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Megan Williams woke up with a start. In a snap reaction, she reached out near the side of her bed, pulled up a shotgun and held it across her chest. She looked around the room with a panting panic as though she had run a mile. It was still dark outside but the sun was starting to appear on the horizon ever so slightly. She controlled her breathing and grabbed an asthma inhaler off the nightstand. She put it up to her mouth and sprayed as she inhaled and felt the medicine work its way into her system.

She held the inhaler in her hand and stared at her arm. She gasped when she saw her skin had been rubbed raw like a severe sun burn. She looked at the shotgun in her arms. A black substance coated the edge of the barrel and the flashlight tied to the end of it. She touched it. It wasn’t blood.

“It was real,” she whispered to herself. She opened the chamber in the shotgun and pulled out two bullets one after another. The third was missing. On the floor near her bed was an assortment of items spread out as though they had fallen very far and scattered upon impact. The first that caught her attention was her knife still in its sheath. She grabbed it and connected it back to her belt. This can’t be happening, she thought. Megan piled the other items into a chest at the foot of her bed. She left it open for easy access.

Megan was still wearing her everyday attire of jacket, jeans and undershirt as she held her shotgun in her hands, now fully loaded, as she crept over to the barn. The door was wide open and her truck sat just outside. She stared into the cab. On the seat, she saw the news article she had printed about the missing kids. Right next to it was her hunting rifle. She hung the rifle on her shoulder and turned on the flashlight strapped to her shotgun. She peered into the barn, but the black ichor over the light’s lens dimmed its illumination to almost nothing. She rubbed it off with the sleeve of her shirt and shone the beam inside.

A patch of wooden floorboards had been cleared away in the center of the room. A trail of dried blood led to its spot, no doubt from the owl Megan had killed the day before. She tapped on the floor and heard nothing. There was no sign of a trapdoor and it didn’t sound hollow. No markings lay on the floor except for those expected by decades of hard use. Megan’s mind reeled from the confusion until she saw the metal chain still wrapped around a support pillar she had used to hold up the trapdoor. It lay slack and disconnected on the ground around the pillar.

What the hell is going on? Megan thought.

---- ----

“Welcome to the early edition of Local News at 6 with your hosts Harry Townshend and Heather Yamaoka. I am Harry Townshend.” The man turned to his co-anchor across the news desk as Megan watched while she cooked breakfast. She hadn’t showered and her clothes were still caked in dirt.

“And I am Heather Yamaoka,” the co-anchor said. “Today’s top story: Another potential child abduction.” Megan stopped focusing on the eggs in her pan and locked her gaze on the television. “Thirteen year-old Cheryl Hill went missing from her home last night on Roth Road. Police investigators discovered that Cheryl was last seen in her room around 10PM that night by her parents. Sometime during the night, Cheryl’s father went to go check on his daughter after hearing strange sounds coming from her room.”

A middle-aged man with short hair and eyes clouded by tears appeared on the screen. It was dark in the background, indicating the interview had taken place the night before. His name appeared below him, identifying him as Cheryl’s father. “She was talking to someone,” he said. Megan’s stared in rapt attention. A sizzling sound increased in intensity as Megan watched, like rain being burned away. “I heard her. I couldn’t tell what she was saying, but she sounded so calm. I knocked on the door to ask her what she was doing. When she didn’t respond, I tried to open it, but it was locked. I had this horrible feeling…I can’t explain it. Like…something telling me to open that door right then. I kicked it down and Cheryl was gone.” He moved to open his mouth again but the scene changed back to the newsroom before he could say the rest.

“Dammit, Channel Five!” Megan yelled. “You always cut away before they have something else to say!” She smelled something burning and stared back at her eggs. They had turned black. She turned off the burner, threw away the failure, and started again.

The news anchors continued to speak to one another as Yamaoka responded to the story.

“This is the sixth possible child abduction in only two months. The police also say there was no sign of break-in.”

Townshend shook his head. “That doesn’t make any sense, Heather. Again, there was no sign of forced entry like in the previous cases. How can a child disappear from a locked room like that? ”

“I don’t know. But the police are asking for help from extended family, friends, neighbors and even her fellow classmates down at Wickermen Junior High. They’re asking anyone who has any potential clues to come forward.”

Wickermen? I used to go there, Megan thought. She made sure her food was on her plate before she could sit down and focus on the television again. At the distant edge of her memory, something crawled up and out of the thoughts of her school-age years. She found herself clutching the fork in her hand she tight her fist turned as red as the welts on her arm. She stared at the mark. Did I do this to myself? Was I walking around out late at night with all that gear, imagining things in my barn?

The walk through the crimson woods registered fresh in her mind. There were rotten apples everywhere and skeletal trees baring overripe fruit. She saw a small horse searching for food and…

“Monsters aren’t real. Monsters aren’t real,” Megan muttered to herself. She knew she was lying.

She half-heartedly did her daily chores as her mind wandered. Her dogs sniffed her clothing, whimpered and stayed away. Anytime she tried to approach them, they’d run off and bark at her. “Jackie, come back here!” Megan yelled at her oldest dog. The Saint Bernard ran into its makeshift dog-house and peered outside. Every other animal she approached stayed away from her. She examined her clothes closely. Small spatterings of the black ichor were everywhere.

What is this stuff? Megan went to take a shower and thought about what the news anchors had said. The last child that was taken went to her old school. The detail was consequential. It shouldn’t matter, but it did. Megan thought about her time back at Wickermen Junior High. She remembered the droning teachers, the mean kids and the cold wooden desks. She remembered sitting in the classroom in the furthest back seat, doing everything she could to be forgotten. She only ever saw the back of most of her classmates heads. The thought of their faceless antagonism creeped up in her memories, refusing to turn around and talk to her when she needed help. The hot water hit her arm and caused her to yelp. She stood back and kept away from the warmth. The pain and the thought of the school made her tear-up. I have to go back. I don’t know why, but something feels very wrong here.

She picked up a new undershirt and jeans. She didn’t have many pairs of boots, so she switched them out for sneakers until she could clean her work attire. A black vest in her wardrobe served as a good replacement for the brown one she usually wore. Her hair was a mess. She braided it back and tied it with a faded red bow. She stared at her image in the mirror. Is the bow too childish? She thought. Cold laughter echoed in the back of her mind. She took off the bow and put it in her pocket as she told herself she wasn’t feeling up to wearing it today. The distant sound of unheard laughter followed her as she took off in her truck towards town.

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Wickermen Junior High School had seen better days. The Bonnieville Independent School District never had a lot of money. As a result, they were often forced to cut corners when they thought no one was looking. This led to a lack of durability in everything that has been constructed. Twenty years prior, thirteen year-old Megan Williams went to school in a building that suffered foundation problems, cracks in the ceilings and constant power outages. Now, in 2004, several of the school wings had been permanently closed-off as student attendance dropped drastically thanks to kids moving to the big cities like San Antonio and Austin. Only two major wings remained, while two others stood at the back of the school unused and boarded up.

Megan felt a tinge of sadness when she realized she wouldn’t be able to see most of her old classrooms in the sealed-off sections. She was hoping she could use the visit to a school as a chance to reminisce about the good times. Her hand clutched the steering wheel tightly as she tried not to think of anything else.

I need to calm my suspicions, Megan thought. I’m not here to do anything else.

The front entrance of the school was marred by a few cracked windows in the upper floors above the entryway. Two large dark portals stood out as the windows served as unobstructed views into their darkened classrooms. One had a large crack running through the middle. The two front doors were held wide open, beckoning for Megan to walk into their embrace.

The wind rustled the trees in the otherwise silent environment. No cars were nearby. The front lawn was devoid of any people. It was only 5 P.M. and already the school looked as though it had been abandoned. Megan parked and approached the front steps. The eyeless windows loomed above her. She scanned the sides of the building, but couldn’t shake the feeling she was being watched. She stared up at the security camera pointing directly at her. She smiled and shook her head. Things have changed.

The inner entrance of Wickermen Junior High showed a completely different picture than the exterior. The floor was spotless. The walls were almost perfectly white. Every locker shone brilliant aqua in the bright florescent lights of the hallway. Signs that said Have a Great Summer lined the farthest ends of the hallways.

Megan found the secretary’s office, but no one was inside. She looked around, wondering who she should talk to. She sat down for a minute and waited. The hum of the florescent light kept a constant buzz in the background of her mind. The secretary’s desk held lots of horse mementos from tiny blue plush animals to banners that say Go Wickering Stallions. Faded horse stickers lined the side of the nearest file cabinet. Most of the heads had been torn off. Megan looked down at the candy bowl on the table. It was the oddest item on the desk by far, as it was a horse’s open mouth where small candies had been stashed down in the throat. It looked like it had thrown its head back and was turned to stone in mid-whinny. A small inscription was at its base: “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” Megan turned the head away from her and waited.

The phone rang. Megan looked around. A red light blinked on the desk next to a large phone connected to a digital readout. She could answer it and let them know the secretary wasn’t in, but she didn’t want to get in trouble for messing with an employee’s desk in any way. She sat back and waited. The ringing stopped.

Two seconds later, the ringing started again. Megan stood up and looked out of the hallway. No one was around. She didn’t hear talking anywhere. The phone stopped, then started once more. She stood over it and stared at the digital readout. It read Unlisted Number.

She moved her hand down to the receiver and grasped the phone just as it stopped. Where is everybody? Megan wondered. The phone rang again. Without hesitation, Megan picked it up. She listened. Soft static issued in the background.

“Hello?” a woman’s voice asked.

“Hello,” Megan said. “I’m…”

“Oh thank goodness!” the woman continued. “I was trying to get a hold of somebody for the past fifteen minutes!.” But the phone only just rang two minutes ago, Megan thought. “Who is this?”

“I’m Megan. I’m sorry. I’m not the secretary.”

“That’s not important right now!” The voice said. Megan felt the tension in her words. “Where are you?”

Megan didn’t know what to say. This person sounded in distress. “I’m in the secretary’s office.”

“What?” she said. “That doesn’t make sense. I’m standing in the secretary’s office right now.”

Megan looked around. The office had one desk, one phone, and no place for anyone to hide. “How? I’m the only one here.” There was silence on the other end of the phone. “Hello? Are you still there?”

“Megan,” the voice said, “I don’t know for sure, but…I think something’s wrong with the school.”

Megan clutched her jacket tight. “What’s wrong with Wickermen?”

“Wickermen?” The voice asked. “That can’t be right. I’m in…”

“Hello?” Megan asked when the voice cut off suddenly. There was no dial tone.

A gnawing anxiety began to tear its way into Megan’s stomach. She dropped the phone and ran into the hallway. “Hey!” She yelled. “I need help over here!” No response. Distant memories began to creep back into her mind as no one responded to her cries for help. She placed her hand on the wall and held her chest as she tried not to think about the way her classmates treated her after she came back from Equestria. Tried not to think about their gossip and their cruel words for the girl who claimed she had talked to animals and fought monstrous beings. “I’m fine,” Megan said aloud. “I’m fine.”

Somewhere down the hall, something laughed.

Megan’s eyes shot up. All the lights were still on. There was complete silence. And yet, Megan knew she wasn’t safe. Someone needed help. The woman’s voice on the phone was frantic and tried to warn Megan about something. If Megan had arrived just in time to stop another crime from occurring, then she had to do what she could to see that the woman got help. There has to be someone here who can help me, Megan thought. She spotted a security camera at the inside of the front door. Ah yes! The security room!

Megan turned back to the phone and put it on the receiver. She saw a paper nearby with different call extensions. She picked up the phone and dialed the extension for the security office. She breathed a sigh of relief when it rang. Someone picked up. “Security room,” a man’s voice responded.

“I’m so glad you responded. I need your help,” Megan said.

“Who is this?” the man asked.

“My name is Megan. I was visiting the school when I heard the phone in the secretary’s office ring. I picked it up and this woman sounded like she needed help. Like she was stuck in the school. And I heard something laughing down the hallway.”

“Whoa, slow down,” the man said. “Where’s the secretary?”

“I don’t know. I’m the only one here.”

“Okay listen. Keep calm. I’m right over in the security office. I need you to come over here and tell me what you heard in-person. If no one else is around, it’ll be safer if we’re together.”

Megan felt her heart lift with the idea that she could finally talk to someone. “Thank you so much.”

“Wait,” the voice replied, “Earlier, did you say you heard something laughing?”

Megan thought about her word choice. “I must’ve meant someone. I don’t know why I said that.”

“Huh,” the man said. “Well, the security office is down the hall from the secretary in room 302. The security sign is on the door, so you can’t miss it. Get over here quick, Miss Williams.”

“Thank you!” Megan put the phone on the receiver and walked into the hallway. It was still empty and very quiet. She started moving down the hall when her anxiety began to latch on again. Her walking slowed. There was something about the talk with the man in the security room that felt…off. He didn’t give a name. But that wasn’t such an issue. He didn’t expect to be talking with a random visitor. Megan caught sight of the security sign and breathed a sigh of relief. She knocked on the door and waited. There was no response. She tried the handle. It was open.

She saw a small inner corridor leading to another door. Something is bothering me about that guy, Megan thought. Our talk was so simple. What could it have been? She walked forward. This place is nothing like I remember it back when I went here.

She entered a door, turned left and found herself in another corridor. I came here looking for answers, but I know part of me wanted to find something else. Something that’s been there all along that I haven’t seen. Why am I so scared to think about this time? She felt a pain in her head and stopped following the train-of-thought.

She walked through a door and continued her thoughts as she walked down a passageway heading left. That woman…I wonder who she was? I hope she’s okay. I’ll find a way to get to her. I’ll find a way to be the hero again. Megan nodded. I don’t need people to believe who I was if I can show them I’m still the same person now.

She closed a door behind her and walked left. I wonder why that woman said she was in the secretary’s office. Maybe she was in another school completely? Maybe she was mistaken? Why did the phone have to cut off like that? It’s like something out of a bad dream.

She walked through a door and turned left. Come to think of it…I didn’t get her name either. Why am I so bad with names? First the security guard and then her. She stopped. Wait…he called me Miss Williams. I didn’t tell him my last name.

She moved quickly, opened a door and turned left. Where is here? Where is this place?

She stepped forward, opened a door and turned left. I should’ve seen something by now.

She walked up to the door, stepped through and turned left. This can’t be right.

She turned left. “Hey!”

She turned left. “Where are you?!”

She turned left. “ANSWER ME!”

She turned left. “Where am I?!”

She turned left. “HELP!”

Left. Another door. Come on…

Left. Another door. I’m going in circles…

Left. Another door. Please…

Left. Another door. Anybody…

Left.

She stopped. Megan slid her back down the wall. She cried into her arms. “Why won’t anyone help me…?” she asked to an empty narrow corridor. She sniffled. “It isn’t fair…my whole life…has been like this this…” She bawled her eyes out. “Why can’t I be happy again?” She placed her hand over the pendant on her heart and felt her chest tighten. She pulled out her inhaler and sprayed a burst of medicine into her mouth before putting it away. “All I’ve ever wanted was for someone to believe me…”

She opened the pendant and looked at the small pony next to her. “I miss you, Firefly. This is the only proof I have of your existence…” She kissed the pendant and tightened her grip around it. “Nothing in my life has ever mattered as much as being friends with you…” She placed the necklace back under her shirt and looked up at the florescent light. “I’ll find a way a back. And this time, I’ll stay for good. No one needs me here…”

Something laughed nearby.

Megan stood up and stared at the door she had just come from. She was certain the sound came from far behind the door. An exact copy of the entryway stood on the opposite end of the corridor, around the corner Megan was currently standing at. No, Megan thought. I’m hearing things. I didn’t see anything. This isn’t real. I’m imagining it.

The cackling returned. This time, it was closer. I…I need to leave this place. I’m going to go back through that door, find the entrance and step away. I’ll call the cops from home. They’ll come here and find that girl, whoever she was. She pushed herself to step slowly towards the door she had come from.

“Hehehe,” the laughter was now behind the door.

Megan couldn’t continue. She wanted to say something. To yell out it wasn’t real and prove to the imaginary thing that it had no power over her. But something in her mind screamed. Run…Run…RUN

“It’s not real,” Megan whispered with tears streaming down her eyes. Her hands were over her heart. Her throat was clenched tight.

The door handle began to turn. The lights flickered above. It clicked open.

NO... Megan gasped, turned and ran.

“HAHAHA,” laughed the thing that burst through the door.

Megan reached the door, opened it and turned left. She pushed herself and ran as fast as she could. The thing laughed behind her. Every door she ran through increased the laughter as though another unseen creature had joined its ranks. Then another. And another. Until a Cacophony stalked Megan down the neverending procession of door, hallway, door, hallway, door as Megan began to wheeze from exertion.

I can’t keep running, she thought as she began to slow down. She dared not turn back at the cackling fiend moving ever closer. This will never end. I’m going to die here…

Dozens of laughing beasts sounded behind her, their laughter endless. Megan opened a door, closed it and braced herself against it. No more, she pleaded in her mind. No more.

The handle turned. No, she thought as she grasped it with her hand. The laughter was so close, it caused her eardrums to ache. She held both her hands over the handle. “NO!” she yelled. “LEAVE ME ALONE!”

A pressure formed against the door. The lights flickered above her. Her heart threatened to quit. Behind the threshold, the Cacophony was two dozen nightmarish voices of neverending cackles and heart-crushing madness. They were like a pack of hyenas savagely toying with their prey before they decided to put it out of its misery. As the laughter grew, Megan’s mind wanted to give up, give in and let the monster catch her to end the suffering. She wanted so badly to stop it all. It can't end like this! she thought to herself. Firefly, I’ll never see you again…

You’re strong

The words appeared in Megan’s head from somewhere far away. “No, I’m not,” she whimpered.

You can fight

The words were firm and loving. “No, I can’t,” Megan muttered. The door was threatening to burst. One good push from the other side and it was over.

You ARE strong. You CAN fight. The words repeated in her head. Something stirred in her heart. She couldn’t give up. She wouldn’t give up. But then what? She couldn’t keep running. The lights flickered above her. She saw the door, the lights, and suddenly had an idea.

Megan pushed herself against the wall closest to the edge of the door. She braced herself and kept her body pressed as close to the wall as possible. The door burst open. It slammed into her, but she bit down on her teeth and didn’t make a sound. The open door covered her against the wall and the lights completely turned off as the mass of laughing beasts moved into the room. Megan couldn’t see them and kept her eyes closed. But then again, with the lights off, they couldn’t see her either. At least, she hoped.

You’re strong. You can fight…

The laughing continued down the hallway and around the corner. The lights flickered back on. Megan peered out the side of the door and saw nothing.

And you can fly.

Megan ran around the corner of the door and into the light of the previous corridor. She turned right and went through the door. I can make it. She turned right and went through the door. I can make it! She turned right and went through the door. I WILL make it!

A vicious scream rose up from far down the corner Megan had just ran from.

I’m not going to die today!

How many doors had she run through? The number had to be close to forty. Could she possibly make it all the way back? She paced herself and yet she was so tired. Only seven doors in and she was already feeling the fatigue hit her. At ten doors in, her body screamed what she already knew: There was no way she could make it all the way back without collapsing. Her pace began to slow, but she pushed forward. She tried to catch a breather by jogging a little, but her body wasn’t communicating. Her muscles were shutting down. Only fifteen doors in, Megan had a terrifying realization.

What if I’m stuck? What if this whole corridor is infinite and I’m trapped here forever?

She couldn’t cry for help. There was no one. She couldn’t keep running. She would eventually stop. She couldn’t hide. It would eventually find her. There was only one thing she hadn’t done yet.

Megan stopped. Tears formed in her eyes as she heard the thing enter the last door she had come through. She turned.

The lights didn’t turn off. It stood there, shrouded in fulminating darkness. A mass of innumerable tearing arms and snapping jaws laughed as they clawed across the walls, the floor, and the ceiling while the endless howling of laughter echoed down the corridor and into Megan’s mind. The razorsharp jaws of the beast grinned maniacally with every snap and cackle as crawling faceless heads shifted through the undulating form in and out of each other. There was no body. Just a monstrous mob of cacophonous voices and faceless tormentors. Even without eyes, Megan could tell they were staring her down.

Megan didn’t scream. Megan didn’t cry. She had done both enough in the very same school when her childhood persecutors tore into her happiness, smiling and laughing all the while as they did so. They forced her to say she had never been to such a wonderful place like Equestria. Forced her to lie so they would show they had power over her. And even then, they did not stop. She was always the outcast. Always hounded by the distant laughter and the mob of monstrous children who made her life a nightmare until she blended into the background and acted like she didn’t exist at all.

“Are you going to kill me?” Megan choked on the words. The thing only laughed. “I’m not going to make it easy for you. You’re going to have to come and get me. And when I can’t run anymore, I’ll walk. And when I can’t walk, I’ll crawl. And when I can’t crawl, I’ll drag myself as far as I can go, until my heart gives out from trying too hard. But you won’t get the satisfaction of killing me.”

Megan was going to die. She knew it. Her heart had already accepted it. The light in the room changed. It was brighter now. Welcoming. She turned to see where it was coming from.

The corridor was different. It had stretched to almost a hundred yards in length and there was a door at the end. Someone was standing there.

Am I already dead? Megan thought. Did I die and not even realize it?

The person at the door yelled. “MEGAN! RUN!”

Megan felt her body finally respond. She had stalled just long enough for the rest to make a difference. She stepped off the ground and ran. The thing behind her screamed in fury. She had to survive this last one hundred yards.

Megan didn’t have to turn to see the thing tearing into the walls, now ripping into them so violently that she could hear pieces of the wall breaking apart under the stress. The arms reached for her and the lights stuttered like faltering heartbeats as they started to give out further and further away from her, casting her deeper into the darkness with the cackling horror moving closer with every second.

“COME ON! FASTER!” yelled the person at the end of the hallway. “DON’T LOOK BACK!”

You can fly

Megan pumped her arms and legs as her body yelled at her to stop and keep going, fighting with itself over what to do. She moved closer to the light, leaving the screaming beast behind as its howls became more furious, more monstrous. Megan was so close. But her chest started to heave. Her asthma kicked in and she knew it was going to stop her short of the exit. She began to breathe heavy as she lost ground. The person at the end leapt forward and sprinted for Megan. Her vision began to swim as she hit the ground and landed on her hands. Megan couldn’t stand. So she crawled. She pulled herself forward on her hands and knees as fast as she could, gaining so little ground against the beast that was closing in upon her with every second. Her breathing was so bad she started to see flashes in her vision. She couldn’t even waste time to grab her inhaler and kept pulling herself forward until her body fell again. She dragged herself along the floor as the woman reached her, grabbed her by the shirt and hands and pulled her to her feet. She couldn’t even focus on the person’s face.

“I’ve got you,” she told Megan. “NOW MOVE!” She pulled the tired girl across the hall as the lights were so far away now. She could see the walls being ripped apart just behind her and gave every last bit of effort she had to clear the final ten yards.

Something snagged her jacket.

“AH!” Megan barely managed to yell as the woman saw the creature’s grasp. And then another and another. Megan and the woman frantically unbuttoned the jacket as the mouths were only feet away. Megan let the jacket fall behind her and into the shifting mass as the woman pulled her forward and out of the grasp of the shrieking nightmare. She threw Megan through the light of the open door, stepped through, and slammed it against the beast. It screamed in fury as the woman dropped a set of lockers down on front of the door, sealing the creature inside.

Megan heaved on the floor. She shakily reached into her pocket and pulled out her inhaler. But she had landed on it and smashed the capsule which was now empty of medicine.

The woman dropped several more groups of lockers down in front of the path of the door until they formed a line all the way across the narrow hallway. It was now impossible for the door to open.

She grabbed Megan and panted in exhaustion as she pulled her into a nearby office and shut the door. Megan and her hid behind a desk as she crawled under it and held Megan’s heaving body up against hers.

“I’m…dying…” Megan said through heaving breaths.

“No, you’re not,” said the woman, whose eyes were kind and caring. “You’re having an asthma attack. Breathe. Come on, sweetheart,” she said. Megan rested against her black leather jacket and felt the breathing of her chest as the woman calmly spoke to her in a soothing and caring tone. “You’re gonna be okay, Megan. You’re gonna be okay.” She wiped away Megan’s tears as she started to black out. The woman tapped her on the face. “No, sweetheart. You can’t fall asleep here. You’re going to make it, but you have to stay awake, okay?”

“O…kay…” Megan said. Her breathing was getting better, but her body was aching from overexertion. She held up a hand as the woman grasped it in her own. Her aqua eyes were so caring. “I…I think…”

“Yes, dear?”

“I’m hallucinating…” Megan’s breath came back to her. She was starting to see more clearly.

“You’re exhausted. Calm down and breathe and you’ll get your strength back.”

“Your hair…” Megan said as she stared at the mass of red and yellow. “It looks like…bacon….”

The woman laughed quietly as she held Megan in her arms. “I’ve been told this.”

“What’s your name?” Megan asked.

“Sunset…Sunset Shimmer.”

Megan hugged her savior. “That sounds like a pony name.”

Sunset stared at Megan. “Yeah…I suppose it does…”

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Author's Note:

Extra Story Details

Writing Time for This Chapter: 5 hours 6 minutes
Draft Number: 1 Draft with a minor scene rewrite/omission
Setting: Williams Ranch, Wickermen Junior High School, The Otherworld
Themes: Fear, Horror, Monsters, Trauma, Bullying, Childhood, Perseverance, Hope

Note: This is an "A" story, written first during a day of writing.

Story Notes:
The news report in the beginning has at least six references to silent hill names/creators and one reference to a horror movie creator. Can you find them?

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