Author's Note: Wow, the story is actually winding down. So the main content is almost done but I think I'm gonna add an epilogue and bonus chapter too. I'm going to try to continue writing and holding some semblance of inspiration as Phantom Menace plays in the background. My housemate is determined to watch every Star Wars movie... no matter how bad. God Anikin has way too much angst. On that note, have some creepypasta!

Also, the next chapter was the one giving me so much trouble. It's finished now!

The puppeteer

The next few weeks at the house passed without great change in Melanie's routine. Within the day her mother had sent her a lengthy, panicked letter that contained everything she knew it would. As the days passed and she kept up correspondence, her parents were no less lonesome, but could at least be comforted by the fact that she seemed to be enjoying herself immensely. Much to their disappointment, she refused to do any studying until her extended leave was over.

She cleaned the train wreck of a house, had deep midnight conversations with the woman in white, played tag with Ben, learned to play darts with Jeff, and even met the infamous split-mouth woman. She had come across Kuchisake Onna on her way upstairs once. The woman was initially closed to conversation until Melanie asked if she knew any interesting urban legends about Japan. The two women sat down in the library for hours sharing stories about everything from Teke Teke to Cow Head. She found out from her that the clawing sounds in the attic belonged to Smile Dog who passed through the house occasionally.

Melanie played video games, gardened, and read for hours on end. But most of all she treasured her time spent with Toby. After a hefty amount of persuasion, the awkward boy finally agreed to learn how to dance with her. The sight of two teens with two sets of left feet trying to learn something as lively as swing brought the rest of the household to their knees with laughter. Eyeless Jack found it amusing enough that he downloaded several dozen tutorial videos in the hopes that they would keep it up. The first few weeks it was indeed a hilarious spectacle as each took turns unintentionally crushing the other's feet. By the end of Melanie's third week at the house, though, they had learned enough moves to impress even the most critical housemates.

Despite the sheer amount of playing that occupied her days Melanie still found herself with extra down time. It was on a particularly slow day early on in her second week at the house that Melanie wound up with an armful of towels, a stereo, CDs, and dusting spray outside the locked door at the end of the hallway.

When she opened it the needle-like threads from before came shooting out at her without a moment's hesitation as she calmly closed the door. They hovered around her in a net without touching her, and yet preventing her escape. "Hello again," she said. The strings still writhed in angry waves.

"Hey, I came back didn't I? Enough with the theatrics," she scolded as she walked forward. The undulating strings parted warily for her, making a path only to the box. "I'm not going to let you out though. You're being more petulant than Ben, I hope you realize that."

The threads receded slightly.

"It's a start," she sighed. "Dunno if you can see out here but it looks pretty bad. Figured I would clean the place for a while. I hope you don't mind 90's indie music, because I think that's all Toby owns. You would think he was a moody teenage girl or something," she muttered as she popped in a CD. A slithering sound told her that the box had returned to its normal state. This was already going better than she had hoped. She got one of those familiar messages sent through her; this time the feeling was simply upset, combined with an image that conveyed too long.

"Yeah, I know it was a while since I first came over here. You're lucky I came back at all! You were being a little shit!"

She received a sense of denial in response.

"Deep down you know you're a brat. Somewhere in there, you know," she said as she turned on one of Toby's albums she had listened to a few days prior. As she walked around the room dusting and humming to herself the angry vibes constantly being sent off from the center of the room lessened until they were only a dull hum in the back of her mind. When Melanie finished she wiped her brow and cursed the summer heat.

"You're lucky. It probably doesn't get hot in there."

No.

"There's not much more for me to do in here. I think I've dusted every surface in this whole room," she said.

The same panicked, enraged feeling from the first visit threatened to rise up again, though the box was still free of needles, let alone strings.

"Yeah, I'm coming back. Maybe I can draw in here. There's a nice window for light. Better than my room, actually."

And so it was that Melanie came to spend at least a small amount of time every day in the deserted room across the house. Everyone but Ben thought it incredibly odd. It was at the close of her third week at the house when she suddenly felt a new presence enter the building. This being was strong, much stronger than Slender's weakened form. Laughing Jack, even from within his cage, immediately sensed this new visitor too and sent her a vibe of curious and confusion with a dash of worried.

"Wonder who it could be..." she pondered aloud. She set her sketchbook and pencil down and stood up. "I'll be back later," she promised. Laughing Jack had since stopped fretting about her departures and only responded with a feeling of disappointment and boredom.

When Melanie arrived downstairs a crowd had gathered at the door behind the slender man. Standing in the doorway was a curious looking figure. He had grey skin similar to EJ, but glowing yellow eyes. It was nearly impossible to tell what age he was, but the man had a youthful face and clothes on the verge of grunge style. Translucent golden threads wove intricate patterns down his arms.

"Slender," he greeted respectfully with an incline of his head.

It's been a long time, he sent as a group message. As the two waded silently through the confused crowd, Melanie assumed they must have been continuing the conversation privately in their heads.

"Who d'you think he was?" Tim asked.

"Beats me," Jeff replied.

No one in the group had heard of the strange visitor until something clicked in Melanie's mind. "The puppeteer," she said. "Slender mentioned earlier that this guy was..."

"That he was what?" Brian asked.

"Well, that he was going to be replacing Slender when he left."

This caused an uproar among those who hadn't caught onto the watchful spirit's plans yet. She and Toby managed to quiet the group long enough to fill in the gaps and explain that even if he wanted to Slender couldn't stick around for much longer. Needless to say none were happy about this new development.

"What I don't get is why he thinks we need someone to look out for us," Tim said. "I mean, we're all pretty immature but it's not like we can't take care of ourselves, right? I can't remember the last time I asked him for anything other than groceries or car repairs. It doesn't make any sense to me why there's so much of an urgency about all this."

Jeff got a quizzical look on his face and he looked up at Melanie. There was something unspoken in the glance that they shared as though a passing of ideas had been made.

"I think something's coming," Melanie said.

"What, you get some kind of vision?" Brian asked sarcastically.

"It's the only thing that makes sense to me. I think something is going to happen when he leaves. Something he doesn't want us to worry about until it's time to cross that bridge."

For the rest of the day the group speculated and worried on and off about the newcomer and the departure of their silent sentinel. No one could find where he or The Puppeteer had gone. Eyeless Jack even scoured the attic. Their presence was still clearly felt, though. Melanie was beginning to think that there were more than a few secret rooms here.

The next few days passed similar to the ones before except for the fact that she did not see the slender man at all for four days. By now she had been at the house for three and a half weeks, though when tested her healing abilities were still well above normal. It was on a breezy day tending to the now vibrant, lush garden that Melanie felt a presence behind her. She sat back on her heels and looked over her shoulder. The suited spirit was lounging in one of the patio chairs behind her. It had the look of one sunbathing lazily, but Melanie could tell something was amiss by how faint its energy was around her.

I'm telling you this because you will understand, and because you need to prepare yourself the most. And because I do not have enough time to address everyone. I won't beat around the bush. There was a terrible miscalculation in my plans.

Melanie frowned and went to sit in the chair opposite Slender, wiping the dirt off her gardening apron.

The puppeteer is powerful but he does not have the same abilities as me. When I leave, those barriers will fall. He will not be able to do anything. Nor will I, from the distance I'll be by then. This means that every shuck dog who's gotten a sniff of your corpse, every victim with a vendetta against Jeff, other spirits that make Laughing Jack seem like a toddler with separation anxiety... victims Toby doesn't even know exist: they will all be free to swarm this place.

"What does that mean for us?" Melanie asked, putting aside for later the sudden knowledge that Toby had in fact lost his memories by some means.

That's up to you to decide. Unfortunately I will be leaving before it is safe for you to go home. The others will have to take care of themselves and find a new way to hold down the fort. Most of them have nowhere to return to except a life of hopping from shadow to shadow. I'm not saying any of you should leave. I only came to warn you to have as many plans in place as you can. Most of them won't stand for more than a day, and it will come to last resorts.

Melanie knew she had to ask the question she didn't want to hear the answer to. "When are you leaving?"

Today. The barrier will last until night falls. I have no idea what will be waiting for you. All I know is that it's just outside as we speak. I wish you luck.

Melanie rose to her feet and bid the strange specter goodbye. It was an odd departure to say the least. There were so many things she still wanted to ask about the house, about everyone. She was still swimming in her own thoughts as she explained to the rest of the house that their protection was ending. She had thought that some of them, at least the more humanesque ones, would rather leave until things settled down. None of them wanted to run. The Rake, the Split-mouth woman, and surprisingly the woman in white did decide to move on. They each had their own reasons, but left all the same.

"So we do what we can then? I guess just be prepared for anything," Toby said.

They spent the rest of the night setting up every manner of traps, alarms, and wards. They did not see the puppeteer except once, as he came out to check in on them. He said nothing at first, but seemed pleased that they were making progress. Melanie watched as he spoke incomprehensible words and sent threads of golden energy into the walls.

"It won't keep out everything, but it should help," was all he said before leaving again. His eyes were sad. It was like he had already seen the future and knew that someone would meet a horrible fate at the end of the night. All were left with the same gut feeling as the day drew to a close and the sun disappeared behind the mountains.