Mari refocused at the sound of beeping, soon followed by some groggy noises from the room next to her. Must be Carlton's alarm.
She sat up in the bed she was laying in, looking at the door. She found that she quite liked laying in the bed, even though she couldn't really sleep. It was a relaxing thing to do after the stress of yesterday.
She was still shocked that they hadn't kicked her out.
As the beeping stopped, and she heard the door open and Carlton head down the hallway to presumably eat something, she laid back down, deciding that he probably didn't want to see her. She could tell he still didn't trust her.
She thought about the people that she'd met, her… friends. Hopefully.
Carlton was the one who actually lived in this house as far as she could tell and was easily the least trusting of her, but she couldn't help but find him… funny sometimes. He joked the most out of any of them. And he wasn't bad at it.
John also lived in this house (or maybe he was just staying here?), and was the one who had taken the bracelet that had dragged her over here in the first place. She was quite mad about that earlier, but now it seemed like one of the best things that had ever happened to her, if she ignored the little bits of leaves still sticking to her. John himself was fairly quiet, but also seemed nice, and seemed to trust her more than Carlton. But, he did still reattach the doorknob to the basement so he could lock the door.
Marla was really nice and seemed to trust her the most out of any of them, even though Mari unnerved her. She could tell. That only made her more grateful for the kindness she's shown.
Jessica was also nice, but in a different way. She didn't seem much scared of her, but wasn't quite as trusting as Marla. She was the one most often leading the group to come get her though, so she seemed to trust her enough. Mari also found her a little funny, but not really because she joked; she was just funny in the way she did things sometimes.
Then there was Charlie.
…
Charlie was weird.
She acted a little strangely, of course, but Mari didn't mind that. She didn't seem to find Mari scary at all, which was actually refreshing, if not a little concerning. But there was something… weird about her. Mari couldn't place it exactly. Looking at her felt like looking at a word and barely knowing how to pronounce it, but not fully remembering.
She looked to the door as she heard a small rhythmic pattern of knocks from it. Huh, maybe Carlton was warming up to her.
She tinkled out a couple notes of music to show she had heard the knock as she slowly got out of the bed, subconsciously trying to be as quiet as possible. Or maybe it was John. Probably John.
She slowly grabbed the doorknob and pulled the door a little open to peek through. It wasn't either of them; it was Jessica.
She tilted her head in confusion as Jessica waved at her. "Hello!" She greeted cheerfully in such a way that Mari could tell she wanted something. Mari was so confused she forgot to wave back, poking her head through to see that Marla was also there. "I have something important to tell you, cmon." Jessica vaguely explained as she walked off the living room.
Mari looked back to Marla, who gave a mildly supportive shrug in response. "She wants to tell all of us at once. I'm sure it's something good, though."
Emitting some confused sounding notes, Mari exited her temporary room and closed the door behind her, floating down towards the living room with Marla.
John watched as Mari and Marla entered the living room to join the rest of the crew. The two looked around to see that Charlie, John, and Carlton were all sitting down on the couch while Jessica was standing up with a clipboard.
Marla carefully sat as well, with Mari following soon after, making some confused sounding notes that seemed to be a question.
Everyone looked to Jessica, who cleared her throat. "Ok, I've put it off long enough, but we are going to deal with it today. Right now." She declared, looking at the rest of the group, landing on Mari. "No offense, but we should get you cleaned." She explained, still looking at Mari.
Mari nodded, clearly agreeing, as a couple affirming sounding notes played from her chest.
As everyone else seemed to agree, Jessica looked back at the clipboard. "Ok, I have supplies that we need to go get, so I have jobs for everyone to do," she looked back up at the group, "Everyone cool with that?"
She's answered by a chorus of nods. "Alright, listen up then." She began to read off jobs.
She pointed at John. "John, you are assigned to find some fabric cleaner, something that would dry somewhat fast, cause I don't think Mari wants to sit completely still for two hours."
John and Mari both nodded as Jessica turned to point at Carlton. "You are going to find something to fill the cracks in her mask. This one isn't the most important, but it'd look nicer."
"Like, resin?" Carlton clarified, and Jessica nodded, turning to point at Marla.
"And you are coming with me to find new paints for her mask, and maybe new ribbons for the stripes."
Marla nodded with a hum.
"And that leaves Charlie." Jessica looked at her. "You have, I think, the most important job."
Charlie felt a small knot form in her chest at that. "Oh?"
"You have to stay here and figure out how to actually clean her, because I don't think anyone here knows how to."
Charlie stifled a sigh of relief at the simplicity of the task. "Ok. I can do that."
"Ok, then." Jessica turned to Mari, "You're cool with this, right?"
Mari nodded, an almost excited sounding trill of notes tinkling from her.
Jessica smiled. "Great. Ok, let's move out then."
Charlie looked over at Mari, who was currently sitting on the couch and staring at the wall. The others had left a couple minutes ago, and Charlie had no idea how to start a conversation.
She sighed as she felt the awkward silence continue to fill the room. They had only met, like, a day ago.
At her sigh, Mari looked over at her, and Charlie returned the gaze. Though she couldn't really read Mari's expression, she could kinda tell that both of them felt awkward.
"So uh," Charlie started, noting a leaf stuck to Mari's arm, "Do you want me to help with… those?" She pointed at the leaf cautiously.
Mari looked down at it, before shaking her head with a tinkly noise that sounded strangely stubborn, reaching for it herself. She grabbed it and pulled it off, but the thing just stuck to her hand. Making a befuddled jingle, she waved her hand to try to fling the leaf off it, and it did, towards her, causing it to stick to her torso.
Making a frustrated noise, she kept fiddling with the leaf while Charlie waited for her to finish.
After a moment, Mari let her hands fall to her side with an annoyed burst of static. Charlie leaned forward slightly as she looked over at Mari with an expectant expression.
Mari nodded with a defeated tinkle, letting Charlie begin carefully removing the leaves and other bits of forest.
Carlton sighed as he strolled through the local Home Depot for some resin. If it even had it, he'd never bought it before.
He looked through the aisles, searching for the item.
After what felt like 2 hours, but was probably only 30 minutes, he found it and picked it off the shelf, beginning to make his way back, hoping that others found their items.
He thought about Mari; he didn't trust her. She had hurt someone, and she could again. What was stopping her?
Caught up in this train of thought, he accidentally bumped into somebody.
The person, who Carlton now saw was a male, steadied Carlton.
"I am so sorry man I…" he cut off in his apology as he took the guy in. He was tall, quite skinny, and standing in a posture that looked almost uncomfortable. He was wearing some jeans and a dark hoodie that's pulled up. His hands were covered in bandages, and he was wearing a face mask that hid most of his face. But the part of his face that Carlton could see was…
Weird.
It was scarred, with an eye seeming so sunken it looked empty, the other eye almost sewn shut, and it seemed to be almost stitched together at parts.
The skin was also discolored and dark, which Carlton assumed was some sort of rare skin disease or something. He couldn't really tell what color exactly due to the shadows from the dude's hood.
"It's fine." The strange man waved off in a slightly annoyed tone, not really looking at him. "Are you alright?" Carlton noted his voice: deep, gravelly, and with a slight British accent.
"I… I'm good, yeah." Carlton responded, feeling very awkward, "What are you- uh- buying?"
The man looked at him for what seemed to be the first time, in a way that radiated suspicion. "...An ax." He muttered after a moment as he looked back at the wall (which Carlton was now noticing had tools on it), lifting an ax off it and rotating it in his hands, "...for wood, I mean."
"Do you do… like… lumber stuff?" Carlton asked, not really super interested but feeling too awkward to just leave at that point. He was a little interested in the guy's strange look though.
"No." The man replied simply, with a notable tone of annoyance creeping into his voice.
"Then what's it for?" Carlton prodded.
The man turned to face Carlton fully, tightening his grip on the ax in annoyance. "Do you typically ask strangers this many questions?" He asked in a frustrated tone, but one that seemed to be fighting to stay calm.
As he turned, his hood flapped slightly and the light reflected from somewhere onto the man's skin for a split second. He could see a small white dot in the man's visible eye. This allowed Carlton to see what it was discolored to.
It was purple.
Carlton remembered the man on the drawing Mari had made, her alleged killer. It had been a tall purple man, with black eyes.
Standing directly in front of him, was a man who fit that description nearly exactly.
And he was holding an ax.
"Nnnnope!" Carlton replied after a moment, lingering on the 'n' for a moment as he took a step backwards, tightening his grip on the resin so much that his knuckles turned white.
The man just stared, his face once again hidden by the darkness of his hood, the dot staring at him. Carlton couldn't tell what his expression was. Though he guessed the guy was contemplating how to get away with cleaving Carlton's head in two.
"I- I'm just gonna head out now." Carlton said, leaving before the guy could respond, speed walking towards the checkout line. He fought the urge to check over his shoulder so as to avoid suspicion of him shoplifting, and just prayed that the other people around would prevent any ax attacks.
It seemed to work.
He had to get home.
Mari watched as Charlie carefully removed the last of the leaves. She felt a little embarrassed to need help for such a trivial thing, but the stickier leaves were nearly impossible to get off with her hands.
She made a little tune that she hoped portrayed thankfulness, and Charlie smiled in response.
Charlie jumped at a sudden knocking from the front door, and Mari looked over to the entrance, watching as Charlie walked over to let whoever was at the door in.
After a moment, Charlie walked in with John, who held up some fabric cleaner. "Do you think this'll work?"
"I think it should." Charlie answered as Mari nodded in agreement.
"Good, but uh, how do we use this?" John mumbles, squinting at the back of the box.
"Let's see…" Jessica muttered as she looked at the back of the fabric cleaner. She and Marla had gotten back from getting paints a couple minutes ago and they were trying to figure out how to clean Mari.
"Are we supposed to-" John began before being interrupted by an urgent knocking from the front door.
"Must be Carlton." Charlie pointed out as Marla began walking towards the door.
"I'll get it." Marla said, and she opened the door for him.
Carlton practically launched himself into the room, nearly plowing into Marla. He had the resin tucked under one arm.
"Wha-" Marla started as he thrust the resin into her arms and looked to make sure that everyone else was there.
"I ran into somebody at the store." He blurted out abruptly, continuing before anyone could say anything, "I think it was that- that guy."
"What guy?" John asked confusedly as the group congregated into the living room to follow Carlton's panicked movement.
"Y'know, the guy!" Carlton explained anxiously yet actually explained literally nothing, "The- the guy that- the purple guy!"
"The… purple one?" Charlie asked incredulously.
"The- uh- the one that Mari drew!"
The rest of them came to who exactly he had seen quickly after that.
"You saw the killer?" Jessica asked in such a way that it felt like an interrogation.
"I'm pretty sure!"
"What do you mean your-"
She's interrupted by the small noise of a doorknob periodically bouncing against a wall.
"What is-" Charlie began before she realized that someone was missing from the room. She abruptly ran over to the door to find it wide open, swaying in the wind and bouncing against the wall.
Mari was missing. And the door was open.
"Crrrraaappp…" Carlton drew out as he saw the scene.
They had a problem.