-36 Hours Remain-

By the time Donna's group of friends exited the movie theater, the sun had already sunken beneath the smothering blanket of the night. Aside from the lights outside and the faint glow provided by the moon, it was pitch black.

Donna immediately felt a wave of exhaustion wash over her. Oh, now it felt like she should've seen it coming from miles away, but it was too late for her to attempt to shake the tiredness off of her shoulders. She'd spent well over an entire day without sleep and it was truly starting to affect her, whether she chose to acknowledge that fact or not.

At least she hadn't just been through the hellish experience of a horror movie - her friends would've loved to see something like that, but as Tyler had to bring along Jon and Tim they needed something more appropriate for the younger boys. They ended up heading to an action movie instead, much to Donna's delight.

Despite just coming out of the movie, she barely remembered what happened. She'd missed the beginning because she'd forced Reese to go with her to the old man's house where she found out he was missing. With that revelation placed on her mind, Donna couldn't help but be focused on her current situation rather than the events happening to fictional characters.

Any time there had been colorful items on the screen (which happened more often than she would've expected for an action movie) she couldn't help but find herself thinking about the actual Majora's Mask. She'd always found the design unsettling with its spikes and enormous empty eyes, but now that she'd seen so much with Skull Kid wearing the mask, it made her stomach turn.

That meant even in the happiest scenes for the movie she'd found a way to be uncomfortable and feel afraid over everything that was going on. She decided against mentioning this bit of information to a soul, worried that her fear would make them want to shun her and push her aside.

Donna couldn't help but feel as if she were more or less alone in the situation she'd gotten herself into. While yes, Tyler and Reese both witnessed the horrible experience with the game's "glitches," and yes, she'd forced the latter of the two to come with her to see about the old man and what could possibly be done to get information out of him, she still felt stranded.

No one could properly sympathesize with her, and she needed to get over this fact if she wanted to be successful in getting past this less than savory point in her life. Donna would have to stick to whatever she already had with her.

The first thing she knew she had to worry about was the game itself, and as no one seemed to have any information on what was going on she had to brainstorm herself. Despite spending half the movie trying to conjure up something to deal with the game, she felt stuck as ever.

She needed to make a decision about what to do about this game, otherwise she'd end up being completely pushed around by its influence. Then, of course, there was also the matter of the way Ben had tormented her over ooVoo the previous night. If only for the sake of allowing her to get a few hours of sleep, she needed to make some sort of decision.

There didn't seem to be many possible options for anything, however. Everything seemed stupid and like it wouldn't actually work no matter how much time and effort she put into it. The menace of Ben and whatever spirit lived inside of the game (as long as it actually was a spirit, of course) had been driven into her mind and she couldn't see any way out of it.

At least, there didn't seem to be any simple ways to get out of the situation. It wasn't as if Donna were expecting the Konami Code to end up getting her back to a normal life. No, whatever she did would have to be enormous and likely difficult in all sorts of ways.

Donna just didn't know where to start with it all, however. There was just too much she could think of doing and she didn't know how any of it would ned up working. Her mind felt fogged up with all of the possibilities and all the hell she'd been through.

Then finally, the answer slammed into her and literally left her breathless for a few moments. Most of her friends hadn't noticed her lagging behind, but Tyler turned around right as she froze into place, expelling all of her air in a single stream and then standing there as stiffly as she possibly could.

"Um, Donna?" he began, walking towards her with a somewhat hesitant look on his face. "Is there something wrong? Something to do with the movie? I mean, I know it wasn't very good, but it wasn't thatbad. At least Jon and Tim liked it...Donna?"

"I have to do an exorcism," Donna said quietly.

"A what?" Tyler said.

"An exorcism," she repeated, far shakier than the first time.

"Like in the movies?"

Donna nodded in response, never looking up to meet Tyler's eyes. When she did speak, her voice sounding weak and somewhat ashamed. "I have to do an exorcism. It's the only way to get rid of the demons that are around me."

"Jesus, Donna," Tyler groaned. "That's kind of overdramatic, in my opinion."

"Well, what else am I supposed to do?" she said, already getting exasperated. "There's obviously something horribly wrong with that game, and if it's something demonic then I think the exorcism is the only way to go."

"Did someone spike your slushy back in the theater?" Tyler asked. "Yeah, that game is effed up beyond belief, but an exorcism is just...it's stupid!"

"It's not stupid if it's the only option I have," Donna protested.

"Yeah, someone definitely spiked your slushy. God. I can't listen to this any more." Donna attempted to keep babbling on to Tyler, but he'd already pulled out his phone and noted the current time. It really wasn't that late, but he still decided to give himself an excuse anyways. "It's too late for Jon and Tim to be out. I've got to take them home. Now."

"So...so...you're leaving?" she squeaked out.

"Yeah. I am. All three of us are," he said, turning on his heels and parading away.

"Tyler, no - wait! Don't go. Please. I...I really want you here. We don't...we don't have to talk about..." Donna trailed off, seeing that Tyler was already too far gone for anything of use to come out of her babbling. He'd already found both of his younger brothers and forced them to follow behind him - this certainly worked out, as he was their ride and only way to get home.

Her eyes followed him and his brothers all the way to his car, watching as they all piled in. Tyler still wore that horrible frown on his face, something that looked so out of place for someone she was used to seeing with a smile plastered on.

He hadn't even left the parking lot and she couldn't deny the fact that she missed him. It seemed like he'd left her long ago, even though he'd spending time with her for the past few previous hours (although much of it was in near silence).

"Tylo," she murmured underneath her breath, feeling emotionally bruised by the experience. Usually Tyler would jump towards anything that she said, would always be helpful and caring to an extent, would always at the very least listen to what she had to say. This time, however, he was leaving it all behind.

She didn't understand what it was about her problems that ended up driving him away so quickly - she couldn't recall anything particular that she thought would be so offensive to him. Yes, maybe her entire mind was set on dispelling the darkness and she was willing to take great lengths to do that.

But that didn't mean Tyler had the right to just be cruel while speaking to her, nor did it mean he could just ditch her because he didn't enjoy what she had to say. She hated the fact he deserted her out of nowhere, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Donna, realizing just how damaging showing her inner thoughts and feelings was turning out, tried to turn up the corners of her lips and go on about her life. She ended up rushing up towards Reese, her friend totally unaware of the fact someone was barreling right towards her. When Donna finally reached her, she ended up putting her hand on Reese's shoulder to get her attention.

"Jesus, Donna!" Reese hissed. "You can't just do that to me, okay? You nearly gave me heart failure."

"You're seventeen years old," Donna replied, shaking her head. "Don't tell me that I gave you heart failure. We have...we have more important things to talk about."

"Fine then. What do you need to say, Miss Donna Bell?"

For a moment, Donna hesistated, finding herself somewhat upset by the way Reese was treating her. But then she decided that Reese was at least willing to listen to her, which was far more than she could possibly say when it came to Tyler.

"I need to do something about that game. It's haunted. I don't know what else to say about it. And I think...I think that I have to do something major. Like...I need to do an exorcism or something."

Reese inhaled a deep breath and then curled her lips into a somewhat mischevious smile that wouldn't have looked out of place on the Cheshire Cat. Unfortunately, it also reminded Donna of the Happy Mask Salesman's grin, and then she thought of Majora's Mask itself, causing a shudder to rush through her.

"You know, you should probably bring this up to Emile," Reese said. "He might know something to do."

"You're saying that Emile knows how to summon the dead?"

"I'm saying that Emile knows how to do everything," Reese said with an eyeroll. "I mean, he's got more knowledge than just all three million Pokemon."

"It's six hundred forty nine before X and Y, actually," a familiar voice said. It was Emile, of course, walking behind Donna and Reese to see what was going on. "So, you say I know how to do everything? I wouldn't say that."

"Come on," Reese said. "You're the smartest guy in our entire group."

Donna didn't make eye contact with Emile, not wanting to have to bring up the actual subject matter. But Reese being Reese, Donna soon found herself being pushed right into the situation.

"Donna, don't you have something you want to ask Emile with all of his endless trove of knowledge?"

Donna pursed her lips and brought her gaze to the floor. Her friends immediately marked this as strange, as typically she would be bubbly and laughing and cracking jokes left and right. This change in her had been gradual, but it was finally starting to appear to everyone around her who cared.

"Hey," Emile said. "Is something wrong? I know we haven't been keeping up as much as we had been," he said.

"Emile," Donna said, her voice quiet. "Don't you dare call me crazy when I ask you this."

"Crazy, in our group of friends?" Emile said with a laugh.

"Well," Reese said, "you haven't heard everything that's been going on with Donna lately. The whole reason we were late was because she kidnapped me."

"Er, what?"

"I brought her to the place where I bought a game..." Donna began to explain. "The game is...messed up. It's glitched in a bunch of creepy ways - and it's Majora's Mask, so it's disturbing enough without it."

"Like, the names of save files got messed up and switched and then didn't show up at all," Reese said, giving an example.

"And it seems like the game is trying to communicate with me - it...it gives me messages through the game. It's trying to frighten me, like it's possessed by some demon. I mean...I mean..." Donna said, beginning to stutter. "And that's why I think I need to get rid of whatever's in it, and do an exorcism."

"I don't think an exorcism would be the best option, especially if you don't really know what's going on," Emile said, letting out a rather forced laugh.

"Well, what else am I supposed to do?" Donna asked. "I mean, it's not like I can make them go away any other way."

"You have to communicate with them - find out what they want, see if you can fulfill those wants and then get them to leave you alone. You need to know a lot more than you do right now, and that means you have to communicate with them."

"Which means we have to bring them in first, right?" Reese asked. She got a nod in response and then let out a sigh. "In order to get rid of them, we have to bring them in?"

"Pretty much," Emile admitted. "Well...I think I know what I can do. I can do it tonight, if you want."

"Can you really?"

"Yeah. Should everyone else come?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Donna said. "Thank you, Emile. That...that would be so helpful. Can you go tell Josh?"

"What about Tyler?" Reese asked.

"Tyler left," Donna sighed. "So I need to give him a call. I'll convince him to come with us. He won't be able to resist me for much longer."

She pulled out her cell phone and quickly managed to pull up Tyler's number. After all, she was used to texting and calling him every day. Donna felt a moment of worry that he was actually so angry that he wouldn't pick up, but soon she heard his voice.

"Hello?"

"Tyler," Donna hissed. "Tyler, we doing a seance. A summoning. A ritual. I don't know what the hell to call it, but we're doing it."

Tyler let out a huge sigh that crackled over the phone. "God, Donna. I always knew you were going to turn out crazy. Just didn't think it would happen so soon."

"Tyler!" Donna exclaimed. "Just...help me out, okay? I know you got all pissed with me when I told you about the whole exorcism, but literally everyone else aside from you and your brothers is coming to do it."

"Well, who's the one who's actually doing it?"

"Emile," she admitted. "And it's not going to be an exorcism. We're just kind of going to try and talk to the thing that's inside of the game."

"There's no thing inside of that game except for a few glitches, Donna," Tyler protested. "There's no one to communicate with."

"Can you at least trust Emile on this? You know how smart he is - if you don't trust me on what's going on, you can at least trust him...right?"

"If I come, will you shut up about it? Don't bring it up again after all this is done."

"Fine, Tylo, whatever-"

"And don't call me Tylo."

"I won't call you Tylo," Donna said, feeling rather pleased that she'd managed to get Tyler on board despite of all his apprehension. She couldn't deny the fact that she was relieved - as much as she trusted and cared for her other friends, she felt as if it wouldn't be right if she didn't have Tyler nearby.

"So you'll come?" she asked.

"I already said yes," Tyler replied. "Well, I guess I'll see you later. Don't think Jon and Tim'll want to come along to this. Or, at least, I don't want them to come along."

"Whatever. Just as long as you're there."

Tyler didn't even bother to give her any sort of goodbye before hanging up, making her feel somewhat insulted by his behavior all over again. But of course, it was far too late for her to say anything to him. She just forced herself to be pleased that he was coming along.

She turned around, taking her phone away from her ear. Donna saw the rest of her friends beginning to group around her, waiting to see what she wanted to do next. Her strange behavor had become quite a point of interest for all of them.

"Tyler's coming," she said. "He's going to come along."

"Then that means we can just head off to my house and he'll join us later on," Emile replied.

"Well, no, I can't go anywhere quite yet. I have to go get the cartridge," Donna said, pouting slightly as she thought of all the problems that alone could bring. "I mean, we can't communicate with any sort of spirit inside of it if we don't have it near us."

"That means you have to get past your mother, doesn't it?" Reese asked, even though it was decently clear what the answer was about to be.

"Of course it does," Donna replied. "But there's always a chance she might already be asleep. God. I really hope that she's asleep. She's not the heaviest sleeper, but she's also not going to bother me if her eyes are closed."

"I thought we were going straight to Emile's house," Josh asked, his eyebrows creasing as he glanced over towards the others. "What're all of you talking about?"

"I have to go back to my house and get the cartridge," Donna explained. "And my mom will probably get in the way."

"You better be quick," Josh said, shaking his head slightly. "I'm ready to get this through with."

"So we're all grouping together at my house once that's all through," Emile announced out to the rest of the group.

"And I need a ride," Reese added in. "Not with Donna, though. I've already been in a car with her long enough for today."

"I'll drive you," Emile offered. "Donna, you just focus on getting on the cartridge. I'll set everything up while you're gone."

"Okay, that'll work," she said, giving a halfhearted shrug. "I'll just head off to my house and pick it up. So...see you guys in a few minutes? Twenty, tops?"

"That'll work," Reese decided, not allowing anyone else to fight against it. "You better be ready to talk to some ghosts, Donna. It's getting late already!"

"I'll do my best," Donna mumbled in response, turning around to head to her car withot speaking another word to her friends. She felt her eyes beginning to widen due to the fear already coursing through her, but tried to ignore it.

What Donna neglected to tell her friends was that she'd already communicated with a spirit who at least claimed to be inside of the cartridge, and in her computer. She still chose to cling to the part of her mind that thought Ben had just been a child messing around with her, or something less threatening.

She knew inwardly that this was not the case - it was nowhere near the case. Nevertheless, Donna had the convuluted belief that if she forced herself to think a certain way about it all then she wouldn't end up having to face the horrifying truth of the situation.

Donna was shocked to find that her mother was indeed asleep when she arrived back at her home - or at least she was in her own bedroom and wasn't making much noise. This was all Donna needed to know her mother wouldn't end up getting in her way as she rushed to grab the Majora's Mask cartridge and then go off once again.

She drove quickly to Emile's house, not wanting to keep a soul waiting for her. She couldn't deny that she felt somewhat guilty for making everyone wait, but at the same time she decided not to mention anything about in case someone was seriously upset by it. Emile greeted her at the door and brought her upstairs where he'd managed to set everything up.

"So, we're using a ouija board," he explained. "It's simple, but effective, and it means we can find out what the spirits really want to say to you."

"Hm," Donna replied, nodding and looking around. The only light in the room was provided by assorted candles littering the floor and casting disturbing shadows across her friend's faces.

"Well, this is going to be fun," Josh said dryly. "This was definitely how I intended to spend the rest of my night - in front of a ghost board."

"Hey, Josh, maybe it'll be fun," Tyler replied, though it was clear in his voice he was just as irritated by the idea of it all as Josh was.

"Okay!" Emile called out, trying to bring the rest of the people standing around him to be silent before he began it all. "I'll be doing most of the work here, but that means I need to be able to focus. Donna, can I have the game?"

"Take the damn thing," she replied, passing it over to him. With a deep breath, Emile finished his preparations and crouched down beside the board, allowing a small sigh to pass through his lips. He then placed his hand on the pointer on the ouija board. He jumped slightly as it began to move, slowly but surely, towards the letters.

"What is it saying, what is it doing?" Reese said, her voice in a whisper.

"Shut up," Donna snapped. Fear was starting to make her heart pound, but she tried to make herself seem strong and cover it all up.

"T," Emile said, as the pointer moved to the letter. "H. I. S. This." He continued doing this, his eyes wide as he saw the supernatural come to life. "F. O. R. M. Form. O. F. Of."

"Emile," Reese said, "we know how to spell."

"I said, shut up!" Donna said. But this time, her voice cracked - the fear she'd been working so hard to keep back was finally forcing its way out in these little ways, until finally the entire dam she'd built would end up collapsing under the pressure.

"C. O. M. M. U. N. I. C. A. T. I. O. N. Communication," Emile said, trying to raise his voice so it resonated clearly throughout the group. "I. S. F. O. Wait. Is, fo...O. L. I. S. H. Is foolish."

"This form of communication is foolish," Reese murmured, finally connecting all the words they'd pieced together from the ouija board. "Well, that's one hell of a way to waste our time."

"It's not done yet," Emile said, gritting his teeth. "There's still more to be said. I think we have to ask it something else, something it'll have an easier time responding to."

"Like what?" Josh asked. "I mean, really. What are you supposed to say to some random spirit?"

"It's not random, it's the one from inside the game," Emile corrected.

"Whatever," Reese said, waving her hand in the air as if to toss the topic aside. "There's a chance it might not be from the game. Your house might just be haunted, Emile."

"No, trust me, I would know by this point if my house was haunted," he sighed.

"Then we should ask them who they are, and how they came to be a spirit," Reese suggested. "That would be a good way to get it talking about something other than how stupid using a ouija board for a communciation is."

"Donna, you should ask - it only makes sense, it's the spirit that came from your video game," Emile suggested

Donna opened her mouth in protest. She'd barely uttered a sound after the first message from the spirit had been put out there. She surveyed the room, looking to see what everyone else might think about the matter. Her eyes eventually fell on Tyler, usually the loudest and boldest, who was absolutely silent and still.

"Fine," she squeaked. "Er...spirit. Tell us who you are and...and how you came to be a spirit here in Addleton. Please."

She looked towards the candelit Tyler once again, seeing that he looked absolutely disgusted by this entire thing they'd set up. He wasn't afraid of it, she could tell - he just thought it was stupid and was furious that Donna had forced him to tag along.

"Maybe he doesn't want to tell us," Reese said, shaking her head. She couldn't see much of any movement currently when she glanced towards the ouija board, and now her intrigue from before was beginning to fade away.

"No, no, wait," Emile said. "Sometimes it needs a moment to figure out how it wants to speak to us. Give it time."

"It's already wasted enough of mine, what's five minutes more?" Josh groaned, connecting his gaze with Tyler.

Emile let out a slight gasp and then readjusted himself as the pointer began to move once again. After the long pause, he'd started to think that perhaps there wouldn't actually be an answer to Donna's question. Nevertheless, he made sure to read every letter as clearly and unshakenly as possibly.

"B. E. N. Ben," he read.

Donna's eyes seemed to grow to twice their normal size. Oh, she felt as if she should've seen this coming from miles away, but it still frightened her. Ben was indeed the spirit inside the game, but he hadn't properly explained how he'd gotten there at all.

Donna wasn't so sure she wanted to know where he'd come from, how he managed to get inside of her game and her computer. He didn't seem to like using the ouija board to say anything, regardless. She'd convinced herself that absolutely no good could possibly come if she allowed herself to continue watching the ouija board with its pointer moving along.

"I don't want to see any more," Donna said, a worried tone creeping into her voice. "I don't want to see any more. No. Make it stop."

"Let's just finish this last word," Emile said, his voice in a rush. He wanted to know what was going on, his curiosity already getting the better of him. "Then we can stop. That sound good, Donna?"

"No, make it stop now," Donna whimpered.

"God, Donna, what's wrong with you?" Tyler said from across the room, emitting the first sound Donna had heard from him during the entire experience. "So yeah, there's a guy named Ben. There's a lot of guys named Ben in the world. If you want any answers, you have to let it keep going."

With tears filling up her eyes, Donna attempted to control herself and her emotions that were going rather rampant at the moment.

"Just a few more letters, Donna - just give it a few more moments."

"No, no, no, no!" she cried out, but it was already too late - Emile was allowing the pointer to move towards the last several letters to create a new word.

"D. R. O. W. N. E. D. Drowned."

A/N And this is where I truly get to start showing the things I've made up and how they twist in with what I've already got put out for me because of the original Creepypasta. I've thrown a good bit of foreshadowing in there, so I'm wondering if any of you have spotted it...tell me if you have!