Some people sleep with the lights off, cradled in peaceful darkness.
I don't.
Some people love horror games, they have fun being scared out of their minds, frightened by the possibility of death.
I don't.
Some people like to romanticize the demons and creatures from beyond our world, thinking that they will change them, that the creature is human inside, just like us.
I don't.
At least not anymore.
You see, I once played a game called "Slenderman". Everyone in my year was obsessed with it. We used to have tournaments on the school computers, where someone had installed it. We never found out who installed the game, but that isn't the point.
Something strange happened in that game.
I would play in the tournaments. I was the best in my year.
But that was only because of the glitch.
Whenever I played I would get caught eventually just like everyone else. But I didn't get caught.
Slender man would stand directly in front of me but there was no static.
He would simply stand there.
After I had collected all the notes he appeared again, and only then did something happen.
The character's flashlight would turn off, she would take a large breath and then slowly, silently, walk into the inky blackness of the night. And eventually, I would hear a far off voice calling my name.
My name.
Now I don't have a common name. But it still could be a coincidence. So that's what I decided to tell myself.
I always used to use the same computer, number 9. A Dell laptop from the library. A single laptop out of a set of 30. People used to think that I hacked the computer but I couldn't hack anything for the life of me. So a group of my friends and I decided to test it. We got 5 computers and sat them in a circle. We played 5 rounds of Slenderman.
And no matter what computer I was on, the glitch followed me.
I started to think about the reasons why. I couldn't figure it out so I downloaded "Slenderman" on my own laptop. And the glitch still followed me.
But the voice was louder. I realised it sounded like my mother. The sheer horror in the voice scared me off the game for weeks.
I couldn't sleep with the light on.
I couldn't play horror games .
I no longer thought Slenderman was a game.
I used to tell myself that Slenderman wouldn't care about me, that I lived in the middle of suburbia so there were no woods and I wouldn't be found.
But one night, when I couldn't sleep, I looked out my window at the stars. It was a bright night. I remembered seeing Orion, one of the only constellations I knew of. I heard no noise, I saw no movement, I felt no breeze.
He was here.
I looked down slowly, and there he was. Tall, pale, and slender, of course.
I panicked. I screamed. I threw a sock at him. What can I say? I was scared out of my mind. It didn't even hit him. He turned, looked at it, and threw it back.
I don't know why he did that. But soon afterwards, there was a ripped note note, barely legible and stained with something wet and sticky.
Come visit me.
It said. When I stepped back into the light to get a better look, I saw that it had been written in blood. I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe I had hoped it was a prank? Needless to say I did not visit that monster.
The next time I saw him. It was dark. It was always dark when he came to visit. It was a Halloween party, the only time I had been outside at night in weeks. I couldn't go into the dark you see, as when I did, I just started walking. I don't know where. Just walking.
At the Halloween party, I saw him in the empty lot, the one down the road from my house. It was just a small patch of land, with a few trees here and there. He simply walked in and disappeared.
I wish I could say that was it. You have no idea how much I wish for that. But the next time I saw him, it was final.
I was asleep, in my room. It was dark. That was the first thing I had noticed. As I saw my mother leave my room and shut the door, I had realised that she had turned the light off. And so, he appeared. He was just there in my room. No creepy shadows, no demonic music, no screeching static.
He was just there.
I couldn't move but I did. I wasn't controlling my actions. I took a deep breath and started walking. I walked out of my room, out of my hose, down the road and into the pitch black of the empty lot. As I walked there were more trees. The first thing I thought of was the wardrobe with that lion. You know the one. But soon I came to a fence, a chain link fence. I knew where I was now.
As I looked down, I saw the flashlight. I picked it up, turned around and saw the tree.
I'm writing this note now. I'm going to assume you are in the same position as me. So listen to me: When you collect the notes, leave notes, because otherwise, the person who comes after you, will be trapped here forever.
You sigh as you place another note in the statues hand. You've been seeing these everywhere. None of these people wanted to be chosen. None of them wanted this. All of these girls, all under the age of youngest had been a girl of 7. At least of the ones you have found.
All of the girls who had been caught had been turned into stone. Their expressions were terrifying. Most had their eyes open wide, gaping at some unseen horror. Some wept in pain. Those were the more injured ones. There were the ones who had accepted their fate. Their faces calm and still.
Those were the golden angels. Beware the golden angels. Those were the ones who have realised that the only way to return was to steal the life from the living. You could guess what that entailed. It was a gruesome process. There was a messy pile in the middle of the forest, a testament to those who had died.
And then there was the man himself. He was the biggest danger. He was always just around the corner. And yet you could talk to him. You could ask him for help. And he would help you.
Eventually, you realised something. This was nothing more than a game to him. He had complete control. He chose the players. He wrote the rules. He set the goal. He left the clues. It was nothing more than a game. There was no hope of escaping.
At least, not anymore.
Ok so I'm not quitting the Hetalia Drabbles. Sorry for being MIA and I got inspiration in the shower of all places.
So yeah. Happy New Years! Enjoy your creepy story!