Levi's POV
In the end, I never went to the window. I was too much of a coward. Graduation morning, came very slowly, after the event last, for what seemed like forever. At least for me it did. There was a moment between the speech of what to strive for in life and honorary mentions, where we had a moment of silence, for those who died, before they could graduate, heir pictures flashed on a screen, and their would be diplomas and medals given to their families. I felt a pain of loneliness, and disappointment, when my two best friends faces flashed by. There was another feeling in there as well, dare I say; Hate. Hate for the one that had ended their lives. With all said and done, I was now officially a graduate and soon to be college student.
I went to the after party, that was being thrown by the most popular kids of our year and hang out with what was left of my friends. Not my best friends, but friends all to same. This would be maybe the last time we would see each other, for a long time. It was a party to top all parties. Held in a place, no parent, would think to find their obedient and responsible, and newly appointed college kid. We were all partying and breaking the underage drinking law, in an empty house, far out in the country, that seemed to have been put up for sale and forgotten, by the whole town. We could play the loudest music and not worry about pestering police or parents coming by to ruin the fun.
I had had a few drinks and some punch, but I think that had been spiked too. So, I wasn't really thinking straight at the moment. I looked at my key, definitely wasn't in any shape to drive. I look down at the pool that many of us had abandoned our clothes and jumped in; not me, I wasn't that wasted. Just to get rid of the temptation of driving buzzed I let my keys sink into the pool, then laughed at myself for being so stupid. I would have to jump in to retrieve them later. I sipped on my beer. 'Well, aren't I a dummy.' I laughed harder.
"Something funny?" A voice said, stopping right beside me. The owner of said voice, stopping to stand right beside me, to look into the pool, where my keys, laid at the bottom. "Hmm, Idiots." Was the reply.
I looked up to tell the voice I was the idiot who threw his keys in the pool, but stopped. I didn't recognize the guy from our class. He was taller than me. He had short dark brown hair, eyes that were the same color as his hair, with dark circles under them. It looked like he hadn't slept in years. He was wearing a tan jacket, black shirt, black jeans, and black boots. Maybe he was invited, after all it wasn't like there wasn't other people here who weren't in our class. He grimaced as he roamed his eyes from the bottom of the pool to the people jumping in, then he turned his gaze to me. A look of annoyance clear on his face. "Dude, you need a beer." I said, handing him mine. "This is a party after all."
I walked away and to my car, or should I say slightly staggered to my car, smiling that I had just helped someone have fun, or make a bad decision in life. I pulled the handle on my car door and frowned when it didn't open. 'Oh right, I ditched my keys in the pool, so I wouldn't drive.' "Shiiiit..." I banged my head on the widow.
"Something wrong?" The pool guys voice. He must have followed me.
"Yup, just buzzed, and without keyz...keyz, keys." I attempted to say the word right, because I should be able to speak right, damn it. I turned to face him, and leaned against my car, since I couldn't go anywhere might as well have a nice conversation.
He stared at me for a moment. "Graduate?" He said.
"Yup," I said. "I am now officially labeled a college student."
He looked around, as if looking for someone. "You're not here with friends?" He asked focusing back on me.
"No, my two pal, got taken out before this month was up. Only I survived high school." I said, laughing at the end. Only I survived high school. It sounded like a story plot.
"Uh-huh." He had an annoyed look back on his face. "Tim…."
"What?" I asked, my brain wasn't high functioning right now.
"My name, its Tim." He repeated.
"Oh, right. My name is Levi." I said, holding my hand out.
He looked at my hand for a moment, before walking away. "They got any cheesecake here?" He stopped and asked looking back at me.
'Cheesecake?' I thought, for a moment. I mean we had a truckload of food and beverages here. "I guess…." I said, seeing that he wanted me to follow him. Well, its not like I be leaving here anytime soon. The only thing that confused me about the situation, was that Tim, radiated a certain type of aura that I couldn't put my finger on. He seemed kind of a weird, quiet, and annoyed with humanity type of person. Blaming all this on my buzzed mind, I shrugged it away, and walked with him through the party, toward the house. We had to stop several times as a few people, wanted to have a friendly chat, about this past year, or about what college we were going to. All the conversation was directed at me, and Tim would stop and wait, with his hand stuffed in his pockets, looking impatient and annoyed every few time we were stopped.
When we finally made it to the kitchen, I was surprised to find that we did in fact have cheesecake here. A boy in a yellow hoodie, and disheveled chestnut color hair was standing by the counter that all the deserts were laid out. He had a big slice of cheesecake on his plate. He didn't even look up, as we got closer to him. "Brian." Tim greeted, no even looking at the boy he just addressed. The boy /Brian, did not even acknowledge, that Tim had even greeted him, he just took a bite of the cheesecake that was on his plate.
"Friend of yourz - yours?" I asked, going for the spiked punch, tasting that it had been spiked with more vodka than it had before. Yup, I wasn't going to being driving anytime soon, might not even be able to walk straight once I drink a couple more of these, probably was a good thing I threw my keys in the pool, after all. I gulped down, the fruity drink in one go and refilled.
"Yeah, a friend." Tim said, snacking on his cheesecake.
I looked between them as I refilled my empty cup with more spiked punch. They didn't act like friends, they barely acknowledged each other. If it was Fred, Bonnie, and me, we would be stealing each others food, or shoving each other in a rebellious competition of who would get irritated first, breaking out in random dances to the music blasting from the too giant speakers. I was still rational enough to realize that not all friends acted like we did, so I just shrugged off their encounter, and gulped down my drink again.
After that, there was no more talking really. Just those two eating the cheesecake and me standing there awkwardly, getting even wasted. I honestly was not in the mood to party anymore, my sleepless night was catching up with, as well as missing my two best friends. I would have drowned out the noise around me with my headphones, but they were trapped in my locked car. I refilled my cup up some more. I moved toward the kitchen window, it was facing the one of the barns. The barns window and doors were all locked, so we all just left it be. 'It's a full moon tonight.' I silently noted, just staring out the window. I didn't want to force Brian and Tim into talking, they seemed like the quiet types.
The woods past the barn, had a game trail, leading into it, making the visual of the scene outside the window look creepy. The little girl in the pink dress running into the woods didn't help the creepy factor. 'Wait!' I swallowed spiked punch wrong and starte spitting and choking, as I tried to just register what I just saw. Looking out the window with as much concentration, my buzzed brain could manage. 'Who brought a kid to the party?!'
"You ok?" Tim asked not looking up from his cheesecake.
"No, someone brought a kid to the party, and she just ran into the woods." I said, panicky, pointing out the window.
He and Brian look to where I was pointing, but the little girl was already out of sight. "I don't see anyone."
A static sound erupted from somewhere causing the music to disappear, the sound made my head hurt, it only lasted a second, because I was slightly wasted I would have sworn my eyesight also static out as well, but that was just my buzzed up imagination. "There was a girl" I persisted. "A little girl in a pink dress, and brown hair, holding a teddy bear in one hand. She went into the woods."
Brian and Tim looked at each other, as if communicating something, with just a look, then looked at me. "Are you sure?" Tim finally asked, in that annoyed tone.
"I am not that drunk!" I said, jabbing him in the chest
The look on his face darkened at my action. "Fine, we will go look for her." Tim said, sounding angry and annoyed. He started walking out the back door, but stopped and turned to Brian. "Almost forgot,..." He said, tossing Brian a pill bottle, it had a weird symbol on the lid. "You stay here, me and Levi will look for the girl." He said, taking my wrist and pulling me after him. "Show me where you saw her?" He said to me.
I stumbled after him, shaking my head to clear it, when the static sound acted up again distorting the music again, but was gone just as quick. They needed to fix those speakers, or get new ones. "What did you give Brian? Is he sick or something. Because, dude, we do not need to get arrested for drugs being here, at this party, I mean trespassing is enough, if we get caught. Oh my god, there's a minor here! We would go to prison!" I rambled.
Tim scoffed as we stood at the edge of the trees. "Those were not drugs. Are you sure you seen a little girl? Its not like your clear headed." He said, letting go of my wrist and stuffing his hands in his jacket pockets, glaring at me with annoyance.
"I am not that drunk." I said again. I felt an urge to stomp my foot, but didn't. Instead I turned to the woods, and whoa, it looked creepier, just staring down the trail. "Hey, little girl," I called. "I saw you run in there. You need to come back. Its not safe."
We waited a good minute. Nothing happened. I was about to call out again, because really I did not want to have to walk into the creepy looking woods on an equally spooky trail. When a little girls laughter sounded in the dark. "See!" I said pointing into the woods and looking at Tim, who still looked annoyed. "Please come out of the woods!" I called back to her.
We saw her walk toward us slowly, hugging her bear. She stopped several yard from us giggling and smiling. "I don't want to." She said, giggling.
I looked at Tim, he just looked back at me, he face stuck in that forever expression of annoyance. I scoffed at him. Bastard was going to make me coax her out. "Come on, we can get you some cake, or ice cream in the house." I tried, trying to come off as friendly.
"No. Play with me," She smiled, then turned around and ran back, deeper, into the woods.
"No, wait!" I yelled, chasing after her, forgetting the creepy woods around me, and Tim, but I could hear him running behind me.
Slenderman's POV
I watched from my spot hidden by the barns shadow, that was created by the moon. Masky's plan seemed to be progressing nicely. Ben's report seemed to ring true, as the foolish, naive boy ran head first into the woods after Sally. It really was too simple. Too easy, to lure him away from the party. Away from the crowd. If he were to scream, or shout for help, the loud music that was playing would cover it, leaving no witnesses to the sound. Not that anyone would remember the party. I turned my head to the house full of loud music. By the time they noticed his absence, any evidence of our presence would be gone. We would be safe in our woods. Hoodie slowly made his way to me, handing me the empty pill bottle. He had his hood up and his mask on sideways, so he could continue to snack on the cheesecake he had brought with him.
"Can we go now?" He asked.
I nodded my head and walked into the woods, just off the trail, heading to the destination Masky was luring his prey.
Levi's POV
After jogging down the trail after the kid for a while, I had to stop out of breath when the trail split into two. A wooded sign stood firmly in between the trail, but did not indicate where the two tails led to, just a weird red symbol; a circle with an X drawn through it. I strained my ears, trying to listen for the little girl that me and Tim had chased. The loud music from the party, was already nonexistent, and we had already lost sight of the kid a while back. I look back at Tim, who despite running the same distance as me, wasn't even winded. That just wasn't fair. "What should we do?" I asked him, huffing and puffing trying to get my breathing back.
He growl, in annoyance before answering. "Wait here, I'll go get more people to help search for her." He turned and ran back the way we came.
"Wait! Don't leave me here by myself." I called after him, stepping to follow him.
"Your not alone, that kid is in here somewhere. What if she gets scared and decided to come back, and there's no one here." He called back, not even looking back, and sound non apologetic.
I looked at the trees that surrounded me, now that I was alone, listening to an owl, hooting somewhere in the distance. "Your kidding right…." I whispered, mostly to myself, trying not to panic. This was not my ideal situation. I needed to get that kid and get out of these woods.
"Come on, play with me." The little girls, voice called from the right path, followed by a giggle.
"C'mon, kid, this is far from funny." I said, going down the path, only to hear her footstep running further away from me. "Let's head back now." I suggested.
"No! Play with me! Now!" Her voice was getting further away.
"We can, play at the party." I tried, pushing myself to catch up with her. There was no reply, just giggles. This was starting to turn into my worst nightmare. "Kid, c'mon. Playtime is over. I want to go back now." I should have just stayed put. The further I chased after her, the creepier the trees started looking. The hoot of the owl turned into a horrible screech. For a split second I would have sworn my vision static again, but I had no time to even notice it.
"SNARRL!"
"Oh, shit!" I skidded to a halt, tripping over my feet slightly. What the hell was that?! "L-little g-g-girl?" I stammered, my fear embracing me like an old friend. This was not happening. 'Did I somehow jump into a horror movie or something.' A dog, at least I think it was a dog, came charging right toward me. I found my legs leading me back the way I came, running faster than I have ever ran in my life. I looked over my shoulder for a quick second, my eyes trained on the mouth, that was lined with large, sharp teeth. The creature was literally snapping at my heels. "Okay! We can play! We can play!" I cried, running for my life, hoping that whatever was chasing me would somehow change into the little girl. Even though I am almost positive, that she was dead now, so no need for me to join her. Or Fred. Or Bonnie. I wanted to live damn it!
At some point, call it adrenaline, or pure dumb luck, I had somehow, gained more ground, than the creature chasing me, but by no means was I slowing down. I could hear the beast snarling behind me, still chasing me, so it could gnaw on my bones. I recognized the back of the sign, that let me know I was halfway back to the party, it gave me hope, pushing to run faster, toward safety. Static sounded in my ears again, the noise sending sharp pains in my skull, but I took it as a sign that I was nearing the party. Soon I would be safe, the beast that was chasing me, surely wouldn't leave the woods, it wouldn't follow me. I concluded, ignoring the burning pain that was starting to form in my muscles from running, but no, I would not stop till I could dive head first into the house. In the back o my mind I wondered, why I had not came upon Tim, and the group of people he said he was going to go get. Static sounded in my ears again, a sharp stabbing pain, seeming to shock my brain cells. I reach up to hold my head, my pace stumbling some.
"SNARRL!"
It was gaining ground. I shook my head, the pain dulled some and ran faster. 'I should be coming to the house now.' My eyes frantically scanned the trail ahead of me, my ears strained to hear the sound of party music playing, of drunken laughter. I could hear none. 'This is impossible! Where's the HOUSE!' I started panicking, tears began running down my face. "HELP!" I yelled, as loud as my breathless lungs would allow. Static, shocked through my head again, a lie, because there was no music playing from busted speakers.
And yet...The trail just kept going, like it was endless. It started to twist and turn. The trees, began encroaching on the trail. If my brain wasn't in a wild panic of fear, alcohol, and adrenaline, I would have probably thought that I wasn't on the some trail anymore. But that was impossible. It was just all in my mind. I must have passed out at the party and now I was having the most horrible nightmare of my life.
"Wake up, wake up, wake up…." I mumbled, breathlessly, over and over, as stray branches whipped past my face. "Wakeupwakeupwakeup…." Static interrupted my breathless chanting, this one, causing me to fall, holding my head. I sobbed, trying to shake the sound, the pain, out of my head. Then everything was quiet. 'Did it give up?' I hoped so.
Taking deep breathes, trying to calm my nerves, my heart. I would wake up soon. I had to wake up soon. I shook my head as the static sounded again, still as painful as the one that made me fall. Opening my eyes; I don't even remember closing them, I stared at the ground.
No….Not the ground. A shadow. I gulped, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. A shadow was looming over me.
"GROOWL!" That sound, was in front of me.
"SNARRL!" That sound resonated behind me, and getting closer.
I looked up and screamed, ditching the trail and running headlong into the trees, silently hoping that weaving through them would add my escape. I don't know what to call the thing in front of me. It looked like a naked hairless human, but not, it was too thin, disfigured, the skin on it was gray looking, and its fingers were too long, and its face, oh God, its face, I could only describe it as ghoul-like, with no eyes, though I suspected that it wasn't even close to a ghoul.
I had two creatures chasing me now. Sweat poured off me, just like my fear. My heart was trying to escape my chest, when I slipped from running into a small creek. I got back up quickly, ignoring the fire that was now my muscle, and the suffocation, that was now my lungs unable to draw air, quick enough. The static, was reappearing in my head a lot more frequently. I could feel my eyes bug out, from searching the area around me as I ran for my life, searching for anymore danger. I was so caught up in my fear that when I chanced a look over my shoulder. I barely registered that the two creatures, had not crossed the creek, that I had moments ago lost my footing in. I took moment to catch my breath and examine the creature that had first chased me. It was indeed a dog, it was husky shaped, but larger than a husky, it had red skin and the only fur on it was a strip of it running from its head, back, to the end of its tail. It was staring at my with glowing yellow eye, and smiling at me, with a smile that should not be on a dog like creature.
The static was sounding every few minutes now, barely giving me time to recover from them. I panted as I slowly started backing away from the creek, that held the two creatures at bay. I wanted to keep my eye on them to be sure they wouldn't resume their chase. But that didn't make any sense. Why were they not crossing that little stream, its wasn't deep I had ran right through it. They were just standing there looking at me. No. They weren't looking at me. A twig, snapped from behind me, causing my breath to leave me, as I instinctively froze. With wide eyes I turned slowly to look behind me. I yelled from fright and pain, when I came face to face with a feminine looking mask, and blow to the head, causing me to fall to the ground.
Everything seemed to slow after that. I covered my head with my arms to try and sooth the pain, the blow had cause. Static sounded again, intensifying the pain I was feeling, taking away my already blurry vision, and a split second. I looked up at my attacker, in time to see him bring the bat in his hands down upon my head one more time before I knew nothing else. 'Was that a faceless man in the distance?...' was my last thought, before I embraced the darkness, with open arms.
TBC
A/N: So what do all you awesome fellow readers and writers think of the new chapter? I had sooo many scenarios in my head for this chapter. I hope this chapter met all your expectations. :) Thank you to all who commented on this story, and I hope you all will continue to enjoy the story.
