It was the end of the day at Berk. The white clouds blotted out the sun, keeping the island from feeling the warm orange rays.
Hiccup was hammering away at a sword when he felt like someone was staring at him. He looked up. There was no one at the window or in the street for that matter. He brushed it off and dipped the sword into cold water to cool it.
He tossed it into a pile of weapons ready to be picked up by their owners and closed up the shop. As he closed the window from the outside, he felt eyes boring into the back of his head. Glancing back, he found a still empty street. Where was everyone?
Shoving his hands into his pockets, Hiccup started for home. His eyes darted around, searching for anyone. He was so focused on looking for someone he didn't hear a certain blonde haired beauty sneak up on him.
"Hey Hiccup!" Astrid hit him on the back. Hiccup nearly jumped out of his skin. "How's it going?"
"F-fine." Hiccup managed to say, trying to still his pounding heart.
"Are you sure?" Astrid took his hand in hers. That sent a jolt to his already racing heart.
Hiccup couldn't help but smile as he thought, 'So we're at that stage now'
"Yeah," He scratched the back of his head. "It's just that I feel like someone is staring at me and I haven't seen anyone other than you for a little while."
"Really?" Astrid looked behind him. "Oh Thor." Her face suddenly became as white as snow. "H-Hiccup, look behind you." Hiccup's mind suddenly ran through a thousand scenarios at once. Was it a dragon eating a person? Did raiders sneaking into the village? Was Toothless trying to rape Tuffnut again?
Hiccup slowly turned around, prepared for the worse, to find nothing. There was a cackle of laughter behind him.
"You should have seen your face!" Astrid managed to gasp in between laughs.
"Shut up." Hiccup said irritably. He turned and began walking away. Astrid immediately stopped laughing and ran up to him.
"Hey, I'm sorry." She threw her arms over his shoulders. "I'm sorry for scaring you." Astrid muttered into his shoulder. "I didn't mean to make you mad." Slowly, his arms snaked around her waist. He laid his chin on her shoulder. His eyes remained open and stared out. He could see the edge of the forest from here. He stared into the foliage as he held Astrid. And then he saw it.
At the edge of the forest stood something. It was tall, like a tree, but very narrow. It seemed to be as thin as himself. It looked to be completely black except for a section of white at the top. Any features were obscured by the distance.
He blinked. He expected to see the figure standing there, but did not. It was a young tree. A gap in the leaves behind it formed a white oval just above it. He was just seeing things.
"Hiccup? You can let go now." Astrid said awkwardly. Hiccup suddenly realized he was still holding her. His arms were quickly at his sides.
"Sorry, got lost in my thoughts." He smiled sheepishly.
"Right. Look I gotta go, catch ya later?" She offered.
"Yeah, definitely." Astrid punched him playfully on the arm.
"That's for hugging me for too long." She leaned in and pecked him on the lips. The girl turned and began walking away like nothing happened.
"What was that for?"
"Nothing, I just felt like it!" Hiccup couldn't help but smile at her retreating figure. He had to be the luckiest guy on the planet.
A few minutes later, Hiccup was ascending the hill to his house. Suddenly there it was again, something -or someone- was staring at him. Looking around, he found no one again. Strange.
Brushing it off as exhaustion from a long day's work, he entered the dark house.
"Toothless? You here buddy?" The rider yelled to an empty house. Toothless must have been out with the other dragons or something.
Once he closed the door, the feeling of eye drilling into the back of his head disappeared. His growling stomach replaced the creepy feeling. After eating a quick snack of dried salmon and bread, he jumped into his bed. Once under the soft furs, he slipped into the bliss of sleep.
Hiccup woke up.
It wasn't because Toothless had coming barging into his room or Stoick had kicked the front door down (again) singing drunken merry rhymes. No, it was cold. Like someone had ripped off his furs on a cold winter morning.
Opening his eyes, Hiccup saw stars. What? He stood and looked around him.
He was in the forest. But he didn't recognize this area. He stood in a small clearing, surrounded by dense forest. He couldn't hear the ocean, that meant he must have been in the center of the island. Embedded in the trunk of a tree was an axe. Maybe Astrid came here to practice. Upon closer inspection, he knew this couldn't be Astrid's. The wood was rotted and moss covered the rust blade. It had to have been hear for years.
Taking a step forward, he hissed in pain. He had stepped on a rock. He had no shoes on. At least his still had his metal leg.
In fact, he wasn't wearing very much. All he had on were a pair of trousers and a thin tunic. They didn't really provide much protection against the cold of night.
Now careful to avoid any rocks, he exited the clearing. He was going toward what he assumed to be south, which was the direction of the village.
As he walked, his mind wandered. How the hell did he get here? He considered himself somewhat of a light sleeper. With most of the village being clumsy and barrel chested, he doubted it could have been any of them. It could have been Astrid, but even she would've needed help carrying his crippled ass into the middle of the forest without waking him up.
Suddenly he became aware of a second pair of footsteps and the feeling of eyes on him again. They were almost in tune with his, but they were just a bit off. He turned and stared behind him. Trees. Just trees. 'Just hearing things Hiccup' Hiccup tried to reassure himself, 'Must have been a squirrel or something'.
When he continued his trek again, the footsteps returned. He stopped, but the second pair of footsteps didn't. A surge of adrenaline screamed at him to run, and he complied. Sprinting as fast as his metal prosthetic could allow him, he ran in different directions, trying to lose his follower.
He ran until he couldn't run anymore. Hands on his knees, he gasped for air, sweat trickling down his face. His foot and stump ached. That had to be the farthest he'd ran in years. Looking up, he saw something that threw him onto the ground in shock.
The axe in the tree trunk.
He had run full circle. No that wasn't possible, he only made two right turns and a left turn; right? Then he heard something that chilled him to his core.
Footsteps. Looking straight ahead through a gap in the tree trunks, he saw it. A tall slim figure, blacker than the night around it, with a white face than seemed to almost glow in the darkness. It was slowly walking toward him.
Blink.
The figure had somehow crossed a huge distance in the blink of an eye. Every tired muscle in his body screamed at him to run. His brain tried to send orders to move but to no avail.
Blink.
It got closer.
Blink.
And closer.
Blink.
And closer.
Blink.
It stood at his feet, staring down at him. Hiccup stared up at it, barely breathing out of fear. It didn't have a face. It had the features of a face, jaw line, nose ridge, and a forehead. But it lacked the important parts; the eyes, nostrils, hair, mouth, and ears.
It bent down and grabbed Hiccup by the collar, bringing him up to eye level, or what could be considered eye level. A line appeared across the lower half of its face and curled upwards. It was smiling.
"I didn't mean to make you mad." Astrid spoke into his shoulder. What? He was back to earlier that afternoon. Did he just imagine all of that?
Hiccup scanned the tree line, expecting the figure. Nothing, just trees. When Astrid left, Hiccup couldn't shake the feeling.
Something was staring at him.
With the game "Slender" (Play it and tell me how you feel!) out and all these videos on it, I thought I'd just write a creepypasta in honor of it. Does this count as a creepypasta? Or is it just a creepy story? Eh, whatever.
With it currently being 1AM here, I don't think I'm going to sleep with the image of Slenderman fresh in my head. If you do not know who Slenderman is, I envy you.
Questions, Comments, Concerns?