It started out as a dare, next thing I knew- well, you’ll figure
out later. One of the bullies at my school dared me to stay in the forest that
was supposed to house Slenderman. I didn’t believe in that kind of stuff, so I
happily took the dare. The look on his face made me laugh in the woods,
remembering it, the surprise that I would agree immediately to do something
others wouldn’t if it was their best bet for survival. We were at the edge of
the forest, ready to start this one sided competition between something real
and something fake. I didn’t even need them to tell me to go, I just went right
on in. Several paces later, I looked back to wave nonchalantly back at the kids
who saw me off. They weren’t there, neither was the road. I ignored it, but I
was still baffled at how an entire road could disappear. I didn’t think on it
long, for I found the first note. I took it without reading it, because at that
moment, I started believing. Strange noises soon filled the night around me.


He nearly got me, twice actually. The first time there was glass
in the way. The second I managed to hide from him, somehow. Both times I found
a note that I was looking for. I had six, and my eyes were on the seventh. I
took the note, and this time I read it: No No No No No No No No! At the same
time that I finished, a scream pierced the night. For some reason, I ran
towards the scream to find some unlucky soul hung by their spine, and pinned to
their chest was a piece of paper with a strange symbol on it, like Slender’s
but not. I backed into a tree, trying to get away from the repulsing scene,
from the evidence that there may be not one, but TWO different Slender’s in
this forest. I ran somewhere, anywhere. Away. Somewhere safe. All I found were
just a couple of buildings.


I searched the buildings, there had to be a gun, how was I
supposed to protect myself, I didn’t know martial arts, I wasn’t an expert
hunter, I wasn’t even a jock, just some skinny kid. When I moved on to the next
building, the noises came back. I started panicking and ran to the next
building, frantically searching for any sort of weapon. I found a note. The
last note, on the wall, hanging on with a single piece of tape. I was about to
take it off the wall, but someone grabbed my shoulder. No, I thought, not when
I’m so close, I refuse to die when I’m so close. I closed my eyes, thinking
about one of the most iconic moves known in videogame history. I twisted around
fist clenched as I jumped, screaming at the top of my lungs. Whatever it was
made contact with my fist. Keeping my eyes closed, I listened. No noises were
made, and then a thunk reverberated through the floor. I opened my eyes
to find Slenderman lying on the floor, a bruise showing under his chin. I
turned around, ripped the note off the wall, and said, “Shoryuken, B**ch,” then
blacked out.


I woke before Slenderman, and pitied the guy. I just punched him
and he was out cold for who knows how long. I made sure I had all eight notes
on me, and sat waiting. I had no knowledge that of whether or not he was up or
not. I nearly poked him when he spoke, “You punched me.” I just looked at him,
“Like I’m gonna let you kill me,” I got up, waving the notes, “I’m out of here.”
“No you aren’t,” he said, grabbing me. Nausea soon took hold as I
found myself in some chamber. “What the hell,” I said, then lights lit up and
pain took over. To compare it to any other pain is to say you broke every bone
in your body, only it was two-thousand times worse, and you couldn’t blackout
from the pain. I screamed, cursed, and screamed some more as the pain
continued. I could feel my limbs being stretched, my features being erased, my
bones breaking and rebuilding, muscles tearing and mending, nerves being
rewired, DNA being rewound, entire years of my life coming and going, never to
return, until I remember only the night I came to the woods. Pain became normal
and I started getting used to it, screaming losing strength, cursing less. Then
new pain made itself known on top of my head. I screamed and cursed with
renewed strength. After what seemed like days, but was probably just minutes,
the pain just stopped, leaving me with a sore everything and a sense of loss.
Light flooded the room as a door opened. I walked through to find Slender and
someone else, waiting in a dull, gray room, filled with nothing but chairs,
tables, and tons of paper. “You’re done? That took quicker than I thought,”
Slender said, holding up a mirror. In it was him in a white polo with fox ears.