Dexter Morgenstern - The Slender Man

In my current condition- dizziness, numbness, and nausea, I am in no shape to fight her back, and I hit the ground, but before she can grab me and finish me off, I slip under the guitar strap and bolt. Bolt may not be the best word for it. I am practically throwing myself from tree to tree, unable to balance for more than a few steps without falling over, at least not until the dizziness subsides. I can hear Leanne’s overwhelming laughter continue, and I turn to see she’s following me. She’s taunting me. As my vision returns- somewhat, I can run more steadily. I run for maybe twenty seconds before a hand makes contact with my face.

It’s Jason’s hand. I flinch, ready to be knocked back by the solid force of a punch, and although I fall over, it’s not because of any impact. When Jason’s hand comes into contact with my face, I feel the same draining sensation. Does everyone who touches me here steal my life-force? I wonder.

I push myself up to get off the ground, but Leanne has caught up and her added onslaught worsens my condition. The world is spinning so fast that I can’t even see, and it’s all I can do to pitch forward, onto my knees, and then try to stand. I hobble between the flashes of pain that come with every distortion, and I feel my light growing even dimmer. When they fully drain me, do I become one of them?

I jerk back and throw a punch at Leanne, but she doesn’t react to it. She’s just trying to absorb me. I dive away and end up rolling down the hill. The momentum, which I’m grateful for, rips me out of their grip. It’s perfect timing too, because there was no way I was getting out of there with my own strength, not when I can’t hurt them. I have no weapons here. Without even being able to see clearly, I move on aimlessly. My only desire is to put some distance between my attackers and me.

They siphon my strength like Slender does. They’re like variants of him—or maybe extensions of him. My mind starts calling them Slender Children . I noticed that they grow brighter as they drain me. Does that mean that if they steal enough from me, they can escape? Is that Slender’s game? Whichever one of them takes the most life from me gets released? Or does draining me sufficiently just trap me here?

I just want Adam, and since they drain my energy with contact, do I have to find Adam and give him my strength to help him escape? Shana hadn’t drained me this way, so this must just be an attack method. The only way to get out of here is to run. If I fail, then both of us are stuck here. I’ll have to take him to the edge like I did Shana and hope he still has enough strength to survive the transition. When I do that will Slender focus on me to make sure I don’t escape?

I keep running. I can see one of the girls Deputy Yew showed me a photo of approaching. I turn and run in the opposite direction, only to run into Lindsay. I want to apologize to her, because the first face I see of her is a pleading look on her face, but my judgment tells me to jump away, and I do in the nick of time. As soon as I leap, Lindsay flashes into her faceless form and reaches her arms forward. She wants to drain from me too. It’s a game of keep-away.

I dash as fast as I can down through the woods. I need to find Adam, but so far he hasn’t appeared. How will I find him?

“Adam!” I try to call, but the static is still distorting my voice.

“Adam!” I scream this time. I’m louder, but I doubt anyone more than five meters away would be able to hear me. A child catches my attention to my left. I stop and lean against the nearest tree to keep from falling over.

“Adam?” I ask, but it’s too dim to see from this distance. I hear the laughter of Lindsay, Leanne, Jason, and a few others behind me. If all of them dog-pile me, I’m finished.

I walk forward to illuminate the child, but stop as he comes into view. It’s Lionel, faceless Lionel. He distorts and becomes crying Lionel. I wish I’d looked away. I wish I’d turned as soon as I saw that it isn’t Adam. The face of a five year old child in pain, full of terror, trauma, and anguish will never leave me. I fight back tears as I run, knowing that Slender did that on purpose, and that Lionel will only grab me like the others. I came here to save Adam, my brother, and if anyone is going to siphon my life from me to escape, it will be him.

“Adam!” I call repeatedly. My voice is getting tired, but weariness isn’t an excuse. I bet I haven’t been here ten minutes, and I’m sure as hell not going to let being out of breath stop me from rescuing Adam this quickly. Now is not the time for tears. It’s not time to break down and admit defeat. “No time to cry,” I tell myself, as the song pops into my head.

“Adam!” I call once more.

I can hear Lionel laughing now. He may be the most helpless, the most innocent of all of the children I’ve seen Slender take, but his laughter is the most sinister. I’d rather have Chucky chasing after me than a giggling Slender-Lionel. “Just ignore it. Let it go,” I tell myself, knowing Lionel wouldn’t be doing this to me if he had a choice.

I hear them all laughing as they pursue me, but when I turn I can only see about three meters behind me, and I greatly wish I hadn’t let Leanne drain so much of me. I should have run as soon as she laughed, or just ignored her. I’ve fallen for Slender’s traps and now I can’t even see if my predators are catching up or not. I see more children, most of whom I don’t know by name, but I have seen their faces before. These don’t wait for me to approach. They just dart in to intercept me.

Ignoring the creeping numbness, I do my best to sprint, dodging trees and roots that would impede my path. Most of them seem like they will catch up to me at the speed they’re running, and their ability to appear suddenly, why aren’t they all upon me yet? Realization sets in. I’m being herded.

If I could look around, I might have an idea for where I’m going, but my field of vision is limited. I hear one more voice chime in, and this one makes me stop for a single second to mouth the name. “Adam.” He repeats his call.

“Alyssa!” he shouts, very audibly. It came from in front of me, slightly to my right. I follow the sound, shouting his name. When he comes into view he takes off running. Why’s he running from me? Oh right, I’m being herded. With my track experience and his broken arm, I should be able to catch up to him easily, but Slender has control of him now, and that’s even more obvious when his body warps almost out of my line of sight in a single distortion.

I follow Adam, with a choir of laughing Slender-Children behind me, for what feels like ten minutes, before he stops in his tracks. I don’t stop- not immediately, and I put a hand on him as soon as I catch up, only to be siphoned at the touch. I jerk away and catch what he’s staring at.

My eyes begin to sting before I register what it is. The Slender Man is standing in the middle of the clearing, but this time I don’t close my eyes. If I am to meet with the Death incarnate, I am going to look him in the eye. As I stare him down, the stinging turns into a continuous burn. The name “The Slender Man,” suits him well, but he’s taller than I remember him. This must be his full-length form. He stands maybe fifteen feet tall, and yet thin as I am. He has that imperfect stillness to him, only interrupted by its distortions. It looks like I’m gazing at a shadow, except the shadow has taken a three-dimensional form and is standing over me.

My body is screaming at me to close my eyes, and my neck is involuntarily twitching trying to get me to look away. The Slender Children have all caught up, but they’re not in pursuit. They’ve done their jobs. When their laughter stops as well, I can’t tell if they’ve just quieted, or if they’ve disappeared, because I am looking at Slender, not his minions.