Chapter 4 - Dead Leads

"They call him Slenderman, The Operator, The White King, The Tall Man. Or my personal favorite... Tall Faceless Fuck. Raven, you aren't the first he has been after."

Raven knew she was dreaming, it seems as though Krueger was already waiting. She let her eyes focus on him. Not standing up quite yet, she felt the pain of the stab moments before. Just the events in general were taking quite the toll on her. This meant physically as well as mentally.

Freddy had crouched down beside her. "Don't bother on getting up. Look, I have been doing the research for a while. These fuckers took my job, simply put. Well..." He gave thought to his words. "Much like I took theirs... Still-"

"Freddy, Freddy... Look, I get the point. I am more than willing to fight this now."

"I can tell you what I know Raven. They will only affect you as much as you let them. I know it's hard, but you need to let go."

"You... are contradicting yourself. Again." Raven moaned as she sat up. "You want to have me cut off everything, yet you want me to gather names of my friends who have died...?"

"While you're with me, there isn't anything to worry about. Remember that." Freddy was reminding her. "The stronger you make me, the more I can help you. You need to turn away from them."

"This is a waste of my time!" Raven yelled. "My life is an endless nightmare and ever since I dreamed about you, it hasn't gotten any better. So what, you want me to think of you more when I KNOW what you will do?"

"I want every bit of them gone as you do."

"Sure you do." Raven was now willing enough to stand on her own. "Then after a while you will get bored and start killing people LIKE ME in their sleep!"

"I shall not tell a lie. I do like doing my job, but these bastards took it."

"The deal is off Krueger! I would rather be killed by them than by you!"

"Raven-"

"I just can't believe how much-"

"Raven, the ONLY thing that IS keeping you alive right now is me!" Freddy rose his voice at an unexpected turn.

"That stab wound they gave you, look..." Freddy sliced her shirt. He was right.

The wound had made its way further than she thought. The stab wound was in her gut, pretty deep. There was a moment realization. "Wait..."

Voices surrounded her. "Is there by any chance that she can live from this?"

"How long? Is she going to be all right?"

Raven had teared up, blocking out the voices and covering her torn shirt over her body. Freddy had sighed, allowing her to calm down. Collapsing her rubber felt legs, she didn't know if this was all just an illusion at this point. What part of reality was she willing to accept?

Freddy shrugged. "Well I'm glad we can come to an agreement."

"Agreement? What Agreement?" Raven demanded.

"I have.. a confession to make Raven. Your friend Linda had lived in Springwood and when I found leads and you..."

"You decided to have me dream about you?"

"My first encounter was before this all started. You know this."

"... Yeah..."

"It's enough that you were having problems at home."

"Wait... wait... you know about that?"

"You have fears that need to be looked into." Freddy laughed. "I slowly made my way into your life. Nothing else."

"Nothing else?" Raven laughed at him. "You are hunting Slenderman!"

"Does it make you any different? You only found the body of Linda."

"... Yeah, but it was then that I started research. It's enough that Linda talked about you and you were real. How else will anyone one believe me?"

"They will." Freddy responded. "Before I let you go though, there is something you must understand."

"What do you want to tell me? That you will continue giving me nightmares?"

Freddy chuckled. "I have your soul already my dear."

"How? I didn't do anything!" Raven protested.

"Yes you did. You called for me to save you, remember. One time deal. You owe me now."

Raven felt ill, she fell back, still clutching her torn shirt. "How.. am I going to live?"

"Simple. You help me help you."

"Not buying into this."

"Fine, then die for all I care."

"You do care though."

"Who says I do?"

"When you got involved with me!"

Freddy continued to laugh. "Never said I cared."'

Raven shook her head. "I can prove you wrong."

"I would like to see you try." Freddy echoed in the back of her head.

"You will change, believe me."

Raven was snapped out of the dream. She found herself laying where they had stabbed her. I thought I was in the hospital.. Getting to her feet painfully, she saw that the stab wound she received was gone. This.. was all in my head. What is going on..?

They tried getting to you again. It was Freddy.

Raven looked down, now seeing her shirt was torn. A more than embarrassing moment as she tried searching for a spare hoodie, a shirt, anything. She found a sweatshirt, old and kept in her bag, but she would never been able to explain any of this to the family. Slipping on the sweatshirt, there was a piece of paper that fell out.

Looking at the paper, it had Linda's name on it. This included Raven's own. Even Julie and Kelly. Her eyes widened. There were five more people on this list. There was a shadow of a mark on the other side of the paper. Turning it around, she found a circle and and x. Freaking out, the paper floated to the ground.

Inside the circle was Raven's name. Looking at the sweatshirt that was put on, she remembered it was Linda's. She smelled the left over perfume. It was the common scent Linda used to love. The color of the sweatshirt didn't lose it's pinkish flourish it often showed in its design.

Breaking her thoughts and looking to the now evening sun settling into the sky. Everything started at where dead leads the police never wanted to speak up on. Raven knew she had to head back to where it all started. The forest where Linda died from that "thing" mangling her.

This changed course. Not heading home, Raven stuffed the paper into her backpack, running to where she should last be in this moment. In order to bring this all down though, Raven knew what had to be done and that meant going back to the scene of the crime. Making sure Linda got her death cleared and a connection to the cult followers and Slenderman.

At it hit sundown by the time of her arrival. Raven glanced around. It was enough to have the feeling of being followed, but now looking back into her memories...

Ok... I can do this... Her thoughts tried to convince her.

Running into the woods to face her fear, Linda was the only thing on her mind. How much information would she get from here? It was, to Raven, an obvious dead end. Shaking her head, she found herself spinning around. Something stopped her, now seeing the black hooded man right up ahead.

"Hey!" She cried out, not seeing herself getting deeper into the forest.

The hooded man found himself soon disappearing into the trees. Raven was trying to get her breath as soon as she had her adrenaline. Walking to where the follower disappeared, there was the symbol she found once again. The circle and x etched into the tree was more than enough.

Feeling the symbol and leaning up against it, Raven knew it was a sign. What she also knew is that it was near as to where Linda had died. If all this had to start where the dead end began, this would only mean Linda was only a piece to the puzzle. This concerned Raven. Knowing this and her friends, was there a way to stop all this?