Introduction
There are tales of a creature beyond human comprehension that has stalked and killed many people throughout the course of history. From times such as Ancient Egypt and the Middle Ages to present day, there have been countless sightings of this creature; and with it, countless deaths. Most witness accounts describe this creature as a tall, slender man with no face that wears a suit. Through research in various cases throughout history, it has been generally accepted as fact that this 'Slender Man', as the creature has been nicknamed, mainly goes after small children. Recently, cases such as the Marble Hornets case, the EveryManHybrid case, and the TribeTwelve case suggest that the Slender Man also goes after people of any age, rather than just children. This is the story of Jacob, a young adult who found himself at the center of one such case.
Chapter I - The First Encounter
[ You will only be able to see the Slender Man under the following conditions: ]
[ 1. You hear of the Slender Man ]
[ 2. You see the Slender Man in a video or in a photograph ]
[ 3. The Slender Man takes an interest in you ]
Jacob closed the tab reading 'Youtube - Entry #40' and continued by watching the 41st entry of the well-known Marble Hornets alternate reality game. Elsewhere in the house, the sound of a grandfather clock chiming filled the halls and drifted into Jacob's room.
One...two...three...four...five...six...seven...eight...nine...ten...eleven...
The clock chimed eleven times, signaling that it was eleven o'clock PM. Yawning, Jacob closed the windows on his computer and shut it down for the night. Watching the rest of the entries would have to wait until the next day. Even though it was summer, Jacob preferred to keep a sort of sleeping schedule, where he was in bed no later than 11 o'clock, so that he wouldn't sleep through most of one day. Slipping into bed, Jacob closed the curtains of the single window in his room, which overlooked the woods that surrounded his house.
Jacob was one of the kids who lives out in the middle of nowhere, a couple miles away from the nearest town, with a road that stretches in both directions as far as the eye can see. Jacob was only 17, so still being in high school, he had to put up with living that far away from civilization for another year or two before he would be able to graduate from high school and move out into an apartment or something.
As Jacob closed his eyes, a breeze drove a small frayed piece of paper through the window of his room. Being out in the middle of nowhere sometimes had its advantages, as Jacob didn't have to worry about anyone sneaking into his house in the dead of night to kill him or to steal from him, so he could comfortably leave a window or two open without fear of a bad situation occurring. Without a sound, the note turned over once and fluttered to the floor of Jacob's room.
Joseph woke up the next morning and slipped on some clothes, not bothering to check to see what matched with what. Anyways, it was summer, and he was planning to lounge around the house that day, so the way he dressed didn't really matter to anyone in particular. As he pulled on a pair of jeans, he noticed the note that had flown in through the window the night before laying on the floor in front of him. He picked it up and immediately noticed that there was no writing on it, only a strange symbol on the front.
The somewhat familiar symbol of a large circle with an X through the circle, as if it were a warning of some kind. For a moment Jacob stared at the ? symbol and happened to glance up at the window. A shiver crept down Jacob's spine upon seeing the window. The curtains on the window were torn off, as if someone had purposefully ripped them off. He ran to the window and examined the area around it, but the pieces of the curtains that had been ripped off were gone.
Jacob ran out of his room and down the hallway that connected the bedrooms of the house. He burst into the kitchen to find his mother preparing breakfast and his father sitting at a small table reading a newspaper. He gave them a quick 'good morning and sat down', trying to figure out what had happened to the curtains of his window.
"Mom?" Jacob began. "Do you know what happened to the curtains of the window in my room? I woke up to find them ripped to shreds, but I'm sure they weren't like that last night."
His mother turned her head to look at him with a quizzical look on her face.
"No, I don't know what happened to them. Are you sure you didn't do something to them?"
"Sounds like someone's been doing a bit of sleepwalking," Jacob's father chimed in. "I suppose we'll have to find some curtains the next time we drive into town. We can talk to Dr. Kessler and see if my theory is correct, as well."
"Well, what about this note I found on the floor of my room?" Jacob asked. "It has this strange ? symbol on it, like a circle with X through it, and it wasn't there last night."
"With sleep walking, who knows what you'll end up doing," his father thought for a moment and then frowned. "If it is sleep walking, don't go off and wreck the car in your sleep or do anything that'll cost me a whole lot of money until we get you to a doctor. Lord knows we need all the money we can get in this recession."
"Well...what if someone snuck in during the night? Like, through a window? Isn't that a viable option?"
"Son, don't tell me you've been leaving that window open all night again. If someone did sneak into this house last night, we should be grateful that all they did was rip up a few curtains and leave some weird note in your room. Close that window at night from now on, got it?"
"Yes, sir," Jacob sighed, knowing that this line of questioning was going nowhere. "I think I'm going to go back to my room for a little while. Call me when breakfast is ready."
Defeated, Jacob returned to his room, although he couldn't say he expected much of a questioning session with his parents. What business could they possibly have in his room ripping up curtains in the middle of the night or putting a strange slip of paper on the floor of his room? His parents really weren't the type to play practical jokes. Still, although it didn't shed light on anything, it didn't hurt to ask a few questions. Jacob returned to his room and turned to the window once more. What he saw made him step backwards in disbelief.
A little ways into the woods that were visible from his window, Jacob saw a tall man in a suit staring off into the woods. He felt like calling out to the man, but something about the way the man looked gave him the strangest feeling, like he was frozen to the spot. The man turned toward the window, and subsequently toward Jacob, and began walking toward the house. As much as he wanted to move, Jacob's body refused to respond, and it wasn't long before the man stood just outside of his window.
It was clear as day now. The man had no face. No nose, no eyes, no mouth, no ears...nothing. A blank slate. The man began to extend his arms toward Jacob, as if to comfort him. Unwillingly, Jacob found himself putting one foot forward, followed by the other. It was as if Jacob was hypnotized. He began walking towards the strange man, unable to fight against the strange sensation that was taking over his entire body.
Suddenly, the tall man's head snapped to the side, as if he had just heard a loud sound, and his hands dropped to his sides. Jacob found himself pushed back against the wall by an invisible force, and he fell to the floor. He quickly looked up to see if it was the man who had pushed him, but the man was gone.
"Jacob, breakfast!" He head his mother call.
"Alright, I'll be right there!" He called back.
Jacob quickly got up, composed himself, and ran to the window to look out and catch a glimpse of the man, but to no avail. The man was gone, and he hadn't left a single trace of his being there. Instead, he found a peculiar message carved into the windowsill.
'Seek the old cabin'
Taking one last look outside, Jacob turned to walk back to the kitchen. As he turned, out of the corner of his eye, he could have sworn he saw a tree with long, tentacle like branches among the tall trees of the woods that surrounded his house moving deeper into the wood.
End of Chapter