*I wasn't really sure where I was going with this one...but please enjoy anyway.*
The moon was full, the large, grassy clearing with a single oak tree in the center bathed in the silver glow of the moonlight. All was silent. A light breeze blew, barely shaking the old oak's leaves. The leaves, reflecting the silver light of the moon, seemed like thousands of diamonds sparkling as the breeze blew. Then, all was still again. The trees surrounding the clearing were pine, with an unnatural darkness surrounding each individual tree. The darkness grew thicker the further into the inescapable woods one went.
A single being stood, as if waiting for something, near the edge of the dark pine forest. Inhumanly tall, paler than puffy clouds, and sharply dressed in a fresh business suit with a red tie. Yet, this being had no face. Just a blank, featureless, head atop its shoulders. His name? Slenderman.
Seconds passed, turning into minutes, then hours. Finally, quick, light, footsteps were heard. Slenderman tensed, ready to savor the moment. The human broke through the darkness into the soft yet bright glow the moon was casting on the clearing. He could hear their heavy breathing, their rapid heart rate. Their fear was delicious as he sated his hunger with it. The human was running from something, something frightening to the human. The cause was soon seen as a white hoodie darted out from the same spot the human had run through. Blood smears stained the white hoodie, long black hair flying behind the pale-faced man running after the human. Slenderman knew this man, a most unsavory sort who always stole his kills. This one, running after the human, was Jeff the Killer.
It was time for a little revenge.
Slenderman strode through the trees effortlessly, the unnatural darkness flowing around him as if he was part of it. He grew his tendrils, watching the human as it desperately tried to escape. It was trying to outrun Jeff the Killer, but had been cornered now, it's back pressed to a tree. Slenderman took the moment to snatch the human from Jeff's grasp, getting an angry shout from the serial killer.
"HEY! THAT KILL WAS MINE!"
Slenderman turned to regard Jeff, who stared back up indignantly, seemingly waiting for an explanation.
"What the hell was that, you faceless bastard!?"
"Revenge," Slenderman replied simply, continuing to make his latest masterpiece.
With his hunger for fear sated, he turned back to Jeff, still standing there, indignant even with his cut smile that reached to both ears.
"So are you gonna get me another, or..?"
"You are wasting your time, Jeffrey. You steal my kills often, it will soon be you who I kill if this continues."
"Don't call me that! I'm Jeff the Killer!"
"To think, your last name is now the place you live."
Jeff stomped away, choice words loudly flying from his mouth. The being turned to regard his latest masterpiece. The eyes were gouged out, a branch stuck straight through the abdomen. Even so, the organs had been torn out and placed in plastic bags, in the anatomically correct order. Blood still slowly seeped from the large gash showing off his handiwork. A sharp-toothed smile split his face. Oh yes, Jeff would end up just like this human had, guaranteed.
The next kill he stole from Slenderman, would be his last.
—_—_—_—_—_—_—_—_—_—_—
A few weeks had passed and the two had not crossed paths again.
I haven't seen him yet, Slenderman thought to himself. I wonder when the time for me to kill Jeff will arrive.
He had found a human wandering along the edge of his forest, and drew them in with sweetly whispered nothings promising everything. As the human blindly entered, Slenderman chased them, gorging himself on their fear before this human would become his best masterpiece yet. As he approached to make the kill, a glint caught his attention, the glint of a familiar knife. He stayed to the shadows for a moment, knowing that bothersome young male could feel his gaze on him.
Go on, Jeff, he dared him silently. Make the kill, steal it from me... see what happens.
But instead, Jeff simply left. This surprised the being. Was Jeff the Killer actually heeding his warning? Perhaps… so, he made the kill. It was easy to do so. Nothing satisfied the being more than the raw fear humans gave off as he chased them. A scream erupted from somewhere in his forest. Quickly finding the source, he saw a corpse on the ground, with a large "J" etched into the torso.
You must leave your name everywhere, Jeff? This is how the others were caught, it is just you and I in my forest now.
"Yo," said the serial killer's raspy voice. "What are you doing, looking at my handiwork?"
"Precisely. You are going to get caught doing that."
"Yeah, okay, sure. So what are you doing over here?"
"Looking for potential future meals. I have watched the patterns of a certain human, their fear is exceptional."
After that, he walked away from Jeff, disappearing into the darkness of the forest. Two more days went by, and he saw Jeff, getting ready to kill. He followed silently, finding his own kill was about to enter the forest, and made himself invisible to the new target, but not Jeff. He knew the serial killer was following his target, and watched carefully as he began the scaring of his target, feeding off their fear.
But it was over too soon.
Jeff stood poised over the stolen kill, watching the being. Slenderman simply turned invisible to Jeff, and grasped him in his tendrils, throwing him into a tree effortlessly. Jeff was dazed. Slenderman grew his long talons, and dug them into Jeff the Killer's abdomen.
"You stole that kill of mine, Jeffrey," he said, his tone sickly sweet with innocence. "I told you I would kill you the next time you stole a kill from me. So you see I was not lying. Perhaps the police would enjoy seeing your body ripped apart and put back together." He raked his talons through Jeff's body, eliciting a most delicious scream as his organs began slowly spilling out along with lots of blood. "Or perhaps I will just let you bleed to death and drop you near the edge of my forest."
"Slender… stop…"
"How cute, the human thinks he can tell a monster clearly much stronger than himself what to do."
"Cops… behind… gun," Jeff managed to croak out before his heart stopped beating.
Satisfied, Slenderman stood to his full height, taking note of the three police officers positively radiating fear behind him.
"You should be grateful to me for eliminating this killer," he said calmly. "Leave my forest and do not come back unless you wish for a most untimely death."
He felt the police scramble to leave, but didn't miss the gunshot aimed toward him. He easily dodged it and turned to watch them go, making sure he was invisible to the world around him, to keep others from seeing him. He was now able to hunt in peace, not having to kill the humans when he needed to feed off their fear. Jeff the Killer was gone, and he would no longer have to kill his victims… it seemed like a great compromise to him.
And it would stay that way, he would make sure of it.
*So, uh... did you like it? I hope so... this was just something I thought of, really late one night and wrote it out. Just something causing writer's block for my other stories.*