BEN: The Last Victim

Part 2: Possession and Blood

I slept restlessly. My whole body was shaking during the night from my dilemma. Every time I'd close my I eyes I'd either see complete darkness. It was like BEN was keeping me from me from even dreaming. I did dream once, but the dream wasn't pleasant.

I had drifted to sleep then wake up in a dark room in the middle of redeads walking towards me. The happy mask salesman stood behind them and commanded them to stop. He smiled at me with his creepy grin, laughed at me, and he began to melt away. What stood in its place was BEN, his lifeless eyes staring into my soul. The redeads began moving again. They got closer and closer until they were close enough to grab me. They pinned me to the ground and BEN uttered the laugh of Ganondorf, just like he did in the game. A huge dark mass emanated from BEN and went into my mouth that the redead held open as I choked on his essence. It felt like I was dying, like I was suffocating to death and gasping for air. I began to beg for god to save me in my head. I was drowning in his darkness, like he had drowned in the water.

I woke up screaming. I couldn't believe what I just saw. I felt cold, even when I had sweat everywhere. I didn't know what to do. Unlike jadusable, I was very open to paranormal activity but never in my life would I ever believe something like this could happen to me. I had thought it was all a stupid fairy tale. I thought wrong

I looked at my arms and saw small cuts all over. They may have been small and not life threatening, but they were still bloody and fresh. I went to the bathroom to treat them as best as I could. As freaked out as I was with the cuts I thought it couldn't believe it would get any worse. I was wrong. I looked closer on my arms and they actually spelled something out. In big capital letters were the words:

BEN WILL RETURN.

I screamed. The scream was so loud I had awakened my dad across the hall.

"Hey!" My Dad said from his room. "You alright Daniel?!"

It took all my nerve to talk without the shakiness in my voice "I'm F-fine! Just saw a spider!" no response. My father must have fallen back to sleep. I try to regain my composure and returned to wipe off my wounds, but to my surprise they were gone. The marks that had been on my arm had vanished. I was so freaked out I couldn't breathe. He's fucking with my head, I thought. I tried to go to bed after I went back into my room but I couldn't sleep. My mind was being controlled, but I didn't know why it was controlling me. This thing had chosen me, and I need to figure out why he chose me.

I stayed up rest of the night. I went to school tired as hell but I couldn't delay any longer. I had to go to school library so I could use the computer. If I was in danger then that means that the people who poked the proverbial bear with BEN were too, or used to be. I walked to the bus stop and waited. Obviously, I was jumping shadows. I felt unsafe out in the open. I felt like any moment I would be jumped by something ominous looming over me. The fact that I was humoring that BEN could hurt me out here had me on edge.

Fortunately, I caught the bus like normal and took a seat in the back like normal. I waved hello to the bus driver before taking my seat. I sat there and enjoyed the ride like I always do but my anxiety got to me. I was terrified for my life, just like Jadusable. I prayed that they only were haunted for a short period then left alone, but my hope was lingering by a thread.

As soon as I got to school, I dashed my way to the library; I had a free period since I was a senior, so I had plenty of time, but something compelled me to run. I evaded my friends in the hallway. I would talk with them later. I needed answers and fast. The library, to my surprise, was completely empty. I was glad to some degree, but usually at least some kid would be working on an essay due today or something. Even the woman at the desk was missing. I knew she probably just stepped out, but because of what I had been through, I didn't really want to be alone.

I quickly got on the computer and started to search thoroughly for info. I needed to know what happened to those people who had written about ben, especially jadusable. I thought it was a fairytale, and that the people who wrote it were okay. I looked up jadusable on Google, and many things came up, like his youtube page, story on creepypasta, etc. I was relieved to find nothing after a while, but I eventually had found an article; the one article I had overlooked. The bold lettering should have caught my eye, but I must have tricked myself to believe that it wasn't there. The article's title in huge bold lettering said:

Teen Disappears From His College Dorm

This article had come up when I had searched jadusable. It couldn't be a coincidence. I clicked on the link and read to myself what seemed to be the truth:

A student at a local university has disappeared. Christopher Matt, age 18, had left during the night without as much as a note.

That was jadusable's real name. I knew this was the truth I was looking for. I needed to find out why he disappeared. I read on:

Upon further investigation, a story about a cursed video game was found on Matt's computer, as well as the username he went under on line called jadusable. It seems that Matt had been suffering psychotic episodes during the previous school year, and had come back after taking a leave of absence. On previous interview with friends of Matt, they said he had played talked about a video game of the Legend Of Zelda series that had caused his paranoia. A diary was recovered which confirmed what eyewitnesses said; however this is most likely a hallucination brought up by school being too difficult. The only thing that was left close to a note was the words "THE TRUTH," written on the wall with blood. Matt's parents are stunned at his sudden disappearance. Hopefully the police will be able to find Matt so his parents will be at ease.

I couldn't read anymore. I knew what happened to him. He had disappeared after coming back to school; after all he had been through. He had cracked up and went crazy. What's going to happen to me? I thought. I decided to look up the usernames of the other who had written about BEN. Articles about them came up as well, but some had disappeared and some had even been killed. According to the articles, the victims seemed to have to have died from self-asphyxiation, but in a more sickening twist, their faces had been cut off in the shape of a mask. Jadusable was either missing or dead and I wasn't too far. I needed to figure out now why BEN was chasing me. I remembered Jadusable's story about being contacted by BEN on Cleverbot. I was thinking about contacting him on my own, but I don't know if it was a good Idea. I felt like that would provoke even more torment.

I heard a loud bang come from behind me, it was the library door opening and closing. I was so on edge that I jumped. I looked over and saw it was only the desk librarian coming in from whatever she was doing. I realized I needed to find a way to contact this thing. I needed to ask this thing why it was terrorizing me. I could already feel my sanity waning, like a light that was covered by overwhelming darkness.

RING RING! My cellphone started to break the quiet. I nervously fidget to get my hand in my pocket so I could answer it. I checked for the number. It was private. I wondered who could possibly be calling me, considering the fact I had no service in the library. I made a run for the door so I could answer it away from anyone around. I pushed it open with all my strength, ignoring the warning I heard from the librarian over my shoulder for running as I left the lab. I went into a single person bathroom across from the library and, I hesitantly answered the phone with a strained tone in my voice.

"Hello?"

"Hello. Are you enjoying my game?" It was Ben; his voice was monotone, sounding robotic almost. It almost resembled the apple text to voice program, but more sinister sounding. A hot chill ran through my bones.

"Ben?"

"Yes."

"How did you find my number? How are you able to call me?"

"I am everything and nothing. I am a shadow that lingers in the darkness."

"How are you able to do this?"

"The ones before you opened the door." I'm assumed he meant the other victims. He continued on. "however I can't yet walk through it all the way."

"What do you want from me?" I tried to hold back my fear. Whole being was on edge by the tone of his voice, and the capabilities of his character. It all felt like I was hallucinating, like I was trapped in spider web of nightmares.

"Haven't you already guessed?" ben asked. Even with the clues from the game I still couldn't put all the pieces together. A silence came from my end, so he said the same cryptic message my mother said in my dreams.

"You and I will soon become one. Play MY game. And you will figure it out."

He hung up. I was in shock. Every fiber, every little nerve was frozen stiff. My life was on the line. Ben wanted to merge with me. I got at least that much. But I needed to know why. The only way I can now is to play the game. This Ben was what I could actually call the true form of a demon. I was being tormented. I was being broken before he made me his own.

I could barely focus in class through the rest of the day. I kept hearing The Song of Unhealing in my head. It was pulsing, getting louder and louder every time I tried to focus. That sickening Ganon laugh emanated from my mind, taunting me with that dark, insane chuckle. As soon as school was over, I called my friend Chelsey. Chelsey went to a different school, but got off just around the same time as I did. If I was going to the play this game, I needed support. As I walked down the corridor out of school, I conversed with her, saying I needed to meet with her. She agreed to meet me out side of my school. I walked outside passed the people who seemed to notice my tired, weary appearance, and possibly even wondered why I looked so haggard. I tried to force a smile as I walked out the double doors near the gymnasium and waited for my ride.

Chelsey's red Toyota came up right in front of me. I climbed right in and started to say our usual greetings. I told her about what was happening to me, and about Ben. I tried my best to sound like a complete weirdo, even though that was a difficult task to accomplish. She seemed receptive of what I was saying, maybe not believing everything I said, but caring enough to see the pain in my eyes. She always knew me better than anyone. She said she would stay over at my house, and that we would play the game. I was happy that at least I didn't have to face Ben alone.

Chelsey and I waited until dark to start playing the game, so that my dad didn't know about what was going on. It was her idea to just hang out and have a good time. We laughed, we talk about everything. For the first time in the last couple of days, I felt the fear evaporate. Unfortunately it didn't last long. I knew that nothing would keep the impending darkness from haunting me. Even destroying the cartridge wouldn't stop it, for Ben's power is beyond my understanding. Again, I digress.

I turned on my N64 and sat next to Chelsey on the couch, but the title screen didn't come up. Instead, a text that was in red coloring instead of white appeared on the front of the screen. The words caught our attention so much that we both gasped.

So you brought a friend? You shouldn't have done that.

Once again my level of fear had risen. I looked at Chelsey and she looked back in disbelief and generally looked terrified. After a while the screen went away, with the laugh off the Happy Mask Salesman as it faded. The game started and instead of opening up on Clock Town, it showed North Termina Field. The sky was dark and the moon hung over close to the ground. I looked around and laid across the grass were….bloodied NPCs. they lay across the grass, as if a huge battle, or massacre, had happened. I tried to move Link toward Clock Town, but every time I went to the entrance, an unknown force would push Link away and fling him to the ground, as if some enemy had knocked him off his feet. I started to walk around the field to see what I could find, but all there was bloodied corpses. I kept Link moving and as I did, a text box opened up. In the middle of the screen were the words:

Soon, you will be at one with the darkness…

Chelsey was just as freaked out as I was. I can hear her freaking out next to me, breathing heavily and whimpering she finally understood I went through. I was on edge as well. The imagery was too much for me to comprehend. The music started blaring The Song Of Unhealing again as I tried to move link to a place that could be helpful for me. As I moved more I started to hear neighing. Epona was waiting for me on the south side of the field. NPCs littered the ground wherever I went. As I tried to keep myself calm, I finally caught a glimpse of Epona. She was black all over and had red eyes, just like Ganondorf's horse bits of blood were matted on her coat. She wasn't attacking me, so I had Link mount her. He seemed to give an uncomfortable look from his big blue eyes.

Epona started to gallop on her own. She moved link as I was powerless to stop the maniac horse. I decided to leave her be as she took me in the direction of Ilkana Canyon. She was taking me to the graveyard. I hesitantly waited what could possibly be waiting for me in this dark night. As I got closer to my destination it got progressively darker, as if the darkness was sucking any iota of light from the stars in the sky. There were no enemies. It was completely silent except for the music and the occasional neigh of Epona.

When link had reached the graveyard, I couldn't believe my eyes. The Stalchilds were gone. In their place was tons of Redeads. The camp fires had been changed from orange to a dark purple, but they didn't seem to give off light. They seemed to suck all the light away. I approached one of the graves with Link. It was already open. There was an option to read the inscription on the tombstone. I got link close to the tombstone I read the inscription and it said:

Rest In Peace: Chelsey.

Chelsey let out a scream as I jumped with surprise. Was he planning to kill my best friend? Instantly my heart began to beat around furiously. My whole body felt sick. My body couldn't take the fear. I was losing it. I already lost so many people I couldn't lose her too. I can't believe I dragged her into this. All of a sudden link did an edge animation then fell into the hole in the ground. The scene had glitched. Link was walking in the midst of blackness. Even though it seemed like the game froze, I could move him around. I decided to move him forward. It looked like link had ended up in a dark hallway. As I eased him on, I could hear that same song starting to play very faintly. Both Ganondorf's and The Happy Mask Salesman's laugh played together. It became so defining that it hurt. The screen flashed like lighting. A horrid image of Ben's statue with a distorted, face appeared. Then Link started walking on his own. He once again was Ben's toy. Chelsey and I watched with growing tears as Link stabbed a silhouetted figure in the darkness. A ghostly shriek came out of the TV, then the hard, bone-cracking thud of body falling to the ground. Then link pulled his sword in and killed himself. One of my childhood icons, dead in front of me again.

I shut off the game and hugged Chelsey. She was crying. I held her close to me for a few seconds, but then let go. In my head I kept hearing The Song Of Unhealing again in my mind, mixed with that sick laughter. In my head it got louder…and louder…and LOUDER! My head felt like it was going to explode and I put my hands to my head trying to make it stop. I couldn't hear Chelsey's voice. All I heard were the laughs… and that fucking song throbbing. Without wanting to, my head reeled back as I collapsed onto the couch, the noise still screaming in my head.