It was a long walk home from the library. The chill in the air was almost numbing. Leaves swirled on the ground as they cascaded from the browning trees above. The tenebrous skies loomed above, casting down dark shadows across the land. It was a dark day. Unusually dark. Things did not feel right. And Blair could feel it.
Blair trekked along the countryside road, one arm pulling the top of her coat together, the other carrying a small stack of books. Her long ebony hair whipped around as the wind raced past her, side-swiping her rosed up cheeks. She knew she should have carpooled. It was a stupid idea not to. The vapors of heat rose from her mouth as she struggled to keep up. She could feel the winds begin to stir. She knew snow was coming. She was sure of it. All she wanted was to be home. Safe & sound with a bowl of soup, her cat, and her thoughts. She quickened her pace, hoping to make it home before dark.
As she walked, she had thought about her mythology class.
"Alright students, who has anything new that they would like to share?" she remembered her professor declaring as he entered the room. It was pretty common for every week to start with a new cryptozoological creature someone had discovered. It was more amusing to Blair then informative, for she was skeptical of ghosts, faeries and Mothmen.
The room went silent as one lone student, whom Blair had never actually talked to stood up with his laptop, and proceeded to the front of the room. He sat his laptop down onto the side table next to projector. As he fumbled through the technical mumbo jumbo of synching his laptop to the projector, the class waited. Blair mentally rolled her eyes. She cool understand the Greek and Roman mythology. Even the old Egyptions. Hell, the ancient Celts made more sense than this bullshit. Trolls and demons and man-eating monsters was not a part of the curriculum. This was a complete waste of her time.
The student turned the lights out, and the projector screan illuminated the entire room. With one push of a button, the student started on his first slide. The first slide featured only two words.
SLENDER MAN
"The Slender Man. You may have heard of him, you may have not." the student began. "He described as a very tall, very thin, what seems to be a man. Wearing only a black suit, and white button down shirt. But his most distinct feature..."
The student flipped to the next slide, to feature a dull, black & white photo of the man he described.
"His face, or lack thereof."
The photo sent a small shiver down Blair's spine. It was a man, a tall one, like the description. Pale & faceless. The picture showed him surrounded by trees. Blair shook off the feeling. This was obviously photoshopped. The next slide suddenly showed up.
"He is also described to have long black tentacles, like an octopus."
The class giggled, as well as Blair. What a ridiculous load of crap.
"The Slender Man is accused of countless child abductions, deaths, and other disappearences. When incidentally photographed, he is primarily seen with children, and if not children, his next victims. And by victims, these people would sudden disappear without a trace. No one knows what happens to his victims, for there are no bodies ever discovered after the disappearence."
Blair could feel her heartbeat skip as the next slide came across the screen. Another photo of the same man, surrounding small children with his long encompassing arms.
"He is seen mostly at night. But has been noted seen during the day. He is said to stay close to forests. The first written evidence of his existance was a German man's diary written some time in the 1800's. Other evidence, is artist's depictions."
A photo of a woodcut appeared on the screen. It was a gory image of a medieval knight, skewered by what seems to be a long arms, or strangly, tentacles. Blair felt somewhat uneasy. The images and stories before her gave her a king of sense of impending doom. It was all in her head she told herself. This isn't real. It's not real.
"Other facts about the Slender Man. He is said to stalk the ones that obsess or think of him the most. Like for instance, people who research him, or praise him, or feel the need to find him, will most likely be his next victim."
"Like you for instance?" the professor snickered. The student chuckled nervously, as he continued on.
"No, uhm, I would never, ever, ever do that. I mean, Slender Man has been seen all over the world. From the Black Forest in Germany, to the Appalachians, to Aokigahara in Japan. I've heard of him in Pennsylvania, in Oregon, even places as close as Missouri."
This factoid began to chill Blair even more. A Slender Man siting near forests of Southern Illinois was more than enough to rattle someone to the bone. But no matter what, she had to keep in mind, these were nothing but scary stories parents would tell naughtry children to keep them out of the woods. It's not real, she told herself. It's a bunch of legendary hocum. There was no use in filling up her head with such mindless babble. What sociopathic weirdo had nothing better to do than to scare people with such idiotic story telling. The constant reassurance that this creature was indeed fake, helped dull Blair's sudden fear. As class continued on, she had almost forgotten about it. Until...
Blair continued on, making her strides wider. The air became stale and colder. The sky darkened quickly. She needed to get home before nightfall, before she'd catch a death of cold, or worse ... No, wait. She shook her head.
Stop letting your stupid imagination run wild. It's a brainless urban legend.
She kept walking, she was getting closer to her house. Mom would be home by now, probably preparing dinner with her younger sister Kevyn sitting at the table doing homework. Blair did everything to keep her mind off of Slender Man. Even though she knew it was a phony, she couldn't help but have a twinge of fear churning in her soul, that she'd better stop thinking of him. It's unhealthy to think of such things anyway.
Blair kept going. It continued to get darker and colder. Tiny snowflakes began to flurry down upon her. 'Fucking great' she thought. The sun just began to set. It was getting so late. She should have been home by now. Where the hell where all the houses? She walked faster. The road stretched like what seemed for miles. 'What in the fuck?' she whispered to herself. Where the hell was the post office? And the little breakfast restaurant? And bus stop? Why was it taking so long to get home? 'Did I go the wrong way?' It couldn't be. She had gone down this country road so many times before. She had taken these same steps, many summers, many winters before.
Slender man flashed through her mind for a split second. She could see just for a glance, the black suit and tie, the pale, empty face, staring at her, unblinkingly. No, stop it. It's fake. It has to be. She quickened her steps even more. Where was everybody? This has to be the way home. The air became even colder. Within minutes, the sky was completely dark. Not even the stars shown through the clouds. It was deep in the evening now, she had to get home before Mom would worry.
A flash of him again. STOP IT.
She couldn't understand. Why did the road keep going? Where the hell was the entire town? She felt a compulsion to run, but it was so cold, she knew she would run out of energy quick, then she'd never make it home. She then heard a faint cry somewhere off in the distance. A scream, child-like maybe. But not a familiar cry of excitement or joy. A cry of fear. A cry of anguish. She stopped & whipped around to locate the direction of the sound, only to hear a few more in other directions, echoing in the distance. Then it went silent. She couldn't even hear the wind. It was cold. So very cold. Her throat hurt from the icyness. It was so dark, not even the moon was visible. She was alone, in the dark. The silence became deafening. So deafening that a ringing began in her ears. The ringing became slowly louder, and irritating. She rubbed her ear hoping it would go away. It only became louder, and more painful. She felt the ground vibrate undernieth her feet, and strange tremble. Without thinking, she turned around.
It can't be. No. It just cant.
It was him, off in the distance. Strangly enough, he was the only visible thing besides the road. She could see the white button down, the black tie, the featureless face. A jolt of what felt like cold electricity radiated throughout her body. She stood frozen. It was like a dream. No. A nightmare. A horrible nightmare. This can't be real, she thought. I'm asleep at my desk at school. Any minute now the bell will ring and I'll wake up.
The atmosphere became colder. So unnaturally cold that her head began to ache. Suddenly, she could see him moving towards her. Not waking, but a gentle gliding. "NO!" she instictively shrieked and turned to run. She dropped her books, they were of no use now. She jolted down the country road, deeper and deeper into darkness. Flashes of him, flashes of his lifeless face echoed in her mind. She could hear the children's screams again. They began louder and louder. The ringing in her ears continued as well. She covered her ears as she sprinted. She ran, and ran, and ran more, faster and faster. Her breath became short and choppy. More images of him. More disturbing thoughts. It was too much to handle. She began to feel sick. In the distance ahead of her, she could see a street light, dim and orange. It was her only salvation at this point, she thought. She sped towards it, her lungs aching for air.
She dared not look back, but she had to know. She had to know that she was just tired and imagining things. This is absolutely ludicrous. There's no way. No way in hell. She approached the street light, and collapsed into it, desperately gasping for air. The winter air stabbed her lungs like thousands of knives. She fingers and toes now numb. She swiftly turned her head back, to see that there was nothing behind her. Nothing at all. Just the darkness surrounding the street light. A sigh of relief came over her. It was nothing. She felt like such a moron. What the hell was she running for? She had noticed the children's screams ceased, as well as the ringing. More relief came over her. Her heartbeat calmed, and she felt slightly safe underneith the dim lamp above. She rested her back against it, trying to catch her breath.
She knew it. This was all just her imagination running away. This was the whole point of fairytales and campfire stories. To over excite and scare someone. She shook her head in dismay. How could I be so gullible as to think the so-called 'Slender Man' would start stalking me. Thinking about him only makes you fear him, it doesn't make him follow you. What a dumb notion. And on top of all that, she had dropped her books on the road, the $200 a piece books, all for a silly hallucination. She shook her head again, rebuttoned her coat, and tightened her scar. With a sigh, she turned on her heel, only to find herself looking into a face.
A pale, blank, cold, solemn, featureless face, towering above her.