.

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40

Break It To Me Gently

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Sam could feel Danny vanish in more than just the air. Brightness and color seemed to flee with him. The snowflakes poured harder. The ticking faded and, besides the hammering of her heart in her ears, the awful, damning silence he left behind stretched. After a ringing moment, Cujo broke it with a lonesome whine.

Paulina pretended to fly the rocket above her shoulder and took a slow step forward. Her slivers of eyes carved the hole Sam had dug in the ground. There was no Paulina or Danny in them anymore. That heavy, evil presence was pressing on her again from all sides of the crater. "You've really made a mess of things," Paulina noted.

Still recovering from the sharp turn of events, Sam took a few steps backwards and nearly tripped into the hole itself. She stumbled, and the near-fall shocked her system out of paralysis. "You're going to kill me?" she asked in disbelief.

Paulina pressed the tip of the rocket to her smiling red lips, and nodded.

Making a split-second decision, Sam sprinted as hard as she could, straight at the cheerleader. Snow and dirt sprayed up. Ice cold air ballooned in her lungs. She dove for the rocket—

Paulina ducked out of the way. Her leg shot out, knocking Sam's out from under her.

Air punched out of her lungs as Sam landed on her stomach. Snow shot up her nose and down her mouth.

Paulina stumbled away, still clutching the rocket, only now she had stopped antagonizing Sam with it and had it pressed tight to her chest. "You crazy bitch," she hissed.

Sam quickly got her legs underneath her, curling into a crouch. Paulina was quick, but this wasn't over. Her eyes flicked from the rocket to Paulina's face. All she had to do was get the relic away from Paulina without touching her and bury it out of sight. Get Danny back. Right now he was probably with Valerie across town, telling her what was going on and where Sam was. The pair was probably trying to figure out another way to get to her before the timer ran out.

The irony didn't escape here. Here she was— needing to kill time, having no time left to kill. "Murder me yourself," she goaded. "You owe me at least that much."

Paulina let out a bark of a laugh. It was gravelly and male. Her eyes glowed red, like the ends of two cigarette butts as, in a strange voice, she said, "I never understood the concept. I mean, I know how to use it— how to get people to owe me—" her small frame shivered and grew taller, broader— "but I've never felt as if I owed anyone anything."

Cujo let out a bark from right behind her where he sat, blocking off a good portion of escape routes.

Sam didn't believe it. There was one person's death that this monster felt remorse— a twisted, almost unrecognizable version, of remorse. "What about your godson? Don't you owe him?"

Paulina's shadow boiled in anger. "You thought you could trick me with a diversion?— she spat the word like an insult— "Like I don't have you figured out already?"

A dark cloud boiled out of Paulina, smudging her out. The humanoid stain grew absurdly tall until it was towering over her.

Sam couldn't help but freeze. Waves of evil thundered down on her head until her muscles shook and threatened to give out. Vivid flashes of hands grabbing at her, of a knee to her crotch, a cruel voice in her ear, painfully bubbled up in her mind. For just a split second it was fresh and real and fear gripped her. Her arms wrapped protectively around her heart.

"You thought you could outsmart me!?" Vladimir Masters bellowed.

The outburst was so ridiculous, she couldn't help the weak laugh that blew out her mouth. Battling the heavy presence, Sam stood and raised her chin until she stared right into the killer's dark fog. Fear faded away. She still knew something he didn't...

A long, pale, disembodied face loomed down from the fog. Thin straight nose, thick eyebrows, and a twisted lip. Crow's feet marred the edges of his eyes, cut not from smiling, but from smirking. Two empty red holes bore down, his face less than an inch away from hers. A pale hand whipped out and grabbed her wrist. Cold burst through, clogging her veins and twisting her muscles, ballooning behind her eyes.

Out of her control, her arms uncurled away from her organs. A terrible pain exploded in her chest. It was suddenly impossible to breathe.

Die, a deep voice ordered from inside her own head.

Her vision wobbled, stretched, and, with the feeling of a rubber band reaching its limit, split. She could see both his face and her own, rapidly bloodless, one. Sticking out of her chest was the end of Danny's rocket. It didn't seem real. No. It wasn't actually there. It was just another trick. Which reminded her…

I tricked you.

The presence froze. An amused laugh rattled inside her head until it burst out of her lips, choking on something wet. "Did you, now?" she asked herself, voice dripping.

Sam nodded internally. I've known where the bodies are. She had known ever since witnessing Danny's muddy corpse climb out of the basement floor. In that instant she had drawn the connection to the fishing pole in the cabin, Danny's lack of swimming skills, the seemingly meaningless warning Tucker had given her about fish, and the illusion of a pond that had long since dried up. I wrote it all down. It's over.

"Paper can be destroyed," she dismissed herself.

Yes, Sam agreed, as one half of her fractured vision began to blacken at the edges. But good luck destroying the internet.

Cujo's outraged howl rattled through her, close now, almost on top of her.

The too-big presence inside her shrank, leaving a quiet space for doubt. The internet? a voice whispered back, nonplussed.

You're done, Sam thought.

Shock— not her own— ricocheted through her bones. Masters began darting around inside her head, kicking over things, rummaging. Like watching a film reel, her own memories ticked by in warp speed. Visions of her typing on her phone in Lancer's living room... of attaching a picture she had taken of the blueprints to an email that explained exactly where she was about to embark... her thumb hitting send to thousands of her classmates, friends, and family. Knowledge of smartphones and how the internet actually worked rose up. Shock melted into understanding melted into anger, which spread through her body like a chill.

There was a sudden roaring noise as Masters fled her body.

Sam teetered, limbs suddenly free, vision becoming singular again. Her head felt a million pounds lighter, but her limbs felt weak and not actually hers. She could feel something still twitching around in her head, a piece of Masters left behind in his hasty retreat. Along with clarity came agony.

Her body crumpled. She fell flat on her back, looking up.

Seeing the expression on Master's face, she laughed. The movement caused the freezing cold rocket to shift, the pressure of it inside her all wrong. "You afraid of me, Vlad?"

Looking stricken, the monster hovering above her winked out. The clearing went silent. Snow licked her cheeks and blotted her eyes. For a long moment her gaze drifted as she smiled. No doubt Masters was off somewhere trying to figure a way out. Maybe he would try and stop people from opening that message, and maybe with a few of them he would succeed, but it didn't matter. No way he could stop everyone all at the same time. She had him. She won.

Her breath hitched as her lung caught fire. Blood filled her throat. For a horrible beat she choked, until she let her head fall to the side and coughed the clot out.

Cujo approached, gait slow and dreading.

The dirty feet of a dozen or so people clustered around. Whispers darted back and forth above her; kids squabbling over what to do. One boy knelt, peering down. His distorted face swirled into a friend; glasses framed distraught green eyes.

Everyone was here. Almost.

Her arm twitched, fingers dragging through dirt and snow, until, with the last of her strength, Sam grasped the rocket in both of her hands and pulled.

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fin

a/n: This story means so much to me. It documents my depression over the last four years. So much of myself and my own struggle is in here. I dedicate it to my husband and to all the amazing women who loved me before I could love at all. Thank you again to Cordria for unwavering support. Thank you so much to everyone who followed along and encouraged me. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. You have no idea how much of a difference a review can make in someone's life. Speaking from experience- I reread reviews in some of my darkest moments to remind myself of my strengths. A little humankindness grows and spreads and lasts forever. I am bittersweet that this story has reached it's end, but it feels right as my own path towards healing has taken a different route than Sam's.

I will be publishing this story along with artwork. Please message me on my tumblr if you are interested in buying a copy. My tumblr is leda-x.

Love, light, healing to all.

Shayne (Leda)