? HYDE ME ? tyler g.

? CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Wednesday put down her flashlight, "It's simple, really. You're gonna stand here, pretending to find anymore evidence relating to Rowan's disappearance, while me and Enid stand behind a tree and look out for the monster to approach you."

You were stunned, eyes wide and mouth agape. "So, I'm like, actual monster bait? Like, you're not joking." Wednesday tilt her head, "Of course not, why would I be joking at a time like this?" You huffed out a stressful breath, "I don't know, Wednesday, maybe I was trying to give you the benefit of the doubt that you actually wanted to be safe about this and not put my life on the line again?"

"Alright, guys c'mon," Enid stepped in between the two of you, "Let's all just calm down—"

A twig snapped. Heads turned towards the direction. You looked at Wednesday. She traded you a questioning look. You mumbled, "Just— fucking go, alright? It's fine." The girl put her hand on Enid's arm and pulled her away from the scene, camping out a few yards away behind a thick tree.

As you watched them run to safety, farther and farther away from you, that is when your heart sunk to rock bottom. You began twirling in the same spot, keeping an eye out for every blind spot possible, trying to ignore the crawling feeling of being watched from everywhere. You clenched your fists and began shining your light onto the ground, searching for something that doesn't even exist.

Looking at the same dark leaves and soil felt like eternity, you weren't really searching every crevice of the ground, you were mainly focusing on the noises around you. You heard a few leaves crunching, wind blowing, and twigs snapping, but they could either be from Enid's platform shoes or the monster's large feet. Either way, you didn't know what the hell was going on or what the hell you're going to do next, so you just stayed in the moment.

Then, you stopped dead in your tracks when you saw something that wasn't just a leaf or a twig, but a piece of paper. You squat down to pick it up, the paper was soiled from the previous night's rain, but you could still recognize the illustrations once you turned the paper around. It was a half-of-page from an old book, a girl standing in the middle fighting a sinister entity. You squint your eyes, now focusing more on whether your eyes were deceiving you rather than your hearing. Is that?—

Rapid crunching and snapping made you unfocus from the paper, the sounds grew louder and louder and louder. You stood up and turned to look at the source, and you froze in place, like a deer in headlights after finding themselves lost on a highway. It was charging straight for you, not caring to mask its presence up until this moment, because you wouldn't have any more time alive to even think about what just happened.

The same monster from that night was coming straight for you, and your fight or flight instinct kicked in and , you did what any scared person would do. You screamed, "No, wait!"

It stopped. It listened. It's eyes were wide, but now they were a different type of wide. They... softened, almost like it had feelings, a kind of its own evolved from more than a predator's mindset. It wasn't a bear or a wolf, it was a Hyde, the Hyde.

The world went quiet, and time froze around you. It was like you were watching a horror movie and paused the screen, staring down the main villain but they saw right through you.

Yet, it was so quiet, that the hushed sound of an arrow being dragged back from the string of a bow was heard. Your head snapped at the tree the two girls hid behind, and you saw Wednesday poking out from the side with a borrowed bow from Xavier's Archery Club.

Your fight or flight kicked in once again, but you yelled, "Don't!"

Wednesday didn't listen. She uncurled her fingers and let the arrow fly, it's silver tip reflecting the moon light as it traveled quickly. It whipped past you, so close yet so far to the point where you could hear it moving against the wind, then it hit something. The arrow landed on the Hyde's chest, planting itself firmly in its thick skin. An awful, high pitched sound erupted from the Hyde's throat, and it stepped back from the impact.

Then, you did what absolutely nobody would do in this scenario. You took a step closer to it, reaching your hand out on pure instinct. The Hyde looked at you with fear, then ran away. "Shit." You huffed then began chasing after it, knowing it was a bad idea. If Wednesday's research was correct, then the Hyde should transform into its human form once its energy runs low or the "monster body" is in danger.

"Y/N!" Enid's voice was distant but the noise bounced on all of the trees for you to hear, but you ignored it and just kept running. It was hard to keep an eye on the Hyde, but you were able to keep up with it just enough to see it hide behind a tree.

You slowed down your paste before approaching the tree, many things could happen in a few seconds and none of them are good. You sighed, fuck it we ball, right?

You turned the corner of the big tree, feeling like a dumb teenager in a horror movie while everyone watching at home is yelling at the screen for you to run. But, you committed, and looked down to see—

"Tyler?!" He looked up at you with wide eyes, the same wide eyes belonging to the Hyde. "You've got to be kidding me."

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