187: Fear Of Ham -Christina-

"Well, I did not expect you to drop in."

"Bob?"

My dragon and I had crashed through several walls, and now stood in a large room with a pool of red liquid in the middle. The dragon had not survived the crash, but I got through with only a few bruises. Standing in the middle of the pool was Bob, waist deep in the fluid.

"Bob, what are you doing here?" I staggered to my feet, feeling exhaustion take hold.

"Did everyone seriously think that the Abhorians could unite together and start a war? They're barbarians; they don't have the intelligence to do anything like that."

I fell to my knees. The crash had hurt me more than I'd realized, "We have to get out of here, Bob. I need medical attention."

"No, that wouldn't be possible."

"What? I could die, Bob. Please, help me get out of here."

"The answer is no. Just die so I don't have to deal with your whining." Bob cupped his hands in the fluid and poured it over his head.

"Why? Why won't you help me? We're allies."

"Allies?", Bob scoffed, "You must have hit harder than it looked. I'm not your ally, I'm your enemy."

"That's impossible! Why?" I tried to stand again, only to fail.

"At the academy, I was weak. No one feared me, so my power never left the confines of my mind and when it did, the opponent always got the upper hand somehow. I tried everything and failed. I was given the lowest scores and put into the lower tier because I never showed my true potential."

"You left because you were weak?" I finally was able to get to my feet, but had to lean against the wall.

"I left because it wasn't fair. I pleaded with the teachers to give me a chance to use my powers to the fullest, but they never gave in. They told me that if my power did not activate than the fault was mine. I did not accept that, and I vowed to take my revenge."

"You're a filthy traitor, and a weakling." I was breathing heavily but slowly the pain in my head began to subside.

Bob laughed, "The system is flawed. The people with out abilities are executed when they reach nineteen, and the weakest of us are sent to the mines. There is no equality in the system, it's the strong survive and the weak are forgotten. I would gladly become a traitor to that."

"So, why the villages? Why the human settlements?" I had to keep him distracted till my head was clear enough for me to find a way out, or I was recovered enough to kill the bastard.

"I don't discriminate. Instead of allowing only the strong to survive, I'm just going to kill everything. First the Gods, then the human settlements, and finally the Sprites; none of them will survive."

"You're sick." My knees buckled and I almost fell to the floor again, "How are you controlling the Abhorians?"

"I'm the God of Fear, Christina. When I'm in the presence of these Abhorians, things change. My ability becomes supercharged. These creatures allow me to do things I'd never thought possible. I can show you, tell me . . . what do you fear most?"

Immediately, Mardockt surfaced in my thoughts. I felt goosebumps on my arms just thinking about what he'd become. Just Mardockt's eyes after the resurrection filled me with a dread I'd never knew could exist.

"That's very unusual. Why would you fear him? Why Mardockt? Isn't he dead?" His eyes widened, "Mardockt isn't dead, is he? Something else happened that forced him to be exiled. I wonder if he left for the same reason I did?"

"Bob, don't." My voice had no strength.

"Well, no matter, I'll take care of that later. Right now, I'm going to help you with your fear. Once I do that then maybe I can convince you to join me. With your strength, maybe I wouldn't have to worry about losing this war."

"I'll never join you, Bob. I'd sooner kill myself than become a murderer."

"You're already becoming a murderer! Once you earn some say on council matters, then you'll do the same things they do. They train us for this our entire lives, Christina. They make us in to them and then we make the next generation in to us." Bob's face had gone red with anger.

"This isn't the right way, Bob. This is wrong, can't you feel that?" My headache was nearly gone but my knees still shook beneath my weight.

Bob waved his hand toward me, "Maybe you'll think differently when you're not controlled by your fear."

A new headache erupted and I fell to the ground. The stone against my cheek only served to make the headache worse.

"The pain won't last long, Christina. You'll be better than fine. You'll be powerful, unstoppable. Nothing will - Oof!"

I looked through my pain-filled eyes to see Patrick standing where Bob had been. Bob was pulling himself to his feet and sneering at Patrick, "You shouldn't interrupt while I'm inside your friend's head, anything could go wrong if I make a mistake. You wouldn't want her to be a vegetable, would you?"

The pain in my head grew to a new intensity, and I could swear my head was splitting open. I opened my mouth to breathe but only screams escaped.

"All this time you've wanted to fight me Bob, and now that you have the chance you're hiding behind a hostage." Patrick tried to remain calm. If he didn't than he would use too much force. Patrick's power was related to his emotions, though I wasn't sure exactly how. If he got too angry this would get very messy and he'd have to explain to the council why he didn't bring the target back alive.

Bob took the bait and ran toward Patrick. He didn't release his hold, and I could feel him shifting things around in my head. The increasing pain of the headache made sweat drip from my forehead to the floor. It paralyzed me completely while I watched.

It was over in seconds, as I knew it would be. The pain subsided quickly as Bob fell to the ground unconscious. For some reason I already knew what had happened; Bob never finished removing my fear and because of this, I would never see ham the same way again.

Exhaustion, pain, and trauma from the ordeal took its toll and I fell to sleep.

I woke up back in the museum looking into the eyes of an Abhorian as he raised his fist to smash my face in.

186: Message Through Time -Will-

A few hours after I had been holding my wife I was standing in the hallway again. It was just like my dream, but it felt unreal. It felt like I'd done it before.

I knew that as I walked down the hallway, the smell of blood would suffocate my senses. I knew that the smell would twist in my thoughts as I worked to come to an explanation for the smell and the marks of red that streaked down the hallway. I knew that those streaks would incite visions of my wife running from an unknown assailant, bleeding because of the stab wound that I knew I would find. As I passed the children's room I would note their small feet sticking out from under the bed; surrounded by a puddle of their blood. I knew that I would leap to the conclusion that it wasn't theirs. That some how they'd fought off the attacker and even though I knew it wasn't true, I would push that deep inside to get myself to make it to our bedroom.

I knew the blood on the doorknob would make it hard to open. I didn't need to turn when I heard noises behind me to know what it was. I did anyway, to watch several police officers heading toward me in a run. I didn't hear their shouts, but I knew they didn't want me to open the door. It was all ready too late, the door gave to my weight and I was in the room.

My wife's blood puddled in the corner around her lifeless body. As I went to run to her, I noticed the words on the wall. "It's not a dream."

When I saw that on the wall before, I'd thought it was Patrick mocking me. When I learned that it was written by her, I thought it was a final attempt to comfort me; to keep me sane. Now as I read those words on the wall, I found a different meaning.

I stood there staring at the words as the police moved around me to my wife. If the nightmare I'd had wasn't a dream, then what was this? Why did I have these memories and how is it that these words have a completely different meaning?

She wasn't comforting me. She was saving me in this moment, releasing me from whatever prison I was stuck in right now. Tears ran down my cheeks as I swore to myself that I would find a way to get rid of Patrick. It was his fault that I lived this moment twice. His fault that I learned the true meaning behind the message on the wall.

But how had she known?

The world around me faded away, replaced by reality; replaced by the museum and the creatures inside.

I could still feel the tears.

And the hate.

185: Trapped Inside Himself -Andrew-

"You were destroyed. How are you here? Patrick got rid of you." I stepped back to find myself against the wall.

"You cannot destroy us, Daddy. Why would you want to? How could you?"

"You made me weak!", I felt the panic rise as my heart stepped toward me again, "I had to remove you to survive!"

I felt his hands grasp my collar and lift me into the air. For a frail and starving person, he displayed an unusual amount of strength. His grip tightened as he looked at me.

"You . . . you tried to remove your own daughter!" He spun and tossed me into a wall. Pain coursed through my body as I pulled myself to my feet.

"You have no idea what kind of pain I was in! You weren't there! You'd left me to fight it on my own!"

Till that day I'd never realized just how painful my fist could feel, "I was always there! Protecting the parts of you that were most important."

"You're a liar!" I swung my fist, but it never connected. It fell to my side; I couldn't fight him. I didn't want to. This was never supposed to happen. I was never supposed to face this part of me ever again. It was supposed to be dead.

"You were there for years and you didn't break. What do you think caused that? Every time the whip hit your skin, your daughter was there holding your hand! Every time they taunted you to break, I sat at your ear whispering the truths you needed to know. I was telling you to stay strong! Every time you screamed, Stephanie wiped away the tears and kissed you till you calmed." His foot smashed into my stomach. I fell to my knees.

"Why did I break then? Why did it work?!"

"It worked because Patrick muffled us. He destroyed everything that is good by stopping us from keeping you strong."

"Why would he do that? What is the point?"

My heart knelt down and put its hand on my shoulder, "I don't know, but we can find out. Accept us back. Let us out. Free us, Andrew."

Patrick had betrayed me. He'd been in control of my answer before I even made it. I was being manipulated, and had done unspeakable acts because of his influence. I'd killed people. I felt the anger boil as I remembered all the horrible deeds I'd committed in his name.

"Okay. Let's figure it out together, and then . . . we kill Patrick."

I woke up screaming for Patrick's blood.

Flashback Entry 184: Always Second Place -Bob-

My face hit the dirt so hard I was seeing stars. I rolled to my feet and caught the foot heading for my face. The pain stung my hands as I brought my foot up to connect with her chest. She stepped back and brushed herself off, her eyes finding me again. Well, that's not exactly true, she couldn't see me with her eyes closed but it sure felt like she could.

This was completely embarrassing. I had come here to finally prove that I'm worth Patrick's time only to get stuck fighting one of his lackeys; the weakest lackey no less. It was infuriating, to be completely outmatched by the weakest link when all I'd wanted to do was put Patrick in his place.

I sidestepped her swing only to have her elbow play patty-cake with my face. A pain in my gut was the only evidence that her knee had been there for a half-second. I jumped back to avoid a kick that would have turned my arm into jello. She was unrelenting with her assault, seeing my movements before I made them and acting with out sight.

I glanced to the sidelines to our teachers, whom were watching with interest. They wanted to see which one came out on top so they could give top tier to the ones that deserved it. The students around them, including Patrick, also watched but they saw more than the teachers. The teachers were looking simply for the potential. All they wanted to do was find the best and promote them; increase their strength and reach in the Other Lands.

The Students were like vultures. I was the underdog, who had no hope against Patrick, but they watched because if I succeeded, then the rumors of Patrick's invulnerability would be destroyed. If I failed, I would be the laughing stock of the entire class for years to come.

So if I'm beaten by his weakest of friends than that just makes it worse. I didn't want it to be worse. I wouldn't be able to stand the horror of all those people laughing at me. I turned back to Christina's fist as she took advantage of my distraction. An attempted duck had her knee teaching my chin a physics lesson, and my sight blurring over as I tasted blood on my lips.

Was this how it was supposed to be? Was I always supposed to take second place? Would I ever get to fight Patrick? I wouldn't let that happen. My hand slipped into the waistband of my pants, pulling out the small knife I'd stored there. I saw a brow on Patrick's face raise as he noticed what I held. The teachers wouldn't stop the fight until a clear winner was shown, so anything was allowed and Patrick could do nothing.

I knew that she hadn't had her knife training yet, so she was at a disadvantage. I saw her leg swing up and brought out my blade to intercept. I heard her cry out as it cut her deeply. This time she fell back to get away from my blade flitting back and forth, inches from her face. I could see desperation in her face, along with a twinge of something else; something I had craved from the beginning.

Fear.

Fear was my ability. Manipulation, manifestation, and projection of fear as long as it was present. Until now she had been fearless, but my knife had taught her humility and forced her to fear me. I felt drunk with power as I soaked in her fear. I felt the laughter bubble up and opened my mouth to reveal it to the world.

The sound that came out was a scream of pain. My groin felt like it had exploded into flames and Christina stood up, her boot smacking my weapon away. A loud, "Ooohh!", could be heard all around me; everyone watching shared my pain as I fell to my knees. I felt my chin bone turn to mush when the tip of her other boot slammed into it with a force I'd yet to ever feel. I sat there as the world slowed down, watching her spin slowly to use other body parts to teach me more about pain.

The laughter would start soon. I was beaten, completely destroyed by someone who had been considered weak. Even after I had my power backing me up, she still thought her way through the battle enough to redefine pain.

Why? Patrick was always a step ahead, always above the rest and making even the teachers worry. Staying with a tight group of friends who were considered the elite, and never wanting anyone else to sit on his throne of conceit.

I woke up a few hours later on a bed in the infirmary. Patrick was sitting on a chair watching me.

"Oh, good. You're okay." He smiled that high and mighty smile, "I was worried that you wouldn't wake up."

"Came here to gloat? I lost, you don't have to rub it in."

"No. I actually came here to warn you, because I used to think that you were the type to always play fair." Patrick leaned in close, his face angry, "The next time you bring a knife into a fair fight, I'm going to give her one too. Understand? You think that she was dangerous with just her hands and feet? Wait until she introduces your insides to the floor."

There was no fear in him. None. He wasn't lying, and there was no ego on his face. The silence lasted for minutes as he stared at me.

"I didn't go there to fight her." My voice was barely audible and the pain in my chin was slowly becoming more evident, as if reminding me of the lesson I'd learned, "I went to fight you."

He stood and walked to the door, "If you can't beat her, than you won't last three minutes with me." With that, he left.

Three weeks later, he was removed from the academy and sentenced to janitor duty.

[NEWS] A helpful post for all those who might be a little confused

The story has been very confusing and a little vague lately, so to help those who are confused I've decided to sum up the case so far.

Upon arriving at the museum, things quickly spiraled out of control. The Door of the Dead grew in power quickly and began to manifest people's fears. Andrew, a fear of Vincent's, showed up vowing to get vengeance for his murder by hurting each of his new found friends. During the turmoil of Christina's awakening, Andrew kidnapped Ben and put him into a situation where he was forced to kill a child. Saba saved Ben from going down the path she did by murdering Andrew for him.

The power of the door continued to grow as Abhorians showed up, one nearly swallowing Crystal. Crystal was saved by Nick, who was accompanied by Will, a nosy reporter with a past tied to Patrick Bernauw.

Alice, the child Ben killed, was brought back as a ghost by Patrick who told her that she was the key to saving everyone. Alice is conflicted between helping Ben, her murderer, or helping all the people in the museum, many of them being her cruel classmates.

At this point the Door had grown in power enough to emit a bright light trapping everyone into their worst fear or most feared memory. Alice, being dead, was unaffected and watched as Bob, the God of Fear, was released from the captivity of the door. Bob is searching for something called the anomaly and orders all the people within the museum to be killed to stop the anomaly from hurting his plans.

Bob notices Alice and talks to her for a bit before realizing why she's here.

Bob was angered by Patrick's interference and sent her into one of the trapped people's torments. What he didn't realize is that Alice was sent into Ben's torment, where she helps him escape. We left off with Ben and Alice waking up in the middle of the Abhorian slaughtering the other guests of the museum.

I hope that helped and if not than I apologize. I didn't fit all the information into the summary, but I fit enough so that you can get an idea of where everything is at the moment. Everyone but Ben and Alice are stuck within their fear/memory prisons.

I wonder how they'll escape this.

183: Escape -Alice-

I didn't wait for the speaking to start before I bounded down the stairs. Everything was where it was before; the vats, Ben, and me tied tightly to the deathtrap.

Just as I started to move toward the vats of water something collided into my side, throwing me to the ground. It was the person that had stopped me from before. I looked up into his face as he stared maliciously down at me.

"You aren't supposed to be here. You're supposed to be dead, and useless." He looked angry as he reached into his tattered trench coat revealing a long, sharp blade, "No matter . . ."

He lunged at me and I closed my eyes. Out of reflex my legs lifted and pushed out, catching him in the stomach. He flew backwards and the sound of breaking glass and loud splashes filled the room. The vats burst, releasing the children who coughed the water from their lungs.

"No! What have you done?!", he screamed.

Honestly, I had no idea what I'd done, but the first thing I did afterward was to go to and release my young self.

Then I was in the museum again and still dead. Ben was pulling himself to his feet next to me, a confused expression on his face.

182: The many versus the one -Alice-

"Do you know what you did?" A voice floated up to me from down the stairs.

"I was saving people. I had no choice." That was Ben.

"You always have a choice, and you murdered her. A poor innocent little girl, dead. All because you wanted something and she was in the way." The voice was very similar to Ben's except rough and sinister.

"It wasn't like that. He was going to kill all of them, I had to stop him." Ben's voice cracked.

"You lie," The other voice rose to a yell, "You wanted to save yourself! You could care less about the girl! You are turning out just like I predicted, a monster."

Ben's sobs could be heard from where I was standing at the top of the stairs. I was hit with conflicting emotions, one part of me felt upset that Ben was going through this but another part felt that justice was being done, that this was what Ben deserved. I was locked in place unable to move because I wasn't sure if I needed to help him.

All he'd ever done for me is end my life.

"I'm not a monster. I'm not."

"Well, here's your chance to prove it. Hurry and make a choice otherwise all those children . . . poor innocent children will drown," The voice laughed, "Only you can make the choice to save them, but you'd have sacrifice thi-"

A loud bang interrupted his sentence and pulled me out of my thoughts. That sound was one I recognized. Another child had died, another me. The murderer had struck again.

"See . . . I told you Ben . . ." His words faded and the entire building vibrated violently.

When the vibrations had stopped, I was still standing at the top of the stairs.

"Do you know what you did?" It was that sinister voice again.

"What is going on!? Not this again! When will it end?" Ben was yelling at no one now.

"You always have a choice, and you murdered her. A poor innocent little girl, dead. All because you wanted something and she was in the way." A deep chuckle followed that sentence.

"I didn't want her to die. I'm not a monster. Please, just let me go."

It was replaying itself over again. The whole scene over again. Ben was in a loop, reliving his greatest sin forever. He deserved it. I turned to the door and as I went to open it I heard the other voice again and it stopped me cold.

"Well, here's your chance to prove it."

 I spun around and ran down the stairs two at a time. Ben pulled himself out of the chair as I got into the room. Blood and brain matter splattered all over my face as the shotgun's loud bang echoed in the small room.

This time the voice said something different, "Who are you . . . " and the walls began to vibrate again. Everything blurred together and when it has all stopped moving I found myself at the top of the stairs again.

"Do you know what you did?"

I didn't wait to hear Ben's answer. I bolted down the stairs and entered the room. Sitting in the middle of the room were to chairs. In one sat Ben, completely untied and able to move, yet he looked trapped. He looked as though he didn't want to move.

In the other chair sat a younger me. I ran to myself as tears filled my eyes.

"It will be okay. I'll get you out." I couldn't help but notice how terrified I looked. I looked like I knew what was coming, I looked like I wanted a mother that I'd never had.

"NO!" It was Ben. "Not her, save them first." He nodded behind me.

I turned to see three large clear vats of water, each one filled to the top and then covered with a heavy metal plate. Inside each of those containers was a child struggling to breathe. My heart flew to my throat as I turned to the younger me and then back.

"I'm sorry." I ran to the vats of water and gripped the heavy metal plate. Just as I had begun to get it sliding, two strong hands grabbed my wrists and pulled me away.

"I won't let you ruin this for me! Where did you come from?"

Time seemed to slow as I was pulled away from saving those children. They were in such agony that they didn't even notice that I'd been pulled away. I watched the air bubbles slowly filter from their mouths and felt a piece of me die as they struggled against the heavy metal plates. I pushed against my captor in an attempt to get over to them; to save them before their life left.

The hands were strong, to strong for me. They pulled me farther back until I could see the two chairs again and realized that there was only one option.

The only way to save those kids, would be to kill myself. At that moment, everything that Ben had done became clear. He had been given a choice, and I was the necessary sacrifice. No other options were available except the one that killed me. I felt tears fill my eyes as I tightly closed them.

"BEN! SAVE THEM!"

"I know." ,was what he said, followed by a loud bang as my younger self's head exploded.

"You're both monsters." The hands loosened their grip as the walls began to vibrate again.

In a few short moments, I stood at the top of the stairs once again.

181: Wake Up -Alice-

The world around me came into focus and I found myself staring off the edge of a massive cliff. An old man lay dead to my right, a look of complete agony permanently planted on his face. The sound of begging behind me made me turn to see Ben fighting against invisible bonds as he attempted to reach the three people locked in battle nearby.

Three children just a bit younger than me fought; a blonde, what looked to be a younger Patrick, and a black-haired one with an uncanny resemblance to Ben. It was Patrick and the blonde versus the one with black hair, but even at two against one the black haired boy didn't look like he was losing.


I glanced at Ben and I could see the suffering in his eyes as he fought to get to them. I didn't care about his suffering, I just wanted to know where I was and how I got here. Things were happening too fast and it was overwhelming me.

"You'll be okay, Alice." A kind-looking middle aged man walked over to me from the left near Ben. I hadn't noticed him before, but the amount of new people I'd met in the last hour was getting ridiculous.

"Who are you?", I spoke as though his arrival was nothing new. It might have been rude but being thrown all over the place was getting tiresome.


"Gilfred Odephius Doorstop." He smiled and slowly I began to feel a bit better, "You can think of me as . . . a needed push, or a hint."


"I don't need a push. I need a time machine." I turned to look at Ben again, but this time his face of suffering actually hit home and I felt tears in my eyes, "Where are we?"

"We're in Ben's worst memory. A time when he was imprisoned and unable to help the people he cared about most."


"Why are we here?"


"Because the ignorant retard that put everyone into their worst feared memory didn't realize what he was doing." He turned to me and smiled, "Lucky for us, huh?"


"What am I supposed to do here?"


"There's nothing you can do. Your part comes later, after this is done. Now you should watch and remember this time always.", he walked over to the black haired boy that was dominating the battle so far. "Alice, I have to go. I can't be in two places at the same time."

With that he pulled a spear from behind him and stabbed it through black-hair's chest. The world twisted and spun as both me and Ben were yanked into the sky. The clouds surrounded us making it impossible to see each other.


"Ben?!"

I felt my feet touch ground and I found myself standing at the top of a staircase. Ben was no where to be seen. The smell that came from the bottom of the stairs made my skin crawl. My skin? I looked down at myself to find that I'd aged quite a bit. I looked to be eighteen, but that wasn't the most disturbing thing.

I was alive.