Kate hid in the corner of her room, scrunched up in the tiny space between her desk and the wall. Sitting in a ball on the floor, clutching her head in her hands, she panted and cried, uttering a strange little prayer to a god who might not have even been there to listen, let alone answer, but in times like this, Kate was desperate enough to try. Panicking, and switching back and forth between prayer, apology, crying, begging and planning, Kate hyperventilated. The night was calm and quiet, the air was still and soft and warm, but all of this beautiful serenity was but a mere mask for the true terror that she knew would come to meet her tonight.

"He's coming. He's coming. He's coming!" she shrilled to herself, convulsing. Already, she could see Him in her mind: a tall, thin humanoid in a simple black suit, eight long tentacles protruding from his back like snakes. Faceless and near-omnipotent. She could see him, towering over even the roof of her mansion. She could hear him, voice whispering and seductive, but tinged with a horror to last across the eons. She could smell the musty, musky aura of death that followed his bony, ethereal specter everywhere he went. She could feel him, drawing ever closer to speak with her, and to bring his pale white face to look into hers. Then, she could taste his name on her tongue as he made his arrival.

"Slenderman!"

"I have been watching you, Kate," he greeted formally. His voice sent chills down Kate's spine and her hyperventilating doubled. Right before she could pass out, however, the air in her bedroom became painfully cold and she felt her heart beat and lungs forcibly slow down. The realization that he was causing this, that he was literally controlling her very bodily behaviors, would've sent her pulse skyrocketing again, had he not been forcefully making it slow back down to a more normal tempo.

"Now, now, Kate," he admonished cruelly. "Come. Listen to me!" and Kate was forced to obey.

"What do you want?" she pleaded weakly, wanting to gasp, but because of Slenderman's powers, her lungs were functioning steadily.

"To speak with you," he replied simply.

"But why?" Kate pleaded, sanity slipping the longer she could feel his presence. At the moment, she could not see him, but she knew full well he could be right there in her bedroom with her. He could warp reality itself, and cause hallucinations. Who was to say he wasn't right there with her, but cloaking himself with the visual hallucination that he wasn't? Kate would never know either way, and it was part of what was driving her mad! He was not a mere bogeyman, but Kate very much wished that he were.

"Feel me, Kate!" Slenderman insisted. "Let me in! Do not deny me any longer! The longer you fight, the longer you suffer. The longer you repress, the slower you die! Do not ignore me any longer, Kate. I am here. Answer my call. You cannot hide from me forever. I will get a response from you some day! Feel me! Just let me in! Acknowledge me now! Make things quicker and easier! Stop trying to hide me!"

"No!" Kate managed to choke out over his seductive plea, clutching her head and whimpering. "No! No! No! Nononononono! NO!"

"It will be so much better if you give in. There is bliss in surrender, in acknowledgement," Slenderman continued calmly, ignoring Kate's petty attempts to keep him out of her mind. The walls to her emotions, to her soul, were just as useless as the walls to her home.

Why wouldn't Kate just submit to him now and make it easier? Why did she insist upon fighting? It was a lost cause! Surely she knew that! What sense was there for her to keep ignoring him? When surrender made so much more sense. It would happen one way or another, so why not now? Why not tonight? Why not just... give in? Go quietly? What did she have to gain in denial, except for more pain and grief? He was trying to make it better for her, trying to be the one and only friend she had in her nightmare. But she wouldn't listen. She was blocking him out. It was because she was afraid. He understood. But this was no excuse. Look what she was making of him. Now, he was a burden she could not bear. Not for much longer, at least. Not at the rate she was going.

"Nononononono," but despite all common sense, Kate continued to resist and rebel. Slenderman only continued to pursue her, insisting...

"I have seen your life," he insisted. "All those sleepless, solitary nights," he hissed out all the 's'es, voice creeping deeper and deeper inside of Kate's very essence. She began to scream, but because she lived alone in that old mansion, there was no one who could hear her.

"You stare into the dark," he taunted her coldly. "Not even able to dream of an escape..." then something flashed through Kate's mind. Even though her eyes were clenched shut, Slenderman had ways of making her see, even through that. He forced the images right into her brain and all she could see was darkness. An empty room, an empty bed. She could hear her own feet, pacing up and down an empty hallway. It was just like he had said: she was not even able to dreamof an escape. At the end of that hallway, another empty room. Another empty bed. Her mother. Dead. Now sleeping six feet under in a cemetery a few miles south. This house was totally empty. Her mother was gone now. All those sleepless and solitary nights...

As Kate felt his voice, still piercing the most vulnerable pieces of her identity, she could only writhe, finally leaping up from her spot in the corner of her room. She tried to run, but it didn't matter how many halls she sprinted through, she was somehow no closer to an escape than she was before she started trying to run. It was a no-end house.

"Didn't I tell you? It is fruitless to try and escape. I'm learning all your tricks! I can hurt you from inside! So just let me in!" Slenderman chided, having not moved an inch during Kate's dash through her house, screaming for the people who were completely unable to help her, whether it was because of time, or space, or the veil that hung between life and death.

Kate finally collapsed in her living room. There was upturned furniture everywhere, half the lights weren't working and the other half flickered on and off, the same way her grip on reality slipped in and out of her control. Psychotic drawings of Slenderman lined the walls, and they all seemed to be speaking to her. While Slenderman waited upstairs in Kate's room, he caused the drawings on the wall to speak to her, a hive-mind of voices, all speaking in one chilling unison. They taunted her, a ceaseless drone of haunting remarks about the futility of life. Especially her own. All the pictures she drew came alive. The stick-shaped trees swayed, and the faceless monster in them all writhed at her, speaking to her. The pages she drew came to life, the pictures upon them moving and shifting, swaying hypnotically. They all surrounded her as she lay in the waste and ruin of her own destruction. She could only stare in complete and utter helpless horror as those countless pictures each taunted her in their own turn.

Slenderman didn't need to move at all. Instead, like a spider, he had crawled into the cracks of Kate's house and Kate's mind, and now he only needed to calmly wait for the fly to realize that her days were numbered. There was nothing that could save her, for his disease, his obsession with her, his Slender Sickness, was fatal and spreading. He was inside the house. He was inside her mind. It was only a matter of time now. And he had cast this brilliant, sadistic web of his so incredibly wide that he had snared the whole sniveling world inside of it. The unlucky lot, such as Kate, were the ones who were going to be devoured by him, but it was all for the best because it left a terror in all of those who were not eaten alive by him. The people would fear the creature who could save or end a life based on where he chose to place his hunting grounds.

It was a brilliant strategy of his. Terrorize the masses and kill a few. It was such a glorious game! But it wasn't the fame that really excited him, nor was it the thrill of the kill. It was just knowing how much terror his name could strike into the hearts of the world. Sometimes, people would pray to him, as if he were some sort of god, or angel of death. He did not consider him to be that sort of mythological creature. He was no religious figure or deity, but he was definitely some sort of ancient and powerful monster. Kate could attest to that for sure!

"Surrender, Kate. Give in. Let us in. Let us in. Feel us. Don't deny us," the pictures scattered across her house all chanted. She was still screaming and crying hysterically, but because there was literally no escape for her, she could only lie there and take it. Finally, Slenderman decided to acknowledge her, even though she would not grant him the same courtesy. Finally exiting her bedroom, and slinking down the stairs, he paused to peer down at her from his place on high. When she saw him, finally making himself visible to her, waiting for her atop the stairs, she began to scream again, beyond hysterics to see his tall and mighty stature looking down at her, lying helpless on the carpets below.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" she screamed, but he only continued his slow decent down the steps, making every step shake the entire house. Then, he reached the landing and stared at Kate. She began to back up frantically. He teleported right behind her, and she bumped right into his long, bony leg. Uttering another shriek, she lunged forward. His response was to teleport in front of her so that she was now on her hands and knees in front of him. Beyond the brink of despair now, Kate only gave a soundless cry as she realized that no matter what direction she tried to go from this point onward, Slenderman would already be there. Waiting. Watching. Just like always.

There was only silence. Silence and motionlessness. Kate, on her hands and knees, barely even moved to breathe. Though she was beyond terrified, such a heavy weight of despair and defeat had settled over her that she was totally still and silent. Towering above her, head touching the ceiling of the living room, was Slenderman. He did nothing and said nothing as he peered down at her, waiting for her to make the next move. For what felt like an eternity, they remained like this, Kate staring at the floor through her burning tears while Slenderman waited for her to respond. He stood there. Towering over her. Watching her. Looking down at her. Waiting. He was right there in front of her. Silent. Motionless. Waiting. Gone.

Without warning, he was gone. Kate looked up. He was gone. There was nothing. All the pictures on the walls were still and silent again, only drawings. They were not moving nor speaking. The trees weren't swaying, the monsters weren't hissing. The night air outside was warm and soft. A sweet and gentle breeze encased the house. Stars twinkled serenely overhead. A half-moon shone by their side. There was no noise. No light. Kate got to her feet, soundless, expressionless, emotionless. Eyes glazed, she moved like a zombie back up to her room. Empty. Quiet. Dark. The window was shut. No one was there. She was all alone. She went to sleep, but not of her own free will. She had sunken onto her bed, still in a haze. She didn't remember closing her eyes. She didn't remember pulling up the blankets. She didn't remember falling asleep.

He was back. Without warning, he was back. Everywhere all at once, he was back. He stood in Kate's living room, looking at all of her many drawings. He was in her bedroom, watching her sleep, their faces inches apart. He could see her breathing. He was outside, staring through her window. He was in the driveway, looking up at the house. He was in the forest, hiding behind the trees. He was on the stairs, looking back and forth between the front door and the upstairs hallway. He was in the hallway, facing her door. He was in her mother's room.

"I will keep quiet," he promised. "You won't even know I'm here. You won't suspect a thing. You won't see me in the mirror. But I crept into your heart, and you can't make me disappear. Not until I make you," he said.

The next morning, Kate woke up. She hardly remembered anything. She woke up still in somewhat of a trance, and walked out of her room and down the stairs. All the lights were working and her furniture was erect again. The drawings still littered her wall. She didn't even notice when some of the figures upon those drawings seemed to follow her as she walked into the kitchen. She also didn't notice the figure staring at her from right outside the living room window. He watched her make breakfast. He watched her leave the house for work. He waited for her to come home. He watched her drive back into her garage. He watched her return to her house. He watched her make dinner. He watched her get ready for bed. She didn't see him closing in, but she could feel him. She could feel his constant presence. He was going to make her suffer, bubbling right underneath her skin, but she had no idea what to do except hide.

"Don't let him in!"

AN: This next chapter of the anthology tries to go the route that says Slender is symbolic of a mental illness. He describes himself as a disease inside of her that is spreading, and she cannot cure it, at least not without help. But that's what she tries to do. Because of a mix of her own internal shame and the fact that no one believes her about the Slenderman, she is forced to fight this battle alone and it doesn't go well for her. Additionally, she tries to hide and ignore it. Instead of acknowledging the issue, she denies it and represses it. She isn't just hiding her issue from the world, she's hiding it from herself too. That doesn't help her cope at all.

Also, disclaimer, I know that mental health problems are so varied that it's nearly impossible to do an umbrella representation of them, but don't see this analogy as an exact "Slender is depression" or "Slender is schizophrenia" fic. I see it more as a "Slender is the concept of mental illness, and all the surrounding connotations". I mostly wanted to hit hard on Kate's sense of isolation, not just because she's physically alone, but because she feels like there's no one left for her to reach out to. For a multitude of reasons, Kate tries to fix things on her own. That seldom works out.

But anyway, that's just another spin on things.

Also, this was inspired off of:

"The Spider's Face" by Emilie Autumn

"The Devil Within" by Digital Daggers

And the scene in Supergirl where the character of Samantha Arias is confronting her evil side: Reign.

Here's a link to the exact video where some of the lines within this fic were pulled: watch?v=feXQ4kz00io