Slenderman: The Eight Pages

Walking in the woods, I can feel my hands shaking. They're shaking from fear, and I just want to give up. Though, once you're in this game, you must complete it…alive. My breath-cloud extends from my mouth into the darkness as I close my eyes and make a left turn. My teeth chatter, the light from my flashlight won't stop shaking and I open my eyes again only to see him and I scream and run the other direction turning my flashlight off continuing to run. I dodge trees as quick as possible, careful not to trip and I stop with a loud crunch and cry out in pain. I look down at my bare feet and realize I stepped on a pinecone. A pinecone! Who know they could hurt THIS much?! I look behind me, and turn the light back on to see he's not there. I breathe a sigh of relief and look back in front shining my light around. Here I see an old abandoned car, and I shakily walk around it. "Ah-ha! There it is! A note!" I exclaim out loud, grabbing the note and stuffing it in my pocket. Though I may only have five notes out of eight, I feel I'm doing pretty good and hopefully will stay alive. I turn off my flashlight and walk with a tad more poise now, but still knowing I'm in the game of life. All I could think of was avenging my daughter's death.
After about twenty minutes of walking around, I start to get tired and a look at my flashlight contemplating if I should turn it on or not. I clutch it to my chest, and breathe in heavily and decide to knowing
he's attracted to light. I take my thumb and slowly flip up the switch to turn it on. The light shines and right there, right in front of me he stands and I scream and without thinking run left as fast as I can, turning off the light and not caring if I run into anything at all. Right as I process that thought, I run into something and everything simply. Goes. Black…

"Hey! Mom! I'm going out with some friends!" I say, grabbing my bag throwing my iPod in it, running out the back door not waiting for a response. I walk down the street until I see Amy and Cameron. I smile as they start making weird faces at me, Cameron hopping out the car so he could give up his seat to me. I climb in, and right when I think Cameron was going to the back, he climbs in my lap and sits on me.
"What are you doing? Am I now your personal seat!?"
"Can I not sit here?"
"Uhm…let me think…"
"Cameron! Ashley! HUSH and make up your minds of seating arrangements! I don't have a shit ton of gas like most people!" Amy says, though I know she's teasing.
"Fine, Cameron, you can sit there. BUT, I'm telling Sam."
"Annnnnddddd?"
"I'm good at stretching the truth, honey." I say, winking at Cameron.
"Okay, okay. Fine, I'll sit in the floor board. *insert pouty face here*" he says, and I grab his facing turning it into a frown.
"Well…you did say…"
"AND WE'RE OFF!" Amy says and slams the gas pedal to get a fast start.
Cameron takes his seat on the floor board, and I watch Amy drive. These two have been my friends since first grade and I love them so much. Cameron was my first crush I ever developed in third grade but he'd never take my hand and only about two years ago, our eighth grade year, I found out why. Amy is two years older than us, and she and Cameron float on the same boat – kind-of. She likes girls, he likes guys. But right now it's more of a guy, and that would be Sam. Sam and him have only been together for about a year now, and they have no intentions of leaving each other anytime soon.
Amy on the other hand, she hasn't that special girl in her life yet. She's had a couple relationships, but they left her and she's given up for the time being. So instead, she picks up Cameron, Sam and I and we all hang out as best friends. She only lives about five minutes down the road from me, and Cameron lives right next to her then we all go get Sam; whom lives about fifteen minutes away. Sam lives in this lonely place that is surrounded by dark woods. We always tell him that he lives in the perfect place for murdering people and if he wanted to, he could kill people for a living. That just brings a look of disgust on his face making the three of us laugh.
We pull into Sam's driveway and I can't but help see Cameron get a wide smile on his face as we draw nearer to his house. Considering the house is in the middle of the "forest", the driveway is rather long.
"Excited much, Cam-Cam?" I say, doing my best Sam voice in mock of his nick name.
"Oh hush, Ashley. You'd do the same if you had a boyfriend!"
"Oh really now? Nah, I'm kidding. I know you love…"
Woof, woof, woof! I look out the window and Sam's dog, Mosh, is running after the car barking loudly. We then pull up to the house, and Cameron practically throws himself out of the car and runs up to Sam's door and just walked in.
Mosh comes up and being his Great Dane self, licked my hands and nudged me out of the car. He greeted me in his usual way, then, after his task of getting me out, he makes his way to get Amy out. She and I both laugh as Mosh beats his tail back and forth and running up to the door wanting us to follow him. I walked in and saw Sam and Cameron holding each other's hands and making cutesy faces at each other.
"Oh barf!" Amy says, punching Cameron in the arm. "Get a room, and NOT with your friends here!"
"You're just jealous, love." Sam says back sticking his tongue out to Amy and I laugh at both of them. "So..where are we going today?"
"You can pick, Sammy. Ashley picked last time, so it's your turn." Cameron said, leading Sam over to us.
"Hmm…I dun know…howwwwww abbbooouuuutttt,, we just hang here tonight and we can camp out and tell scary stories!?"
"That's a wonderful idea! Cameron, Amy, what do you think?"
"That sounds different and fun!" both Cameron and Amy say at the same time.
"JINXX!" I say, laughing.
"Do your parents care, Hun?" Cameron asks Sam nervously.
"Nah. They trust me well enough, love."
"Well, let's get this party started!"
Through out the next hour we all ran through the house, chasing Mosh around and grabbing him once we got close enough. Mosh would then turn around, bark a couple times and use all his strength to escape from us and then bounce back crouching down and wagging his tail. Sam was the worst at this, and he'd laugh knowing it was HIS dog. After about an hour of this, it was just a couple hours past noon and lunch time.
We all decided that we wanted SubWay and left to go get our food. We took our original seats except this time Sam and Cameron seated themselves in the back and they cuddled as we drove off. Amy was one to drive way too fast but we all dared not to criticize her driving skills—for if we were to do so she'd fly off the handle like last time; and there's still a dent in the car from that.
"Could you slow down a bit? I have issues with being in fast cars…" I said to Amy as she was flying down the highway. She was bound to get another speeding ticket!
"Why? You have a problem with how I drive?" Amy's face was suddenly stern and serious, making me look away.
"Amy, I don't think Ashley meant anything…Sam and Mosh are back here too and they don't really like…"
"GET OVER IT! JUST GET THE HELL OVER IT! HOW I DRIVE IS NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS!"
I hunkered down in my seat, suddenly afraid of Amy and how serious she was about this. She never flies off the handle like this at us, but apparently something's happened to make her so…upset!
"I was just saying, we're on a winding road and it's kind of dark outside. You're driving is fine, but at certain times such as the night, I think it'd be better if you slow down a tad." I dared to say to her.
I saw her face get red as she started belching out as many curse words she knew at us, making the whole world go silent other than her. I sat lower in my seat and felt as though as I could cry. She then stopped yelling—well making any other noise that is, the world split into as the car flew off the side of the road. Mosh was barking suddenly, Cameron was holding Sam as he was crying and Amy was screaming. Me? Well, I was beyond scared to the point of no sound, no reaction, no anything. As the car spun down the side of the ditch, we rammed into something big and sturdy.
As the world grew blank, it felt like that for merely seconds until I awoke to Cameron screaming my name slapping my face. I suddenly sat up fast, and grew unbearably dizzy and had to lay back down. Cameron's sigh of relief assured me I wasn't dead and I sat up a little more slowly this time.
"You've not been out for long…" he said, "but it's been at least an hour. We have some water in the back if you'd like some, but not much food. Amy is fine, she's out in the woods looking for help and Sam is checking Mosh for any wounds. He's already checked me and I've got a few bruises and scraped with a long but not too deep cut in my back. If you want, I'll check you."
I shook my head and stood up, my balance being way off as I stumbled to the back of the van and got me some water. I saw Sam sitting by Mosh petting him and kissing his nose. I sighed and looked up at the sky
"Still dark…" I thought to myself and laid back. That's when I heard a scream and then the rustling of leaves.
Looking up, I saw Amy running, her face pale as a ghost as she grabbed my shoulders. "There's something in there! I saw it! It was faceless and weird and UGH! We've got to get out! NOW!".
She continuously screamed unintelligible things over and over again, and I just stared at her—confused by whom she was talking about. I got down and I hugged her real quick, mumbling the only thing I thought I could, "Amy..you just got in a car wreck…you're just seeing things!".
She shook her head and did something I've never even seen her TALK about…she cried. She just started to cry and said over and over again, "It's real…it's my fault…that we're here…". Cameron and Sam walked over and stared in disbelief. I shook my head and pointed for them to go elsewhere and let me handle Amy.
"Amy, look at me. I don't know what you saw, or what you thought you saw, but it's okay. You're going to be just fine."
"No, Ashley, you don't understand. I saw something, I really did. It was like it was human, but it wasn't. It was tall, and skinny with these arms. At first, I called 'hey' after it, then I looked at its' face and, it wasn't there. There was no face and I know what I saw. It was there, Ash, please. Believe me."
"It could have been just a stupid teenager wearing a mask…"
"NO! ASH, it was INHUMAN. In other words, THERE'S NO POSSIBLE WAY THAT THING WAS A HUMAN!"
"Do you want me to go out there?"
"NO! Please don't…"
She started crying again and I sat there and held her for the next few hours, Sam and Cameron shortly joining us. Dawn soon came, and we were still out there, trying to stay by our car for a rescue party. Sam soon adventured out trying to find someplace as the light began to come out. Then, by the time the dawn started to fade, we heard walking. Amy—being traumatized—hid behind me. That's when I was able to tell there were many footsteps and everyone said "over here!" at the same time…

Amy pulled into Subway and we all hopped out of the car and we ran into Subway. The worker there, with the name spelling out Alustriel, looked up at us and had a look of disgust on her face. I smiled politely, and she had the same look as before.
"Someone doesn't like teenagers…" Sam said as we all walked over. She soon took our orders and we all went to sit down. Cameron was last to finish and I looked over at Amy.
"You know…I've been thinking a lot about that day of our car accident a lot." I said.
"Oh…that…you know I am very sorry for that, but it's been about a year since that…"
"Not that, Amy. Remember how you saw that…thing…"
"What thing?" Cameron said.
"Nothing, I'll explain later. Anyways, Ashley, yeah, I remember. What about it?"
"Never mind…" I mumbled.
We all finished our meal and decided we'd all go be little kids again and play at the park. Well, not play, but we swung on the swings and talked about this-and-that. Cameron sat in Sam's lap and Amy and I were on the other two. The whole day we did that and my random question seemed to leave everyone's minds and we all forgot about the awkward moment.
We arrived back home at around seven o'clock and Mosh was there to greet us and we petted his head and walked in. Sam went around back to check the garage and we soon heard "MOM! Where are you?!" with a reply of "Upstairs! I got your note, Hun!". Sitting there we waited for him to come back and tell us whether we're allowed to camp out in the back yard or not. About five minutes later we heard Mosh barrel down the stairs and an excited Sam swing around the corner—instantly we knew the answer was yes or he wouldn't be this happy.
He ran outside and we all followed him to the shed were he kept the camping supplies and Mosh barked gleefully up at us. Sam threw out three sleeping bags for us and Cameron grabbed a couple tents; soon we had enough supplies from food, to fire-starters and some fire wood. We walked deep into the woods as the light of the day started to fade.
Ashley and I then began to pitch the tent quickly with Most helping Sam and Cameron build the fire pit—but not yet starting a fire since there's still light. As we finished setting up, it was almost dark and Mosh decided he'd run around the woods. We all gathered in the tent to get a quick nap so we could stay up through the whole night. Sam and Cameron cuddled up next to each other and Ashley and I took the other side of the tent. Before falling asleep, she whispered to me "this is what they call a small tent, hmm? It's huge…" and she and I both fell unconscious.
We woke up about an hour later due to Mosh barking his head off, and Sam and Cameron weren't there. We sat up and looked out to Sam building a fire and Cameron playing with Mosh and we looked to the sky; pitch black, how long were we out?
"Cammm!" I called, "What time is it?"
"Oh, I don't know. Around ten or eleven I'd assume. Don't worry, it's not almost dawn!" He said back and Ash and I clambered out of the tent. We went over and we helped build the fire. After the fire was finished we all happily gathered in a circle around the fire.
"S'mores anyone?" Sam asked, handing out a couple bags of marshmallows, chocolate and gram crackers. We all accepted politely and began making our s'mores.
"Who's up for some creepy stories? I know I am!" Cameron called out and we all smiled at him and shook our heads in agreement.
"Okay! Who wants to be the story teller?" I asked.
"I have a good story for everyone. It may even be true." Sam said with a sinister smile and we all looked to him.
"Go, hunny, I want to hear!" Cameron exclaimed happily.
"Ahem…" Sam began…

"It started in the 1600's, people were seeing sightings. Bad sightings of an inhuman being that reportedly was terrible. People would turn up missing—kids especially would say of seeing things in the trees as they cling to their mother's arms scared and crying? "They're just nightmares" the parents would say to their small child. But, weeks later the child would simply…disappear. The adults would search endlessly for their children grabbing torches and any other light-illuminating device. They worriedly hurried themselves through the wooded areas, only to come back empty handed for no remains were left. One woman, though reported that her torch were to suddenly blow out with the help of no wind, no breeze—no anything. She then said that as she was walking back, she thought she saw a figure that was hidden in-between two trees.
"That's when she was soon put into a 1600 physciatric asylum for being crazy and mentally unstable. Here she was reported to be killed instantly due to the treatment, and what they didn't realize was a few centuries later there'd be more reports a lot like hers in the early nineteen hundreds.
"As about nineteen-twelve rolled around, children were being taken from homes at night from perfectly happy families in places where neighbors didn't exist and there was a secluded life; kidnapping was for sure not the reason. Adults would grieve for their lost child and travel to endless distances on foot in hopes of finding them. They didn't quite realize the danger in all of this. Then it continued on to s story in 1997…
"One family, much like the report in the 1600's was given out of a lost nine year old who ventured out by herself and simply not coming back. The mother told of how her daughter, after moving to a house in the woods, was acting very strange. She always wanted to venture out alone and travel the woods during the day. The mother told of not caring because she didn't believe any harm was near and she thought her daughter was going through a small phase. Her daughter was very loving at first, and then she acted very distant and not wanting to talk to her parents. Kayla, as the daughter's name was, lived in the attic of the house. She one day was dragging the paint from the basement to her room and her mother asked what was going on and Kayla looked up and simply stated, "I want to paint my walls," and walked upstairs with the paints. Her mother was actually delighted for knowing her daughter wanted to do something artistic. Actually, things made since because in her mother's eyes artists always had a sense of independence to them and her daughter was simply gathering inspiration from the outdoors.
"The days continued to fly by and her daughter was being the same, except for one day she came downstairs and wiped her tear-stained eyes and said, "Mommy…I don't feel good…" and instantly started to vomit. Her mom grabbed her and rushed her to the bathroom where she continued to vomit endlessly until she finally just…stopped. She stopped so quickly and all colour was back in her face as though as nothing ever happened. Her mother quickly called the doctor and asked and all he would say was it was a stomach virus. After many attempts of saying she thought it was something more, she gave up and went along with it. Kayla then went back to her "normal" life as though nothing happened.
"Mother…" Kayla came up to her mom and said in a sad tone, "I want to go outside."
"No, sweetie, it's too cold today."
"But mom! Please, I haven't seen my friend in for ever!"
"Friend? Does someone live around here?"
"What…? No…I actually don't know where he lives but he's friendly and talks to me…"
"Her mom sighed and took it was an imaginary friend, and made sure he daughter was bundled up. She then set her daughter out. While her daughter was out, she walked up to the room that she resided in and immediately gasped with what she saw written on the walls. All around her were illustrations of a man in a black suit, pale face with no facial features and long, slender arms. She saw drawings of her daughter and this thing holding hands and above her bed was a large circle with an "X" through it. Her mom fell backwards and ran downstairs and walking through the front door was Kayla.
"Kayla, hunny, explain your walls to me."
"Huh? Oh. That. That's my friend. He's nameless though."
"Her mom shook her head and drove her daughter up to the nearest hospital ignoring her kicking and screaming child. She ran through to find a doctor and explained what was going on. Everyone looked at the hysterical parent, and took Kayla in to try and help. By day two the mother got a call that Kayla was having nightmares. The nightmares were explained as a man dressed in black just like the man on her walls, and said those creations were nothing to be worried about and simply just a phase.
"Coming back home Kayla was acting normal and fine and the next day while her mom was making supper Kayla ventured out once more. Her mom was hysterical again and searched high and low for her without any success. She quickly called the police, and had search party after search party after her and nowhere was she to be found. Her mother fell apart in an instant and lost all hope of finding her beautiful nine years old.
"A few years later, Kayla's mother walked outside with her coffee. By now she's had the same nightmare of this tall, slender man every night, enabling her forever grievance. As she sat on the porch, skinny, frail and saddened by the loss of her only child—the last thing keeping her sane in life—she noticed something in the woods. It strangely resembled her child's "friend" and she squinted her eyes to get a closer look. Nothing, she thought, just a tree…
"Her mom got up and started inside, but she suddenly felt allured into the wood. A strong…urge…pushed her there, and she turned only to see the figure again, but in a different place. She walked out and called out her daughter's name and before stopping herself, she ran out past two oak trees and dropped to the ground and started to cry. She shed tears until a compelling force brought her to stand up and she looked around. She just knew it was a mother's institution telling her Kayla was near."

"Wow…this is getting really good…" Cameron whispered to me, and I instantly hushed him.

"The mother walked around the woods, flashlight in hands as she'd been out here for hours and the dark pressed against her. She then saw the figure in plain sight, a man for sure. He was tall wearing all black and was rather sophisticated looking. The length of his arms was inhuman though and she made her eyes to the face. Instantly she gasped in horror as she saw the faceless face and she turned, screamed, and ran. She ran through the forest with all her might as she bumped into a tree knocking her out cold. She awoke in the middle of the woods at dawn and rubbed her head and sat up. She then remembered the night before and she ran home and got into her car. She drove away fast until she arrived to her therapist and quickly explained what she saw and the therapist shook his head and sent her home.
"The next month, crime scene investigators searched endlessly around her house for her and she was nowhere. Just. Like. Kayla. The mother was reported missing…but never found. You see that spot over there? Yes, yes? That's where she was knocked out cold and you see that house over there? The one in which I reside in? Yeah, that's where they lived. Many reports have been given like these and soon the legend began of Slenderman.
"Slenderman has many stories behind him and nobody knows what's real and what's simply. Made. Up. He's said to come after the kids, and he will hide and blend well in with the trees. He can take figure of things too; not exactly shape shifting but other ways. He will slowly take over the minds of the kids, appearing friendly and nice at first but as time moves on he will lure them to him and he'll kill them. He makes use for all the remains, leaving no trace of evidence behind; but that's for the kids. He will also go after the adults and he traps them in different ways. He'll first play with their minds, making them dream terrible nightmares and make them believe they've gone crazy. Then, after that, he'll allure them into the wood where he will also mess with their minds and that's where he related adults among children. He kills them, also leaving no trace behind of their existence. The only thing is, all the adults have something in common: they've all had a tragedy in their life whether it's caused by Slenderman himself or something other.
"Slenderman isn't anything to toy with for if you do, you'll surely end up dead. From what I hear his killing technique is very painful, very harsh and you'll surely die suffering. Now it's up to you, is Slenderman real?"

Sam finished with a wink and Cameron stared in awe, but me? I sat aghast, horrified, shocked and I looked to Amy's pale face. Her eyes were showing signs of flashback and I died inside. That image…it fit so perfectly of what she described to me, and I looked at Sam. Sam came over and looked at us and tilted his head to the side.
"Come on guys, it's just a story, I promise." Sam said assuring us of what we knew wasn't true.
"Sam, you remember how I asked her about that thing earlier in SubWay? Yeah, well, let me say one thing—your story fit what I was talking about. Tell me, where did you hear that story?"
"No, tell me what you mean."
"Sam, Amy saw that figure in the woods at that car crash site! Tell me now where you heard that story!"
"Okay, when we first moved here we saw a bunch of drawings on the wall and my mom and I decided that they were just from teenagers living in that room. I suspected it was more than that so I started reading books on it and researching online about it and there was a 1997 story with a link to the websites about a legend of Slenderman. After reading more and more, I didn't believe a single word of it so my mom and I covered the paintings and went with the idea of teenagers. I mean, I'd do the same. But what you're telling me is she saw this thing, Slenderman, and it was tonight that you found out the legend? Highly doubtful, it's a pretty popular legend so she probably knew it before and is trying to scare us."
"DO I LOOK LIKE I'M LYING!?" Amy suddenly yelled and we looked to her as she stood up. "I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT ANY SLENDERMAN EVER…"
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Tone it down guys." Cameron said as we realized he was listening the whole time.
"DON'T TELL ME TO TONE IT DOWN! I'M BEING ACCUSED OF LYING AND I'M SCARED TO DEATH RIGHT NOW!"
"Amy, be quiet please, I'm scared too. Just go in the tent and calm down and I'll tell Sam about what you saw that day in the woods."
Shockingly she listened, nodded and she and Cameron went back to the tent. I sat down with Sam and explained the whole flashback to him of the car crash. His eyes welled up in tears as he remembered the whole thing and looked at his arms where the glass broken ripped his arms in many different ways. I looked at him and he stared back in disbelief.
"We've got to go back to the house; I don't want to be here anymore." Was all he could say to me.
We all went back to the house worriedly as we filled Cameron in with the details as Amy shook, scared for her eyes were the only to see this thing. We went in the house quietly, careful to not startle his parents, and Mosh silently trailed behind us as he knew something was wrong.
"We've got to figure something out, everyone. If that story is true, then Sam is in danger." I said finally.
"No. If it wanted me it would have already taken my life since we've been here for 6 years now."
"Sam, seriously. No." I gave him a stern look as he looked down and sighed.
"How about we all sleep for now, and we'll talk tomorrow, I'm exhausted and I really don't want to deal with all this right now, please?" Cameron spoke up and shuffled around for a bit before he stifled a large yawn.
We all nodded and we trailed up the stairs where we decided we'd sleep. Sam and Cameron shared Sam's bed and Amy and I took the floor next to the bed. I could hear Amy's breathing never coming to a calm, and I looked to her right as Cameron let out a loud snore making me smile and laugh a little. Amy saw me smile and she laughed at it as well and it only made me laugh harder.
"Good to see you can still smile. I could see how scared you were. I mean, who knew a simple horror story could be an actual nightmare? But I mean, look at it like this, it's not bothering any of us." I whispered to her.
"Yeah, I know. But I've seen it and I had a bad feeling when I saw it, and then to find there's stories about it? Especially stories such as that! Uh-uh, no more wooded areas for me!"
"Well, yeah, but I can hear how tired you are so go to sleep. I really suggest it."
She just simply nodded and turned over as I did the same and I heard her breathing slow to a steady breath and then I just fell asleep. I don't remember much, but I could swear I felt like I got up in the middle of the night. Then, I remember having a dream of the whole story but I was being visited by one who called himself Slenderman and it was as though e was telling the story and sharing his memories with me. I could hear him talk, fell his voice vibrate the air but if I attempted to look at his face it hurt. My eyes would burn and I'd look back down at his feet. There wasn't a negative vibe from him, in fact, he was kind of alluring.
I awoke the next morning and remembered my dream clearly as though as it actually happened. I scratched my head and looked up everyone, who was still asleep. I didn't take it as much, just a simple bad dream I had due to the story that was told. I sat up and walked quietly to the bathroom and right as I stepped down out of the attic, Sam's mom was walking right by and gave me a strange look.
"I thought it was a camping trip." She said, her voice full of concern and confusion .
"Yeah, but we came in late last night, or rather early this morning, due to the cold." I lied simply.
"Oh, I see. Yeah, it can get cold through the night." She smiled and we went our separate ways.
I walked to the bathroom and looked out the window towards the forest and suddenly felt as though as someone was waiting for me out there. As soon as getting out of the bathroom I walked out the backdoor towards the woods. With a blank mind I walk outside and start making my way through the wooded area as dead leaves crunch beneath my feet. I walk at a steady pace, not too fast, and not too slow. I circle around a tree as I realize I'm looking for something, but I'm not exactly sure what. As soon as I walk a little more I hear running and quickly turn around as I see Cameron and Mosh running after me.
"ARE YOU CRAZY!?" He practically yells at me as I tilt my head to the side and give him and a confused look as he grabs my hand and leads me to the house.
I quickly pull away from him, though I'm not sure why. He looks shocked at me as I turn around and walk more into the woods, walking a little faster away from him. At then I realized I'm not controlling my body and emotions nor am I able to control my words as I say "I need to get some fresh air after last night."
"Well…" he replies, "I can get Amy to take us all somewhere and you can get fresh air that way.
"No, I want to be in the woods. I honestly want to be here, its day so what can happen?"
I'm shocked at my words and his reaction by simply shrugging his shoulders and turning away. I try to control my thoughts but all I'm envisioning is a lake a drawing to search for it here. My body is turned around as I walk down the woods and about ten or fifteen minutes later I find a small slope. Compelled, I walked towards this slope and it reached down until a small river flowed right at the bottom. I lose all sense that this isn't right and walk quickly down and sit next to the lake where I soon hear footsteps behind me. I looked behind me and Amy and Sam are right there looking worried about me as they pull me up and right then all of "me" returns back.
"Guys! I don't know what happened and I couldn't control myself at all but when Cameron was near me earlier, I could feel myself returning. It was so WEIRD. I mean, really! I have no idea how to explain it but please just take me away from here!"
"Okay, okay, calm down Ashley. Let's just get out of here now and we'll talk about it. Okay?"
I nodded and we all walked back up to the house where we told Sam's parents we were going out. We piled into the car and began driving away and as I looked out the window I thought I saw the thing that itself Slenderman. I looked away and looked back and it was gone—just like in the story. I shook my head and looked at my hands as I fiddled with my thumbs. We were all deathly silent and Amy drove careful and slow for once. Not even Mosh was panting or making any noise at all for that matter.
We drove for a long while before Sam spoke up, "Why's it bothering someone now?"
"I don't know. All I know is the day Ashley and I talked about it during the car crash wasn't my last time of thinking about it." Amy said, and even though I couldn't see her face I could feel her expression in a guilty manner.
"Amy, it's not your fault but what are you talking about?" I said as Cameron stayed quiet through the whole conversation.
"I had a couple dreams but they were vivid and strangely real. I mean, they seemed too real to be dreams and I heard a voice that said 'it's not you' and after that, the dreams simply went away. I took it as guilty nightmares and I pushed them away."
"Hmmm…that's strange. Ashley, what do you think?"
"I think it's after me." I said as dark humour and ended up laughing.
"Seriously, what do you think?"
"I know it wants me and I think we need to stay away from Sam's house."
"Perfect timing, my parents are going away in a couple days for Winter break though I decided to stay here so I can spend Christmas with my Cam-Cam."
"That's really sweet and all, but, what if the problem persists?"
I looked down and knew what they meant—I could easily die within the next couple weeks if the legend was true. Nobody mentioned this though. I looked around as we all went quiet again and soon Amy found a place for us to stop and talk privately. There was an empty park behind some abandoned apartments that were old and creepy. We all went and sat on the wood lining of the small park and stared at each other.
"Is there any where you can stay, Sammy?" Cameron asked, his voice light and scared.
"I don't know. I know yours nor Amy's parents will let me. Ashley, how about you?"
"Well, I don't know but I will certainly ask. There's school tomorrow so I've no idea how my parents will feel about that."
"Well, I don't want to be at my house though I do think I'll be fine in the long-run. I also think it'd be better if you have someone with you as well."
"I think I'll be fine at my house. I mean, I really do. Though it's still worth asking my parents for permission of you staying for a couple days."
"Okay, then it's settled. I say tonight we ask if all of us can stay, so, yeah."
As we agreed upon the mutual decision, we got up and walked to the car where I looked back and unmistakably I saw it behind the slide watching me. Without taking my eyes off of it, I yelled for the others to look back and right as they did he just disappeared.
"I think you're being paranoid now, plus, I don't think he really follows anyone. You're safe for now, Ashley. I promise." Sam said to me as we got in the car and I sighed. By now I really didn't think I was very "safe". As we drove away I kept my face away from window-view. I did as much as I could to remove my mind from the reality I was in and tried to talk to the others. Instead, as my mouth couldn't form any words I grab my iPod and listen to music.
As the world finally closed around me, I close my eyes and drown out anything and everything in hopes that I can simply get away from everything. Suddenly my iPod starts to act up and won't play music. I look down at it and for some reason it's turned off and I turn it on only to find that the battery is almost drained. I shake it a few times in hopes that it will work, but all my attempts were fails. I breathe in and sigh, knowing it was on full charge a few minutes ago and suddenly was extremely annoyed. Then, the screen came on but it was very static and I hand it over to Cameron where he looks at it and shrugs his shoulders at me. When I get it back, it's back to normal with a normal charge and I find myself aghast.
Following the urge that beat inside me, I look out the window and there he was. He was in the trees again as we drove up a winding road that followed up a mountain. As soon as I saw his faceless-face, I scream and jump back making Amy, Cameron, and Sam look at me with wide eyes. Knowing no one here would believe me, I keep my mouth shut and act like I'm listening to music.
"I think we need to get everyone's mind off of things." Cameron said. "Hey, Ash, tell me, what are you dyeing your hair next?"
"Hmmm…I don't know." I say grabbing a stand of my hair. I smile at the dark shade of black it is with purple streaking my bangs and down the sides. I've always been dyeing my hair multiple colours making everyone laugh at me as I do considering it never stays the same for more than three months.
"I think it should be blue and platinum blonde." Amy says to me as Sam stays quiet clutching Cameron's hand.
"Nah, I think I like it like this."
"Oh, I see. Finally found a keeper?" Amy laughs.
"Yeah, I think." I reply back to her, but no luck at changing my line-of-thought.
"I think you should dye it brown like mine." Amy makes another attempt at getting my mind away as she flips her hair back and laughs.
"Mine was brown a couple months ago, remember?"
"Yeah, but you had platinum blonde streaks down the side of it. I think you should go with one natural colour and keep it like that."
"It was all black for a couple days when I dyed it last."
"That doesn't count. I miss your natural blonde hair. I mean, I miss it a lot."
I didn't say anything at all but instead listened to music and she seemed to get the hint. After about thirty minutes we arrived to my house where I hopped out of the car and went inside. I told Sam I wanted to be alone tonight and I just needed to think. Everyone hesitantly left making me assure them that I was legitimately fine. After a couple of hours it began to grow dark as I sat in my room contemplating my next move. I knew it was following me, and I could feel its presence. Something was strangely alluring about him and I felt drawn to certain places at weird times. When my mom came home she came up to my room and looked at me strange. I wouldn't blame her, usually I'm on the couch watching T.V. or playing video games.
After what seemed like the umpteenth time that I tried to convince people I was fine, she walked out lightly shutting my door. I plugged my iPod in the speakers and played my music loudly where I fell back on my bed and shut out everything. After I counted the 43rd song, I fell asleep and soon found myself having a strange dream.

I couldn't breathe, it was like something was taking over my body and I was beyond cold. And as if my thoughts were in sync with my body, it was taken over at well. I found myself walking out in the woods alone, and I could feel myself getting closer to whatever it was. Suddenly I felt warm again, and I breathed a sigh of relief only to see a cloud of breath exhale from me and I looked at it thinking it was strange. Only then did I see SlenderMan and his black suit. The only thing was, I was wedged inside the suit. Wait, no, it was as though as I was part of him. My skin was morphing into him and I felt as though as I was him. My heart pumped and then suddenly it exploded and my nightmare became bloody. I awoke on the floor of a house where drawings and painting floated above my head. They were all of him and this weird circle with an "X" marked through it. I attempted to wave it away only making it come forward. I rolled myself into a ball and closed my eyes. The same thing was happening inside my head and it was a mirrored affect when you have two mirrors facing each other. It was like a tunnel of never-ending me crouched and seeing these figures and images come at me. But I realized something, I wasn't scared…

I woke up with a loud, heavy breath. I sat up hearing a weird crunch beneath me and looked down only to see leaves. Grabbing them I looked up and saw trees floating above me with a pitch black sky. Reaching for my chest and pinching my own arm, I realized I was very well awake and jumped up and was suddenly paralyzed of confusion and fear. I suddenly felt engulfed by a large wave of frustration, anger and as my throat closed in on me- asphyxiation. I gasped for a breath of air only to find myself falling back and hitting the ground. Unable to catch my breath I roll over and grab my throat which felt like it was being choked by invisible hands. That's when his voice came inside m mind saying…
"If you can find my notes you can live. If not, I will find you and simply kill you. Since I was able to lock into your thoughts, your brain, your everything, and I was able to lure you here into the woods; you're now stuck in the game. The rules are simple, as I've already told you one…"
I looked around and saw nothing, no one—no capability to be in my line of hearing. My mind shut down and I gave into his words and quietly listened.
"One, you are stuck in this game. Two, you must understand I am the predator and you are the prey, Three, there are eight pages of notes you will collect. Four, if you manage to get out alive you mustn't tell anyone or I will find you and kill you. And Five, I get closer and closer with each note. I enjoy teasing my prey and making them lose their mind so simply and so easily. If you lose your mind, you go crazy. Simple right? I think so.
If you must know how you're at such a disadvantage then you obviously don't pay attention and you don't do your research. I'll tell you anyways though, to make your mind focused and even easier to handle. For starters, I teleport. I can also access your mind from a certain distance as I'm doing right now, but that makes it too easy for me. I guess that's all I'll tell you. You're smart; I think you have a chance of winning this game. Then again—that's what I thought of Kayla."
And with that, his voice went away and my mind felt like it belonged to me and only me. I got up and lying next to me was a flashlight with the batteries rolled off a few feet away. I picked up my flashlight and its batteries putting them inside and flicking the switch on. It flickered a bit and then turned on. I sighed a long breath only to walk forward a few steps and instantly felt I was going the wrong way. I turned around and closed my eyes making my thoughts full and scattered. I thought about my best friends and Mosh's playfulness. I thought about why I'm in this game and I thought about my parents all at the same time. I walked forward and the feeling didn't brush over me. I staggered for a minute with my shaking hands and went deeper into the woods. I then saw a large tree that resembled a willow tree. I shrugged my shoulders and ran over to it. I felt drawn to this tree and when I walked around it, I saw a piece of paper that read "Always Watches, No eyes" with an oval and "X's" through the position of the eyes. I reached out and grabbed it and it was easy to pull off surprising me.
With that I walked in another direction feeling more confident in myself. Running after a while I start to breathe heavily and stop with my hands on my knees. I flipped off my flashlight and walked a little longer until I saw a light and walked towards that. It was an old lamp post with a dim light on it and I right on it was a note that read "Leave Me Alone" with a drawn tree on it. Grabbing it I smile and then realize how focused my thoughts are in the game. Quickly altering this I change my thoughts to more scattered things such as my favorite things to do.
I turned around and flipped on my flashlight and in the trees, quite some distance away, was Slenderman's silhouette and I screamed running the opposite direction. Grabbing my chest felt how still my heart was and for some reason I didn't feel scared, just extremely startled. I shake my head and kept my mind to a scattered focus. When I looked up I saw an old abandoned car and next to it was a dog sniffing it. "Mosh!" I called and the dog looked at me and quickly ran away as I realized it wasn't Mosh. I signed and walked towards the car and checked all around it and didn't see a note. I stomped my foot and checked even harder and tried to open the car and failing at that. I stared at it and in the back seat I saw a "Help Me" note and stared at it in disbelief. After multiple attempts at getting the car to open, I got mad and went to the back of the car hood and took my elbow and smashed the glass. I jumped back and then crawled onto the hood of the car where I reached inside and grabbed the note. When I did a trail of thick, red blood flowed down my arm. After I grabbed the note I jumped back and ran back from the car. Naturally when I see blood my thoughts automatically became scattered again and a reached to clean my arm but it wouldn't clean. Actually, I didn't even feel the wet blood. I looked at my arm again and there were neither a wound nor any blood and I shook my head and looked at it more carefully.
I came to the conclusion he was messing with my mind and I walked off knowing I had three notes already. Almost half I thought to myself and I flipped off my flashlight letting my gut direction me toward the next note. I saw a shadow, and instantly I turned my flashlight on and it wasn't there making me turn my head in confusion. What I did notice was an old, abandoned house and I walked towards it feeling drawn as I did towards the Willow Tree. I walked up onto the porch and I reached toward the knob of the door and as I did, the door just carefully opened itself. I hesitated but an alluring force pushed me inside and I fell on my knees as I walked inside. It was unfurnished besides a chair sitting in the corner with a small fireplace next to it. I looked on the wall and saw a picture of a young girl and the name Kayla made its way into my mind as I looked around. I took in a deep breath and got up, walking towards a room in the left vicinity of the house. Walking into the room I looked at my quivering hands and the light of the flashlight moving intensely in the distance. I inhaled deeply and walked through the door and found myself surrounded by a kitchen that hasn't been updated in what seems as though centuries.
I continued to follow my instinct telling me to walk towards the counter tops and found myself bumping into a table. I didn't bump lightly into it- instead I walked heavily with my side making me crouch over in pain. I bit the inside of my cheek and walked forward a bit more and realized my flashlight wasn't working. I hit it a few times, and suddenly I felt like I was anything but alone. I quickly turned around and looked into the darkness. Bringing my flashlight up, I slide my thumb up the side of it without realizing I turned it off earlier, and looked into the lit up room. Nothing I thought to myself you're paranoid, don't pay attention to the world around you. Scatter you thoughts Ashley, SCATTER THEM! I told myself these words over and over again until I was able to think about two or three different subjects—including the game.
I decided to go ahead and keep searching listening to what my gut, heart and mind was telling me. I opened a drawer, and looking inside I saw nothing. I continued opening cupboards and drawers and I even opened up the old gas stove that made me envision the particular stove illuminated with a happy family crowed around this very kitchen laughing and making dinner. Sighing, I felt my gut pull me towards what I assumed was the living room again. Then, I went to the un-speculated right-vicinity of the home and walked right into a child's bedroom. There was a rocking horse and a small bed that fit maybe a toddler. I walked towards the bed and noticed a strange blood-stain on it. It was weird though; it wasn't the normal blood-red stain but rather a dark-black-ink stain but had the smell of blood. I turned away and sighed and continued my search for my fourth note. That's when I saw it; a note that read "Don't look or it takes you". I shuttered and I took it from the wall.
I turned to leave the house, scattering my thoughts for what felt like the umpteenth time, and instantly felt the need to look out the window. When I did, I saw his faceless-face looking at me and taunting me with this game. I shuttered and ignored him and then walked out the child's room. Before turning the knob to go back outside, I felt like I should explore a little more of the house. That's when I saw a door leading to the downstairs area. I walked over to it and pulled the handle, causing a loud creak and dust to crumble down. I looked into the darkness before illuminating down the stairwell. Then I shined down, and saw a clear passage way. Knowing he could so easily teleport behind me and take me away, I scattered my brain into thoughts that don't even pertain to my life and began studying for my math final.
I made my way down the stairs and took slow, small steps into the dark. I shivered from fright as I noticed large chill-bumps marking my arms; and that's when I instantly felt cold. I felt as cold as ice sitting in a nitro-freezer. My teeth began to chatter as I felt the fifth note near me, luring me towards it. Fighting my urge to run back up I looked around and that's where I saw two rotting corpses in the corner. I felt my eyes water, and my hand move up to my face in sheer shock. I tried to draw my attention away but I simply couldn't. That's when I noticed the saddest attribute; it was a small corpse and a taller adult-sized one sitting side by side holding hands. The bones of the hands touched each other lightly as if they died together and I walked over to this scene. I blinked once and reopening my eyes the painful sighting simply disappeared. That's when I was able to remember the illusions he mentioned.
I kicked the air, stirring up a cloud of dust. I fell for his mind tricks and I'm unable to concentrate on no-focus what so ever. I walk away from my strange witness and find myself looking at a table and a couple of chairs. On the back of a chair was a note and I felt joy run through my muscles. This one said multiple times "no, no, no, no, no…". I was about to collect my fifth note! My fifth! When I reached for it I instantly felt warm again and hurriedly snatched it. I folded it up and put it in my back-pocket with the other ones. I went to run up the stairs and there he was again waiting for me to run up and he can grab me. I instantly turned away and saw no other way out besides a small window that was too tall for my short self of five foot four. I waited a couple minutes and shined my light up the stairwell and there was nothing. I took this as my opportunity and quickly ran up the stairs and out of the house. I was cold again as I made my way back into the woods. I look back at the house and shake my head and walk away. I sped up to a light-run and walked where I was being pulled towards. I turned off my flashlight in hopes it wouldn't attract him near me and took light, small steps careful not to step on something loud besides the occasional leaf. My eyes fixated themselves to the dark rather well and I was able to keep from running into trees or anything of that sort. By the time I was running out of breath, I saw a wooded fence and felt like I should go near there to search for my sixth note. I felt my back pocket and they were still there. Walking towards the fence I see it's only somewhat constructed and not in very good shape, for the wood was rotting immensely.
I look down to my left and easily enough, there it was; the note. This note had no saying but a drawing of trees, and I run over to grab it. As I grab it, my hand felt numb and like it was taken over. I then noticed that my hand was being controlled and not by me, I grew angry all of a sudden and reached with my other hand to grab the note. I successfully did, and the control led back to my other hand. I drew back and stuffed my sixth note into my back pocket along with the others. I sat down the rest, and realized that soon I would be finished, for I only had two more notes to get. I stood back up and the feeling in my gut of which way to go was completely gone. I felt like he was near, and conjured up more thoughts to keep him from controlling my most vital organ- my brain. I walked off into the darkness with my flashlight off and shakily made my way to the left. After stumbling over a branch, I flicked my flashlight on and saw Slenderman standing behind two trees watching me. I tried to ignore him and keep my thoughts gone, and it worked. Turning the other direction, I ran trying not to look behind me, and whenever I did, he'd be in sight. I sped up a great amount, and ran on until my legs couldn't handle it. Turning around he wasn't in sight but instead, I noticed I was surrounded by greenhouses. I looked around at them and hoped he wouldn't be around one of them .
Suddenly feeling scared I raised my flashlight and notice the wobbly light in the distance I close my eyes and take a deep breath keeping my thoughts as scattered as possible. I walk around one greenhouse and didn't see a page. I walked around another, and another, and another and there was no note. I didn't even see him. I exhaled a large cloud of air and bit the inside of my mouth. As I went around the seventh greenhouse I felt his presence behind me as I kept on walking. I walked a little faster after noticing that the note wasn't on this one and moving to my eighth, I see the note in a far-off greenhouse and I began running after it. As doing so, I turned my head to the right quickly, making my hair hit me in the face. There he was; Slenderman. He was standing right there and I've never been so close to such a thing and that's when I noticed he had tentacles flowing from his back and I quickly turned my head away. I kept on running as I felt compelled to go back and let him take me away but I stayed in my right mind and finally reached my seventh note. I grabbed it and it was one that read "Follows" with Slenderman drawn on it. I looked away from it and quickly put it my back pocket. I turned and walked more.
I saw him every few seconds out of the corner of my eyes. He was hiding behind trees, following right behind me, and would occasionally make himself obviously known. I closed my eyes and concentrated on my past and my childhood, and I concentrated on the fact this may be my last night of being alive. I walked out in the wooded area, slowly but surely searching my way through. I bit the inside of my cheek and tried to keep from crying and paid no attention to him as I swallowed my fear. I decided to become more focused with my thoughts and looked around at the branches, and on one I saw a person with a rope. Suddenly, I knew what this person was doing as I screamed "NO! Don't!" but my voice was hoarse and dead and in the middle of running towards this person, they quickly ended their life. I started to cry and went over to the body but as I did, I noticed they were no longer there. There wasn't any evidence of anyone. I waved my hands in front of me and turned around and right behind me he stood. My heart stopped and I felt my eyes leak of tears. Closing my eyes—for I got a sense I shouldn't look at him—I turned around and ran.
When I opened my eyes, I saw figures all around me making me fall and trip multiple times. Looking into the shadows, I saw Slenderman and I could feel him watching me; his eyeless gaze piercing into me and causing me to freak out and lose control of my mind. Numerous times my mind escaped allowing him in and he quickly pulled me toward the range of which he was. I quickly pulled him out of my soul, and ran away even more trying my hardest to scatter my brain into more thoughts. I knew it though, by now he was controlling my thoughts and making sure I wouldn't win; he was taunting me and I took it as a flattering compliment. It believed I had a chance to find my last and final note. He was worried. Pushing myself around the place I saw a clump of purple, blood stained hair. I reached up to the top of my head and felt a clump of my hair missing. I ran out the bloody clump and reached out for it only to see it was a manifestation of my mind. I reached up to my head and it was there. The large clump was simply there.
I clutched my wrist and closed my eyes, for I wasn't balanced. After swaying a bit, I reopened my eyes and I felt his presence not even two feet behind me. I jumped and ran again. As the illusions danced around me—everything from suicides to gruesome murders—I tried keeping my mind focused on this last and final note. That's when I looked to my right, and like a train wreck I couldn't take my eyes away from it; even knowing that it wasn't genuine. I saw black hair dangling as a small girl was hanging by her feet on a branch. She was twisting slowly around and I saw the blood draining from her neck. She was merely slaughtered and left for her corpse to rot and leave to be hanging for an eternity. I rubbed my eyes and she was still slowly turning until her face was towards me. I looked into her glazed over eyes, and saw blood dripping from her nose and pouring out her mouth. The blood was black, though, like the blood in the home. Then, I realized the most horrifying part; the girl was me. I gasped, grabbing my mouth and tried to run. But. I. Couldn't. My feet and legs remained in the same place as I saw myself dead and right next to her was him.
After seeing him I was able to break free and ran away not even paying attention to where the note was. My gut feeling from earlier never returned and every turn I made I saw him out of the corner of my eyes. That's when I saw a bunch of signs gathered around the place. Broken road signs crunched beneath my feet and I saw the note. It was about ten feet ahead of me and when I stood taken aback. I squinted my eyes and felt my flashlight in my shaking hand. I brought it up shakily and slowly only to flip on the light. Its luminescence was dreadfully dull and when I flashed it ahead of me, I saw his silhouette waiting for me to run after the note. I brought the flashlight to my chest and hugged it, inhaling deeply and flashed my flashlight ahead towards the note. I took a few steps forward and the light began to flicker. I stopped, astonished, and took in another deep breath. I then was able to read the note which said "Don't look or it takes you". I scattered my thoughts for the final time, for I was either about to get killed or I was going to get it. I ran out and finally reached the final note and right as I did, I saw his feet and looked away from him and grabbed the final note and stuffed it in my back pocket.
As soon as I did, everything around my swirled and I fell back where a metal pole scraped my leg. I stared wide eyes as I felt something grab me and then the world went black and I then assumed I was simply dead…

I woke up in my bed and I shook in disbelief. I reached down and felt my leg which had a large, deep cut in it and I rolled over and saw the sunlight creeping in behind my black curtains. I knew it was real, and I knew what happened. That, was by no means a simply a nightmare. That was real; I knew it by all means and against my soul. I got up from my bed and put on a pair of skinnies over my shorts and a shirt over my tank top. I ran downstairs and saw Amy waiting for me outside as though nothing ever happened. Cameron, Sam and Mosh resided in the back of the car and I hopped in. Instantly, I looked to Amy and pulled up my skinnies and showed her the long gash. Her eyes grew wide and my head felt dizzy as Sam and Cameron look at me and examine the wound.
I heard someone say, though I couldn't make out whose voice was, "It's bleeding black blood!" and then a whole commotion begin about my wound. After I was able to regain my mind back, I sat down and told everyone what happened and they all stared at me in horror and Cameron's look of being aghast took me back. I closed my eyes and then remembered I wasn't allowed to say anything. Afterwards, I saw my life flash before my eyes as the world rushed before me. Then, there I was sitting in the middle of the wood and I couldn't move. Slenderman was walking towards me and I attempted to move but my body was taken over, leaving my mind open to know what was going on.
I the heard a loud crunch and felt my leg burning from a large pain shooting up it. I made an attempt at a scream but then the same pain shot up my other leg; then my arms; then every one of my ribs were cracked slowly. I tried to claw my way out of this and then I felt a slice go right through my throat and I looked down before choking, and saw the black blood drain senselessly from me.
I reopened my eyes miraculously and I looked up to see it was dark and my ankles tied to something as every bone was broken in my body. I noticed I was turning extremely slowly. The world spun as my head felt light and my vision was blurry. I saw blood dripping in my eyes-the same black blood that I've been seeing. I attempted to shut my eyes, just wanting to wake up in my bed, but no luck came to me as I finished turning. In the distance I saw myself standing in the woods searching for notes. I tried to scream out to me, but no luck at all. Then, I saw Kayla run through the woods, her small body taken by Slenderman. I knew it was Kayla by the way her name entered my head, and behind her trailed her mother. I then saw many other kids and adults hoping through the woods who were dead…like me. I turned back to where I was standing and wanted to warn me of what was to come, but I already walked off to my doom. I finally was able to shut my eyes and as soon as I did all my thoughts had disappeared…

Part Two Coming Soon
Slenderman: A New Beginning