This is for StormDragon666's one-shot Halloween contest. I'm hoping to get my creative juices flowing with this, so I can get back to writing my other stories, please enjoy, and feel free to criticize it. I don't think it follows any time line, but if I mention anything incorrectly, I apologize.
I do not claim any rights to Naruto or any creepy creatures that find their way into this story; Enjoy!
EDIT: I changed a few spelling mistakes and did a brief edit towards the end...didn't change anything major; the ending is still the same :)
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Haruno Sakura couldn't remember a time when she was happy. She knew she had to have been happy, at some point. She remembered hearing herself laughing with Ino, and smiling at Naruto's antics, but... she couldn't remember why. It all seemed so far from the nightmare she had been living in.
It all started when Asuma-sensei was killed. When Sakura had arrived at the funeral, she searched the mourners for her blonde friend, and that's when she saw him. At least, she assumed it was a him; it was a tall, skinny creature, pale as a sheet of paper, paler than Sai. He towered over the rest of the crowd, with a dark suit that managed to fit him rather awkwardly. The most discerning thing though, the thing that put Sakura on edge, was the fact that this man, this creature, had no face. In fact, his head lacked any discernible features whatsoever; he just had an oddly round head, blank and smooth, and he was staring at her (at least she assumed so, for his head was tilted in her direction). Before she could investigate this anomaly, however, Ino ran over and started sobbing onto her shoulder, burying her in a hug, and blocking her view of the man. By the time she managed to calm Ino down, the man was gone, without a trace. And later, no one seemed to remember seeing such a man, so Sakura let the matter drop.
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After the funeral, though, thoughts of the odd man/creature seemed to plague Sakura's entire life; everywhere she went, she saw the creature. At first, she assumed she was being followed; perhaps an enemy nin's summon, or an experimental ANBU tactic of some sort. However, when she tried pointing it out to Hinata, or TenTen, they seemed unable to see the creature. Ino was far too depressed to even listen, so Sakura just tried to ignore it, and hope that it would go away. But as the weeks went by, and as life began to return to semi-normality (for everyone else, at least) he was still everywhere she looked. He had even begun to show up outside her apartment, staring with that damned blank face through her windows, from the second floor no less! She was starting to lose sleep, and even when she managed to sleep, she had the same nightmare, over and over, playing like an old, grainy film. She was a child again, sitting in her parents' house, drawing pictures. She couldn't quite see the picture, only dark lines and angles gracing the sheet, only forming a clear picture when put on display for her proud parents. It was always the same dark picture; dark trees made with sharp, vicious lines, with a dark, starless sky, and a single white dot, in the middle of the page. The dot had started off quite small, easily overlooked at first; as the dreams continued though, the dot became larger, more refined. By this week, exactly six months after the first discovery, they dot had grown to fill up a thumb sized hole in the paper, contrasting from the beginning pinprick it had originated as. It was beginning to gain the familiar suit, and it seemed to mock her from its spot on the page. What worried her most, though, was that another figure was beginning to form next to the white smudge; a figure with familiar blond hair.
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It was ridiculous to think that the dream meant anything; plenty of people had weird dreams, and it meant nothing. She would just go stop by, just to reassure herself; she could convince herself that nothing was wrong, and she was just a little paranoid. As she rushed through the crowds, she noticed her shadow, her silent tall stalker was missing from his spot. That could mean anything though, nothing to worry about. Maybe it was finally gone for good, maybe life would go back to normal. When she got to the house, she would find nothing amiss, and she could share the odd dreams and have a good laugh. But as she neared her destination, the dread began to pool at the base of her spine, and knots began to fill her stomach as the doubt and suspicion clawed at her throat. Please be alright. Please? When the door came into sight, she saw the broken glass from the window above it. The window with the purple curtains from the familiar room she had sat in countless days previous. It was Ino's room.
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They couldn't figure out what happened; nothing was missing from the room, nothing broken or out of place, except for Ino. The dogs of the Inuzuka family couldn't find a trace of the girl, no scents that came to or from the house that would lead to the missing girl. The frantic search continued well into the night, until Tsunade had to force Sakura and the rest of the Rookie Nine to go home, to let other nin investigate. After all, fresh eyes might find something that was overlooked. But as her head hit the pillow, and her eyes began to fall shut, Sakura knew it was hopeless. And right before she felt the sleep claim her, she heard Him enter her room, and stop at her bedside; it was far too late to stop him though, and the dawning horror was quenched as the dream began. It materialized in front of her eyes; little Sakura sat happily drawing a picture, before skipping off to show off to her parents, like always. This picture, however, was far diifferent from the last one. Ino no longer stood next to that monster anymore, she sat in the background. Her broken body was strewn through the trees, branches stabbed through her body, coating the forest with a deep crimson. Her hands were laying upon the two branches that pushed through her chest. It looked like, at one point, she had attempted to pull them out, or perhaps stop them, but had failed. Glazed over eyes, once filled with such confidence and excitement were hazed over by terror and death, and once shining, vibrant hair was torn and coated in gore. And the branches that held her up, were not branches at all, but horrifying appendages growing from that horrible stick man. And as Sakura's screams filled that dream space, animalistic and agony filled, echoing her friends early cries, He stood watching. His head was tipped slightly to the side, with the air of innocence, like he was saying, Who me? I didn't do this; you must be going crazy.
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Bam!
Bam!
Bam!
Smash!
The door flew open with a smash, and TenTen burst into the apartment, stepping over the wooden shards to go searching for her pink haired friend. Sakura had been acting so...off lately. She seemed twitchy, nervous all the time. Whenever she saw the girl, she seemed to stare off into open space, and frankly, it was becoming a problem. The once cheerful girl had become all bones, and her eyes became that haunted, glazed look that only the most seasoned nin seemed to have, mixed with the shifting, wary eyes of a hunted animal. After Ino's disappearance, Sakura seemed to become even worse, but in a different way. Her actions seemed jerky, like she had strings pulling her in too many directions, and her eyes lost any shine they had. She began to cough, constantly, but she waved it off and replied, in a stoic, off voice I'm fine. This went on for weeks, until she stopped showing up altogether. She ignored any invitations, and stopped showing up to work, and TenTen needed to check on her, reassure that she was still there, still Sakura...whoever that is now. That she wasn't gone...like Ino...like Hinata, and Kiba and Shino, and Gai-sensei. That she hadn't disappeared without a trace, and left TenTen as one of the few Rookie Nine left.
The apartment was dark, all the windows boarded up with what appeared to have once been furniture. One by one, she searched through the rooms, looking for Sakura, and finding empty, lifeless space, until all that was left was the bedroom. With growing trepidation, TenTen approached the door, until she could she her hand shakily grasp the doorknob. She pulled the door open, and found...the bedroom...it was different. Odd pictures of stick figures were drawn over the walls, creating eerie shadows around the vacant room. Yes...it was just as vacant as the others. However, TenTen noticed, the bed was still in one piece; it seemed to be the only furniture still intact, and, as she drew closer, she noticed a small note.
I'm sorry.
Be Safe.
(X)
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Well, that came out differently than expected...hope it was spooky ^-^ I don't own Slenderman by the way. He's a product of some old folk tales (like Der GroBann) and some internet threads; there are actually a few video series on youtube, like MarbleHornets and EverymanHybrid (go check them out if you dare!). Cookies to those who knew what the O with an x through it is, and sorry about the lines...FFN isn't liking me today. I wanted to make this a lot longer, but it just didn't work. Hope it didn't disappoint, Happy Halloween everyone!