Ben Drowned: A Glitchy Adventure

Bottom Of The Lake

The next morning, Ben opened his eyes to find himself back to normal.
"Oh thank god!" He exclaimed. He ran to the mirror to make sure everything was how it should be. It was. He happily put his normal outfit on and raced down the hall to Sally's room, banging on the door. Sally opened the door, yawning and rubbing her eyes with a fist in a childish gesture.
"Sally! Look! I'm a guy again!" Ben shouted happily. Sally opened her eyes and focused on Ben. She giggled.
"Oh, I wanted to play makeovers today!" She pouted. Ben poked his tongue at her and chased her down stairs. They both scoffed down some breakfast and ran outside to play. Ben was being left behind again while the older Creepypastas did some killing, so he decided to muck around outside with Sally. They spent hours running around playing chasey, until Sally came up with an idea.
"Lets play Hide and Seek!" She squealed. Ben agreed. He knelt down by the doorstep as Sally sped off into the forest.
"1, 2, Freddys coming for you," he sung. He listened as Sally's laughter grew further away.
"9, 10 never sleep again!" He finished, and ran off into the forest.

Sally ran down near the big lake that nobody ever went near. It was the perfect hiding place! She slid down the the waters edge, crawling on to a big boulder that hung over the water. She crawled right to the end, which hung in the middle of the lake, about a meter about the lakes glassy surface. Then she got comfortable and waited for Ben to find her.

Ben searched high and low for Sally. He climbed trees and crawled through tunnels, but her couldn't see her anywhere. Suddenly he heard a loud, high pitched scream come from somewhere nearby.
"SALLY!" He yelled, and took off in the direction of the scream. He crashed through a bush to find himself at an enormous lake. It was huge, the biggest Ben had ever seen. Ben froze and felt a cold sweat break out as he stared at the scene. Sally was clinging hold of a thin branch that over hung the lake, and he could see what looked like what used to be a stone ledge crumbled in the deep black water below her. Sally screamed again as the branch she was hanging off  made a creaking noise, and she dropped a couple of centimetres. Ben couldn't think. What should he do? He was deathly afraid of water, and couldn't swim, but he didn't think Sally could either, and he couldn't leave her like that! He grabbed his hair and pulled as Sally screamed out to him.
"BEN!"
Ben snapped out of it, and began bolting towards the branch. He pelted up what was left of the stone ledge, aiming for Sally. Just then, the branch finally snapped, sending Sally screaming to the surface of the lake. Ben screamed and leapt. He flew across the gap and forcefully collided with Sally in midair. Sally was sent crashing into a bush on the edge of the lake. Ben hit the freezing water with the force of a wrecking ball. He opened his eyes, but couldn't see anything but dark, dark water, bubbles, and thin streams of red blood flowing out of his eyes into the terrible lake. Ben tried to kick his feet, trying to find the surface of the lake, but he couldn't tell which way was up. He spun in dizzying circles, feeling the coldness of the lake seeping into his bones, causing him to shiver uncontrollably. His lungs were burning with the little amount of air he had managed to take in before going under. He squeezed his eyes shut as everything grew dim. He let out the last of his air, immediately trying suck in more, but water filled his lungs instead, causing him to panic further and try to suck in more oxygen, but everything faded to blackness as he let go of his consciousness.

Cold. That's all he felt. Coldness and an indescribable feeling of not being able to take a breath. He tried to open his eyes, to see what was causing these feelings, but he didn't have the energy. He felt like he was floating, up, up, up, as if something was pulling him into the air. He almost felt as if he would sprout wings and soar away in this strange feeling sky. He could sense movement around him, hear muffled sounds. Voices. Voices calling out through the haze. He listened carefully. The voices. They were saying a name. Screaming it out like a siren in the dark. What were they saying? Ben. Ben. BEN! That was his name, wasn't it? He was Ben? Ben what? He couldn't remember what came next. He couldn't remember anything, except a feeling of déjà vu, as if this had happened before. BEN! He blissfully ignored the irritating voice, that seemed so close, and yet so far away. He tried to float away from the voices, but something was pulling him closer. Ben. A different voice, softer, full of fear. He didn't know why this voice seemed so familiar to him. Maybe it was an angel, calling for him. He searched for the voice. Ben. It sounded tearful, laced with pain, terror and guilt. He didn't know why an angel would feel that. He floated closer to the soft voice. That was when he felt a hard thump across his back, and a burning sensation flooded through his throat, making his eyes sting with bloody tears. BEN! Another thump and he whimpered, wanting the pain to go away again. BEN! He reached out towards the voice, knowing it would help the pain go away. Thump. Thump. Ben!

Ben opened his eyes and rolled onto his side, throwing up a wave of lake water. It burned his throat as it came out. His body began shuddering, both from the vomit and the numb cold. He felt hands grabbing his shoulders and patting his back, and heard a babble of voices. Someone was screaming and crying. Ben was crying too, bloody tears stoning his eyes and mingling with the water that dripped off him. He couldn't stop shivering. Someone wrapped a thick blanket around his shoulders, big enough to completely cover his small body. He pushed his wet hair out of his face and looked up at the person. It was Jeff. He looked scared. Ben realised he was speaking, and concentrated on listening to the words.
"Ben, Ben can you hear me?" Jeff was saying. Ben rubbed his eyes tiredly.
"Yeah, I h-hear you," he said, teeth chattering, "I'm cold."
Jeff tightened the blanket around the elf boy's shivering body.
"I just pulled you out of the lake," Jeff said, sounding choked up. "You weren't breathing man, you were dead. I... I thought you were dead." Jeff took a deep breath and engulfed Ben in a hug. Ben blinked, and patted Jeff's back.
"I'm sorry," Jeff said, "I'm so sorry for how horrible I've been to you."
Ben smiled comfortingly and shook his head.
"It's okay," he coughed, his throat feeling raw and burning, "I forgive you." Jeff gave him a grateful look and called Slenderman over. Ben realised he couldn't find Sally. He tugged at Jeff's sleeve. The older boy glanced down at him.
"Where's Sally?" Ben asked, hardly daring to breath. Jeff pointed towards the mansion.
"Masky and Toby took her back to the house, she was inconsolable. She kept screaming that it was her fault and that she should be the one getting pulled out of the lake and stuff."
Ben frowned. "She fell in the bushes," he commented.
"She's okay, just a few scrapes and splinters." Jeff replied. "She was more worried about you." Jeff stopped and looked Ben in the eyes.
"You did a really brave thing Ben," he said seriously, "you saved her life."
Ben thought about that as Slenderman teleported him and the others back to the mansion. Him, brave? He wasn't brave was he? He thought about the voices he had heard, calling out his name. Maybe he wasn't just a stupid kid to them like he though....