Him: The Slender Man Files

Prologue

October 25th -- 11:42 PM

They rest on a bed of grass. His right arm cradling her close to his chest whilst the other tucked in his pocket. She snuggles up to his neck and embraces him whole, the cold prickling her spine. Dew sinking through their clothes, the night is more frigid than usual. Not the slightest hesitation of departing the abandoned park crosses their minds.

"The stars are beautiful tonight, aren't they?"

He hasn't looked forward yet. Distracted from her silky blond curls and cute button nose, he obliterated the fact that there even were stars in the sky.

"Yeah," he says in a daze.

She lifts her chin to look into his eyes. She giggles as her cheeks bloom red patches. The girl stands, brushes off the dew droplets on her skirt, and reaches her hand for him to grab. The boy takes it gingerly and follows her to a pair of swings. They rock back and forth in unison. He grins mischievously as he begins to rock sideways, narrowly missing her. The girl laughs while she pleads him to stop. Eventually, he bumps into her. She grips her sides to ease the pain.

They lean in for a kiss. Warmth seizes his heart that disintegrated any form of chill brought on by the midnight air. His eyes closed, he barely misses her sign of liberation.

"What?" he whispers dreamily.

She doesn't say anything. The moment slips through his fingers. The girl gawks at the misty depths of the forest beyond. He admit it looks eerie, how a friendly park at day can morph to an ominous place at night. But it's not worth being concerned. He follows her gaze to the boundary of the woods and park. The mist is too thick to see only a few rows of trees.

"I thought..." her voice falters. "I thought I just saw something."

The boy guffaws. "Do you really believe that?"

Still uneasy, she interlocks hands with him and clings onto the metal chain that attaches to her seat. She can't keep her eyes off the forest. Their breaths can be seen before them. In the corner of her eye, the boy fiddles with his phone, probably texting his mother he'll be home soon. At least she hopes they will be.

The vigorous shake of a limb sends her in the air. The boy is too occupied with his phone to notice.

She zips up her jacket. "We should get going, it's pretty late."

No! he thinks. "You can't be serious. It's a spooky forest, who cares?"

She jumps and lets out a gasp. One hand clamped over her mouth, she points at the forest.

"I just saw it move again!" she murmurs.

"Come on," he scoffs. "You can't be scared every time a little critter passes by."

"It is not an animal!" she yells, suddenly frustrated. Her purse is already slung around her shoulder. "I'm getting the hell out of here."

"Wait!" The boy grabs her arm. "I'll prove it to you that there's nothing to worry about."

He walks over to the forest. Halfway emerged in the mist, the girl can barely see him in the wallowing fog. He makes a three-sixty degree turn with his arms poised outward to feel his surroundings. She bites her lower lip.

Everything is normal.

He turns to the forest.

"Is there anything in here?" he bellows. "Come out, you wuss!"

She sees it. Standing equidistant between him and her. As though he melted into reality right before her eyes. He puts a slim finger---or should it be even called a finger--to its face, as if to hush the girl.

Or did it even have a face?

It vanishes in the shadows as quick as the boy whirled around.

"See?" he says as matter-of-factly. Once he sees her petrified expression, he suppresses a chortle.

"What is it this time?"

Almost in too much of shock, she repeatedly jabs her pointer behind.

"It's...."

"What?"

"Behind...."

His neck hair stand on end. The mist clings to his goosebumps, condensing to icy water. Pivoting on his toe, the shivering boy cranes his neck. All he sees is a wall of fog.

"Are you trying to scare me? Because it's not--"

A horrible shriek emits in the air. The boy is thrusted in the air, suspended over the billowing fog. The girl hears a sheering crack, and the horrible figure drops him to the ground, his back disfigured in a revolting arch. Blood gurgles in the corners of his mouth. Her legs give out from under her, but she forces herself to stand.

He can't be dead....

Run. The first word that enters her mind. Her legs seem to be water; all her muscles are shutting down. She rotates to run in the opposite--

It reappears behind her.

This kicks her into verity. She flees into the forest, the mist swallowing her up and the thing behind her. She dodges tree after tree, taking non logical turns to delude her attacker. The fog is so thick she barely has time for a breath before glancing back to see the whereabouts of...of...

It's a few paces behind. Never seen to be pursuing her, it's evaporating and showing himself at her heels.

She glances back one more time, to ease her paranoia.

He's gone.

The girl slams into a tree, or what she recollects as a tree. She claws her way to her feet and sprints off to an adjacent route.

She is blocked off.

Spins and dashes in the other direction. Carelessly looking at the thing teleporting figure behind her rather than what's in front of her. She plummets down a windy slope. She collects rock shards and jagged bark along her fall down an enormous pit. Her face contacts with the bottom before anything else.

The girl spits out a wad of blood. She feels a vacant spot where her front row of teeth should be. Gouging blood replaces it. Her arms are covered in burning gashes, and she can feel her foot is no longer in contact with the rest of her body. Continuing her desperate attempt to run, she grovels forward.

An unbearable, high-pitched scream rings in her ears. Arms swoop down like snakes to constrict. As she gasps for air, her eyes land on the face of the man. Or what should be the face of a man. The scream mutates to a sinister laugh.

The world goes black.