I was never going to actually post this, much less even write it. I don't normally stray out of my comfort zone in FF (which is mainly Legend of Zelda) and go into unknown territory. I'm not sure how popular creepypasta stories even are or what the norms for them may be, but I just wanted to get this story out of my head. I haven't really even read too much Slenderman FF. From what I have seen, I just haven't found what I was looking for in a story, so why not write it myself? I go where inspiration takes me. Plus, Slenderman has always been a favorite of mine and this story was partially inspired by a dream I once had...and a Slenderman cosplayer stalking me at Afest while I was dressed up as Chell from Portal 2. Please enjoy this first chapter!
It was going to be a cold day. Jill gave a quick smile at the thought. The cold weather was welcome. Things were always somehow better when it was colder. Besides, it gave her an excuse to wear scarves, boots, gloves, hats, and coats. Any winter gear was her favorite. Those things made her feel warm and safe. She didn't feel that way often enough as it was.
Jill went through her morning routines with the same distracted air as usual. Her hazel eyes never really saw the too-pale skin that she dabbed powder on, or watched as she ran a comb through her long, thick brown hair. She was lost in her own thoughts. Some were good. Some were not. Sometimes her thoughts drifted to places that it wasn't allowed. She tired hard to stay away from those. Even so, Jill lived in a private world entirely her own, until social interaction forced her away from the safe confines of her mind. She had been that way since she was a little girl, much to her mother's dismay. If Jill was the moon, then her mother was the sun. Where Jill was introverted and preferred solitude, her mother was friendly and outgoing and loved to be around people. Jill remembered a time when she, too, was a little ray of sunshine like her mother, but things had a funny way of changing themselves.
She didn't like to be noticed. Being made the center of attention made her cringe. Childhood birthday parties for her were living nightmares. It took her mom years to finally accept that all she wanted to do for her birthday was to be treated normally during the day, and then go out to a nice family dinner where they all pretended that it wasn't for a special occasion. It wasn't that she hated her family or friends or herself. She just wanted to stay out of the way…to stay hidden. Hidden from what exactly, she didn't know. All she knew was that she was going to get try and get through the day as unnoticed as possible. She felt like she had to. Ever since she was young, she lived her life constantly looking over her shoulder. So, her anonymity was a safe guard. It made her look less over her shoulder and more towards the quiet, simple, unpretentious future she planned for herself.
When Jill finally stepped out of her apartment, she was greeted by the sight of rain pouring in silvery sheets from the sky. She pulled her coat closely to her chest and grinned, teeth and all. It was a rare smile from her and she wished that somebody could see it, just to prove to people that she wasn't depressed or unhappy. Not many people understood that she was happy, in her own way. She just liked things quiet and with herself. Plus, things were looking up for her. The past few years had been successful. She got a job, bought herself a new Honda Civic, and even moved out of her parents' house last summer. For her, things were unusually bright and sunny. Her first floor apartment wasn't too far from the parking lot…she decided to make a run for it. She gave another smile as she dashed through the rain. Life was definitely looking up for her. The past two years had been on the up and up. She hadn't felt so lighthearted since she was a child.
Jill quickly hopped into her car and turned on the ignition. The engine came to life and she carefully backed out of her parking spot. An overly cheerful radio host happily sang out the latest celebrity gossip, followed by cheesy banter between her and the male co-host. Annoyed, Jill turned down the radio as it went to a commercial. Of course she would catch the beginning of a break. She would rather listen to the rain anyways. She wound her way through a quiet neighborhood. Luckily, her workplace wasn't too far away and she didn't have to fight her was through rush hour traffic. Jill had managed to find a quick, easy back route almost the whole way there.
"Welcome back to 102.5, the Grind! You know, Rick, we all deserve to feel like Royals sometimes, don't we?"
"You are certainly right, Shelly! How about we indulge ourselves with a little new and upcoming celebrity Royalty with Lorde and her hit '"Royals?'"
"Oh, not that song…" Jill muttered under her breath as she drove past a wooded area. There was a brief stretch of woods and park before she reached the downtown area of her small, hometown.
"I've never seen a diamond in the flesh…"
Jill took a deep, calming breath as she began to drive past the woods. This part of the drive always made her nervous, but her therapist told her she needed to face her deepest fears. So, she tried every day to make it through this part and face her fears.
Almost two years later, and she couldn't tell a difference.
"I cut my teeth on wedding rings, in the movies…"
"Gosh, Lorde what does that even mean?" Jill hissed, an edge of panic to her voice. She tried to concentrate hard on the lyrics. She needed anything to distract her from the thoughts that were creeping to the forefront of her mind. Her eyes did not avert from the road. She didn't dare look at the woods.
"I'm not proud of my address, in the torn up town, no post code envy…"
This song was just so weird to her. She was almost past the park. Her tension eased up and she loosened her grip on the steering wheel. Jill looked down and laughed nervously. Her knuckles were white.
"Get a grip or find a different route, Jill," she murmured. Maybe it would be better to leave earlier and be stuck in traffic. As good as things were, she wasn't doing herself any favors by purposefully driving past the woods.
"But every song's like, gold teeth, grey goose…"
The edge of the park was just ahead. A quaint bed and breakfast marked the end. Jill glanced at the B&B for a split second before looking back at the road.
"Tripping in the bathroom, bloodstains—"
Suddenly, everything stopped. Everything stood still. Jill felt the breath leave her lungs. Blind fear took over.
She could see it.
It was in the road.
Jill couldn't hear herself screaming. All sound seemed to be sucked out of the air. Her mind was detached from her body. She didn't know how her arms managed to violently turn the steering wheel. Instinct screeched at her to get away from It at all costs. She didn't see when her car veered off the road and headed straight into the rain soaked ditch.
Her mind was consumed by the tall, thin figure standing in the very middle of the road.
Her fender hit the watery bottom of the ditch. Jill's vision filled with white as her airbags deployed. Time and sound had meaning again. There was the horrible noise of metal being crushed. Glass shattered everywhere. Lorde was still crooning out her song.
"We don't care. We aren't caught up in your love affair…"
She couldn't handle another syllable of that song. Jill slammed her hand on the power button. Her breath finally came back in rapid, ragged gasps. The air bag was right in front of her, looking horribly familiar…like a dead, white face. A storm of unrelenting thoughts, dark and unwelcomed, clouded her mind. She was too panicked, too shocked to push them away.
"No, Jill, NO! Get a hold of yourself!" She demanded in a weak, shaky voice. One clear thought shone through the haze and Jill latched on to it. With trembling hands, she shoved aside the deployed airbag. Fumbling through glass shards and scattered items, she found her purse. Jill dug out a thick, red leather-bound journal. She always had it with her. Just in case.
Her fingers thumbed over the crinkly, browned pages. This thing had to be over a decade old, filled with unpleasant memories. It was hard to open. Dread rushed through Jill. She didn't want to do it. Static buzzed in her head, erasing all thoughts from before.
Nothing about this had changed. The past four years did not matter now.
"Mam? Are you okay there?"
Jill responded with a scream. For half a moment, she didn't see a man. She saw the tall, pale, faceless thing staring down at her.
"Woah! I'm not here to hurt you!" The man who had been at her window scrambled back a few paces. Jill stared at him, speechless. Regular emotions were returning. Embarrassment. That came first.
"Oh—I'm sorry! I'm just…freaked out." Jill threw the journal back into her purse. "Maybe I hit my head or something."
"Well, frankly, I'm surprised that you're even awake at all. A crash like this…could have killed you." The man was up to his ankles in ditchwater, still standing back from her car as though afraid of any more lunatic reactions from this crazy girl. "You've got some blood," he pointed at her forehead.
Jill reached up and sure enough, felt a trickle of blood beneath her fingertips.
"Oh, great." She pulled her hand away, leaving behind bright red stains on her fingers.
"I've already called 911. They should be here any second now," the man said. Jill looked at him and she saw concern in his eyes. "You scared me half to death. I saw your car start to swerve and it went straight for that ditch. What happened?"
Did you not see it, she wanted to scream at the man. She wanted to grab his shirt and shake the answer from him. Did you NOT see it?
"I just hit a slick spot and I couldn't get the car under control. Honestly, I panicked." That was the only answer that she could give. It was no use. Nobody ever saw it; nobody but her.
He nodded his head, believing her story. Jill wasn't satisfied with his easy acceptance of her story. She wanted him to know the truth, but she knew that if she told him what she actually saw, the EMTs would send her straight to the psych ward.
They'd sent her there before.
The man waited with her until she heard the wails of the sirens announce the arrival of the ambulance. Soon, strong men were hauling her out of her wrecked car and strapping her onto a stretcher. Her bleeding head made them nervous and they wanted to make sure that there wasn't any damage done.
"Don't worry, there's already enough damage done," she thought wryly to herself as she was loaded into the cold, bright ambulance.
Men in uniforms swarmed around her, checking her vitals and hooking her up to things, but Jill wasn't paying attention to any of them. She was thinking about the figure in the road.
Why now? Why now? Why ever?
Four years…it had been four years since she last hallucinated the thing. This happened in broad daylight too. That was a first. Normally, it happened at night. Sometimes, when she was looking out of her parents' living room window and into the deep, dark woods beyond, it would appear. It would be standing between the slender trunks, imposing yet unassuming. Or it happened when she was walking to the car in the early morning, finding the thing standing by the garage, staring at her with its eyeless face. She used to see it walking home from her friend's house, sometimes more than once in a night. Each time it would appear closer and closer to her, as though lying in wait for her to walk right into its clutches.
She wanted to believe that part of her life was over, but in the back of her mind, she knew that her fight with it was about to begin once more.
So short, I know. I hope that it was enjoyable and there will be more to come. I don't intend for this to be a 25 chapter, novel length tome, but something more like a short story.
Come back for more and don't forget to check out my main page under the username, Ginger Sheikah!