A/N: Update time! Posting it way earlier than the last two since this was finished even before I wrote up the other two. I hope you all enjoy!
Cassidy looks around the circle after finishing her tale, smirking as she took in their amazed and enraptured faces.
"Woah," Graham finally says, causing Cassidy to let out a laugh.
"I take it you liked the story then?" She smiles widely at them all.
"Yeah!" Louise replies, nodding her head. "How could we not?"
"But, it doesn't explain why Mr. Nobody is after Rachel. If he died in the fire, how could he be haunting her now?" Adam asked. Cassidy's smile drops and she looks solemnly into the fire before answering.
"Because he didn't die in the fire," she admits.
"What? What you mean he didn't die in the fire?" Graham asks in disbelief.
"Somehow, he escaped. After the fire was put out, they searched through the remains of the building. There, they found the remains of all of Mr. Nobody's previous victims. That was all they found though. There was no body that could have belonged to Mr. Nobody. I guess there had been another exit to the place beside the one Mr. Tophat and Nicolet went through," she explained.
"So, he's alive?" Rachel asked. Cassidy nodded her head. "And now he's after me." With a sigh, Cassidy nodded her head once more.
"But why?" Gavin asked next. Cassidy remained silent, staring into the fire. Rachel was the one to answer instead.
"Isn't it obvious?" She replied, looking around the circle. "Mr. Nobody wants revenge on Mr. Tophat for preventing him from getting Nicolet." She then looked at Cassidy, meeting her now sorrowful eyes.
"And what better revenge than to go after Mr. Tophat's beloved daughter?" Cassidy whispered, closing her eyes as tears began to fall.
Rachel hung back as she waited for Cassidy to gather her things and begin their track home. The others had just left moments before. The shock and graveness of the situation left all of them disoriented and unable to think of what to do. It was a matter better left for the morning when all were well-rested and able to sort through their thoughts more easily. As soon as the young woman had joined her, Rachel finally spoke.
"I've heard this story, or a version of it, before," she stated. Cassidy looked over at her with a raised brow.
"Really? Where?" she calmly asked, seeming like she wasn't surprised by this.
"When I was younger. I remember someone I knew telling me about Mr. Nobody," Rachel explained slowly, trying focus on the faint memory she had.
"Do you remember who?" Rachel shook her head.
"No, but her name wasn't Nicolet, though," she replied. Rachel then looked back at her, a thought forming in her mind as her memory became clearer. "Where did you get the name Nicolet?"
"My father chose it for me. Odd name, but it suits me as my middle name," Cassidy smiled knowingly, like she knew exactly what Rachel had been thinking. Rachel nodded and they walked in silence for a bit more.
"Cassidy?"
"Yeah, Rachel?"
"You won't let him get me right?"
"Never."
Rachel carefully climbed back up the steps that led to the upstairs, having needed a quick drink of water before finally going to bed. She quietly tiptoed past her mother's bedroom door as she headed for her room. Her gaze moved to look to the entrance to her room, causing her to freeze in place as she discovered a shadowed silhouette reclining upon her bed.
With her heart now pounding in her chest, she slowly reached her doorway, her eyes never leaving the figure. The moon shone brightly through her window, casting light right upon the figure's face, revealing what would be his masculine features if not for him having his face turned away from her.
"Hello, Rachel," the figure greeted with a very familiar voice. Her heart jumped into her throat as he spoke. "Have fun telling scary stories with your friends?" The man upon her bed let out a laugh when she didn't answer. "Cassidy is quite the storyteller isn't she?" He finally turned his face towards her, giving her a devious smile as he took in her shocked and fearful face. "What? Scorpion got your tongue?"
"Are you really him?" She finally asked. Mr. Tophat let out a laugh.
"Who else would I be?" He asked in return. Rachel slowly moved closer to the edge of the bed.
"Mr. Nobody?" She offered. The smile on his face disappeared as his expression twisted into anger and hate.
"That no good-," he quickly cut himself off as he was remembered who he was with. "Why can't he just do us all a favor and die already, as he should have been years ago," he hissed, looking off into the distance. When his eyes moved back to her, the anger in them was replaced with sorrow. "I'm sorry that you have to suffer yet again for my mistakes, sweetie." The nickname caused a wave of emotions to wash over her. She quickly closed the distance between her and the bed, throwing herself onto the surface and buried her face into the crook of his neck, wrapping her arms around his chest. He quickly returned the hug, squeezing her tight in response.
"Am I dreaming?" She whispered into his neck. He let out a sad laugh.
"That's for you to decide," he answered. "In the meantime, I think it's about time you slept, you had a long day."
"Will you still be here in the morning?" The silence was deafening during the few moments he took to answer.
"No."
"Will you stay with me until then?"
"There's no place I would rather be."
Rachel opened her eyes to the light of the sun streaming into her room. Slowly sitting up, she looked down at the empty space beside her. With a pang of sadness in her heart, she began to write off last night's incident as being nothing more than a dream. As she trailed her gaze around her room, she saw something that made any idea of it not being real go out of the window.
There, sitting up on her desk was an origami scorpion. Moving out of her bed and to the desk, she carefully picked up the creation, smiling at she saw a piece of paper. Written upon it in familiar handwriting was the short inscription, "Until we can be together again. -TH". With a smile on her face and hope in her heart, Rachel placed the scorpion back onto her desk and left her room to begin her day.
Watching from they sat upon her window sill, a group of scorpions stared after her. As she disappeared through the doorway, the group all began to scurry away, hopping off of the roof and disappearing into the grass below.
A/N: Mr. Tophat has finally made his appearance! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter with its little surprises. I'll see you all next week with the next chapter!
