A Darker Reality

The Monster

Cecily was tired, but it was worth it. She had not finished the picture, but what she had done in that short amount of time was her best work yet.

Her head swam sleepily as she rapped against the Adams' front door, and she was answered by Marley's mother.

"Oh, hello Cecily," she said, stepping to the side and inviting Cecily inside.

Cecily stepped over the threshold and took off her backpack.

"I'm so glad you could come tonight," Mrs. Adams said. "Marley hasn't been feeling very well lately, and with my husband on his trip and my meeting tonight, we can't watch over him."

"I understand," Cecily said. "I'm always happy to help out."

Mrs. Adams nodded, grateful. "His supper is already sitting in the microwave. Please make sure that he eats some of it; he hasn't been eating much lately. Also, he has been having trouble sleeping. The doctor gave him a sleeping medication, so make sure he takes it before he goes to bed."

Cecily nodded.

Mrs. Adams sighed. "Alright. Well, I guess I'll be going now. I should be back around ten o'clock."

Mrs. Adams went to go kiss Marley goodbye and left. Cecily found him sitting in the living room, staring blankly at the television. She tried to greet him, but he didn't acknowledge her at all. His eyes were sunken, his face was pale, and his mouth hung open slightly as he stared, lost in his eerie trance.

Cecily took out her art supplies and worked on her pictures, (not touching her landscape picture because she only wanted to work on it with the scene in front of her), until about six o'clock. She set down her art supplies and walked into the kitchen so she could heat up Marley's dinner: a bowl of chicken soup.

As she heated up the soup, she thought of Marley. He was definitely acting strange, but he didn't seem sick to her. "Maybe he has some weird case of insomnia," she told herself while she poured the soup in a small bowl for him.

She started walking back to the kitchen and called for Marley to go eat his supper, and was shocked by what she found.

Marley had gotten into her art supplies, ripping pages out of her sketchpad and using charcoal to draw pictures of a tall stick figure, with captions such as "Always Watches, No Eyes" or "Leave Me Alone." But thing that chilled Cecily the most was that Marley was still in his trance-like state, and was softly singing an odd little song to himself.

"Slenderman, Slenderman,

All the children try to run.

Slenderman, Slenderman,

To him it's part of the fun.

Slenderman, Slenderman,

Dressed in darkest suit and tie.

Slenderman, Slanderman,

You most certainly will die."

Cecily stood silent in horror, listening as Marley continued to sing the song. The song made her feel uneasy, and after a little while she snapped back to reality and told Marley to be quiet. He obediently stopped singing, but continued scribbling away at the pictures he was drawing. She had to force him to stop drawing, tearing the pages from his hands and prying the charcoal from his grasp. He didn't argue or cry; he just clung to the charcoal and papers as if he were clinging for his life.

After Cecily finally got the art supplies from him, she took him to the bathroom and helped him wash the charcoal from his hands in the sink. He just stood there as Cecily washed his hands for him, watching the black powder swirl around the sink bowl and disappear down the drain.