Falling In Love With Slender Man

Chapter 17

            --CHAPTER SEVENTEEN--

A bright, shinning light greeted Sage as she slowly blinked her eyes open. She gasped in shock and bolted up into a sitting position. Her head pounded and colorful spots dotted her vision. She fell back against a large mound of fluffy pillows as her sight slowly came back.

            Above her was a low ceiling, white and boring. A light was tapered to it, warm golden light illuminating the room. She turned her head to the right. A small chest of drawers sat against the wall on once-white carpet that was now a dirty tan color.

            She moved her head to the right and screamed in surprise. A man sat beside her in a reclining armchair, sleeping with his head propped on his hand. He awoke with a start at her yelp and was on his feet in seconds, holding his hands in fists, as though for defense.

            When he noticed her wide green eyes starring at him he relaxed.

            “Oh,” he said. “It’s just you. You’re awake now.” The boy’s mouth tugged up in a tired grin. Sage recognized him. He was the stranger from the crowd outside the burning church, the one chasing her down the corridor… the one she should love.

            The dream rushed back to her in a painful flood of images and dialogue. The boy in front of her, who had looked so sad and hopeless in her dream, now looked tired and slightly relieved.

            She sat up, slower this time, letting the patchwork quilt fall down around her hips. She was still wearing the same sweater and jeans combination that she had gotten after first meeting Ash. The thought of Ash caused her stomach to turn.

            “Who are you? What’s going on? Where am I?” Sage asked, on the brink of hysterics.

            The boy’s deep gray eyes seemed to soften and he looked at her with an odd affection. “I’m Elijah. You’re at my uncle’s house, not too far from your old home. I very generously offered you my room to stay in, which, as a matter of fact, you’ve been in for a good five days. I had to sleep on the couch.” He glowered at her, but not with any real malice. “I was starting to wonder if you would ever wake up.”

            Sage had wondered that herself as she had been through countless nightmares. Nightmares of bloody angels and tree-like men. Of dancing phantoms and strangers and doppelgangers. She shook her head, trying to dispel the horrid memories.

            “Do you remember anything?” Elijah asked quietly.

            Of course she remembered. How could she forget? But still, she couldn’t help but long to be with Ash right now, even after all he’d done. “Where is he?” Sage whispered through dry lips. Her voiced cracked on the way out.

            “Who?”

            Her green eyes looked up and met Elijah’s. “Ash. Where’s Ash,” she said, her voice more sturdy.

            Understanding bloomed across his face. “Oh. You mean Slendy, don’t you?”

            Anger bubbled up in her chest. Who were they talking about? “I don’t care what you call him! Where is he?” she snapped.

            Elijah’s pale gray eyes widened. “He got away. We’re not sure where he went. Look, are you okay, Sage?”

            At this Sage was shocked. “How do you know my name?” she asked fiercely.

            “Oh… I, uh…”

            “You have three seconds to tell me what’s going on before I leave.”

            Elijah let out a sigh as Sage stared at him impatiently. She’d had enough of being in the dark about everything. She needed to know what was going on. Now.

            “That man you were with? The one who burnt down Edison? He’s not human.” This Sage already knew. He had made it clear he was something not precisely human. “He’s a horrible monster. He’s been around for hundreds of years. He’s been killing people, destroying towns. He wonders the woods, blending in with the trees. He kills any human that comes with in his sight.”

            But no. That was impossible. Ash wasn’t a monster. A monster couldn’t be so gentle, so graceful…

            “Do you know what he is?” Elijah asked. At her silence he continued. “He’s Slender Man. No one knows how he came to be, or why he’s here, we only know that he’s been killing people for centuries.”

            Tears built up behind Sage’s eyes. “How do you know so much?” She wanted to believe so desperately that he was lying, but this strangers voice rang with certain truthfulness.

            “Because I’m a Hunter. It’s in my blood to try and kill that thing. My great grandfather to some degree started a group of people who would vow to destroy him. We have witchcraft in our blood, all of us. We have powers that normal people couldn’t imagine. They help us excel against evil. Things like Slender Man.” He looked into her eyes, as though trying to convince her this was the right thing. She stayed silent.

            “But not just him. We’re here to protect mortals from all demons. Believe it or not, they do exist. But they aren’t what you think. They’re really fallen angels, ones who fell with Lucifer. It’s our job to make them stay off of earth. The witchcraft helps us see them and defeat them. They’re almost extinct now, and the biggest pressing issue is Slender Man.

            “My father has been hunting him for years. He’s never been this close to finding him,” Elijah explained. Sage’s head was whirling.

            “Why are you telling me all this?” she wondered aloud. Why did she need to know about the enemies of Ash—or Slender Man. Why was is important to her that these people were on a century long mission to kill the man she was still somehow desperately in love with?

            Elijah’s eyes watched her carefully, giving nothing away about his intentions. “You need to know, Sage,” he said slowly and deliberately, “because you’re a Hunter. And you’re the key to bringing down Slender Man.”