I'm writing this in the hopes that it will help someone. Anyone. I've encountered the Slenderman, and I fear it won't be long before he takes me, but I've learned some things, possibly weaknesses, or at lest habits, about him that may help others should they ever encounter him. Let me start from the beginning.
It all started a few days ago. I work for an demolition firm, and we'd been hired to check the state of an old logging mill. The mill was an old place of modest size, built in the middle of the woods next to a river and virtually abandoned after the owner built a larger mill up the river after WWII. The building had long been stripped of anything useful, and had become known as one of those places where teens would throw drinking parties. People were concerned about the parties and the harm the teens could do to themselves, so the property owners had decided it best just to demolish the building. So three of us, me, Billy and Avery, went out to inspect it.
We arrived just as the port-a-fence guys had finished enclosing the building lot, to ensure nobody unwanted entered the building, especially since all the windows and doors had been smashed or removed. They gave us a lock for the gate as they left, which we left hanging on the gate as we went in to look around.
Billy took the basement where most of the mechanical equipment had been, while Avery and I looked around the rest of the building. The place was barren, save for make-shift seats, the burnt remains of bonfires, the occasional spray paint of profanity or vulgarity, and ample amounts of discarded and broken beer bottles.
Taking the building down wouldn't be that hard, the structure was simple, so long as there weren't any surprises in the basement. Before long we began wondering what had become of Billy down in the basement, so we made our way to find him. The basement was dark and black with the lack of light and machine oil long since needed. The lack of windows not only made it difficult to see, but preserved the stale smell of it's dank remains.
Avery and I both had flashlights, this wasn't the first dark basement we'd had to inspect, and we hadn't though for a moment it might be our last. We looked for Billy between the cages enclosing the now dead machines, shining our lights along the narrow paths, increasingly growing worried as Billy did not respond to our calls.
That's when we saw it. The creature, the Slenderman, standing there stiffly, staring straight at us despite the lack of a face. The blackness behind it wriggling wildly despite being unseen. None of us moved, the knowledge that this creature was not normal was known immediately, the fear that something horrible was imminent appearing instantaneously.
My watch beeped the birth of a new hour, the creature moved forward in a blur, and I turned and ran. I didn't think of Avery, who had been ahead of me before the encounter, until I had exited the building and gotten to the car. She wasn't right behind me. I don't think I even heard anyone else's footstep as I fled. I knew she wouldn't be behind me. I locked the fence. I locked myself in the car. I called the cops. I kept the details closer to reality. A man in a suit, murdering people in a basement.
The cops didn't show up. Instead it was more men in suits. At least these ones had faces. They asked me questions. I answer as best I could. They muttered to one another about "finally finding a Slenderman". I stopped paying attention after they stopped asking me questions, turning their focus on building. I just sat on the hood of the car, as everything started to sink in. I wondered how I was still alive. Couldn't the creature get me just as easily as it did Avery? Did Avery do something to hold it off? Guilt washed over me, guilt that I hadn't helped, that I had left her to die, and curled up on the hood.
I didn't remember falling asleep, but by the time I awoke it was night. Somebody had put a foil blanket over me, and the suits had covered the area in flood lights, painting the building paler than anything else could. They had plenty of guns and cameras pointed at the building, and a crane had been brought in that had some sort of box on the end of its cable. The box was being lifted over the fence, a fence that was still locked. All the activity on one side of the fence with nothing on the other reminded me of a zoo. The dangerous display of a deadly animal.
The box gently hit the ground, projecting an ominous shadow towards the building, and far side of the box facing the building opened up. The suits then shot what I first though were smoke grenades into the building. I though they we trying to smoke out the creature, but the quick appearance of flames changed that though. It wasn't long before the building was enveloped.
If I hadn't been facing the right way at the right time, if I had blinked, I would have missed the whole think. A blur I knew was the creature moved out of the building, straight for the box, like the box's shadow was the only safe path in the world. It was up on the box in one shift step, and climbed the cable unlike anything I'd ever seen, in a manner that didn't seem possible. It flew along the crane and landed on one of the suits' trucks, right in front of one of them, pausing for only a second as the suit began raised his gun, before moving toward the suit, and the two of them were a blur headed into the forest. The suits began yelling, scrambling, as they took off after it. I just got in the car and took off.
I ran right past the suit car that was at the roadway entrance. It had lights on, a door was open, but I didn't see anyone. I hoped they'd joined their associates in the search.
I was home quickly. I was glad I hadn't been stopped by any cops. I was glad I lived in a well lit suburb. I soon inside my house, greeted by it's only other resident, my dog, Doug, happy to see me and hungry for food. I locked the door and turned on every light as I went around checking every window and door. I drew every blind, moved furniture to block every entrance. Doug, my mutt of many breeds, following me the entire time, reminding me of my duty to him. After I had checked everything, twice, I put down some food for Doug, turned on the TV, and collapsed on the couch.
I didn't sleep. I didn't move until the sun had risen. Doug was at the back door, growling and barking like I'd never heard any animal do before. He got louder and louder, and I got up to check on him. I was sure what he was barking at, and I stared at the blind, unsure if I should move them aside to look out. I didn't have to decide. A shadow I could never forget cast itself upon the blinds. Doug was ferociously barking and clawing at the door, on the verge of throwing himself against the door, when all of sudden the shadow disappeared, and Doug stopped, panting merrily.
This happened again and again through out the day. Sometimes from a window, sometimes from a door, but Doug never hesitated in his actions, always ready to defend our home. It took me a while to adjust to this. I kept fearing the creature would simply break in and be done with it. But it didn't, and I started wondering why it didn't. Maybe it couldn't? Was it fast but not strong? Was it afraid of Doug? It's shadow only appeared briefly before vanishing, and that's when Doug would. Did it not want to leave any evidence of it presence? I though I heard one of the suits say it was hard to track because it didn't leave anything to track. The suits. What had happened to them? I had given them my information, answered all their questions, so where were they? I hope the creature hadn't gotten them all.
I don't know what to do. I've been afraid to leave the house for the past few days now. I haven't unlocked anything. I haven't lifted a single blind. I haven't heard anything outside, no birds, no cars, no people. Doug has gotten depressed that we haven't been going out, and while I'm glad he has an indoor outhouse, food is running low. Electronics give out sporadically, lights dim. My phone doesn't work for long before cutting out to static, and the internet only connects for brief instances, I'm not sure if my emails are getting out, so contacting people has been virtually impossible. Hopefully this message will get through. Hopefully it will help someone, even if it's not me.
The creature's appearances have been getting more and more frequent. Food is almost gone. Doug has been getting more and more agitated. I'm sure things will come to a head soon. I'm afraid I won't come out ahead. If I can, I'll continue this. If I can't, I'm sorry I couldn't help more.
