Comatose

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"You seem troubled, perhaps about you and Charlie arguing?" I jumped a few inches at the sudden sound of Slender's voice, he always had a way of appearing without me noticing. I must have stared in silence for several minutes because he lifted part of my bangs from my face and looked at me from eye level. "Orella talk." "Well I...why can't I let other people be happy? Why can't I let myself be happy?" "Well you're with me, isn't that you letting yourself be happy?" "Yes but-" "And you've let Charlie stay around and that makes you happy right?" "Yes-" "Then there's nothing wrong with you, you're just stressed out my dear. I believe it is time for you to rest and enjoy the comfort of the one whom loves you unconditionally."

He always had such a way of talking, his voice soothed my nerves and sent chills up my spine. I sighed and let him lead me to our bedroom silently, looking around the room for the baby but not seeing her anywhere. "Where's the baby? Please tell me she doesn't have weird teleportation powers." "She is fine. I put her to bed with Charlie so that we could have some alone time, now please lay down." "Alright alright, jeez pushy." I was already changed into my night pants and I threw off my shirt so that I was in my tank top, then I threw back the blankets and laid down heavily; the exhaustion of the day catching up to my body.

I buried my face into the pillow and sighed softly at it's heavenly softness, it was like laying on clouds. I felt Slender lay in bed as well but just as I was about to doze off he gently grasped my shoulders with his hands; his skin cool but pleasantly so against my warm skin. "What are you-oh my goooddd..." My voice trailed off wistfully as he began to massage my shoulders softly but firmly at the same time, his fingers working through the tense muscles and knots that have been built up over the past year. "Where did you...this feels..." "I've been around long enough to figure out how to please a lovely woman such as yourself, it does feel nice doesn't it? "Oh it feels better than nice..."

The pleasure was too much in my sleep inebriated state, my words slurring together as I tried to concoct an intelligent sentence but failed miserably. "Just let your eyes close and slip into peaceful sleep, I will be here when you awake my little hunter." And with that I blacked out into the best dreamless sleep I've had in...well awhile.

(Dream)

I opened my eyes to find myself in my old bed again, everything the same as I had left it. As I began to look around even more it was like the breakout had never happened, my clock read 11 a.m. And the sun was shining beautifully through my shaded windows. "This is...weird." I wanted to brush this off as a vivid dream and just wait until I awoke, but as I gently rested my feet on the cool wooden floor of my room it all felt too real; even some of my regularly worn clothes were strewn onto the floor. "Ella it's time to wake up! John's here to see you!" That was my sisters voice...this couldn't be happening. I didn't move as the shock froze my body and my mind tried to run over the possibilities, that maybe all that had happened was the scariest dream I have ever had, or that something magical happened and I've been given another chance.

*Thump thump * I heard the heavy footsteps of my friend as he made his way up the stairs and I was suddenly snapped out of my stupor. "Hey Ella can I come in?" "Uh um I- yeah." He opened the door and stepped in with a smile, his eyes full of happiness and free of worry. This is how he should have stayed...but now all I could see when I looked at him was the malicious tyrant that almost killed me.

"You think you're up to do something? Or would you rather have a day to sleep?" He chuckled as he took in my bedraggled appearance and then sat beside me, "No I guess I was just...sleepy. But I had the weirdest dream ever! You wouldn't believe it!" He smirked and watched me stand with an exasperated expression before moving towards the bathroom, "Well when you meet me downstairs we'll go over to Red Robins and talk about it over some floats." "Ok, oh would you hand me my jeans and shirt beside my bed please?" I heard him laugh one more time before he handed me my clothing and headed downstairs.

(Dream Time skip)

"You're messing with me right? Slenderman? I thought he was some made up character that kids just used to scare each other when they went camping, and didn't they make a game about him?" "Yes! But in this...dream I had, he was like my-" I stopped myself before I used the word boyfriend, even though I was close to John I don't think that I really felt comfortable sharing that little piece of information with him. What if he thought that I fantasized about being with some made up demon thing that consumed children? But I shook my head of those thoughts as I felt a straw wrapper hit me in the face, "He was your what?" I paused for another moment before my mouth pulled into a small smile, "My friend...he was my friend."

I fell silent and sipped quietly at my root beer float whilst John ate a few of his steak fries, obviously there wasn't anything he had to say about that. "Would you all like your check now?" "Um sure, thank you-" But the words stuck in my throat like glue as I looked to my left to see the face of whom I believed to be Charlie. It was impossible. I couldn't have dreamt about someone then randomly meet them somewhere, everything about her was scary down to the last detail.

Trying to clear my vision I shook my head and blinked a few times before looking back to the waiting waitress, breathing a sigh of relief as she no longer looked like the imaginary friend I had dreamt of. "I apologize, here." I handed her the money for the check along with a tip before standing up and heading out of the restaurant, John hot on my heels with a question waiting no doubt. I felt him grasp my hand just as it touched the car door handle and I closed my eyes slowly, not really wanting to answer what was about to be an onslaught of questions to which I wasn't really sure if I had an answer.

"Ok Orella you need to slow down, why'd you leave in such a hurry? You got a hot date or something?" "No." "Did I offend you? You know I was just joking." "No, it wasn't that..." "Then what was it?" I tried to remove my wrist from his grasp but it was no use, he really wasn't going to let this go was he? "I don't know. She just seemed familiar and I didn't like the memories that came with it...that's all.

His gaze was burning into me like someone had stuck a hot poker to my face but I couldn't tell him the real reason, all it would do is cause trouble. Another minute went by, agonizingly slow, before he released my wrist and moved to the drivers side of the car; neither of us said a word as he drove on, not saying where we were going next or what we were doing. My eyes just gazed out the window at the passing pine trees, each one greener than the next and casting long shadows over the road.

It wasn't until I felt the car jerk a bit unsteadily that I realized we were driving down a dirt path towards some type of camp ground and I grew nervous. "Where are we?" "We're at Whispering Lake. It's supposedly where you can here your ancestors whisper all around you, but that's probably a bunch of shit. C'mon." I eyed the trees around me warily, not liking the ominous way they loomed around me and creaked in the wind; but seeing as John was set on this I grabbed my jacket and followed him onto the path and into the woods towards the lake.

(Real World)

Charlie and Slender stood beside Orella as she continued to sleep on, her breathing steady and slow and her eye movements minimum. "What's wrong with her?!" "I don't know! She was fine as she went to sleep last night, but she would not wake this morning. It is almost as if she has slipped into a sort of comatose state." Charlie fidgeted nervously, not liking the sound of what may have happened; what had happened between her and her friend last night was not how she wanted to leave things. "Well...can you fix her?"

Slender brushed the back of his hand softly against her cheek and then cupped her face, she could never stay out of trouble for long could she? "I will attempt to reach her through her thoughts but I am not so sure how well it will work. I have never really been able to penetrate what you might call her minds 'firewalls'. Go and check on the baby while I-" But he stopped before he could finish his sentence as he felt her pulse speed up and her breathing jump erratically. "Why is she breathing like that?! What's wrong with her?!" "I don't know, but I'm going to find out."

(Dream)

"John...I don't like this." "It's ok Ella, just stay close. We're safe trust me." As much as I wanted to believe him I still could not, I moved closer towards him and brushed my shoulder against his; hoping he wouldn't notice the slight trembling of my body. As we ventured deeper into the forest I began to notice a shift in the foliage, changing from scattered bushes and a thin line of trees to thick dense patches of ferns and looming pines; John may not have noticed but I was always observant. "So..." John tried to casually place his arm on my shoulders but I moved further ahead just as he did so, earning a disgruntled sound from him and a sly smirk from myself.

"Um how's everything at the house been lately? I've heard your parents arguing pretty bad before I came in this morning..." "What? I don't...I don't know..." Arguing? Mom and Dad never argued... "John what's today's date?" I had stopped walking and turned back towards him with a furrowed brow, something wasn't right about any of this. "It's June 21st...are you okay Orella? You seem jumpy?" June 21st...it was June 21?! No...no no no no this isn't right. My father and I got into the crash on January 10th he should be... "John somethings not right, my father should have been-" But my sentence was cut off as I began to hear whispers, almost as if they were no more than a few feet away.

"Orella...come back..." Come back? Where did I go? "Ella-" "Shhhshhh hush...I hear it..." I assumed that John was looking at me as if I had gone crazy but frankly I didn't really care, the voice had my full priority right now. "Orella..." "Yes, yes I'm here. Who are you? What do you want?"

(Real World)

"Who are you?" Slender sighed as he heard her whisper the question, at least she was responding well. Her breathing hadn't slowed nor had her heart rate, but he could feel a sense of panic building in her mind that had him worried. He had tried to contact her and she seemed to be responding but still not waking, maybe if he just dug a little deeper...