Last One Standing (Slenderman fanfic)

Chapter seventeen

(Another trigger warning guys, proceed with caution)

•Sable's P.O.V.•

I threw my phone on the ground, just as the final bell rang. My breaths came in rapid, shallow wheezes as I waited for Tim and Brian. They showed up within minutes, both looking concerned as to why I was so frantic.

"Sable? What's going on?" Tim asked.

"We need to get to Lenore's house immediately, something is really, really wrong."

"How do you know?"

"She just called me and all she said was 'I love you dust bunny. I'm sorry'."

"That doesn't mean something bad happened." Brian shrugged. I felt like ripping my hair out and screaming until my throat was raw.

"Just humor me! I need to check on her, she's my best friend for gods sake!"

"Fine, fine, we'll take my car." Tim grabbed his keys while I picked up my phone, speed walking down the halls and expertly crowd weaving.

We were outside in seconds. Lenore's house was halfway across town, and the entire drive there I felt like something horrible was about to happen. After the five minutes that seemed like hours, we parked in her driveway, and I leapt from the car and ran to her front door. Four quick knocks later, a boy opened the door, with the same hair and eyes as his sister.

"Sable?"

"I need to see Lenore, immediately."

"Um, sure. Actually, maybe you can talk to her." He let me in as the boys followed. "She hasn't spoken to anyone all week. Hasn't even left her room."

I ran up the stairs like an animal, sprinting down the hall towards her room. When I grabbed the handle I found it locked. Lenore never locks her door.

"Lenny?!" I pounded on the wood, tears stinging my eyes. "Lenore, please open the door! It's Sable!"

No answer. I began to cry as I pushed on the door, trying to force it open. I felt hands on my shoulders as Tim moved me aside, running at the door with his shoulder. It flew open to reveal my worst fear.

My best friend was hanging from her ceiling fan by a rope. Her makeup stool lay kicked over at her dangling feet, her arms hanging limply at her sides. I started wailing when I saw her storm cloud eyes wide open and dull, her lips blue and purple. It took me even longer to see what lined the walls behind her; rows of operator marks, both on paper or painted onto the plaster, strewn absolutely everywhere. She even had on her operator band, which looked fresh and new.

"Someone get her down!" I demanded as Brian leapt into action, hoisting her up as Tim unhooked the rope. She fell limply into his arms and they lowered her to the ground, her head tilting at the most awkward angle. She'd snapped her neck before she could suffocate. There was no fixing it.

"L-Lenny..." I heard her brother beside me, his face pale as paper. Tears streamed down his cheeks as his face contorted into a mix of grief and anger. He ran into the room, kneeling beside her and pulling the girl into his lap. It was a familiar scene, one I remembered seeing as Lenore cradled her mothers mutilated corpse.

"Why...why..." I repeated, my entire being shaking. I thought I might collapse, but I used the doorway for support. Brian and Tim were speechless as they watched Lenore's brother sobbing, tucking his dead sisters hair behind her ears to try and reveal her perfect eyes and rosy cheeks. Instead she was grey, her eyes clouded and blind. My best friend was gone and I couldn't think of how I'd live without her.

"I love you too teddy bear..."

•Slenderman's P.O.V.•

I made it my job to watch Sable and make sure she was alright. I knew my sickness had spread among her and her friends, but I was trying to help them. There wasn't much I could do when you already had it, but I stopped popping up everywhere and trying to scare them.

When The Rake came to me, I could smell tea and honey on its breath, and it seemed content. It wrote in the mud that Sable said she forgave me. It made me feel at ease, like I wasn't as horrible as I thought I was. She obviously didn't think so, at least.

Sable ran out of her class suddenly, frantically yelling into her phone. I couldn't tell what she was saying though. Damn my hearing...she threw the phone all of a sudden though, and I knew something was wrong. The bell to signal the end of the school day rang and her friends joined her, their faces turning dark as she explained whatever it was that happened.

They all ran out to Tim's car, and I did my best to keep up with them. Porting multiple times in one go wasn't as easy as one might have thought. But eventually we reached the destination, it was Lenore's home. I recognized it from a few early visits I'd paid her mother before, and then her. My gut told me that death lurked within this home.

Everyone ran inside, and I followed silently. They went all the way up the stairs to her bedroom, the door to which was locked. When Sable couldn't open it, Tim forced it open, revealing something I'd seen too many times before. The girls body was hanging from the fan, her lips blue and her eyes glossed over with the beauty of departure. The girl was dead and I had to watch as Sable slowly began to break. This is the last thing I wanted.

They called the ambulances eventually, humans in white outfits coming in with a black bag. They placed her inside and carried her out, her father and brother watching in stark horror. Police came as well, questioning Sable and her friends and taking photos of the markings on her walls. She had lapsed into what most of my victims did and began to draw the operator symbol over and over again to try and ward me away.

I need to check up on their other friend, Toby. He was just as deep as Lenore was into madness.