Survive him, Thrive with him.

Chapter eight

My head hurt.

That was the only thing I could think of, the throbbing pain on the upper right side of my head. I wince and roll over, onto my stomach. The sharp, rough texture of whatever I was laying in digging into my skin and I snap my eyes open, squeaking and falling off the thick branch I was perched in.

Something catches me and prevents my fall, lifting me up like a doll and carefully setting me down on the branch again, a tendril of some sort. I follow the black tentacle to a black body with a white face, my blood suddenly running cold.

Slenderman.

"Uh...hello." I hoarsely greet, clearing my throat. Slenderman remains silent, staring at me. He was less menacing in the light, seeming a bit more normal and less murderous.

Why was I not afraid?

He said he wasn't going to kill me, I won.

I won.

For the first time, somebody won his game. He didn't kill me, but I wasn't exactly back home, was I? Maybe someone has won in the past, but no one ever knew.

It's funny how easily I became a believer, how quick that happened.

"Hello." Slenderman replies eventually, his voice lighter than what it was last night.

"What happened?" I ask, balancing on the branch, my body level with his head.

"They ran away." He simply states.

"So much for friendship." I mumble, lifting one leg off of the branch to dangle by my arms, the ground a lot farther away than I though. When I drop, my knees hit the dirt with the rough landing and my hands sink into old leaves, my favorite smell. I wipe my knees off as I stand, slowly turning around to face the Slenderman.

"What now?" I ask, looking around and seeing a clear trail through the woods, part of the silo seen. I look at what I was sleeping in, the scary tree from before. It didn't look so scary anymore in daylight, just bare.

"You go home." Slenderman replies softly. I actually didn't want to go home so much. I still wasn't sure when my father was coming back, and, who knows, he could be back right now. I'd be coming home to a lit firework of death.

"What about you?" I ask, wondering what he was going to do about his game being broken.

"You don't want to go home." He says, reading my mind. I felt him there, I literally felt something looking at my thoughts. It was unnerving.

"Your father isn't home." He continues looking through my mind. I take a step back and feel him retract, sensing my unease probably.

"One less thing to worry about." I mutter, tightening the bloody sweatshirt around my waist.

"You aren't afraid of me?" Slenderman asks, cocking his head to the side.

"You haven't shown any hostile actions towards me, and you can't hurt me. I won." I reply. Slenderman suddenly appears closer to me, making me jump back in surprise.

"Just because you won the game doesn't mean I couldn't kill you." He warns. I straighten my body out and look him where his eyes should be.

"Then why haven't you?" I boldly ask.

This time, Slenderman floats back a few steps, stopping the conversation.

"You need to tell your infernal friend that you are alive." He simply says, changing the subject. I back off and nod my head, looking at the ground.

I feel like I upset him in some way, and now I felt upset myself. The more I was around him, the less he seemed like the monster the guys made him out to be.