Trenton

Serena had bought us plane tickets the night before. We were scheduled to leave early the next morning, and Nathaniel and I were exhausted. We went straight to bed, but sleep did not come easily for me. Nathaniel was fast asleep on the rollaway bed, but I couldn’t fall asleep on the ground. Although we had gotten two rooms, there wasn’t much space, and there were only two small beds. The girls had an identical room, but everyone was hanging out in there. I had been questioned when I had gotten back, but I didn’t answer. I just walked into the room and lay down on the floor with a pillow and blanket. I decided I couldn’t take the noise of Nathaniel snoring anymore, so I got up wrapped in my blanket, and walked to the door connecting the rooms. I grabbed the doorknob, then sighed. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to talk about it. Having that power had done something to me, it had changed me. I felt weak, unable to lead or talk about anything that had happened to me. I let go of the doorknob. Then I thought about Kylie, and I opened the door. Everyone was sitting around a table in the corner, and they all went quiet when I walked in. There was no extra seat available to sit, so I just walked over to a bed and sat down. They all went back to their conversations, but this time it was quieter. Kylie looked at me worriedly, but she and Serena were deep in conversation. Kathryn stood up and walked over to me.

 “Hey. Follow me. We need to talk.” I stood up and shuffled into the other room behind her. She sat down and gestured for me to sit across from her in another chair. She stared at me in the eyes, but I broke contact with her.

 “Trenton would’ve beaten me with that,” she started. “He would’ve kept contact with me until I wavered. What happened that was so bad that it changed you this much?” I stared at the ground. I finally spoke. My voice was almost gone, so it was pretty raspy.

 “I don’t know. I was in control of so much power. I wanted to end everything right there. I wanted to find Slender and kill him. I was so mad that I just wanted to take it out on him alone. I didn’t care how long it took or how much energy I took from you guys. I just cared about settling my own desires. I didn’t care about anyone but myself. That’s a terrible thing for a leader to do. I don’t deserve you guys to look up to me. I was blind with rage. That’s not natural. I try to handle my anger, but I failed. And I feel so bad for failing.” I never looked her in the eyes.

“Trenton, you did us a favor. Did you see how happy they were in there? You took their anger when you connected with them. You destroyed it all, completely ridded it from them. But you destroyed it. That’s not a good position to be in. But you can’t fade out. You can’t. Take it from me, it’s not good for yourself or the team. I did the same thing after the dream world. I shut everyone out and didn’t want their help. I wanted to feel sorry for myself. It didn’t help at all, and I wasted all that time. You need to stay strong for them, even if it is hard. They look up to you and respect you because you have stayed strong through this entire trauma. In that room, they are happy. Do not change that. This is going to be one of the only times. Despair will soon return, so let them enjoy the happiness they have. Don’t take it away just because you aren’t happy. So either don’t talk to them until you’re better, or fake happiness. It’ll be hard, but it’ll work for the better in the end.” She stood up and prepared to leave. She stopped at the door. “They worry about you Trenton. I worry about you. Think about that.” With that, she walked into the adjoining room and shut the door. I sat in that chair for a long time, thinking about what she had said. Dawson and Eric came in around two in the morning. We were getting up at four to go to the airport, and I heard them talking about staying up all-night and sleeping on the plane. I was still sitting in the chair when they came in, and they tip toed through the room.

 “I’m still awake guys,” I whispered. “And Nathaniel’s out cold. Don’t worry about either of us.”

“Oh okay, thanks,” Eric said. He and Dawson sat on one of the beds and started talking. It didn’t seem like there was much to do at a hotel for an all-nighter, but I let them do their thing. I figured I should keep charge, and I needed time to think, so it worked out. The night passed on without incident, and eventually I heard an alarm faintly through the walls. Dawson, Eric, and I had just gotten back from a walk around the hotel. I had stayed a distance away from them while they walked and talked about their own stuff. Nathaniel was still out cold, so I decided to feed him a steady trickle of energy until he woke up. He got up and stretched.

 “Wow, I feel really refreshed. That’s surprising,” he said energetically. Then he looked at me. “Woah, did you get any sleep Trenton?” I shook my head then walked into the bathroom to shower. I looked in the mirror. The shine that the energy had given me had faded, leaving me looking bleak. My eyes were bloodshot, and my hair was longer than it had ever been. I looked thin and sickly, and my ribs showed. I grabbed the mirror and threw it on the ground. It shattered and shards flew everywhere. I fell on my hands and knees and started sobbing. I knew I was trying to put up a fake smile, but it wasn’t possible for me right now. It seemed unnatural. Mirror shards had impaled themselves on my hands and knees, and blood was starting to seep out. Tears rolled down my face and I wanted to yell. But I didn’t. I kept it in, held back all the chaos I wanted to unleash. I didn’t shower, but instead threw open the door and sat on the couch, head down. Everyone was murmuring, but I didn’t care. I looked down at my hands. Scarred, bruised, and now bleeding, my hands couldn’t take much more. I pulled out the shards, ignoring the pain, and threw them on the ground. I put my hands to my face and ignored the world. I felt soft hands grab my wrists and made me stand up. I walked to the bathroom again. The mirror was cleaned up, and the person put my hands under the running sink water. I looked up and saw that it was Kathryn that was helping me. I felt ashamed, and put my head down. After all the blood was cleaned up off my hands and knees, she applied bandages to each. We were sitting on the couch again. When she had finished, I hugged her. I buried my head in her shoulder and started crying. I couldn’t hold it back anymore. I let it all out, and she held me. I hugged her and the tears kept coming. After an interminable amount of time, I finally stopped. I pulled away and looked her in the eyes. She nodded, then stood up and walked to the others in the opposite room. I grabbed clothes and went to the bathroom to shower. When I had finished, I found a pair of scissors and cut my hair as well as I could. I walked out of the bathroom feeling fresh and better than before. I ignored everyone and packed what few things I had. I looked to Kathryn, and she nodded and smiled. I smiled a small smile- the best I could do- and walked to the door. I turned and faced everyone. They all had a concerned look on their face. They really do care.

 “Let’s go. And get this over with. No one else needs to die,” I said with the most encouraging tone I could muster. Nobody spoke. Then Kathryn walked forward, hugged me, then exited the room. One by one, starting with Dawson, they all walked out the door. The last person to leave was Kylie. She stepped forward, then hugged me. She squeezed me, and I stroked her hair.

 “Everything’s fine now,” I whispered comfortingly. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise. Now let’s go catch that plane.”

Boarding was uneventful. We made it right on time and walked right on. I sat between Kylie and Kathryn. Dawson, Eric, and Nathaniel had a row, and Serena and Aly sat behind me with girl that seemed familiar to me. The plane took off, then the announcement came on that we were free to move about the cabin. I unbuckled my seat belt, and sat up on my knees in my chair and turned around to face Aly and Serena. They were chatting with the other girl.

 “Trenton!” Serena said. “Meet Paige! She’s going to the Black Forest too for research.”

 “Wait. Trenton Williams?” Paige asked. We made eye contact and she smiled, her light brown eyes lighting up when she recognized me.

 “Paige! It’s been so long!” I said, a smile on my face.

 “Wait, you two know each other?” Serena asked.

 “Oh yeah!” I said. “We went to the same school when we were younger!”

“We had the most amazing times together. Up until sixth grade. That’s when you ‘disappeared’ (here she used air quotes) and no one ever heard from you. What did happen?” She and Serena were both looking at me curiously.

 “Well, I moved to a new state. Then a different school. And I didn’t have a phone, so I couldn’t contact any of you guys,” I explained.

 “Oh, that makes sense. Still, some sort of communication would’ve been nice,” she said back sorrowfully.

 “Yeah, well I was kind of busy. Sorry about that.”

 “Well the cool part is that we’re both here now! We should explore the Black Forest together!” she said happily. I glanced at Serena. She quietly shook her head.

 “Yeah, that might not be the best idea,” I started.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Well…” I glanced at Serena again. She was putting up serious signs not to tell her. “It’s complicated,” I finally said.

 “Oh… okay,” she said, looking crestfallen.

 “But,” I said, recovering, “maybe when we get back here, we can hang out and catch up more.”

 “Yeah, that would be-“ she started, but she never got to finish. Turbulence rocked the plane and I almost fell out of my chair. The “Fasten Seatbelts” sign blinked on and a hostess came over the P.A.

 “We seem the be experiencing some turbulence. The pilot has turned on the fasten seatbelts sign. Please find the nearest seat and remain calm until this is over.” I turned around and sat down again. Kylie had been sleeping, but was awoken by the shaking. She grabbed my hand and I held it comfortingly. Finally, the turbulence stopped, and Paige announced that she was going to the bathroom. She stood up and started walking towards the back of the plane. We were sitting in the tail section of the plane. Suddenly, more turbulence rocked the plane, this time harder than the last. I felt the plane shudder, and then drop. I heard a terrible ripping sound and saw the cabin light up. I turned and saw that the entire back five rows had ripped off. Sunlight streamed through the open hole, and the wind whipped around throughout the cabin. Papers and briefcases flew around, and a few seats ripped off and flew out of the back, people and chair. The bathrooms were gone from the back. One thought raced through my head.

Paige was dead.