*HEY GUYS! HERE'S ANOTHER UPDATE! HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOY IT!

QUESTIONS!!:
-What kind of tattoo would you get? And where? (I don't really have to know where e_e)
-Do you choose the red pill...or the blue pill??? (References ~•-•~)

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT ONE GUYS!*

Stay Creepy, My Friends!~

Chapter 19

I contemplated a good many of things. I contemplated my choices of action: why I grabbed a ladle instead of a knife or pan. I contemplated my obliviousness from before. But mostly, I contemplated why this man, Jeff, is in my freaking house again?!

I kept my foot on his face while I glared down on him intensely. "Man, what's with people and stepping on my face," he grumbled. I stepped on him harder and he groaned.

"How did you get in here? Why are you here?" I asked him.

Jeff muttered under my foot and said, "I snuck in, what else could I have done?"

"You could not sneak into my house," I inquired, "Geez, what's with everyone and sneaking into my house?"

"Well, I can't exactly do anything else," he said.

"Why are you here?" I asked again.

"I came for you," he groaned. I raised an eyebrow in questioning and removed a little less pressure from my foot. Jeff only stared up at me with his black eyes, that, despite the non-threatening situation, still unnerved me.

"What do you mean you came here for me?" I asked, "Do you intend to do something?"

"Yes, actually," he answered.

"Well, care to explain?" I suggested.

Jeff sighed and said, "That's what I was getting to. Though, it'd be easier to talk if your foot wasn't in my face."

"You have to say please," I stated.

Jeff gave me a look and muttered, "What? Why should I-?"

I put more weight on my foot and he groaned louder. "Okay okay," he grumbled, "would you please remove your foot from my face?"

I finally put my foot down on the floor and let him sit up. He stood up onto his feet while rubbing his face. Still holding the ladle, I pointed it at him and said, "You're lucky I didn't beat you with this thing."

"Ah yes, wooden ladles are just the worst," he said, sarcastically. I huffed and folded my arms across my chest. "Well, now that you're free from the wrath of my foot, explain to me why you're here," I ordered.

Jeff stretched his arm out across his chest and sighed. "Alright," he started, "I'm going to tell you the basics of the situation," -he dropped his arm-, "I'm not even going to ease into this because it's that serious of a thing. The reason why I came here was to ask you to come with me."

I stared at him. "Come with you where?" I asked cautiously.

"Out of town," he answered, "just for a little while. I'll bring you right back home once we're done."

"And why would I go anywhere with a guy who snuck into my home, disarmed my security measures and killed nearly three men in front of me?"

"Because," he drawled, "for one, if I had bad intentions for you, I would've already attacked you by now."

Behind him, I could see a knife quietly floating up into the air and I mentally scolded Sam to not do anything...yet.

"Also," Jeff continued, "you should come with me because you'll receive the answers you've been wanting for that symbol."

My attention sharpened at the mention of the symbol I had long since wondered about. After Jack's stunt at wiping out whatever information I had of it on my phone, I had forgotten about it for a while. But now that Jeff has offered an opportunity to figure it out, I'm not sure whether to feel excited or guilty. Excited because I'll finally be able to understand the symbol that seems to call to me at the very thought. But, guilty because Jack warned me not to get involved, no matter how tempted. I want to but I know I shouldn't. Or is it the other way around? Maybe I shouldn't miss this chance to figure out that strange symbol? No, Ao, come on. Jack told you not to get involved. Oh, but the urge is too strong! Agh!

"Let me ask you something," I told Jeff, "why do you want to go on this little trip? What's in it for you?"

He thought for a few moments, before finding his choice of words and saying, "This will benefit me because I'll be able to complete a mission I've been working on. My mission was to find the person who has been spray painting the proxy symbol everywhere."

"The what symbol?" I asked.

"The proxy symbol," he repeated, "That's what it's referred as. It represents the proxy and the proxy's affiliation with Slenderman."

"The proxy? What's the proxy?" I asked.

"Dammit, I wanted to give a brief explanation," he whined and I frowned at him. "Fine, you can tell me later," I said and he sighed in relief.

"Okay, then," he continued, "so here's the deal. This person I'm trying to find is marking the symbol everywhere for people to see." The memory of that woman spraying the symbol and chasing me down afterwards through the carnival came to mind. She must be the person Jeff is after. "I think I might have had a run-in with this person," I added and Jeff's demeanor lit up.

"You have?" He asked and I nodded. He crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Well, I had tracked down a news report about there being a new symbol at some local carnival but I didn't think you were there. What happened?"

"Um, it's kind of hard to talk about but basically this person you're after had attacked me and tried to kill me," I explained, "but I'm still here so they obviously failed."

"Did you provoke them?" He asked.

"No," I said, "I had just ran into them mid-spray painting and then they chased me down."

"Hmm," Jeff hummed, "that changes a few things. If they attacked you with not having been provoked then either they got scared or they have some sort of bad intent."

"I'm pretty sure they were anything but scared," I remarked.

"Well, they've moved on from this town now and I've already gathered a pattern of where they travel," he said, "so you don't have anything to worry about."

"That's good to know," I said, "So, you were saying? About this person and the proxy symbol?"

"Right," Jeff said, "As I was saying, this person has been spray painting the symbol everywhere for the media to see. Now, it's not exactly supposed to be seen so I have to stop this person from spray painting on places any further. But that's not the only reason why I need to find them. I need to find them because I and the others have reason to believe that they could be the next proxy, which is like super important, and its so important that the fate of humanity literally teeters on this business."

"Uhhh," I murmured, taking his words in. "Okay, so proxy, humanity, super important, and people might get hurt..?"

"They could also die," Jeff added.

"Right, facing the hands of death can happen too," I said.

"Ugh, don't bring him up," Jeff groaned.

"Wh-What-?"

"Nothing," Jeff uttered quickly.

"Hey, when you said others, what did you mean? They're more people like you?" I mentioned.

Jeff nodded and chuckled, "Heh, yeah, a good many of other people like me, actually."

"Oh god," I muttered.

"So, now that you have the gist of the situation, will you come with me to find this person?" He asked.

Now that he's told me all of this I don't even know if I want to go anymore. I mean, I'm fine where I am now, like I'm happy doing homework and obsessing over anime, I'm fine with living that.

"Uh, I don't know," I said, scratching my head, "This is a pretty serious subject you're throwing at me."

"Yeah I know," he mumbled. I stared down at the floor and thought but that was cut short when Jeff said, "We've never really been acquainted with each other, have we?"

"Oh I know enough about you, thank you," I said and he laughed.

"Well, what's your name? Was it...Ayo?" He fumbled.

"My name is Ao Matsukochi," I answered.

"Ow?"

"Ao."

"Ow."

"No it's Ao."

"Ow?"

"Ao."

"I-I don't..."

"Repeat after me," I said, "Ahh.."

"Ahh.."

"Ohh.."

"Ohh.."

"Ao!"

"Ow."

"God dammit."

"What?! I'm saying it correctly!" He exclaimed.

"God, I have never had so much trouble getting someone to pronounce my name right," I muttered under my breath.

"It sounds the same!!"

"No you put a little more 'ahh' at the end!" I said.

"What?!"

"It's a Japanese thing!!!"

"Oh my god," he groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. I shook my head and cracked a small smile. "Look," he started, "obviously I'm going to have a problem saying your name even though I'm saying it correctly!"

"You're not even close," I remarked.

"It's. The. Same. Shit," he said, "anyways, is there any sort of nickname you go by that I can call you?"

"You can just call me Blue," I said, "that's what my first name means in Japanese."

"Blue..," he tested the name and he scrunched his nose, "Mmm, I'm not feeling it."

"Seriously?"

"Can I call you Blueberry?" He suggested.

".....No."

"I'm gonna call you Blueberry," he stated anyway and I sighed.

"So, Blueberry, will you think about the offer?" Jeff asked me. I nodded and he gave me a thumbs up. "Okay, well, not to rush you or anything but, I'm giving you two days to think about my offer. After that I'm leaving either with or without you, depending on your definite choice."

"Okay, that sounds fair," I agreed.

"Well, I'm gonna get going," he stated and started walking out of the kitchen. A thought came to mind and I quickly caught up with him.

"Wait!" I exclaimed and Jeff stopped in his tracks. I continued with asking him, "I know this is probably none of my business but, uh, do you know where Jack is?"

"Jack?" He mumbled. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his red leather jacket and said, "He's busy doing some things. He's a pretty secluded guy so I wouldn't know exactly what he's doing even if I do know him. Why do you ask?"

My face grew warm and I murmured, "I'm just a little worried, is all..."

Jeff's slit smile intensified and I deemed that as him actually smiling. "Don't worry about him. That guy is as tough as a bull but he thinks like a pure blooded genius. He'll come back eventually."

I nodded and managed another smile. I watched as Jeff started leaving through the front door. "I'll see you in two days," he said as he pulled up the hood of the white sweater he wore under the red jacket.

"Hey, how'd you get in my house without security catching you?" I asked.

"Same way I got in last time," he laughed and then closed the door behind him, leaving me in silence. This went on for a while until I had realized I was still standing around in a daze. "Welp," I started, "time to finally start my homework." I made my way towards the stairs and up the steps to the second floor. I made it back to my room again -this time without any men sitting in the corners- and grabbed my homework from my school bag. I plopped down onto my bed and started writing my name on the worksheets I have.

Okay, you're not going to talk about what just happened?

Continuing with the work, I said, "No, not really."

But, it was weird!

"Okay?" I murmured.

You like weird! You're interested in it! And when you're interested I have to keep you from getting sucked in by the weird!

"It's okay, Sam," I assured him, "I won't get sucked in. Jeff was just asking for help and he gave me a choice. I'll think about it and then give him my answer two days from now."

You're actually going to think about it?

"Yes."

But, it's dangerous business. He had said so himself.

"He needs my help," I said.

Yes, but he's not obligating you.

"I know. If I go, it's because I am willing. Like I said before, Jeff gave me a choice and he's accepting of whatever I decide," I stated.

I just don't want you going and hurting yourself.

"Don't worry about that so soon," I said, "I haven't even made a decision yet."

Sorry. The situation just unnerves me.

"I understand," I replied softly, "But just relax, okay? Nothing has happened yet. I'm still here at home being a normal fifteen-year-old. I'm still here."

Okay...

The bedroom was silent and calm. I breezed through worksheet after worksheet until I came upon an assignment to write another essay for English. During my brain storming, I had suddenly asked Sam, "What do you think?"

About the Russian economy?

"No, not my essay topic," I laughed, "I meant, what do you think about Jeff's offer?"

Oh. Um, well, I'm not exactly all for the idea. I mean, you only know the guy's name. How can you trust him to take you out of town and bring you back home?

"The situation does seem strange," I mumbled, "but think about it as if you did know some things about him. Would you go with him to help him and understand that symbol?"

I'd only go for the symbol. That's the only thing that would intrigue me if I had been wondering about it as much as you have.

"Alright, that's understandable," I commented.

But Jack told you not to get involved with it, and I'm starting to agree.

"If I do go, he wouldn't have to know," I said and I could just feel the frustration from Sam.

Ao, what's gotten into you? You wouldn't say that.

"I don't know, I just feel like maybe I shouldn't listen to Jack," I said.

It's all because of that stupid symbol.

"I'm thinking like this on my own accord," I admitted, "I know I'm being stubborn but I think this symbol is something important to me. Like Jack. I feel a familiarity to him so I want to understand why by seeing him more often."

So this symbol is familiar to you?

"Not exactly in the sense that I've seen it before but more over that I'm drawn to it for some purpose that I don't know about. Is that familiarity? I'm not sure" I murmured, "I-It's a deep, nagging feeling that just lingers long after I've seen or thought about the symbol. And the fact that it represents a person who is so important that mankind's fate leans on their existence, that just makes the feeling even deeper."

But that's not a reasonable purpose, Ao.

"Shouldn't my fascination be reasonable enough?"

You're fascinated over everything!

"Not everything," I murmured.

You were once fascinated over how a gum ball machine works...

"I was ten at the time, okay?! Plus the stupid thing wouldn't give me my gum ball..."

Ao, all I'm saying is that, I'm okay with whatever you decide and I'll help you as best as I can, but I don't personally agree with it and I believe you should find some other reason other than 'I'm interested'.

"Alright," I mumbled, "I'll try to figure something out. But you're helping me!"

I know. That's what sucks.

I managed a smile and began writing again. "I love you," I mumbled to Sam.

....I love you too.

I chuckled at Sam's childish tone and focused on my work at hand. I understand that Sam is only looking out for me and yes, the situation is pretty sketchy. But, I think I can find some sort of other reason, like Sam told me to do. If I haven't by the time Jeff comes back, then the decision is final.

I don't go.