Chapter 3

Faith

When I opened my eyes again, I was in a brightly lit operating room, like one you'd see in a very small hospital. Looking around, I saw a tall, teenage boy who looked a year younger than me. He had a black hoodie and blue jeans on, and a blue mask. The eyes in the mask revealed deep, black sockets occasionally dripping a thick, tar-like substance. He was putting a pair of surgical scissors back on a table beside him when he looked up at me.

"Oh, hey," he said proudly, straightening. "You're finally awake."

I immediately began to struggle, and the boy held me back, muttering calm assurances to me. "Hey, relax. It's okay. Hold on, I didn't hurt you, I swear."

When I finally stopped struggling, he spoke again. "Check out your leg."

I looked down. I had been training with Godfather the week before and had gotten my leg cut deeply. Dr. Smiley had clumsily stitched me up, and we had to drain it every day, due to infections in the wound. I expected to see it worse than ever, but it looked…clean. The stitching was fixed and it didn't look all nasty. In fact, the scar appeared to be disappearing.

"Woah," I breathed, reaching down and stroking the scar. No pain.

"Yeah, it looked awful when I started. All infected and gross. The scar should go away in a week."

Then I remembered. I wasn't at home. "Where am I?" I asked, snapping my head up to look at the stranger.

"Oh, I forgot. You still don't remember, do you?" The stranger's body language told me that he was upset and confused at the same time. I couldn't blame him.

I shook my head. "Remember what?" I asked.

Before the boy could speak, a voice boomed over a loud speaker. "Eyeless Jack, please come down to breakfast," it boomed calmly.

"Oh, that's Slender," the boy said, answering the obvious question on my face. "Come on, let's go get food."

He stood up and walked to a cabinet. When he opened it, I noticed he had a small freezer full of…kidneys in it. Confused, I stared at the boy for a long time. Something flashed through my mind. A boy of about eight sitting next to me, eating something that looked like a weird kind of meat. He laughed at me, and reached over, poking me in the arm. I remembered playing in a backyard, chasing him, laughing, playing without a care in the world.

Suspicious of Eyeless Jack still, I carefully and slowly picked up a scalpel off the table next to me. He motioned for me to follow him, and stopped me in front of the door.

"Alright, give it here," he murmured warningly.

Scowling, I put the scalpel into his hand. How he knew I had it in the first place I will never know. He must have heard me pick it up somehow, or maybe smelled the metal. When one is blind, their other senses are heightened, so both were possibilities.

He put the scalpel on the table and then led me down a set of stairs toward a dining room. I remembered it from when I first arrived here, but I felt more comfortable now. As if I belonged here. The memory of the boy sitting next to me returned, along with other ones.

Looking around at the people in the dining room, I recognized a few from files I had studied. There was one with jet black hair and a white hoodie with jeans. He had a distinct, carved-in, wide smile across his face. Jeffery Woods, or as most of you may know him as, Jeff the Killer.

There were three boys sitting down. One had an orange hoodie and a ski mask with a red mouth cut out of it. The boy sitting next to him looked like his twin, and had a yellow jacket, chestnut brown hair and a white mask. The third had a blue jacket and orange goggles. The twins looked to be sixteen, and the one in the blue looked about seventeen. I recognized them immediately. Hoodie, Masky and Ticci Toby. They were proxies of the Slenderman.

There were two girls to my left. One was dressed all in black, and I knew her as Jane Everlasting. She was Jeff's mortal enemy. So why was she in the same room with him?

The other girl had a green jacket, which brought out her bright green eye. I say "eye" because the other socket had a small clock in it. She also had stitches running up her lips in a wide smile that looked cleaner, nicer than Jeff's. Clockwork, I thought instantly.

As I looked around, I picked out Ben, Laughing Jack, and a couple of "ponypastas". Pinkamena Diane Pie, and Slaughtershy. There was a little girl there too. She looked about eight years old. She wasn't eating or talking. She was drawing a picture, humming happily. I didn't know who she was. I sat next to her and looked at what she was drawing. Maybe I could start a conversation with her, and figure out her name.

The drawing showed a tall, faceless man holding the hand of a little girl. I assumed the little girl in the drawing was her. They were standing in front of a big house, and I could only assume that that was this mansion.

"Who's that?" I asked, pointing to the little girl in the drawing and pretending that I had no idea.

"That's me," the little girl replied, smiling at me.

"And what's your name?"

"Sally," she replied. "What's yours?"

"Faith," I replied.

"What a pretty name!" Sally said happily.

I nodded. "And who is that?" I asked, pointing to the tall, faceless man.

The little girl looked over my shoulder and grinned broadly. "Daddy Slender!" she cried. Sally jumped off of her chair and ran towards the dining room entrance. I turned and saw him. The Slenderman. When Sally said his name, everyone else turned and said good morning to him. Most were smiling as they said it, others still sounded tired.

"Sally!" I heard him cry as he picked the little girl up in his long, thin arms, hugging her tightly. "Did you sleep well, little one?"

"Uh-huh!" Sally giggled. "Look at her. That's Faith."

The Slenderman looked in my direction, then locked eyes with me. "Faith, huh?" His voice projected into not only Sally's, but mine too. I felt as though his words were penetrating all the minds of those in the room with me.

"What's wrong?" Sally asked.

"Nothing, sweetheart," he said lovingly. "Have you eaten yet?"

"Yeah," Ben piped in. "I gave her a few waffles before Toby took all of them."

"Thank you," Slender answered. Then he set Sally down and walked to the kitchen.

I saw something sharp move out of the corner of my eye, and turned my head to see a knife sitting right in front of me. I looked from the knife to the retreating Slenderman, then back to the knife. I smiled. This is just too easy, I thought. I slowly got out of my seat, then swiftly took the knife and lunged at the tall, thin, faceless man.

I raised the knife to stab him in the back, and heard a voice cry, "SLENDER, LOOK OUT!"

Suddenly, my wrist felt like it had been slammed against a brick wall.

Pain shot up my arm and I almost cried out. The Slenderman held my wrist tightly, almost effortlessly in his thin and bony hands, his slender fingers squeezing it to keep the tip of the knife from piercing his perfect black suit. He radiated warning, with a slight tinge of anger and hurt.

I strained as hard as I could, trying to thrust the knife into him, murder in my eyes, but he squeezed tighter.

I heard footsteps behind me, quiet ones, as if the person behind me was trying to snag me by surprise. I waited until they got close enough, then jumped up, grabbed Slenderman's shoulder with my free hand, and kicked backwards. My foot connected, and I heard a cry of pain and surprise, then someone slumped to the floor. I wrenched my wrist from Slenderman's grip and turned so I was facing all of my kidnappers. The one I had kicked was Masky. He was holding his forehead in pain, but his mask looked to still be intact. Not a scratch. The others looked at me in wonder, and Sally ran to the Slenderman. He hid her protectively behind his legs, and Sally looked at me in horror. Hoodie ran to his brother, and Jeff was glaring at me.

"What the hell is going on?" I screamed. "What's do you guys want?!"

The Slenderman walked forward and placed a hand on my shoulder. I turned the knife to slice his wrist, hopefully severing the hand, but he blocked it, knocking the knife away. It clattered to the floor and Jeff reached to pick it up.

"You still don't remember, do you?" The featureless man asked softly.

"Remember what?" I snapped.

He sighed, shook his head, and hugged me. He wrapped his arms around me, and it felt…nice. It was warm and comfortable, and he was gentle and kind. I felt myself relax, and I leaned on him so I wouldn't fall.

Calmly stroking my hair, the Slenderman continued. "Us, my child. You don't remember all of us. The true story. Do you remember me...Faith?"

I was about to ask what he was talking about, but Laughing Jack chimed in before I could speak.

"Zalgo isn't your godfather," he said. "Slender is. He always has been. Zalgo kidnapped you when your parents died. They wiped your wonderful, fun memories of us away, replacing them with nightmarish, horrific memories of torture and fear. He trained you to hate us. He wanted you all to himself, so he could use you to kill all of us."

I was shocked. "You're…you're lying."

Laughing Jack shook his head. "No, I'm not. I was there when your mom called him and told him the good news. Slender looked so happy. The little girl he'd come to know and love was his own goddaughter. So technically, you're my god-sister, or something like that. Anyway, Zalgo was mad, so he killed your parents and brother before kidnapping and brainwashing you into thinking that we were the bad guys."

"No…n-no. That's not true. Godfather wouldn't hurt me or my family. You're all liars!" I started to kick and struggle against the Slenderman's embrace. He held me tighter, and that static in my head from before came back. I sagged and my eyes teared up.

"Calm yourself, Faith Underwood," Slenderman said sternly. He let me go and knelt down in front of me, brushing a strand of hair from my face. "Think hard. Try to remember when you were young."

"I…I…" I tried really hard to remember anything from my childhood, but I only saw darkness, torture, and tears.

"Try harder," Slenderman said softly. "Think hard. What happened to you after the death of your family?"

I thought harder. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate. I could feel the others staring at me in hope, confusion, and fear.

"I remember…" I started. "I remember hearing a boy calling my name."

I heard someone cry out for joy. "She remembers me!" the voice said shakily. I opened my eyes to see Hoodie holding his brother Masky. "You remember!"

I forced a smile to make him feel better, then turned back to Slenderman. "I remember being rushed out, and screaming for help." I stopped myself. I didn't remember that before.

"What else?" Slenderman asked, not taking his hands off my shoulders.

"Um…I remember…a dark room, being scared, calling for my mother, then…" I gasped and fell back. "A needle! I remember a needle! I remember Zalgo, he was holding the needle! He did this to me! Oh, God! He kidnapped me and did this to me!"

Slenderman took me in his arms. I didn't realize I was crying until Laughing Jack handed me a tissue. I took it and dried my eyes.

"It's okay," Jeff said as softly as he could manage. "You're safe now. That bastard can't hurt you anymore. Not as long as we're here."

Sally walked over to me shyly, and put a hand on my back. I closed my eyes as memories suddenly flooded my head. The photos I saw in the House of Mirrors became movies, playing through my head as though they had only happened yesterday.

I heard someone clear their throat. My eyes opened to see Hoodie standing there, holding a little Raggedy Ann doll. I stood up and took the doll. I stared at her smiling face for a while, remembering the first time I looked at it. My ninth birthday party, I thought.

Tears fell faster down my cheeks, and I held the doll close to my chest, sobbing like a child. Hoodie hugged me tightly.

"You remember?" he asked. When I nodded, he continued. "When you first saw it on TV, I knew you'd love it if you got it as a present. It was the perfect gift. After you disappeared, I kept it. I never let anyone touch it. I looked at that doll every day, hoping someday you'd come back."

"Thank you," I choked out, then turned back to Slenderman. "I…I'm home."

Sally ran forth and jumped into my arms. I embraced her and looked around at all my old and new friends. They all smiled at me, or their body language portrayed happiness. I shook hands with and hugged the people I haven't met yet, and said my hellos to my old friends. Eyeless Jack, Hoodie, Masky, and Ben hugged me and told me how great it was to have me back. Laughing Jack wrapped me in his long arms and tickled me, telling me he was "punishing me for scaring him". I tried to fight him, then Toby joined in and I was helpless.

But I let them. I didn't care. I was back with the people who really cared about me. I was safe. I was happy. I was home.