(y/f/i) = your first initial

Tapping your foot, you spun a ballpoint pen between your fingers as you waited for Greg to show up. You were currently sat at a table in a café in the city where Greg lived. He wasn't late; your nerves made you early.

You had both decided that meeting up at Greg's house wasn't the best idea. Being somewhere with an easy escape route was the only way to soothe your nerves.

Pushing your drink to the side, you opened up the fresh notebook bought for the occasion. It was a decent sized spiral bound hardcover notebook with a simple geometric pattern on the cover, and a mix of plain and lined pages. You quite liked it.

A steal for only four quid, you reflected, paired with a smooth pen, senior-school-me would've loved this.

Letting out a small sigh, you turned your head to stare out of the window, resting your chin on your palm.

The outside wasn't that busy. Across the street at a bus stop, a woman in her twenties sat on a bench next to another woman who wore all black. Her eyes and hair were black, too. You recognised her as the woman who explained your new 'power' to you. You waved at her, and she waved back.

'Hey, (Y/N), right?'

You looked up, slightly embarrassed to be caught waving at what looked like nothing. The man from the newspaper article stared down at you, his hands in his pockets. He didn't seem to make a big deal of it.

'Yup, that's me.' You smiled, getting to your feet and offering him your hand. 'Nice to see you, Greg.'

'Nice to see you too.'

The two of you sat down and you ordered Greg a coffee.

'So,' you began, 'I've been doing some research.'

'Oh?'

'Combined with the notes you sent me, I managed to understand a lot of different backstories, and I don't think any of them are the same as Jack's.' You paused. 'I mean, there's a few scientific experiments, but I'm pretty sure he's the only ritual formed one.'

'Does that increase our chances of bringing him back?' Greg questioned, tapping his forearm.

'I think so.'

'Interesting,' he mused, 'so since this Slenderman guy mainly scouts out his minions and makes them...whatever they are, Jack's could be reversed cause he didn't have as much influence as the others.'

You tried not to make your fear visible when its name was mentioned. 'Exactly,' you said, nodding. 'I think our best course of action is this.' You began to draw a flowchart in my notebook, hastily scribbling down the idea that had just popped into your head.

'Okay, so, our two main plans are probably to find out more about the ritual, and more about Jack and his life for the past few years.'

'I'm guessing I have to do the ritual stuff?'

'Yeah. Sorry.'

'No, no, it's fine. Only you can see him, so.' He shrugged. 'Can't help that.' He pulled a pen out of his own pocket and began to scrawl on the page.

RITUAL - G. TALKING - (Y/F/I).

'Do you know anything about the ritual already?' you inquired, 'if we have a starting point, it'll make it easier to start a search.'

Greg pondered on this question for a minute before nodding slightly. 'I don't know much,' he said finally, 'but I do know that they were worshipping something called Chernabog.'

The name rang a bell deep inside your memory, bringing an unpleasant scene to the surface of your mind.

The night you saw Slenderman, you also saw something else. No...you were a part of something else. The memory of it was fuzzy. You'd been playing in the garden when someone grabbed you and took you to a clearing in a nearby forest, where people wearing black robes and dark blue masks were gathered in some sort of circle. They were chanting something in a language you couldn't understand. One of them came close to you, a spoon in hand.

And then Slenderman appeared, and the memory came to an abrupt halt.

Did he...stop them? you wondered, and accidentally or on purpose save me from whatever was going to happen? I doubt it, but that's always a possibility. How did I not remember this when I did my research? Was I too tired?

'Hey, (Y/N), you okay?' Greg asked, reaching across the table to gently poke your arm. 'You're shaking.'

'Y-Yeah, I'm fine,' you managed to say, your throat suddenly dry and painful. 'I got lost in thought there for a second. Sorry.'

'Don't worry about it.' He gave you a reassuring smile. 'I was just saying that this cult thing doesn't appear in any records, but everyone in town knew about it.'

'And then after the incident, suddenly no one remembered it?'

'Exactly!'

You wrote down the new information, tapping the pen against your chin.

'Did Jack have any nightmares before the incident?' you asked abruptly, 'or did he, like, see anything strange?'

'Um, I'm pretty he did have a nightmare the day before, but I can't really remember. I was a lil bit drunk the night before,' he admitted sheepishly.

'Can you remember what the nightmare was about?'

Greg scrunched his eyebrows together as he thought, then shook his head in defeat. 'No, I'm sorry.'

'Don't worry about it,' you said, quoting him from earlier, 'memory is fickle. You'll remember eventually.'

Greg's phone buzzed, and he mumbled an apology as he scanned the screen.

'Shit, Gabby's been sick, I gotta go.' He gave you an apologetic look as he got to his feet.

'Oh, damn, that sucks. I hope she's okay.' You bit your lip. 'I'll do some more research later. Go check on Gabby.'

'Right. Thanks, (Y/N).' He grinned before rushing out of the shop, leaving some money to pay off his share of the bill.

<><><>

Later that afternoon, you sat outside on your doorstep. A bag sat on the grass a few feet in front of you.

On your way home from the café, you'd passed a butcher's shop. An idea had popped into your head, making you grin slightly. With the small bit of spending money you had, you bought a few kidneys that were left over.

Now, you just had to wait.

It reminded you of people on fantasy shows who would put some food out for a dragon and quietly hope that they would appear and see the food as a peace offering. It made you chuckle at the thought of Eyeless Jack appearing in the distance and smelling the kidneys.

Your plan was to get him to talk. You had a trap set around the bag, which you would only deactivate once you had the information you wanted. You had a secret hidden in a black duffel bag behind you.

A twig cracked and your turned your gaze to the source of the noise. A tall figure was stood a few meters away, as still as a statue, glaring at you with empty sockets. You didn't fail to notice the scalpel in his hand.

'Afternoon,' you greeted as calmly as you could, 'you took longer then I expected.'

'What do you want?' he demanded.

'To talk.' You gestured to the bag. 'You want those, don't you?'

He didn't answer, instead letting out a low growl and tightening his grip on the scalpel. 'Are you bribing me?'

'If you wanna call it 'bribery' then sure, I'm bribing you.' This is definitely bribery.

Watching your movements, Eyeless Jack cautiously approached the bag and went to snatch it, but it was suddenly encased in metal, making the man bring his hand back with a small yelp.

'What was that for?' he snapped, throwing the scalpel at you. You ducked, covering your head.

'A precaution,' you replied, steadying your racing heart, 'in case you took them and ran.' You picked up the scalpel and gently tossed it back to him. 'There you go.'

He grabbed the scalpel, keeping it in his hand. 'Why'd you do that?'

'Because it's not mine,' you said, 'I do have standards, y'know.'

'You won't have them for much longer. I'm armed. We're in a forest. Town is ten minutes away. No one would ever find a dead body here.'

The air around you seemed to grow just a bit colder and a shiver ran down your spine. It was then that you realised that, if your theories were right, Eyeless Jack had less influence then the others, meaning he could probably do some damage.

I just have to hope the energy drinks and caffeine have fucked up my kidneys enough to put him off eating them...

'You seriously wanna go through the effort of killing me and removing my kidneys?' you scoffed, feigning confidence, 'bit excessive, don't you think? Look, if you just answer my questions, I can unlock the box and then you can go.' Getting to your feet, you removed the object you'd been hiding in the duffel bag—a bat. 'I'm not taking 'no' for an answer.'

i should be studying for my assessments but here i am

writing fanfiction and getting obsessed with plague doctors

- gravity