"Are you joining us?" the childish voices, as their hands stroked Mary's bare arms, whispered. Mary shivered, entrapped in the cold, wet grip of the slimy tentacles.
"No!" Mary yelled. "My sister is going to save me!"
"Who's your sister? Is she joining us?"
"She's Abby, and she's playing with the Slender Man," Mary yelled. "If she wins Abby and I are going home."
The voices whispered something incoherent, and all that could be heard echoing around the dark chamber was the whispers of the Lost Ones.
And a part of Mary's sanity broke off and flew away.
Roger frowned as he drove down the driveway to his house. Arthur was kneeling in the grass, laughing.
'Why is he laughing?' Roger questioned internally. 'In the dark?'
And then his wife, Amelia stumbled around the corner of the house, clearly distraught.
Roger stopped the car, a wave of concern and fear washing over him.
"Amelia!" he called, running to her.
"P-p-percy's dead," Amelia sobbed.
"What?" Roger said, stopping mid-stride.
"Dead. He killed himself!"
Amelia flung herself into her husbands arms, almost bowling him over.
"Where are Mary and Abby? What's wrong with Arthur?"
"Mary and Abby are gone," Amelia whispered.
"Where? Gone where? Did you take them to Mum?!" Anyone could hear the desperation in Roger's strained voice. He wished for that to be all, for them to be with their Gran.
"I don't know, they've disappeared," Amelia cried.
"He's taken them," Arthur sang, finally getting off his knees. He skipped over to his parents, a wide grin plastered on his face, terrifying Roger and Amelia.
"Who?" Roger demanded, disentangling himself from his wife, and towered over his obviously crazy son.
"The Slender Man," Arthur sang. Arthur took a step towards his mother, and in terrified silence she stood there, motionless. He put his hands on her arms, and almost seemed like a comforting son for a moment.
Until he opened his mouth.
"This, is all your fault. If you hadn't have fallen asleep, none of this would have happened. It is your fault. If you hadn't have fallen asleep, Mary and Abby would be right here, right now," he whispered menacingly, still smiling, but there was something wild and desperate in his eyes, trying to communicate with his mother. "If you hadn't have fallen asleep, Percy -" his voice suddenly took on a strained, almost broken tone, "Percy would still be alive. If you hadn't have fallen asleep, I-" his voice cracked as he whispered this last sentence, stumbling over his own words, "If you hadn't have fallen asleep, I would still be sane. I would not be crazy. This, all this, is your fault."
During this, Arthur's nails had dug into his mother's arms, leaving small pin pricks of blood beginning to well up.
"That's enough, boy!" Roger yelled, pulling his son off of his wife, punching him in the jaw.
Roger felt momentary guilt, but then, as cold realisation dawned on him, this was not his son.
This was a maniacal monster.
Arthur stared up at Roger in shock. And then, as the blood began to flow down his face, he laughed.
His laugh pierced the still air, sending shivers down Roger and Amelia's spines.
Leon waved to his friends, now driving off.
They had been nice enough to drop him off at the end of the driveway, so all now he had to do was walk down the long dirt road to his. His mum would probably scold him for coming home so late, and his dad would probably grunt when he saw him, Leon reckoned.
Leon got angry just thinking about his father.
Why couldn't the old bastard just see that he wasn't going to be a man in the sense his Dad wanted him to be?
Leon took his anger out on a rock, kicking it angrily down the path.
He heard laughter as he approached the house.
Leon looked up, and frowned.
The house was dark, which was unusual. No lights were on. His Dad's ute was stalling on the side of the path, the lights still on.
"Mum? Dad?" Leon called out, seeing what looked like two people hugging and supporting one another.
"Leon!" his mother screeched, flying at him. She hugged him, and he could feel her sobbing into his chest.
"My baby, my only baby left," she whispered, stroking his hair, his cheek.
"What's going on?" Leon asked, when he saw his dad's tear-stained face. "Why's Percy laughing?"
"Arthur," Arthur corrected on the grass, grinning like a fool.
"P-p-percy," Amelia sobbed.
"What's happening?" Leon demanded.
"Percy's dead," Roger said solemnly.
"What?!" Leon yelled, stepping back, shaking his head.
"Percy shot himself," Roger said.
"Not Percy, the Slender Man," Arthur sang.
"Where's Mary?" Leon demanded. Mary was his favourite. His baby sister. "And Abby?"
"Gone," Amelia sobbed.
"Gone where?"
"They're missing."
"Have you called the police?" Leon asked, barely restraining the fear and anger.
"Just before you got here," Roger whispered. His tough façade that he had built up ever since he was a boy was crumbling, falling.
"How could this happen?" Leon asked.
"It's all her fault," Arthur said, pointing to his mother.
"What's wrong with Arthur?"
"He's not Arthur anymore. He's -" Roger started.
"He's still Arthur!" Amelia interrupted.
"Just insane," Arthur said in a sing-song voice.
"How did this happen?" Leon whispered.
"I fell asleep. When I woke up, Abby and Mary had disappeared, Arthur was like this and Percy was d-d-dead," Amelia wailed.
"No. Percy can't be dead."
"He is. He's in the shed."
Leon broke away from his mother, despite her pleas for him not to look, not to subject him to that, and ran to the shed.
He froze when he saw his brother's fallen body. Leon fell to his knees next to his little brother, next to what remained of Percy. The shed smelt of dried blood, slightly rank flesh, and piss.
"No," he whispered, placing his hand over his brother's still heart, checking for a pulse, even though he knew he wouldn't find one. He just had to look at his brother's head for confirmation. Confirmation that he would never be waking up.
His brother's body was cold to the touch and firm.
"Percy," Leon whispered, his voice cracking.
His broken voice filled the shed, despite being ever so quiet.
"Percy."