AN: *looks at reviews* uh, I guess it's safe to assume that you guys wanted to see this chapter pretty badly. This took kinda long, and I wish I could say it was all because of school, but I have to admit that it's other things too that are my fault (darn my friend's high score on Flappy Bird! Hers is 115 and mine is 111, so close yet so far away) Anyways, Heather only cusses once but there's some gore, so... proceed with caution. I wanted to keep this T rated, so I don't know if I pushed it too far or not, but whatever.

Guest reviews~!

Nekoni: I feel bad for Andrea too (even though I'm the one doing this to her) And whaddya know, you turned into a cat. *pets you* Thanks for your dedication :D

Guest (idea supplier): Slendy isn't too merciful either... mwahaha

FishCustard: 7 reviews?! *giggles nervously* again, I'm super sorry this took long. How did ya know I liked kittens? :3

Sammy: Woah, 5 reviews! Ah! Sorry D: that last review sounded desperate, so here it is!

Gumi: Y-yes m'am! As you requested!

I don't own Slenderman but I do own this tie I stole from him *hides behind bush* hopefully he won't find me here...

101 reviews! I need not say anything else, but this: THANK YOU :D

Chapter 22

Heather POV

All I could think at the moment was Andrea, well, until the static blared in my ears. Even though I wanted to cover them up so badly, I couldn't because I had to get to Andrea. She's my main priority. The man yelled and fell to the ground, rolling around in pain. I rushed over to Andrea, relief washing over me when I saw that she was shot in her leg instead of a vital area of her body. She would live, but only if I can get medical attention, or else she'll bleed to death. Right now Andrea was whimpering and crying, clutching where the bullet hit her. I have to comfort her somehow while I do the best that I can.

"Andrea, it's gonna be okay, we're here for you."

"W-we?" Andrea sputters out.

"Yes, we. Slendy is back!" I say with assurance, "He came back."

"Slenderman…" Andrea mutters before giving out a cry of pain.

I hurry to rip out some cloth from my dress, not caring that it was damaged. With hesitation, Andrea moved her hands away from the wound like I told her to, and I rolled it around the injury. I press my hands to the makeshift bandage to stop the blood from draining out of her. I can hear the man's screams louder now, and I'm guessing that Slendy is having his way with the slob. I look over to where they are and instinctively cover Andrea's innocent eyes with one of my hands as I witness the gory scene.

Slendy has the man pinned up against the tree as I see a few tentacles puncturing him. The tentacles wiggle out like how worms wiggle out of the earth when it rains. I have to admit that my heart skipped a beat when I saw that the man was still alive, groaning in excruciating pain. When he opened his mouth to give a weak grunt, I saw that his tongue was a deep red from the blood that was making its way up his throat. I realized that he was trying to vomit out the blood, but with a tendril holding his neck with an iron grip; it made it much more difficult.

I turned my attention back to Andrea, who became quiet. With worry, I checked that she was still alive, and she was, in fact I can feel her blinking and trying to move her head to see what I was covering her eyes for. She's biting her lip so much that it's bleeding a little, but that's nothing compared to the injury on her leg.

"Heather," Andrea mumbled, "where is he?"

"You mean Slendy?" I ask, "He's taking care of that dude who kidnapped you. Don't worry, he won't bother you again."

"Is Simon dead?"

I was wondering who the heck was Simon, but I'm guessing that was the guy's name. "Um… close enough."

She smiles a bit with ease, and I move her so her head rests on my lap. I can hear the man's (was it Simon?) last gasping breaths while he choked on his own blood before he stopped making any sounds at all. I still have Andrea's eyes covered, so I look over and to my disgust and awe, his body is ripped open like a birthday present. Except that the only "gifts" inside were his organs, which were spilled out on the ground below. I gag when the smell hits me while Andrea crinkles her nose.

"He really is dead," she sputters before gagging herself too.

"Yup," I agree, "now we need to get you to a hospital!"

"H-how?"

"Hey Slendy!" I yell at him, "you need to teleport us to a hospital!"

Slendy is currently in his ultimate I-will-kill-you-all form with his monstrous appearance and all. The static faded away, leaving me (and most likely Andrea too) with a headache. His tentacles tear the already dead body into more pieces for a whole before they retract into his back. He shrinks a little and stands up straighter, and before I know it, he's back to his mentally stable state. There is some blood splattered where his mouth was, so I'm guessing he was hungry and took the chance to snack. This doesn't really faze me but I'd rather not show Andrea this. She's only a few months younger than me but she has the innocence of a child and I don't want to ruin that.

I take my hand away from Andrea's eyes and stroke her hair while Slendy smoothly walks over here. He leaned down so Andrea could get a good view of him. She blinked a couple times before breaking out in a wide grin. I can tell she's grimacing yet she still giggled softly when she saw Slendy. I'm sure he would be smiling back, if not for his mouth that's hiding right now.

"Hi Slenderman!"

Hello Andrea.

"Well?" I snap at him.

Well what?

"Your sorry ass better apologize this instant!"

"Uh Heather, it's ok-"

No it's not Andrea. I deeply do apologize for leaving you.

"You're forgiven," she breathed out, "It wasn't even your fault."

"Yes it was Andrea, and you know it."

"Give him a break," she tells me, and then turns to Slendy, "You must have been feeling so bad all this time."

Thank you for understanding.

"Humph," I muttered, a little annoyed that Andrea was quick to forgive, "Anyways! Andrea, you have to get to a hospital! How many times have I said this?"

You only said it-

"That doesn't matter, just get us there or else Andrea will suffer major blood loss! Like that guy over there."

I motion my hand towards what was left of the man's ravaged corpse. It looks like a blob of flesh and organs to me, slathered in blood. Slendy can be quite violent when he wants to be. I still don't let Andrea see it, even though I could tell she's very curious. We are each given a hand to hold while teleporting, and we go to the same hospital where Andrea's mom is staying. There is a small pause before Slendy steps back and disappears. I help Andrea up, though she can hardly walk on her own. I see a nurse coming out of the parking lot and I shout for help.

"M'am! My friend needs help! She's been shot!"

"Oh my God!" The woman yells, "Here, let me help you honey!"

She comes over and helps us, and we carry Andrea to the ER. There's people bustling everywhere, it's really hard to keep track of them. I hope I don't lose Andrea in this mess. The nurses take her somewhere, but they insisted I stay behind. That's when I started to panic. What do I tell them? The truth, my conscience berates me, what else? So when they go look for him in the woods and see the scene, what do I say happened to him? That the Slenderman came and saved us?

Andrea POV

Everything is moving in slow blurred motion. I think I'm fine, if not for the immense pain coming from my left calf. Once I got into the hospital, the smell of Clorox and antiseptics nauseated me. My stomach twisted in a knot when I had to go alone. I close my eyes, letting the noises of beeping machines and rambling people scramble together into one indistinguishable sound. I feel numb to the world, apart from reality. My mind instantly wants to look over the previous events for the millionth time, and I let it.

I remember running in the forest, feeling tired yet determined to escape the mad murderer (and when I say mad, I mean both angry and crazy). I knocked over branches and jump over rocks, anything to plow my way out. I was about to go around a tree when I heard him yell, and I froze when I noted that he was close. When I turned around, he was right there, gun pointed at me. My mind was buzzing and my ears were ringing. In fact, I thought I heard static, but I passed that off as part of my fatigue. He told me to go to him, but I couldn't move, not that I wanted to anyway. Not thinking clearly, I told him that I didn't want to. He shouted something back I couldn't remember, and then that was when he shot me.

The pain was almost blinding and deafening and… well every sense seemed to be cut off except for touch, in which the nerves might as well had been screaming themselves. I felt someone beside me, and when I saw the blond braid and a dark colored dress, I knew that was Heather. She said something I couldn't understand, but her tone was soothing. Adrenaline ran through my veins and slowly calmed me down enough to allow me to see and hear more. Until Heather covered my eyes. There was still a buzzing noise in my head, but I ignored that to focus on Heather. She helped me with the bullet wound, talking to me as I tried to respond effectively. I heard more clearly all of the sudden, and when Heather mentioned that Slenderman was here, well…

I was happy. No, that's an understatement. I was enthusiastic, overwhelming joy sprung out. He was back! I wanted to see him though, and my wish was granted when she lifted her hand from my eyes. He was there in front of me. I smiled and I think I even laughed a little. His voice rang loud and clear in my head, a sound that I missed so much. I was more than willing to forgive him, but Heather didn't seem as eager as I was. Afterwards we teleported over here, and this is where I am now, in the hospital.

When I snap back to reality, I'm in a hospital bed right now covered in white sheets, just like the walls in the room. There's a small TV in the corner, hanging on the wall. I'm hooked onto machines and whatnot, the beeping of the heart monitor resounding. I feel better with the injury being a dull ache right now. I snap my attention to the doorway when I hear someone come in. There's a young nurse walking in, her dark brown hair tied up in a neat bun. What catches my eyes is the bright red lipstick she has on. She flashes a pearly white smile at me. There's a clipboard clutched tightly in her hands, which she sets down on a small table beside me.

"Hello Miss Castillo!" she says in a high-pitched voice, "I'll be assisting you for today!"

"U-um," I stutter, "You can call me Andrea."

"Ok, lovely!" she cheers, "You can call me Nurse Simmons or, if we're going by first names, Nurse Sabrina!"

"Ok," I say with a smile, "Thank you."

"You're very welcome!" she responds before adding, "Your father is on his way, in fact, he's probably in the hospital right now!"

"Really? How did you—"

"We asked your friend a few questions, and she was able to contact your father to come here."

"But the hospital is kinda far from my house."

"Andrea dear, you were asleep while this happened."

"…really?"

She nods. "I'll go now to show him he way here if he needs help."

Her heels clack on the hard shiny floor as she exits the room. She's very lively to say the least, but that's a whole lot better than a grumpy mean nurse. She said that I fell asleep, though. I don't remember falling asleep, although it was most likely when I was thinking about the events. Closing my eyes, I tap my fingers on the bed to the ticking of a clock above me. They snap open when I hear the click clack of Nurse Sabrina's steps. Along with someone else's steps. The door opens again and there she is, except she has my father and Heather with her.

"Andrea…" my father mumbles in disbelief, and then smiles warmly, "I'm so glad you're ok."

"Hi dad."

"'Sup Andrea," Heather greets me, "are they treating you alright here? Or do I have to kick their butts?"

"I'm fine Heather," I saw with a laugh, "no butt-kicking is necessary."

They stay with me for a few hours, and even though I felt bad that I was keeping them here for a long time, I was grateful that they kept me company. My father left a few times to go to my mother's room, but Heather refused to leave my side. I can only recall her leaving twice, one for a bathroom break and another to go to my mother as well. I saw that she had a few granola bars in her pockets, so she didn't have to put up a dramatic show of how she was starving to death. Once visiting hours were over, they said their goodbyes and left. Nurse Sabrina turned the lights off and left the room so I could get some shuteye, saying something about how young girls need their beauty sleep. It was then when I felt a distinct static in the air. I smiled and peered into the darkness, seeing the tall figure that I missed so dearly. I want to say so much to him, yet I could only stutter out that one cursed word.

"So…"

So.

"Um, so, uh…" I stumble over my words, "where have you been?"

In the forest.

"So hold on, you heard me when I was shouting your name?"

I teleported out to another forest when I did.

"But— why?"

Because I didn't want to fall into the temptation of getting close to you, which could potentially put you in harm.

"But we've been together for so long, why is it any different now?"

Don't you get it Andrea? You saw the other side of me, the side you were never supposed to see.

"But I'm okay," I assure him, before adding quietly, "So is my dad."

He made some sort of grumbling sound.

"What, you don't like him?"

I despise that human.

"I don't like what he did either, but I've been noticing he regrets what he did and he's trying to fix things."

So you're forgiving him even though he left for his own benefit?

"Well I forgave you, didn't I? Why is it wrong to forgive him then?"

Because I left to protect you while he left for selfish reasons. Trust me when I say there is a clear difference between the two situations.

He seems to be defending himself and not wanting to be equal to my father. There's been tension increasing in the air as he spoke, so I have to try to calm him down.

"You know what it says in The Rules Of The Universe, right? To never break apart friendship. But since you came back, this will only be a warning."

So the mighty Andrea spares me of the penalty.

"Indeed. My mercy knows no bounds."

Didn't you give me a warning already, your highness?

He has a playful tone that makes me smile. It's good to hear he's back to normal.

"That's right! Two warnings! You can't even fathom what I'm sparing you from."

He chuckles.

What would happen then?

"It's so horrific, it simply can't be put in words."

You don't know, little one.

"There you go again with the 'little one' thing! That's bullying sir, and you're pushing the limits."

It fits you perfectly.

"So what do I have to call you? Tall one?"

I don't mind.

"Well, it really suits you. Ha! Get it? 'Suits' you? And you're wearing a— you know what, never mind."

Ha ha. I am very much amused.

I scowl at him, however I can't help but crack a smile. He's radiating waves of happiness, making my room almost seem livelier. I yawn as sleep starts to overpower me. Didn't I take a nap though? I guess that wasn't enough because now my eyelids are feeling droopy. It doesn't help that Slenderman is stroking my hair, lulling me into a slumber. During my last moments of being awake, I hear Slenderman speak.

Goodnight, little one.

"Goodnight, tall one."