Trenton

We raced through the forest, making as much noise as possible, hoping to draw Slender to us. After a while, we stopped and sat down to rest. Kylie was looking fine, but I knew that the thing inside was growing stronger, and she was growing weaker.

“Kylie, when we find him, I need you to stay out of the way to conserve energy. You don’t have much to spare, and I don’t want to put you in harm’s way,” I said.

“I guess I can do that,” she whispered. She still seemed shocked, but handling the news quite well. We continued walking, and the darkness seemed more oppressive. The cold chilled us to the bone. I shivered, and I heard the wind whispering through the trees. It sounded like ghosts chattering, darkening the mood even further. I flashed back to the totem pole, and all the dead faces painted there. So many had died. We weren’t alone. But I would not let Kylie’s face be put up there. I realized that I was walking aimlessly, so I watched the path turn ahead of us. The darkness was darker than before. I looked up, but there were no stars or the moon. Just darkness.

“We’re nearing the heart of the forest,” I said to the others. “Kylie, how are you holding up?”

“I’m doing fine,” came her reply. We kept walking, but I suddenly felt a presence. It was an unexplainable feeling, but I knew there was something here besides us. I stopped, and created an orb of light in my hands. I threw it up, and willed it to remain suspended there. A low fog rolled across the dead grass, and a clearing sprawled before us. In the center stood the Slenderman.

“And now,” he said, “It is time for the finale.” He snapped his bony hands, a sound that resounded through the area, and darkness fell. All noises from the forest faded, leaving the sound of a constant throbbing. It sounded like…

A heartbeat. And it was slowing down. The last grains of sand of an hourglass slipping through the cracks. I turned to look at Kylie. She was sweating despite the cold, and she had turned pale. I looked back to Slender. He had enclosed the whole area in a bubble of darkness, and I could see nothing beyond the border of the clearing. He smiled gruesomely. “Her time is running out, hero.” I looked at Kylie, then back at him, and made a decision. I charged the Slenderman.

Probably one of the stupidest decisions of my life, besides all the other things I had done, but I deemed it the most effective. I heard Serena screaming behind me to stop. I ignored her. I lifted my hand and a gleaming sword appeared. White blade, golden guard, pearl hilt, adorned with opals. It gleamed in a nonexistent sunlight. Slender produced a black blade, which seemed to suck in all the light around it, and when we crossed blades, a deafening boom ensued. Blow after blow, boom after boom, we fought with ferocity. Our strikes blurred, and it became a deadly dance, one which I knew I could make no mistake. I had never been taught how to swordfight, but the blade was an extension of my person, a longer limb, and it moved exactly where and how I wanted it to. Light escaped each time our blades collided. I felt myself growing weary, but the Slenderman seemed tireless. I knew it was only a matter of time before he was able to best me. Minutes later, he got a cut on my left arm, just below the elbow. I slammed his blade as hard as we could, and a concussive force blasted us backwards. I landed by Eric, who immediately wrapped my arm with a strip of cloth.

“A little help?” I muttered to him. He said nothing, but grabbed the blade out of my hand. He charged back to Slender and swung. The blades met, and the boom ensued as always. But Eric was quicker than I was, and he dodged every single swipe, then had a counterstrike ready. He fought with extreme speed, outmaneuvering Slender and getting very close to getting a hit on him. His impossibly fast reflexes have never seemed like a gift until now, but now, it’s saving all of our lives. I poured energy into his being, and he became quicker, and eventually started landing blows. I could see the fear seeping into Slender, and he kept slipping up, making mistakes. Several minutes passed, and Eric had placed many fatal wounds. He stepped back, and turned to me, holding out the sword. The Slenderman sat in a heap on the ground, still breathing, but just barely. Eric was sweating and breathing heavily.

“Finish this now,” he said to me flatly. As I grabbed the hilt from his hand, a dark shaped moved in the corner of my eye. I turned to see Slender’s blade flying at me, point first, and I was too slow to react. I tried bringing up my own blade, but I could tell that I was going to be too slow, too late. Then another shape crossed in front of me in a burst of inhuman speed, and fell to the ground beside me. A quick glance at the body confirmed it.

Kylie.

A ringing filled my ears. A sort of calm came over my body as I stared at her crumpled figure. Then, like a bursting dam, power consumed me. I turned towards Slender, and ran towards him. I lifted my blade, and then brought the tip down on his head. No sound. Nothing was making any noise in the forest. I stared at the dead monster. Finally. Dead. We were finished. But I felt no joy. I felt his malicious smile creeping down my spine, and I envisioned the totem pole finishing its carving. Of Kylie. I turned towards her, and saw Eric and Serena sitting by her, saying something, but I couldn’t hear anything but my heartbeat. I looked back at Slender, and instead of his body, a skeleton lay there, with a sword out of its eye socket. Darkness poured from his body like liquid and sank into the ground. The darkness surrounding us dissipated, and the stars and trees returned. I turned and walked slowly to Kylie, as if the longer I took, the longer she would stay alive. I crouched next to her body, and Serena and Eric were trying to say something to me. I looked down at Kylie. Her ocean blue eyes, her dirty blond hair. She was breathing, shakily, and I could feel her heartbeat slowing down. The sword was gone, and a large amount of dark blood pooled in her midsection.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” I whispered, my voice cracking. Tears spilled out of my eyes.

“But I love you, and this is how I show that. You… you deserve to live this life.” She closed her eyes.

“Don’t… don’t leave. I don’t want to be here without you. I can’t do it on my own. Stay with me. Just keep your eyes open. Look at the stars. Look at how they shine for you. Look at how beautiful they are. You used to tell me all about them. Look at them now and stay with me.” Her eyes fluttered open, now with teardrops dripping down her face. They looked cloudy, and she looked disoriented.

“But… I… I can’t see the stars…” her voice quivered. “Where did they go?” She took a shuddering breath, then, like her heart, the tears stopped.