Night was falling; as evidenced by the groans of zombies and the clacking of skeleton bones that were starting to... um... well, start up outside. Jesse was ready to go to bed; it had been the most hectic day she'd had in ages. Several months, to be precise; ever since the end of the Builder Games and getting home for the first time in four months.

Of course, though, the universe had different plans for her and her friends.

"Uh, Jesse?"

The black-haired spider hybrid turned to see Axel standing in the doorway, looking oddly pale. "Oh, hey Axel. What is it?"

Axel opened his mouth to say something, but paused for a minute before just feebly beckoning. "C-come here."

Jesse blinked before moving towards him, stepping into the hallway. "What's up?"

He gestured at the huge window, which Steve was standing at, his tan skin looking almost like milk, his hands strangling the windowsill as he stared out of the window with wide eyes. "He's- he's just been standing there for several minutes now..."

"Steve? Hey, dude, what's wrong?" Jesse approached him, concern actually shooting through her. "What's w-"

Steve suddenly pivoted on the spot and lunged at her, hands wrapping around her throat and crushing her windpipe with sudden, incredible force, cutting off her both confused and shocked scream off abruptly. His eyes were a strange, glowing white color, and a whispering started to fill Jesse's ears as she gasped for breath, struggling to drag air in through her crushed windpipe, an extremely enticing, hypnotizing voice swirling into her mind over Axel's screams.

Come on...

Join me...

Help me take over this pathetic world...

Help me...

Join me...

"NO!"

Her windpipe suddenly was freed, and she plummeted a few inches before staggering backwards into the wall, her head banging into it and ricocheting off the wall. She shook her head to clear the daze had started filling it, looking up to see Steve clutching at his head and shaking it, eyes flickering between white and blue, tears filling his eyes. "NO! NO, NO, NO! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, collapsing to his knees.

Alex skidded into the hallway and glanced out the window, her own green eyes widening. She proceeded to unleash a vehement swear and grab the curtains, yanking them shut as tightly as she could.

"What-" Jesse let out a choking sound as she heaved air into her lungs, chest rising and falling over and over as she tried to breathe properly and compose her scrambled mind. "What just happened?!"

Steve was on his hands and knees, his entire body shaking violently. Lukas skidded into the hallway, claws leaving marks on the wood floor. "Jesse?! Holy heck-"

He was cut off by Soren skidding around the corner and tripping over him, knocking the both of them into a dog-pile. Olivia bleeped into the room, before nearly getting thrown out of the way by Ivor as he bolted in, checking Jesse over frantically. "Jesse? Oh my goodness are you alright did you get hurt-" Reuben followed a second later, making this odd keening sound in a hot panic as he ran over to Jesse.

"Ivor, I'm-" Jesse coughed a bit, rubbing her now-rather-sore throat a bit. "I'm fine... Steve?" she looked up at him as Ebony and Nariko rounded a corner, Ellegaard, Magnus, Gabriel, Hadrian, Mevia and Jace skidding around another one and all of them running into each other and knocking them all into the wall and then to the floor; followed by Petra blasting in there (literally, there was a small trail of smoke in the air behind her, and she was sparking furiously), all of them looking panicked by Jesse's scream.

Steve was shaking, before he finally lifted his head again, obvious tears welling up in the corners of his back-to-blue-eyes. "Herobrine's... back," he managed, shaking even harder as he turned his head to see Alex there, the redhead looking very obviously upset. "I know. I saw."

"Who?" Jesse wasn't the only one who asked this- a good deal of, oh, just everybody in the hallway asked the same question, almost simultaneously, too.

"See for yourself," Alex said simply, before reaching out and yanking the curtain back open again.

Jesse swivelled her head to see, before her eyes widened to the point where it looked like her irises were red-and-green pinpricks in the center of the whites. Standing- well, hovering- outside the window was someone who looked like Steve, but with glowing white eyes and surrounded by a curling cloud of smoke, the smoke pressing up against the window. For some reason, Lukas's face had gone a shade of pure white.

"That's Herobrine," Alex responded, but Jesse wasn't listening anymore- she could hear an enchanting whisper snaking its way into her mind.

Come on...

Join me...

You know you want to...

"Shut the damn curtains!" screamed Axel, his hands clamped over his ears, face screwed up furiously in concentration. He wasn't the only one- Ebony and Nariko were on their hands and knees, just like Steve, Olivia was shaking her head so hard her curly black hair was whipping her in the face as an Enderman-like screech was emitting from her throat, Petra was sending flames and sparks and smoke spitting all over the place and accidentally setting Mevia's robe on fire (Mevia swatted at it rapidly in an attempt to put it out), and Jace looked supremely uncomfortable, clinging to his head, tail tucked between his legs and ears flattened against his head.

Alex turned back around to see 'Herobrine' giving her a growing smirk. She gave him the finger and yanked the curtains shut again. "Where's the most secure room in the house?" she asked, eyes hardening.

"That would be the basement," Ivor said, raising his hand a little bit.

"Alright, quick- down there, lock all the doors- not that'll it'll do much good," she grumbled under her breath, "and we'll do our best to explain and figure something out, all right?"

Soren hesitated, before his eyes hardened, and the ginger straightened up and gave her a salute. He scooped Lukas up, the ocelot looking bewildered and worried at the sight of his friends in pain, and bolting down the hallway. It didn't take long for everyone else to follow suit, until the only two people remaining by the window were Alex and Steve. The redhead stared after them with hard, worried eyes, before glancing at Steve. "How long do we have?"

Steve was shaking in pain, but he managed to lift his head enough to meet her eyes, a trickle of sweat moving down his face. "10 minutes."

"... that'll have to be enough," Alex grumbled, before reaching down and helping him to his feet, one arm draped around her neck. "C'mon, man- we can make it, alright?"

Steve's voice had gone so low that the redhead could barely hear it, but he nodded weakly. "O... kay..." he grunted, voice cracking.

Alex nodded, before double-timing it down the hallway as fast as she could.

Outside the house, Herobrine felt a smirk creep over his lips.

Slowly, ever creeper, zombie and skeleton within a mile of the house turned their heads, eyes glowing pure white as they turned to see the hovering figure.

"Go get them."

He slowly turned back to the shut window, raising one hand and making the curtains fly open violently, ripping right off of the curtain rod and falling to the floor uselessly. His smirk grew to beauty pageant proportions, white teeth and white eyes the only clearly visible things through the black smoke obscuring his face.

"Oh, you foolish hybrids..."

A strange chuckle.

"I'm not a fan of hide and seek."


A/N: Welp I made this way creepier than I intended it. That's what I get for reading the Creepypasta wiki to see what 'One Man Hide and Seek' is. By the way, the actual ritual is creepy af. Welp, hope you liked the chapter anyway! Alex and Steve have a lot they need to explain after this, don't they. xD

And the action has officially begun.

RQTC: What is the creepiest creepypasta you've ever seen?

There's one called 'Elevator Safety Guidelines' that I found creative, but definitely the creepiest one is the 'One Man Hide and Seek'... that stuff is creepy.

ChoyofBonk: (shrugs) We'll see :3

S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: No spoilers! xD

Guest: Ahhh that sucks :/

Luna96: Ahh, I see.

Choco: Noice :3

LittleAngelbun: 'Eyyyy (high five)

RapidSammi: (hops around)

J.M.M.: No problemo :3

TheRealRedGaming: Gotcha :3

NoItsBecky: Now this xD

NightShadeNinja: (thumbs up)

x.X. A.L. X.x