(Y/N)'s POV:

Time sure flies when it's summer, even when you're in summer school!

By now, it's August, and things have roughly been the same since my second day on the job.

My classroom remains respectful, and the students are attentive during my teachings. I've gotten to learn a little bit more about the kids during my free time and counseling periods—including the school's faculty!

Princi and Gotta Sweep have been nothing but helpful and genuinely great colleagues!

Baldi, on the other hand, although helpful and usually chipper to have around, has been persistently touchy and eager to get closer to me.

During my first few weeks of teaching, his unwanted advances were bothersome but nothing too overwhelmingly challenging or concerning, in my opinion.

As time went on though, his advances got progressively worse.

Nowadays, Baldi constantly stops by my classroom to practice equations and weasel his way into my personal space.

Depending on how he's feeling or how his day went, his touches can range from gentle and innocent shoulder pats to disturbing and questioning shoulder rubs/massages.

He's also upgraded his outfit—not by much, but underneath his green sweater, he'll occasionally wear a white collared dress shirt with a black tie. It certainly is fancier and something that catches my eye, but I don't pay much attention to it.

Speaking of attention-seeking behavior, random small gifts have been showing up at my desk and my apartment while I'm out.

The gifts mainly consist of flowers, chocolates, and some minor trinkets I've thought about treating myself to in the near future but never actually told anyone I was thinking about getting said trinkets.

It's quite bizarre, especially since all of these gifts usually come with either a blank note or no note at all, leaving me at a total loss as to who is directly responsible.

Before these gifts escalated and showed up at my apartment, I narrowed down the culprit to two responsible parties.

One was Baldi, and the other was my students.

At first, I genuinely thought my students were sending me these gifts as some sort of peculiar, elaborate prank!

It made the most sense to me, considering that they were the first to bring up a possible romantic relationship between Baldi and me.

That is until I caught Baldi leaving behind a bouquet of roses on my classroom desk.

When confronted about it, Baldi denied that the flowers were from him. He claimed that they were dropped off at the front door with my name listed on the card and that he was only bringing them to my office as a show of good faith.

Initially, I didn't believe him, considering his flustered state after getting caught red-handed. However, after reading the small, filled-out card attached to the bouquet, I gave Baldi the benefit of the doubt.

It was the first card I've been given with actual handwriting written within.

It read, "To (Y/N), with love. XOXO."

The handwriting was in cursive and didn't look recognizable to me in the slightest.

I ended up letting Baldi off the hook since I knew that wasn't his handwriting. I've seen him write before, and it's nowhere near that fancy!

For the time being, my focus returned to my students regarding these "secret admirer" gifts. However, I abandoned that hunch altogether when those same gifts started randomly appearing at my apartment's front doorstep.

From then on, I knew it wasn't my students either, and I've been at a loss of the identity of my secret admirer ever since.

It's quite a concerning matter.

Knowing that there's someone out there who's attracted to me and knows my every move, while I don't know a single thing about them, doesn't sit right with me.

My fears of being stalked slowly began to manifest in my nightmares, which, in turn, morphed into nightly occurrences due to my abuser's daily presence in my everyday life.

If I exclude the nightmares containing the mysterious elements of my stalking secret admirer, my nightmares have mainly consisted of traumatizing childhood memories with Mr. Baldi.

However, he isn't the only one haunting my dreams.

That same armless, glitching man is showing up too!

Although, strangely enough, he isn't a threat in my dreams.

The man is friendly and tries to protect my younger self from Baldi in my nightmares; however, due to his disturbing figure, my subconscious has me run away from him every time too.

The same can be said for whenever I encounter him at Here school.

I usually see him whenever I'm alone and away from everyone else. Each time we bump into one another, he's always trying to lure me away to a closed-off room or, at the very least, try to warn me about something.

Something I can't quite understand due to his garbled, messed-up speech.

I don't dare follow after him into his designated, closed-off room, but I do try to stick around and listen to what he has to say.

However, it usually ends with him getting frustrated from our lack of communication, and his incoherent, glitched raging usually scares me away.

Overall, the last two months have been quite eventful, but I don't let these bizarre occurrences get me down.

With it being August and close to the end of this year's summer school program, I've been getting pretty excited to leave Here School and work at another school as a full-time science teacher!

That is until Baldi and Princi came by to visit me the other day.

It was about three days ago, I was preparing to leave for the day when Baldi and Princi approached me after one of my counseling sessions with Player. They were smiling as wide as can be, and I couldn't understand why until they sat me down.

They had offered me a permanent position as their science teacher!

To make matters even worse, to celebrate the end of this year's summer school program and all of its students' final grades, everyone was required to go on a two-day, weekend-long camping trip with their students.

A permanent position and two days in the middle of nowhere with Mr. Baldi?

Fuck.

That.

If I had a choice, I would've declined their offer and left Here School on the spot, but unfortunately, I couldn't do that.

Or, at least, not yet.

It's strange, but as of recently, all of my job applications to other nearby elementary schools have been rejected.

Each and every one of them has claimed I'm either not qualified enough for the job or too inexperienced to work there.

Personally, I call bullshit.

I have the necessary experience, skills, and qualifications, but it's whatever.

If they don't want me, they don't deserve me, and I'm fine with that!

I'll keep trying and hoping for the best.

In the meantime, I'm going to have to continue roughing it out here at Here School and possibly accept their permanent position just to continue paying my bills.

Now, considering the camping trip, as anyone could have expected, I was entirely unprepared for it, especially after they only gave me a three-day notice.

Given that I have my service dog (D/N) and that I was going to be spending the weekend with my abuser, I asked Princi if I could bring along my service companion.

Surprisingly, he said no.

Despite my boy/girl being a good service dog, Princi was more concerned about the children's safety rather than my mental health.

Which is something I guess I could somewhat understand.

Somewhat.

After receiving this information, I had to find a sitter for (D/N). My dad volunteered to come up/down/over to take care of (D/N) for the weekend, but I declined.

Instead, I decided to call in a favor from my next-door neighbor. Thankfully, my neighbor didn't mind the request or the added companionship and assured me they'd take great care of him/her while I was gone.

After settling my business with (D/N), I set to packing my bag for the upcoming camping trip. I decided to pack only the bare essentials into a small (F/C) backpack, along with my notebook, phone, and a few sleeping pills, just in case I needed them.

Other than that, everything was set to go!

When Saturday morning finally rolled around, everyone—excluding Baldi—could be found standing around in the school's front entryway, patiently waiting for the nearly bald mathematician to return with a school bus.

While we wait, I can't help but feel completely unprepared for this trip and what's to come.

Which seems ridiculous, right?

There's nothing I should be worried about. I took care of all the necessary precautions for this stupid trip and my daily responsibilities back home.

I can't think of anything else I could've missed before coming here. Surely, these feelings of mine are nothing more than acute paranoia, right?

Sighing with a shake of my head, I try to calm my nerves while standing beside Princi and the rest of my eager students.

It's okay (Y/N), calm down.

There's no need to panic. We're just going to go on a small two-day field trip up north with a few of your colleagues and students.

It's just two days! You can handle this!

I let out another brief sigh, which Princi catches wind of.

"Hey, are you alright there, Ms. Levi/Kohl?" He asks.

I turn to him and nod my head with an added semi-fake smile.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. I'm just a little bored, is all." I shrug.

Princi easily buys my excuse and chuckles.

"Don't worry, Ms. Levi/Kohl, Mr. Baldi should be back here relatively soon," Princi reassures.

"Yeah, and once he gets back, we can all go camping together!" Playtime happily squeals beside me, "It's going to be so much fun, Ms. Levi/Kohl! Just wait and see!"

I cock my head to the side as I look back down towards her.

"Oh, you've gone camping before Playtime?" I ask.

She eagerly nods.

"Oh yeah! I've gone camping loads of times with Mr. Baldi and the Principal." Playtime explains, "It's a yearly tradition we celebrate here at Here school during the summer!"

"Oh really?" I ask with a perked-up eyebrow, "Well then, you must be quite the camping expert, Playtime!"

She giggles at my compliment before redirecting her attention over to her classmates, starting a small conversation with both a shy Player and a bored Bully.

I smile and redirect my attention back onto the empty parking lot just outside the school's front double yellow doors.

I took an Uber to get here this morning because I figured leaving my car unattended for the next two days wouldn't be the wisest decision.

"So, how long do you think it'll be before Mr. Baldi gets back?" I ask, leaning over to Princi.

He chuckles.

"You're just as impatient as the children, aren't you?" He asks.

I snort.

"Maybe?" I mischievously chuckle, "I'm sorry."

Princi brings up his right hand and waves it dismissively.

"It's alright, Ms. Levi/Kohl. I'm only teasing. Mr. Baldi shouldn't be long now," Princi assures me before pausing to look out the front door's window. "Wait, I think that's him now."

Piquing all of our interest, everyone eagerly crowds around the school's front door windows, spotting with wide eyes as Mr. Baldi returns with what appears to be a "stolen" yellow school bus.

I say "stolen" due to the visible vandalism spray-painted on the side of the school bus.

Instead of the professional, black-mounted print saying, "Joe's Bus," green spray paint crosses out the word "Joe's" and replaces it with a crude, green spray-painted word, "Bald's."

Princi and I stand quietly in utter bafflement as Baldi parks the bus in front of the school and gets out with a proud red-lipped smile, acting as if nothing is amiss!

What in the actual f-

"Let's go camping!" Baldi cheers.

Breaking me out of my jumbled thoughts, the children squeal with delight and charge out toward the school bus without a second thought.

I quickly race out after them as Princi stays behind to glare at Baldi.

"Hey! Slow down, kids!" I yell after them. "Wait for us!"

Principal of the Thing's POV:

While Ms. Levi/Kohl races off to tend to the children, I stare down Baldi with pure, utter disappointment gleaming in my eyes.

Annoyingly, he keeps up his smile, acting as if nothing's wrong.

All the while, Ms. Levi/Kohl fights to maintain control over the children boarding the stolen bus behind him.

I sigh and run a hand impatiently down my face before approaching him.

"Baldi," I start, "Where did you get that school bus from?"

Baldi casually shrugs with his cheeky, novel smile.

"Nowhere important!" He dismisses completely.

My glare hardens.

"Okay then," I indulge before motioning towards the bus behind him. "Then, could you please explain to me who Joe is?"

Baldi's smile widens.

"No one important, a̸̵̸̶̸̸̸̸̷̴̶̴̷̛͉n̷̷̴̶̵̵̶̶̸̶̵̶̵̷̸̴̶̶̶̡̟̈́̿y̴̵̵̵̸̶̶̵̶̶̸̵̸̳̿m̸̶̴̸̶̵̷̸̸̴̵̷̷̴̵̴̳̈͝o̷̷̸̸̸̷̵̷̸̷̶̷̴̶̸̶̸̶̷̘̣̊̈r̷̶̷̸̶̷̶̷̸̷̶̷̴̷̸̵̢̲͂ĕ̵̵̷̶̵̸̸̷̷̵̵̴̶̵̸̸͉͝." Baldi deviously grins.

I remain unmoved by his frightening change of tone.

I've gotten used to Baldi's scare tactics over the years; his psychological methods have essentially no effect on me anymore.

I wave off my concerns over the bus's origins and walk past him, seeing as I'm getting nowhere with my line of questioning.

"Fine, but just so you're aware, Baldi," I pause before turning around with a cheeky grin. "You spelled your name wrong."

Baldi's harsh eyes soften with surprise at my comment before turning around to glance back at the side of the bus.

He glares at his misspelled name with frustration and shame, lightly growling under his breath.

"Damn it." He mutters, defeated, before walking back over to that side of the bus.

I laugh at his blatant ignorance as I watch him grab that same green spray paint from beneath the bus's lower storage compartments.

He briefly shakes the can before adding an "i" to the end of his first name.

After checking over his name, Baldi turns around to look back at me while exclaiming nonverbally towards the bus with his hands, "There! Better?!"

I nod and give him a brief thumbs-up before heading over to the school bus's front sliding doors.

Ms. Levi/Kohl, who has been patiently waiting for us by the door, looks at me with a worried yet puzzled expression.

She's likely both curious and confused about the school bus's origins too.

I shrug away her anxieties.

"Don't worry about the school bus, Ms. Levi/Kohl. Let's just get going, okay?"

She relents with a brief nod before turning to board the bus.

"Wait, are all of the students accounted for?" I abruptly ask.

She turns back around and nods.

"Yes, sir. All of the students are accounted for and ready to go." Ms. Levi/Kohl smiles.

I smile back.

"Great! Then let's get going!"

~Time Skip~

(Y/N)'s POV:

It roughly took us three hours to get from Here School to our camping grounds in Ranger's Park.

Although long, the trip was quaint!

The students were all very well-behaved and, at times, would sing some classic nursery rhymes to help pass the time!

While Baldi drove us the entire way there in that goofy yellow camping hat of his, Princi slept in the front row across from me, and I sat in the front row behind Baldi, listening to a downloaded playlist from my cellular device while staring idly outside the bus's window.

Once we were away from the cell towers, I removed my earbuds and set aside my cell phone to conserve its battery life.

Baldi was surprisingly observant and quick to start up a conversation between the two of us.

His conversations mostly consisted of personal questions and topics like "What are you most excited about concerning this trip?" to "Have you considered the permanent position Princi and I offered you a few days ago?".

I figured he was either bored or genuinely curious, and answered all of his questions honestly. That is until he started to dive into more prying matters concerning my personal life.

Like my request to bring my service dog (D/N) on the camping trip or why I even had a service dog in the first place.

I got a little uneasy with this particular line of questioning of his.

I decided to change the topic to one about mathematics to avoid any further prying questions he may have for the remainder of the trip.

When we arrived at Ranger's Park, it was about half past noon and time for lunch.

To accompany this need, Princi decided that the children should eat first while the teachers set up camp.

Baldi and I agreed with this plan and quickly set to work while Princi watched over the kids.

Since there were only two of us, Baldi decided to set off into the woods to gather materials to build a fire pit while I worked on building one of the four tents.

At first, his rash decision to run off and build a fire pit irritated me.

I didn't want to be left to tackle building four large tents by myself!

Although reflecting on it, I really shouldn't be complaining. If given the choice, I would've picked setting up the tents over treading into the unknowns of the forest any day of the week.

I honestly wouldn't even know what to look for in the first place besides a few dried, dead sticks and twigs, that is.

Baldi, on the other hand, has done this many times and is easily familiar with the area of this campground. He's well suited for the firepit task ahead.

After half an hour or so, Baldi returned with all the necessities he needed to build a fire pit. By then, I had finished building the first tent and was making good progress on the second.

The children have long since finished their lunch and are currently off exploring their surroundings.

Arts and Crafters and First Prize are playing tag, Player and Bully are out swimming in the nearby lake, and Playtime is nearby bug hunting!

It took Baldi an additional half an hour to finish building the fire pit before he could join me in building the remaining three tents.

Not long after we had finished building the second tent, Princi decided to pop by with our lunch and drinks. He insisted Baldi, and I take a well-deserved break before heading off to resume his watch over the kids.

We agreed to take advantage of this small break and sat down off to the side between the two finished tents and beneath a small pine tree to enjoy our lunch.

For most of our lunch break, we sat together in silence; only the sounds of Mother Nature and the students playing around us could be heard.

I start to zone out in between bites, staring off into the distance of space without a care in the world of my former abuser sitting alongside me.

Until he decided to break that same blissful silence, that is.

"So, Ms. Levi/Kohl," Baldi starts, "Have you ever gone camping before?"

I wash down a bite of my sandwich with a brief sip of my bottled water as I mull over his question.

"No, not really," I explain, still partially zoned out. "I used to go camping all the time when I was younger, but that was before my parents got separated. Haven't had the time nor desire to take a camping trip since."

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Baldi pause and cock his head to the side as he stares me down with a curious expression.

"Your parents are separated?" He asks.

This innocent question of his catches me off guard.

I choke and sputter on a piece of food at the abrupt realization of my mistake. He leans over and gently pats my back to help me regain my composure and ensure I'm not suffocating.

Fuck.

"Um, y-yeah," I hesitantly sputter in between coughs. "Sorry, that kinda slipped out."

Baldi extends a kind-hearted smile in my direction and shrugs.

"It's okay. There's no need to apologize or be embarrassed. I completely understand." He reassures, "My parents got divorced when I was younger too."

My eyebrows perk up with interest.

"Really?" I ask.

He nods, continuing to reassure me.

"Yeah, they weren't the best pair, if I must be honest." He chuckles, easing the tension between us.

I chuckle along with him.

"Heh, yeah, mine weren't the best either." I reiterate before diving back into my sandwich.

An additional few moments of silence fall back between us as we continue to eat and relax in one another's company.

The silence between us doesn't bother me; it actually helps ease my anxiety about our relative closeness.

However, it is clear the same could not be said for Baldi.

"Hey, Ms. Levi/Kohl," Baldi inquires, breaking the silence between us again.

I turn to look at him, curious yet questionable, as he motions his head toward the lake.

"Do you know how to swim?" He asks.

I look out at the lake, hesitating to respond.

I do know how to swim, but I purposely didn't pack my swimming suit with me for two very obvious reasons.

Firstly, my scars.

Secondly, my swimsuit in question isn't a traditional bikini or one-piece; it's a surfer's suit—the kind that looks like I'm wearing a long-sleeved rash guard with swim shorts or capris.

It's kind of an unusual set, especially for a campground lake.

The outfit would attract more attention than I'd prefer and would make it difficult for me to blend in with my colleagues.

However, if we were at a beach, then I could see myself bringing it.

But not here, not during a camping trip.

I swallow back what remains of my sandwich before clearing my throat.

"I do know how to swim, Baldi, but I prefer not to. I don't like showing off my skin in public like that." I genuinely confess. "How about you?"

His eyebrows furrow with both bafflement and eager curiosity at my latter statement.

"I can swim too, but I haven't done it in a long time." Baldi casually replies, "Why do you not like to swim? Are you self-conscious of your body?"

My eyes widen at his line of questioning, which he quickly takes the wrong way.

"Oh no! I didn't mean it like that!" Baldi bursts aloud, shaking his hands defensively in front of himself. "I'm just confused by your reasoning. You're a beautiful woman, Ms. Levi/Kohl. You shouldn't ever feel uncomfortable in your own skin."

His kind words touch my heart, fluttering reactively and with great astonishment.

He has no idea what those words actually mean to me.

I look down at the ground as my face flushes beet red.

"T-thank you, Baldi. You're too kind." I shyly remark.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice his face burning bright red too.

He anxiously scratches the back of his neck as he trails on, his eyes glued to the Earth beneath us.

"I'm sorry if my comment came across as unprofessional; I was simply stating the truth." Baldi shyly rambles on, "You're a bright, talented, and stunning young woman. You really shouldn't have to worry about what others think of you."

My cheeks burn brighter at his heartfelt compliment.

If only you knew Baldi.

If only you knew.

He notices my flustered expression and cheekily smiles. He leans in with one hand and begins to stroke my back reassuringly.

His unexpected touch makes me flinch before sending strange tingles down my spine.

"Heh, you look like you're burning up." Baldi nonchalantly points out, "You should probably grab another bottle of water before we resume tackling these tents. We wouldn't want you to faint in this heat, now would we?"

I shyly nod in agreement to his suggestion before returning to my feet with my scraps.

"If I'm going to grab another bottle of water, I'll grab you one too. I can take your scraps to throw out if you like too." I offer while extending out a hand.

Baldi smiles up at me and hands me his scraps before returning to his feet beside me.

"Only because you insist." Baldi chuckles, "While you're off doing that, I'll run to the restroom. Then we can resume building those tents, okay?"

I nod with an added smile as he turns to leave in the direction of the nearby cabin-like restrooms.

"Okay, Baldi," I call out as he leaves, "I'll be here when you get back."

He signals a brief thumbs up back at me before disappearing down the winding, gravel path back into the thick woods.

With him now gone, I breathe a momentary sigh of relief as I wipe off a few droplets of sweat from my brow. The humid summer air is not in my favor, especially with my current attire of long sleeves and shorts.

Probably should get those bottles of water I promised Baldi. I think Princi has a cooler of water bottles beside him, but I'll have to double-check.

Humming in agreement with my thoughts, I walk over to Princi sitting on top of a rock, spotting the campground's food and water supplies lying beside him.

My boss notices my approach and smiles down at me.

I smile back as I throw out our lunch scraps in a nearby trash can.

"You look quite warm, Ms. Levi/Kohl." Princi points out, "Are those tents giving you a hard time?"

I laugh before walking over and reaching down to grab two extra bottles of water from the cooler beside him, eagerly cracking one of them open with a quick snap of its plastic cap.

"Nah, I'm fine. Just grabbing some extra water bottles for Baldi and me!" I sigh in relief after taking a brief sip of the ice-cold water. "How are the kids?"

Princi's smile widens at my genuine inquiry.

"Great, as you can see!" He proudly smiles, "It appears that they're all-"

"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!" A familiar voice cries out from the lake.

Startled, Princi and I dart our attention over to the lake and spot, with fearsome-filled eyes, Player screaming for help as Bully struggles beneath the surface of the water beside him.

Motivated by our humanitarian instincts, Princi and I rush over to the lake's shoreline.

Upon reaching the shoreline, the two of us search around frantically for a life buoy or something similar in floatation that we could use to toss out to Player and Bully.

However, we are unsuccessful in our search and turn up with nothing.

By now, the other children have gathered around after hearing the nearby commotion and are starting to panic after spotting Bully visibly struggle beneath the water's surface.

Their frantic questioning and general panic over the current situation distracts Princi and throws him off his a-game, leaving me as the only rational adult left to realize what needs to be done.

Time was ticking for those boys. I know that each second I hesitate, I lower Bully's chance for survival.

I can't waste another moment!

Without another moment's notice, I race out past the lake's shoreline and dive into the water.

I overhear Princi briefly calling out my name, but he doesn't do anything further and ultimately stays behind to keep watch over our panicking students.

Despite it being a hot and sunny day, the water is frigid to the touch, murky, and very dark underwater, yet despite all of these factors, I push on, driven to save the two children from drowning.

Breaking through the surface of the lake, I gasp for air and begin to frantically stroke over to a terrified and crying Player. They are both very far out from the shoreline, but with my adrenaline rush pumping through my veins, it didn't take me long to reach the dynamic duo.

"Ms. Levi/Kohl! Thank God you're here! Please, it's Bully! He's stuck-"

"Calm down, are you hurt?! Stuck? Or are you free to move back inland?" I cut Player off as I briefly looked over his body for injuries.

He stares up at me, bewildered.

"N-no, but Bully-"

"Don't worry about him! I've got him!" I reassure Player after cutting him off a second time, "Now get back to shore, now!"

Player's eyes widen at my harsh commands. I don't think he's ever heard me yell before.

Well, except for that one time when I saved him from Baldi's wrath, but that's beside the point.

The poor boy doesn't question me any further and quickly begins swimming back to shore.

With Player heading back inland, I dive back underwater to where I can trace Bully's bubbles surfacing and push myself deep, down into the lake's depths. He's alarmingly, pretty far down, maybe about five or six feet below the surface, and by the looks of it, he's tangled in the lake's undergrowth.

Upon reaching him, I pull back the luscious green undergrowth between us, beginning to tear and rip away at the weeds wrapped around Bully's legs and torso before grabbing hold of his limp arms.

He's unconscious and not breathing, but that isn't all.

Bully's open eyes and mouth are leaking an oily, black fluid. It disgustingly looks like general motor oil, but only a lot thicker.

His horrifying appearance frightens me. I have never seen anything like this before, and I have no idea what that stuff even is!

Fearing for Bully's health, I quickly throttle us both back up to the surface.

Upon breaking through the water's surface, I gasp for the much-needed air.

With Bully still unconscious in my arms, I make quick work to turn around -so my back is facing the shore- and hold Bully tightly against my chest as I begin to swim backward towards Here school's anxiously awaiting faculty and students.

I overhear the faculty, and students begin clapping at my heroic efforts over on the shoreline, but I don't pay them much attention.

My focus is on Bully.

While swimming back to shore, I can't help but stare at him lying unconscious against my chest. The curious, mysterious black goo that had settled in his eyes and mouth is slowly fading away from his orifices as it had never been there in the first place.

The matter is strange and mildly concerning.

I'll have to tell Princi and Baldi about this when I get back to shore. Whatever that stuff is, it could be associated with the lake and how Bully began to drown in the first place!

I hold my tongue on my thoughts as we reach the shoreline, Baldi and Princi making quick work to rush to our aid.

While Princi drags Bully's unconscious body inland, Baldi wraps me up in a warm towel and pulls me in close to try and keep me warm.

"N-no, Baldi, stop!" I shiver against him, trying to push him away. "B-bully isn't b-breathing! I-I n-need to-"

Baldi keeps a firm hold on me and hushes me, leaning me back to look him straight in his glowing, red eyes.

"Shhh, it's okay. Calm down." He hushes me before spinning me around in his embrace, allowing me to see what's happening to Bully, "Princi knows CPR; he'll get Bully back up in no time."

"B-but." I continue to shiver and protest.

Baldi ignores me.

"No buts, just relax. Let me help you warm back up." He says, briefly dipping his head down into the crook of my exposed neck.

I shiver against him, and his warm breath trickles down the crook of my neck.

That weird, distinct feeling in the pit of my stomach is back, but it's a lot stronger than before. It feels insanely wrong yet so pleasant at the same time.

Without realizing it, I slowly relent and relax in Baldi's embrace for the first time in years, willingly accepting his warm felt affection.

It feels nice, comforting, and, more importantly, genuine. I feel a distinct want or need for more of it—more attention and affection from my former idol and role model, but it appears the universe has other plans in store for me.

Pulling me away from my seclusive thoughts, a fierce wave of coughing and sputtering erupts into fits a few feet away from me.

It's Bully, and he's breathing again!

Breaking free from my trace, I watch with growing joy and relief as Bully begins to regain consciousness.

"Bully!" I cheer as I break out of Baldi's loosening embrace, rushing over to the barely conscious boy.

Bully hears me and looks up at me, dazed and confused, before I embrace him, my expression showing him that I'm relieved to see him alive and well.

"Ms. Levi/Kohl? What's going on?" He asks, "Wait, why are you all wet?"

I pull back and look him straight in the eyes, confusion written all over my face.

Did he seriously not remember anything?

"Bully, you almost drown. Don't you remember getting stuck or Player screaming for help?" I ask.

Bully looks back up at me, completely bewildered. He takes another moment to look back and forth from everyone surrounding us to confirm my prior statement.

Everyone nods back, confirming my previously made statement to Bully.

"No, I-I don't," Bully momentarily pauses, looking down at the grains of sand covering his legs.

"I don't remember anything like that at all."

Photo Credit: Goes to Yuinoshitamariyanna and Luckygoldrabbit!