The sun was just about down by the time we got to the parking area for the park. Nobody was there, not even the park ranger. That made me roll my eyes. 'People are so stupid.' I mumbled to myself.

As we were unloading the car, I got this strange feeling that told me to turn around. Naturally, I did as the feeling told me to, and through the thick fog covering the parking lot, I could see a mysterious black tree on the other side. I became confused by this, but only for a moment. I simply turned on my heels and continued with unloading our things.

We were quick to finish packing our things up into our travel cases 'cause it was getting really dark by the time we hit the woods. Roy was still really hesitant when we were entering and suggested that he'd stay in the car for the night and catch up in the morning. He changed his mind really fast when I reminded him that he'd be all alone if he did that.

As we went deeper and deeper into the forest, we left some land-markers behind to be sure we could find our way back. 'Why would you have to find your way back if you're taking the trail?' You're probably wondering. Well, there's a simple answer to that question; Fuck trails, 'nuff said. Every few minutes, Roy would stop us all to take a look around. At this point, I had half the mind to tie him to a tree and take off with everybody else.

At some point in our hiking - after Roy had stopped us again - Dean had put us to a halt this time. He didn't say anything, he just stared out into the trees - occasionally jerking his head around to get a better look at whatever he was trying to see. We all eventually looked in the same direction he was looking at out of curiosity.

"I don't know what it is you're looking at, Dean," I started, "But it better be really important to stop us again." I said, putting emphases on 'again.'

". . . I don't. . ." He let out a nervous sigh and stepped over a few feet to get a better view of. . . whatever! "I don't know, okay?" He finally said. "I just sorta got this feeling, or something!" He finally looked away from whatever he seemed to be troubling him and pause.

"Well, what do you mean by a 'feeling?' Did you forget something in the car?" I questioned.

"No! I just thought I saw. . .!" Dean suddenly went quiet. "Look, forget about it. It probably wasn't even what I thought it was. Let's just go." He then stormed ahead of us, and we followed soon after.

It was pitch black by the time we found a nice clearing to settle down on. The twins set up the two tents while Roy began making the fire, and Dean and I set up a perimeter and tied a few scarves around trees so that we'd know this was our campsite when we got back from hiking the next day. It's weird though, one of the trees had soaked up so much water into its trunk that it felt like I was tying the scarf to someone's arm. . .

When we were eating dinner (if you'd consider a whole box of fruit roll-ups and kool-aide juice bottles a meal) Roy came at us with his "Slenderman" bullshit again. I couldn't help but groan when he started pulling out old newspaper clippings from his bag and started playing PSA's on his mp3 player. I cringed when the PSA he'd said was the first to air after the "Big International Acknowledgement ." This, of course, meaning the case in Tulsa, Oklahoma where those two poor kids got seen taken by the "Slenderman." The audio file was extremely static-ey, yet Roy proceeded to crank it up to full blast.

'Attention residents of the Tulsa, Oklahoma area; the force of the entity know as the "Slenderman" is a dangerous and powerful and even deadly might to be reckoned with. Do not attempt to search for this creature. Repeat; Do not attempt to search for this creature - you will be killed. . . If you happen to be confronted by this creature under any circumstances, the best thing to do is run - run. . . and pray.'

'To lessen the chance of such encounters with this beast, the governor of our state of Oklahoma has issued a curfew set to 6:30 pm, that will take effect as of now. Citizens are also prohibited from being outside while fog is in the area.'

'President Kennedy has also issued a restriction from traveling to another state for the next two months - this applies to all fifty of our United States. He has not provided an answer as to why, but assures us it's indeed for our own safety.'

'More instructions will be given as soon as we receive more information. This has been your Tulsa, Oklahoma Public Service Announcement.

I glared at Roy for a while, and he stared back at me with hopeful anticipation. "Are you finished scaring the kids?" I said, gesturing to the twins, who'd started hugging eachother in fear.

He gives me a hurt, frustrated and disappointed look in return, then he packed all of his paranoia fuel back into his bag. We all sat in awkward silence for a while. Dean and the twins looked between Roy and I as we stared each other down.

"Okay guys," Nigel said, "I think we've had enough drama for one night. How about we all move on to something else?" He suggests.

I glared harder at Roy, almost telepathically telling him 'Back the fuck down,' and - as per usual - he did. He pulled his bag over his shoulders and stuck his mp3 player into his pocket. He did his best to evade eye-contact with me and stormed off to his little set-up. When he was turning away from us to go there, I couldn't help but notice him scrunch his face up, obviously getting ready to cry.

I simply shrugged, then went through my bag and got out my hacky sacs and started juggling to pass the time and hopefully get myself to start feeling drowsy. "Hmph, dangerous and powerful." I mimicked from the PSA voice in my head. "You will be killed." I began snickering to myself as Dean and the twins wandered away from me to do whatever they wanted to do. "This beast!"

"Heheh." I laughed quietly. "How the hell could it be so scary? 'Tall and skinny! Covered in black! Nooo face! Beware of the terrifying Giant Stick-Figure Man!" I let out a louder chuckle this time, but not loud enough to disturb my buddies. When my laughter died down, my attention immediately locked on to a black frame in the distance. I don't know why my eyes had gone to that figure - so instinctively, so. . .

I noted that the figure was in the form of Slender- I mean, a man. I began to feel uncomfortably fearful, and I was overwhelmed with the desire to run away.

By the time the feeling went away, Roy had made the fire bigger and crawled into the tent. My other bros taunted him while we fixed up some more smores, saying things like "fairy" and "little bitch," and I soon joined in. . . What? We're just guys. . . It's what we do.

Anyway, when it got to about midnight the twins and I all packed it up for the night. Dean wanted to stay up to take pictures of the landscape, though. Man, that guy is just obsessed with nature photography. A while later, I heard Dean put his traditional camera away and switch to his digital camera. I heard him snap a few pics, and then there was silence. Immediately after it quieted down, he dove into the tent and practically buried himself underneath us.

All the noise he was making woke Roy up with a start. "W-What?! What?! Who?!" He yelled, looking around frantically.

We all stared at him expectantly. When he noticed us all looking at him, he hesitated to explain himself. "I-I just, uh. . ." He gulped, glancing outside the tent. "I think I saw a bear or something. I. . . I should put out the fire!" He was nearly out the tent when Roy grabbed him.

"No!" Roy said, "You can't! It would only make it easier for him! We'd be dead before morning!"

I groaned and pushed Roy's hand away from. "Would you shut the fuck up about the Slenderman already? He's not fucking real, got it? Now would you just stop it with this paranoia bullshit and let Dean put out the fire?"

Everyone stared at me, then they shifted to Roy. He started tearing up and letting out choked sobs. Then he snatched his hand away from me and said in a shaky voice, "Fine!" He curled himself up into his sleeping bag in a huff and turned away from the rest of us. I heard him mumble something like, "You'll be sorry for being so mean to me when you find me dead."

I know should have felt bad about making him so upset, but I was so sure that I saw right. . .

Roy quickly put out the fire and hurried into his waiting sleeping bag beside mine.

At some point in the night. . . I could've sworn that the light shining down on our tent from the moon was obstructed by the shadow of a very tall, skinny figure.