Waves crawled to the shore as a light wind blew through the trees, making them creak and groan. The night air felt cold and menacing, and the dark forest loomed ominously around the lake, casting shadowy reflections across its surface. A thick fog was rolling in over the murky water, but the black sky was mostly devoid of clouds, allowing the dim light of the moon to partially illuminate the landscape. Crickets hiding in the tall grass chirped loudly and owls perched in the trees hooted back and forth to one another. Lauren stepped out onto the sand and let the door shut behind her, seeing that the beach she now stood on stretched a ways to the left, with the area to her right consisting of little more than untamed wilderness. Sand covered the dirt trail that crept under the building's gate, and just ahead were the ruins of the boat launch that it led to. She pondered her surroundings for a few moments before beginning to make her way across the beach, doing her best to shut out the horrific images of decaying ghouls and tall, shadowy observers that invaded her thoughts with each passing second. It wasn't long before she came across a small, decrepit cinderblock building with a rusted sheet metal roof and a decaying wooden porch. Rotting boards barricaded the building's door and windows, and aside from some boxes and a couple of stray papers on the porch, it was completely empty. An old sign was bolted to the side of the building, and the message its weathered lettering displayed was barely legible; OAKSIDE PARK HAS 3 CANOES AVAILABLE FOR RENTAL.

Lauren continued her trek down the beach, quickly forgetting the insignificant building. A wall of wilderness stood tall to her left, to her right was the lake, and just ahead was a chain-link fence that stretched between them, its gate wide open and embedded deep in the sand. She got the impression that it was more for show than anything else, as simply walking around it would have been an easy task. Nevertheless, she walked through the open gate and made her way toward a dirt trail that led away from the beach, failing to notice the gate silently sliding shut and locking itself behind her. As Lauren approached the trail, she began to notice just how heavily wooded and overgrown Oakside Park really was, as well as how old wooden fences and natural walls of stone formed winding, elaborate barriers that stretched deep into the wilderness. She'd never been to Oakside Park before, but she knew that the local government had wanted to turn it into an actual campground, at least partially, but by the look of it they hadn't made much progress prior to abandoning the place… or maybe they had, and she'd simply found herself in a more undeveloped area. There were several different locations where they'd been doing construction within these woods, after all, and the area she now found herself in was only one of them. Lauren soon found herself at an intersection where three different paths snaked away from the beach in different directions, and standing just ahead, where the sand of the beach gave way to the wild, unkempt grass and vegetation of the forest, was an old wooden sign that featured a map of the park's trails and locations. She took a moment to look over it, reading the information that was displayed alongside the map.

OAKSIDE PARK

Rules for Parks, Trails, & Open Space

Park Hours: 4:30 AM - 9:00 PM

~No Overnight Camping

~No Unleashed Pets

~No Alcoholic Beverages

~No Smoking

~No Glass Containers

~No Hunting

~No Destruction or Misuse of Park Property

Thank You for Visiting

EMERGENCIES: CALL 911

"Those are weird rules to have in a place you're trying to turn into a campground. I get the last two, but everything else is just overkill." Lauren commented. "Well, maybe not the smoking part. Wouldn't want any forest fires." As she turned her attention away from the sign, she caught a glimpse of something strange out of the corner of her eye; Further down the beach, close to the border of the forest, was a tall stump with an abandoned, weathered canoe lying in the sand next to it, but that wasn't what had caught her attention. Attached to the stump's sun-bleached bark was a sheet of paper that appeared to have been torn out of a notebook, and when she approached the strange sight to get a better look at it, her breath caught in her throat as she realized what it was. Scribbled frantically on the paper were the words "DON'T LOOK… OR IT TAKES YOU," and accompanying the cryptic warning was a familiar sketch of a familiar suited man. Lauren immediately knew what she was looking at; a page torn from Kate's notebook, likely one of the eight pages that she'd noticed were missing from it a few minutes prior. She wasn't sure whether to be relieved or concerned by her discovery. On one hand, it confirmed that she was on the right track because Kate had definitely been in the area recently, but on the other, if her friend was running around the woods at night plastering things with her drawings like she'd done in her own house… that wasn't a good thing. Then again, Kate had been lucid enough to leave a clear message for her, so maybe she was leaving these pages behind as clues of some sort… maybe finding the rest of them would lead Lauren to her. Regardless of what her friend's intentions were, she knew that there were at least two dangerous entities lurking nearby, one of which was definitely watching them both. She still had a hard time believing what she'd already seen that night, but it wasn't safe to stand around and dwell on it, or anything else for that matter. She had to act now and figure everything out later. "Please be more than a meaningless scavenger hunt," Lauren thought as she reached out and took the note off of the stump, stuffing it in her pocket. She regretted those words almost immediately.

An unnatural chill washed over her, sending goosebumps up her arms and fear coursing through her veins. The owls and crickets fell deathly silent as a new sound hit her ears; the slow, steady, singular beat of a drum, emanating from everywhere, yet nowhere, and looping endlessly as if to signal a looming execution. "Oh my god…" Lauren whimpered, and before she could even think about what she was doing, she turned and bolted back across the beach. Seeing that the gate was now closed only fueled the icy terror in her heart, but it was something she could deal with easily. The fence only came up to her shoulders, so she should've been able to jump over it without any trouble, but Oakside Park wasn't done with her yet. As she vaulted over the fence, something happened that she couldn't explain; In less than a second, her vision turned blurry, her ears rang, and she felt sicker than she'd ever felt before, but that all went away as soon as her boots touched the sand… on the same side of the fence that she'd just been on. "What the fuck?" Lauren stammered, more terrified than ever. She tried to jump the fence again but was met with the same result. She couldn't even begin to understand what was happening, but the confusion only fueled her terror and she found herself hyperventilating as the beating of the drum overtook all rational thought. With no other options, she did the only thing she could think of and ran toward the lake, diving into the cold water in one last attempt to escape. However, before she could so much as touch the surface she found herself lying in the sand, and as she stood back up with panic in her eyes and terror in her heart, she came to a horrible realization; She was trapped.

She frantically brushed the sand off of herself and took a few deep breaths, desperately trying to calm herself down, but it was easier said than done. She was alone in the dark in a place she was completely unfamiliar with, her best friend was missing and had left almost no trace, and she was being stalked by something that she couldn't even see, something that clearly wasn't natural. Lauren didn't know what to do, but she did know that she couldn't stay out in the open, and she quickly made her way back to the old sign. Barely stopping to glance at the map, she took the path to the right and followed it up a hill and into the woods. Now that she was away from the wide-open beach, Lauren felt herself beginning to breathe easier. The trees surrounding the trail gave her a sense of security, as the heavy foliage would make it difficult for anything to sneak up on her. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than being out in the open. However, the beating of the drum was constant, the air was steadily growing colder, and even the moonlight seemed to be getting dimmer. There was something other than fear that she felt too, and that was shame. She was ashamed of herself for trying to leave the park at the first sign of trouble, for nearly abandoning Kate. Even if it had been during a moment of hysteria, a moment when all rational thought had left her, she couldn't forgive herself for it. Despite the dire, clearly supernatural circumstances, Lauren was determined to help her friend, even if doing so meant facing whatever horrors were lying in wait. A few short hours ago she never would've believed the things she'd seen that night, the things that she was still witnessing, and even now she was having trouble coming to terms with the fact that it wasn't all just a nightmare or hallucination. Regardless of how she felt, Kate needed her help, and so she swallowed her fear and trekked on into the night. Eventually, the trail opened up into a small clearing where a dark, decrepit building stood ominously, overlooking the lake through a gap in the trees. As she examined the large structure, she noticed an old sign above the door that read;

Oakside Park

Information Centre

It hadn't taken long for Lauren to learn that Oakside Park, at least this part of it, was more of a series of forested trails than a campground, so it came as a surprise when she found herself standing before the empty husk of a once inviting building. Its large windows had all been shattered, and the only remaining evidence of doors were warped hinges and empty frames. She shined her flashlight through the broken windows, illuminating the destruction within; The remaining furniture was overturned and broken, shattered glass littered the floor, and rotting boards and fallen paneling were strewn about the room. Suddenly, the sound of leaves crunching in the woods pierced her ears and she whipped around, pointing her flashlight in the direction the sound had come from, but there was nothing there. She cautiously backed away from the sound and into the building, wrinkling her nose at the foul smell of mildew and turning away from the door to begin her search. "Kate?" she called out, well aware that it was a risky move. "It's Lauren." There was no answer, only the constant beating of the drum. Nervously, she crept past the front desk and began searching the few rooms that the building had, coming up with little more than ruined junk from a time when Oakside Park was still a welcoming place. Soon enough, the only place left to look was a large bathroom, and it was there that she was met with something other than the friend she'd hoped to find.

Just above a row of sinks was a broken mirror, and held in place by a few remaining shards of glass was another page from Kate's notebook. This time, it read "ALWAYS WATCHES - NO EYES," and accompanying the message was a drawing at the center of the page that consisted of a large circle with two x's near the top of it, seemingly meant to represent a lack of eyes. It was unsettling, to say the least, and the mention of missing eyes reminded her of the ghoul from the burned house. She hoped dearly that whatever was following her wasn't that thing, and as much as she didn't want to do it after what had happened with the first page, she forced herself to take the second one. As she stuck it in her pocket, she began to wonder if the number of pages that had been missing from Kate's notebook was more significant than she'd initially thought. "If finding one page is what started whatever's happening right now, then could finding all eight be what ends it?" she pondered. "Maybe that will break the seal on the park?" She had no way of knowing if her theory was correct, but it was the only thing she had to go off of. With any luck, finding more of the pages would lead her to Kate as well, and so she conjured up some bravery and made her way out of the information center with a new goal in mind, taking the path that led back to where she'd come from, as looking around the building had revealed that there were no other trails branching off from the clearing it stood in. She was far from thrilled about going back to the beach, and it didn't help her steadily growing paranoia that every few minutes or so her camcorder would emit a burst of static or waves of distortion would flash across its screen, usually both at the same time. She knew what that meant, and she didn't like it.

She passed the beach as quickly as she could and followed the trail directly ahead, finding herself looking over her shoulder more and more frequently. Too often did she see things lurking within the thick forest that surrounded the path; glimpses of something pale, dark figures that turned out to be plants or rocks when she shined her flashlight at them, an occasional splotch of red that shouldn't have been visible in the darkness… and accompanying it all was the incessant beating of the drum. She still couldn't explain that phenomenon, nor could she explain any of the other things she'd seen that night, and she had no interest in trying. For her whole life, she hadn't believed in the paranormal, but now that she'd found herself face to face with so many things that shouldn't exist, she knew that she'd been wrong, and it was not a comforting thought. She found herself thinking about Kate again, wondering how much of what her friend had dealt with for the past couple of years was something far more dangerous than PTSD. Lauren had no idea how she would find her now; Even with her new goal of finding the eight pages, she was doing more running than searching now that she had a mysterious presence breathing down her neck.

As she began to ascend a hill, she caught sight of an old, rickety, wooden observation tower at the top of it that stood slightly taller than the trees. Corroded metal panels covered the sides of the viewing platform, and the whole structure looked like it was ready to collapse with the slightest gust of wind. Attached to one of the lower rungs of the tower's ladder was the third page. This one featured a hastily drawn picture of the faceless, suited man standing next to a pine tree, and written vertically to the right of the drawing was the word "FOLLOWS." When Lauren collected the note, the beating of the drum abruptly ceased, but before she could do so much as breathe a sigh of relief, a new sound took its place; It was hard to describe, consisting of a lowly drone accompanied by a faint, barely audible rattling, and like the beating drum from before, it repeated itself endlessly, disrupting the otherwise silent night. She could feel the temperature dropping much further than it ever should've, see the eerie fog from the lake growing thicker and engulfing the forest around her, and even the night itself seemed to be growing darker by the minute. Whatever was happening, it wasn't good, and she wasn't planning on sticking around to see what other nasty surprises Oakside Park had in store for her. It was then that she felt a dark, powerful presence behind her. All at once, her camera started malfunctioning, her flashlight began flickering, and a sense of dread that rattled her to her core stole over her. Lauren slowly turned around, and when her flickering flashlight fell upon the entity standing completely motionless in the tree line, she found herself frozen in horror, unable to move.

This thing, this monster, it was clearly the man that Kate's drawings were meant to portray, but it was far from human, even if it somewhat resembled one. The being was dressed for a funeral, sporting a black suit, dress pants, and dress shoes that were all as dark as night, as well as a white undershirt and a deep red tie. However, the creature's choice of clothing was the only aspect of it that could be considered normal; Even from a distance, it towered over its prey, standing well over nine feet tall. Its form was unnaturally thin, appearing almost malnourished while looking healthy and powerful all at the same time, and its arms were grossly out of proportion with the rest of its body, coming down so far that the long, skeletal fingers on its bony hands extended just past its knees. The creature's skin was clammy and deathly pale, as if it had been dead for a long time, but the worst part was its face… or lack of one. There was no hair, no eyes, no mouth, no nose, no ears, no facial features of any kind; only a bald head featuring a blank, emotionless slate. As Lauren and the monster stared at one another, she realized why Kate's drawings had seemed so familiar to her; This creature was a local legend, one that she was very familiar with. It was the Slender Man, a monster she'd heard many stories about while growing up, stories that blamed the creature for all of the people who went missing in Oakside, stories warning her not to stray too far from her parents or go out into the woods on her own, because if she did, the Slender Man would take her away, never to be seen again. She'd always found those stories interesting, but like most other Oakside residents, she'd dismissed them as mere fairy tales. Now, as she stared into the featureless face of this eldritch abomination, she knew them to be true.

This was the monster that had caused Kate so much pain in the past, the creature that had been hunting her just before Lauren's arrival at her house, the shadowy figure that had been watching her ever since she'd stepped foot onto Kate's property. It was something that shouldn't have been able to exist, something so far beyond human comprehension that just looking at it made her head hurt. The longer she stared at it, the worse she felt; It was like her mind was trying to reject what she was seeing, and as black splotches appeared in her vision and she started seeing double, she began coughing and looked away from the monster. It was only for a moment, but that was all it took. When she looked back up, she let out a scream and stumbled backward, falling to the ground, for the Slender Man was now standing right in front of her, towering over his newest plaything. Suddenly, a swarm of black tentacles erupted from the monster's back, thrashing and writhing in the air around it as Lauren struggled to stand. Looking at the monster was one thing, but being this close to it was something else entirely. She felt like her body was tearing itself apart; A fierce migraine mercilessly ripped through her head, her ears rang so loudly that she felt like her eardrums were about to explode, a stream of blood poured from her nose, and she had an overwhelming urge to vomit. Her vision was going black, her heart was pounding so hard that it hurt, her coughing was getting worse by the second, and she felt cold, so cold, colder than she'd ever felt before. The sight of the Slender Man's tentacles snaking toward her gave her the adrenaline boost she needed, and she staggered to her feet and sprinted away from the demon, barely conscious as she blindly charged down the path.

She didn't know where she was going, nor did she care, she only knew that she needed somewhere to hide. Thankfully, it wasn't long before she found some cover; Just off of the trail, far away from the Slender Man, a tattered old tent was still standing. Its flaps were open and blowing in the wind, and a few feet in front of it was a crude firepit made from stones. Both looked like they hadn't been used for a very long time, but that didn't matter to her. Lauren ducked inside and dropped to the ground, keeping a close eye on the tent's entrance as she tried to get her breathing back under control. She doubted that a hiding spot like this would save her from the monster that was following her, but she needed a few moments to compose herself. Her nose had stopped bleeding, and so she wiped the blood off of her face and clutched her head as the throbbing headache slowly went away. She had a million questions, none of which she knew the answers to, and that only made her feel worse. Minutes that felt like hours slowly passed by, and she was expecting to see a pale, bony hand reaching into the tent at any moment, but that moment never came. There were no words to describe what she'd just been through, no emotions that could properly convey what she was feeling. Perhaps she was in a state of shock, or maybe it was just the adrenaline coursing through her body, but she felt strangely focused now that the hunt was truly on. The Slender Man had finally revealed himself to her, and in a weird way, it was a relief to know what she was up against instead of constantly being afraid of the unknown. However, she was still trapped in the park, and she had no idea how she was going to escape this thing. Lauren knew that the demon's influence was what was keeping her from leaving those woods, and the unearthly sounds changing as she collected more pages seemed to prove her theory that finding all eight would actually accomplish something, but she doubted that the monster would simply let her walk away. Unfortunately, winning this twisted game was the only chance she had.

Finding Kate would have to wait, she had her own problems to worry about now. As much as she wanted to help her friend, she knew that she wouldn't be able to if she was dead, and if she stayed in the same place for much longer, she surely would be. As she fought to conjure up enough bravery to leave the tent, she realized something; While simply looking at the Slender Man was enough to deep fry her brain, it seemed that the more severe effects of being in his presence only manifested if she got too close to him. Now that she was far away from him, she felt a million times better, both physically and mentally, and her flashlight and camcorder had stopped freaking out as well, although it seemed that proximity to the demon didn't matter all that much when it came to the camcorder; all it took to make the thing malfunction was pointing it at the creature. She thought back to the first page she'd collected and its warning about the demon taking her if she looked at it for too long. She wished she would've paid more attention to it before, doing so might have saved her from a near-death experience. Still, the dreadful experience had taught her some valuable information, and she planned on using it to her advantage. She decided then and there to start paying more attention to her equipment; If her flashlight, camcorder, or both started acting up, that meant the Slender Man was near. "Having the footage to prove all of this wouldn't hurt either," she muttered, glancing at her camera. Truthfully, she wasn't sure why she hadn't stopped filming some time ago, but she wasn't going to quit now. Nobody would believe a story like this without evidence, and even then, it would probably be hard to convince people that she was telling the truth.

"Act now, think later," Lauren told herself, leaving the tent and looking around to make sure nothing was lurking nearby. Thankfully, she didn't see the Slender Man anywhere, and the lack of camera glitching and flashlight flickering confirmed that he wasn't close enough to be a threat at that moment. What she did see, however, was something she hadn't noticed before; attached to the side of the tent was the fourth page. A crude sketch of a pine tree was drawn on it to the right of the words "LEAVE ME ALONE," and she quickly snatched it and resumed her search of Oakside Park, running at a mild pace to keep herself from tiring out. She had many years of exercise, particularly cardio, to thank for her stamina, and she had never been more grateful for it than she was now. Soon enough, the path she followed opened up to a clearing that held a small, roofed storage yard containing a significant amount of abandoned park property, as well as weathered crates and shipping containers stamped with a familiar label; Kullman Mining Co. Lauren knew all about the Kullman Mining Company; It was a local business that had once provided employment to many families in Oakside, but had gone out of business after filing for bankruptcy some time ago, leaving a lot of people without jobs. Oakside Park Management and Kullman Mining had once done business with each other, which was why they shared the storage space. She couldn't remember how close the old mines were to the park, but it didn't matter to her very much. She quickly made her way into the storage yard and began looking for the fifth page, finding it after a few minutes of searching.

The page was covered in random scribbles, but the words "CAN'T RUN," were legible, albeit ominous. Soon after she plucked it from the rotting pallet it had been stuck to, a new ambiance engulfed the environment; The droning sound faded away, only to be replaced by what sounded like a cross between a low, unnatural growl, and a heavy wind sweeping through the forest. However, despite what it sounded like, the weather itself didn't change, only the eerie noises emanating from all around her. Before she could think about it any further, a sudden burst of static from her camcorder let her know that it was time to go, and she swiftly left the storage yard, knowing that the Slender Man was stalking her from somewhere nearby. She didn't need to see the creature to know when it was close anymore; She had found a weakness, perhaps its only weakness, and for that reason, she'd grown much bolder. Lauren was still more terrified than words could express, but there was also a newfound fire burning within her. Now with over half of the pages she needed, Lauren continued on without looking back, refusing to give the demon the satisfaction of seeing her terrified. However, it wasn't long before she realized that the Slender Man was becoming increasingly agitated; He still kept his distance for the most part, but he rarely let her out of his sight anymore… or himself out of hers. Sometimes she would see him watching her from a distance, barely visible within the cover of the forest. Other times she wouldn't see him at all, but the pain coursing through her body and the malfunctioning of her equipment told her that he was nearby. Then there were the times when he'd suddenly appear right in front of her, sending waves of agony shooting through her skull as his pitch-black tentacles writhed in the air around him, forcing her to run far away.

Despite the Slender Man's persistence in tormenting her, he didn't seem to be in any particular hurry to finish her off, but that was far from a relief. Lauren knew that he was intentionally taking his time with her. It wanted to wear her down, break her mind and body, but she wasn't going to let it. As she hunted for the remaining pages, she passed several interesting landforms, including a wide crevice in the ground with natural walls of stone. It was fairly deep and stretched far into the forest, and knowing that she would be easy prey in a place like that, she walked along the edge instead of going inside, shining her flashlight down into the rocky dell to make sure she wasn't missing anything. She then continued onward, eventually coming across another storage yard that was similar to the first one, with the only real difference being that it didn't have a roof over it. However, much to her frustration, there were no pages to be found no matter how thoroughly she searched. Lauren hadn't been looking for very long, but in the time it'd taken for her to come up empty-handed, the enemy had closed in on her once again. She felt a sudden chill in the air, and before she had time to register what was happening, the Slender Man attacked. This time was different from most of his other ambushes; This time, his effect on her was much stronger, nearly knocking her to the ground like it had when she'd had her first true encounter with him. She didn't have time to wonder why his influence affected her differently every time he was near, for she was busy trying to escape the creature before its tentacles could ensnare her. With nowhere to run but straight into the forest, Lauren dove into the foliage and sprinted away from the eldritch abomination behind her. Branches scratched her face and loose roots threatened to trip her up as she ran through the woods, trying not to panic as she desperately searched for the path she'd been following. After suffering several minutes of abuse from the thick vegetation, she finally saw a gap in the trees and burst out onto the path, immediately catching sight of a blue and white outhouse that stood just off of the trail. Shining her flashlight onto it revealed another page, one that was marked with a desperate plea; "HELP ME."

"I will, Kate. I promise you I will," Lauren whispered. After adding the sixth page to her collection, Lauren followed the trail up another hill and to a pair of abandoned vehicles with flat tires and missing license plates. One was a silver jeep and the other was a navy blue car; Both were old, decrepit, and severely rusted. Their windows and windshields were cracked and broken, their interiors were filthy, and their headlights and tail lights were shattered. They'd been there for a very long time, and Lauren found herself thinking back to the car she'd left parked behind that fallen tree, wondering if it would meet the same fate if something were to happen to her. She quickly spotted the seventh page, as it was held in place by one of the jeep's bent windshield wipers. The writing on it was frantic, reading only; "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO." At the middle of the page, surrounded by the unhinged writing, was another drawing of the Slender Man, one that was more detailed than the other ones she'd seen. As for the monster himself, Lauren caught sight of him watching her from the shadows and quickly grabbed the page and bolted away, not wanting to make his job any easier for him. It was as she was running down the path that a brand new ambiance tore through the forest, sending a chill down her spine. It was hard to comprehend exactly what she was hearing, as the sound could only be described as a strange, repeating audio frequency that shifted in pitch throughout its duration, accompanied by something that vaguely resembled the sound of raspy breathing at the end of the loop. Lauren tried her best to tune it out, keeping herself focused on the faceless entity that was following her as she ran down the trail, well aware that the Slender Man was growing more aggressive by the second.

While trapped within Oakside Park, she'd been forced to explore dirt trails, abandoned structures and buildings, the dense foliage of the forest, and even a desolate beach, but soon after leaving the vehicles behind, she was presented with something different; a vast, open field overgrown with grass and weeds that were nearly as tall as she was. In the middle of the field, an old, rusted water tower stood tall atop a small hill, and she knew as soon as she saw it that it was where the final page would be. Just as she was about to step onto the trail leading through the overgrown mess, the Slender Man appeared right in front of her. However, Lauren had expected that to happen and bolted away from him before the demon's appendages could even begin to reach for her. She sprinted toward the water tower as fast as she could, her lungs burning from the combination of frigid air and exhaustion. She could clearly see the eighth page stuck to one of the water tower's metal support beams, but the sound of writhing tentacles slithering toward her was becoming louder by the second. Lauren ran faster than she'd ever run before; Her vision was darkening and the ringing in her ears drowned out all other sounds. Her head pounded, blood dripped from her nose, and her exhausted body was seconds away from giving out, but she kept going, and just as she thought she was going to collapse, she suddenly heard the forest fall silent. The spine-chilling ambiance had ceased, and after a few moments, the creatures of the forest began to make noise again, sensing that it was safe to come back out. The temperature was slowly returning to normal, and the unnaturally thick fog was beginning to dissipate. She looked around to see if her assailant was still following her, but he was nowhere to be found. Lauren managed a smile and let out an exhausted laugh, breathing heavily as she slumped to the ground with the final page clutched in her hand. Collecting all of them really had done something; She'd beaten the Slender Man at his own game. His influence had left the park entirely, and if she was lucky, she'd be able to leave now.

Before stuffing the page in her pocket with the other seven, she took a moment to look at it. Unlike the other pages, this one didn't have any writing on it. Instead, it featured a drawing of the Slender Man surrounded by trees, most of which seemed to be conifers, but there was one exception; near the top right corner of the page was a bare tree with jagged branches that pointed straight up at the sky. Lauren sat there in exhaustion for a few minutes, leaning against the tower and catching her breath, listening to the peaceful sounds of the forest. "I don't know why the hell it took collecting pages from a notebook to beat that thing… but I'm not complaining," she muttered. There was so much for her to unpack, so much that she needed to come to terms with, but she could do that once she was sure she was out of harm's way. She managed to stand back up, her legs shaking from exhaustion, and took a few moments to study her surroundings, trying to figure out what to do next. She could see the glowing red light of the radio tower far off in the distance, high above the forest, and remembered all of the references that Kate had made to it in her drawings. She seemed to think that it was some sort of safe haven, and Lauren had a hunch that her friend was heading there as fast as she could. Kate had been leaving her a trail to follow, and she figured it probably wasn't a good idea to diverge from it. "Maybe if I'm quick, I can meet up with her before she gets there," Lauren said. "First I have to find a way out of this park. Maybe there's a road-" before she could finish that thought, she felt a dark presence right behind her. She whipped around to see the Slender Man reaching out at her with a skeletal hand, his head crooked to the side. She let out a scream of terror and ran away in a blind panic.

She'd won his game, but it hadn't stopped him. There was nothing she could do now but run, run as far and as fast as she could, but the more she ran, the worse things got. Every few steps, she was overpowered by a nauseating, rushing sensation that made her vision go dark, only to suddenly find herself in a completely different location when she could see again. One moment she was running through the woods, the next she was tripping over stones at the bottom of the rocky dell, and the next she was charging through the empty rooms of the information center. It was as if reality itself was breaking apart, teleporting her around as easily as the Slender Man could suddenly appear or disappear. No matter where she was warped to, he was always there with her, silently watching her futile attempt at escaping him. The few rational thoughts that she could still conjure told her that it was only a matter of time before he stopped toying with her and took her away, just like he'd taken so many others. With adrenaline coursing through her veins and panic clouding her mind, Lauren kept running in a desperate attempt to avoid whatever fate the demon had planned for her, forgetting everything other than a burning will to survive. Suddenly, she felt her feet fly out from under her, and she let out one last scream as her vision went black.