Annabeth grinned as Emily snapped another photo of them on her phone and was now examining it, bemoaning "how terrible she looked". As expected, only her best friend could cheer her up in such a hopeless life.

"But you came out awesome, Beth!" Emily whined, pouting her perfect red lips. "It's not fair!"

Said girl waved her hand, still smiling. "Well, sorry, Em." she replied, "But it's not my fault! You know how capricious cameras are! Some days, they make you look amazing, and other times...not so much. Yours is the worst. Honestly, I warned you about buying that phone."

"It looked so good when I first saw it," Emily grumbled. "I wasted my money. Cheaters. Liar, liar, pants on fire!"

Annabeth smirked at her friend's antics. Emily was the same age as her, fifteen, but sometimes she wondered if her mental age was that of a ten-year-old's. "Really, Em, you can be so childish sometimes." she scolded.

Emily smiled brilliantly and grabbed her hand, snapping another photo before Annabeth could react. "That's why we're such great friends, right?" she laughed. Annabeth faked a scowl, but she couldn't seem to make it convincing as Emily giggled and rolled her eyes.

"Come on!" Emily chirped.

Annabeth frowned. "Whaddya mean? Our plans were to stay over at my house, right?"

Her friend laughed. "Oh, come on Beth, you know what I'm talking about!"

"Em, I told you, that's too dangerous. We can't just - "

Emily grinned suggestively. "So you scared?"

"No! It's just that - well - exploring a forest? That's a dumb thing to do! You'd have to be stupid to do something like that! It's dangerous." Especially when a psycho killer is obsessed with you, Annabeth thought, though she didn't mention it out loud. She didn't want to freak out Emily, or make her life a wreck like Annabeth's was.

Not to mention that if she kept refusing, Emily would become suspicious.

Still, she persisted. Annabeth had heard that the Creepypastas lived in a mansion or some shit like that in the woods. She didn't want to risk it.

"It's just a forest," Emily grumbled. "Honestly, it's not like there'll be, what, killers or something."

Annabeth almost laughed at the irony, but she forced it back. "Maybe not. But there's a chance. It's dangerous, Em!"

"Then I'll go by myself!"

Hell no.

Annabeth sighed. How could someone soft like Emily turn so persistently stubborn when she wanted to? She'd learned that once her friend set her mind to something that she wanted to do enough, nothing was going to dissuade her from going through with it. And if she insisted on doing so, Annabeth didn't want her to be alone.

"Fine. I'll go."

"Yay!"

(Time skip: One hour later)

Annabeth felt a grin spreading over her face.

Em was right. This isn't so bad.

"I was right! This isn't so bad, is it?" Emily crowed triumphantly, lightly shoving Annabeth. She stuck her tongue out childishly at her friend. "That was exactly what I was thinking. Em, you sure you're not a mind reader?"

"Positive. I just know my best friend very, very, well." Emily laughed. Annabeth smiled. "Yeah, yeah. You're right. After all, we've known each other since fourth grade."

"That's the spirit!" Emily encouraged, making the girl slap her arm lightly.

What would I do without you, Em? Annabeth wondered affectionately.

Unbeknownst to both teen girls, a tall, lean figure watched them from the dark treeline of the deeper forest, his cerulean orbs on the one with long, curly blonde hair and stormy gray eyes. He chuckled maliciously to himself.

Oh, doll. You're so stupid. You shouldn't have come here, especially not with that other girl. His icy eyes moved to the other girl with straight, glossy, rich brown hair, naturally pale skin, and forest-green eyes. So it's fucking true, huh? I wondered, but now I can see how much you care about her just from watching that look on your beautiful face.

The figure laughed quietly, making sure to keep the volume down to prevent Annabeth and Emily from hearing him.

"Looks like I've found a chink in your armor, sweetcheeks."

(Time skip: Two hours later)

Emily shrieked, making Annabeth jump. Alarm bells went off in her brain. What was it? Jeff? Slenderman? Laughing Jack? That "EJ" and "Smile" that Jeff had been blabbering about back in her house? She turned to her friend in bewilderment, seeing a frightened and revolted expression on her face. "What the hell, Em? Are you okay?" she asked.

"I think I see a dead deer over there!" Emily screeched. "Gross!"

"That's it?" Phew! I thought she'd seen, like, that Jeff asswipe or something. "Honestly, Em. I thought our lives were in danger or something." Annabeth grumbled. She followed Emily's gaze and did in fact notice a large, dark form slumped in the underbrush, with vague details visible - four slender legs, sharp cloven hooves. Her interest piqued - she'd never seen a deer carcass before. "I'm going to check it out!" she declared.

Her friend stared at her like she'd grown a second head. "Are you crazy? That's fucking disgusting, Beth! I am not going over there! I am not getting within ten feet of that!" she wrinkled her nose. "I bet it stinks, too."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Fine, then don't." she said simply. "In fact, I see where we came into the forest. You can go ahead."

"I sure will." Emily skipped ahead, her brown hair bouncing on her shoulders. Annabeth, for her part, stepped carefully over to the deer carcass, taking in the limp form and the flies buzzing around its eyes. It must have not been dead for very long, because she could see no visible signs of decay and there wasn't a terrible smell like she'd expected. In addition, cause of death probably had been old age or disease, because there was no blood. The antlers on its head and its rather bulky physique signified the deer as a buck.

Annabeth stared at the buck's empty black eyes that seemed to look straight through her. She shuddered, suddenly unsettled. Was this what her mother's eyes had looked like when she'd died? So...so vacant and soulless?

Why am I looking at this? Annabeth tore her eyes from the - to her slight horror - admittedly fascinating carcass and spun around, hurling towards the break in the trees. Emily should be waiting up ahead there.

"Em!" she called as she neared the clearing. "I'm coming back!" Reaching the break in the trees, the teen looked around, but saw no sign of her friend. "Emily?" she called. "Where are you?"

Still no response. Oh, so you want to play a game, huh? Annabeth thought with a smile. Alright then.

"Fine then! I'll come find you!" she declared. Where could Em be hiding? Hmm...Maybe in the nearby bushes? She checked, but no one was there. Figures. Em wouldn't be that stupid.

Hearing a crackle of shrubbery off to her left, Annabeth whipped and saw a flash of movement in it. She whipped around and ran towards the vegetation. Her feet pounded against the grass as she reached the brush, reached out, and parted its branches, expecting to see Emily huddled in it, laughing as she was discovered.

Nothing.

Oh, God damn it. Annabeth groaned to herself. She'd been fully expecting to see her friend hiding there, but there was absolutely nothing, save for a few creepy crawlers that scuttled about as the light hit them. The teenager wrinkled her nose in disgust, tensing her muscles to turn around and continue her search.

Danger, said her instincts.

"I missed you, dollface."

That voice.

Dollface.

There was only one person it could be.

Annabeth spun around to find herself staring into icy cerulean orbs, her own gray eyes taking in the burned remains of eyelids, the unnaturally pale skin, singed, choppy black hair, Cheshire cat smile, and just the disturbing attractiveness of his features.

Jeff the Killer.

With a shriek, the girl half-leaped, half-stumbled backwards, tripping over the bushes and falling head-over-heels onto the muddy ground.

Jeff giggled, his grin widening until it literally almost stretched from ear to ear. "Really, how clumsy of you, princess." he laughed.

Ignoring the jibe, Annabeth leaped to her feet, her hand going to the pencil she'd always kept with her since her first encounter with this asshole. Then her eyes traveled down to his side and widened in rage, loathing, and fear.

Emily's green eyes, large and haunted, stared back at her. Jeff had his toned arm around her throat, not enough to choke her, but enough to keep her body pinned against his, preventing her from escaping. Held a mere centimeter over Emily's cheek was a gleaming kitchen knife, it's blade blood-splattered but looking razor sharp. Noticing Annabeth's expression filled with restrained hate, the killer's grin widened so much that she briefly wondered if his face was going to split in half. Not that she would've minded it. In fact, she wished it'd happen.

Sadly, no such luck. When was there ever "suck luck" when it came to Annabeth and this bloodthirsty fucker?

"What the fuck are you doing with Emily?" Annabeth hissed, refraining form throwing herself at the killer and trying to bash his brains out with her bare hands. It wouldn't work, and they both - no, all three of them - knew it.

Jeff laughed as she glared at him. "Well, you see, doll, you've been a bit too stubborn for my liking - always mouthing off at me and resisting my charms. And while I find it adorable that you think you can possibly win over me, it gets a little tiresome. So I've decided to provide you a little...incentive to make you behave." he gestured gleefully to Emily.

Annabeth snarled. "What the fuck do you want, asshole?"

"I'm surprised you haven't put it together yet, sweetcheeks. You're smart, aren't you?"

The girl clenched her fists. "Get to the damn point, for shit's sake."

"That's no fun, babe." Jeff grumbled. "Fine, fine. See, I'm offering you two choices here, dollface."

Annabeth narrowed her eyes. She was afraid she already knew what those two choices were. Please, God, let me be wrong...

"Come with me and I'll spare this poor little girl's life," Jeff purred.

"Or resist, and she dies. Her blood will be on your hands."

No...

"Well, doll. Make your choice, why don't you?"

It can't be...

"You have five minutes. If you don't choose, her head will fly, and you'll be mine."

How was that? Was it good? Bad?

I think the latter. AAAAHHHH! XD

Thank you so much for reading, and I'll see you guys again soon!