Slender Man : The Arrival

Prologue

The sun was low in the sky, painting the clouds a haunting red the colour of fire. It burned the blue from the heavens and torched it, scorching it from view. Mai couldn't help but stare as the car passed deserted street after deserted street. The derelict wood posts on the road side serving as a sign that the town was surely about to be completely abandoned. Only their client remained, but even then, they were about to leave too.

"Naru." The brunette called, her voice hollow with fatigue, "Thank you for doing this. I know it seems kind of pointless considering she's moving and all." She sighed, turning her head against the head rest to stare at the young man driving the sedan to their destination. He had a simple white button up shirt on. His hair was the standard messy mop atop his head but Mai couldn't bring herself to care.

"I told you Mai. If it's important to you, then I will help you." Naru responded, rolling his eyes as he did. He had supported her much more since their encounter at the Camping Grounds. Mai wasn't sure if it was because they had gone through the experience together, or if he was just worried about her wellbeing. And if she were honest with herself, she was worried about her mental state as well.

She could still see the faceless creature out of the corner of her eye. When she least expected it, when she was alone. She swore she could see it in her apartment at times before she barricaded herself in her room for the nights she feared she would get a proper look at it.

"Well Kuroda just said we have to have a look around the house and see if we get anything. She's been on edge since her mother passed away." Mai said, thinking about her old high school friend. Naoko Kuroda, the girl who had created her own poltergeist with her physic abilities when she had been caught out by SPR. Since then, Mai had formed a bond with the glass wearing girl, and now, years later, their friendship was being called upon. Kuroda had sworn that she had been seeing her mother's spirit around, along with a tall dark shape around her home at night.

"Then it shouldn't take too long." Naru spoke up, pulling into a dim driveway. The sun reflected off the white panels of the house in front of them, fallen autumn leaves littered the ground as they pulled up to the front. The house certainly didn't seem kept. But Mai wasn't that surprised. It was hard to do anything when you're grieving.

Mai opened her door, pulling a backpack from the floor and slinging it over her shoulder. She heard Naru leave the vehicle and she stepped out too, closing the door behind her as she stepped closer to her friend's home. Everything was still, too still for a home. The sun bathed everything in a burning orange, the house looking as though it were lit from within by fire. Mai couldn't help but shiver, the air colder than the standard autumn day. Her thin jacket doing nothing to ward off the wind.

"Let's go then." Mai sang, rushing to the door and knocking. She felt Naru step up behind her when there was a god awful crack and they turned in time to see a thick brand fall from the tree, smashing the car windshield and denting the hood to the point that the metal bent upward, curling around the limb like a blanket, "What the hell?"

Naru paused in heading to the vehicle, pulling out his phone instead, "Hey. Lin. We're going to need a pickup..."

Mai tuned out, focusing instead on finding Kuroda. She knocked again, the feeling in her gut intensifying. There was a hint of panic coursing through her veins as she started rattling the door knob, gasping when the door gave way under her ministrations. She bolted inside, confident Naru would soon follow. But what she saw inside made her heart freeze and her blood run cold. The furniture was toppled over, the paintings on the wall askew and the glass wear shattered. There were scribbled on the wall, as if someone had done each one in haste. None of the drawings were distinguishable from the other, each jammed together and drawn so thickly with black marker than Mai had to squint to make some of the words out.

'Radio tower' and 'To the forest' were the only things she could make out of the chaos on the walls. She felt the fear return, a fear she wished she would never feel again.

"Kuroda!" Mai screamed, running through the house to try find the girls room. At the end of the hallway was the only closed door, the white wood almost dark as the setting sun outside cast shadows through the house, "Naru! Come quick! Kuroda!"

Mai slammed into the door, pulling and twisting the door knob, attempting everything she could to try get into the room. The sound of running came from behind her and she knew Naru had arrived. He placed his hands on her shoulders and pulled her away from the door before lifting his foot and slamming it into the wood just below the handle. The entire frame shook as the door gave way, splintering under the force of his hit. Mai ran into the room, shoving the broken obstacle out of the way.

Kuroda's bedroom was just as destroyed as the rest of the house. Scribbles similar to the rest of the house dominated the walls. Pictures of trees, hastily drawn drew Mai's attention the most and she went up to it, seeing a piece of paper stuck to the wall under it.

'Go to the radio tower. It's the only way.'

Just was Mai was about to show Naru, a scream came from outside. The pair ran to the window, noticing the broken glass strewn across the lawn on the outside.

"Naru. That was Kuroda!" Mai yelled, panic rushing through her as she raced out of the room. She struggled to find the way out, dodging furniture and broken glass as she went. Her sneakers screeched as she skidded to a stop by the back door, practically tearing the wood from the hinges that held it to its frame.

Naru and Mai stopped by the back gate, watching as it swung slowly back and forth. The looked at each other, silently communication their decision as they took off, over the fence and down the dirt path, following the only direction Kuroda could have gone in.

The only way she could have been taken.