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IFHY • Tyler, The Creator
! AUTHORS NOTE !
We hit 30k reads AND 1k votes?! That's literally INSANE to even say out loud, I appreciate you all so much! So, to show my gratitude, I decided to give y'all another chapter today AND it's my longest one yet. Enjoy! This is when shit gets REAL.
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"I can't believe I'm out here again." You held on tight to your small flashlight, paying attention to the distant footsteps behind you. "Yeah, this is a little extreme," Enid mumbled as she kept alert while walking through the dark forest. "But at least we're all together!"
"Yeah," You stopped walking and turned to look at the duo lacking behind. "Why are we all together though? Like, I thought Wednesday was gonna feed me to the wolves alone just to prove a point or something."
"That's not true," Wednesday stared at you before walking ahead, "Wolves haven't been spotted in this area for more than 10 years." You watched her walk away, looked at Enid, then followed behind. "You have such a way with words, Wednesday."
It had only been a week since you were discharged from the hospital, and yet here you are, going back to the same place you almost died at. You try not to overthink that night, just forget the gory details and call yourself lucky. Because you were, technically, but the trauma, prescribed medication, and obvious injury didn't make you feel so lucky.
You filled the quiet air, "So, are you gonna tell us the plan yet, Wednesday?"
"No," Wednesday didn't face you, "I don't need you backing out last minute."
"Which I understand, but we're kind of already here, so there's no turning back." Your breath was shaky, no matter how nonchalant you seemed in the moment, you were freaking out just seeing the same trees from that night. Your boots crushing leaves and twigs on the ground were sounds you remember exactly from that night, but it felt different. It made you uneasy, the dust shining through the dinky flashlight was unsettling, and the pain from your back made you nauseous.
I'm doing this for Tyler, you took a mental reminder to motivate you, I need to clear our names from Wednesday's blacklist.
You cleared your throat as you caught up with Wednesday's steps, Enid making sure to follow close behind. "Why did you bring Enid along? I don't want to drag her into unnecessary danger, this is for me and Tyler, right?"
Wednesday nodded, "Right, but me and Enid aren't going to be doing anything."
"Good, wait—" You blinked a few times, "What does that mean? Am I, like, being sacrificed or something?"
Wednesday turned her head to make eye contact, "It's not a sacrifice if you survive."
You break your eyes away, fuck.
"Hey uhm, I'm real glad to hear that I'm not apart of this, truly, but that doesn't mean I want to watch Y/N get herself killed!" Enid finally spoke up into the dark void, still cautiously scanning her surroundings for any obvious abnormal creatures standing 10 feet tall with big claws. "You don't have to watch," Wednesday slowed down her paste, "I'm not that cruel."
You couldn't stop yourself from brewing up nervous laughter, really gathering up the position you put yourself into as you stood in the same place you found Rowan's glasses. "Great, now that we're here," You shove your hands into the pockets of your hoodie, "Can you tell us your plan already?"
Wednesday put down her flashlight, "It's simple, really. You're gonna stand here, pretending to find anymore evidence relating to Rowan's disappearance, while me and Enid stand behind a tree and look out for the monster to approach you."
You were stunned, eyes wide and mouth agape. "So, I'm like, actual monster bait? Like, you're not joking." Wednesday tilt her head, "Of course not, why would I be joking at a time like this?" You huffed out a stressful breath, "I don't know, Wednesday, maybe I was trying to give you the benefit of the doubt that you actually wanted to be safe about this and not put my life on the line again?"
"Alright, guys c'mon," Enid stepped in between the two of you, "Let's all just calm down—"
A twig snapped. Heads turned towards the direction. You looked at Wednesday. She traded you a questioning look. You mumbled, "Just— fucking go, alright? It's fine." The girl put her hand on Enid's arm and pulled her away from the scene, camping out a few yards away behind a thick tree.
As you watched them run to safety, farther and farther away from you, that is when your heart sunk to rock bottom. You began twirling in the same spot, keeping an eye out for every blind spot possible, trying to ignore the crawling feeling of being watched from everywhere. You clenched your fists and began shining your light onto the ground, searching for something that doesn't even exist.
Looking at the same dark leaves and soil felt like eternity, you weren't really searching every crevice of the ground, you were mainly focusing on the noises around you. You heard a few leaves crunching, wind blowing, and twigs snapping, but they could either be from Enid's platform shoes or the monster's large feet. Either way, you didn't know what the hell was going on or what the hell you're going to do next, so you just stayed in the moment.
Then, you stopped dead in your tracks when you saw something that wasn't just a leaf or a twig, but a piece of paper. You squat down to pick it up, the paper was soiled from the previous night's rain, but you could still recognize the illustrations once you turned the paper around. It was a half-of-page from an old book, a girl standing in the middle fighting a sinister entity. You squint your eyes, now focusing more on whether your eyes were deceiving you rather than your hearing. Is that?—
Rapid crunching and snapping made you unfocus from the paper, the sounds grew louder and louder and louder. You stood up and turned to look at the source, and you froze in place, like a deer in headlights after finding themselves lost on a highway. It was charging straight for you, not caring to mask its presence up until this moment, because you wouldn't have any more time alive to even think about what just happened.
The same monster from that night was coming straight for you, and your fight or flight instinct kicked in and , you did what any scared person would do. You screamed, "No, wait!"
It stopped. It listened. It's eyes were wide, but now they were a different type of wide. They... softened, almost like it had feelings, a kind of its own evolved from more than a predator's mindset. It wasn't a bear or a wolf, it was a Hyde, the Hyde.
The world went quiet, and time froze around you. It was like you were watching a horror movie and paused the screen, staring down the main villain but they saw right through you.
Yet, it was so quiet, that the hushed sound of an arrow being dragged back from the string of a bow was heard. Your head snapped at the tree the two girls hid behind, and you saw Wednesday poking out from the side with a borrowed bow from Xavier's Archery Club.
Your fight or flight kicked in once again, but you yelled, "Don't!"
Wednesday didn't listen. She uncurled her fingers and let the arrow fly, it's silver tip reflecting the moon light as it traveled quickly. It whipped past you, so close yet so far to the point where you could hear it moving against the wind, then it hit something. The arrow landed on the Hyde's chest, planting itself firmly in its thick skin. An awful, high pitched sound erupted from the Hyde's throat, and it stepped back from the impact.
Then, you did what absolutely nobody would do in this scenario. You took a step closer to it, reaching your hand out on pure instinct. The Hyde looked at you with fear, then ran away. "Shit." You huffed then began chasing after it, knowing it was a bad idea. If Wednesday's research was correct, then the Hyde should transform into its human form once its energy runs low or the "monster body" is in danger.
"Y/N!" Enid's voice was distant but the noise bounced on all of the trees for you to hear, but you ignored it and just kept running. It was hard to keep an eye on the Hyde, but you were able to keep up with it just enough to see it hide behind a tree.
You slowed down your paste before approaching the tree, many things could happen in a few seconds and none of them are good. You sighed, fuck it we ball, right?
You turned the corner of the big tree, feeling like a dumb teenager in a horror movie while everyone watching at home is yelling at the screen for you to run. But, you committed, and looked down to see—
"Tyler?!" He looked up at you with wide eyes, the same wide eyes belonging to the Hyde. "You've got to be kidding me."
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