Trenton

We all awoke early the next morning. Kylie and I looked at each other, and what had happened last night was replaying in my head. For once, I felt fully rested. We packed up our objects, and put out the smoldering embers that was our former campfire. We started walking, trying to find a way out of the forest. We agreed to split up into two groups. One group was Kylie, Dawson, Eric, and Serena. The other had Kathryn, Nathaniel, and me. We set off in opposite directions. Serena and I stayed in constant contact in case one of us found the exit. We had walked for about two hours when Serena started freaking out in my head.

“You need to get over here NOW!” she was crying urgently.

“What’s wrong?!” I started freaking out, imagining terrible situations.

“Not slender. Just get here.” I quickly explained the situation to Kathryn, who grabbed Nathaniel and me in her arms and bounded in the direction of the other group. We arrived, and I saw Serena holding back Kylie, and Eric holding back Dawson. Both had fury raging in their eyes. They were screaming insults at each other. I yelled at them both to stop. They finally calmed down, but Eric and Serena still held them at bay.

“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE??” I shouted at them.

“Dawson thinks Kylie isn’t pulling her weight around here. He thinks she sits back while everyone else does the work. He also believes that she is weak-minded and unable to withstand all the pressure going on around here.”

“And she loses her temper quickly!” Dawson shouted. This provoked Kylie to start yelling back at him, which started both of them shouting again.

“SHUT IT!” I yell. I turn sharply to Dawson. “Don’t talk about her that way. We are all going through a lot of things right now. Times are really hard, and we need to stick together. We can’t start fighting each other now. That means the slenderman would win. We only have two notes left. We got this. But only if we stick together. Two more notes. Then we go back to normal.”

“You don’t know that,” Dawson retorts. “We’re just guessing that the eight pages would stop him.” Everyone turned downcast.

“Even if it isn’t, we can still try. I have a good feeling about this. It will work. Find something to fight for. Cling on to it. It will give you strength. We’re so close to finishing this. Just keep trying a little bit harder.” Everyone still looked a little bit downcast, but I could tell that I had reached them. There was a small light of fire starting in their eyes. I turned to Kylie and walked over to her. She still had a little bit of fury in her eyes. I pulled her close and embraced her. We remained locked for a while and I could feel her starting to shake. I felt hot tears on my shoulder and I stepped back, still holding her hand. We look at each other again and embrace quickly one last time. I see Eric and Serena hugging over Kylie’s shoulder, and Serena and I make eye contact. She silently mouths a quick thank you and I nod in return. I see Dawson sulking off into the distance. I see Kathryn and Nathaniel chase after him, so I don’t worry. I step back from Kylie and call Serena and Eric over. We start walking towards where Dawson went and came to a clearing. It looked like they just finished a conversation. Eric started talking excitedly.

“Look! A path! It could lead us out of here!” We all excitedly start following it and, after three hours of walking, come to a gate. It’s closed off, but there’s no barbed wire, so we all climb over it. We head out following the path, which eventually becomes a sidewalk. We walk for another hour or so and come to a run down building.

“The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, Weston, West Virginia.” Serena read. “We’ve traveled a long distance.” I did a quick search on my phone.

“Apparently this is the most haunted asylum in America. Some of the reported activity includes: shadow figures, partial and full body apparitions (many partially inside of walls) of both patients and staff, disembodied voices, screams, laughter, crying, calls for help, mysterious mists, light anomalies, phantom footsteps, feeling of being watched and not wanted, EVP warning people to go home or leave, response to knocks, windows and doors opening and closing on their own, touches and pushes, sound of breathing and so on. Sounds like a note would be here.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Kathryn asks. “Let’s go!” We walked up the steps into the foreboding insane asylum.