Skull awaits your soul

I have a story to tell, and not a whole lot of time to tell it. They say it’s good for my health to get the whole thing down on paper, but I find that to be a load of shit. They just WANT me to think about him again… want me to experience it again OVER AND OVER AND OVER. They want me to sob uncontrollably… the bastards. Alright, here we go.

A quiet night at home was all I wanted. I had worked late that afternoon and all I wanted was a quiet night at home, but of course that was impossible. From the moment I got home I could tell that the house had a completely different feeling, a persistent silence. Well, of course it was going to be silent, my mother had picked up my three kids earlier that day to sleep over her house for the weekend. This was completely different though, I didn’t enjoy it.

Flopped onto the couch and turned on the television and received nothing but static. Shit. Angrily, I threw the remote and decided to check if the kids had cleaned their room like I had asked them to. They had an act for never listening to anyone.

The room was empty, the furniture gone, toys gone, the walls bare with no paint. Upon first sight of the empty room I snapped out of my lull and ran for the phone. I have to call my mother and make sure the kids were are alright. Picked up the phone to deafening silence… no dial tone. 

I ran back into the room, looking at it again. This time I noticed the walls weren’t completely bare. There was writing on the wall, it said “Ẉ͕̘̺̗̝̓͜_H̼̗E̛̳̹͖̟ͦͧͭ̌̿_N̝̉ͧͮ͑ͤ̋̔ ͭͣͬ͗̾Y̜̦̙͆͂̈Ō͛ͪ̿_̖͎̠̞͕U̵̻̭̣͓̙͑̓͆ͧ̏̓͗R̰ͪ͛̏͒ ̺̙̩ͭ͂̾̉͗ͭ͌͝_̩̰T̡̟̟͕̫̊̐͒ͫ̈̚̚I`ͯ͛̊ͯ͋͏̗̼͓̳͇ͅͅM̸̠ͪ̓E̫ͣͬ̈͋͂͞ ̙͚̹̠ͬ͊̌ͬͭC̿̇̄ͥ̄`̫̕O͑~͚̥̆ͬM`̦͈̟̣ͨ̓E̻̹̗͚͇̍̐̐͌͜ͅS̹̞͓̫͉͇͎̾̄̋̄͞,͇̻̣_̞ ͗”̴̪͎ͣ́D̮̄̅̔ͩͣͩO̕N̮͉̯͈̬̹ͫͦ̐͂̍͘’̴͕̓ͅT̊̿̓͐ ̩͑̓̇͠Rͮ̿͆`̶̑͗_͕̼̮̰_͈Ṷ͓͉͙͇̙͇̋ͦ̊͝N͗͂̅_̝̫̫̭̦.”  It didn’t make any sense.  “When your time comes, don’t run” what was that supposed to mean?

Whispers were coming from my bedroom, very quiet and odd sounding. A mans voice… soft, almost pleasant sounding and… a child’s voice.. One of my kids voices. They were supposed to all be picked up… 

Bursting through the door to see my youngest daughter holding, what at least seemed like, a hand belonging to something that was hard to describe. Frantically I screamed “LET GO OF HER.” It simply shifted its neck and even if it had no eyes I could feel it staring a whole through me. I… couldn’t look at the thing, its twisted body and multiple limbs that funneled it’s being. Its slender body wearing a business suit. All black, with a white shirt and tie.

Without thinking I grabbed the nearest thing to me, a cup of water, and threw it at whatever face it had. The Slender Man’s body fizzled and faded away. I tried to hug my daughter, but she wouldn’t have it. “You scared away my friend!”

Instantly, I was puzzled. “That thing is your friend?” Still in shock I took her hand and started to lead her out of the house, we have to get out of here… that thing could still be here.

She screeched in protest, “Daddy, I TOLD you when your time comes, don’t run!” My face was completely white and I turned to her, “Did you write that? Did the Slender Man tell you to write that?!” 

She simply smiled and wouldn’t move any further. I stumbled back, knocking over everything in my path until I fell against the wall. The Slender Man was back, for the only time this dreaded night he spoke,  “You didn’t heed my warnings.”

Never since this moment have I ever felt such raw primal fear. The multiple limbs it possessed grabbed me and dragged me through the front door. “It wants to show you something!” yelled my daughter, who was still smiling and begun waving at me. After a minute it stopped dragging me, and proceeded to slam my head off a tree again and again till I blacked out.

I awoke hazily an unknown amount of hours later. Given a few moments to refocus my eyes I noticed the red and blue lights. Next I noticed that there were 3 smaller skeletons, the skeletons of children. Lastly, there was a note.

“I’ve seen him before. He showed me so much. Things that I’m sure you can never even dream of. You can see him around corners… near trees… playgrounds… Everywhere. He tends to be seen around children a lot, you should have been more careful.  Maybe if you had heeded his warnings” 

The last thing I remember from that day was crumpling the note, and sobbing in the fetal position. That was the last time I was ever free in this world, free from institutions, free from anxiety… free from Slender Man.  I wish I could say that was the last time I saw him.

It wasn’t.