Disclaimer: I do not own Slenderman.

In the Dark

The gate clanged shut behind Luke with all the finality of a pouncing lion, and the last bully locked him in for the night. Luke did not want to be here. He had taken the challenge to stay a few hours that night at the old abandoned carnival in an effort to ease the taunts and teasings he got for his cowardice. Luke was a coward, though, and it showed; hesitant, twitchy, and fluttering, he switched on his tiny penlight to help illuminate the scene.

The disused fair grounds looked every bit as haunted as the old legend claimed; peeling paint, hanging signs, and rickety wooden struts filled up the dead, grassless turf. The bullies had hidden pieces of notebook paper around the grounds. Put together, they would give the combination to the lock at the gate and allow him to escape. He was also to record his night as further proof that he didn't cheat. Camera clutched in one hand, flashlight in the other, Luke began his search.

He found the first piece quickly; taped to an old rusty flag pole in plain view. '1st; Left 16'. As Luke stuffed the paper in his pocket, he suddenly felt like he wasn't alone. Panning the camera around the grounds, Luke could find nothing to justify his jitteriness except for the dying light.

"Hel… Hello?" The bushes on the other side of the fence rustled, and Luke swung around just as a bird flew out. Luke chuckled with false bravado for the camera. "Just a bird!" He hated how squeaky he sounded.

The second piece was under a teetering slide in a sand pit area for little kids. '3rd; Left 19'. As Luke bent down to retrieve it, he felt… something… stroke down his backside. He yelped and jumped up, nearly hitting his head on the underside of the slide. "Who's there!?" The camera caught nothing but a faint burst of static as Luke spun around. After a moment of breath catching, Luke was able to shrug the sensation off. "Must be the wind…"

Luke caught movement out of the corner of his flashlight after he had found the third note on the inside of a concession stand. '2nd; Right 21'. "Hey!" Luke was torn between curiosity and caution, and eventually waved off the movement as some trick of his tired eyes.

His flashlight was the only source of illumination as he spotted the fourth piece at the back of a games booth. '4th; Right 19'. He had to bend over the counter to reach it, and his exposed behind was once more subjected to a grope. Not daring to breath, Luke forced himself to hold still while he slowly pointed the camera to look back.

He slid off the booth and sat beneath the overhanging wood trim to watch the footage. The camera panned around just in time to see a waving black… cloth? retreat off frame, accompanied by static. Luke gulped. He had heard of the legend, but hadn't really thought much of it until now. The idea that some acrobat had committed suicide after the carnival had been sued and come back as a ghost to haunt it had sounded utterly ridiculous to Luke when the bullies had told him, but now…

Gathering his courage, Luke got up from his semi sheltered position and searched for the final number for the pad lock. His heart beat quickened, where was it? He picked up his pace. Could it be that there were only four numbers? No, the bullies had turned the lock five times before it had clicked. Maybe the bullies had hidden it on the inside of a stand. That would be cruel, but not that unusual. He hopped over counters to check. Maybe they had pinned it to a tree, far from the front of the grounds. He raced to the wooded rear of the fenced-in area and swung his flashlight back and forth, the bright white of the paper the only thing worth seeing anymore.

A little voice spoke up from the back of his mind. Maybe there was no fifth paper. Maybe the bullies had planned to keep him locked in the creepy carnival with the perverted ghost all night. Terrified, exhausted, and defeated, Luke made his way back to the front gate and curled up into a fetal position. He rocked himself on his haunches, sobbing silently. He didn't care if he was twenty years old. He didn't care if he lived on his own. He didn't care if he was supposed to be a man. Luke just wanted to go home.

A snapping twig yanked Luke's head from his knees. He blinked away his tears and gasped as a figure came into focus. Clad in a black suit with a black tie, the figure stepped closer. Luke shined his flashlight on its head. The figure had pure white skin… and no face. Luke's mouth stretched open in a soundless scream as the faceless specter drew nearer. It pointed at him, a piece of paper in its grasp.

"I- i- i-" Luke gulped and tried again, "is th- that for me?" The figure held up a single finger.

"You must do something for me first…" it rattled out, white face deforming with the words.

Luke whimpered, "what do you want?"

The figure pulled down its black pants, an erection springing out.

"You know what I want."

"No…" Luke sobbed. He had thought that the bullies had been fooling around when they had told him that the ghost was fond of little blond boys on its crotch. And again, Luke had been wrong. He squeezed his knees tighter to his chest as the figure bent down and picked up the camera.

"Open your mouth and kneel." The figure turned the camera on him.

Seeing no other option, Luke did as he was bid. He closed his eyes and prayed it would be over soon. Luke's eyes shot open as a piercing scream rent the night. He couldn't quite make sense of the scene before him. A wall of pitch black shadow rose from the ground and pinned the figure to the gate. A tendril of darkness ripped the white mask off the bully and yanked him to the ground, pushing his still bare behind into the air.

The bully yelped as the tendril whacked him hard across the ass several times. Once the darkness had its fill, it picked the bully up and tossed him over the gate. The bully landed on his rear with a thud and floundered to his feet, holding his pants up and scampering as best he could for the road. Luke turned back to the wall of black and resumed his earlier position; hugging his knees close and tucking his head down, whimpering. Nothing happened.

A faint sound of rustling fabric tempted Luke to peek. The wall of shadow withdrew to a single point in space. That point resolved itself into a figure almost identical to the last; white, faceless, and suited. Yet, this figure was different. It was much slimmer than the bully had been; the shoulders were much closer together and the suit fit perfectly, not bunching or stretching anywhere. It also, in some indescribable way, seemed utterly inhuman.

The creature cocked its head at Luke and reached a hand forward. Luke flinched back and the creature stopped, tilting its head the other way. They stared at each other for a moment, and then the creature moved to sit at the fence about four feet away from Luke. It watched him and mimicked his posture, sitting in a fetal position while inclining its head.

Luke took a deep breath, "you're not going to hurt me?" The creature shook its head. "You can understand me?" The creature nodded. "Can't you speak?" Another head shake. Luke knew he would regret asking this, but he had to know. "What do you want from me?" The creature reached a hand out to him again, and Luke forced himself to stay still. After all, if this creature wanted to hurt him, it had demonstrated with the bully just how easily it could do so. It wouldn't need to trick him. Right?

Luke eyed the gleaming white hand warily as it drew closer, then gasped and jerked away as it stretched to bridge the gap between them, morphing into a black tentacle in the process. The creature paused its advance but didn't retreat. Luke gritted his teeth and sat back up, closing his eyes and bracing himself. After a few seconds of nothing, Luke peeked at the creature. It was tilting its head at him, tendril unmoving.

Luke suddenly got the feeling that he was being very silly. This creature- the same one that had tossed a three hundred pound thug over a ten foot gate -was treating him like he was made of glass. Huffing lightly, Luke forced himself to relax. He turned back to the creature and reached a tentative hand out to meet the tentacle. They made contact and the tendril loosely wound halfway up his forearm.

Luke smiled, "you're not so bad, are you?" This was apparently the wrong thing to say. The tentacle tightened its grasp and yanked Luke towards the creature. He yelped and tried to pull back, but it held firm, dumping him into the creature's lap. Luke struggled as the creature surrounded him with darkness and… nuzzled him? He paused his frantic movements at the soft touch. Yes, the creature was now nuzzling him, caressing the side of his head with its own.

"Umm, I don't understand." Luke blushed as the creature continued its affections, wrapping its arms around his middle and cuddling him. Just when he thought the situation couldn't get any stranger, the creature began to purr. Like a cat. Luke sighed, deciding to give in to the bizarre moment. At least he wasn't terrified anymore.

The creature continued to lavish affection on him like some humanoid house cat, and Luke simply let it. He was far too comfortable to hinder the caressing tendrils wandering lower and lower. The creature snuck a hand down his pants to stroke his growing erection.

"Ah…" Luke wasn't sure if he should be enjoying this so much, but it had been a very long night, and he was tired. Tired of running, tired of being scared, tired of everything. He leaned back into the creature and relaxed fully, letting it fondle him while he rested.

Suddenly, the creature shifted him sideways and stood, carrying him bridal style away from the gate.

"No… Wait… I need to get home…" The creature looked down at him and stroked his cheek with a dark tendril. "Are you gonna let me go soon?" It nodded. Luke sighed, melting back into its hold. "Oh… Okay." He didn't know exactly what the creature had planned for him, but from the tendril wrapped around his manhood, Luke could guess. He buried his face in the creature's suit and received a light squeeze in reward.

Luke opened his eyes as the creature set him down on a mattress. He was surrounded on all sides by ribbed metal, and the air held a faint scent of rust. The scene was illuminated only by his own flashlight that the creature had apparently taken with them. Luke wondered if his camera was also near.

"Where are we?" Luke asked, sitting up and looking around, "I didn't see any shipping containers at the fair grounds." The creature insisted on retaining his attention, straddling his hips and pushing him gently back into the mattress with a splayed hand. It followed him down, hovering over him like a phantom. Luke had no idea how he could tell, but the creature seemed to be watching him intently.

"What are you gonna… Nrgg…" Luke trailed off as the tendrils came back, squeezing and pulling at his member. He rocked into the ministrations, rolling his hips up under the creature. It cocked its head and mimicked him, pushing against his crotch. Curious, Luke rolled his hips back, and again, the creature followed him. This time though, the tendrils squeezed and pulled with it, causing Luke to toss his head back and whimper, thrusting forward again.

The creature leaned down further, copying him again, and purred. Luke caught bits of shadow floating at the edge of his vision as they continued their strange dance. He turned his head to look and was surprised when the wisps didn't vanish.

"What is-" Luke cut himself off with a moan as the tendrils gave him a hard tug. The creature reached a hand over and turned him back to face it. It seemed to chastise him, quirking its head just so. Luke guessed it didn't want him looking away.

"Okay," Luke meeped. The creature's purring grew, and it began petting his hair. As the thrusting increased in tempo, Luke briefly wondered if the creature was pleasing itself somehow. He didn't feel any bumps in its suit whenever they came together, and it seemed utterly focused on him otherwise.

All thoughts were wiped from him as the darkness closed in. Tendrils swarmed over him, probing under his clothes, caressing his rear, stroking his sides, tickling his feet, nuzzling his cheeks… Luke whimpered, completely lost to the sensations as the creature stared down at him, cocking its head.

A particularly large tendril swirled around his cheeks, making a figure eight over his mouth. Luke nabbed it with his lips. Everything stopped. Luke cracked an eye open, suddenly afraid that he had done something terribly, terribly wrong.

If Luke could describe the non expression that the creature was wearing at that moment, he'd say it looked shocked. He followed the long black tentacle with his eyes… It lead directly to the creature's crotch. Well, apparently that stretched too.

Needing to break the awkward pause with something, Luke gave the creature a very tentative suckle. It shivered on top of him, and motion returned to the surrounding darkness. The tentacle pushed further into his mouth and captured his tongue, wrapping around it and tugging playfully.

The creature leaned closer to him and cupped his face, stroking his cheek with its thumb. Recognizing the encouragement, Luke led the tentacle to the side of his mouth and kneaded it with his teeth. The creature arched forward, digging its groin into his, while the darkness squeezed him from all sides, forcing him to mirror the thrust.

Luke could take no more. Every part of him sang with pleasure as he unloaded, all the tension that had built that night finally flowing free as the gloom swelled around him, pulsing with his throes.

He panted as the world slowly expanded once more to include the creature. It petted him as his expanding view halted, then reversed. The creature cocked its head, and Luke felt compelled to say one last thing before a different kind of darkness took him.

"I'm Luke, by the way…"

Luke stumbled into his apartment later that same night. He had woken up at the gate to find it unlocked, his camera and flashlight next to him. He had shrugged off his strange encounter with the creature as a queer dream and made his way home after that. He had not let a shadowy tentacle monster ravish him, and Luke would look at the footage tomorrow to prove that.

Luke shivered, dropping his cargo on the tiny counter top that constituted his kitchen. It had felt real enough. If he closed his eyes and concentrated, he could still feel the darkness thrumming around him… Luke sighed, glancing at the glowing numbers on his trusty microwave. How was it only ten o'clock? He pulled off his hoodie and draped it over the back of his chair before heading to the shower.

The walk home had been tense; there was a rough neighborhood between his apartment and the fair grounds, and being there after dark was a really good way for him- young, fair, and slight as he was -to get mugged. Or worse. He had considered staying at the grounds until morning, but he'd had a strange feeling about impinging on the creature. Not that there had been a creature. He had just felt weird about staying over night at the creepy carnival. That definitely wasn't haunted. Especially not by a fantastic sex beast bent on making him-

Luke paused in his disrobing. There was a rather conspicuous yellowish stain in his underwear. He must have grabbed a dirty pair from the basket instead of his drawers that morning. Yeah, that's what had happened. Definitely. Luke dropped his discarded clothing into said basket and resolved to keep better track of his laundry.

The warm water sluicing over him, Luke wondered at the other big discrepancy of the night. He had been sure that the bullies had locked the gate behind him, but then, he'd never tested it… Maybe the lock was just broken. That had to be it. Good thing, too, 'cause he'd never… even found… the last…

Luke toweled himself off and made a beeline for his camera, snatching up his hoodie on the way. A chill ran down his spine as he reviewed the footage of his wild night. The video started right before the bullies unlocked the gate to let him in, and continued in mundanity until he picked up the second paper.

Luke watched with growing anticipation and anxiety as the camera justified his memories, revealing the static, the shadows, the bully, and finally the creature. It picked him up and carried him for a few paces before the camera lifted off the ground and followed them. A burst of static interrupted the feed.

Luke felt the floor drop out from under him as the static cleared. The camera panned along their conjoined bodies, finishing its cinematic sweep with a close up of Luke's face. He looked… enraptured. Warmth rushed to his cheeks as the footage sauntered on, camera not leaving his face even once. He watched himself gasp and moan as each thrust brought mounting bursts of static until the scene faded out altogether as he came. Breathing hard, Luke looked away. That had really happened. …And the creature had recorded it… Why?

The static cleared once more, and Luke found the creature setting his sleeping form down by the gate. It gently unzipped his pocket and took out the papers. A tendril zoomed in from off screen bearing the fifth note the bully had dropped, and a marker. The creature scrawled something on the back of the paper while a tendril spun the lock open. The camera moved in as the creature crouched down and petted his hair, stuffing all five papers back into his pocket. Then the creature reached off screen and the video ended.

Luke turned off the camera, blinking. His hand unconsciously went to his hair where the creature had touched him. Snapping from his daze, Luke dropped the camera on the counter and retrieved the papers from his hoodie. They all looked just as he remembered them. Except for the last one. On its front was the final number, '5th; Left 25'. On its back, in scratchy handwriting and black marker, was scrawled a message.

'You're mine now, Luke. And I protect what is mine.'

End Chapter One.

I'm writing a novel at this present time, so updates may be a bit... odd. I still intend to finish this story, though, and feedback- encouragement and/or criticism -is helpful.