This story is actually a slight rewrite of the story I started 3 years ago in my DA account. There is a reason this will take place in a hotel rather than a forest so please don't be so quick to judge. It will take a few chapters to explain this reason but I promise there is a logical reason behind it.

I actually posted this a couple days ago but deleted the story when I realised I posted it too soon. I still had a heck of a lot of editing to do and I wanted to change some things after I posted. Now I am reposting with it completely edited and 300+ words longer. I hope you enjoy

Why was this happening to me?! What did I do to deserve this kind of punishment?! How did I even end up escaping him? Better yet why was he even after me? I thought he preferred young children and lived in forests. Since I was neither in a forest or a child he shouldn't be here; right? Had he followed me from a forest or did he actually live in the hotel room? The hotel staff did say the room was haunted but why would he be here?

All of these questions raced through my mind as I ran down the hallway and away from my hotel room. I dared not look behind me in fear he was following me. I had already broken the Don't Look rule and had nearly paid for it. I'm not sure how I had done it but I had been lucky enough to pull away from him. However, if the legends were true then I knew it wouldn't be long until he came after me again.

As I neared the stairs I finally took the risk and glanced behind me. Nothing was there. With a heavy sigh of relief I leaned against the wall and allowed my heart rate to return to normal. Maybe Mary was right, maybe we would have been better off camping; because maybe then this would have never happened.

It all started only a couple days ago. I, along with some of my friends, had been traveling. We didn't really have any plans on where we were going; it was just one of those road trip kind of things. It was the start of summer so school had been let out and no one had a job to worry about. Although I had graduated high school about two years ago I hadn't entered college. Since my parents were getting annoyed at my laziness I had promised to find a job by the end of summer. It was either that or I'd be forced to enter a cheap college and I'd take earning money over sitting in classes any day.

The friends I was traveling with were Max Gunter, April Ativan, Simon Bagman and Mary Little. Out of the four of them I am the closest to Max and April; though only because I've known them longer. While I've been friends with Max and April since elementary school I hadn't met Simon or Mary until my first year of high school. They… they aren't really the easiest to get along with if I must be honest. Simon is somewhat of a jerk and Mary is, in lack of better words, just weird. Not necessarily in a bad way but she has been known to confused even her parents with her weirdness.

Anyways, after a few hours of endless driving we finally reached a city. Although I hadn't been paying attention to any welcome signs I knew we had to be in Las Vegas. While I've never been to the city before I have seen it depicted on TV a few times. Besides, what other place had this many hotels, casinos and flashing neon lights? Well, maybe a few but if there is I've never heard of them; or forgot about them.

"Wow, Sin City." Max, the driver of the van, whistled and confirmed my suspicions to where we were. "Hey, what do you say we stay in one of these expensive hotels for a couple of nights?"

Out of the five of us Max is the richest and has a tendency to spoil his friends. Not only is Max richer than any of us, but his entire family is actually one of the richest in the state. Needless to say, however, unlike many stereotypical rich kids Max doesn't act like a spoiled asshole. Nor does he spend money needlessly; outside treating his friends that is. I think it mostly has to do with the fact that he was never overly spoiled as a child and had been sent to public school instead of private. Either way, at the thought of staying in an expensive hotel, I couldn't help but grin.

"Are you sure you should be spending that kind of money on us, Max?" April asked from besides me, her soft voice slightly uncomfortable and timid. It didn't surprise me though and I doubt it surprised the others; April has never liked people spending money on her; especially if she finds no reason behind it.

"Don't worry, April." Max answered with a laugh and turned to grin at her after stopping at a red light. "I have more than enough money to buy a hotel if I wanted to. Besides it will only be for a couple nights so why not treat my friends to something that might only happen once?"

"Yeah, don't be such a kill joy." Simon scoffed from the back seat, which he had to himself. "Let him spend his money the way he wants."

As April shot the boy a glare I resisted the urge to sigh. After four years of knowing him I've learned that it's best to just ignore Simon when he's being a jerk. While Simon isn't exactly mean he tends to speak before he thinks; all the time. He is actually really blunt and seems to enjoy the reactions he gets for being a jerk. Despite that Simon can actually be really nice when he wants to be and he won't hesitate to protect a friend. Still, that boy needs to think before he speaks otherwise he'll anger someone who will do more than just glare at him.

"April does have a point though, Max; there are many different meanings to the word expensive. What exactly did you have in mind?" I asked and heard Simon scoff as April flashed me a thankful smile. I returned it with a smile of my own as the street light turned green and Max continued down the road.

"I was kind of thinking of a hotel that has a little something for everyone. Like maybe a pool, a spa, a restaurant and perhaps even an arcade since none of us can legally gamble yet. So, unfortunately, a casino would be out of the question." He answered with a shrug and began to drive slower after a car cut us off. It seemed that city traffic was the same no matter where you went. Well, at least it made it easier to look for a hotel.

"Hotels are such a bother." Mary huffed from the passenger seat in front of me and I just barely saw her cross her arms against her chest. "Why don't we just sleep in the van? Or better yet find a camp ground and sleep under the stars?"

This time I couldn't hold back my sigh as I rolled my eyes; hearing the others do the same. Mary is a very confusing person. There have been times where I have given myself headaches by just trying to think of her logic. One reason she's very confusing is that one minute she'll love something and then the next she'll hate it. She's also the nature loving in our group but instead of hating vehicles Mary hates tall buildings. This would make sense if she was scared of heights but she's not. Despite all that Mary is actually a very nice person who rarely gets angry.

"Because, Mary, I think we'd rather like to have fun than do something as boring as camp. Besides, it's not warm enough to sleep under the stars and the van is too small for everyone to sleep in comfortably." Simon answered, his tone noticeably annoyed. While I think the rude tones were unnecessary this time I could understand where it was coming from.

Simon has known Mary at longer than the rest of us have. Ironically, I would have thought that meant he'd be used to her weirdness by now. In actuality her weirdness annoys him the most out of the four of us. Considering that Simon has low patience with most things it's actually not that surprising. What does surprises me, though, is that the two continue to hang out even though they rarely seem to get along.

"Oh, and staying at a hotel that will probably cost a thousand dollars an hour will be fun?!" Mary snapped back, having spun her head around to glare at Simon. I didn't have to look behind me to know Simon was glaring back as I silently hoped that someone would butt in before things could get much worse. I wasn't foolish enough to do it myself; not after what happened last time.

"Don't worry, Mary; I'm not stupid enough to go somewhere that expensive." Max laughed and I saw him give her a playful wink through the rear-view mirror. "Maybe five hundred dollars an hour will be fine enough."

Mary only sighed at Max's joke but didn't say anything else. Thankfully Simon didn't say anything either and things quickly became quiet again. I was really grateful Max spoke up when he did. Just thinking of the possible fight that might have happened is enough to give me a headache. They fought worse than I did with my older sister and, according to my mother, we'd kill each other if given a chance.

As more time passed I became increasingly bored. We hadn't yet found a hotel that wasn't connected to a casino and the few we did looked way too expensive. I also stopped trying to help look, as besides all the flashing lights and huge buildings, I wasn't even sure what to look for anymore. I became so bored that I regretted not loading any music onto my phone before I left home. So instead I did the next best thing that I knew would distract myself; drawing.

Reaching down for the bag I kept to my side I pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. Flipping to clean page I began to draw one of those two circle chart things. It's one of those charts where you have two separate subjects but put what they have in common in the middle. I can't remember what they are really called but it doesn't really matter. I sometimes like making them just for the fun of it, though mostly only when I get bored.

I decided to label this chart Monsters. On the left side I wrote Real above the circle while on the other side I wrote Fake. The smaller circle, which was created by the two bigger ones, I decide to label Unsure. Once that was done I began to list different types monsters. Whether they were movie, myth or legend I listed them in the categories I believed they belonged in.

I have always been a big monster movie fan. Some of my favorites were old fashioned vampires, werewolves and Freddy Kruger. Movies like those rarely ever scare me nor do they give me nightmares; at least none that I can remember. The only monsters that really freak me out are zombies or other creatures similar to them. The idea of being slowly eaten alive, to actually have your flesh ripped from your bones, makes me feel sick. Werewolves may do the same, but at least they don't take forever to actually kill you.

Vampires, mummies and Frankenstein's monster I labelled under Real. Vampires, aside from the powers and dying in sun light were actually very real. They were typically just people who have a medical disorder where they constantly need blood. While most will go to the hospital to get transfusions there are a few who prefer to drink it.

Mummies are also really real but they don't rise from the dead like books or movies portray; curse or no curse. As for Frankenstein's monster he was actually more of a guess. I had read an article online not too long ago stating that his body was found in the dungeon of a castle. I'm not even sure if it's true and I can't remember the name of the article. Still, I thought it was interesting enough to write down as real for now.

So far I only had Bigfoot, sea monsters and lake monsters under Unsure. I have heard many sighting stories that it's getting hard to figure out if they are all fake or if some, in fact, are true. It's actually kind of annoying, really. I mean I don't mind a good mystery where it leaves you guessing but that is how it should stay. Why ruin the mystery by trying to prove if it's real or fake? I personally think it's stupid but that was just me.

'Werewolves, zombies, lagoon monsters, Slenderman-'

"Are you sure you should put Slenderman in the fake group?"

April's sudden question startled me so badly that I actually flinched. I had been so focused on my chart that I hadn't been aware she had been watching me. When I looked over to her she flashed me what I assumed was an apologetic smile. Although at the same time it looked as though she was holding in a laugh. I only rolled eyes and shut the note pad as I leaned back in my seat.

"Yes, because I don't believe in Slenderman. There isn't enough evidence to prove that he is real and people keep making up new information about him. No one really knows what he is and why he does the stuff he does. Like what does he do to his victims? Why does he prefer children over adults? Is he a demon, a monster or maybe an alien?" I questioned with a small shrug, trying to get my point across. April only replied with an eye roll and warned me not to be so quick to judge before she looked out her window.

While April isn't as much of a monster fan that I am she believes in the supernatural; big time. So she will often warn us to think twice before we judge something not to be real. Most of us, including myself, just roll our eyes at her. I love monster movies but I don't believe the creatures from them actually exist; there is no evidence that they do. I'm a more of a need to see it to believe it kind of person. Although, that's not to say I still don't enjoy the idea of monsters being real; I just know they aren't.

When it comes to Slenderman I actually don't know a lot about him. All I've learned is that he is a very tall, faceless man. He can change his height to make himself look taller or shorter and even stretch out his limbs as far as he wanted. I learned that he kidnaps children but it is unknown what happens to them afterwards; though I have read some theories. Most include killing the children and leaving them in trees. Others include eating the children which is why they are never seen again. I myself have my own theory about what happens.

I actually don't doubt that Slenderman is a killer. However, what I can't see is him killing the children he takes. I think that would be way too demonic in my opinion. Instead I think he kills the humans he thinks should be killed; such as people he views as bad or just people who get in his way of a kidnapping. Although that is just my personal opinion. While I agree that Slenderman is a very interesting creature… monster… person… whatever he is I didn't believe he was real.

How I wish I believed otherwise at the time.

Chapter 2 and 3 need to be edited before I post. Please stand by and I will get those two chapters out as soon as possible