The Keeper of our Dreams

"Okay, will you tell us who Starr whatzamacallit or Dreamscape or whatever the hell is now?" BEN questioned Slenderman. The girls had been surprised that he hadn't known, seeing as he had been here longer than they had. "𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏.. 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏.." Slender said and they looked at him expectantly, he just stared back. "And?" Queenie prompted. "Why do you seem so apprehensive about telling us?" She crossed her arms indignantly as ReeRee nodded her head vigorously beside her. "𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔. 𝑬𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂��� 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑-𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒚." He replied darkly and ReeRee peeped up. "But if it's easier for her to enter our minds when we are asleep, then why will we be sleeping?" She peered at him with wide eyes and he sighed, rubbing the spot where the bridge of his nose would be.

"𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒖𝒔. 𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒔𝒕. 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒈𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒅𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕. 𝑨𝒍𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉, 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝑰 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒚𝒆." The girls cocked their heads in unison. Queenie had a little bit of drool hanging out of her mouth and BEN looked to the ground, distant. "𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒆.." He groaned. "𝑳𝒐𝒐��, 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒐. 𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒚." "Okay. What do we have to do?" Queenie queried. "𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑰 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐."

~ ~ ~

She looked at the clock. It was two forty-nine. Almost time. "Hey Slendy? Where are you? How do we do this?" Queenie yelled from her spot on the floor, sitting cross-legged next to ReeRee, Eyeless Jack and BEN in a C shape. E.J had been filled in on the situation and instantly opted to go with them. He said that it was because if they ever got into trouble that five bodies were better than four but everyone knew that it was just to burst in like Superman if ReeRee felt scared. Charisma wanted to come along with them, but Slenderman told her that she couldn't. "But that's not fair though." She had said to him with crossed arms. "𝑰'𝒎 ����𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆, 𝒑𝒍𝒖𝒔 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇, 𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒆." He had responded. "𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑳𝒖𝑳𝒖'𝒔 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒙𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆."

With that said, Charisma just sighed and nodded before she shuffled up to her room. A loud static sound came from the kitchen that made their ears ring. "You okay in there?!" Queenie questioned. "𝒀𝒆𝒔! 𝑰'𝒎 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒆! 𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒂 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓!" Slender replied from the kitchen. They had no idea on what he was doing, except for maybe E.J and even if he did, he didn't let on. ReeRee sighed loudly, impatient. Queenie silently agreed and looked at the other two. E.J sat in solemn silence, barely moving. When ReeRee elbowed him in the side, he just looked at her for a moment, took her hand in his and resumed his stillness. BEN, on the other hand, looked utterly terrified. His face and knuckles were pale and he was clammy to the touch. His face, however, was the calmest Queenie had ever seen it and that's what scared her the most. And he hasn't said a word ever since they all sat down.

"Hey BEN, you okay?" She asked and he looked at her, raging tranquility in his eyes. "I'm great. Why do you ask?" He said in a cool and collected voice. He was most certainly not alright. That was beginning to freak Queenie out. "Are you afraid?" She asked soothingly yet sincerely. He blinked before frowning. "You can tell, huh?" He chuckled to himself as he glanced down at his intertwined hands. "Why? I mean, I am too but.. you seem terrified." He sighed and slowly looked back up at her. His eyes were clouded. "I feel as if I have been there before... like all of what Slendy described.. it seemed so... familiar.." He shrugged and smiled without warmth. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just a pussy." "Hey, for what it's worth-" Before Queenie could finish her thought, Slenderman walked in. He had a bandaged tentacle and some strange, dark substance in four glasses. He handed them to everyone that was sitting down.

"𝑫𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒌." They all wrinkled their noses at it. "Uhm.. is this... tentacle juice..?" ReeRee asked in a disgusted tone. E.J peered down at his glass then guzzled it down. He sputtered and dropped the glass when it was finished. "Guh.. yup. I think it is..." He replied thickly. He put his hand on his mask above his mouth, looking as if he wanted to clear his stomach of whatever just crawled into it. "𝑵𝒐. 𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 '𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒍𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒆.' 𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒚. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒆𝒔, 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔. 𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒖𝒑, 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆." Slender prompted as he lifted the glasses to the lips of the remaining three. Queenie gulped and took a deep breath. "Bottoms up..." BEN said shakily and downed the thing in one gulp. His eyes squeezed shut and he shuttered violently as if he ate a really tart lemon. Somehow he appeared weaker than before. "It wasn't..." He burped as if he were going to throw up.

"That bad." He gave the girls a weak smile and his teeth were covered in black grime. "Attractive.." Queenie said sarcastically and BEN quickly closed his mouth. Queenie then looked at ReeRee. "On three, okay? One.. two.." "Three!!" ReeRee threw the liquid down her throat, followed by Queenie. It had tasted as if tar and a hot dog had a baby and left it in one hundred degree weather. They both hugged each other and gagged. "Oh my god!! What the hell is inside of you Slendy?!" Queenie retched as ReeRee licked her hands to get the sweet embrace of salt upon her tongue, anything to get rid of whatever that was. He said nothing as he sat between Queenie and BEN, crossing his long legs. As he grabbed both their hands, he told them all to hold hands. "One step ahead of you." E.J said as he showed off the hand that was intertwined with ReeRee's. She blushed a small bit when he seemed a bit proud of it.

Queenie chuckled to herself as she grabbed ReeRee's free hand. When the circle was complete, Slender told them to close their eyes and as soon as they did there was a loud, burning static that filled their ears. Somehow, it actually had a temperature despite it being a sound. It had a sort of presence, like when you sensed someone standing behind you. Like it was alive. The static filled everything. Their ears, their thoughts, their bodies; everything was surrounded by sound until suddenly it just stopped. "𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒚𝒆𝒕." Slenderman had said sternly when ReeRee contemplated peeking. Silence hung around for what seemed like hours. Then the flooring began to materialize underneath them. "𝑶𝒌𝒂𝒚." Once they opened their eyes and looked around at what they saw. It was, well... indescribable. They were in the Mansion but it was strangely coloured. Everything was bright and warm, but dark and cold at the same time.

Everything was so vibrantly dull that it made no sense. Nothing moved. There was no sound of the clock ticking or the faucet that was always leaking in the kitchen. Nothing. "Woah... is this what it's like to be high off your ass? Are we dead?" Questioned Queenie, touching some curtains. They burned her skin but it didn't hurt and they were immovable, like they were stone. "𝑵𝒐. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒎 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒆." Slender said ominously and BEN looked sick to his stomach. Queenie touched his shoulder. "You okay?" She asked and he nodded. "Yeah, but I.. I've definitely been here before.." He answered. She rubbed his shoulder in comfort as they followed Slender up the many stairs of the Mansion and onto the roof.

The whole time they walked, something itched at Queenie. Something very important... "𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚... 𝒖𝒏𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆.." Was all that Slenderman said as he opened a small door that led to the roof and stooped low as he went through, followed by the others. Everyone gasped as they saw a woman floating on the roof. She turned and laughed a melodic sound that grazed their ears pleasantly. The woman had pale skin and auburn hair that had feathers and wind chimes in it. Her body was enveloped in fleece footed pajamas that looked like a starry sky. The white mask on her face seemed to move with her facial expressions and had rainbow liquid dripping from its eye holes. The masks lips parted as if she was about to speak. "Hello Slenderman, Jack, Reneé, Benjamin and Melissa. I have been expecting you." "Woah woah woah, who is Melissa?" ReeRee asked obnoxiously and the boys looked at Queenie.

"I-I have no clue as to who the hell that is." Queenie said angrily and Dreamscape once again made that song of laughter. "Of course you do, you just do not want to revisit the past." She floated up to Queenie and looked up her upside down. "It is you." Queenie fumed. "No it's not! Not anymore..." She said indignantly as she crossed her arms and looked straight up into Skye's face. Skye's smile shortened a small bit. "As you wish, Queenie." She landed on the ground and looked up at Slenderman. "Why hello there my friend! I have been waiting for your question for years! Well, only an hour for you.. how have you been? Let's talk." She said with a sudden exuberance in her voice. Her energy sparked off of her in waves. "Come come! Say something 'Slendy!'" Slenderman winced. "𝑾𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆-" He began. "Oh why of course we have time! We have all the time in the world!" She said dismissively as she flew over to ReeRee who was standing, more likely hiding, behind Queenie.

"Oh! I didn't see you there! Hello! You are so cute I just want to keep you here forever." Skye said as she pinched her cheeks. Eyeless Jack moved the strange woman's hand away and somewhat shielded ReeRee, who was smiling at the flying woman. "Hi. Lucky, I wish I could fly.." ReeRee said to the woman. "Ooh, me too!" BEN said, smiling. Clearly, his mood from earlier had disappeared. Skye quickly smiled at this, a wicked long smile that chilled ReeRee to the bone. "Well okay!" She giggled as she grabbed both of their arms and as quick as lightning, flung them into the air. Eyeless Jack and Slenderman ran to the spot where they would land, but they didn't fall. The three of them just stared at them and the two just stared back. Dumbfounded, they waved their arms ridiculously, looking like birds. ReeRee flailed her arms and legs, desperately trying to move. They drifted aimlessly and eventually collided painfully, it was as if they were stuck in the vacuum of space.

"Hey, get me down! This is not what I meant lady!" BEN yelled down at them, he floated around so he had to yell past his butt. "No. You are just doing it wrong! Think about what you want to happen, not do it. Imagine. This is the Mindscape after all," Skye replied with a voice laced with annoyance. She then floated up to them and stopped in front of BEN before poking him with her finger and he quickly revolved head over heels. With what he had drank earlier, this wasn't going to be good. He was going too fast for them to see, but they assumed that he was a shade of green. Queenie's heart wrenched as she yelled at Skye to stop and she chortled a maniacal sound. "The only way to stop it is to dream about it," She sang with the widest grin plastered on her lips. "Oh, I haven't had this much fun in forever!" She squealed, shaking her fists with excitement. "Hork... I'm gonna puke man! Stooop!" BEN was definitely green now, they could all see it.

He gripped his stomach as he spun, not seeming to slow in the slightest. "Think about it. 𝑅𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 think about it," Skye demanded as she spun ReeRee who didn't even get to protest before it happened. Her shout heightened and lowered in volume as she revolved next to the boy. Eyeless Jack became extremely angry at this and gracefully flew up to ReeRee and hugged her close to him, effectively stopping her. His legs splayed as he brought her back to land, bridal style. He was running before he even hit the ground. His feet hit the ground with a dull thud as he ran to the door. He flung it opened and disappeared. "See? He knows how to do it! Quite well might I add.." Skye said with her arms crossed. "Hey, c'mon put him down! What good is this doing?" Queenie yelled up at her helplessly but Skye shook her head and clicked her tongue. "He needs to learn how to see. Without eyes," She said mysteriously.

"Come on. I know that you can." She prompted eagerly to BEN who frowned in response His face was scrunched up and pale, partly in agony and partly in concentration. He stopped abruptly and his face was filled with a strange emotion compromised of anger, satisfaction and nausea. Skye clapped her hands excitedly. "Oh I just knew you could do it-" She was cut off by a punch BEN threw that she deftly dodged. She snapped her fingers and BEN crashed to the ground, slamming down on his stomach with a loud thwack. Queenie ran over to help the breathless boy to his feet. "𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒏, 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆. 𝑮𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒃𝒚𝒆 𝑺𝒌𝒚𝒆." Slenderman opened the door and shepherd them out. Before he could exit himself, Skye flew over and grabbed his shoulder to stop him. "Please do not rhyme as you say goodbye. Stay with Skye," She began then stopped herself.

Her eyes were filled with with terrible loneliness that penetrated her soul and she sighed. "She's at the cave beyond the hills, the one near the next city over. Make haste for she will only be there for a week before the demon moves again." She said with sudden solemnity and Slenderman nodded. "𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖." He turned and moved to make his way down the stairs. Skye quickly grabbed his hand and he looked back into her tear-filled eyes. "You'll come back for me, won't you?" He chuckled and gently stroked a stray strand of hair from her cheek. "𝑶𝒇 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓. 𝑰 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒅𝒐." He then made his way downstairs to meet back up with the others, leaving the wistful woman behind to her lonesome. She quietly closed the door and resumed her position on the roof to wait the next millennia for him to come back. He always did.