Last One Standing (Slenderman fanfic)

Chapter five

•Sable's P.O.V.•

I was standing in my room, staring at myself in the mirror. Since it was Sunday my mother was going to church, and since I didn't want to be home alone I was going with. That included dressing up nice and proper, or she'd send me right on back to change. The dress I was wearing was the same indigo of my eyes, but the top part was black lace with sleeves that reached my elbows. It was a little short, but no one ever really payed attention.

Someone knocked on my door, and after I finished zipping up my boots I ran over and opened it. Lenore was standing there, wearing a soft pink dress and white vans. She seemed to be more put together today, but her face still seemed somewhat discolored. She looked like she hadn't slept.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" I asked, leaning in the doorway.

"My dad is out looking for mom and my brother is gone too. I didn't want to be home alone." She looked like she was going to say something else, but stopped herself and continued with the subject. "I know you guys go to church on Sundays and I knew you'd be feeling the same way I did."

"So thought you'd tag along?" I smiled. I didn't mind it one bit, but hearing about her mom felt weird. I knew she liked to disappear at random times, but she just got out of the hospital.

"If that's alright."

"Of course it is." I nodded, walking to my desk and snagging a white bow from the top. I pinned it in her hair, and she seemed to blush slightly.

"You know, I always meant to ask, why do you wear colored contacts?"

"Well, you see..." I clenched my teeth before continuing. "Remember how Tim called out 'come save your dust bunny'?"

"Yeah, I do. I thought it was really weird."

"Well, the reason Tim and I are friends is because I had an encounter with Slendy when I was eight. He made a comment saying I sneezed like a rabbit, and I said I was allergic to dust. He called me a dust bunny before he left. I told Tim about my experience and he thought it would provoke him. It worked."

"Still doesn't explain why you wear contacts."

"It's so he doesn't recognize me. You've seen my real eyes, they're unmistakable. I don't know why, but...I feel like if he were to recognize me something horrible would happen."

"I feel like if he doesn't recognize you, something horrible is about to start."

I slid my gaze to Lenore, confused and almost suspicious of what she meant. Something flashed on her face before she returned to normal. What she said though, it did make some amount of sense. But whatever I was feeling kept me from wanting to reveal who I was.

"Sable! I'm leaving!"

"Come on." I grabbed Lenore's hand, pulling her along behind me as we left. The second I stepped out to the car my mom saw us, a surprised smile on her lips.

"Well hello there, come to join us?"

"I thought it would be nice, I haven't been to church in a while." She smiled innocently.

"Well hop on in and we'll leave."

We jumped into the back of the car, listening as mom started it up. The drive to the church took less than five minutes, and we pulled into a half empty parking lot. There weren't a lot of people present today, but that wasn't a bad thing.

My heart jumped in my chest when I saw someone at the edge of the crowd. It was a man in a black suit, wearing a red tie. I was about to bolt to the car when I realized he had facial features and was smiling. I looked over at Lenore, who looks like she'd made the same leap I did.

"Let's go inside, okay?" I took her hand, squeezing it gently. She let out a shaky breath as she nodded.

Lenore and I took our seats, sitting towards the back of the room. Everything quieted down as the sermon started, but I couldn't really pay much attention as what it was about today. My mind was back on The Slenderman.

There was something about how that night ended that just bothered me. Maybe if he had recognized me, nothing would have happened and we could've just run out of there. I suddenly thought of Toby, who had claw marks from The Rake lining his leg. I hoped he would be okay-

A sudden dizzy feeling came over me. My breathing became shallow as I snapped my head around the room as I felt something wet on my lip and held a hand up, pulling it away and finding...blood. Lenore began hacking loudly, and in an instant I stood up, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and walking her to the bathroom.

I watched as my best friend began coughing over the sink, spitting up a fair amount of blood. My blood felt like ice in my veins as I watched her wipe her hand along her lips.

"You nose is bleeding..." She breathed, shaking. She was staring at me in the mirror. I quickly snagged paper towels, cleaning myself up.

"That was no coincidence." I stated numbly. Lenore seemed to know this already through as she turned the tap on, washing away the blood in the sink.

"Yeah, or I could just be getting sick like my mom."

"That-" I stopped myself. She seemed to realize what she said as well. "Wasn't your mom...?"

"The one who told me stories about Slenderman and sparked my interest? Yeah. She was."

"Coughing, headaches, feeling sick, blacking out, seizures..." I listed off the symptoms, feeling nauseated just as I spoke about it. "It sounds just like-"

"Slender sickness." I saw tears prick the corners of her eyes. "How did I never put this together before now...?"

"Lenore." I stared at her, holding my hand to my head. It felt like someone ran a knife along my skull, pressing harder the farther it was dragged. "We just made the worst mistake of our lives."