Masks

Chapter 31

Everything was dark as I walked down the street. The yellow lighting from the street lights were dim and constantly flickering, which made my head hurt to stare in their direction for too long. I wasn't sure where I was but there was a sense of familiarity to it, not that it mattered, I already knew this wasn't real despite how realistic it felt.

I wandered the streets for what felt like hours until I finally saw someone. Dillan's back was to me as he walked down the street and I hurried to catch up to him, relieved to find someone else here. "Dillan, hey wait up!"

To my surprise, and unease, he slowed down and let me catch up to him. Once I'd gotten within arms reach however I felt paranoia rise up in me once more; something wasn't right... Dillan turned to look back at me, his normally dark eyes glazed over while blood ran down his face and throat. Fear flashed through me despite reminding myself this was only a nightmare. He followed casually after me as I began hurrying back the way I'd come from.

"No... no, you're not dead! This... this isn't real!" I fled before he could respond, trying to keep the distance between us.

"Ash! What's up? How've you been?" I heard a familiar female voice ahead of me, their form hidden by the deep shadows. "Too busy for us... as usual? Or was that just an excuse while you planned to kill us?"

Mallory limped into view, her beaten form bruised and dripping with blood from her wounds, as she stopped under the streetlamp in front of me. I skidded to a halt in horror and turned to run a different direction only for Landon to step out from a side street and cut off my path. His eyes were dead like the others.

"S-stay back!" I warned, though my voice was weak from the panic rising in my mind.

"Why did you do this to us? Did we do something to you?" Landon's voice sounded hurt. "Why did we have to die? ...This wasn't our fault, was it. It was yours! You're nothing but a poison to people you meet. Did we deserve to suffer? Did anyone else deserve to suffer!?"

"Shut up!" I shook as I backed away from them, looking back to see Dillan had finally caught up. "You aren't real. This isn't real. I know... i-it's only a nightmare... I tried to save you!"

"From what?" Zac grabbed me from behind and shoved me into the wall of a brick building. "Me? I'm not the one who's sick. I was just a victim you abandoned! I was left to fend for myself while you kept pushing me away to leave me in this hell!"

"Zac..." I clenched my teeth, unable to bring myself to fight against him after what I'd just done.

"You were always going to kill me. I knew that from the start... I didn't know you'd become a fucking monster." He forced me to look into his dull eyes. "You know, maybe I should've let you suffer all alone. I'd still be alive- they would still be alive! How many more lives are you going to ruin, Ash?"

"They aren't dead!" I grabbed my head and sank to the ground as Zac released me. "They- they aren't... I didn't kill them... They're fine. Landon and Dillan are alive!"

I couldn't look up. I wanted to wake up from this nightmare- why wasn't I waking up? More familiar voices began joining in on the accusations. Alice, Faith, my parents, Ethan, Tim, and I could even hear my old high school friends chime in. My nails bit into my skin as I tried to block them out. I was shaking and all I could see was darkness as I kept my eyes tightly shut.

Then there was silence. My ragged breathing was the only sound and I cautiously opened my eyes and looked up. The bodies of my friends and family were lying in the street around me, Slenderman standing in the center as he watched me.

"Get the fuck out of my head!" I snapped, hatred washing through me. "I'm done playing your games. I'll never be your fucking proxy so why don't you just kill me like you did to my sister and cousin? ...You should've just let me stay dead after I was ripped open!"

Nothing.

I stood there panting and glaring at the motionless figure. Everything had just frozen after my rant. Dread washed over me. I heard something behind me and whirled to face it, the blood draining from my face as Ethan walked over to me.

"Ashley... It's alright. He isn't in your head, it's just a nightmare." I flinched as my cousin gently turned me around to face Slenderman once more. The entire scene was misting over and turning to darkness. "Now, I need you to wake up."

***

The cold tile floor was the first thing I became aware of as I slowly woke up. My head was pounding and the room spun as I sat up. My entire body felt stiff and protested each movement as I slowly got to my feet, my injured leg nearly giving out as I put my weight on it. I could feel dried blood on my hands and face, though I didn't recall being hit in the face during the fight.

"He'd still be alive if I hadn't come along... if I'd noticed what he was doing..." I walked out to the kitchen and began cleaning off the blood. The cut on my hand wasn't as deep as the pain made it feel but I couldn't be sure how bad my leg was just yet. I limped back out and looked down where Zac's body should've been; naturally it was gone. "That wasn't Zac. Not anymore... I couldn't have saved him... He-he had to die..."

"You know, one of the players in my friend's game did that- just attacked that suit-wearing twig like you did." I tensed as I heard someone speak up from the living room. The voice drew closer and Tim stepped around the corner. "But that's not why I'm here."

"This isn't Tim... it's that demon." I took a step back. "What do you want?"

"What do I want?" He backed me into the wall and put his hands on either side of my head, casually trapping me. "I want you, Love... Well, more specifically, your fear, your sanity. It's quite rare to find people who are so broken like you. It's like a finely aged wine as you mortals put it... It really is hard to resist temptation to break you completely sometimes."

I pressed back as far as I could against the wall as he shifted closer, his eye color changing from Tim's to what I could only assume was this demon's typical golden eyes. I could feel his light breath near my ear before he jerked away with a growl.

"I would never actually do that to her... It would defeat the purpose of me coming here." He spoke again- seemingly to himself- and rolled his eyes, the disguise shifting to once more become a near perfect replica of Tim. "I can control myself you know."

My eyes never left him as I made my way to the door, desperately wanting to leave. The demon moved faster than expected and slammed me against the wall as he restrained my wrists. "I'm not done yet."

The low, dangerous edge to his otherwise alluring voice sent terror through me. He paused for a moment to collect himself before speaking once more. "I'm here to help you, Pawn... Personally I don't want to help but like I said last time we met- someone wants to help you find your answers."

"Y-yeah? And how can I trust you?" I squirmed in his iron grip before freezing as he put one hand over my throat in warning, sharp nails digging into my skin just enough for me to get the hint.

"You're just going to have to unless you want to keep meeting me. You want me out of your head? To make the nightmares stop? To keep your friends alive? ...Then go back to where it started for you. If you want to know how to kill something akin to a god, then you'll want to know how to do it properly."

He went silent as he stared at me for a few more seconds before tearing himself away and keeping his back to me, the illusion starting to waver once more. "Now leave. Before I decide to go against the wishes of my 'friend'."

Questions rose in my mind but I didn't dare think long on them. I quickly grabbed my bat and took my leave. Tim was going to be pissed I just disappeared- I'd have to think of an excuse on the way home... hopefully he'd believe me.