It was a bright Friday afternoon. School had just finished for the week and teenagers could be seen walking and running around everywhere off on their way home, each with the same thing on their mind: What they were going to do tonight. Most normal teenagers would be off partying or doing something fun, as that's what Friday nights are for, right? Yet there was one teen, a black haired girl who went by the name of Alexanne, who was planning to do something most people around here would never even think of doing. Especially at night. The young girl had planned on venturing into the deepest depths of one of the most darkest and terrifying of forests known to the residents of the town in which she lived. Though the forest was quite far from town, the rumours about it were still very well known to everyone who lived there. Countless stories had been passed around and altered again and again, like Chinese whispers, some more scary than others, others more believeable. But no matter how believeable the tale was, this girl, would refuse to acknowledge that they were actually real. Her reason for exploring this place of mysterious tales tonight was actually that she had to prove to her friends that one certain tale Was definitely not true. In fact, this story, was the most popular of them all.
The story, of Slender Man.
This story had first come about when the news that a boy had gone missing had been relayed across the town. Apparently, the last that anyone had heard of him, was when he was out picking berries in the forest for his mother. Yet the night he had set off, he had never returned, but his flashlight had been discovered near the berry bushes, it's batteries completely dead. After everyone found out about this, people started saying that the boy had been taken and devoured by a very tall man, dressed in black, with many arms and a completely blank face. Another thing people were saying was that the man had just taken the boy away somewhere, which then led to the elders claiming that he was just a pedophile who lurked there, in the trees, waiting for children to come along so that he may snatch them away. Of course, Alexanne did not believe that a man with many arms could exist, and in her logic, no pedophile could constantly lurk in a forest all day and all night. Plus, the police had been there countless times, and not one of them had found anything that would indicate that a man had ever been anywhere in this forest, the only thing they ever found was childrens footprints, that would always suddenly stop.
So tonight, Alexanne was going to walk through the forest by herself, with a flashlight and camera, filming the forest, and show everyone that this man was non-existant.
As soon as she got home, Alexanne rushed upstairs into her bedroom and took off her school uniform, changing into a red hoodie and black jeans. Then, she got on her hands and knees and attempted to stretch her arm underneath her bed, searching for the flashlight that should be laying under there amongst the dust. After a few seconds her hand felt something, so she grabbed the object and pulled it out from under the bed, and sure enough, there was her black flashlight. Wiping dust off her hand and onto her jeans, she turned her head,slowly looking around her room. "Now the only thing to do is find a camera.." Her eyes glanced up to one of the shelves on her wall, only to see that there was her Black, Digital camera. So reaching up, she grabbed the camera and put it into a shoulder bag along with her flashlight. The only thing left to do now was to wait for her friends to arrive. She had planned it so that they would drive her to the forest, for it was too far to walk and her parents certainly wouldn't drive her there. So, falling back onto her bed, she patiently waited, staring up at the ceiling in thought.
A while later, when it had gotten really dark outside, something odd hapened. A noise she could hear it.. The noise was unlike anything she'd ever heard before. It had an ominous feel to it, giving her the feeling that something was about happen. She tried not to panic as she sat up, looking around for what might be the cause of this. The noise started to get louder and eerier, giving her the most excrutiatingly painful headache. Her whole body started to quiver with what seemed to be fear, causing her to be unable to move from her upright sitting position. Sweat dripped from her forehead as her breathing got heavier and heavier, and then began to slowly stop. Now not being able to breathe properly or move her body, she became stricken with panic and fear, this was the most terrifying thing imaginable for her, mainly due to her not being able to comprehend what was happening or why. It was so terrifyingly strange, her mind could not understand any of it, and just as she thought it couldn't get any worse, a black, smoke-like substance began to creep into her room from the window frame, though she couldn't see that it was coming from there, for her head was locked into looking forward. There was something she could see, though, and this was what frightened her the most. In the moonlight that shone onto her bed, was a shadow, of the top half of what appeared to be a bald, thin man.
And suddenly, she snapped back to reality. All that, as it so happened, had been a terrible nightmare. Or at least, she hoped. She wiped some of the sweat from her head, and turned to her window, only to see there were two cracks in it. This made her panic, until she noticed that rocks were hitting against her window. It was then that she noticed that there was the sound of a truck outside, and looking out the window, she saw her friend's truck, with two inside. One friend in the back, hanging out the window and throwing stones and rocks, the other sat in the driver's seat, looking up at her. These were the ones who were going to drive her to the forest. Relieved, she put on her should bag and opened the window, preparing to jump out of it. Though she couldn't help but think about that nightmare... What if it was trying to tell her something? Or what if that wasn't a nigthmare at all? Maybe it was just a warning..? Stopping to think about this was a bit of a mistake, she realised, as the sound of lights being flicked on could suddenly be heard, and her mother started to mutter from her room. It seemed as though the rocks and truck had awoken Alexanne's parents, this wasn't good. Making sure to not hesitate for a moment longer, Alexanne jumped from her bedroom window, landing perfectly into the front garden. Jumping from that window was something she did quite often, often enough that now she was somewhat of an expert at it. If one can really be an expert of such a thing.. Alexanne ran to her friend's truck, opening the truck door and jumping in.
"You ready for this, Alex'?" Her best friend, Marcus asked her with a tone that made it seem as if he didn't really want her to do this. Though Alexanne didn't give a proper reply, instead she demanded that he drive away quickly before her parents came out the house and attempted to stop them. Marcus sighed and with a nod, put his foot down on the pedal and drove away from the house, out of the street, and into the main roads of the town at high speed.
Alexanne rested her head against the side window of the truck, looking out at the trees that they were quickly driving by, each one of them blurred due to the speed of Marcus' driving. In the back of the truck, the other friend of Alexanne, 'Rhys', was staring rather creepily at her. She noticed him in the rear-veiw mirror and turned around, glaring back at him. "Why the hell're you staring at me?!" Rhys suddenly started to laugh at her, pointing at her forehead. "You're scared about this, aren't you Lexy!" He had noticed the sweat on her forehead and had been led to believe this. "I am not! I-I'm only like this because of how I had to get outta' there before the old man and hag noticed! D'ya even know how much I panicked there?! Dy'a even know what they would've done if they caught me?!" Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she turned around to look back out of the window with a huff. Rhys sighed and then proceeded to bother Marcus. "So, how long until we get there?" "Just a few minutes now. But, Rhys, what do you think of this new truck, then..lovely light blue isn't it.." The two boys talked about the truck for the rest of the ride, whilst Alexanne continued to stare out the window. Though all of a sudden, amongst the trees, she quickly saw something. She couldn't figure out what it was, seeing as they drove by it so fast, but it was a quick white blur... She shook her head, attempting to forget that she had even seen it.
Finally, they arrived at the forest. The teenagers got out of the truck, only to notice that there was a fence around the trees, and at the entrance to the forest was a sign that read:
"Turn back now. Go. Leave. Once you enter you can never escape."
"Hey, lexy, maybe you should listen to the sign. Maybe Slendy wrote it himself. Though it's kinda' scruffy.." Rhys was staring at the words, feeling pretty frightned by the sign's warnings, though Alexanne just shook her head. "It was probably written by some idiot who wants to scare people even more." Pulling her fashlight and camera out her bag, she switched both objects on and pointed them at Rhys who tried to pose for the camera but was too blinded by the light of the flashlight and ended up making a fool of himself. Marcus put his hand on Alexanne's shoulder, looking at her with a concerned expression. "Hey..maybe we should come in there with you." Even his tone of voice seemed concerned. Stunned for a few seconds, Alexanne shook her head, winking at Marcus. "I'll be alright by myself, Mars'. Believe me, there's nothin' in here to be afraid of! I'm going to prove that to ya." She seemed confident on the outside, but deep down she was absolutely terrified. She wanted them to come with her, but the thing was, she also didn't want them to think of her as someone who got scared easily. It would completely ruin her reputation. Plus, this was her mission, and hers alone. Marcus quickly wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. This surprised Alexanne, who awkwardly hugged him back. "Stop the emotional stuff already or night will be over by the time she get's in there!" Rhys shouted at the pair, who both let go of each other as soon as they heard him. It seemed as though they had forgotten he was even there. "Right," Marcus looked into Alexanne's eyes, his own eyes filled with worry. "Remember, Alex, it's your fault if you get into trouble in here. I tried to stop you. Please don't get hurt." "Uhh...riight..okay." Alexanne awkwardly smiled, stepping back and turning around to face the entrance. "Off I go then.." "Make sure you come back alive, Sexy Lexy!" Saying this earned Rhys a flashlight to the head from Marcus, who then turned around to wish Alexanne good luck, but she couldn't be seen, for she had already gone into the forest.
Alexanne was making sure to stick to the path that went through the forest, her flashlight pointed infront of her and her camera recording everything. The crunching-like sound of her feet pressing against the path was drowned out by the thumping of her heart. She could feel it, beating against her chest, as she slowy made her away along.
{"S'alright, Lex...you're going to be A-okay. You're only scared 'cause of the rumours and all that jazz...Nothin' really to be scared of. That's why you're here. To prove that.."}
A few minutes after thinking this, Alexanne felt the strangest urge to turn back and look behind her, but when she started to turn around, her body began to ache with pain. She looked straight forward again, causing the pain to vanish. This was odd, But now she knew that she should not turn back. She wasn't sure why, yet she knew that if she did, it would be very consenquential.
Her hands began to shake, causing the light of the flashlight to not stay still and the camera to drop out of her hand.
Her heart stopped. Everything became silent. Not a single sound could be heard, until..
That noise. That seem creepy noise. The one from her nightmare. She could hear it now. Alexanne could hear that noise and it was much worse this time. Much worse. It made her ears throb in pain, her heart felt like it was going to explode, her knees became weak and then all of a sudden...
Smoke. Black smoke. Creeping all around her. And then another noise. Coming from her camera.
She quickly looked down at the camera's screen, only to see that it had gone static. Completely static. But then it made another nosie, and in the static,
A man's face, snow white and with no facial features. Although it had no eyes, it felt like it was giving her a peircing stare, looking right into her very soul.
Alexanne tried to scream, but not a single sound could escape her mouth. Then she looked up, preparing to run back out of the forest, but as soon as she looked up, the man From the camera screen From the shadow of her nightmare, A man that perfectly fitted the description of all the stories and rumours, Was stood right infront of her.
Her mind screamed at her, telling her this was it, that she was wrong, this was the end and it had all been thanks to her stubborn disbelief of the stories. It told her not to run, to accept her fate, but
No. She wasn't going to just give up like this. So she turned around and ran. Ran as fast as she could, the fastest she had ever ran before in her enitre life. She didn't care about leaving her camera behind, That wasn't important now. She still had the flashlight pointed infront of her as she ran along the path. Her breathing was heavy, her legs ached, she wanted to just go home, wanted to escape this.
After a while of running, the noise faded. Alexanne leant against a tree, switching off her flashlight to save the batteries. {"Maybe this is just one of the guy'spulling a prank on me...this can't be real, can it?.."}
Alexanne had made the mistake of resting against the tree for too long, because again, out of nowhere, that noise came back. And it kept getting louder, and louder, until it got to the point where she screamed from the pain it was causing her ears.
Freaking out completely, Alexanne ran again, finding the path, trying to find the forest entrance. That was the only way out of this. Yet she was still so worn out, thus she fell to the floor, face first, dropping her flashlight in the process. Tears streamed from her eyes as she cried and and attempted to scream again, until she could cry no more. With all hope of survival lost, She tilted her head up, only to see that her flashlight had rolled away a bit, the light from it flickering, but pointing to...
Her camera. Didn't she leave that behind? Alexanne grew confused even more. Her hand reached out, and she pulled herself forward, towards the camera. Maybe, she'd be able to record a bit of the Slenderman. If she couldn't prove that he wasn't real, she could at least prove that he definitely was, so that nobody would make the same mistake as she did. Though as she got closer, she noticed something. On the camera screen, a video was playing. She could hear it now too. Her eyes narrowed, and she saw that on the screen, was two figures, that seemed as if they were being... strangled... by tentacles?.. that creeped out from the shadows. They were in a forest, next to a light blue truck, and both were male... And then, a face flashed onto the screen again, surrounded by static, an odd noise screeching from the camera. The blank face seemed to stare, and then, the camera's batteries completely died.
Alexanne grabbed the flashlight and pointed it up, only to reveal the same man, who was staring down at her.
She managed to get a few words out, trying to talk to the figure.
"Guess this means you win.."
And with that, the flashlight switched off.