Trenton

Serena came racing out of her room screaming. At that moment, Kylie put her head down on the table. Serena held a scrap of paper and came to the table. She slammed it in the middle of the table. Kathryn snatched the paper up in her hands, and I jumped out of my chair and ran to Kylie.

“Are you okay?” I kept asking her frantically.

“Yeah, yeah…” she kept murmuring. She suddenly jerked back, and stood up. When she spoke, it was in a dreamy voice.

“The time is fast approaching. You need to face your fears sooner or later. Approach the Temple, if you dare.” After these words, she fell back into her chair. I picked her up and took her over to the armchair. I lay her down gently, then rushed back to the table. Serena was sobbing, and Kathryn’s hands were shaking as she read the note. I grabbed the note out of her hand and read it.

“The circle must be broken,” I read aloud. “And it will be soon.” I set the note down, and then walked upstairs. I opened my door and gathered my stuff. I put it all in a backpack, then grabbed Serena’s stuff from her room. I walked back down the stairs, slinging the backpack over my shoulder. I walked over to Serena and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at me with tear-stained cheeks. I helped her stand to her feet, and handed her her backpack.

"You’re going to need this,” I said.

“What for?” she asked.

“It’s time to end all this madness. The sooner we strike, the sooner it will be over.”

“I’m not ready,” she breathed, on the verge of tears once again.

“So you think sitting in a cabin, constantly living in fear for a few more weeks is going to help?”

“Trenton…”

“No. This needs to end now. No need to wait. This needs to stop. You know more than anyone. This was out fault. We need to end this.”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Kathryn said. “You are NOT going without us.”

“Kathryn, you need to stay here and protect everyone,” I demanded. “No more running and hiding,” I said to Serena.

“Trenton. We can’t do this.”

“Serena, you realize that he’s been taunting us from afar, getting into our minds. He’s slowly deteriorating your mind, breaking it down, so that one final blow will crush you completely. Can’t you feel it?”

“I… I suppose. But before we go, there’s something we’ve been needing to talk about.”

“What?” Eric asked.

“The necklace.”

“Okay,” he said, suddenly alert. “What about it?”

“Well, I need you to tell me everything you know about it.”

“Yeah… well… you see…” he said bashfully.

“You’re saying you don’t know anything about it? You were never interested in it?” Serena asked accusingly.

“I didn’t! I never wore it, I never saw it, I just shoved it away in a box. Then before I left for New York, I got a note from Nick telling me to bring it. I don’t know how he knew, but I guess it was important.”

“It probably wasn’t Nick then.”

“Then who did, Ms. Know-It-All?” Serena gave him a sour face.

“I guess we’ll never know. But, in the dream world I noticed something. So minute that someone would think it’s just a strange scratch. But if you look really closely…” She looked at it intently. “Ah! There it is!” she said triumphantly, then passed it to me.

“What am I looking for?” I asked nervously.

“Take a close look at that flaw right there,” she pointed out.

“I don’t see…”

“Look closer,” she prodded. I stared into the deep jade of the necklace. A minor imperfection, nothing more. But then, I turned the necklace so the light caught the flaw, the scratch, and it seemed to be filled with light. I made out the shape and dropped it in fright.

“But that’s…” I said shakily.

“Yes, it is,” Serena said.

“What is it?” Kylie asked. I turned to face everyone.

“It’s the Slenderman,” I breathed. Kylie gasped, Kathryn shook her hair grimly, and Dawson and Eric wrestled for the next look. Aly stood up and walked over to Serena.

“I’m coming with you guys,” she said defiantly, “and you can’t stop me.”

“Aly,” Serena said, “be reasonable. You don’t even have any powers.”

“I heard the tree warriors crying out for help. That’s gotta be useful in a forest.”

“You’re not coming,” Serena said finally.

“Yes,” Kathryn said, “we are.”

“No! You guys are not coming,” I shouted. “I’m not risking anyone else’s life. You guys stay here and we’ll come and get you when we find the note.”

“And if you die?” Kylie asked quietly, tears filling her eyes. I was at a loss for words.

“We won’t,” Serena said, putting her arm around my shoulder. “We’re connected. If anyone isn’t going to die, it’s going to be us.”

“Just stay here until we get the note. It shouldn’t be that long,” I said. Kathryn just sat down quietly, and Aly huffed and crossed her arms.

“Fine,” she said angrily.

“Thank you for understanding,” Serena said sarcastically. She turned to me. “We should head out soon.”

“Agreed,” I said.

“Wait, what about the necklace?” Kylie asked.

“Right. I knew something was different about it when I first got it,” Serena said. “Which means, there’s something special. And what is so important to us right now?”

“Notes,” Dawson said.

“Right, so I believe this necklace can somehow help us. If you look on the side you can see a line running around the circumference of the necklace. I believe that it can be opened. But, it needs to be by some powerful force. Like Slender. Hence, the picture of him on there,” she finished.

“That makes sense,” I said.

“Wait,” Kylie said. “Let me see that note you just got.” Serena handed her the note. She read it and nodded, as if her suspicions had been proven true. “It says the circle must be broken. What shape is the necklace?” Realization dawned on everyone’s face, and we all looked at the necklace, now in the center of the table. It was a circle. The circle must be broken. It all made sense now. All that talk, all that nonsense, finally clicked. We needed to break that necklace. I snatched it off the table and grabbed Serena by the arm, pulling her over to the door.

“We need to do this now,” I whispered.

“Then what are we waiting for?” she grinned. We locked eyes. This was going to be over soon. No more hiding.

Serena and I walked out the door. Out of the safe haven. Time to strike first. We walked into the forest, waving to everyone. Kylie was in tears, and Kathryn was hugging her. We turned and set off. Minutes in, we were surround by thick pine trees. They gradually changed as we walked, turning into trees I had never seen before, ones with no leaves until the very top. We kept walking and came to a fence. Chain link, with a gate. Serena and I looked at each other with fear. It looked just like the one from the game. I took a deep breath and unlatched it. It creaked open, ominously. We stepped in, me first. As soon as my foot hit the ground inside the fence, all sound ceased. All cricket chirps, all owl hoots, gone. We took a couple steps forward. The gate swung shut behind us with a slam, making us both jump. We looked back at it, but it was gone. We were isolated. We kept walking forward. Leaves crunched under our feet. We came to a large stump. On it were two flashlights.

“I’m scared,” Serena whispered.

“Don’t be,” I whispered back. “We got this.” We both took shuddering, shallow breaths and grabbed the flashlights. I flicked mine on. Better to keep one on at a time, so we don’t run down the battery. I shone it straight ahead, then almost dropped it. The beam was focused on Slender, about twenty yards in front of us. Serena yelped and buried her head in my shoulder, but then he vanished. I looked back down on the stump and saw a note.

“Finally you join me for the finale.”