Slawter Woods

Entering Slawter Woods

A voice echoed in the distance, too faint for Vanoss to make out what was being said.

"...oss..." He tried to focus. He knew he recognized the voice, but he couldn't place it.

"...Vanoss..." It came closer, and it was calling his name.

"Vanoss!" It was right next to him now, shouting. A name suddenly popped up in his head. Delirious. Of course the voice belonged to Delirious, how could he not have remembered? His voice wasn't exactly easy to forget.

"Vanoss, wake up!" Delirious' words pulled Vanoss from the darkness, breaking the spell of unconsciousness that had been forced upon him. He sucked in a lungful of air as he came to. It smelled of pine and earth. Soft soil gave way under his fingers as he started moving around. He opened his eyes and saw tall, dark trees, a small circle of sky up above, and a hockey mask hovering over him. He freaked out for a moment before his sight fully adjusted and he realized that the mask was attached to a person, and actually very familiar to him. Three distinct red markings and a pair of bright blue eyes revealed that he was indeed looking at his best friend, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"You scared me for a second." His voice was a little shaky and his head felt like a rave party gone wrong.

"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to. You okay?" Delirious offered him a hand and helped him up.

"Yeah, I think so. But what the fuck happened? Where are we?" Vanoss let his eyes take in their surroundings. Huge stones stood in a perfect circle around them, a single opening the only way in and out.

"See that sign over there?" Delirious pointed towards the entrance. Vanoss saw it, and he didn't know how to feel about it. He was dazed.

"'Entering now: Slawter Woods'. Is this a sick joke or something?"

"I have no idea. I just know that I felt like something hit me in the head and then I woke up here, looking like this." Delirious gestured to himself. Vanoss looked him over. He was wearing his GTA outfit. Boots, black pants, grey shirt and blue hoodie. And of course, his custom hockey mask. But something was different. His body. He didn't have the build of a standard GTA V character model. He seemed muscular, but not as bulky. Leaner, was the word he searched for. He had brown hair, cut in a fade style, longer up top and shorter on the sides. Vanoss thought it fit him better somehow. A light bulb suddenly lit up in his mind.

"Wait, what do I look like?" He looked at himself as best as he could.

"You look like you, like your real you, but with your GTA clothes. No owl mask, though." Delirious chuckled. He was right, Vanoss was wearing red shoes, black pants and shirt, as well as his signature red jacket with the white stripes. But apart from his outfit, he looked exactly like himself.

"So... If I am myself, does that mean that you are yourself too?" His voice was filled with curiosity. Delirious still hadn't done a face reveal, so no one knew what he really looked like. Except for Luke, also known as CaRtOoNz. They had been real-life friends for many, many years, and they were like brothers to each other.

"Uhm, yeah, I guess..." Delirious shuffled around uncomfortably, one hand nervously ruffling his hair. Vanoss noticed little black studs in his ears.

"Calm down, I'm not gonna poke at you or anything. I'm just curious, and I'm sure you can understand that. But I respect you and I would never force you to do anything you're not comfortable with. That's completely your choice, so don't worry." He gave his friend a genuine smile.

"Thank you. I appreciate it." Delirious relaxed, smiling beneath his mask.

"Now, how about we figure out what the hell is going on?" Vanoss suggested.