This short story was written for one of my classes back in November of 2017.
The prompt was to take a quote and incorporate it into any story we wanted.
The quote I got was "Flipping fear into curiosity is a gift" ~Cory Richards.
I had minimal use for it while writing this, but it's in there.
This is just meant to experiment with an idea I had about two characters from my Slender series meeting up.
For clarity's sake, I'll say that this is supposed to take place at some point during "In Noctem".
However, as of now, this is NOT CANNON.
He awoke to the sound of dripping water and loud, echoing footsteps. Strange frequencies hit his ears, and the air was stale and dead. The man laying on the ground opened his eyes, taking a few minutes to let them adjust to the darkness. He was in some sort of maze… possibly an underground one. Black moss and luminescent vines grew on the cracked stone walls. He picked himself up off the ground, already terrified beyond belief. "Oh god… what the hell is this? Where am I?" the man asked aloud. There was no response, only the unnerving sound of echoing footsteps… and they were growing closer. Now panicking, he took off running in the opposite direction, tripping over vines as he stumbled through the darkness. However, the footsteps picked up their pace, turning into a full-on sprint.
"Stop running!" a deep, demonic voice commanded. The terrified man silently cursed to himself and ran faster, looking back once, only to see two white orbs floating in the darkness. "I SAID STOP!" the voice roared. The man stopped in his tracks as a dark figure manifested in front of him, blocking the path. It was humanoid in appearance, but its form was pitch black and volatile. Its unstable body was smokey, and its eyes were glowing white orbs that emitted bright white vapor. Rows of razor sharp teeth lined its mouth, and its hands were little more than wicked claws. The man picked himself up off the ground and sprinted off in the other direction, but with a flash of the creature's eyes a rusted, black, metal fence rose from the ground and shot up into the dark void of a ceiling. Defeated, the man slumped to the ground. "This place is bad enough for you humans as it is, so I wouldn't exert myself if I were you."
"If you're going to kill me, then just fucking do it," the man snapped. "I know what you are… you're the Nightmare. After all those people you murdered, what's one more body to you?"
The Nightmare cackled before responding. "First of all, referring to the scumbags I killed as 'people' is being pretty goddamn generous. Second, if I wanted you dead, we wouldn't be having this conversation."
"You're a monster," the man spat.
"And you're stuck with me, so cut it out with the whole 'I'm better than you because I haven't killed' attitude. It'll make this easier for both of us."
The man glared at the smirking being in front of him before responding. "If you're not going to kill me then why am I even here?"
"Well, that's the question of the day, isn't it… The thing is, I was asked by a mutual ally to bring you here and 'enlighten' you with some important information."
"I have a feeling I know who that ally is," he responded.
"Trust your gut, you're probably right," NIghtmare said with a grin. "Anyway, you're probably already feeling the effect that this maze has on you humans, so we should probably get out of here," it said, extending a hand to him. As it did, the darkness around it receded, revealing a human hand. "The shadow form's touch is harmful to most living beings," it explained, as the man took its hand and got back up on his feet.
"What… are you exactly?" he asked.
"Well would you look at that, we've flipped your fear into curiosity. That's a gift, you know," Nightmare said, turning to walk through the maze. "Follow me, Noah, I know the way."
