Slender to None

Three

The first thing I realize when I wake up is that I’m not dead. The next is how hard and wet the ground is beneath me. And then I hear the quiet giggles and hushed voices of children echoing around me.

When my eyes open, darkness is the only thing that I can see. But listening to the steady dripping and repetitive echoes tells me that I am in a cave. I reach out around me to feel my surroundings. Wet, damp, cold cave is the only thing my fingers find.

"Felicity?" I call out. If Slender man hadn't killed me yet, than Felicity might also be alive as well. The only answer is the soft echo of the walls returning my voice. And then footsteps. Sure and steady, coming closer to me. I crawl backwards, bumping into what I assumed to be my back pack and some rocks.  I crab walk further backwards away from them until my back is against the cave wall. 

A cold hand cups my face. I shrivel back, but there’s no way of getting away from it. From him. He is going to kill me, but first he will play with me, break me. Give me hope and then smash it to bits.

His touch is so gentle. I can't see anything, but he holds my face, caressing my cheek. Brushing my hair out of my eyes. 'Just stay as still as a statue,' I instruct myself, 'then maybe he won't hurt you.'

I practically jump out of my skin when I feel his grip on my hand. He slowly tugs me up to stand. I can hear the dead air blowing high above my head, so I assume the ceiling of the cave is very tall.

I do my best to walk steady and not trip over any loose rocks or duvets in the ground, and he carefully guides me through the darkness. He is very patient. I don't want to get my hopes up, but I start to think that maybe he isn't going to kill me after all. 

I can't be thinking like this. He’s a bad man. A murderer. A magical beast from out of this world. He kidnapped my sister and then abducted me. And every other child. He was definitely going to kill me.

The darkness starts to lift, as the wet walls reflect light from further up the cave. I can see his tall silhouette from the corner of my eye, but I don’t dare to look upon his face. Trusting the lure that told of his evil ways, they always said that his face would drive a person mad. Make them fall to insanity. And that was why he was never caught. Because one glance, one little tiny peek to see what he really looked like would send you wobbling off with the crazies.

I keep my eyes toward the ground, making a faster pace as the floor is becoming visible. The giggling children are becoming louder, though still awfully quiet.

The cave twists upward into a spiral and then enters straight from the ground into a grandly abandoned hall. I assume it used to belong to a church.

That's when I first notice the children. They don't turn when we enter. They just keep staring into space, silently giggling to themselves. Swaying and smiling, like they were in their own separate world.

But they are alive. Felicity is alive. She’s here. I try to find her face. I pulled my hand away from the man that had guided me through the dark, running around the children, searching for my sister. Steven is hunched over in a bench. Ruby is lying on her back, examining her fingers that she’s waving above her face.

Felicity is at the far corner. I envelop her in a hug. "Felicity. I'm here. I'm here." I try to comfort her. Comfort myself. She doesn't respond. She is like every other child. Somewhere else. Gone. In a state of mindless laughter.

"What's wrong with her?" I ask the tall man. I don't need to look to know he is here. I can feel his presence, strong and dark. Pressing down on me like a giant shadow. "What did you do to them?" His silence is not the answer I am looking for, and so I press on, with silent tears through it all. "What are you planning? Why did you take them? What do you want? Why am I here? Please, say something. . .I will not accept your silence!"

Felicity is beaming, her knees brought up to her chin as she rocks back and forth. What is she seeing? Does she even know that I’m here?

A slick black tentacle slips around my neck, curling under my chin. It pushes my head up, so I’m looking at the ceiling. A giant mural sprawls across its surface. A thousand baby angels playing upon the clouds, and dancing on rainbows. Strumming harps and tooting flutes. Such vivid colors for a broken down building.

"Is that. . .where they are?" I whisper.

I can see his figure looming over me as I stare at the magical world. My stomach quivers at even seeing him from the corner of my eye. I direct my eyes back to my poor little sister, trying to hold onto my mind just a bit longer.

"Can they get better? Are they going to be alright?" I feel like I’m talking to myself. "Have they been eating? Sleeping? Do they do anything except smile and laugh? Why are you showing me this? What do you want from me?" I take a deep breath, looking deep into Felicity's eyes, trying to find something, anything that will tell me that she is still in there somewhere. "I don't know what to do if you don't tell me."

I feel him bend down over me and my sister. He takes my hand in his long white slender fingers and brings it to caress Felicity's hair, brushing it behind her ear.

"You want me to take care of them?" I ask again, sinking down onto the floor, away from him. He was so close right now. His other hand pats my head.

Yes, that's why he brought me here. Because he doesn't know how to take care of them. And he might not have murdered them yet, but they would surely die if this was to continue any longer. At least I know now that his intentions were not to kill us.