"You're too tall!" I giggle awkwardly being as how much I can just barely reach his shoulder. There are a lot of things I don't know about Slender, especially in his abilities, his past and simply just what has happened to him. When I brought this up in the cramped space of the truck that morning, Slenderman asked me an odd question. Do I know how to dance? The answer was no.
When Slender goes out of his way to give me the guidelines of how to ballroom dance, I feel like I'm back in art class. Once we take it outside all I can focus on is the inability of the entire situation. "This is so silly." I utter. "You're too tall!"
"Just take my hand." I hold his cold hand with my own. Then I look up to see his height shrinking down. My jaw drops.
"How-!" I watch him wide-eyed until he is about six feet tall, "You never told me you could do that!" He holds my waist as I place my other hand on his now, reachable shoulder.
"I suppose I forgot." Not just his height, but his whole body shrunk all together, as if he had aged backwards. It's kind of weird and I'm not used to it at all. Even though he's still taller than me, I feel much more related to him like this.
"It's cute." I smile charmingly.
"Don't get used to it, I can only keep this height for a small interval."
"Well that's good, I prefer you taller and more intimidating anyway." He tips his head back for a moment as a large, amused grin forms onto his face.
"Is this better?" He says, his head tilted to the side, like he's trying to be menacing. You can tell what I said actually make him happy, I smile.
He continues to instruct me on how to move my feet along with his. My stomach keeps twisting and turning with each instruction as I stare down at the tips of our feet so close together. "A lady looks up at her partner during a dance." Taking my chin with his finger and thumb, he raised my head, his grin still there. But I'm too concentrated on our feet and immediately I look back down with a, "What- That's impossible!" No matter how much I watch our feet move along with eachother I'm afraid I'll step on him if I look away. He leans down kissing the top of my head. I step on his foot. "S-sorry!" I look up for guidance, but by then we have already stopped moving. He places his forehead on mine. "I'm not very good at this..."
"Don't worry, you'll get better." I press my lips together, incapable of saying anything else. I focus hard on his suit but, the realization of his lips and sharp teeth infront of me are tempting. My palms become sweaty and I'm sure Slender is reading all of this. Finally, he takes his head away. "As long as you become used to the rhythm, you should be able to dance naturally without looking down." I look up. "Just follow my lead, remember the first step." I take a deep breath.
"Okay." It takes a little bit but, I eventually come accustomed to it. I still don't look at him but rather his chest in front of me. We slowly dance in circles, not rushed at all.
"Good." Suddenly he stops and I look up for praise. Instead, still holding my hand he escorts me down the dirt path. It only made sense once I saw the dead tree in the distance come into view. Once we're next to it I look at it carefully, only for Slender to steal my attention by pulling me by my waist towards him. His mouth has been sealed up and we continue. It's not only a larger area to move around in but, the mood of it all seemed better as a whole. Of course I can't help but remember that this is where I first saw Slender.
On the first time around the tree I feel at ease being able to dance and not have to look down nervously. Then I remember the note, so I look to see for it, but it's nowhere on the tree. He abruptly speeds up just enough and we circle the tree in an intense fashion.
"Not so fast!" I gasp not being able to keep up; it's a pace I can't follow at all. Then out of the blue he lets go of my waist and twirls me. Something I'd never experienced before. I'm so surprised I stop and stare with my mouth open until I burst out laughing, my hand held above my head by his. "Oh my goodness, you surprised me!" He swoops me over and out chests brush against one another. I place my hand back on his shoulder and we're back to a lesser-quick paced dance. I can't stop smiling. A few minutes pass and it's like an orchestra has gone off in my head and my focus is entirely on him. I'm once again mesmerized by the emptiness of his face.
"I'm going to spin you again, so be ready." I almost flinch at his voice coming from absolutely nothing but then give him a confirming look. Right away he spins me with his one hand, keeping his other close to my waist, ready to hold me again afterwards. Experienced, steady, smart, in control, relaxed but, most of all... loving, are only just a few of Slenderman's traits. When the spin ends and I'm ready to continue he stops us and just idly looks down in my direction.
"What's wrong?" I ask, breathing heavily.
But he disappears. My hands are now holding nothing and my smile is gone. And as though that song that had been playing in my head up until now was real, the pianist suddenly hits all the keys with both his hands all at once making a terrible noise. The orchestra, the song, the moment... ends.
"You!" My body finches at the sound of a voice I did not quite recognize.
That boy- that same, scared boy stood there across the way, right infront of me within the trees. A camcorder in hand, he watches me. "You're alive!" He rushes over cautiously looking about into the forest around him and up at the trees. "He didn't kill you either? What did you do?" Now infront of me he ogles with interest.
"What are-... What are you doing here?" I ask with a bit of anger in my voice.
"I came to see the tall man." He smiles with innocence. I give a long breath, stopping to see for myself if Slenderman is here. And as expected, he really has disappeared.
"Well... he's not here, so you can leave." I squint my eyes at him.
"Hey, that's not fair, you haven't answered my question yet!" He states stubbornly. This is nothing but annoying. Even if I get him to leave, why do I feel like Slender won't come back? I can't believe this.
"What do you want?" I lower my shoulders in defeat.
"To get footage of the faceless man. But also I want to know why it didn't kill me... or you for that matter!"
"That's not-."
"Hey, what are you even doing in the forest anyway?" He ignores me.
"I live here."
"In the forest?" He asks mockingly.
"No... I live up the road at this big house with my parents, I just... come down here often. Really- I should be asking you that because this is my property!" I point out.
"Heheh, oh..." He thinks this is funny. "But... no way! How are you still alive? The tall man kills everybody that comes into the forest, so that's obviously a lie."
"You know, I don't know! Why don't you ask him yourself?" I cross my arms, I hate being called a liar but, I'm just not going to deal with this guy.
"Hey... that's mean!" He chuckles. "Oh! I just realized, we're the only two who have come in here and haven't been killed by him. Do you think we're special?" He raises his camcorder up to my face.
"No, not at all... uh, what's your name?"
"Daniel." He answers cheerfully. "And you?"
"Blaye..." I answer uncertainly.
"Nice to meet you," He shakes my hand, "Thank you for saving me a few nights ago." Only if he knew...
"No problem, um Daniel?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you... like a news reporter or something?" I push his camcorder away from face.
"No but- wouldn't that be cool if I did get footage of him? And had it reported on the news?" I sigh again.
"No... that sounds dumb." I'm sure that wouldn't end well for Slender.
"What part of that sounds dumb!? Well, I don't care what you say," He begins to fiddle with his camera, making the lense rotate in and out, "I'm going to find him." What happened to this scared little boy? He's oozing with confidence and determination. But then it hits me.
"You know what, good luck." I back away a bit.
"Hey no! You have to help me!" I take a long look at him. He's blonde but his roots are brown like his eyes. He's about the same height at me. "Aren't you curious?" His eyes are intense and I can tell, he's like me, simply curious. That's it... anyone who survives an encounter with Slenderman (as in myself and Daniel so far) automatically become... curious, if not obsessed with him.
"I don't think this is something you should be curious about." I say cautiously. "You know more than anyone how dangerous he is."
"Exactly! So why didn't he hurt me?" That's exactly what I had thought.
"You got lucky." Even though I was aware of the danger, the determination of wanting to know more made me ignorant.
"No way! Then what about you? Doesn't that make you just as lucky as me? Come on! Help me out- we could-"
"You need to save yourself! Slenderman has a reason for keeping me alive, not you!" I start to get angry.
"Slenderman...?" Daniel repeats. "Is that his name?" I swallow my words when I see Slenderman appear only a few feet behind him.
"No- I-" He pulls on my sleeve.
"Have you talked to him?" His eyes sparkle at me with deep interest. I've really dug myself a hole.
"No- I haven't!" I slap his hand away. He stops, surprised by my actions, but only for a moment.
"Then how do you know that...?" He's been able to see through every lie I've said. But I have to be a liar.
"I- I made that name up." He stares at me with disbelief. "Really-"
"Why are you lying?" I feel like he's drilling a hole through me. I'm stuck, I'm really stuck. I don't think I'd even be able to run away at this point. But I guess there's one last thing.
"Le...Leave me alone!" Something hits me and I swerve my head over to the tree. Slenderman's note, it's like it re-appeared and those same words are still written there. 'LEAVE ME ALONE.' He looks at it too, only to turn his camcorder towards it. I take this time to look back at Slender. I feel like at this point I should know what to do. I can't help but wonder if Slender plans on insisting me, or if he just plans to keep his distance the entire time. I look at Daniel long and hard. "It's not my fault if you die you know." This brings his attention back to me. "I know him, the tall man." A smile plasters itself onto his face.
"I knew it!" He turns to me with excitement.
"I kept him from killing you once... I can't guarantee I can save you again." His smiles starts to disappear.
"What the hell... who are you? His minion or something?"
"Just an exception." I stress. "But if you honestly want to die, then feel free to stay as long as you want." I finally start to get to him, because his expression warps into uncertainty.
"You're kidding right?"
"You asked me why I was lying. I guess I just realized I have no reason to." I sigh and then smile at him. "It was nice to meet you though."
"No..." He starts to head over to the path, towards the gate, fear now covered all over him only for him to take his stance. "I'm special!"
"You're not, Daniel." He looks at me with one last worried expression then dashes out of the forest. Doubt would be the best thing for him to feel, the first step to removing that awful ignorance. I relax my shoulders, after noticing I had been standing up straighter than usual. Almost like I was trying to show him how serious I was, like Slender does... A hand is placed on my shoulder.
"Good girl."