Ben Drowned: A Glitchy Adventure

Harrow and Torment

(Two hours later)

Slenderman strapped Ben to the table. Masky, Hoodie, Jeff, Eyeless Jack and Dr Smiley and Nurse Anne stood against the wall of the small storage room. Ben screamed and thrashed.
"No, no please!" He begged, tears streaming down his face. "PLEASE!"
Slenderman took no notice as he finished strapping Ben down.
"I'm sorry Ben, but this is the only way I can think of to force Zalgo out of you. We can't risk what just happened to happen again. Do you understand?"
Ben just screamed again and tried to rip his arms and legs free from the straps, but they were on too tight. Already he had torn the skin beneath the leather straps into bloody messes, the crimson liquid running down off his wrists and ankles. Ben cried out to Jeff, who was being held back by Masky and Hoodie.
"Let him go you bastard!" The killer shouted at Slenderman. "It's not his fault!"
Slenderman ignored him as he descended upon the small, terrified elf boy. Ben whimpered and cowered as far away as he could get. Slenderman slowly reached out a long, thin, pale hand. He gently placed two fingers on Ben's forehead. Ben's screams turned twisted and tortuous, reaching new pitches. Slenderman applied more pressure on the boy's head, and Ben's eyes snapped open, screams cutting off in mid scream. The lights overhead shattered, sending the room into pitch black. Nurse Anne quickly grabbed flashlights, distributing them to Dr Smiley, Masky, Hoodie and Jeff. Eyeless Jack declined his, his nocturnal predatory eyes seeing fine without the light. Everyone focused the torch beams on Ben. Slenderman felt something wash into the air, and stepped away from the boy, who was staring at nothing with wide, black and red eyes. Then, the straps holding his arms and legs to the table snapped. Ben's torso lifted, followed by the rest of his body, ever so slowly lifting into the air. He hung there, suspended. All of a sudden there was an inhuman scream, like a mix between a lion or other wild beasts growl and the scream of a person or animal being tortured. The sound reverberated throughout the room, causing everyone except Slenderman to drop to the ground in pain, squeezing their hands to their ears. Then, a dark, raspy, low chuckle came from the suspended boy. The sound came from deep within Ben, and everyone could see his stomach spasm as it suffered from the evil voice. Ben's spine snapped forward into a grotesque position. Then it threw itself forward to look at the people in the room. Ben's small face broke into an evil smile, quite literally from ear to ear, showing gruesome sharply ground uneven teeth. Ben's eyes began to glow a deep scarlet.
"Well well well," he hissed in that deep voice, still floating above the table. "What have we here? This looks like a party? Good. I love parties! Now let's have some...entertainment!" Suddenly, Hoodie began to scream, his body contorting into horrible ways, and everyone could hear bones creaking until they snapped. Masky screamed.
"STOP IT! HOODIE!" He cried, trying to help his best friend and partner. Ben chuckled again and flicked his fingers, causing Hoodie to collapse to the ground. Masky immediately dropped to the floor beside him, crying as Hoodie sobbed and whimpered. Slenderman stepped up.
"Enough Zalgo! What do you want?"
Zalgo laughed through Ben's throat, which bulged as the voice boomed out.
"Why, I just want to have some fun of coarse!" He laughed.
He turned his glowing eyes to Nurse Anne. Dr Smiley saw, and quickly pushed Anne behind him, but it was too late. She began gagging, her maroon eyes widening as she ripped the black mask off her mouth, trying to take a breath. Smiley grabbed her shoulders as she fell into the wall, choking, her grey, patchy skin turning a pale pumice colour. Her ribs groaned as they began to twist inside her body. Smiley growled and tried everything he could to help Anne, but he could only watch in horror as Zalgo flicked his hand, causing Anne's ribs to bend, flexing further and further until they almost pierced her heart, and then exploding outwards, ripping through her skin and clothes, spraying Dr Smiley with her dark blood, and ejecting her organs out. Smiley screamed in horror and pain, grabbing Anne's body in his arms and cradling her, rocking her cold corpse, sobbing. Masky kept holding Hoodie, who was sweating and whimpering in pain. Jeff and Eyeless Jack stood together between the two pairs, ready to attack if Zalgo so much as glanced at either of them. But it seemed that Zalgo had had enough. He laughed, throwing Ben's head back. As he did, Slenderman shot out a thin black tentacle. The appendage wrapped around Ben's small throat, cutting of the laugh. Zalgo choked from the strength that Slenderman was choking him with.
"Leave the boy," Slenderman threatened. Zalgo gave a choking laugh, blood spraying out of Ben's mouth.
"Just do it. Kill me. Because your killing your own pet while your at it!" He spluttered from between Ben's teeth. Jeff yelled.
"Slender no! You can't kill Ben!"
"Silence Jeffery," Slenderman snapped. He focused on Ben again. The small boys face was turning purple.
"This is your last chance to survive Zalgo," Slenderman growled. Ben's body began to spasm from lack of air. A loud growl came from the small boys throat, and a black smoke began to rise out of the elf's mouth. Slenderman quickly released Ben's throat. As soon as the smoke left his body, Ben fell with a crash onto the table, which smashed beneath him, sending the poor boy to the ground buried beneath a pile of wood. The black smoke swirled around the room, before escaping through a small vent. As soon as it was gone, Jeff and Jack ran to Ben, pushing the broken pieces of table off his unconscious form and pulling him out of the rubble. Ben's throat was rapidly turning black and purple with bruises. Hoodie was feverish, and Dr Smiley was still sobbing over Nurse Anne's body.

Slenderman teleported them all to the hospital wing above. He helped Masky lift Hoodie onto a small bed. Hoodie's body was broken, and Masky gently and carefully straightened his limbs and head into a less painful position. Slenderman lifted Ben onto another bed, gently covering him with a thin blanket to cover his shivering body. Then the entity walked over to Dr Smiley, who was collapsed in a heap with Nurse Anne's limp body clutched in his arms, her head in his lap. Slenderman exchanged some soft, gentle words with Smiley, who sniffed and nodded, transferring Anne's cold body to Slenderman, who disappeared with her. Jeff and Jack stood over Ben as Smiley stood up and slowly began to emotionlessly take care of Hoodie, tears still falling down his cheeks. He slid a long, sharp needle into his pale veins, pushing the plunger to inject the dark liquid within. They heard a sharp crack as Hoodie's bones realigned. His breathing began to fall more evenly. Masky let another tear slip down his cheek as he rested his head on his best friends chest, sliding into an uneasy sleep. On the other side of the room, Jeff pushed Ben's hair out of his eyes, and Jack placed a wet cloth over Ben's throat. Then they stepped back as Smiley began his work on Ben, bandaging his wrists and ankles, injecting him with large needles full of a clear liquid that quickly made his harsh bruises fade. Slowly, Ben began to look a lot better, as if the ordeal had never happened. He was still covered in blood, ripped clothes and extremely pale, but he was not as close to death as he had been. Things were looking up.