A/N: Hey there everybody and welcome back to Chapter five of 'The Arrival' now as you already know that the last chapter, just like the game was pretty much a remake of 'Slender: The Eight Pages' and I hope that you read that chapter before this one because I'm uploading them at the same time, I would've had the last chapter up Sunday but I had a lot of technical difficulties that prevented it from happening.
Anyway now we're about to hit a turning point in this story and I don't want to spoil it for you guys, so lets get on with the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything what so ever in this story, they all belong to their respective owners.
(Oakside Park 6:55 pm)
"Oh man my head feels like it just got pounded in by Superman." Nightwing said as he lifted himself up from off the ground and took a good look at his surroundings.
He trying to figure out just how he ended up in this part of the park, that was when the events of the previous night started to come back to him. He remembered having to find those eight pages all over again, he also remembered how Slender Man managed to grab hold of him and he had to stab Slender Man in the hand and then took off into the dark woods. Then out of nowhere he punched right in the face and blacked out for the rest of the night, he figured that it was Slendy who did it as payback for stabbing him and then just dumped him in some random part of the park.
"He defiantly has a mean jab on him, I wonder how long I was out though because it looks like the sun is setting. No point in just standing here I need to find out where that scream came from and then get out of here." He said to himself as he started walking to an open part of the park.
As he walked right into the clearing he spotted a small house and thought that someone might be in there and would be willing to help him out. Once he walked up to the front door he knocked on it to see if anybody might be in there, but unfortunately for him there was no response so he checked to see if it was locked but to his luck it wasn't. When Nightwing opened the door to see if there any signs of someone living here he saw that it was completely empty, there wasn't even any furniture in there or anything.
He closed the door and started to walk away from the house he noticed a rock wall and next to that there were a bunch of rocks and a gap that was big enough for him to walk through. Out of curiosity he decided to check it out, as he got deeper in there he spotted a pale tree trunk and attached to it was a note with the number four on it.
"Another one of those letters." He said as he picked it up and began to read it out loud to himself.
To: kmilens .co
From: Unknown Sender
Sent: Mon 27/16
Subject: Re: Re: Checking in
Attachment
Yeah it hasn't been working out for me either. It's one thing to ignore something you know is just a hallucination It's something eels entirely to ignore all the noises I hear outside my window at night now because I can't see whatever it is that's making them. Anything like that happening around there with you? It sometimes sounds like whispers.
Your Friend,
-CR
Once he was done reading the letter he placed it with the others and headed back towards the clearing, but the contents of these letters he's found were running through his head and that caused him to come up with a few theories about this Kate girl and her connection to all of this.
He decided to push these thoughts to the back of his mind because chances are he might find another letter that might help clear a few things up for him. Once he was back in the clearing he noticed a green rusted shack on stilts and thought that maybe someone might be in there but he knew better than that, the place was pretty much empty just like the last one.
"Wouldn't hurt to at least check the place out, though after everything else I hope it won't hurt to check it out." He said as he walked up the steps and knocked on the door and just like last time he didn't get a response.
Though unlike last time the door to the shack was locked so he decided to pick the lock and was able to open the door, when he looked inside it was empty but it did have some furniture in it and from what he could tell from the look of things this place must've been a break room.
Nightwing closed the door to the shack and headed back down the steps, that was when he noticed some barrels in front of the house and on top of one of them was a letter with the number five on it.
To: kmilens .co
From: Unknown Sender
Sent: Sun 04/16
Subject: Re: Re: Re: RE: Checking in
Attachmentss:
I mention it to my doctor again when I saw him today. He really wants you to come in sometime just to talk with him. I think it's a good idea. He also said that confronting this traumatic event in some way could be very beneficial too. Don't worry, I didn't tell him any specifics about what happened. I do think we should go back out to that park behind your mom's house sometime soon. I think being out there and seeing nothing wwill help get rid of these sstupid problems we've both been having.
-CR
Once he was done reading it he began to go into deep thought and started to come to the conclusion that maybe Kate went through the same thing he went through a year ago. Maybe that's how she's connected to this, that girl heard screaming earlier was probably her and then there's that other girl Lauren who is supposed to be a friend of Kate's and was supposed to come and see her. Perhaps that blue car he saw when he first arrived here belonged to Lauren, plus Kate's other friend CR the one who wrote the letters; where is he in all of this? Is Slender Man holding all three of them captive?
"I'm getting more questions than answers here, I just hope those three are okay for now." He said as he continued on walking and then found himself in front of a giant mine that looked almost like a mall mountian.
As he approached the entrance he noticed a few mining equipment like carts and so forth, he then approached one of the sheds that had a bulletin board on it. Nightwing approached it and pulled off one the papers attached to it.
ATTN: ALL employees
After the closing this Sunday, your paychecks will be mailed to your home address that we have on file of you. Please see Jessica in the office if you have changed your address recently. Otherwise, you will not be able to receive your final paycheck. We would like to thank all of you for your many years of dedicated service to Kullman Mining and wish you best of luck in all of your future endeavors.
- - Management.
"I wonder what happened that made them to want to close the mine down? What's this another one of those letters." Nightwing said as he saw a letter with the number six on it attached to bulletin board.
To: kmilens .co
From: Unknown Sender
Sent: Wed 27/16
Subject: You Okay?
Attachment:
I tried to find my way back to you when I tripped and fell down that slope, but my flashlight hit one the rocks down there and broke. It was pitch black, I heard sounds all around me. Screaming, it sounded like you. I tried to follow it back but I was lost. I fell. Everything collapsed down around me. I could feel it crushing me. Everything was moving so fast, I was drowning in water I couldn't see. Every fear I ever had came back to me at once. Monsters surrounded me. My stomach inverted, my eyes shriveled out of existence, and my heart caved in. I don't know what happened after that. I woke up in some tall grass today and found my way back to the house. I looked through the window and saw you sitting on the couch staring at your TV. I couldn't get your attention so I left. I can't write anymore. I can't think straight. I need to.
"You need to what? What in the world happened to you? Well if I want answers then I guess I might as well get a move on." Nightwing said as he took out a flashlight and started to explore the mine which on the inside looked more like a factory than a mine.
As he explored the mine he noticed a bunch of crates and barrels scattered across the entrance that was similar to the ones he saw last night and figured that this was where they came from. He continued on into the next room and noticed something attached to the fenced gate, it was a flyer that had information about six generators that needed to be turned on in order to operate the lift out of there.
"Something tells me that this will come in handy for later." He stated as he shined the light on the rest of the room and noticed and old newspaper article attached to a bulletin board.
The article was about how the mining company came into ownership of the land here, he continued on deeper into the mine and couldn't help but notice of just how deathly quiet it was in there. The only thing he could hear was just the echoes of his own footsteps, he knew he had to stay alert though because he getting a strange feeling that he wasn't alone in here. He shined his light over towards one of the walls and saw something written on it in white chalk.
" 'Get to the Tower' I wonder if it means that radio tower I saw earlier? I wonder what could be up there, I guess I'll find out when I get there. That must be the operator for the lift over there, time to get out of here." Nightwing said as headed towards the lift.
He pressed the start button to see if would start, but to his misfortune nothing happened and frustrated him a bit.
"Hello Dick! Of course it's not working I need to get those six generators up and running if I want to get this thing working." He said as he began to look for one of the generators and was in luck since one of them was right near the lift.
He went to turn it on and when he did two of the previously closed doors began to open up, he didn't know whither to count this as either a good thing or a bad thing since he was starting to get a bad feeling about this. There was no point in just standing there debating it since he knew he didn't have the luxury of time, so he went through one of the opened doors and found himself in one of rooms that had a few lockers, barrels, and wooden crates in it. He continued deeper into the room and spotted another generator inside the metal gate and went to turn it on which caused a few more doors to open up in the distance.
As he started to walk down the hallway he started to hear a strange sound echoing throughout the mine, it sounded almost animalistic and somewhat monstrous in a way, whatever that sound was it managed to put Nightwing on high alert. He then found himself right back in the room where he started from, he began to shine the light all over the place in order to find out just where that growling noise came from and as he shined the light on the floor he noticed a bunch of arrows, drawn in white chalk, pointing towards the lift.
That was nothing compared to what happened next when Nightwing turned around and saw a figure suddenly running straight towards him. He shined the light on the figure and stopped it dead in it's tracks, that allowed him to be able to get a good look it and was kind of relieved that it wasn't Slender Man trying to capture him again. From what he could tell it looked like a young woman who was wearing a white hoodie jacket that was stained in blood, and not just the jacket but she also had blood stains on her hands as well.
She also appeared feral and wore a mask and had some kind of black substance around her eyes and mouth, plus she appeared to have very pale skin as well. She let out a horrific roar and began to attack Nightwing, but he was able to dodge her attacks and delivered a devastating kick to her stomach and followed up with an uppercut to the jaw which sent he flying back a few feet.
"My mother always taught me that it isn't nice to hit girls, but I don't think you would still qualify as one." He said half jokingly but it was short lived though, because she got right back up and charged at him again.
He braced himself once more and waited as she got closer to him and when she were a mere few inches away from him, he somersaulted right over her head and then without missing a beat, he roundhouse kicked her right in the face which sent her to the ground and he was hoping that this time it would keep her down.
Nightwing knew that he couldn't stick around to see if she was really out because he had to hurry and get to the tower. He continued on and ran through the other opened door that lead down a hallway which brought him to a restroom, what surprised him though was the fact that there was another one of those generators in there.
"Why would they put a generator in the restroom?" He asked before turning it on, but as soon as he did that he heard a growl coming from where he just was and knew who it belonged too.
So with three down and three more to go Nightwing dashed out of the restroom and down one of the hallways putting a bit of distance between him and the girl chasing him, but the moment he turned a corner though he found himself confronted with Slender Man who was standing besides one of the crates.
"I'm guessing that you're not too happy about the whole hand stabbing thing from before." Nightwing said as he ran in the opposite direction not waiting to get a response.
He then found himself in one of the office rooms and shined the flashlight on the desk and noticed that it was another one of those letters, but this one had the number seven written on it.
I am okay Kate. The woods are beautiful please come see. I am going to find you so you can see it is so beautiful Kate.
When he got done reading it he stepped right back into the hallway and was about to take off until suddenly he was jumped from behind and found himself laying flat on his back with someone laying directly on top of him. It was the girl from before, she roared directly into his face and started to savagely punch him several times trying to kill the former boy wonder. At one point she bashed his head on the floor drawing a little blood from him.
Nightwing, for his part grabbed the flashlight that fell out of his hand and shined it right into her face stunning her. That was when he realized that she was sensitive to light, without wasting another moment he punched her right in the masked nose which got her off of him and then he pulled out his taser and tased her with several high volts of electricity running through her body.
"This time I hope you stay down." Nightwing stated to the now unconscious girl as he took out a piece of cloth from his belt and wiped off some of the blood that was on his now bruised up face.
He was feeling a little dizzy and it caused him to lose his balance a bit but he couldn't let that stop him, but before he left he made sure to take out some rope tied both her hands and feet so she wouldn't be able chase after him, so once he took care of that he sprinted through the mine and was able to locate the fourth and fifth generators without much of a problem but the sixth one was whole different story though.
Slender Man had constantly kept appearing right in front of him at just about every turn and he knew that he must be getting closer to the final generator, Nightwing then found himself on top of a walkway looking over the mine in the hopes of finding the last generator.
"I see it!" He said as he spotted it in far west end of the mine, so he took out his grappling gun fired it and swung right down to it.
Once he turned it on he headed right towards the lift but not before seeing Slender Man watch him ascend upwards. He was glad to be able to make it out of there, as he walked towards the end of the hallway where he could see the forest right outside he noticed another one of those letters on top of those barrels and saw that it had the number eight on it.
To: kmilens .co
From: Unknown Sender
Sent: Fri 29/16
Subject: You Okay?
Attachment:
I've tried to call you dozens of times. Where are you? Please call me back and let me know you're okay. If I don't hear back in an hour, I'm coming over there.
"Man these letters are getting more worrisome, and these wounds are not making things any better either; I better take care of these first before I get a move on." Nightwing said as he took out a few first aide supplies he had in his utility belt.
Once he gotten done with wiping and disinfecting the cuts and bruises he had on his face he made sure to wrap the bandage around his head to cover up the head-wound he received from that girl; he would make sure to be careful until he can get it stitched up when he got done with all of this. When was done with all of that he continued on down a path and noticed a fence on top of a small hill, he walked up towards it and saw that it was locked; plus he noticed that it had a piece of paper with the number nine attached to it.
North Cross Hospital
Kate, leaving this note incase you wake up tonight. I'm going to assume you don't remembered what happened. I came over to check on you and found you out in that park behind the house.
You had a broken video camera with you and bag full of weird drawings. I don't know what happened out there but you're safe now. The doctors here will help you.
-CR
"So all of those drawings I saw back at the house were all done by Kate, then that means she went through the same thing I did. That explains how she's connected to all of this I just hope she's alright." Nightwing said as he left the gate and headed in the direction of where the tower is located.
As Nightwing continued on his hike towards the tower he had to made sure be careful and kept his balance when he was walking up and down the trail due to his head wound. There were a lot of things going through his mind at the moment but the main thing was what waiting for him at the tower, he didn't know if would be walking into a trap or maybe salvation from this nightmare. He so lost in thought that as he made his way up a rocky hill he almost missed another letter attached to a wooden plank, this one had the number ten on it.
To: kmilens .co
From: Unknown Sender
Sent: Fri 12/16
Subject: RE: Back Home
Attachment:
Glad you're feeling better, but that house is too close to the woods. It's too isolated. You need to go somewhere else. I know a place that I think will be safer for you to stay. I'm going to go with you, because my house doesn't feel safe anymore. I nailed all the windows shut but I still feel too open. I haven't slept in a few weeks either. I'm so tired. Let's get out of here Kate I promise I'll keep you safe.
-CR
"CR wanted to get here away from this place but from the looks of things it was too late." He said grimly as he placed the letter with the other nine and continued on.
Nightwing kept walking for what seemed like forever, he ended up heading down a long hill that brought him to the entrance of a small cave. Though this one didn't seem all that bad because when he shined his flashlight he found the exit at the other end of it, once he walked out of the cave he spotted a building that looked like it must've belonged to the mining company.
When he approached it he saw a piece of paper attached to it, but it wasn't like the letters he's been finding all over the place it was like one of the eight pages he had to find last night.
'I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE!' I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE! I WANT TO DIE!
"This is something that I defiantly would not read out loud, that aside though I'm getting a bad feeling about what I'm going to find next." Nightwing said to himself as he walked into the dimly lit building.
He shined his flashlight onto the wall on the left and right a beside a few boxes was another letter with the number eleven written on it.
Outside.
I need to die before it catches me.
I'm sorry for any part that is my fault.
Everything leaking out in the back of my head.
Hands have teeth
Please tell no one I loved them. It's back now.
Hide
Once he was done reading that note the feeling of dread started to sneak it's way into him and he was starting to think that maybe Kate isn't safe after all, then he shined the light on the wall and saw drawings of the radio tower with Slender Man being x' ed out that were made in white chalk just like in the mine. Nightwing was soon interrupted from his thoughts when he noticed a small TV sitting on a table playing in the corner, when he walked up to it he saw a young women who looked to be in her twenties laying on her bed drawing something while being recorded on camera.
"She must be Kate." Nightwing figured since he was able to recognize her from that photo he saw in her house yesterday.
From what he could tell it was raining outside and with the thunder gaining Kate's attention, so she got up, grabbed her camera, and then proceed to close all of her doors and Windows. Nightwing was wondering 'why in the world would she leave her doors and windows opened in a thunderstorm?' All of that aside though he continued to watch her making sure her house was secured.
When she was about to head to the last room that was when she ran into the Slender Man was looming above her, she took off running back to her bedroom and locked the door making sure he wouldn't be able to get in . That didn't stop Slender Man though because the moment she turned around there he was right behind her, then the screen went black and the only thing Nightwing could hear afterwards was the sound of glass shattering.
The whole thing left him speechless, he couldn't believe what he had just saw, any hope of Kate being okay was dashed right before his eyes. Before Nightwing could do anything else the TV started to play again but it was completely different from what he just saw, the only thing that it had in common with the first video recording was that events was being recorded with a camera.
He noticed that it started on top of that hill he was on from when he first arrived at Oakside Park and not only that but the person who was filming this appeared to be the owner of that blue car as well. Nightwing was able to catch a glimpse of the camera holder's refection and saw that it was a girl who looked like she was in her twenties as well.
"That must be Kate's friend Lauren, looks like she came here to check up on Kate and get her out of here. I can't really say I blame here but I wonder where is she now though." He asked himself as he will soon learn his question is about to be answered.
He was shocked to learn that Lauren had been through the exact same thing he's been through since he arrived here. She had to find those eight pages, turning on those generators in the mine while trying to get away from the masked girl, being told to head towards the radio tower, even learning about what happened to Kate on this exact same TV. That was where the similarities ended though and then he saw what happened next, she had to go through a cave and found one of those letters and when she came out the entire forest was on fire.
If that wasn't bad enough, when she reached the radio tower Lauren ended up in a dead end with a decomposing body. When she played the video camera next to the body everything went black, but before Nightwing could say anything the scene then resumed in what he could tell was a basement.
"That must be the basement located in Kate's house, but why didn't she say anything when I was there? Maybe she unconscious at the time." He said to himself trying to come to a logical conclusion.
Nightwing turned his attention back to the TV screen and saw that Lauren wasn't alone in there because when she looked over in a she saw a woman crying and instantly knew that it was Kate. Nightwing was filling hopeful that he might be able save them after all, what with the letters and Slender Man he all but given up on the idea. Then what he saw next destroyed that idea completely, because when Lauren approached Kate she started to change in both appearance and personality.
"No way it can't be." Nightwing said in total shock at the girl's sudden transformation, Kate had changed into that masked girl that he encountered back in the mine.
He witnessed Kate savagely beaten and kill Lauren right in front of him, and then she dragged the lifeless body off camera as static started to appear on TV.
Nightwing stood there in complete silence with the only noise coming from the static on the TV, began to process everything he's been through, everything he's learned, and everything he's learned. Once he was done that was when he came to one conclusion.
"It's hopeless, he wanted me to watch this just so he could show me that there was no way for me to come out this whole thing alive or perhaps he wants to turn me into a proxy like he did with Kate. I never really had to begin with and now..." Night simply fell to his knees and let out a loud and emotional scream that echoed throughout the building.
As he pounded his fists on to the ground he began to remember what Black Canary told him at end of their last session.
"Just remember that you don't have to go through this alone you do have people who care about you and will do anything they can to help you"
"She's right I do have people that care about me and he knows that they'll come looking for me just like what Lauren did for Kate, he'll put them through the same experience." He then started to visualize Slender Man getting his hands on everyone he cares about and twisting them into his proxies.
That was the final straw for Nightwing he was done, done running, done being chased, done with all of these stupid pages and letters, done with these woods, done with this physiological torture, and most of all he was done with Slender Man. Nightwing picked himself up and walked over towards the door and stared up at the radio tower knowing full well that it was a trap but he didn't care, he glared up at it with determination in his eyes he knew what had to be done. He wasn't about to let Slender Man beat him that easily oh no, now is the time for him to fight back, it was time for him to stop being a victum, now Nightwing was going to confront the Slender Man once and for all.
"Time to get traught or get dead."
A/N: Well there you go guys chapter 5, now I want to clear a few things up here, since this was based on the flashback part of the game I thought that it would be best if Dick saw what happened to both Kate and Lauren. I didn't want him heading to the tower blind, also unlike them he was trained by Batman so you know Dick has better chance of surviving this than they did so.
Anyway the next chapter will be the last one so read and review and I will see you all next time.