Trenton

My arms hurt. Grasped by the beast by my arms, flying high in the air, flying for hours. It tends to hurt on the arms. I had almost started falling asleep, when I felt the beast descending. During our flight, I had been able to examine it up close. It was about fifteen to twenty feet long, covered in short black fur that rippled in the wind, giving it the appearance of smoke. It had a muscled torso, two giant bat-like wings with a wingspan of at least twenty-five feet across, and four legs, each with huge eagle-like feet with wicked talons. It had a long scorpion tail. Its head was like that of a hippopotamus, except that it had to ram-like horns curling around the sides of its head. It had red eyes, red like the deepest ruby, like the most exhilarating fire was contained in its eyes.

As we approached a warehouse, I caught the scent of burning trash. We slowly descended into the building through a hole in the roof. We landed on the ground with a thud and I collapsed on the ground and started to gain my bearings. We were in a metal foundry, and there were large vats of what looked to be lava. Wide conveyor belts carried trash and dropped it into the large vats. I was on the ground level, and there were at least 15 conveyor belts crisscrossing overhead. I heard two chuckling noises and I jumped to my feet. The beast whipped around and hit me in the head with its tail. Darkness encroached the sides of my vision, and I fell into the looming void of unconsciousness.

The folds of unconsciousness held me in its embrace, but my mind was suddenly not my own. I’m kissing Eric, which is not the best thing to wake up to. A feeling not unlike when I kissed Kylie is spreading throughout my body. Not a good sign.

“When you didn’t come home right away we thought you guys were dead!” he sobs into my shoulder. I look over his shoulder and see the rest of the gang standing in the apartment. Everyone is tearing up and hugging each other. Although I feel a deep despair hanging over us, I feel oddly happy. I wonder why, when suddenly my brain connects with hers, and I realize everything. Her thoughts meld with mine blending into a blur of unfinished thoughts. I’m suddenly see double vision, from her perspective and from mine. Then I realize that I’ve regained consciousness. I focus mainly on my vision, and find that I’m chained to the wall. Three zombies come out of the gloom of the foundry. Three zombies? They’re whispering things about pleasing the all-powerful Master.

“Haha! Now all we need is that foolish little girl!” Zombie 1 cackles happily.

“Oh, once she finds out we have her friend, she will come quickly and beg that we take her instead! She’s foolish yet we must be careful, she can be very clever,” Zombie 2 says thoughtfully.

“SILENCE!” a third and new voice hisses. It’s slightly feminine, but almost sounds familiar. The third figure steps out of the shadows. I feel like I’ve just swallowed a bowling ball. Before me is Megan. Or at least what is left of her. Her skin has taken on a blanched color and she’s disheveled. She places the majority of her weight on her right foot, mainly because he left foot is a mangled mess. But her eyes are black voids, devoid of all happiness and filled with an unknown terror. She cackles menacingly and continues.

“The Master will be very happy that we have brought him his prey. Along with a side-course.” She gestures to the shape next to me. I realize it’s another person and the sinking feeling gets worse. It’s clearly a girl. She looks cut up and bruised, and at the moment, is hanging limps by her shackles. She looks to be early twenties, and seems to be slightly short of stature. I try to break free of the chains, but they are too strong. I struggle, but suddenly give up.

What’s the point, I think to myself. A sudden chill comes over me, and I start shivering violently. I feel a presence entering the room, and I look up to see the slenderman looming in front of me. He reaches down and grabs my face. He “looks” down at me, then throws me aside. I crash to the ground and suddenly what feels like a needle is piercing my sub consciousness. A voice fills my head, a voice like stone grinding on stone, one filled with pain, misery, and insanity. I instantly know it is the one of the figure in front of me.

“This is the one. You have done well. But the other one is insignificant. She must be dealt with.”  I suddenly get an idea and start trying to get Serena’s attention telepathically. I finally manage to.

SERENA!

What is it - TRENTON! How are you? What’s wrong? Where are you? How can I help?  I get her to stop and explain my plan to her.

Tell Dawson to envision me. Tell him to make me able to phase through things temporarily. He should be able to. She quickly complies and I gather my thoughts. I suddenly feel weightless and stand up. Slenderman has his back turned to me, so I silently get up and walk right out of the chains. I tip toe over to the other girl and I tell Serena to tell Dawson to do the same to her. I grab her out of her chains and lift her up on my back. I break out into a run, my feet pounding on the metal floors. I don’t look back, but a wall of black vapor appears in front of me. Slenderman steps out from it. I slide to a stop in front of him and feel helpless. In that moment of helplessness, my mind does something I never expected it to. It retracts out of Serena’s mind and dives into the girl’s. I suddenly know everything about her. Her name is Kathryn Miller. She is twenty-one years old. She has one sister. Our identities collide, and suddenly I’m both her and me. A roar builds up in my ears, and I feel a pulse of energy expand outwards from our bodies. It feels totally instinctive, and the slenderman is blasted backwards. I feel a great energy gathering at my feet, and I jump over thirty feet onto a conveyor belt. All that time, I’m trying to get her to regain consciousness. I jump again from a conveyer belt to a catwalk. I set her down as I feel her beginning to awake. My thoughts flow out of hers, and suddenly we’re two separate people.

We look at each other, and she says, “Trenton Williams”. I look at her in astonishment, sure I’ve never met her. She smiles and winks at me.

“A door once open can be entered both ways.” I shudder at the thought that she just invaded my mind, when the lights go out, plunging us into total darkness.