Laboured breathing, a rather unsettling sound even if it is his own. A sound made all the more unsettling when he is the only breathing thing that as far as he knows still exists in the world.

The ringing of static in his ears, much like that on Daddy's radio but far louder and far more intimate, was another sound that instilled a terror and paranoia in his impressionable mind.

Though both these sounds unsettled him, what he had seen was another thing all together.

Beyond the fear he felt now, Ben had little foresight and had spent no time contemplating the implications of his current situation. Ben had automatically made the assumption that he was just somewhere else and that his home was still a real place and that his family were still living somewhere beyond the confines of this acursed Forest.

He had nothing to back this belief up but hope and fear of the alternative. Of course Ben couldn't comprehend the alternative, the ripe age he was.

He was just starting to understand how girls and boys were different let alone how the pale shade making him scamper in fear between the trees differed from the other men who he had seen wearing similar attire.

Well, he did understand that this one lacked a face and perhaps if Ben was more eloquent he would describe the slim man's appearance as a slender figure clad in black and capped with an Ivory head. Maybe if Ben was also a tad more imaginative he could have used his observations of the skinny man's movement to come to the conclusion that the tall man was also somehow vast, that the figure he caught glimpses of was not the being in its entirety and that in fact the forest itself was the creature and that the apparition that tormented him was but the physical embodiment of the being…Perhaps that would account for the lack of a face, of eyes and ears.

If the figure was but a probing digit, searching for the irritation within the forest, then perhaps the forest was the eyes and ears. The trees hearing his light footsteps, the forest floor tasting the salt of his tears as he ran so hard he cried. Ben was too young to comprehend these thoughts, even if he did have them, and if he did comprehend them they would cause him far greater fear than what he felt now.

The thing about the man that scared Ben the most was the man's reach. He had been able run away from problems before and had done so on many occasions but now he was faced with a concept most children his age had not even been introduced to…

…The inevitable.

Ben was not too young to die, if he was why was he here? With the slim person in the expansive yet small world of the forest. Ben had noticed that he seemed to retrace his steps far too often but he had not the time to think about it in depth since his brain didn't have enough blood. He had, for an excruciatingly long time, been 'flighting' for his life. He could not conceivably fight for his life. The tall man was certainly quick as he had on one occasion 'ran' circles around Ben without moving a limb. The slim being was certainly very resilient for it had not tired from this quick movement either.

Despite Ben's confusion and creeping sense that maybe his home was no longer reachable, he had snatched the very static and creaseless pages and proceeded to trap them in the large pouch at the front of his star encrusted onesie.

He had been extracted from his home during the night, what other time would an abduction of this nature take place? He had upon arriving here wondered aimlessly as sleepy children do. He took this time to sample the thick atmosphere of the place and listen to how his feet were so very loud in his ears, he had then proceeded to scream at the top of his voice 'Mummy!' until the lack of an answer subdued him into a lonely silence.

He had not enjoyed his encounters with the suited man as the man had very quickly taken to the habit of appearing behind Ben. For some reason this compelled Ben to always look around. He had in his rather brief life become very skilled in the art of ignoring his problems but as before there was no running and certainly no hiding from the skinny man.

Ben had for the longest time been running and stopping, running and stopping, and had not yet been able to catch his breath. So it was now, when Ben stopped running and span like a lighthouse with his new torch, He realised he was done running…

…as did the beast stalking this ever so frail prey.

Ben had caught glimpses, turned quickly and seen the lean creature many times but that was in the past and those glances mere memories. Now, as the creature approached Ben from the treeline, he saw the definition of a shared fear among people.

Ben would not know this but it is thought that there are certain traits found in objects and living beings alike that stir certain emotions in all people. What Ben saw now was something that could so easily be described as designed to instil this shared fear, this shared repulsion, in people. This being was a mimicry, a deformed and perverted copy of the human form. Much like Undead or many other monsters from fiction, this creature was creepy as it shared both characteristics with the living and the dead. A pale shell of purest skin, almost as if woven from fine silk, with a tint of eggshell white to give it that slightest similarity to the complexion of the living.

The demeanour with which it carried itself evoked fear, the slow yet sudden nearing, closer to the oh so vulnerable person, inevitable, inescapable. Another characteristic that had scared many since its conception was the lack of a face, the unreadable adversary, no sign of human emotion or recognition of its surroundings…

…and yet it gazed. Ben could feel its impossible gaze as it scrutinized this insignificant child. Perhaps this feeling of being watched did emanate from the forest itself. Mummy had always said the stars were watching over him. He looked to the sky, averting his gaze from the approaching monster, and saw no stars. There was only a swollen low hanging moon. Ben scrutinized the moon's surface and saw that, like the man, it lacked any features or texture. He looked away, the moon reminding him too much of the man's lack of a face…or perhaps reminding him too much of an intense eye.

Ben had been to the large tree thrice before whilst wondering and here he was again, seeking security in a familiar place in such an alien world. He had upon arriving thought the place so very strange and so very alien that it had not crossed his mind that he was in fact the alien in this place. he was the thing that stood out among all others; he was the one that did not belong here, he was scared instead of feared, he was young instead of timeless, he was alive opposed to dead, he did not belong…

…Yet here he was.

He ran to the tree, burying his face in the bark, and began mumbling the lullabies his mother had sang to him. He was finished; no more running for he was too tired, no more searching out pages for he was too scared. He was finished trying, finished struggling.

Bursts of static rang in his ears, making his very thoughts go fuzzy as he yelped at the sensation. He felt a force on his shoulder and as it tried to turn him around he buried his face deeper into the dead bark, his fingers digging in, causing the bark to splinter in his hands. He was finished, he had played this game long enough and simply wanted it to end, he did not care if he lost he wanted it to be done and over, he wanted the tension in his muscles to cease.

The force tugged on him again and this time he relented, his feeble will all but still there. He fought the urge to run, to survive, he was done living. He fought every instinct of self-preservation and looked into the face of his tormentor in hope the torment would end.

And his torment did end for what he saw brought him the silliest calmness. The tall man just stood before him. It did not carry sharp things for cutting or have large hands for hurting. The body standing in front of him was that of a mannequin. It looked too much like an object to be a alive and was much too thin to be able to cause any hurt or even move for that matter.

The static had ceased. The game was over. The lithe limb of the statue before Ben rested gently on his shoulder, no sign of a hand at the end but instead a stump. The creature had caught him or at least succeeded in preventing him from doing whatever had offended it.

The creature's 'face', which Ben could have sworn had somehow looked at him, was as blank as could be. Ben looked without fear and saw the face was very much without whatever expression he had thought had been there.

Ben very cautiously opened his mouth, ever so slightly, and let out as gently as possible a breath that had been forced to stay within his lungs. He let out the heavy sigh and it brought him comfort. He had been caught and yet was still breathing.

Then the being's limb fell from his shoulder, taking it's place limply at the man's side, Ben could not tell whether the arm had been moved or had simply slipped off.

He looked into the facless head of the creature and tried to see if there really was nothing there. What happened now? Something must happen now? Perhaps it had been a game all along? Perhaps the man had simply wanted to play tag and since he had won Ben was free to go. Perhaps the man had never meant to scare Ben and it had all been a misunderstanding on his part.

Now that the man had finally caught up to Ben the lanky figure did not look the least bit menacing. The torment was truly over; The tension in Ben's shoulders ceased, he breathed freely, wiped the snot from his face.

Ben smiled dumbly.

The man smiled back.

Ben's smile failed instantly.

The slender man's smile only widened.

Ben's new flashlight failed just as quickly as his smile did.


Author's Note: If I allowed any spelling mistakes to escape my scrutiny do pray tell me as I finished writing this on a touch-pad with out any spell-check function. For the same reason the formatting maybe a bit 'janky'.

Any other quibbles do please specify.

I rather enjoyed writing this and think it is some of my best work. This chapter was mostly setting the stage for the events of Chapter Two. I could quite easily have started this story with the encounter by the tree but I thought it necessary to give it a good set up.

I do hope the insignificant human that requested this enjoys it immensely as well as any one else who bothers to take a gander.

-NathanEryk