I trembled a bit. My heart thudded audibly in my chest. Blood was rushing in my ears. I was stumbling now, wildly swinging my flashlight around.

The forest was too quiet. There were no crickets, no cicadas, no birds. There was just the crunching of my footsteps on the unbelievably dry grass and the miniscule hum of the batteries in my flashlight that I gripped so hard my knuckles were white.

Need to get OUT of here-

-what was that?

I pointed my flashlight shakily at the spot where I thought I'd seen the tall form of a man. Immediately, I turned and began to run. The trees flew past me, becoming blurs in my periphery. My feet pounded on the ground too loudly. I would be found in no time at all, even if he hadn't been following me, watching me from the very beginning.

I almost cried in relief when I made it to a building. It looked like a large public bathroom, but to me it's ominous, looming form screamed 'safety.' That was probably the worst mistake of my life.

Once inside, I noticed something that made my hopes drop. There were no doors. At all. Anywhere. There were several places where doors should have been, but had obviously been ripped off of their hinges. No doors. No way of keeping HIM out. No safety.

There were huge bloodstains on the ground that looked years if not decades old. The tiles were peeling off the walls in some places, completely gone in others. There were chairs overturned in the hallways, some pushed up against walls. One wall that I passed had the words 'always watches – no eyes' written on it over and over again in a suspicious dark liquid. I remembered seeing a sheet of binder paper with those very words scribbled on it outside, stapled to a tree.

How many people have been-

-he must be getting closer-

-defend yourself!

I held my flashlight in my teeth as I hunted around for the overturned chairs. Once I'd gathered as many as I could carry, I made my way to a room and blocked the open doorway as best I could. I searched frantically around for anything that could be used as a weapon. I found a broken chair leg and a piece of string. I managed to make a crude spear out of the leg by scraping parts off of the very end with a rock, and then I sat down in the corner least visible from the entrance of the room and waited with my legs pulled up to my chest.

My hands shook as I took out my phone. No service. Still. It took all of my will to not simply throw the piece of technology at the wall in anger. No fucking service!

My heart leapt into my throat when I noticed that not only was the beam of my flashlight becoming dimmer, but there was also a noise coming from the blockade of chairs in the doorway. I took a risk and flipped the flashlight off. I closed my eyes and buried my face in my arms.

With every small creek of the pile of chairs, I shuddered a bit harder. When I heard one of the chairs fall down, I whimpered slightly.

Can't get away-

-more chairs falling down-

-WON'T get away-

-footsteps. Deliberate footsteps, as I'd never heard HIM make footsteps before-

-he's going to take me, oh God-

I wanted to look up. I wanted so badly to look up at him, to SEE-

"Don't look, or it takes you."

Don'tlookdon'tlookdon'tlookdon'tlookdon'tlookdon't lookdon'tlook-

Standing right in front of me. He was standing right in front of me, watching me, waiting-

There was a hand on my shoulder. Cold. Extremely cold. I could feel it through my t-shirt. I gasped aloud, and shrunk as far away from the extremity as I could, but it followed my every movement.

OhGodgethimawaygethimaway!

The other hand settled on my shoulder. I could hear the gentle slide of fabric over fabric. HE was kneeling in front of me, huge hands on my shoulders. His cold breath was ghosting over my head.

"Shhhh….James…." He said slowly, as if tasting my name. I felt my breath coming faster. How did he know? How could he POSSIBLY know my name?! "Don't…be afraid…" His voice was sluggish and whispery, as if he'd never spoken before.

My fists clenched tighter, and I was practically hyperventilating. The space around me seemed to be getting darker. My eyes opened and I stared at the bare skin of my forearms. Blackness curled and writhed at the edges of my vision.

I was about to start sobbing when one of the hands left my shoulder and settled on top of my head. The chill engulfed me further, sending ripples of cold all the way down to my toes. HE seemed to be petting my hair as if I were an animal that needed soothing. A tear escaped my eye and began rolling down my face.

"Don't be afraid…" He repeated, stroking my head softly, like he was trying to reassure me-

-too close. He's too FUCKING CLOSE TO ME-

I'd forgotten about my makeshift spear. I'd forgotten about my dying flashlight. The only thing I was able to do was sit and wait to…die, I suppose. How would he kill me?

-with fire, while he cackles madly in my ear-

-slowly freezing to death in darkness, HIS hands on me-

-shadows encasing my head and I just disappear-

The other alabaster hand managed to penetrate the protective barrier of my arms. My eyes watered even more as it neared my face-

-Oh, God, this is the end-

-the hand then wiped away the tear that had been trailing down my cheek. I was still in too much shock to comprehend what had just happened. I still was so afraid—

"Shhh….James….Shhhh…." He sounded like he was even closer to me than before. I flinched.

The hand took hold of my chin and started tugging my face up. I resisted the best I could, but it was like the hand was made of stone. Living, moving, frozen stone that forced me to turn my face upwards. I shut my eyes tightly again, afraid to look but wanting SO BADLY to.

Don't look, or it takes you.

I found myself wishing for my home for the first time in several months. Even though Dad was never home—and when he was, he was very violent- and Mom was often sleeping off her hangovers, I wished that I was in my bed. I wished I was sitting in front of my TV, enjoying a nice, mind-numbing hour of daytime soap-operas. I wished I was eating cereal at the crappy table in the kitchen. I wished my cat was sitting in the middle of all of my homework.

"James," He said, gripping my chin more tightly, "open…your eyes." He said in that dragging speech of his.

I couldn't restrain myself anymore. My eyes snapped open. For a split second, all of the terror and pain and absolute helplessness I'd been feeling was intensified by one-hundred percent.

-Oh my God he has no FACE-

-gonnadiegonnadiegonnadiegonnadie-

-I'm going to die all alone in this God-damned room with this FUCKING CREATURE-

-nononononononononononono-

-can'truncan'truncan'truncan'truncan'trun-

-for fuck's sake LEAVEMEALONE-

-And then all of that vanished. Without a trace. The fear was gone. I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding. Sheer warmth flowed through me, like sinking into a hot bath after being outside in the freezing wind for an hour. All of my muscles relaxed. I sagged forward, right into HIS waiting arms.

"Shhh…James," He cooed as my tears flowed freely, "don't be afraid. I'll take care of you."

I felt my eyelids getting heavier. They eventually closed.

Before I passed out, I heard almost unintelligible whispering in my ears, promising safety and security, peace and heaven.

*()(*)()*

Slenderman looked down at the body of his query. It really was such a shame. James was such a pretty boy…

He sighed. Oh, well. He had to eat somehow, didn't he? And James had been so tasty…

A/N: Well…that was a little….dark….. ^^' Sorry! But I needed to get my name back in the archives. (sheepishly rubs back of head) Yeah…sorry again. Review for me?

~DH