One by one

|Benjamin|

Benjamin, 1:05 am 6/9

Saturday

I knew she was dead when her screams came to a stop. Atlas, she's dead. Now I only had not much longer to wait until her arrival. A few minutes at the most it would take for her spirit to leave her body and be trapped between heaven and earth. My favorite place, the middle.

It wasn't supposed to end this way though. I planned to let her live but her foolish runaways told me that I would have to plan harder. I only made the coffin as a precaution in case something like this were to happen. I never wanted to hurt Kendall. Why would I want to hurt my only friend?

But it was the only way. The only way to keep her here was to kill her. The only way I could keep her forever was to get rid of her body.

I would greet her with a gift. Art's head. Then that way she can remember what her ex-friend had looked like. Such a shame I couldn't get the other heads. I only just now thought of the idea and I already burned that other boy's body.

I did look for Madis' body, expecting her to be either dead or half dead but she was nowhere to be seen. In truth, I don't know if she's dead. I could only guess and say it was most likely she was. Besides, these woods were big which meant more room for hiding. I would look for her body again later though, the priority right now was waiting for Kendall to arrive. She would be at her grave, where she died. Her spirit would rise up and greet me. I would take away all her sadness, all her anger for me. Then, we could be truly happy.

I could teach her my ways. We could kill visitors together, haunt this place together. All the fun we would have. All I had to do was wait. And that's just what I did.

I could feel her presence near me. It was happening. She was coming.

I leapt up off my feet and ran to her grave. Tears of joy poured down my face when I saw her glowing spirit rise.

"Kendall." I whispered.

I could see her eyes move around until they landed on me. I felt her hatred, her sadness, her suffering...her hurt. I could make it all go away.

I felt a vicious grin spreading on my face. She hated me. But I expected it.

"Kendall." I repeated with more confidence. "My darling..." I came closer to her and stared into her hate filled eyes.

She lifted her fist and let it fly through my face.

"YOU BITCH!"

I ignored her hateful words and continued to stare into her. I looked into her anger first. It was long and messy. Her mind was full with hate for only me, and surprisingly some for herself. In an instant, I removed all her anger. I removed her anger for me, herself, and everything else. I could sense her arms slowly falling at her sides and her face start to relax.

Next, I looked into her sadness. It was full of grief for her friends and family. Nothing for me. I quickly removed her sadness. I watched as her breathing went steady again and her eyes stopped watering.

I made all her pain go away. Now she won't hate me. Instead, she'll hate the ones who deserve to be hated. Her friends.

I watched her as she studied my face for several moments.

Her face grew in shock. "Benjamin?" She gasped.

I sighed with relief. It worked.

"Yes, it's me. You're okay now. You're dead but you're okay now." I assured her.

Her eyes widened with fright and surprise. "Dead?" She shrieked. "How?"

"Let's just say you hung out with the wrong group. But don't worry, I took care of them." I smiled and gestured to the head on the floor behind me to let her know I was telling the truth. I didn't like to lie to her but it was the only way. Now she could believe whatever I wanted her to.

Her eyes started to water again but this time, for a different reason that didn't have to do with me. She jumped up at me and hugged me. I had been waiting for that for so long. This felt better than I had ever imagined.

"You're okay now." I whispered as I held her in my arms. "Now you and I can be together forever."

I pulled away at the sound of vehicles nearing us. I looked at Kendall and smiled. She smiled back. She knew what to do. Now we would never be bothered after these few kills. Now no one would ever want to bother us again. Now we could be together forever without anyone stepping in our way. Now, we could be truly happy.