I'M ALIVE!

... *coughs* Pretend I didn't just do that... But anyway, yes you are not dreaming. I have finally updated this story. I can explain why I didn't do this sooner. 6th Form at school is /really/ stressful. And I do mean STRESSFUL. The amount of homework I've had over the last few weeks has been eating up my hours, and I still have loads to do now!

So to sum it up, this plus other problems and stories have prevented me from updating. But at last, I pushed myself to finish this after finding spare time during my ICT lesson. HELL YEAH!

So you guys can finally find out what happened after that cliffhanger I left on Chapter 10. That was very evil of me to leave that, wasn't it? XD But anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, including the little twist I added.

Chapter 11: Captivity

Megan's POV

The five of us sat there in the dark, completely and utterly silent. Alice remained standing up. We were all in shock. We had no idea what had just happened.

I heard Alice stumble towards the light switch, managing to find the right one and flick it on. Light finally flooded into the room. Our eyes widened towards the floor to find there was blood everywhere. I glanced down at my arms to find there was blood caking them. There were also traces of blood on my legs too. It must have been from where the thread was sown into my arms and legs…

I silently glanced around at everyone else as we tried to comprehend what had happened. Why does it feel like someone is missing? I see Alice, Ellie, Charlotte, Charlie, and Hannah. That's everyone, yet why do I feel like I missed someone…?

Ellie, Charlotte and Alice started to panic a bit at the blood on their arms. That was when I remembered what Emily had told us and realised what the Song of Unhealing had done.

"Guys, don't panic. I just remembered something. The Song of Unhealing is the reverse of the Song of Healing. So since the Song of Healing heals injuries, the Song of Unhealing must have undone that effect and returned the injuries to their original states"

"So, all we have to do is listen to the Song of Healing with lyrics to fix this?" Charlie questioned.

I nodded, quickly yanking out my phone and searching the video name. What was it again?

"Hey guys, what was the name of the youtube video again with that boy singing the Song of Healing?"

Everyone looked around at each other confused.

"I can't remember. Sorry Megan" Ellie apologised quietly.

Everyone else also muttered an "I don't know" or "I'm not sure", and began discussing it amongst themselves. I frowned.

"Didn't one of you write the youtube names from Emily down on your hand?"

They all stopped talking then and glanced at me confused again.

"What? None of us have spoken to Emily last time I checked. And no one wrote any youtube names down on their hand either" Charlie replied.

"Are you ok Megan? Did that whole experience mess with your head or something?" Hannah asked, concerned.

I shook my head, standing up.

"No! I remember it! Someone here wrote down the youtube names on their hand and gave it to me! It was at break time a few weeks ago!"

That was when I saw an unfamiliar bag propped on Alice's sofa. I picked it up and examined it curiously. Why does this bag seem familiar…?

"Whose bag is that?" Charlotte questioned.

"I don't know. I just found it on the sofa. Does it belong to your mom Alice?"

Alice shook her head.

"No. My mom hasn't been in here. And it's not the type of bag she'd use anyway"

"Alice has a point…" Hannah added, frowning at the bag. "It looks more like something we'd use, like teenager wise"

"But if it doesn't belong to any of us in this room, whose is it?"

Everyone looked around at each other, trying to think of the person who this belonged to. I glanced back towards the spot behind where I was sitting, lost in thought. Why do I feel like there was someone else here? I've had this feeling before. It was after Emily went missing. I forgot her for a brief moment, but then everything suddenly came back afterwards-

Wait! So does that mean…?

"Guys! I've just had a thought! Remember when Emily went missing because of BEN? We all forgot about her, didn't we?"

They nodded. I held up the bag still in my hands.

"I think there was someone else here. They've gone missing because of BEN, and now we can't remember them. They must have been the one who had the youtube video names"

"Now that you mention it Megan, I do remember someone being here…" Charlotte commented, clicking her fingers repeatedly as she tried to remember. "They were the second youngest here"

"The person is female Charley" Charlie corrected, putting a finger to her chin. "She was also the same height as Hannah I think. I remember that"

"She also played the Song of Healing!" Ellie cried suddenly. "Emily gave her the Ocarina when we were trapped in that dream!"

"She was with me and Charlie when we almost drowned in that temple" Hannah added.

"She also fainted along with Ellie last week when the old man appeared at the school" Alice muttered to herself, trying to think of anything else we might have missed.

The name is on the tip of my tongue. I know it is! After a small amount of silence, reality hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Victoria! BEN took Vikki!"

My sudden outburst had caused people in the room to jump in surprise. Even poor Charlotte almost fell onto her back from fright. Everyone's eyes widened as they all suddenly stood up out of panic.

"He's got Vikki! How did he manage that?!" Hannah cried.

"He must have used the same method for taking Emily" Charlie contemplated. "We did use the same song that Emily heard before she was taken"

"But how does BEN do it? Perhaps if we can work it out, we can find a way into his world to save them" Ellie suggested.

"I'm afraid BEN's world doesn't work like that…"

Everyone froze at the sound of the voice and slowly turned to see the old guy standing in the middle of Alice's living room. We all went to scream, but no sound came out of our mouths. How did he get in here?!

Emily's POV

I slowly opened my eyes to be met with darkness. No surprises there. BEN's world was mainly in darkness anyway. I felt something cold and metallic underneath me. I slowly sat up and glanced around to find bars surrounding me in a square shape. Oh god no… I'm in a cage, aren't I?

I heard someone groan beside me. I glanced towards the other side of the cage to find Victoria slowly opening her eyes, holding her head with one hand as she carefully sat up. Why is Vikki here?! Am I dreaming?! Please tell me I'm dreaming!

Her gaze crossed with mine, and her eyes widened also. We stared at each other for a good few seconds before I mustered up the courage to speak.

"Vikki, why are you here?!"

I watched as a thoughtful look appeared on her face. I'm guessing she's trying to recall what happened before she came here. Vikki's eyes widened suddenly in horror. I raised an eyebrow.

"Hello? You still there?"

She gulped before replying.

"Yeah… Well… Alice, Charlie, Charley and Hannah told us they had found a song with lyrics that could help us get into BEN's world. So we met up at Alice's and played it. And then I blacked out. That's all I remember"

"And what song was it?"

Vikki looked down at the floor of the cage before replying.

"It was the Song of Unhealing…"

She had muttered it, but I still picked up what she said. I facepalmed.

"You let them play the Song of Unhealing with lyrics, even after I specifically told you, Ellie and Hannah not to?!"

Vikki didn't look up from the floor.

"We were running out of options! We thought that if BEN had taken you using the Song of Unhealing without lyrics, it would work in reverse with lyrics. But instead…"

She didn't even need to say it. I already knew. BEN had gotten her too. I sighed. I couldn't be angry with them. It wasn't fair. They had been trying to help me after all.

"It's not your fault. Don't worry about it. I probably would have done the same if I was in your position"

I rubbed the back of my head in thought.

"I think with or without lyrics that song still has the same effect. We're lucky that he didn't take all of you"

"He wouldn't have done. According to the Happy Mask Salesman, Ellie and I were the ones that are the most knowledgeable in the group currently"

"So Ellie will be BEN's next target. We can't let them make another mistake. The more mistakes we make, the more lives it's going to cost"

Victoria leaned back against the bars of the cage and randomly stared up at the top of it. Looking around now, I could see the cage wasn't very spacious. There was only a small gap in between me and Vikki. And the top of the cage was only a few inches away from Vikki's head. Luckily I was a bit smaller, so my head had more room. Vikki sighed heavily.

"I'm starting to question whether we are going to win this fight now. And I'm really starting to question whose side BEN is actually on"

"I had a feeling from the minute he started acting nice that something was up. It was out of BEN's character to actually do such a thing. It isn't surprising that this happened to be honest, at least in my opinion it's not. I was expecting him to betray me. It was only a matter of when…"

"You shouldn't have done that Victoria…"

Victoria and I glanced up at the sound of a familiar voice and childish laughing. I growled angrily, grabbing the bars in front of me tightly with both my hands.

"BEN! What have you done?!"

I felt a small breeze brush past me.

"What have I done? I think you should be asking Victoria what she and your little friends did…"

I heard Victoria swallow behind me. She didn't like this situation at all. In fact, I think she was frightened. I don't blame her. I am too, but I'm trying not to show it.

"She's not the one who locked us both in a cage! What's going on?!"

BEN brushed past us again.

"Not telling. I don't even see why I should. You got yourselves stuck here. So it's all… your… fault!"

BEN continued to laugh evilly. My grip on the bars tightened. My temper was getting worse.

"What's our fault?!"

"All of this! You were the ones who went snooping out the information! You were the ones who tried to get in here! So it's your fault! It's both of your faults that you are here, and now you shall pay the punishment for such a crime!"

Silence soon filled the air in between us before I sighed heavily.

"BEN, may I ask you a question?"

Another small silence followed before he decided to reply.

"Ask"

I stared coldly towards the place where he was supposed to be.

"What happened to the little boy who only wanted to live a normal life?"

Even though I wasn't looking at her, I could tell that Victoria had no idea what I was talking about; however, I heard her make a sound to suggest she had caught on to what I was saying. Another long silence followed before I got a reply from BEN.

"He drowned"

And then there was nothing. The air was silent once again.

"BEN?"

I got no response. He had left it seemed. I turned around to face Victoria again, leaning my back against the bars. She stared at me confused. It seemed she hadn't quite caught on after all. I smiled a little, shaking my head.

"As much as I want to tell you Vikki, I can't. I think we both know that in this situation, that the less we know, the better"

Alice's POV

The old man stared back at us expressionless in silence, as we stood there with widened eyes while frozen with fear. I don't even want to know how the heck he got into my house, but it seems he might be the one responsible for Vikki's disappearance. Why else would he be here?

After a small amount of silence in between us, Charlotte took a daring step forward.

"You're not here to attack us, are you?"

We all turned to her confused.

"Charley, why are you asking him that for?" Hannah questioned with a shaky tone.

She turned to stare at the five of us.

"Did it ever occur to you that if the old man's intention was to attack us, he would have done so by now?"

The five of us looked at each other in surprise. I didn't think about it like that…

Charlotte turned to Ellie then.

"But Ellie, don't you recognise him? We've met him before, haven't we?"

Ellie stared at the old man's face curiously, as he continued to stand there silently. It was getting pretty creepy… After a moment of silence between them, Ellie suddenly stumbled back in shock. I managed to catch her under her arms before she fell backwards.

"Ellie… Are you ok?"

She pointed a shaky finger towards the old man.

"I-It's Kelbris; the little green moon child who helped us in the dream…"

Wait, what?! That's- But- How is that- I-

I was left baffled. I glanced around at everyone else. They were staring at Ellie in a mixture of shock and confusion. Well, everyone except Charlotte. She must have worked it out too.

"H-How is the old guy Kelbris? I thought he died!" Charlie cried, really confused.

"I thought that too…"

We all turned back towards the old man, now revealed to be Kelbris. His expressionless gaze softened, and I could just make out a small smile on his face.

"I'm glad you finally realised it was me. I won't get into trouble now"

"W-What do you mean by that?" Megan questioned, stuttering a little.

Kelbris sighed heavily.

"It is a long story. And it might be quite hard to understand. I will try my best to explain"

He briefly looked around the room.

"You don't mind if I sit down, do you? I'm not as young as I used to be, and my legs ache after a good while of standing up"

Everyone looked to me for confirmation, since it was my house after all. I shakily nodded. I'm not sure how to cope with what's going on right now, so I hope this explanation will help clear things up.

Kelbris nodded a "thank you" as he slowly and carefully sat down in the arm chair. We all remained standing up.

"What you all saw in the dream world did actually happen. It was edited slightly however in order to try to confuse you. I'm sure your friend… Victoria is her name right?"

We all nodded simultaneously before he continued.

"I apologise. With old age comes a faulty memory, but anyway… I'm sure Victoria told you what transpired within her section of the dream. BEN did escape the clutches of the moon children, and I aided him. It was for that reason the Father dragged me out into the middle of the forest and killed me-"

"That's why he electrocuted you? The Father is a very sadistic individual…" I muttered.

"-But do any of you know how we all became moon children in the first place?"

We all looked at each other expectantly, waiting for someone to answer. After a while, we all shook our heads. We couldn't even guess. Kelbris nodded.

"That is understandable. The moon children were all humans at one point; children as young as ten to be exact, myself included. The Father, the leader of this cult, is in fact a demon. Each child that you have come across was taken and turned into a demon. They haven't aged since. Their bodies however still continued to develop until the day they were supposed to die-"

"Is that why most of them look like they have been covered in rotting flesh?" Megan wondered.

Kelbris nodded.

"Precisely. If any of those children were killed now, they wouldn't return to the life they once had. In my case, I was the only moon child besides BEN who still had their human life to return to should ever I die as a demon. The children who were turned into demons were not killed. There was a certain ritual that must be under taken, which only the Father knows about. And after I was killed by the Father, I woke up to be the 60 year old man I'm supposed to be…"

"I'm still confused though. BEN was put inside the game cartridge after he was killed, right? And you were the one who gave it to Jadusable. Why did you do that?" I inquired.

Kelbris remained silent for a brief moment.

"I honestly don't know how I ended up with the cartridge. I found it outside my house on the ground one day, and decided to try to find the owner later. It was also on that day that a young ten year old boy accidently kicked a ball through my window. He was a very timid child. Someone who was on his own and didn't have any friends. I pitied him. I invited him inside, and that was when he noticed the game. Apparently it was popular amongst his age group. I allowed him to have it. I didn't have any use for it anyway…"

Feeling a bit more reassured around him, the six of us either sat down on the floor or on the sofa, listening intently to what Kelbris had to say. He continued after clearing his throat.

"The little boy still came to see me from time to time, and then one day the visits stopped. I wondered if something had happened to him. After a few weeks passed, the cartridge turned back up on my door step; the same cartridge that I gave to him. I heard a voice constantly saying "You shouldn't have done that…" throughout my house every night. It was coming from the cartridge"

"Was it BEN?" Ellie asked.

"Yes… I think something happened to the little boy who I gave the cartridge to…"

We all swallowed simultaneously.

"But what did you mean you won't get into trouble?" I pressed.

"The Father is aware I'm still alive, and threatened to punish me if I didn't spy on you and trap you in the dreams. I have tried to help you out by giving you warnings"

"Like the one you wrote on the window in the canteen about Ellie and Vikki vanishing?" Megan questioned.

"Yes"

"And the one that was written in blood?" Ellie added.

"That one wasn't me, nor was it BEN. That was in fact from the Father…"

Our eyes widened.

"No way…" Charlotte commented quietly.

Hannah immediately stood up.

"You know what this means though about that little boy?! BEN must have been killed by the moon children and then he haunted the cartridge, killing the boy for revenge and taking his name!"

We all stared at Hannah silently. However I soon stood up as well.

"Wait Hannah. Do you remember mine and Megan's section of the dream?"

Hannah frowned for a moment, before her eyes widened in realisation.

"BEN was the one who had the cartridge and was playing it"

I nodded.

"Exactly. And you remember what happened to the Ben who was a member of the moon children cult, right?"

"He was drowned by the members"

"Right"

"But that doesn't make any sense…" Megan protested. "We saw the Happy Mask Salesman drown BEN in the dream"

"Vikki said she saw someone pulling him down by the ankles though!" Charlie cried. "So they were there, but they were hidden"

"Ugh. Why is all of this so complicated?" Charlotte moaned, rubbing her temples with her index fingers.

"But that doesn't explain why you gave the cartridge to Jadusable…" Hannah commented, frowning a little.

Kelbris glanced down towards the floor.

"I thought he would have been safe if I gave someone else the cartridge. Because I died prematurely to the events of BEN's death as a moon child, I never knew the Father's real intentions. He had wanted BEN inside the cartridge, and he wanted him to be haunting people. I was such a fool…"

Megan appeared to be searching up the Song of Healing on her phone, probably so we could have our injuries healed. But things were starting to make sense now. We know now that everything that occurred in the dream is true, but it has been altered slightly so we can't work out which parts are true and which aren't. But as I stand here and stare on at Kelbris, I know we finally have more leads to go on. Is it enough though?

The Song of Healing suddenly began playing loudly from Megan's phone, along with the same boy who had sung the Song of Unhealing. I stared down at my arms wide eyed as the blood slowly began to disappear, and my injuries slowly turned back to scars. The same thing happened to Charlotte, Ellie and Megan too. Once the song had ended, our injuries were healed as if they had never even been there. Kelbris sighed, slowly standing up.

"I can tell you that Victoria is unharmed, for now… But this is the only warning I can give you: Be careful with your decisions. You cannot afford to mess this up. Your friends' lives will be the cost otherwise…"

We all watched on with widened eyes as Kelbris slowly vanished from the room, like a ghost vanishing into the darkness of the night. Ellie looked around at everyone before turning to me.

"So what do we do now?"

I had remembered what Ellie and Vikki had told us previously when they had both been trapped inside that dream, and decided now was the time to prevent Ellie from being the next victim.

"Ellie, what do you think we should do?"

She stared at me surprised.

"Why are you asking me? I have no idea-"

"I know you don't Ellie, but you have theories. I know you won't speak up because you're frightened of saying something that could be wrong, but you can't keep this information bottled up any longer. Look at what's happened to Victoria. She was singled out because she was keeping most of her thoughts and opinions to herself, and they turned out to be correct. We can't let the same thing happen to you. We can't keep messing up. So please tell us what you think. If we all know the same information as you, then no one here will disappear"

Ellie silently looked around at everyone else, who replied back to her with a comforting smile. After a small amount of silence, Ellie sighed heavily.

"Alright. I did some extra research before I came here about the Majora's Mask game. The world that Link ends up in is called Termina. It matches the lyrics in the Majora's Mask version of the Song of Time that we listened to a good few weeks ago. I think that song might be the one we can use to get into BEN's world, but I'm not exactly sure"

"I agree with Ellie" Charlotte agreed confidently. "The lyrics make sense. If we think about it in terms of light and darkness, then BEN's world is probably where all the darkness is situated. And BEN must have played the game when he was human, right?"

"He did. Megan and I saw him" I added.

Charlotte nodded at me in acknowledgement.

"There we go. Termina is also in BEN's world. It has to be. The dreams we were in must have been based off the areas within the game. Right Ellie?"

Ellie nodded stiffly.

"They are. I researched the pictures and watched the videos Jadusable posted up on his Youtube Channel. From what we saw, they match perfectly to the surroundings in the game"

"So, that song is the key to getting in!" Charlie cried, grinning.

"I wish we had used that song first though…" Megan muttered quietly. "Then perhaps we could have prevented this from happening to Vikki"

"What's done has been done" I sighed. "We can't change it now, but we can correct things. We need to look over all the songs from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, and decide which ones we will take into the dream with us. Does everyone else agree?"

They all nodded in agreement, with Hannah yawning.

"Can we perhaps do this in the morning? We need to let things calm down first before we take action again. Plus, I'm feeling pretty drowsy"

"Me too" Charlotte yawned. "I think we should rest for now. We won't concentrate properly if we're tired"

Everyone else nodded tiredly in agreement. As much as we didn't want to leave it, we need to rest. If we plan our tactics right, we should have them out of there in no time. Emily, Vikki, please try and hang on a bit longer, ok?

Victoria's POV

You really don't know boredom until you've been stuck in a cramped cage with your friend for who knows how long in silence. That's my current situation now. Emily and I ran out of conversation material ages ago. We can't talk about anything to do with BEN here, for fear of BEN, or the Happy Mask Salesman, or the creepy little Moon Demons overhearing us.

Speaking of the Moon Children, one of them who I recognised from being tied up in the temple had been put in charge of the cage. They stood there with their back to us, holding a small wooden spear that I'm sure had blood smeared on the tip. Ew…

But anyway, you can clearly see here that there is no way Emily and I could discuss about anything related to BEN with that… thing standing there. So we had both been forced into silence. Right now, I was feeling a huge amount of regret. I should have heeded Emily's warning and actually tried to stop them from using that song. Even when I was sat down with everyone else on the floor waiting for Alice to turn the song on, I had this nasty gut feeling that something was gonna go wrong. I wish I had listened to my gut now…

I've been staring at Emily for a while now since there's nothing else to stare at but the cage floor and ceiling, and also the Moon Child, which I'd rather not stare at in case it hisses at me or something. But she has had her back to me for a small while, and she appears to be tinkering with something. I would try to move to go and look, but that Moon Child is very close to me so…

And that was when without warning (And startling me quite badly, might I add…), Emily suddenly turned around and hurled something silver and metal like at the Moon Child. It smacked hard into the side of its head, near where the temples are by its forehead, and caused it to topple sideways. The spear it was holding made a loud wooden clang as it hit the floor, and the Moon Child silently lay on its side on the ground. It didn't move. I saw something next to its foot. My eyes widened. It was the lock on the cage! But how did she-?! What?!

I stared at Emily wide eyed.

"What did you do?!"

She smirked, holding up a small hair clip.

"I'm glad Charlotte always leaves these things lying around"

I watched as she gave the cage door a good kick with her right foot, flinging it open. She turned back to me.

"Time for us to make a move!"

She clambered out quickly and started running, with me following close behind.

"S-So what are we doing now? Where are we going?!"

"To find BEN. I have an idea as to how I can get him to talk. I'll explain more later but right now just focus on running"

I nodded stiffly as I continued to follow Emily through the darkness; however the darkness soon turned into familiar looking temple walls illuminated by flamed torches. Emily quickly skidded to a halt, frowning towards the familiar looking inscriptions on the wall.

"Damn it! He knows we're out!"

"What are you guys doing here?!"

Emily and I froze at the sound of the familiar voice. I slowly turned around and glanced towards the wall opposite us to find a familiar looking, loud mouthed boy hanging upside down and clad in chains from his waist and downwards to his ankles. My eyes widened in horror, as did Emily's.

"Jordan?!"

I never learn do I when it comes to leaving evil cliffhangers? XD But yes, I made Kelbris the old guy. I know people would assume that the old guy is connected to the Father in some way, but I wondered about the origin of these moon children and questioned the old man's motives. Because if you think about it, the old guy says "Goodbye BEN" after giving the game cartridge to Jadusable. So, the old guy could be trying to help BEN reach out to someone who can help him. Plus, he never attacks Jadusable at all, does he? He is only mentioned twice throughout the creepypasta, maybe even three times. So I figured that maybe the old guy isn't necessarily evil in a sense.

But I hope you enjoyed the next chapter! The story is close to reaching its climax. I'm not telling you when though... *evil grin* Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favourited and followed this story. Nice to know people like this story. See you next time!