I'm alone in the middle of the woods.

I'm alone in the middle of the woods, and I don't know how I got here.

I'm alone in the middle of the woods, and I don't know how I got here, and there are five masked people standing around me, so maybe I'm not actually alone.

These four things seem to be the only thing I could comprehend as I stared up at the familiar masked people after waking up only moments beforehand. Did I sleepwalk, or did they move me? Neither sounded good.

"Where are we?" My voice is small, a lot smaller than I wish it was. "Are you going to hurt me?"

The one in the fox mask is back, and they shake their head as I ask the second question. "We would never hurt you, Ivy. You're one of us."

"I'm one of you?"

The fox kneels down beside my head and tilts their head silently. "Almost, but never fully. You never will be completely one of us, but you're one of us."

Their voice is deep, but it isn't a voice I recognize. "Why? Why am I one of you? Or why won't I ever fully?" My head was filling with mew questions as they spoke.

The fox sighs and begins the familiar hymn. The hymn they sang when my house burned down, and after a moment, the others surrounding me joined in the humming. The fox placed their hands on the curve of my jaw, and I noted that they were wearing gloves. "Sleep."

And I did.

I woke up what felt like hours later. The sun was setting, I was still in the middle of the woods, and a squirrel was sitting on my stomach, sleeping. I didn't have a clue where I was.

I slowly picked up the squirrel, trying not to wake it up, and placed it on the ground beside me before trying to stand up. The key word being trying. I let out a small cry and looked down to see my left foot twisted at an awkward angle. I could see a bright purple bruise forming around it, and I let out another cry as I touched it.

I tried to stand once more only to fall in a heap on the ground. The squirrel scurried off as fast as it could.

I laid on the ground for a moment, taking a few deep breaths. I then turned myself over onto my stomach and began crawling. I wasn't sure where I was going, or if there was an exit anywhere near this area, but I had to try, didn't I? So I crawled for what felt like hours but might have only been one until I heard the sound of voices. Voices that sounded faintly familiar, but in my state of mind, I couldn't remember exactly.

My arms and stomach were burning from the strength it took to pull myself, my foot was practically screaming in pain as it had gotten snagged on a few things on the way there, and my breathing was hard and heavy. I could barely take in breaths, but I paused for a second before trying to scream out a 'hello,' only for my voice to come out quite. I took another breath before yelling again, this one came out as a guttural yell. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

The voices stopped for a moment before I heard them call back. The voice was still familiar, but it still wouldn't process in my mind, making me very, very annoyed at myself. "Hello? Do you need help?" I could sense a sort of taunting in their voice, and though it made me uneasy, I was in dire need of help.

"Please," I called out, "please, help me."

Footsteps. There were footsteps approaching me, and even though I probably should have sat up to make it easier for them to find me, I felt my body collapse back onto the ground, my chest still heaving.

"Call out again," the voice yelled, this time closer, "so we can find you."

It took me a moment to register what they said. "I'm over here! I'm over here." My voice was quieter the second time, and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to talk again if they made me.

There was another snap of twigs beneath their feet before I heard one of them let out a startled yell. "Ivy?" Their voice was laced with worry I couldn't imagine, and I knew I must have looked as terrible as I felt if they acted like that. "Ivy, what happened?"

I felt two hands on my side, and then, I felt myself being pushed onto my back. I let out a whimper as my foot twisted again. My vision was blurry, but I recognized the faces in front of me almost immediately. "Paul? Marko?"

Marko was the one who turned me over, but Paul was the one who had talked to me. Marko grabbed one of my hands, looking over my injuries, while Paul ran his hands through my hair, untangling it softly.

"What happened, Ivy," Marko questioned, his voice softer than I remembered it ever being.

I gave a lazy smile and shrugged my shoulders. I felt a lot safer being around them, knowing I wasn't lost anymore. "Just sleepin' in a forest, y'know." The boys didn't seem to like my joke, but how was I supposed to explain it. I didn't know how I got here or how I got hurt. I didn't know who those masked people were who I'd had a safe/not safe friendship with. I didn't know anything right now, and falling asleep again sounded like a really good option. "I can't explain it," I mumbled, leaning into Paul's hand as it cupped my face. His hands were soft. Nothing like the gloved ones of the fox. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, don't feel sorry," Paul responded. "We can talk about it later. First, let's get you to our spot so we can check out your injuries, huh?"

I nodded, a barely visible nod, but a nod nonetheless. "I can't stand up."

"You're not going to stand. We can carry you." As Paul said this, Marko placed his hands under me and lifted me into a bridal position. I groaned but relaxed into his arms, lifting my arms to throw them around his neck.

"Thank you," I whispered, hoping they would hear me.

Then, we were walking through the woods like it was there second home. Marko moved almost effortlessly, barely jostling me at all. He made it feel like we were walking down a sidewalk instead of through the heavily cluttered woods. It was silent, too, besides the footsteps. They didn't say a word, and I appreciated it a lot as I wasn't sure how much I could speak. I probably just needed water, but my throat was sore and scratchy when I even breathed.

The walk wasn't very long, but I'm pretty sure I faded out for a few minutes at a time. I could hear the waves now, and we were going downstairs. Wood stairs from the sound of it, but I didn't want to look. My face had been buried in his neck for a while now, and I was almost comfortable.

It was when we entered someplace and Marko whispered a 'sorry in advance' that I picked up my head. We were going down stone stairs this time, and I understood what he meant by the apology when he had to jump down the final step, jostling my entire body. I let out a loud yelp without meaning to.

"Ivy," I heard somebody speak questioningly. I looked up to see Dwayne sitting on a couch with a book in his hand. David was sitting in what looked like a wheelchair with headphones in so he didn't disturb Dwayne. I gave Dwayne a weary smile and watched as he stood up. I could hear David approaching as well.

"What happened to her," David questioned, his voice quiet as if he was afraid he would startle me.

Paul began to explain where they found me and what I said while Marko tried to gently lay me down on the couch Dwayne hadn't been sitting on. I tried to relax into the cushions – it was a nice couch – but it was nearly impossible. The pain racking through me wouldn't let me. "Thank you, Marko," I whispered between clenched teeth.

Marko nodded, looking down at my clothes which were torn beyond belief but still covered what it needed to. I had originally been wearing my sleep clothes, an oversized t-shirt and shorts. Now, well, it could hardly be called clothes with the number of holes in them. "Do you want some new clothes?"

I nodded. "That'd nice."

"I'll go grab some real quick." He patted my head before standing back up and walking back, farther into the room. I looked up. This was a cave. That's what I was in. Neat.

I turned my head as Dwayne walked up to me. David and Paul were still talking. Well, it looked like arguing from here, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. "Can I look at your ankle?"

"Don't really have a choice, do I," I joked, smiling at him the best I could. The exhaustion was really getting to my head. "Of course, you can look, though I'm not really sure what you can do about it."

Dwayne moved down to my feet and gently prodded at the areas of my ankle moving down to my foot, using my groans as a way to tell where it really hurt. Then, there was the fact that it had been twisted sideways, and I couldn't move it.

"Give me a second," he said simply before walking away. He came back only a few minutes later with two jars in his hand. He placed them on the ground beside me before moving back to my twisted foot. He held my ankle with one of his hands and my foot with the other. "This is going to hurt." Then, he twisted my foot to where it was supposed to be, making me let out a gut-wrenching scream, a few tears falling from my eyes. I was wide awake now. Dwayne massaged the back of my leg gently, a small show of him trying to comfort me while he worked.

I breathed deeply as he opened one of the jars and put some sort of paste on his hand. It almost looked like soil except it was tinged blue. He placed a generous amount around my ankle and the top my foot, and then he opened the second jar, doing the same. This one looked more like a cream, but it was red like the color of blood. Then, he stood up again and came back with his hands cleaned off and a thing of gauze in his hands. Marko was right behind him holding what looked like a t-shirt and sweatpants.

Dwayne wrapped my ankle the best he could with only mild groaning from me, and when he was done, it was almost as if I could already feel it get better. "What did you put on it," I questioned him as he picked up the jars.

Dwayne gave me a lop-sided smile. "Don't worry about it."

I let it go, and Marko took his place. "I brought you clothes, but I'm not sure how you want to go about this considering you can't stand up."

I gave a harsh laugh and raised my hands before dropping them again, a motion meaning I didn't know. "Can you just change me here so I don't have to move."

Marko furrowed his eyebrows. "Don't you want privacy."

I laughed again. "Marko, I look and feel like absolute shit. Nobody's going to get turned on by how I look, and I couldn't care less if y'all saw me. Just do it if you want. If you don't, I'll figure it out."

Marko let out a huffing kind of laugh and placed the clothes on the floor beside me. "Can you lift yourself up a bit for me so I can get your shirt off, then?" I complied, and after a few bouts of moving and shimmying, the new clothes were on me. "Is there anything else you need, angel?"

I mulled over the question a bit before answering. "Do you guys have any water? My throat feels like shit."

Marko patted my head. "Yeah, I'll go grab some, and tomorrow night, Dwayne can put something on your arms."

"Tomorrow night?" But he was already walking away. I sighed and looked back around to see David sitting in his chair, though his eyes were on me now, and Paul was missing. "Where's Paul?"

"He went to go do something for me," David answered.

Marko walked by and handed me a bottle of water which I graciously began drinking before falling to the ground beside my feet, a sketchbook in his hands. "I'm sorry for, uhm, y'know, ruining your night."

David raised an eyebrow. "It's not your fault. You were injured."

"Yeah, well, I mean, I probably could have found someone else to help."

"That's unlikely. You don't normally help people in Santa Carla."

"Then, why did you guys help me?"

"We're friends."

I paused. He considered us friends? I mean, I considered us friends, but in my eyes, I was a huge nuisance to the gang. After all, who would want some random girl that showed up out of the blue one day? It was a basket case. A basket case in love with fire. A basket case with people in animal masks following her. A basket case who was a danger to anyone who considered her a friend. "I don't think that's a good idea," I mumbled.

"What?"

"Being friends with me. I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why wouldn't it be," David questioned as Dwayne sat back down on the other couch.

I paused. I didn't want to tell them everything. "I can't tell you. It's just not a good idea. It never will be."

David's eyes narrowed, and he leaned forward a bit. "Really? How long will it take until you tell us?"

"I don't think I can ever tell you."

His lip quirked a bit into a small smile. "So, Ivy's got her secrets? Makes the two of us."

"I'm sure yours couldn't be as bad as mine."

"Try me."

I opened my mouth and closed it right after, shaking my head. "Another day, maybe."

David seemed a bit satisfied with that answer as he leaned back in his chair and nodded, putting an earbud back in. "You can sleep here tonight, and you can go home sometime tomorrow night." Then, he put his other earbud in so I couldn't argue.

I sighed a bit and turned the best I could to see what Marko had been drawing as I talked to David. On the paper was a sketch of David that was beginning to get very detailed. I could tell his art was something he had worked on for a long time. It showed in how effortlessly he worked.

I mindlessly reached forward and grabbed some of the long parts of his hair, braiding the pieces into tiny braids that blended in with his curls. Dwayne opened his book back up, and everything was silent besides the small sounds of each of them and the crackling of fire, which, after a quick survey of the room, came from barrels filled with wood around the room. They were used to light the place, and it made this feel even more like a home to me.

Paul came back a short while later and talked to David for a few moments, pressed a kiss to my temple, and promptly fell beside Dwayne on the couch. I watched as he threw his legs over Dwayne's lap, but Dwayne barely acknowledged him, just made himself comfortable again before continuing to read.

Yeah, with all the boys here, this was beginning to feel like a home.