him, kneeling beside him. Jeff immediately started to cry, and hugged his brother.
"Jeff, it's okay. It was just a bad dream!" Alex reassured him, hugging back and rubbing circles into his back.
"I-it felt so real..." Jeff whimpered, his sobs blocking his words slightly.
"W-what happened in the dream?" Alex asked, pulling back a little bit.
"I-I--." Jeff paused as he realized that something was off. "A-Alex, w-when's your birthday?"
Alex froze. "What?"
"When's your birthday?" Jeff asked. Alex would know his own birthday, and if he didn't, then this wasn't real.
Alex was frozen, staring at him, only occasionally blinking. He made a small noise, before smiling and laughing.
Jeff suddenly awoke to something cutting the zip ties around his wrists. "Wh-what are you-"
"If you run once these are off, I'll be breaking your legs." He said. Jeff realized he was dreaming what happened, and felt his heart drop. He knew it was fake, but he still had some hope. He started to forget anything that happened in the dream except his brother comforting him.
"How-how long was I out?" Jeff asked.
"Bout three hours." The man replied, still focused on cutting the restraints off
The zip ties finally came off, and Jeff immediately brought his hands in front of him, and looked at his wrists. They had indents in them, and seemed bruised. "You pulled on them a lot."
Jeff looked up at him, confused. "Why are you untying me?" He heard his voice sound so much different, considering some of his teeth were missing. His speech was awful.
"Can't really hang someone when they have their hands tied behind a chair."
Jeff shuddered. Suddenly he was pulled up from his chair by the back of his jacket. He was guided over to a table across the room. He suddenly realized he could run. He could run and escape this all.
He felt the grip on his jacket tighten. He could part with his jacket, all he wanted was to escape and call the police. He turned around and sprint as fast as he could, leaving his jacket behind. He managed to escape the room.
He made it towards the hallway that might lead to somewhere else. But he encountered a new problem. A masked man was standing in front of him and holding a camera. It looked a lot like Evan from what he saw, except he was wearing a rabbit mask. He was pushed backwards roughly and hit the floor. He felt dizzy.
A shadow crept over his body, and he was pulled up by the back of his hair. "Nice job, Pilgrim." The man said. "We don't want this one getting away." Jeff felt the need to kick and scream, but he was pulled up and a knife was held to his throat. He heard a strange gurgling noise coming from the man in the mask. Strangely, looking at the masked man, he looked almost sorry from his body language.
"Uh, yeah." He said, walking away with Jeff, the knife still at his throat. Jeff felt himself being thrown to the floor, and he heard the door to the room slam shut. "Did you not fucking hear me?"
Suddenly he was picked back up again and led back to the table. The man forcefully grabbed his hand and placed it onto the table. He grabbed a large butcher knife from beside him, and slammed it onto the table, right in between his fingers, hitting the skin holding them together. Jeff yelped loudly.
"Maybe breaking your legs would be a better option." He said, looking right at him, throwing him back onto the floor. "What did you think running would achieve?" He asked as he grabbed a hammer from beside him. Jeff tried pushing himself away from the man, but he was suddenly standing over him, menacingly.
The man kneeled down to Jeff's level, and smiled up at him, before violently swinging the hammer down onto Jeff's lower leg. Jeff screamed. He felt something crack, and it was awfully painful, and he felt blood start to pool slightly.
"Do you still wanna fucking run?" The man asked, mockingly.
"Yeah, actually!" Jeff yelled. Of course he wanted to run. Yeah, he couldn't, but hell, if he didn't want to.
"Don't be a smartass." The man scoffed. "Get the fuck up." He said, grabbing onto his shoulder and trying to pull him up. Jeff yelped as he had to put pressure of the wound. He hissed in pain as the man dragged him across the room. He was lifted up, and felt the back of his neck being pierced on something. It hurt like a motherfucker, and started moving upwards as his weight dragged him down.
"That's what I meant when I said hanging you." The man laughed. "I could have put you in a noose but that would be boring." The man grabbed Jeff's hands and put a zip tie on them, making them stuck in front of him.
"I can cut you open right now if I wanted. I could totally just cut your stomach open and watch your guts hang out." The man taunted.
"Then fucking do it, already!" Jeff yelled. He wanted this over. He wanted to die.
The man cackled and looked up at him. "Well, now I won't." He said, grinning. Jeff growled. He was loosing his sanity, and he just wanted this all over.
The man grabbed one of the knives from a table, and started to cut into the cloth on his shirt, sometimes nicking his skin. He finally finished cutting off his shirt, and immediately went to the stab wound he put into his side just a couple hours earlier. "Blood sure dried. Not bleeding anymore, either."
The man stood on his toes and cut a large line into Jeff's collarbone, making him hiss. He laughed and then cut again, this time, downwards across his ribs. Jeff felt himself start to cry, but he really didn't care anymore. He wanted it all over.
The man kept making cuts on his body, making Jeff want to scream, but he did his best not to. The blood kept dropping down his chest, arms, and back, and he just wanted to die.
"Say my name." The man demanded.
Jeff suddenly screeched something he didn't exactly know himself. "HABIT."
His vision started to blur and go dark. He was about to pass out. Or maybe he was finally dying. He heard laughter as he let his eyes close and finally rest again.
He woke up laying in the grass of a forest, and he felt in so much pain. He felt something cold being poured onto him.
"He's all yours." A voice said, before a burning sensation covered his body and he felt himself start to try and scream, he felt his eyes start to burn, and he couldn't see anything but white, and everything stopped.
Was this death? God he hoped so.