I called Killian as soon as I made yesterdays post We didn't bother trying to see if Tristan was home. Mallory drove the three of us straight to the school straight to the auditorium.
She drove her car through the fire exit of the auditorium and filled the pitch black stageroom with light.
Tristan, chalk-white was leaning in an impossibly gravity breaking way like he was floating off the ground, or if someone was dragging him backwards.
down the trap door below the stage
Mallory turned on the blinders to her car, and the brights lit up the shadow man into view, an echoey screeaming animal noise shouted out and it was everywhere and I saw the Cuco drop Tristan to the ground.
I ran to Tristan i didnt even care that the boogeyman was standing right over him iw as gonna save him. Killian found both of our yearbook cameras still lying on the floor where we dropped them on Friday and used the flash setting over and over to distract the monster while I moved Tristan to his side and reached into his mouth. I found the drug still on the back of his tongue, and he started coughing and puking and waking up as soon as I pulled it out.
he was bleeding and sick and hurt in permanent ways but he was still alive.
i wish we had time to explain to tristan what had happened the way me and Killian and Mallory did together. it must have been so scary and confuing to see all this happening at once
but i remeber he was really good at writing movie ideas, so he mustve been able to put enough of the pieces of the story together to know we needed his help.
All we knew for sure was he hated the light and needed to hide in darkness, so long as he could return below the stage he could always keep killing and killing. We needed light. I told tristan we needed as much light as possible.
He ran to the light booth to turn on all the lights in the room. Killian continued taking pictures, blinding and confusing him but more importantly keeping him in view like a strobe light no matter where he tried to move.
While they did that, Mallory was digging through the trunk of her car for something, and i tried my best to wedge every possible door open that led outside and to the sunlit cafeteria, until absolutely every corner of the auditorium was totally blasted like the surface of the sun
Except for the shadowy underbelly beneath the stage, where the cuco backed away screecchigng down into the dark again. we cornered him we just needed to finish the job
What could we do to get rid of him? Seal it up with cement? Hammer it shut with wood an nails??
Mallory found what she was looking for in the car. She lit up an emergency road flare from the trunk and stood over the trap door. It looked like she was about ready to try and shove it down the cucos throat.
But his claw cut off one of her legs before she had a chance. she fell on the stage and dropped the flare and it rolled off to the floor and then she was pulled down into the darkness and then she was screaming and then she wasnt
Killian was so scared he wasnt thinking straight and he ran to the trap door to try and save mallory but it was too late for her and it was too late for him cus he was pulled down into that pit too like a paper shredder like a garbage disposal. his cameras landed right on the edge of the trap door as if it was bait.
something in the air cchanged or something like finally getting mallory and killian after all these weeks refueled something in him. the stage lights started to flicker and then they were off. one by one the doors i wedged open started to slam shut on their own, even the lights in mallorys car had shut off, until the auditorium was creeping back into inky blackness. tristan and i backed away towards mallorys car which crashed open the fire exit and couldnt be shut. at least we knew that exit leading out to the school parking lot and the sunny day was safe from the dark
standing by the car, we looked through the trunk of her car for something else that could help us. there was one more road flare left in an emergency kit, a can of gasolien

Tristan held the road flare, and id carry the gas. hed light the way to get us safely to the trap door, id pour the gas tank inside it and he'd drop the flare and set the whole stage on fire
hed have no where to hide anymore hed have to find someplace else to go
the flare was lit, and we made our way to the trap door. I started pouring the gas down into the pit but then something happened
i guess the road flares mallory had must have been old or expiered or something cause it started to crackle and fizzle and pop in tristans hand before going out prematurely.
we were totally defenseless
it was so dark on that stage, tristans was only inches in front of me and i couldnt even see when the cuco got him. but i heard it. and it wasnt fast like killian or mallory was
i was panicking, splashing gasoline everywhere as i ran, the straps to one of the cameras killian dropped got tangled up in my shoe and started flashing every few steps as i screamed and freaked, i missed the stairs and fell hard off the stage onto the concrete floor right on my jaw but i scrambled and tried to get back to the busted open exit to daylight i could hear him behind me the monster was right behind me only barely slowed by the flashing light of the camera shots
i only just barely made it to the pool of sunlight circling the edge of mallorys car. i got a good look at him. i couldnt see him, but i could. he was invisible but he was there clear as day. he was hair and shaodw and nothing
its like he was making fun of me. like he won and beat me. like he was gonna take everyone in this school until theres nothing left of this whole town
but he was wrong. cause i saw something else caught under the break pedal in mallorys open car
a tiny plastic lighter.
cause mallory was a smoker
in my panic i had drenched probably every inch of that stage, the carpet, the curtains and walls with gas.
the fire was fast and easy and enormous.
the entire school burnt to the ground within an hour, and the sun was still bright without a cloud in sky.
there wasnt a shadow to be seen. no where to hide. as the fire burned i could hear his screams. i heard him die.
Im sorry to Mallory and Killian and Tristan. Im glad i saved you, im sorry i couldnt have done more.
im sorry to doyle and rue and all the people lost in the battle of the bands
i couldnt save them. but i can make sure it ended with them.

The camera was still tangled up on my leg when i got home. this time i was able to salvage one picture from the sd card.

The Boogeyman was real, but not anymore.