Trenton

“…so then we got here and searched the warehouse.” Serena was updating me on all the things that had happened. “We found the zombies that you and Kathryn took care of, but other than that, it was empty.” I stopped in my tracks. Everyone stopped. “Trenton? What’s wrong?”

“Are you absolutely sure it was empty?” I asked.

“Yeah. Why? Is that bad?” I looked at Kathryn and we shared a knowing look.

“That monster. The Fear. It feeds on fear, just as his master. Whatever you do, don’t look into its eyes,” Kathryn warned. “I thought I took care of it, but I guess not. Which means…”

“It’s still out there,” Serena finished, realization dawning. Everyone started looking around them cautiously.

“It could be anywhere,” Nathaniel added.

“Right. We need to find that note quickly. Split up and search for it. Teams of two,” I demand. Kylie slips her hand into mine. Serena stands by Eric. Nathaniel and Dawson step back, leaving Nick and Kathryn together. We split up and spread out. I choose to establish a psychic link with Kathryn. I quickly tell Kylie to let me know if she senses anything. We run around heaps of burning trash and find nothing. I start to think we’re going in circles, when I feel Kathryn telling me that they found something. I start running in their direction, Kylie right behind me. We round a corner and behold a horrific sight in front of us. The beast had found us. And it wasn’t alone. On its back sat the slenderman. The beast had shape shifted once again. It looked like a rhino, but had eight spider legs, and a long, whip-like tail. Nick was holding his shoulder and Kathryn had her hunting knife and a small crossbow (seriously; where does she keep these things?). I charged forward and tapped into Kathryn’s energy pool. I jumped forward to Kathryn’s side. I held my hand forward and concentrated all the energy to my hand. A large beam of pure energy escaped from my palm and rushed towards the slenderman and his monster. Before it reached, I left Kathryn’s mind and entered Dawson’s. I made sure the beam would hit its mark. Sure enough, the energy slammed into the beast like a charging bull. It knocked the slenderman off and the beast fell tumbling after. I warned Dawson and Nathaniel to hurry as quickly as they could. I then told Serena the same thing. I saw Nathaniel and Dawson running from a small path behind the Fear. I entered Nathaniel’s mind and started instructing him on how to use the fire around him to his advantage. He started running forward, unleashing a battle cry, and released a torrent of fire. It completely engulfed the Fear; however, when the smoke cleared, it only seemed to be slightly fazed. Kathryn bounded forward as the Fear started charging Nathaniel.

“DAWSON! NOW!” Kathryn yelled. Dawson nodded in compliance and Kathryn slammed full speed into the monster, knocking it over. I connected minds with Serena and we ran over to where the slenderman was standing. We put our sunglasses on and found his mind. Dark words were being whispered over and over again. The world turned dark, the fires subsided, and around Serena and I was a small patch of light. We could only see the slenderman in front of us. Everything else had simply vanished. We probed the slenderman’s mind for his consciousness, and, when we did, established a telepathic connection.

“What do you want?” A terrible voice, one filled with darkness from the deepest void. “What do you hope to accomplish from this?”

“Please. We just want to reason with you,” Serena replied. “Why do you want to kill us?”

“You are a danger to me.” 

“So let me get this straight,” I say. “You want to kill us so that you can live.”

“Yes. And now you must pay the ultimate price and die.” The darkness was imminent. It was cold, oppressing, mysterious. But, beneath all of the layers of darkness, I could hear one small whisper repeatedly saying, “Help me.” Serena had fallen quiet. I turned to her and saw that she had fallen asleep. Or unconscious. I receded out of his mind, pulling Serena’s with me, and suddenly we were back at the burning dump. Serena collapsed and I caught her. She was breathing, but just barely. I picked her up and slung her over my shoulder. The Fear was roaring and I saw Nathaniel repeatedly engulfing it with fire. Kathryn and Dawson were both slamming into it with incredible force. However, the Fear was doing things of its own. It repeatedly hit each of them with its tail, shot some sort of acid at them, and even bit Dawson in the side. I saw Kylie off to the side, helping Nick with his wounded shoulder and calling out warnings to Kathryn, Nathaniel, and Dawson. I felt hopeless, facing down slenderman. So I did what I had to do.

I took off my glasses.

Instantly, I felt compelled to walk towards him. I kept my mind in Serena’s so that there would be some ounce of sanity in me. I was walking towards him, but it felt as if I were dreaming. I put my hands in my pockets and strolled leisurely towards the slenderman. I head others shouting my name, but I didn’t care. I wanted to be with the slenderman. I kept approaching him. Ten feet, five. Closer and closer. I was standing in front of him now. He was reaching forwards. Then the knife flicked out of my pocket and into his chest.

All of my senses ceased at once. The world spun around me. I fell to my knees, visions racing through my head. I realized only one thing. The slenderman had his hand in my chest when I stabbed him. I was inches, seconds away from death, and I didn’t care. I was on the ground, breathing shallowly. Then, I slipped into unconsciousness. My mind brushed against Serena’s. She was screaming at me in my mind.

“THE DOLL TRENTON. MEGAN STILL HAS A VOODOO DOLL OF ME AND I’M SURE SHE’S SUFFOCATING ME RIGHT NOW!” Serena screamed at me.

“I- I think I have it,” I stammered. “ I picked up something out of Megan’s pocket. It must’ve been the doll. Which means… I’m laying on it. I’m suffocating you.” I struggled to swim out of unconsciousness. I finally woke up and quickly scrambled to my feet. I pulled the doll out of my backpack and instantly Serena sat up and gasped for breath. She got up and saw that the slenderman had vanished. But the Fear hadn’t. Nothing seemed to harm it. I called out to everyone to regroup. When they had partially subdued the creature, we all stood in a circle. Nick quickly handed the note they had found to me. On it was a picture of crudely drawn trees, but one of them seemed to be a person. Then he started running at the creature. It noticed him coming and stood up. We were all screaming at Nick, wondering what he was doing. The monster started charging Nick, and when he reached him, he drove his horn straight up into Nick’s abdomen. We all cried out in disbelief. Nick was stuck straight on the horn, his hands on the Fear’s face. A bright light started shining from where his hands were and eventually spread out over the Fear’s body and the ground started shaking. I called to Dawson to protect us, and he nodded in compliance. A light brighter than that of the sun engulfed all of us and there was a loud booming sound. The light lasted for what seemed like hours, and, when it had finally cleared, there was a scorch mark when Nick and the Fear had been. In the middle of it all was a small slip of paper. I walked over to it and picked it up because everyone else was still in shock. On the slip it read,

“The debt has been paid, revenge has been dealt, and now my time is up. I need nothing more from here. –N”

Nobody said a word as we trudged out of the dump.