A Night in the Woods (Creepypasta/Marble Hornets x Reader)

Instance #1 (7 Years-Old)

I nervously peer into the water, watching the currents swirl slick and oily black beneath the hazy summer sky. All of the other kids are talking, laughing, splashing around the pool and having the time of their lives. Why shouldn't they be? Everything is clear and sunny-bright, bursting with color and buzzing with happy bees. One particularly giant bumble with thick black stripes is rumbling like an airplane, still perched on the brim of my baseball hat as I slowly edge away from the water.

"All right up there, Doug? Not too hot for yah, bud?" I manage a weak smile, unable to shake the prickly sensation dripping down my neck. . . or the icy, creepy-crawly itching beneath my skin. Not until my back is flat against the house, safe and secure, and I can no longer see the rippling darkness of the pool, does the tension gradually begin to ease from my bunched shoulders.

"We're okay, Doug." I whisper. "We're okay."

No one is paying me the slightest bit of attention, beneath the shade of a wilting wisteria tree. The parents who are supposed to be watching us are gathered around a wooden tiki bar near the edge of the property, rainbow drinks in their hands and pearly, satisfied grins on their faces.

So. . . who is that man in the woods?

My entire body seizes, then goes numb with a blinding rush of cold. The man. . . I don't. . . I don't know. Something is wrong with him. His outline is blurry, like my eyes refuse to focus, and the arms hanging from his sides. . . they seem too thin, too stretched out. Like weird strands of pasta. His clothes are all black, but his face. . . I don't. . . I can't see his face.

Because he has no face.

I don't hear Doug quickly buzz away. I don't hear glass shattering. I don't hear my mother frantically calling my name.

All I hear is the gurgle of the water closing in over my head. All I see is oily black, and a hazy man with no face somehow looking at me from the edge of the pool. From the world above. From so far, far away as I gradually sink into the nothing, and everything fades.

A/N :: Hey, there! I thought that I'd give this a try. I'm a big fan of Marble Hornets, but I'm still fairly new to the Creepypasta fandom. I'm taking a few creative liberties with both, so I hope everyone enjoys the story! Let me know if you have any questions, and comments/constructive criticism are always helpful.

Thanks for taking the time to read this part. They won't always be this short, but until we get to the present day, the first few will be glimpses of memory and into the childhood mind of the reader.

*story is also posted on Quotev under the same title/username.