Alexander opens his eyes. he is driving to his new home, in a small town, named Woodston with his parents. He turns off his music, and pulls his head phones off. "Are we there yet?" he asked. "Almost." his mother says. He sees a sign, that had the town's motto on it. The only reason he knew was because his father had told him. He read the sign. "Fatum Nos Vocat" It read. It mean't 'Fate calls us.' Whatever that mean't. Alex didn't really care anyway. They pull up to a house. Alexander sighs. he gets out of the car when they pull up. He thinks he sees something in the window, when the curtains move, but before he can look, the curtain moves back. He picks up his suitcase, and walks toward the house. "Mom! Give me the key." he said. His mother gives him the key, and he unlocks the door. he jiggles the door, because it is stuck.

He enters the house. He sets his stuff down, and walks up the stairs to his room. He sees a desk, a large bed, and a door. he hesitates before he opens it. Dark stairs lead down to the basement. "Alexander! Come help me with the boxes!" His mother yells. He closes the door, and helps her with the boxes.

Later, they are sitting on boxes, and eating at a table. "You start school tommorow Alexander." His mother says. "Why do i have to go to school? It's just bullshit." Alexander said. "Watch your language Alexander." His father snaps. Alexander rolls his eyes. "My real mom doesn't care about language." Alexander muttered. "Alexander Sebastian! Go to your room! NOW!" His father yelled at him. Alexander stands, and stomps to his room. he slams the door with a loud 'BANG'. He starts pacing. He sees a picture of his dad and his step mom. he throws it at his wall. He lays on his bed. He puts his hands behind his head, and closes his eyes. something scurries past, but he doesn't notice, as he is falling asleep.

Alexander wakes up, and he realized that he went to bed fully clothed. he sits up. He looks outside. Everything looked red, like blood. "What the?" he says. he walks out of his room. "Mom? Dad?" he says. Nothing. "Mom?! Dad?!" he says again, louder. He looks in his mom and dad's room. they're not there. He walks downstairs. No one's in the house. All the boxes are where they were from last night. He opens the closet door. His mom and Dad's Coats are there. he puts on his hoodie. He walks outside. Back in his room, the door to the basement opens.

Alexander walks down his driveway. Snow lightly falls. "MOM! DAD!" he yells. No answer. he walks down his driveway, and takes a right, into town. The thing in the basement slowly came up the stairs, and started rummaging through Alexander's belongings. Like it was looking for something. It finally found it. A amulet. It clicked it open with its boney fingers, and made a sound that sounded like something out of a horror movie. A screech, but it sounded almost human, but at the same time very animal like. It then ran back down the stairs, slamming the door.

Alexander walked the streets of Woodston. Everything had seemed different since he was last there. Things were rusted and red, almost the same color as blood. He turned into an alleyway, and paused. Where could he go to get a better view of the town. He heard a sound from above. He saw a ladder. He climbed it, and came to a roof of a building. He took in the actually horror of what the town had become. It was terrifying. The sky was bloody red, flying creatures obscured the skies, it was total madness. And some aura seemed to be tugging at Alexander's sanity.

Testing it... Toying with it... Seeing if it could handle the true horrors of the town.

Alexander finally had to close his eyes, and look away from the sight. He heard a creaking noise, and looked down by the church. A girl, who looked about 7, entered it, and shut it. "Hey!" he said, climbing down the ladder. He ran toward the church. He yanked on the door, but it didn't open. "Hey! Open up!" he said. He felt a chill run down his spine, suddenly. Someone, or something, was walking behind him. He could hear bones breaking and crunching, the sound making him sick. He slowly turned around.

A monstrosity was before him. It was 8 feet tall, practically towering over him. His eyes widened. It's hands were the size of a bookshelf, and blood was flowing from the mask that it wore. The mask was almost like a mannequin's face. Blank, but perfect at the same time. But spikes went through the mask. It stared at him, and tilted its head to the right. All its features were there. All except the mouth. Its eyes were piercing red. Alexander took a step back, and tripped over his own feet. He fell backwards, landing on his back.

Fear and terror made everything else a blur except the monster. It bent over, almost touching Alexander's face. It was a mere 2 feet away from his face. It's mouth formed. A evil smile formed onto the face. It's teeth were razor sharp, and serrated. Alexander opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out. The thing pulled a massive mace out of its chest, but not without pulling its intestines out first. The intestines dropped at Alexander's feet. He was frozen, in sheer terror. The thing raised the mace.

Alexander snapped out of the trance, and crawled to the right, just as the thing had brought the weapon to the ground, cracking it into the shape of a circle. Had he been there for about 2 more seconds, he could've been pulverized meat. Alexander stood up, and ran. He ran into a house without windows. They were substituted for massive holes. Half of the second floor of the house was gone. Alexander ran into the house, and slammed the door, and hid in the dark part of the house, hoping the thing didn't see him. He held his breath.

Stomping. Slow, stomping. Coming toward him. He saw the monster looking at another abandoned house, and not finding anything. It made a growling sound, and raised its mace, and hit the house, smashing it completely. Alexander flinched. The thing turned around, and looked directly at Alexander, hidden in the shadows. It started walking towards the house again. Alexander was absolutely terrified. He couldn't move. He couldn't speak. It was like something had frozen him in terror. The thing looked into the hole in the house, only 10 feet away from Alexander. It blinked, but then it backed out of the house, and stomped away.

Alexander let out a breath when it was gone. He looked out of the hole in the house. It was gone. Alexander walked slowly, but fluently walked out of the house. He ran to the church, and slammed against the door. "Open up! Please!" he said. He was trembling. the little girl from before, that entered the church, opened the door. Alexander stormed in, and the little girl closed the door. "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!" He said. "We call it the Desdemona." the little girl said. The little girl was dirty. She was covered in filth, and grime. "Wh-where am I?" Alexander asked the girl.

"Your in The Devil's Hollow." she said. "What? I thought this was Woodston Pennsylvania." Alex said. The little girl said nothing more, and ran into another part of the church. Alexander stood, and looked around. There were about 20 people inside the church. Alexander decided that he would be safe, if he slept. He sat in a pew, and fell asleep.

Alexander woke up. Several people were gathered around him. "Uh, what're you all doing?" he asked. They all gasped, and stepped back. "We thought you were dead!" They said. "Uh, no. I'm fine." Alexander said. They all left to other parts of the church in different directions. Only one kid was still standing by Alexander. "I can show you around here, if you like." the boy said. "All I want is to get out of this hellhole." Alexander said. "if you can find a way out, you'll need me. I know this place better than you do." he said. "Fine." Alexander said. "Whats your name?" Alex asked him. "William." the boy said. Will looked homely. He was dirty. He had a baseball cap, with skinned knees, and cuts on his face. Will was only 12, unlike Alexander, who was 17. No wonder he seemed like an alien to them. He was clean.

Will took Alexander's hand, and led him into a room. "Be careful. There are things that will terrify you, and maybe even kill you." Will explained. "No shit. Some massive monster with a mace tried to kill me before." Alexander said. "The Desdemona? yeah. Lillith told me about that." Will said. "Who?" Alexander asked. Then he remembered. The little girl from before. Who had saved him. *So thats her name.* Alexander thought. Will opened the door, and led Alexander out through a tunnel. At the end, of it, there was a ladder. Will climbed it, and was followed by Alexander.

Will pushed the grate up, and climbed up. He helped Alexander up. "Whoa." he said. They were in a forest. The trees had thin, black branches, and the sky was gray. "Where...are we?" Alexander asked. "The Forest of...him." Will explained. "Who?" Alexander asked. "The Man Who Is Slender." Will said. Fear and terror seemed to be visible in his eyes.