Sally stared in horror as Liu fell to his knees, clutching at his waist. Blood seeped between his fingers and his face is twisted in pain.
"What's the matter, Sal?" Laughing Jack asked as he laughed with that spine-trembling high-pitched laugh he had. "Don't you like watching a good game?"
In a quick motion, Jack slashed the knife across Liu's forearm and Liu hissed, his eyes squeezing shut as blood wept from the new wound.
"S-Stop," Sally whispered. She can't make her voice get any louder.
"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Liu shouted as he turned his head to glare up at Laughing Jack.
"With me?" Jack chuckled, his pale eyes looking down at Liu as he waved around his large, bloody knife. "I don't think there's anything wrong with me."
Just then, a voice spoke just outside the door to the room, a familiar voice.
"Liu? Are you alright in there?"
Sally blinked at the sound of her mother's voice.
"Oh? Another playmate?" Jack muttered under his breath, smiling widely.
Sally glared at him and she whispered. "Don't you dare."
Laughing Jack only gave her a smirk.
"Uh, yeah!" Liu called back, doing his best to keep his agony hidden from his voice. "I'm fine!"
"Are you sure? Do you need me to come in?"
"No! Don't come in here!"
Despite what he said, the door opened and Maria stepped in just as Laughing Jack had vanished into thin air.
"Liu!?" She immediately ran to his side, looking over his wounds, then she looked up at Sally, the only other being in the room wielding a weapon.
"Sally? Did you...?" Maria whispered, her green eyes staring at Sally with question and Sally's eyes widened.
Liu groaned and Maria quickly brought her attention back to him. "Liu, hold on, I'm going to call an ambulance."
Just as she pulled out her cellphone, Sally shut her eyes and willed herself away from here, and she did just that.
When she opened her eyes, she found herself once again outdoors, but in that same playground. The playground where she had met Malcolm.
She swallowed hard at the sight and she did her best to keep her mind off of it.
Why did Laughing Jack hurt Liu?
Well, why not?
Sally gasped at that thought.
Liu's only another human she hardly knew. Why is it such a big deal?
For all Sally knew, Jack could still be there, about to finish what he started. And maybe he decides to make Maria a victim, too. And Sally just left them behind to let it happen.
No! Sally shook her head. She will not let that happen!
But why? Maria and Liu are mortals, they'll only die anyway. What's the point?
"Stop..." Sally murmured, but the horrid thoughts only continued.
What else would be new? If they died, it'll just be a few more people out of her life. They'll all be gone, dead. Just like Malcolm.
"Shut up!"
You can't shut out the truth, Sal. Look around you. This is your world now. Open your eyes to it.
This is her world now.
Death, bloodlust, anger...that's all it is. And she walks this world alone.
In the real word, you're on your own.
Ben was right. She's on her own in this.
Then a weird noise snapped her out of those thoughts.
She blinked away the fogginess from her mind, then look upwards, where the source of the sound is.
Above her, there are many aircrafts are soaring through the air, all leading into one single direction. They don't look like the average airplanes, either.
In fact, with Sally's sharp sight, she can see that each of those planes carried weapons.
The roar of the engines seems to rattle the air around her, and there must be at least a hundred of them zooming over her.
The wave of warplanes soon disappeared on the horizon, leaving Sally in conflicted wonder.
What's going on?
--
"I should have known." Eyeless Jack sighed as he stared up at the sky filled with the war planes.
"Well, can't say I didn't see it coming," the voice belonged to Ben, who now stood next to Jack. "Humans are idiots."
Jack nodded. "Well, war has begun."
--
"Heh. For once, we won't be doing the killing," Masky said as he and Hoodie watched the aircrafts soar past them and off to another area, probably a different part of the world.
"Yeah, 'cause they're the ones doing it now," Hoodie motioned towards the planes.
"Speak of the devils," Masky pointed towards the neighborhood where they can see citizens exiting their houses to stare at the planes also. Some of their expressions are of confusion,
some are fear, some shock and anger, but most of them are people that knew this was coming.
"This should be fun," Hoodie said, putting his hands into his pockets. "Watching people destroy themselves because of their greed and immaturity."
"Don't forget pride," Masky muttered with a sigh.
"So, do we just watch the show, or do we join the action?" Hoodie asked as he looked at Masky, who shrugged in response.
"Either would be fine with me. It wouldn't matter either way, would it?"
"I guess not."
--
Sally stared into the sky for a few minutes, then looked back down to the ground.
She walked along the playground, pacing around and around, kind of like her thoughts.
What is she supposed to do now? What is she supposed to feel, to think? Where should she go, and why? What is she supposed to believe?
Will Liu be okay? And her mother? Will they be safe if Sally just kept her distance?
And the other killers...should she keep staying around them? They seem to be the only lead she has.
Sally swallowed down that familiar lump in her throat and she once again expected tears to form, but none came.
Her gaze landed on the swing-set not too far from her, the swing-set where she first found Malcolm.
Unintentionally, her legs stumbled towards it, but then she gave in and walked over, then sat on one of the swings.
She didn't swing, she just sat there, forcing her mind to shut down as she had a few times before, keeping away her thoughts and emotions.
Sally closed her eyes, and for a moment, it felt as if she were floating.
She took in a deep breath, breathing in the smell of rain and dew.
She tried to think of something soothing, something peaceful.
That's when she remembered something that she had heard long ago. She had been very little, laying in her bed, and her mother was sitting next to her, singing something softly.
What was it?
Sally strained to remember the words, but she just couldn't. However, she did remember the melody, so she let that play in her head.
Sally opened her eyes and looked down at the ground. Just like any child in a time of conflict and despair, Sally wanted her mother.
"Mommy," Sally whispered, but then she sobbed. "Mama..."
This time, tears filled her eyes, leaving her vision a red haze and she squeezed her eyes shut. The bloody tears spilled down her cheeks, leaving cold trails.
Sally sniffed and wiped away her tears. But she can't go to her mother. Maria would be safer if Sally just stayed away.
Sally closed her eyes again, but this time, she felt something strange.
The sudden pressure in her head made her gasp.
It isn't any kind of physical pressure, it was more of a heavy feeling. Then there was a tug.
Sally can't breathe. Her eyes won't open. What is this?
She felt herself fall off of the swing, but she didn't feel herself hitting the ground.
She felt like she was in a daze, spinning around and around...
Then there was nothing.
--
Ben and Eyeless Jack stood in silence a distance away from the playground.
They both watched as Sally fell from the swing and collapsed to the ground, no longer moving.
Jack is calm about it, but it was Ben who immediately ran over to her with impressive speed.
He stood above her, looking down at her in utter confusion.
"What the hell?" Ben mumbled, then he tapped his foot against her a bit, but Sally is unresponsive.
He knelt down beside her and turned her over so she lay on her back. Her eyes are closed and she's limp.
"What happened to her?" Ben asked Jack as he approached them.
"I don't know," he said, looking down at Sally as well.
"It is time for the trial."
They both recognized the voice and instantly knew who it is.
"Slender, what are you doing to her?" Ben asked accusingly, but his gaze didn't move itself from Sally's unmoving form.
"You heard him," Jack said with a sigh. "He's testing her."
This time, Ben looked at Jack. "Testing her? For what?"
Jack was silent for a moment before responding. "For everything."
Ben kept silent as he looked back down at Sally, but then a figure appeared just a few feet from them.
Jack looked up to see Slender Man, ignoring the pain it caused his head to look at him. A black tendril emerged from Slender's back and it stretched towards Sally.
Ben straightened up and stood before Slender Man, blocking the tendril's path.
"Tell me what you are going to do," he said, or rather demanded.
There was a long silence before Slender Man answered him.
When he answered, it was not heard by anyone but Ben.
Jack is curious about what Slender Man would put Sally through, but he knew he shouldn't intrude. If Slender is only telling Ben, then there's a reason that he's not telling Jack.
Ben's expression changed from accusation to surprise, then to emotionlessness. After a moment, he stepped away, allowing the tendril to make its way to Sally. Ben didn't watch, but Eyeless Jack did.
Then, the shadowy tendril plunged itself into Sally's head. Not physically, of course, but it's enough to lift her lifeless body into the air. Her limbs hung down limply and her face is lifted up into the sky.
She was at least five feet into the air when the tendril stopped lifting her.
There was a flash of lightening and thunder rumbled immediately afterwards.
Then Sally's eyes snapped open to reveal two black, bottomless pits.