arnie guided them to where he found the witches house. "was i only expecting, i dunno, a house made out of candy?" alice jokingly asked.

there was stairs leading into the underground. "hey sarah! got any candy down there? we're high and hungry, sarah feir!" alice yelled. cindy instructed them all to leave but non of them wanted to.

alice ran down the steps followed by arnie then eliza. thomas and cindy went down last almost not wanting to.

"someone's been down her recently," alice told them all, noticing a candle that still felt warm. there was symbols all along the cave, a satantic symbol layed out on the floor with candles and shelves of books. "sarah feir, you in here? maybe she's shy"

"this is like some serious worship going on in here" eliza spoke. tommy was quiet, unusally quiet. she went over to tommy staying by his side.

"what's the matter?" she asked him but she didn't get a response. a fly flew past her face to go near thomas.

eliza brushed it off assuming he was zoned out because he was frightened or alarmed still from the events.

"a deal was made with the devil, sarah feir cut off her wicked hand on satan's stone in exchange for eternal life, scarring the soil beneath with the witched mark, bringing darkness upon the land" cindy read as she saw the witches mark on the floor.

alice, cindy and arnie were inside the cave but eliza was with thomas not wanting to leave him by himself.

"eliza!" cindy called out.
arnie took over elisa's place of looking after thomas whilst she went to see why she was called. "look," alice pointed her flashlight to a wall with names. "cyrus miller, billy barker, ruby lane..isaac milton, harry rooker" the list went on and on.

"they are all shadyside killers" cindy said.
however, one name she couldn't quite understand.

"thomas slater, but that's..that's. that's impossible" eliza whispered.

"alice this isn't funny," cindy looked at alice in disbelif. "what you think i carved your boyfriends name in solid stone with my fingernails?"

eliza knew alice didn't carve her brother's name in solid stone but who could possibly do that? all three of them began rushing to thomas and arnie but instead of seeing them talking they saw thomas standing up with an axe and walking over to arnie. his lifts the axe snd swungs it to arnies face killing him.

he does it again..and again. screams left each of the girls mouths 2 for thomas and 1 for arnie.

the curse..the shadyside curse was happening.

all three girls ran through the cave and found a pathway behind a bookshelf. thomas was trailing beind with the axe stained red.

alice and eliza pushed past but then he grabbed a hold of cindy. she kept kicking him to lose his grip. all of a sudden the stones all collapased on thomas.

eliza's heart sank. did her brother just die?

"can you hear that?" alice whispered. faint sounds of breathing was still heard under the pile of rocks. "he's still alive?"

"he can't, he can't get us" alice spoke.

eliza's breathing enhanced the thought of her brother surviving death after she knew no-one would. "there's no way. no way this is real"

cindy got up and walked round to see any way out. "guys, can you please just..help me?" she tried pushing the stone by herself. alice was sat, knees to her chest, with tears stained down her cheek.

"what you're just gonna pretend that everything's okay? tommy split arnie's head in half. do you realize that?"

cindy sniffed but didn't comment. "please can you just help me?"

"with what?" alice yelled. she stood up and pointed her flashlight around. "this shit weighs like a million pounds. I thought you got an A in physics"

"we have to get out-"

"well we can't. we're gonna die down here just like arnie" alice said before walking around trying to get away from the girls. elizabeth wasn't focused on anything her head was hurting and so was her heart.

"spec-fucking-tacular" eliza whispered.

cindy's eyes chirped up at thought of realisation. "those names on the wall, they didn't stop with one murder. seven, nine, ten, fifteen people! those were serial killers, the campers, my sister, eliza's sister..they are all up there. now so is he"

𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵. eliza thought, she already lost her brother she was not going to lose her sister too. she got up and wiped her clothes from the dirt and rubbed her cheeks with the sleeves on her shirt.

alice and cindy were going back and forth about what the cause of this was and eliza didn't know. she didn't wanna believe in a folk story as the last grasp to why her brother did what he did..but that was the only explaination. they started shouting at each other making elizabeth flinch back.

"you want an explanation? well, here it is..okay? she looked for the hand bone to fucking stop the curse, to save shadyside, but she couldn't find it. wanna know what she did find? your boyfriends name in that fucking wall. so she tried to kill him, which i also would've done if i knew there was a chance that tommy fucking slater would axe my boyfriend in the fucking head!" alice snapped. cindy yelled back and pushed her into the wall.

elizabeth covered her ears with her hands as a tear dropped down her cheek.

"there she is..that's the cindy berman i knew"

cindy pointed at elizabeth and alice turned her head to see her covering her ears and her heavy breathing. "im gonna find a way out don't follow me"

alice walked over to elizabeth checking on her. "are you okay?" she immediately shook her head. "i-i can't deal with the shouting. i can't...im sorry about arnie i really am but please don't shout"

"i'm sorry," she wrapped her arm around elizabeth letting her cry in her arms. soon enough cindy ended up back to where she came from. "i told you not to follow me,"

"we didn't..you went in a fucking circle"

cindy suddenly rushed to the book and started counting. "this symbol it branches off here, four times. just like this cave. it's the same"

elizabeth walked over looking at the book. "so, stragetically thinking this is like a map?"

"bingo,"

all three girls felt a relief wash over them as they realised they might finally have a chance to get out and escape.

cindy instructed them both to stick to the left following the map. "if you had to kill him..could you?" alice asked breaking the silence. "earlier when mary attacked i froze. i couldn't do anything. so no, i couldn't kill anyone...much less tommy"

eliza rubbed her arm as goosebumps filled her body. "i couldn't either, i mean i grew up with him. he's my own flesh and blood, but if he harms lily at any point i will not hesitate to stop him" weither stop him meant kill or maim him she didn't know.

"well good news, i would happily kill him" alice said.

cindy glared at alice, "even after everything you're still a jerk"

"okay, sorry i just..never got what you saw in him and that was before the witch possessed him"

the coldness from the caves went past elizabeth's legs, thomas was always there to cheer her up and now..he was the thing that enraged her. somehow she wished that someone else was cursed because she wasn't ready to let him go.

"tommy was..sweet. he made me feel like everything was going to be okay. i loved him" cindy explained as her eyes began filling up.

"i loved arnie too. i loved that gross, high little shit"

they all stared at each other before getting back to the map. it wasn't elizabeth's time to open up she felt like she wasn't prepared for what they would say.

the map led them to a part of the cave where black sludge trailed on the floor, flies were everywhere around too. suddenly they saw the sludge beating like it had a heart and the slime fell off it. alice put her hand on it and fell into a trance like state before cindy pulled her hand off him. alice started screaming and ran until she tripped over and her bone poked out of her leg.

elizabeth and cindy ran after her and found her laying on the ground in pain. "i was there..i was in the past..i-i saw the killers. they killed so many and you're next cindy..you're fucking next. i didn't see eliza, i saw you"

cindy tried calming alice down so elizabeth sat down next to them both trying to be there for both of them. she was talking about the day she snitched on alice, cindy wrapped her leg up with a plaster and something sharp so it would stay in place.

"i should've just..skipped class, partied, has sex, had fun!" cindy cried.

"i hate to break it to you, but the fun is no more real than your polo shirt. there's a reason i wear these. and it's not just because they're awesome" alice spoke reffering to the wrist clasps, she undid them revealing marks all along her wrists. "we all have our ways to deal with shadyside"

elizabeth combed her hand through her hair. "i stopped being around you guys because i thought something was wrong me with. i felt deep down, i needed fixing so i distanced myself from both of you..until thomas started going out with you. i-i came here and i wanted to be like you alice, you didn't care what people thought of you. the truth is..i like girls. i like like girls, i thought that made me different and strange and thought you would all judge me for it. it sounds so silly now knowing what we just went through"

they both let out a smile and engulfed elizabeth into a hug. "we would never judge you,"

once the hug broke cindy focused on something behind alice. red moss.
"this moss, it stained my shirt. the outhouse! this stuff is all over the outhouse. it means we're close"

helping alice, they followed the red moss until the toilets came into view. noises came from above so each girl started yelling for help.

the lid from the outhouse stalls came open and ziggy came in view. "what are you guys doing down there?"

"kinda a long story, are you okay?"

ziggy told them to wait as she shut the toilet door and came back with a bucket. alice got in first and ziggy(with the help of gary) started pulling her up.

all of a sudden a body fell through with a decapiated head, dropping alice in the bucket. "oh my god! oh my god!" elizabeth yelled.

cindy pulled the body off alice, seeing gary's body made eliza's stomach churn so much she felt like she was going to released what was inside her sytem but she repressed it.

"there has to be another way. grab me the book, the witch created these tunnels right? 'she emerged at the meeting house' the meeting house that is now..the mess hall. there's gotta be another way out" alice told them.

"let's go," eliza instructed but alice shook her head. "im just gonna slow you down, it's fine. i'll catch up. both of you save your sisters"

a pit formed in elizabeth's throat, her sister who had just come to camp could be dead because of their brother. worry now filled her head to toe.

cindy and elizabeth ran back through the tunnels trying to get to the mess hall in time.

"cindy!" she said pointing to the gate. it was the mess hall. cindy sat under it kicking it with all her might as eliza began shouting and yelling for someone to come.

a familiar scream was heard as the girls recognised it to be ziggy. the gate finally flew open and cindy lept through trying to defend ziggy.

elizabeth waited for alice to catch up and once she did she let alice go through the gate first.

"you did it,"

elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows until her eyes layed on the body on the ground next to ziggy. it was thomas. his body. he was dead. alice and cindy rushed to a table in the mess hall and once they sat down alice pulled out a hand. "what, what is it?" ziggy asked.

"it's sarah feirs lost hand"

the hand was old and covered in dirt and grime. "the curse will last until body and hand unite. this book led us to the hand bone, of the legned is true that means her body is still buried-"

"by the hanging tree" ziggy interupted.

"we finally have a way to end his once and for all," eliza added.

ziggy decided to put her hand on the witches hand and got a closer look at it. elizabeth's eyes were on ziggy's the whole time not caring what she was doing because maybe just maybe she would have been able to prevent anymore hurt.

ziggy's nose started bleeding..little drops of blood fell onto the hand. "my nose..i saw her,"

"who?" cindy asked, holding ziggy's hand in hers now.

"sarah feir, she was angry"

"we have to bury this thing...right fucking now" alice said.

cindy got up from the table and went to grab a big shovel and two small ones. one for ziggy and one for eliza. "what, i have to use my hands?" alice commented seeing as she didn't have a shovel.

"you're staying here" cindy told her. "come on! i can hop just fine" she replied. to prove her point she started hopping to the mess hall door, but cindy was still not convinced.

"i watched my dad go to jail when i was six, i watched my mom steal..so i could eat, first time i cut myself i was 12. it was after..well you know when. and now tonight, i watched your sweet thomas turn into a monster and kill the only person i've ever loved. i've waited..my whole fucking life for this and now i've found it. let me see this through..for arnie...for tommy, for shadyside"

"for shadyside," cindy finally said in agreement. a smile formed on alice's face. suddenly, cindy yelled alice's name making her turn around and become face to face with thomas slater.

he slashed the axe at her chest, killing her. cindy used her shovel and rushed to thomas putting presure on his neck with the end of the shovel. "why won't you fucking die!" she cursed.

his body fell from his head, cindy ran to alice seeing if she was alive. elizabeth stood by ziggy's arms seeing her brother body again.

a slight noise was heard, it was someone singing. a girl propped up out of the vent and elizabeth recognised it to be non other than ruby lane. "run!"

the girls ran but once they went out the mess hall elizabeth stopped.

"come on!" ziggy said.
"ziggy, you need to go! okay, remember i love you..you are the only one who can stop this. i need to find lily because if anything happened to her i couldn't bare it" eliza said.

ziggy's eyes were glistening as she was looking at eliza, nothing could prepare her for the moment about to come. "i love you too" was all she replied. ziggy took hold of eliza's face and cupped it with her hands before kissing her. "why didn't we do this before?"

eliza chuckled slightly, "i really don't know, i promise once this is all over i'll come find you but whatever happens promise me you'll forget me"

"no promises" ziggy said and gave her a smile before their hands departed and they both went their seperate ways.

ziggy rushed away in the night to reunite with cindy as eliza ran in the other direction. "where are you lily?" she said. not wanting to cause attention to herself she hid behind the trees and huts. branches snapped underneath her feet till a shadow appeared from the darkness.

her breathing enhanced..hoping and praying it was a) lily and b) it wasn't one of those killers. the moonlight shone on the shadow and lily appeared from the dark, "i'm so happy to see you," eliza spoke. a tear left her eyes till she noticed something shiny in lily's hand.

something sharp, shiny and pointy was in lily's left hand till she realised what she was holding. "lily.."

a knife. a goddamn knife. "lily, put that down-" she started. "i'm sorry i really am but i need to do this. i have to stop this! no-one else has to die" lily started running to eliza knocking her down like a bowling pin. lily grabbed hold of eliza's hair yanking her forward. "please stop! i-i promised ziggy"

eliza grabbed hold of the grass below trying to move out of lily's grip but lily pulled on her leg letting out a slight whimper. "i love you, that's why i'm doing this! i'm saving you" lily locked eyes with eliza before slicing her neck. blood poured onto the ground below. she reinserted the knife into her chest, pulling it out and pushing it back in until her final breaths.

calling out ziggy's name expecting her to show up. eliza took a final look at the world around her before it went dark. lily backed away from eliza's body before realising what she had done.

"oh god! no no! stupid, im so stupid!"

lily threw the knife a few feet away from her, and checked eliza's neck for a pulse. she knew the chances would be slim considering the damage she had done. pressing her hands onto her chest she tried cpr over and over again..nothing. elizabeth slater was now dead thanks to her sister.

police sirens echoed around camp and lily knew if she wanted to live she had to run. she placed a kiss on her forehead before running into the night with eliza's blood on her hands and dress.

the only thing she cared for was the necklace she had found in her mothers old boxes. a necklace with a heart and a knife going through it. inside was a letter, a note addressed to no-one.

hello to anyone who is reading this,
the witch lives, she shall always live.
you can't stop it..you can try but you can't.
over the time ive come to a conclusion we all die in the end. my family will and i can't stop it, something is out to get us. i have found out that over the years my family has killed one person every few years, to keep the evil at bay. i shall not commit to these allegations and these fowls thst my family do. if you are a slater, like me, protect yourself. don't do what he says, kill or be killed is what it has come to. when my times comes i will know i did not kill, i survived.
-A.S

"i only wanted you to survive," she whispered looking at her blood covered hands.

AUTHOR SPEAKS !

so...this might actually be the
longest chapter ive ever wrote
on wp. this was so due tho but now
it's here!! sorry for not being as active
had a lot going on <3