Restless

Well, I think we're getting close to the end of this story, then it's going to be sequel time! I'm going to try and make it to 30 chapters and I may go over, we'll just have to see :) No rights to Slender

I felt cold, colder than I should, and when I opened my eyes I found myself back in that damned meat locker. "No...I left this place for good..." I jumped as the door was thrown open and that crazed man strode in and advanced on me quickly, his teeth as sharp as a sharks and his grin unnatural. "I see your comfortable, it's so nice to have you back dear Orella." I struggled against the restraints as he ran his nose along my neck and inhaled deeply, making shivers of disgust run through my body. "Your a sick twisted son of a bitch." He pulled back and his eyes had changed to red glowing cat like eyes, and they narrowed as he looked closely at me. "Oh it is not I that is twisted, I just see things as they are. You're living in a fantasy world and it's time to wake up!"

"What? Surviving off of scarce resources and fighting to stay alive is hardly what I would call a fantasy. And besides, this is just a dream, your not real..." He grinned, showing his freaky teeth, and a snake like tongue flicked out to taste the air in front of me, "Am I?" I kept eye contact with him as he lifted a now clawed finger and barely touched my jugular, watching me closely all the while to gauge my reaction. When I stayed unblinking he applied pressure and I flinched as he raked a long line down my neck and to the top of my chest, I cried out and he laughed while he pulled back. "Doesn't seem like a dream to me, more like a nightmare." I closed my eyes and put my hand against part of the wound, warm blood flowing over my fingers slowly, and I chanted a silent mantra. "It's not real, he's not real, I'll wake up soon..." But when I reopened my eyes the scene had changed, and not for the better. I was now in a darkened storage room, a flickering light hanging in the middle, illuminating only a small portion of the room.

I blinked a few times to try and wake myself but nothing worked, and I realized I still had the scratch going down my neck. It stung but my attention was taken away from the wound when I heard a tapping noise coming from the dark, it wasn't consistent and it stopped as soon as I turned my head towards it. I squinted slightly as I tried to peer through the darkness, trying to see what was making that noise, but it was impossible to see through the dark. I moved my hands and was surprised to see that I was now untied, so I got up a bit shakily and moved back against the wall, groping along looking for a weapon of some sort. My eyes never left the spot where the noise had been coming from and I made a noise of success as my hand tightened around a loose pipe. I held it out in front of me as I slowly advanced towards the dark, the light had stopped swinging and had now resorted to sporadic flickering. "Hello? Who's there?"

Of course there was no reply, but I stopped walking as a dragging noise rang through the room, it was coming from behind me. I turned on my heel and watched in horror as a bloody boy limped into the light, a dented steel bat being dragged against the floor behind him. I looked up to his blood matted dirty blonde hair down to his dead blue eyes, I knew who it was but I didn't want to admit it to myself...this was just a nightmare. "Just go away...please." But he continued to shuffle towards me, his jaw had been ripped off and one of his arms was gone, it had been ripped right off. His neck looked broken as well but I didn't linger on his appearance as he was now about a foot and a half away, his moans making me sick to my stomach. "Tyler I can't hurt you...please!" I tried to push him away with the pipe but for some reason I couldn't move my arms, and soon I was frozen in place, a hungry Tyler clawing at the air in front of my face. He got closer and closer until I could feel his hot acrid breath on my face, the stench overwhelming my senses and it made me gag.

But I didn't have time to react as he growled loudly and clamped his teeth down onto my neck and he ripped into my flesh, I screamed in pain and agony as I felt every second of it. How could this happen in a dream? It wasn't real! I screamed until my lungs were raw and before he could take another bite the world around me went black, and I realized that my eyes were closed again. My body was being shaken gently and my eyes flew open to see a blank white face, an image that now made my heart rate slow and my nerves relax. He continued to run a hand over my face and shake my shoulder gently, for I now realized I was still screaming and shaking uncontrollably. "Orella! Orella stop! Your okay, your safe!" I stopped screaming and my eyes focused on his face while my mid focused on his voice, "I-I-I'm safe...I'm safe..." I shakily repeated those words mostly to myself as I calmed myself, trying to get my breathing back to a steady pace and keep my heart from busting out of its cage. As Slender saw me calm down he pulled me close to him and I breathed in his scent, I then realized that he hadn't left the bed yet, but right now I didn't care. "You are okay my hunter, you are safe with me. What happened?" I pulled back and looked at him as he cupped my face, I guessed that if he had an expression on his face right now it would be worried and concerned. "I...it was just-just a dream...a nightmare. It wasn't real..." He listened to me as I rambled on about what happened and how it was just a dream, but at the same time I was running my fingers over where I had been cut and bitten, the pain still fresh in my mind. "I just want it to stop...please, make them go away." I looked at him with my vulnerability showing and I felt my control slipping, I really wanted to just go back to sleep but I knew the dreams would come back...they always did.

"It's ok now Orella, it was just a dream. Your ok now I promise-wait...let me see your neck." He pulled my hand away from where I had it pressed against my neck securely, making me flinch a bit but I complied, and he ran his fingers over something I couldn't see. "What? W-what's on my neck? Slender?" He said nothing but then he grabbed a small hand mirror from my bedside table and held it in front of my face, I gasped as I saw a distinct teeth mark bruise forming on my neck right where I had been bitten in my dream.

My fingers skimmed the mark briefly before I shut my eyes and shook my head, refusing to believe that it was there, "No no no...no no! It can't be there it was just a dream! This isn't real!" Slender pulled me back into his chest and pressed his lips to my bruise, just a feather light touch, and I felt the throbbing pain that had started up recede. I said nothing as we just lay there, him holding me and pressing light kisses to my neck and face, and me calming myself down as I thought of the possibilities. All of a sudden there was a knocking on my door followed by a half asleep voice, "Hey Ella, you alright? I heard screaming or something so I came to check on ya, is it another nightmare?" "Uh, yeah. I-I'm fine, promise."

I heard a noise of confirmation and then footsteps walking down the hallway until they faded, making me let out a sigh of relief and I sat up slowly while rubbing my face, now feeling extremely weary. I looked over to see Slender was still laying down on top of the covers, he never used any, and he was twining a tentacle with my hand for comfort. I gave him a mildly convincing smile and tightened my grip on his, "I'm alright now, it was just a bad dream." He nodded slightly and I was about to get up, but then I decided against it and laid back down beside him, turning towards him and moving close.

"I don't know about you but I kind of want to stay in bed for a while longer." He chuckled and smirked, "I think that sounds like a devious idea." I rolled my eyes as he pulled me flush against him and he flashed his teeth wolfishly while I tried to ignore him playfully. I turned onto my other side and closed my eyes in a fake attempt at ignoring him, but all the while I could feel a single tentacle slithering its way up my leg and up my night shirt, though he still acted like a gentleman and kept it over my camisole. "Your an evil man, you know that right?" All I heard was him chuckle and the tentacle wrapped around my midsection while he pulled me back into him again, his teeth lightly brushing against my neck. It was so weird how quickly my mood could change whenever he was around, whether it be going from sad to happy, happy to angry, etc. I came back to reality as I felt his breath at my ear as he whispered to me, "What is bouncing around in that complex mind of yours I wonder?" I shrugged a bit nonchalantly and pet the sleeping Artimus that was laying in the middle of a pillow on my side of the bed, his eyes opening as I did so and he hopped over and lept onto my hair.

Slender huffed and gently pushed the tiny cat back with another tentacle so that he was back on the pillow, "Why do you insist on keeping this annoying...beast." I grabbed the kitten and snuggled him close as I turned back to lay towards Slender, "Because I love him and he's just so cute and fluffy. Why don't you pet him?" "I do not 'pet' animals, I am the Slender Man." I held the kitten towards him with a puppy dog face on and Artimus licked Slenders face as I did so, making him pull back and look at us with what would probably be a stern expression. "No, now please put him over there." I grumbled and placed the kitten on the floor so he could get something to eat and drink while I put a pillow over my head to block out Slender, unfortunately he can get through pillows. He pulled it away from my face and rested his forehead against mine thoughtfully, "Tell me what is running through your mind, I can tell when something is weighing you down." I kept my eyes closed as I answered, "It's just...I feel like I'm stuck in some never ending loop of nothing. The dead can't be kept at bay forever and they'll probably be around more now that the snow is almost gone." "So it is just the walking parasites you are worried about?" I sighed heavily as I opened my eyes and looked to the side, he always catches me, "No...I just want all this to end you know? I want someone to find a cure like in the movies and then withing a few years things could be almost...normal. I want to go back when my family was alive and when I had no worries other than making sure I got to work on time and I paid the bills...I want my life back."

I really should have worded that better but I did not realize my error until the words left my mouth, Slender lifted away from me some and whispered a reply, his tone neutral but firm. "You mean your life before me...before Charlie. I understand why you would want that back, you could be together with your...John. And he would finally have his wish." His tone was scathing and I looked at him as I felt the severity of his words, he thought I regretted ever meeting him, ever giving him a chance, but it wasn't true. "That's not what I meant-" "But it is what you meant, Orella. You cannot tell me that if this had never happened then you wouldn't have been with John...you will always love him in a way that you can never love me. But I'm not surprised, human emotions are strong and do not fade." I bit my tounge as the venom from his words burned my skin and I felt him get off of the bed, leaving me to sit up on my own. He didn't have to take it that far even if I made a slip up, "Do you really see me like that, as unstable? I may have a love for John but it's not anywhere near how I feel for you. Why can't you see that?" He turned slightly towards me but he said nothing as I rose from the bed and moved towards the door, wanting him to say something and trying to figure out how his mood fluctuated so rapidly.

"Can you please say something?" "What do you want me to say?...I don't know why things have happened the way they have but I always have my doubts about...us. Is it really meant to last, I mean, I'm not even human! How can I know that you would always be with me when there is always the conflicts of our differences?" My mind ran at a mile a minute, processing what he was saying and what I could say back to him, but nothing rational was coming up. "I...your right. I just...I really thought that I loved you. These past few days that's all that's been on my mind, how you're always there and how gentle you are, and your differences are what makes me love you so much. But I guess I would be asking to much for you to think the same way." Silence, "Ella-" "Just dont, okay?" My hand grasped the door knob and I turned it so the door opened a bit, "You don't have to say anything right now, I'm going for a walk alone ok? I don't want to be followed and I don't want to talk, I just need some time to get my head straight. And tell Charlie not to go through my journal again." I shut the door and went into the bathroom to get dressed before grabbing my cloak, some breakfast, some water, and heading outside without another word.

(Narrative PoV) The Slender man stood as still as stone as he watched his young hunter, his life, shut the door and leave in anger. How could he have been so stupid? He knew she didn't mean it that way but just hearing those words struck a cord on his nerves that he couldn't ignore...and then she said she loved him. How could she say that with such conviction, such sureness, and look him in the face? He just couldn't wrap his head around it. He looked towards the door for another moment before thinking of something that he knew was wrong, but maybe it could help him. He walked over to her bedside drawer and opened it slowly to reveal the journal inside, a few pages bent but otherwise it was in good condition. He flipped to the last few pages and began to read, 'I don't know what to do, Slender told me not to tell Charlie but how could I not? She will definately hate me, probably leave, but anything is better than holding something like this from her...I know she would make the same decison.' He was not surprised to read this but he flipped towards her last written page, wanting more recent thoughts, and he was not disappointed. 'Last night was one of the most realistic dreams yet, I had even found what seemed to be self inflicted scratches on my legs...I don't know why this is happening but I just want it to stop. But on the other hand today turned out to be happy for me, Slender laid with me again and I simply melted into goo as he held me...how did I ever function without him?'

Did she really feel this way? But he did not have time to think it over as a scribbled page fell out and onto the floor, so out of curiosity he picked it up. It had a few crossed out sentences and a hastily written paragraph, 'I have to leave, get out. No escape!...I've been trying to decipher the dreams but its to hard, they just lead me back to when I was kidnapped and the only thing that I think would alleviate them is to just tell the truth...but I can't. I know Slender would be unhappy and that's the last thing I want...maybe I just need to get away for a while, on my own. Just try to figure myself out you know?' He flipped it over to see the date of the following day, 'I've decided to tell them tomorrow, I am going to be leaving for a month or so to be alone...this will be good for me I can feel it...it will help me.'

He let the book fall to the floor as he stood and walked quickly from the room to find Charlie, they had to talk to her before it was too late. "Charlie!" She popped up from behind the couch and cocked her head questioningly at his urgent tone, "Yeah? Something wrong?" "I fear Orella is running away, we have to stop her and talk to her or she's going to get herself killed." Charlie nodded and immediately pulled on her shoes and pulled on a lighter jacket, then she called Bongo and opened the front door so he could follow them out. As they stood in front of the door for a moment Charlie looked over to the tall faceless man, slight accusation in her voice, "Did you have something to do with this? I hear you two arguing in the bedroom...and she wasn't to happy when she left." His shoulders stiffened and he didn't look towards the small girl as she accused him, but he could not deny the blame, for it was mostly his fault. "I...lets just find her. Then we will have to have a long...and serious...talk."

Looks like the next chapter or two may be the last until the sequel...dun dun duhhhh! Love writing this and love the reviews, please keep it up!