-Chapter 11

BEN'S POV

I entangled my hand in Lana's soft, partially curly, bright red hair and bent my head to my left, in order to kiss her. She was shy, and she pressed her lips on mine hesitatingly at first, but as time passed I found her arms around my neck, pulling me closer with all their strenght. She smelled like flowers and partly like rain, in a dizzy combination. I felt her shivering slowly when icy wind made its way past us, and I thought, disappointed, that my cold skin wouldn't help this time.

We shoud probably go.

Like she had just read my mind, she said, still curled up around my throat, with our lips inches apart, the corners of her mouth forming a smile:

"It's getting kind of dark."

"You don't trust me?" I teased.

"I trust you, I just don't trust weird forests at night." Lana stated, whatever she meant by that. "The moon looks pretty." She said, dreamily, as we began walking, leaves folding beneath our steps. I looked up, instinctively, and saw it, a perfect circle with scattered bluish craters, and it felt like it had empty eyes staring at me, through me, from its dark insides. I vaguely heard a choir of laughters, and all the amusement seemed so perfectly and darkly synchronised as if it had been practised a handful of times before. I shivered and glared at Lana, but she looked undisturbed, so I realized I was the only one who heard anything and, moments later, I wondered if I had only imagined the whole thing.

"Yeah, it does, but-" I finally said, when Lana interrupted me, smiling mischievously:

"Don't get cheesy."

"I wasn't going to."

She looked at me for a few seconds, then she started giggling slowly:

"You kinda ruined the moment, Ben." Lana said, patting my shoulder theatrically and sympathetically.

I put on a thoughtful face.

"Yeah, well, hopefully, there will be others." I grinned, victoriously, and she smirked while we continued walking, shoulders barely brushing.

"Where were you?" asked Jane, her loud voice betraying a small amount of anger and curiosity at the same time. She didn't even give us some seconds to settle in when we arrived, clearing her throat and starting talking at an instant. Jane immediately rushed Lana upstairs, so she wouldn't be able to hear out conversation.

Why was Jane even mad? It wasn't the first time I was late, and even so, who was she to talk? Memories of today were as if somehow imprinted on my eyes, and it was very hard to concentrate at anything else, so I vaguely heard her talking in a corner of my mind, uninterested, mostly, though.

"Hey!" she said, snapping her fingers in front of my eyes. "Are you even listening? It's important, Ben!" Jane pleaded, annoyed. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Tell you what?" I asked immediately, dumbfounded. My sight went down my sleeves at a time, and I found that I had small trails of dirt beneath my elbows.

"About the Moon Children." said Jane, with an obvious voice. "And about the true purpose of Lana's arrival." She then added.

To be honest, I didn't expect her to tell these answers, so, for a few minutes that felt like hours, I stared at her, completely amazed.

"Who-who told you these things?" I finally questioned. I didn't whether to feel angry or annoyed or disappointed or, generally, whether to feel something, because it seemed as if my emotions disappeared at that time, leaving me empty.

"It doesn't matter who. The thing is that everyone knows now. Almost. You can't keep secrets as big as this from us. Do you realize you've endangered us all?" Jane frowned, and small wrinkles sneaked at the corners of her mouth. She pursed her lips.

"It's something personal! Of course I can!" I exclaimed, defending myself. "I exposed myself to a risk, but I don't see why you're threatened by it as well."

"We don't know how it works and what will happen."

I remained silent for a moment, and my body started feeling counscious of all the unhealed wounds trailed down my chest a long time ago, with my nails, almost ripping it apart in order to be able to breathe. Even though they didn't actually hurt, I could still feel their pressure.

"Don't say 'we' as if all of us had to do it." I eventually whispered. "You don't know anything."

Jane remained silent for a couple of seconds.

"Then tell me, Ben." She sounded calm, and she said these words with confidence.

"I-" I began. I did not want her to know for a lot of reasons, but the first one was because I did not want to remember everything. I knew I had to, yet I was hesitant.

"I can't... I'm sorry." I said, finally.

Jane nodded, without any emotion imprinted on her face or in her gestures. Who told her? And why?

"You should go. And I really hope you know what you're doing."

"Of course I do." I said, but I wasn't so sure now.

She was about to leave the dimly lighten hall, when she murmured as she stepped forward:

"No matter what, we'll... understand."

Nevertheless Jane sounded like, despite what she just told me, she preferred one of the outcomes.

After my small talk with Jane I went in my room and sat down on my bed in silence.

"What was that all about?" I heard Lana's voice and turned to my left, where she was standing, leaning against the door.

"Jane just being Jane, I guess." I said. I wasn't actually lying and I was glad I didn't. I didn't want to lie to her anymore, but I knew I couldn't possibly tell her.

"It's really nice how they all care about you." She said in response.

"Yeah... they're like my family." I contemplated. "But I find them more bearable with you around, though."

She laughed, clearly not knowing what to say.

"I'm going to go find Jeff. You can stay here if you like."

"Actually, I think I'm gonna go fetch something from the kitchen."

I nodded, and we went separate ways.

"Why did you tell her?" I demanded, firmly, my gaze following Jeff as he slauntered across the room with unblinking, stern eyes.

"Tell who what?" He asked, his voice thick and uninterested, and his boredome annoyed me. It was my secret. It was the only very personal secret I had, because everyone knew I drowned and that my father hated me enough to desire my death, but they weren't aware of the fact that I wanted to be human again. Until now.

"Tell Jane about Lana. The whole story. The one I told you." I said.

Jeff gasped.

So it was true.

"Ben, while you were gone, something... came here." He scratched his scalp, hesitatingly, and continued. "It wasn't human, or at least we didn't think it was. And it wasn't like us either. It wanted to see you. We told it you weren't here, so it asked if you were out with the girl with the red hair. We didn't answer. But it smirked understantingly, then the thing said we don't need to protect Lana because you're just using her anyway. Everyone was there and everyone heard. Then, before it left, it handed me an envelope and said it was for you."

My shoulders were trembling silently, and I had a salty taste in my mouth. One of them came here for me? I immediately wanted to check out the envelope, but I was still angry because Jeff told them the rest.

"You still had a choice." I whispered.

Jeff searched his pockets for a minute, then he handed me an old photo. I dumbfoundedly raised my eyebrow while I grabbed it, but I quickly felt my jaw drop as soon as the image appeared in front of my orbs. It was an old picture of me and my father at the beach, only that a full moon was drawn on the sky, along with desperate features on my face and blood dripping from my eyes and chest. Also, my father's mouth was carved into a wide smile and the shape of Majora's Mask surrounded his head. You shouldn't have done that was written in a corner. What did they mean by that?

I didn't have a chance to say anything, because Lana's scream suddenly echoed in the Mansion. I rushed upstairs, in my room, before I realized, and found her pressed against a wall, staring at the window. A drawing of the two of us standing in the forest today was imprinted on the glass, only that Lana was powerfully crossed out with an X. The substance which they used dripped down her body.

"What the-" I began, but Jeff interrupted me with a vivid voice.

"I did not have choice."

I rushed over to Lana to put my arms around her, because I thought it would calm her, when I heard her asking:

"What's happening, Ben?" Her voice was shaking. I caressed her cheek gently, searching through my mind for an answer.

"It's an old story." Jeff said, gesturing towards me and Lana, indirectly suggesting that we should get out of the room. "It's complicated and you don't need to hear about it. We should just go somewhere else for a while."

We nodded, and I shot him a thankful look. His unblinking eyes just stared at me without betraying any emotion.

"Let's just go." I then said.

"What do you mean by 'don't need to hear about it'? I'm there, in that drawing, crossed out!" Lana said, with a higher tone than usual.

"I'll tell you after we leave this place. I just need to know you're safe first." I answered.

It was true, and it made all of this very confusing and hard to deal with, but also I needed some time to think about what I'll tell her. I didn't want her to know about the Moon Children as well. I didn't want her to hate me and be afraid of me. And this feeling was so powerful. I wish I didn't make that deal with them.

I have to figure out a way to undo that action.

I can't lose her. And after tonight, I realized the real threat. It won't be that easy.

But I don't care.

I keep forgetting that they made me who I am now. That they know almost everything about me.

LANA'S POV

I was so frightened afterwards. What have I gotten myself into? Why did I even agree to spend time with Ben? He's a creepypasta, even though he acts much more different than I thought. I knew I shouldn't be thinking this way, especially after today... yet that drawing scared me. I didn't know what was best: not to know what all of this is about or find out and then probably endanger myself even more. Or maybe those who did that drawing assumed I was aware. So I decided to ask Ben as soon as we leave this place.

"Hey.. are you okay?" I turned and saw Masky staning in front of me.

"Um, yes." I answered. Did he know?

"We're going to Offender's house, since he's the closest."

I nodded awkwardly, and he left quietly.

I waited in silence for a couple of minutes in the Mansion's hallway, until Ben showed up, dressed in shades of green from head to toes.

"I'm really sorry." He said.

"It's not your fault." I responded. His bottom lip twitched for a moment. I didn't know if it was his fault or not, but I chose to believe it wasn't.

He grabbed my hand, and he was faintly cold, but I held on to it nevertheless.

"You're really... special to me. Don't forget that, Lana, okay?" He said. Cheesy.

"I won't." I assured him.

"I really need you to trust me." His voice trembled.

"I do trust you."

He leaned in and kissed my cheek, and then we exited the Mansion.

Outside, the sky was pitch black, and it was dead quiet.

Author's note : I'M SO SO SO SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING. I'm horrible.

My exams passed and I was so tired I just wanted to sleep for a month but still I have no excuse for not updating since May. I'm really sorry. I wanna thank all of you for your support. I really appreciate it.

I really hope this chapter isn't that bad. I'm going to try updating more frequently from now on. I promise.

Thank you all for reading!