Word Count: 2,306

Dawn Turner

I don't feel bad for Alexander.

Not in the slightest.

I don't care if that makes me rude or a bad person or whatever. I acknowledge that I was wrong about that one particular accident at the gallery yesterday but that doesn't make Alexander any less of a monster.

I know he thinks what I was the one that started the whole fight between us when I hit him first at the convenience store but what else would you have done if a 6 foot tall fallen angel appeared right in front of you and killed 3 men, granted they were criminals, with the flick of his fingers?

I was certainly not going to kiss his hands and thank him.

For God's sake, I was terrified.

Not to mention, what happened that day at the convenience store was not an excuse for him to be following me around for all this time, basically terrorizing me, hurting me both physically and mentally and then expecting me to feel bad for calling him a monster.

He is a monster.

And now Skylar is dragging me along with her to a Halloween festival that I just know Alexander will show up to because of the promise he made.

He was actually planning to make my life a living hell and I wasn't excited for it.

I was planning on ditching Skylar and her festival idea but there is no humanly explanation I can give Skylar to get out of this one. She already discussed her plans with my mom so I will have to tag along now.

I even tried to use the period excuse but she was so adamant on making me go and didn't budge at all to my argument.

All I know is that if I have to go to this Halloween festival no matter what, I'm certainly not going to go there defenseless.

I know I'm dumb but I'm not THAT dumb.

I was carrying a giant bag stuffed with holy water, a bunch of knives and a crucifix. I would be lying if I said I wasn't debating placing a pan in there as well.

I heard Skylar yell out to me from down stairs. "Dawn, let's go!" I grabbed my bag, making my way down the stairs.

Whatever Alexander has in mind, I'm ready for it.

The drive to the festival was more nerve-wracking than I had hoped it would be. Part of me felt more safe with the equipment I brought but another part of me doubted that anything I had would be close to enough to protect me from Alexander.

I'm guessing Skylar didn't notice my bag until we exited the car and started walking towards the entrance of the festival because she started eyeing me weirdly.

"Why does your bag look so heavy? Did you bring weapons with you or something?" She laughed in confusion. I let out a nervous chuckle.

Yes I did, actually.

"I just brought some medicine, food, and water with me because I'm on my period." I explained.

Yes I was pulling the period card yet again.

Skylar was seemingly convinced to my luck.

In my defense, if I showed her what I had in my bag she would probably think I'm performing an exorcism tonight.

Skylar was dressed as a hot nurse and had a bat in her hand for some reason while I was dressed up as a cat. I was too lazy to actually put in the effort to go shopping for a costume so I just wore a random black outfit and drew whiskers on my face.

A great costume for lazy people on Halloween.

A little boy tugged on Skylar's shirt while we were walking around. "Would you like to have some cotton candy, miss?" She nodded with excitement and followed him to get some cotton candy.

Is this the part in a movie where the main character is stranded on her own with no one to protect her so she gets attacked and can't call out for help?

"Here, I brought you one too!" Skylar came back, handing me a bag of cotton candy. She was holding another bag for herself.

I guess not.

I should still be careful. "Skylar, let's play games in crowded places just in case something happens to us." I tried to convince Skylar with being suspicious. She gave me a weird look then proceeded to head towards a dark and scary tunnel.

Fuck.

So this is the part where I get attacked then.

"Let's go in there please, Dawn!" Skylar held my hand and tried dragging me along with her.

"I think I'd rather die, thank you." I stood my ground.

"Come on, Dawn. I saw two people head in there." She tried convincing me but I remained unfazed. "Look, there's a kid right here! " She pointed at an innocent looking kid, about 11 years old, with a big smile plastered on his face.

What if we get attacked? Could that kid be Alexander in disguise? Is he going to kill me in front of Skylar? Is this how it all ends?

I was hesitant to follow Skylar. Maybe I'm being too paranoid but this all seemed too sketchy. I'm in a very fitting place for Alexander to kill me and I highly doubt he would miss this chance.

At least I still had a bag of equipment with me.

"Excuse me, Ma'am. I will need you to hand over that bag so you could enjoy the experience more freely!" The clown next to me smiled brightly in my direction.

Yeah, of course you do.

I turned around to run away from the creepy clown but Skylar held my hand again before I could leave.

"Just give him your bag, Dawn. We'll come back here very quickly don't worry about it!" She tried cheering me on but I wanted nothing more than to run away right now.

How do I tell her we're about to die here without telling her that?

"I really don't want to do that, Skylar."

"We only get to hang out like once every 2 weeks now, please come with me." She frowned sadly.

I tried not to let it affect me but she was telling the truth. For the past 2 weeks I've been either working or hanging out with Zach without telling her.

"Okay fine but we stick together." I gave in and let her drag me inside.

If I had to go in there, I was not going to go with nothing in hand so I quickly slipped my hand inside the bag and grabbed a knife. I hid it up my sleeve without the clown noticing, then handed the bag over to him.

I'm pretty sure Alexander wouldn't attack me with Skylar around anyway. He says he doesn't hurt innocent people.

After the clown took my bag and left, I looked back at Skylar but she was nowhere in sight.

My eyes widened.

How did she disappear already? I stood there, in the middle of the festival, with my heart beating fast against my chest. I felt a cold breeze caress my already cold and exposed skin and it sent tingles all over my body.

The kid that was smiling at us before approached me and gave me another one of his bright smiles.

You son of a bitch, you can't fool me.

"I'm sorry but a tall man asked me to tell you to go inside. Or else your friend will get- haunted? Hurt? Killed? One of the three!" He let out a creepy giggle and ran away.

What the-

I looked around in panic to try and find the clown that took my bag but he was nowhere to be seen either.

Touché, Alexander.

He knew I wouldn't come empty handed so he came up with this dumb plan to leave me defenseless. And now I have to go in this creepy tunnel, all alone, because I sure as hell am not going to let my friend suffer in the hands of a fallen angel because of me.

I took in a deep breath, embracing myself for what was about to come next. I thought that if I were ever placed in a situation like this, I'd be too scared to do anything but I was oddly not as scared as I expected myself to be. I think the thought of my friend being in there with that monster and me being the only person that could save her gave me the confidence I needed to go in.

The path to the tunnel was thankfully straight and there were no turns so I wouldn't get lost. The ground was somewhat wet and puddles of mud were forming everywhere. It was already cold outside where the sun was shining so you can only imagine how much colder it is on the inside.

My breathing was speeding up, in sync with my heart beat, as I heard whispers echoing all around me.

I couldn't tell if this was Alexander's doing or if it was part of the festival experience but either way, it stressed me out.

I didn't know what the whispers were saying. They were foreign. I couldn't tell where they were coming from either. I gently slapped myself across the face, forcing my eyes to focus on the dark road ahead of me because I was starting to feel light headed.

I knew I should've brought my pan with me.

I heard a 'tap' and it sounded like someone stepped in a puddle of mud behind me. My heart automatically stopped beating and I could feel nothing but blind terror consume me.

"Look behind you, Dawn!" The voice of an old lady shrieked. I quickly turned around, trying to find the source of the sound, when a knife came flying towards me.

It only missed me by what felt like an inch.

I let out a staggering breath. My hands were cold and clammy. I didn't even have time to move before another knife shot out of nowhere, landing right on the wall of the tunnel beside me.

"This is the part where you run." A voice I knew so well said.

I did not hesitate to get my feet moving away from whatever the hell this place was.

It was so quiet in the tunnel, yet so loud. The whispers quieted down. I could only hear the sound of my footsteps, running in pure terror.

I didn't know where I was going but I continued running along the path. It wasn't until I looked straight ahead of me that I noticed a tall and dark figure standing there, blade in hand.

"I'm back."

He started laughing, wickedly. It sounded like a creepy laughter you would hear in horror movies and it was enough to make my heart drop. I quickly grabbed the knife that I hid in my sleeves and chucked it at Alexander.

I missed horribly.

I should've brought the holy water instead because I completely forgot about my garbage-like aim.

He laughed out loud, like he just witnessed the funniest thing ever.

"Did Zach tell you to carry around knives? Let me guess, he told you that the power of our Lord and savior would be enough to make up for your shitty aim?"

I felt my entire face turn red. This was humiliating.

I felt like he didn't even bring me here to kill me. He just brought me here to humiliate me and remind me of exactly how stupid I am to have messed with him in the first place.

We were standing at the end of the tunnel now and Skylar was nowhere to be seen so I guess it must've been a set up by him to lure me in. It definitely worked.

I hate that he's always one step ahead of me.

Zach. I need help.

I did the only thing there was left for me to do, call out for Zach.

It was too late.

Alexander pushed me up against the wall with a tight grip around my neck, choking me half to unconsciousness. He brought his face close to mine, smiling. I saw him hold up a knife in his hand from the corner of my eyes, pointing it at my neck.

My face was burning and I tried to beg him to stop but his hold on my throat was too tight. I wanted to cough but I couldn't even do that so I was just squirming in his hands desperately. My vision got darker and I was starting to lose hope.

Is this really the end...

I could barely feel a thing now, not even pain. His grip around my neck got tighter. I was so sure my soul was leaving my body at this point.

"Enough!" A voice coming from behind us yelled.

I was immediately dropped to the ground and released from his deadly grip.

I punched my chest repeatedly, begging my lungs to start working again. I felt like breathing was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I was coughing on the floor, trying to catch my breath, and I could hear the sound of two people fighting behind me in this freezing dark tunnel.

Slash.

I stopped coughing.

My eyes widened when I heard the voice of someone groaning in pain and it wasn't Alexander.

I looked behind me in panic to see what was happening and froze when I saw Zach kneeling down on the ground. Blood was coming out his mouth and there was a knife engraved in his shoulder.

My eyes, still wide, wandered over to Alexander who was standing there in shock, staring at his older brother.

His eyes then met mine and he slowly shook his head.

It wasn't me.