WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — Prosecutors say two 12-year-old southeastern Wisconsin girls stabbed their 12-year-old friend nearly to death to please a fictional character they learned about online.

Both girls were charged with first-degree attempted homicide Monday in Waukesha County Circuit Court. A court commissioner set bail at $500,000 cash per girl.

The criminal complaint says that one of the girls told a detective they had to kill someone to become proxies of a character called Slender Man they learned about on a horror-story website. The complaint says the girls started planning to kill their friend as early as December.

The three girls had a slumber party Friday. The two stabbed their friend 19 times in a wooded park Saturday.

The girl managed to crawl away and was found by a bicyclist. She is hospitalized.