Chapter 12 : Into the Darkness - Part 2 : The Eight Pages

(A/N : I do not own Slender, everything belongs to Parsec Production and it's creator, SomethingAwful. Also, if you find a bold text like this, it means it's out of POV. Anyway, *slam a table* back to the story!)

Lily POV

We headed to the entrance of the Metaforest and enter it, after we entered it, the gate was suddenly closed with a loud thud. Great, now there's no exit.

"Guess we need to find Maxwell now." Sophia said to us.

"Yeah." Alex replied.

We keep walking in the dark woods, we can heard the sound of crickets, owl, and pretty much the sound of nocturnal animals. I find a flashlight on the ground and pick it up with my left hand, I turn it on and a light came from it, well at least it's still functional.

"So now, where are we going to search- oh what's this?" Sophia walked toward a tree and pick up something.

1 of 8 pages collected

"What? I just took this paper." She said. "Hmm, 'Always Watching', who's always watching? Not helpful."

"Maybe, we should find more pages to find Maxwell and get out of here." Alex said.

"Agree." I agreed.

We continue to walk deeper into the forest, now it's very dark and you can barely see, and the wind just making it worse. Well, searching a small page in this massive forest wasn't easy at all, and sometimes you think a white mushroom that grow on a tree is a page, but it's not. I spotted another page on a broken and rusty car, I clamp my flashlight on my left armpit and pick it up with my right hand.

2 of 8 pages collected

"Guess we need 6 more." I said to the group, we started walking again while I put the page in my bag and took my flashlight from my armpit. I notice my handycam started to act weird, there some static and color blur in it, I turn around and saw a pair of black shoes, I look up and see something white, I immediately remember what it is.

"Guys, RUN!" I shouted to the group.

I was the first to run, followed by Alex and Sophia. I'm just running, not care where I go, I just need to lose him. After running for a minute, we arrive at a building and stop running.

"What... Did you... See?" Alex asked me while gasping for breath.

"It's... Him. The Slender Man, I saw him." I answered.

"And what does he want from us?" Sophia asked.

"I don't know." Alex answered. "But we still need to find more pages and save Maxwell. Let's check this building first." He pointed at an abandoned house.

"Are you sure? It's look scary." Sophia asked him.

He ignored her and we entered the building and start searching the page,. We searched every room of the house for the page until we checked the last and the most largest room, the page was on the white dirty wall, "I'll take it" Alex said as he entered the room.

3 of 8 pages collected

"Huh, Help me?" He read it, "Well, walls can't be help. Or whoever wrote this." He put the page on his pocket.

There was an eerie sound of the wind blowing outside, and Sophia start shivering,"Guys, I don't like this, let's just get out of here, this place gives me the creeps." Sophia said to us.

"Scared of an empty place, aren't you?" I asked her.

"No I'm not!" She blurted.

"Oh really? Remember when we prank you by locking you alone in the class on April fools day when you were asleep?" Alex asked her, "You were so panicked, and you tried to jump from 2nd floor window to get out." He chuckled.

"Come on Alex, forget about that, it's not funny." She crossed her arms

"Hey, it was Frank's idea." He replied.

"Okay, now let's find more pages." I said to them.

We exited the building and continue to find more pages, we walked deeper into the forest until we find a small container field, "Let's search the page here, it could be here somewhere." Alex said to us.

We split up in three and searched the page in the container field by checking every single container, "Hey guys, I found it!" Alex yelled from the other side.

4 of 8 pages collected

"Phew, that wasn't so hard." Alex said.

"What does it say?" I asked him.

"Can't run." He read it, "It's not helping, we should find more." He pocketed it.

My handycam started to act weird again, I move it to find the source of the problem, that was until I saw Slender Man behind Sophia from my handycam. I backed away with Alex from Sophia, "Guys, what's wrong with you?" She asked.

"It's... Him." I gulped, "B-b-behind you." I pointed my flashlight at his... Face, I mean his head.

A shot of static on my video camera was make me panic and dropped my flashlight, I grabbed Alex's left hand with my right hand and run back to the forest, "Sophia, run!" He yelled to her.

After a minute of non-stop running, we stopped at a watch tower on a hill and breathing heavily, and I notice Sophia wasn't with us anymore. "Argh, my leg." Alex groaned while clutching his left leg.

I quickly rushed to his side, "What happened?" I asked him.

"It's... Just my left leg. It's hurting so much right now." He answered as he sit on the ground.

"You better get some rest in here, I'll go search Sophia."

"No, you don't have to." He replied.

"Why? What are you thinking Alex? What if she got killed by Slender Man?"

"That's because she's heading here." He pointed his flashlight down the hill, I saw Sophia running toward the hill. Panting and fell into her knees, "Why... Did you guys... Leave me?" She asked while breathing heavily.

"Sorry, it's just that... Um, he was right behind you, and we were panicked so-"

"We ran away." Alex finished my sentence.

"Next time... Don't ever do that again." She said to us, "It's a good thing that I didn't die back there, or-"

BAM!

"Okay, we're dead!" She said in fast tone.

"Looks like it's going to rain." I looked up and saw the dark sky, covered in clouds and the moon light was barely visible.

"Okay, now let's look for the pages again." Alex said as he got up.

He walked while half-limping around the wooden watch tower to search the page, I and Sophia followed him from behind, "Why is he limping?" Sophia whispered to me.

"I don't know, he must have a reason to not tell us about his injury a week ago." I replied while trying to keep my voice low so Alex wouldn't hear us.

"Hey, there's one right here!" Alex shouted.

5 of 8 pages collected

"3 more." He said as he pocketed the page.

"Alex, we want to ask you something." I said to him.

"Go ahead." He replied.

"You seems hiding something from us, didn't you? About your injury." I asked him.

"Lily, it's just some cuts and a bruise on the foot's thumb, nothing to worry about." He answered.

"Then, why are you limping? I thought cuts didn't effect when walking." Sophia asked.

He was silent for a moment before sighed in defeat and held up his hands, "Fine, a week ago, after that accident. The doctor did some X ray test on my leg, he told me that I have a fractured tibia because of the bomb's explosive force, luckily it only a slight fracture and that's why it always hurt when I walked." He replied.

I gasped and covered my mouth with my left hand, "Why didn't you tell us?" I asked him.

"Because... I don't want to make you guys worried too much about me and bother you all because of me." He answered while looking away from us and lowered his head.

"Hey." I put my left hand at his right shoulder, "You are not going to bother us, even if you have every single bone of your body broken." He let out a small chuckle and half-smiled, "We will take care of you until you are healed, no matter what. That's what friends do, right?"

"Yeah." He smiled to me, "I guess you're right, there's no need to hide something from friends." He said to me, his face was close to me, and he stared me with his sky blue eyes, it's so beautiful, they were calm like the sea and also makes me calm too, even if it's filled by some guiltiness. We were staring at each other until Sophia interrupted us.

"Eh-hem, you guys finished? We really need to start looking for the pages again remember?"

We both quickly backed away and blushed, he keep smiling at me and I smiled back to him, that is when I realized my video camera was starting to act weird again, Slender Man must be not far from here. And I saw him from distance, he was at the bottom of the hill, "Guys, maybe this is the perfect time to leave." I said to the group.

"Yeah." They looked at him and nodded. With that, we continue our search for the page.

Droplets of rain starting to fall from the sky as we continue walking deeper into the forest, Alex simply raised his hood and put it over his head to prevent the water from wetting his face, he clamped his flashlight at his left armpit and pulled out his notebook and write something on it, "There. I make that video camera waterproof, so it's not going to be wet and broken because of the rain." He said to me as he pocketed his notebook back.

"Thanks."

He smiled to me and took the flashlight from his armpit. Man, he's so kind to me, I wish I could do something for him, or hang out with him to tell my feelings for him. I quickly shook that thought from my head and realized my video camera starting to get some static again, I turned my head backward and saw Slender Man from distance, he was following us. I tried to ignore him as we continue to search the page.

"Let's check that water tower." Alex pointed at a water tower on a hill.

We climbed the hill and checked the water tower for the page, "I got it!" Sophia shouted.

6 of 8 pages collected

My video camera now starting to have a color blur, damn Slender Man, what does he want from us? He was (again) at the bottom of the hill, watching us. He was suddenly gone, to nowhere. I keep my eyes open, tracking any sign of him. We continue walking to the forest, it was getting worse because our clothes are getting soaked and the ground starting to get muddy, making it slowing us down and more slippery. Plus, the fog that appeared with the rain that starting to get thicker, couldn't see a meter ahead.

There was a canoe stranded on the ground not far from the river, Anaphora Falls was visible in the distance, "Damn, looking at that falls just making me want to pee." Sophia said.

"And here is the page." Alex bent down to pick up something at the canoe.

7 of 8 pages collected

"1 more, we can do it guys."

My video camera is starting to somehow suffering audio distortion and blurring, and the Slender Man appeared in the front of me. I was able to dodge him from grabbing me and run to the group, "Guys, let's get out from here! He's here." I warned them.

"Yeah let's just..." Alex froze as he turned around and saw the Slender Man that suddenly appeared in the front of him, "Damn, why does he always appear in the front of my face?!" He cried and dodged the Slender Man arms from grabbing him.

"We better go, now!" Sophia said before we left.

We keep running, not caring which direction we went, HE was everywhere, and he was following us in every direction we went. When we turned right, he was there. We turned around and ran toward the opposite direction, he was already there. We turned around at the direction we went before and he appeared in the front of us, "Damn, now which way to go?" Alex asked.

"This way!" Sophia lead the way to a hill.

We followed her until we reach the forest again, I notice my video camera returned normal again and the Slender Man didn't followed us anymore. That was intense, and I could feel my heart beat on my chest , thank god this is over, for now. We were still beware and keep our watchful eyes to checked any sign of him. We slowly walked into the forest to search the page again. I mean, it's just 1 more page, it could be here somewhere, and I just wish Maxwell is okay. I was suspicious that Slender Man kidnapped him and turning him into one of his 'proxy', an assistant or some sort, well it was what the myth said, and I can't let him do that to Maxwell, or Sophia, and Sarah. Or even Alex, and myself.

'Just 1 more page and this is all over', I keep repeating that word on my head to keep myself down, and now there was a sound of raspy breathing, probably from the Slender Man to creep us. Well, sorry Slender Man, but you'll need more than that to creep us out. And, he probably could read my thought and now he's watching us... From distance, and now he's moving like teleporting from place to place. "Look, on that rock." Alex pointed to something white on the rocks.

"Maybe it's the pa-" I was cut off in surprise because Slender Man just appeared in the front of me, "-ge..." I gulped, and screamed. I dodge his hands from grabbing me and we ran away from him.

"He's preventing us from collecting that page!" Alex said to us.

"Yeah, probably he's-" Sophia turned his head backward, "Oh look, he's gone."

"What?" Me and Alex said in unison.

We turned around and saw that Slender Man has gone. Well, thank god, this is going to over soon. We sprinted toward the page and I picked it up.

8 of 8 pages collected

"Yay! We won!" We cheered and high-fived each other, the eerie sound of the wind and that raspy breathing has stopped, including the rain. It's only left the quietness of the forest and some sound of the crickets, "Alright... Now what? Isn't supposed to be over?"

"Guess we better-" Alex was cut off by Slender Man that suddenly appeared in the front of us, we screamed (Alex cracked voice was like little girl screaming) and we ran back to the forest, "Looks like it's not over yet." He said to me in terrified expression.

"Yeah." I replied, "Now, how to escape that thing?"

"I dunno, just keep running."

We keep running because he was following us from behind, I ignore the static on my video camera and focused on the road ahead. We ran toward the forest exit while avoiding him, and annoyingly, he always appeared in the front of us and forcing us to change direction away from the exit.

Me and Alex looked back and saw him right behind me, but he's look completely different. He wasn't wearing his usual black suit, and his head. His faceless head was wearing a rooster helmet and- Wait a second! That's not him, it could probably, no way. Probably it just a Scribblenaut he kidnapped and turned into his 'proxy', there is no way that he is Maxwell. Before I could inspect him any further, I was mysteriously black out.

(A/N : Well, that's all what happened when I played Slender : The Arrival. Luckily, I beat 'The Eight Pages' level in single game without getting caught by Slendy.)