I don't know why anything would end up like this, but somehow it did. Anyways, I was at my school, and as usual, Mr. Roden told me that Lucas was finally back from school. Which I was not surprised about even since he took more control of his Wendigo form. But that's not what I want to talk about. Because there's a bigger issue at play.

You see, Mount Vernon is a pretty simple place, although a dark god lives here, wendigos view this town as a tourist attraction and Randall is somehow being killed yet still living, it's a pretty simple town to be in. But the simplicity is probably no longer there and it will probably die due to my past coming to haunt me. Let me explain.

I was walking around the high school. I wanted to take a break from the god-forsaken paranormal bs I experienced every day and started walking around the buildings, in the cold rain, almost soaking in my gray sweatshirt and worn-out slip-on shoes. As the rain pointlessly pounded on my clothes I heard some footsteps... familiar footsteps.

"I wonder what that could be?" I said with a bit of dread in my voice. "If that's Randall's zombie self trying to kill me again, I'll just kill him! I will not even make it an accident!"

I slowly walked to the origin of the sound. Quietly and carefully, I crept and sneaked into the corner of the CTE building. Suddenly, I heard two voices of people I knew from my past. Speaking about what to do I'm assuming.

"Are you sure we can hide here?" One of the voices stated, his tone trembling.

"Trust me, Softie, we moved out here for a reason! This school is a great place to stay for a while. Your parents can't hurt you anymore, trust me."

I widened my eyes, I knew what these people were, and I knew what I was going to do next.

Ok, I thought, I'll make my presence known, and I will confront them. I wasted no time, I walked into the sight of the voices.

"What the hell!" I said, "What are you two doing here?!"

I saw two boys, both of whom were older than me by three years. Or at least one of them. One is a kid wearing a red beanie with three polka dots on it. He had cerulean blue hair, a hoodie with a caution sign on it, and a paintbrush in his hand. He was also shocked due to my sudden appearance. The other boy was some ginger guy with a green hoodie and a white x over it. He was also shocked. It took them a while just to speak.

"J-Joe?!" The blue-haired boy stated, "Is that r-rea-really you?!"

I sighed.

"Yes Ben, it's been a while," I stated, my expression more friendly to not make Ben upset. "It's been a while since we spoke, ever since..."

The ginger kid stared me dead in the eyes. He was gesturing not to bring up the 'incident' that brought me to Mount Vernon in the first place.

"Ever since that!" I said, the ginger widened his eyes a bit. But I continued speaking "Ok what are you two doing here? You know this school is not safe for you guys!"

Ben widened his eyes and walked a bit closer to me.

"Wait, you know about us running away?!"

"Yes Ben, it was all over the Goddamn news, and Grace was texting me 24/7 about it! Hell even Patrick came and started rambling about it before he vanished to visit another dimension. What do you expect from dimension hoppers?"

For those of you who don't know, Patrick Walker is a dimension hopper who's a friend of mine, I won't give anyone details until later though.

Anyways, Ben's jaw dropped like a baby thrown off a balcony and started shaking a bit.

"Oh..." Ben stated, his eyes saying it all. "Should have known."

Ben sighed and looked up at me, I simply looked at the ginger.

"You should have told me about this Pico!" I stated, pointing at the ginger. "You promised me if this crap ever led to you two taking drastic measures, you would tell me about it! What happened!"

Pico, the ginger simply sighed and explained, the rain leaving marks of water on his sweatshirt as he spoke.

"Joe, you have known me & Ben for a decade now, you know that sometimes when things like this happen...," Pico took a deep breath before continuing "I don't have the time to notify people, and I wasn't able to do it as well."

I sigh, needless to say. I was pissed!

"Ok, but still! You two can't be in here!"

"And why is that, Joe!"

"Because this place is filled with security cameras, and Ben is going to stick out like a sore thumb! His dad is a retired rapper for God's sake!"

Pico narrowed his eyes before shaking his head.

"And how do you know?" He asked, with an all too familiar tone when I irritated him.

"Because I've been in this school for a year! This place is filled with bad people Pico... REALLY BAD PEOPLE! Bad people that will find you, tear you limb from limb, and sell your organs for a vape refill!" I angrily stated.

Ben widens his eyes and almost tears up a little bit. That all too familiar bit of sadness from him. I sighed and kneeled on one of my knees.

"Why did you two even move to Mount Vernon!? You know that the city of stars is the only place you guys can be in!" I said less pissed than before.

"Because BF's parents are there!" Pico replied while pointing at Ben.

I always hated when Pico called Ben "BF." Sure, he's dating Ben but that was cringe as hell in my opinion, I sighed.

"Well, it's better than this place! You can't stay here!" I stated, "And besides, are you sure Ben's parents can't just get here? Mount Vernon is not far away from the city where Ben's parents are,"

Pico just sighed before pulling out a spray paint can and getting ready to make some graffiti.

"Joe, I know; Ben knows. It's just that this place is safer, and we wanted to see you again after that blog post you made on the internet," Pico stated, making some graffiti on the dry parts of the wall while speaking.

I widened my eyes. I never knew my accounts of all this paranormal crap would be read by anyone, let alone my old friends from the time I lived in a city filled with celebrities and famous people. I widen my eyes even more. My face said it all, the irony was so tense it could choke an elephant.

"Are you serious? Have you read those posts?" I said, frantically shaking my head.

"Yeah!" Ben stated, finally speaking after my small debate with his dropout Bf. "It's pretty messed up you have to deal with all of that,"

Suddenly, a very tall 16-year-old literally appeared in front of me. He wore a cameo black jacket, and some sweatpants, and had a pistol in his hand. All three of us knew who this guy was.

"PATRICK!" I yelled, my tone surprised as all hell! "How are you here!"

Patrick simply looked around, he was aiming his pistol in a fighting stance until he noticed our surprised faces.

"Oh hey, General Eisenhower!" Patrick stated. "Looks like you're talking to Patton & Macarthur right?"

I nodded and replied with a "Yes, yes I am," calmly.

So I'm just going to describe Patrick a little bit more before anyone gets confused. Patrick Walker is a well-known dimension hopper. He visits them once a month.

He had tons of charisma and kindness in a patriotic tough shell made of steel.

He was also a part of my old friend group when I was living in the city of stars with Grace, Ben & Pico. After the incident where Pico got framed for a school shooting, he ran away from his parents, joined the US military somehow, and then started collecting weapons from other dimensions as well as other crazy things I won't get into right now.

I was happy that Patrick was here. Ben smiled a bit, seemingly a little more glad now.

"Hey, Patrick! How's it going!"

"Oh, nothing much Ben. Or should I say, General Macarthur?"

"Whatever you want Patrick,"

I widened my eyes a bit but calmed down a bit. Patrick seemed to give us nicknames from WW2 generals for some reason. I was Eisenhower, Ben was Macarthur & Pico was Patton. I sighed, all the memories of my past seeming to flood back in. My mind was assaulted by the past. The times I hung out with my friends, the incident, the God-forsaken private tutoring I hated with a passion. Everything seemed to just come back.

"Anyways, I'm going to head out!" Patrick said, leaving as soon as he appeared.

I sighed.

"Either way you should leave! Now! I don't want you two getting hurt,"

"Too bad. We're staying,"

"JESUS CHRIST PICO! Don't you see that this place is just as safe as No man's land?"

"Joe, I get it. You've experienced some awful events in your past, but trust me, I know the risks. And I say we stay here!" Pico stated.

I put my hands on my face, this was just so dumb. Am I seriously going to have my allies stuck in such a horrid place? Was I going to have someone so innocent as Ben be in such an awful place? I didn't truly know. It seemed that Pico wasn't going to listen to me. So the question was how will this unfold? My thoughts were interpreted by the sound of footsteps on the ground, seemingly just breaking the tension with even more tension.

The origin of the footsteps was Lucas. My friend who experienced the dark God madness with me and the infamous heroic Wendigo. He widens his eyes at seeing Ben in the flesh. The overweight kid looked at me, then pointed at Ben... his expression was pure excitement.

"Is that THE FAMOUS BENJAMIN FAIREST!" Lucas yelled, the yell scared Ben who walked back, a little scared.

I stared Lucas dead in the eyes, my expression was disappointed.

"Lucas shut up. I know it's a famous person, but we're in an issue right now, you see I-"

"Joe? Is this your Wendigo buddy you were talking about in the blog post?" Pico said, his expression a bit more cheerful.

"Yes actually!" Lucas replied. "Nice to see you, sir!"

Lucas then talked to Pico for what felt like an hour. Then Pico mentioned the argument I had with him earlier about him and Ben staying in this school. Lucas then turned to me and widened his eyes. I knew what he was going to say next.

"Joe! We should have Pico and Ben stay!"

"Oh hell no! They need to leave, this place is filled with things that will screw them over! I don't want them to get hurt!"

"They won't! They know what they're doing! Besides, it's three against one Joe, you know as well as I that this is the best choice,"

I groaned. Then sighed.

"Fine! You win! Pico and Ben can stay here!" I said, I was reluctant as hell. "BUT! You have to listen to me and Lucas, we know this place and how to not get caught! Got it?"

Pico silently nodded. Ben smiled a bit, betraying his depression.

"Yes," Ben stated, his voice trembling. "We will,"

"Good!" I said, "Now I gotta go, I'll see you guys later,"

I then walked off. That was enough reminders of my past for a day. But I did hear Lucas still talking with Pico and Ben. Lunch was almost over, and I needed to get to class.

My living room was comfortable, to say the least. I was writing a story where Godzilla destroys the school because they banned him. I was having a fine time on my brown couch when I heard my doorbell ring. Really? I thought, Who is visiting me? I sighed and got up.

When walking to the door, my German shepherd losing her mind and my little brother, James ranting while playing Smash Bros were the only sounds I heard as I put my hand on the knob.

I quickly turned the knob. And what I saw on the other side was a girl I knew. She had long brown hair with a red long-sleeved sweater covering seventy-five percent of her body. Her black undershirt was a quarter visible. I sighed. I knew this woman, another person from my past. I thought Reminders are a common thing today, huh?

"Oh hi, Grace how's I-"

"JOE! I AM SO GLAD TO SEE YOU!"

Grace then hugged me tightly, I chuckled and patted her back. Grace was always a nice person to be around. I never had anything bad to say about her. I smiled.

"So, come in! I will warn you though, Princess is not happy though!" I said while pointing at my German shepherd, whose name is Princess by the way. Grace nodded and went inside the house, closing the door behind her. She then went around, talking to my Grandma, younger sister (Her name is Jolene by the way.), and my grandfather. I smiled a bit, finally something good from my past. After all the craziness that happened last school year with The Dark God and all of that nonsense. It was good to see an old friend.

"Hey Joe," Grace said, her face still joyful. "Can I talk to you about something? It's reallllllllllly important!"

From that alone, I knew what she was going to say. I knew at that moment, I was going to have another verbal brawl with Grace. I barely even flinched and smiled. I was keeping my cool.

"Yeah, Grace, what is it?" I asked.

Grace simply sat on the couch sighing. I knew something was wrong with her, she seemed brainwashed... very brainwashed!

"Joe, don't you know how worried I am?" Grace said, she then paused for a moment before speaking again, "Because I didn't only come here just to visit you,"

I raised an eyebrow but soon stopped. I then sat on the opposite side of the couch, I widened my eyes. "And what is that, Grace?" I said, my stare dead and aimless, but seemingly not bothering Grace.

"First off, I'm worried about you! I've heard all of the borderline-insane things you did! You can't be dealing with all of this paranormal stuff!" She said, her face more frantic than before. "You need to come back to us! You know we care about you deeply!"

"WHAT!" I yelled, "But I have a good life here! Why would I want to leave Mount Vernon? It's a great place!"

"But Joe! This place is filled with many dangerous things! We need you and Bf back! Your mom told me!"

"Grace, what's the point? Ben already has a good life, I have a good life as well. Why would I want to come back to that place?"

Grace shook her head. I've noticed it ever since day one. Grace had some sort of motherly compassion for me. She viewed me as her kid despite the fact I was three years younger than her. She put her hand on my shoulder and sighed.

"No! No! No! You need to have a better life! Mommy and Daddy told me so!" She said, losing her composure slightly, "Besides, I don't want you to die! And Bf and I are meant to be together!"

I looked down at the floor and took the deepest breath I ever had in my life and stared back at Grace.

"Grace! Ben is gay! He's not attracted to women! And besides, he doesn't want to be a rapper! He wants a life as an artist!"

"But Joe! That's not true! It was going to be me and him from day one! And besides, we need you! This life... in this place, with creatures that nobody even knew existed, shouldn't be yours!"

"Grace! You know damn well that this life I made here was better than that hellhole they planned for us without Pico or anyone they don't like!"

I widened my eyes, this was tougher than before. I felt my soul being corrupted and demolished into something I didn't even know existed, I sighed.

"Grace! The life they planned for us and Ben wouldn't even work! Don't you understand that?" I stated calmly, I was a bit concerned that Grace got hypnotized by them. I knew something was off.

"Joe... you don't have a choice either way. You're coming with us starting this summer vacation, your mother promised me that. And my parents are expecting to be there, as well as BF." Grace stated, she was barely keeping her composure, I could see the tears in her eyes.

I was speechless, I widened my eyes even more. This can't be. I couldn't see it. My whole new life, my friends I made here, the sacrifices I made, all of it. Just gone. Next year I'll be spending life as a part of some... fantasy some rich snobs planned out for me. I was speechless. I sighed and stared Grace dead in the eyes.

"Grace, why do you want this so much? You know this will only cause pain. Ben wouldn't be happy. Why?" I stated blatantly.

Grace just started crying, her tears finally flowing like a grenade being thrown.

"BECAUSE HE PROMISED, THEY PROMISED! All of them promised." Grace yelled, her mental health breaking and cracking every time she said a word. I knew something was beneath the surface. It wasn't Grace's fault she viewed this way. She was forced into it, molded by it. I sighed, thankful this didn't get to my worse expectations, that it didn't mention the incident that happened in my forsaken past. I frowned.

"I'm sorry," I stated, "It's just... I've been through some things."

Grace simply just hugged me, tighter every moment. I could feel my shirt being wet from Grace's tears. I simply gently wrapped my arms around Grace and sighed. I knew this was going to be a rocky time in my existence. My friends split in two like Lucas and Dakota a year ago, but this time, it's more abusive. I just sat there, letting my old friend hold me. I stared into nothing because, in a way, we're all nothing. Just nothing trying to prove otherwise.

Violence is something I know for the rest of my life. Violence is needed sometimes. I was at my school, a Walther P38 in my backpack, only because there was something I needed to do. Hostile Wendigo sightings have been more rapid in my school so I decided to investigate. I wished I didn't bring my gun but I had to. The school's security wasn't helping out and more and more kids have been either missing or killed. I sighed as I walked towards the usual spot where Lucas was.

Great! I thought, Not only does my past seem to haunt me now. I'm feeling like this situation was similar to the incident. The irony was there, wasn't it? I saw Lucas eating his usual sun butter sandwich. He seemed like he was the only one around outside; Which is weird because usually everyone and their pet dog were outside.

Lucas looked up and saw me, his expression filled with dread. He then dropped his sandwich and ran towards me, he then started freaking the hell out in front of me.

"JOE! RANDALL IS BACK! AND HE'S THE REASON WHY THIS IS HAPPENING!" Lucas yelled, "We need to go, now!"

I widen my eyes. And then turned my head on both sides.

"Go where!"

"To the football field!"

"Why though?"

"Joe shut up and just go with me!"

"OK!"

Lucas wasted no time, he grabbed my wrist and started running. I was a little pissed that he did that but I ran as well. Lucas stared me dead in the eyes. His expression was even more dreadful.

After running a bit, we stopped and hid next to the bleachers, what we saw was horrifying.

The football field was filled and surrounded with Wendigo's and they were not the usual ones I deal with. They looked like weird pale humanoid creatures with blood in their mouths. Black marks cover the upper parts of their faces. In the middle of the field, I see Ben, his arms and legs tied up in tape. His mouth was covered with tape as well. Tears were flowing down his cheeks, and muffled screams and sounds were coming out.

Pico was on his knees, his arms tied behind his back & his legs were you guessed it, tied. What's even worse was that Randall was pointing a Big Iron at his head. I could hear the madman laughing in the face of my friend.

"Looks like this is the end of you, school shooter," Randall yelled, sounding very pissed. "Any last words, Fanta?"

"What the actual f***?" I whispered. "We gotta do something now!"

Lucas turned to me with an expression of surprise.

"I don't know Joe! Maybe we could get a bomb and blow them up?"

"No! Ben and Pico are in there! I got an idea, how about we confront him head-on?"

"Are you crazy?! What's next? Is a dimension hopper going to show up Joe?"

Ironically, Lucas was right.

Because right there, on the edge of the bleachers, Patrick Goddamn Walker appeared out of thin air. He was wearing a black sweatshirt and automatically started killing Wendigos!

He pulled out a pistol and blasted Wendigos left and right. A Wendigo came behind the dimension hopper only to get its head split in two by a stone ax. Patrick then pulled out a laser pistol and blew ten more Wendigo head's off the face of existence!

"Well, we gotta help him!" I stated while Patrick continued killing some wendigos, he was being surrounded rather quickly.

"But Joe!" Lucas stated. "What the hell?!"

Before Lucas could argue diddly squat, I went out of my hiding place and pulled out my Walther P38, and shot three more wendigos dead before they could reach the sixteen-year-old dimension hopper. Crimson coming out of their heads as I break their heads like a messed up Easter egg. Patrick then turned to me while shooting several of the wendigos dead with his pistol.

"Joe?! Is that you?"

"Yeah, Patrick! What the hell are you doing here?!"

"General Eisenhower, I just reappeared here. Besides, we have a job to do! Here, take this!"

Patrick threw me a handle of something. I pressed a button on accident to reveal that it was a switchblade. But it wasn't any ordinary switchblade. It was long as hell! The blade was black and slightly curved. I widened my eyes.

"Is this a Goddamn katana? Which has the behavior of a switchblade?" I asked. Using it to chop some wendigos and some human thugs I hadn't noticed was there.

"OH HELL YEAH! Cool right?" Patrick stated, his clothes stained by wendigo crimson. The same switchblade sword in his hands stained to hell with said crimson. "Just go to town with it okay Eisenhower? Patton and Macarthur are depending on us!"

I nodded. Time to get back to save my friends! I thought. Or just committing a massacre I don't know...

Lucas came out and automatically turned into his Wendigo form. He looked tall, covered in black fur that was darker than the moon. His deer skull head was iconic. He quickly ran into the middle of the football field. Not after killing the Wendigos of course!

Patrick widens his eyes like he just saw a new scumbag to throw in the dumpster.

"What the actual hell is that?" Patrick asked his face pure surprise.

"Oh, that's just Lucas!" I replied "Anyways,"

I just continued shooting up some Wendigos. One ran toward me but I shot it between the legs, leaving it to bleed out. Another came by only to be shot by Patrick. I then turned to see something awful.

Randall seemed to be... off. He just stands there, pistol-whipping the hell outta Pico. The sound of loud thwacks was the only thing I heard. Patrick was still holding off the Wendigo horde, and Lucas was well... committing another gory genocide!

The large wendigo was killing the other wendigo grunts. He slowly chopped their heads off, a slow painful pop coming from each of them. I decided to take a chance and ran toward Randall. Lucas & Patrick can hold the rest of the filthy punks off. I gotta a cultist that refuses to die!

During Randall's violent beating of Pico. I stood right in front of the hitman. I pointed my pistol at Randall, my eyes narrowing and my grip on the weapon tightening. Randall slowly looked up, his grin widening, his ginger hair was all messed up. He laughed maniacally for a second before throwing Pico away, I could hear a bone break from Pico as well as a "What was that for?"

"Well well well, it seems like the rescue group is here eh?" Randall said while in the middle of what I assumed as mad cackles. "Well unlucky for you three pathetic lifeforms, I gotta do a job to do."

Randall then grabbed Pico again by his hair. Pico made a sound of pain as he was slowly dragged. Randall's smile grew wider. His trenchcoat seemed to be the only thing that wasn't corrupted by this... thing! I don't even want to call Randall a man! He's just a thing that the Dark God uses to kill and torture innocent people!

"I have this school shooter to kill," Randall growled while sucker punching Pico, he then pointed to the crying & tied up Ben. He was probably having the worst mental breakdown in his life. "And a runaway to bring to his parents... so you should just go, Joe! I have more important things to do than you!"

I could feel the rage consuming me like a fat guy with a Big Mac. I automatically shot Randall's hand, leaving a bleeding bullet hole.

"Now listen here punk!" I said, filled with anger. "You may attack me, but you will LEAVE THEM ALONE! Besides... If you want a grudge against anyone, then it's me. And honestly, let's finish this. Do you want a fight? Because I'm sure as hell I'll give you one!" I then held my switchblade katana in a samurai position. Consumed by the moment.

Randall laughed and stood up. His hand bleeding out, he held the revolver in his hand, twirling it confidently. "Sure thing, if it's death you want! You shall receive it!" Randall stated.

From that point on, everyone was staring directly at us, Pico, Lucas, Patrick, and everyone was staring into this... confrontation I was in with Randall.

"Oh crap!" Lucas stated, still in his wendigo form. "This just got more intense!"

I waited for Randall to make the first move. My Walther P38 was in my pocket just in case I needed it. I moved a bit. Randall suddenly aimed the big iron at me. Then fired a shot. I somehow reflected it away with the sword. I then noticed something. This switchblade sword can block and reflect almost anything! I widened my eyes at this discovery. Randall opened the two more shots. I felt both bullets hit my flesh.

"DAMN IT!" I yelled, the blood rising out of my wounds.

"Not much of a quick draw eh?" Randall stated, cocking the revolver for another shot.

"Screw you!" I started, I pulled out the pistol and shot Randall with all the remaining bullets I had in the Luger. I then threw the gun a few inches away from me and ran toward Randall.

Randall seemed distracted by his legs bleeding. I knew I caught him off guard. Time to die you scumbag! I thought I'll see you in hell!
I then ran and swung my sword, it chopped off Randall's skull quite easily, his biological matter staining my face and clothes. I didn't care.

I then walked and chopped off the ropes that bound Pico. I sighed.

"Thanks, I owe you one!" Pico said while walking towards Ben.

I simply shrugged and smiled at Ben.

"No problem," I stated, my smile grew wider as Ben was released from the tape. "Your guys are safe, that's all I care about!"

Pico was treating Ben. Lucas ran in, and all of the wendigos were dead.

"Well Joe," Lucas said, in his human form this time, "How does it feel to save the school I guess?"

"It's good," I replied. Looking at my old friends. "Seems like my past has been after me though..."

A lot of crap has happened after last week, and Ben's parents are still out there, searching for their son so they can turn them into another rapper for some reason. Nobody inspected... or cared about what happened. I told all of my friends about it. Only half of them believed it. I was at lunch yesterday. I was eating a chicken sandwich as always. Pico and Ben were having some gay conversation. I sighed and rolled my eyes at this.

Lucas tapped on his shoulder, I turned to him and shrugged.

"Yeah, what is it, Lucas?" I asked. I raised an eyebrow.

Lucas sighed and stared at me.

"Ben's parents are on a tour of the state, they're going to be here in two days from now."

From that, I heard Ben and Pico's conversion suddenly stop and looked at Lucas with concerned eyes.

"Is... that t-true?" Ben asked.

"Sadly yes," Lucas asked, he frowned. "Let's get ready for it. Pico hit it!"

Pico silently nodded and played some music. I nodded. Welp. We're going to fight Ben's parents with music. And it seems like my past will bring more challenges to come. But hey! I'll be ready for it. I will always be prepared.

The end.