Anne regulated her breathing as much and quietly as possible as she leaned against her bedroom door, listening to the Rake's movements. She placed a hand over the heart which was beating quickly with the adrenaline. Rake kept scratching his bloody claws across the wooden floor and she closed her eyes, clutching Alice and her notebook with her other arm. She shivered. She was so scared. Tears brimmed her eyes and she remembered that night over a year ago.


What was happening? Anne stumbled as she found herself in the middle of forest, shaking her head and looking around. How did she even get here?

"Hey, are you alright?"

Anne looked up at the young man who was next to her, his hand on her shoulder.

"Where am I?" she whispered as tears brimmed her eyes "How did I get here? What's going on?"

The last thing she remembered was being in her bedroom, writing but how did she get all the way out into the forest in the night. The young man smiled and hugged her.

"It's alright, I think we're safe," he sat her down on the cool grass.

He held her hand comfortingly and her eyes wandered down to the gun that was on the floor.

"What happened?" she asked with wide eyes.

"It's alright, I think it's dead now," the young man assured her "We're free."

"Free? What's dead? I…"

"I'm here now, I'm going to look after you, I promise."

Anne was conscious when she looked up and smiled up at the young man. And without her control, her mouth moved.

"Thank you. You're my hero."

Everything blacked out when she leaned up, wrapped her arms around the boy and kissed him.


Anne woke up in her bedroom covered in blood. She let out a terrified scream as she felt paralysed, staring at the blood soaking her arms and staining her dress. Tears collected in her eyes as she sensed someone coming in. She looked up and saw Slenderman, shaking with fear.

"What happened?" she asked as he cupped her cheek "Why am I covered in blood? What's going on?"

"Ssh…ssh…"

Slenderman took her to the bathroom where he ran her a hot bath. The generator worked fine, even in the cold harshness of the winter in the mountains. Slenderman held Anne's dress and let Kate take it to wash it. Anne sat still in the bathtub, not noticing Slenderman's hands wander over her naked body to wash the blood off. She shook and sniffed up her tears.

"What happened?" she asked again.

"You helped me."

"Helped you with what?"

"You helped me with a little problem."

"Little problem? What little problem? What happened to that boy from earlier?"

There was an eerie silence and Anne snapped her head up to Slenderman.

"What happened to him?" she said a little louder.

Again with the eerie silence and Anne's eyes widened.

"I…I killed him didn't I?"

Slenderman smirked and Anne shrunk away from his touch.

"No…no, I couldn't have…I can't have…I can't even bring myself to harm a butterfly, how could I have killed him?!"

"Anne, calm down."

Slenderman crouched and cupped her cheek.

"It's alright. He wasn't important. He had to die."

"But killing is wrong!"

"Killing is necessary to survive."

"But how could I have killed him?"

The smirk grew wider as the other hand cupped Anne's other cheek.

"My Anne. My little unblemished one."

"Unblemished…?"

Anne tried to shrink away but Slenderman kept her still. Anne shook.

"What do you mean by…unblemished?" she asked carefully.

There was a soft chuckle.

"You're more human that the others."


Anne shook away his words and hunched her shoulders. More human. What did he mean by that? Anne was a human, right? And what did he mean by others? Other what? Anne asked all these questions but only got riddles. She was unblemished, she was more human, she was special, she was his little Anne. It sent shivers up her spine. And Anne remembered something. He often targeted people who were in the forest and then targeted the people that were linked to them. Anne realised that her family was in danger and she had to warn them. But how? She is guarded by Rake, Kate and Margret. Slenderman said they were there to protect her. Anne felt like they were there to keep her here. She was like a little songbird that was only brought out of its cage to sing.

Anne straightened when she heard Rake growl and stand. She tiptoed to the cracked window and peered through the night. There was a figure approaching the cabin, exhausted and worn out. They opened the door but then ran off as Rake, Margret and Kate began chasing them. Anne ducked out of view as Slenderman appeared at the front of the cabin and watched the chase. Anne waited silently to be summoned but when she saw Slenderman disappear and not come up to her room, she thanked God. They were after a girl this time. Anne was only used for the boys. This was her chance! She probably only had eight minutes to get down to her family and give them the message.

Anne placed Alice by the bed where it looked like there was someone sleeping and carefully opened the bedroom door. Seeing the coast was clear, she carefully tiptoed down to the ground floor. Seeing the metal door open and no Kate or Margret in sight, Anne carefully tiptoed to the front door and opened it. After she confirmed that everyone was in the forest, chasing the poor girl, she ran for it. She cut down slopes and cut straight across the forest. Anne knew roughly the route she was taking, it was a risk to cut through the forest during a chase but it would take longer to go around. Anne prayed to God that she would be able to get to the house to deliver the message.

Anne never noticed any pain as she ran through the night. She decided it was the adrenaline keeping her running. Soon she was in the familiar surroundings of the park and didn't turn back as she made her way to the house. She leapfrogged over the back gate and prayed to God that her family were still in this house then shoved the journal through the letter box. With a soft smile and relief, Anne paused for a brief moment to lean against the door and regain her breath. She softly pressed a kiss onto the door and let a couple of tears run.

"God bless you, Father, Mother and Jack," she wept quietly "I love you and I'm sure Margret loves you too. I'm so happy that I'm here one last time."

She felt choked up, her voice broke and she pushed herself away from the door to run back to the cabin before anyone noticed that she was missing. The tears fell and landed on the forest floor as she ran for her and her family's life. She blindly ran through the dark, avoiding branches and roots that blocked her path. She staggered up the mountain pathways as soon as she came out and panted for breath, feeling slow and pretty pathetic as she ran up the slope. But as soon as she turned the corner, Slenderman was there, angry and his tentacles waving in the air angrily. Anne screamed and fell over, cowering in his shadow.

"What are you doing out here?" Slenderman growled and Anne squirmed, wishing she would sink into the ground and disappear "Answer me!"

"I…I…" Anne hiccupped as she shivered.

"I have been looking after you since I found you, abandoned and nowhere to go!" Slenderman growled and hissed "I protect you from the world and you repay me by breaking my rules!"

Anne shivered and closed her eyes. She knew that she hadn't been abandoned but held onto the memories she recovered silently, making sure Slenderman wouldn't notice. If he found out that she knew she had been Annabelle Valentine-Lockhart before, he might kill her or perhaps erase her memories for good. Opening her eyes, Anne got onto her hands and knees.

"I'm sorry," she croaked and crawled towards him "I'm sorry, please forgive me, I just…saw the chase and I wanted to help, please, please forgive me…"

Slenderman watched as she carefully hugged his legs and cried pitifully, begging for forgiveness. After her ramblings just turned into sobs, he smirked and ordered her to stand. As she did, she looked up at him and he cupped her cheek.

"Hush, my unblemished one," he cooed "I forgive you."

Anne sighed in relief as he picked her up, like a father picking up his young daughter.

"But there are consequences to your actions."

Anne's eyes widened as he sunk three fingers into the skin of her back and ripped three nasty gashes across her back. She screamed and cried, holding onto him for comfort as blood dripped onto the ground and sobbed loudly. The gashes healed up but Slenderman's touch in her system burned her body and began stinging like multiple jellyfish had stung her in the same place. She screamed and sobbed as he petted her with his bloodied hand.

"Naughty girls must be punished."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" Anne cried into his shoulder.

Slenderman smirked as he carried Anne up the mountain and took the cabin where she could lie down and wait out the pain. As she cried, he stroked her cheek, admiring her submission and her pain. She looked up at him in fear and he smirked. That fear would soon register as respect in the poor girl's mind. She will respect him and eventually come to love him. Slenderman knew she wasn't completely in his control yet. But one day, she won't have to rely on him to know when to hunt or not. She won't make any more attempts to defy him but still have a conscious working mind. One day, she will be the perfect unblemished proxy. She just needed more training.