Slenderborn

Chapter 3 - Anthony

        The production of the movie was still being continued, even though something strange was going on. It had been about a week since the gang had been gathered at Anthony's house.

        "We have put too much work into this!" Anthony had told me over and over for the past few days, he didn't believe that I saw what I said I have, and I was beginning to doubt it too, but the note's and the box couldn't have just been my imagination. 

        "I know, but what if someone get's hurt, or worse!" I yelled over the phone, "Don't you realise I couldn't have done this!" I paced around my living room floor, it's white carpet soft underneath my bare feet. It was known for me to pull many jokes of this nature, maybe an odd symbol in the tree, or a few freaky words, but nothing as far as to actual mystery.

        "No ones going to get hurt by one of your pranks, now just stop!" Anthony was starting to get angry, we hadn't really argued about it because I don't really like fighting with Anthony, but now was the time to stand up for myself.

        "Anthony, I am not joking, something really freaky is going on in your woods, did I see the man, maybe not, but the box and notes are no pranks of mine." I looked down at the note I had kept, it had my name on it, and an idea popped into my head. "Anthony these notes couldn't have been written by me, check the handwriting." I heard rustling from the phone as he looked around for the note. I sat down on the couch and stared into the blank television that stood across from it. 

        "Okay, so it's not yours, and you had no way of sneaking that box there, " He said as I let out a sigh of relief, "so I guess your working with someone? Emily, my brother? Who's laughing with you?" He questioned me, each question like a bullet. My feeling of relief had left quicker than Derrick eating chocolate pudding, which was strangely and inhumanly fast.

        "I'm not laughing!" I was trying to find a reason for him to believe me. "When will you believe me?" I said, starting to get a little upset. 

        "Probably when you start telling the truth."  There was a click, he had hung up. I stood back up and ran down to my bedroom, the soft white carpet cut off into tile, then back into green carpet. I ran into my darkly colored bedroom. The black walls made it warm, but I liked the look, almost everything was black in my room. My parents often questioned it and they still don't know I'm an emo, if they even knew what it was.

        I stared down my clock to see 9:23 PM sitting on the display. I thought for a moment, and decided to turn in early that night. I slipped off my shorts and turned out the lights. A moment after I started to lay in my bed I decided to go get some things to keep me company. A basball bat being one of those things.

        I fell down on my bed, wanting sleep to come, but it evaded me. I just stared into white of my ceiling, one of the small bits of color that existed in my domain. A window was hanging above my bed. A sudden urge pulled me up to look out of it. To my surprise, or lack of it, nothing was there. I slumped back down the thin covering surrounding me, it must have been an hour before silence had hit me and unconsciousness set it.

        I slept to the tune of nightmares, little children screaming, trees moving, and the tall man I wanted to believe wasn't there, but always was. I refused to call it the Slender Man, for it seemed to look refusing of the name, the name of the creature at the end of the clearing would set fear deep inside anyone, and roll around there, mixing emotions and tossing feelings around to create madness, insanity, and fear.

        There was one nightmare that stood out though. Me, Emily, and Anthony were in our school, and knowing that it wasn't to far along until we went back set an uneasy feeling in my stomach, but something was off. It seemed like it was night, and all the lights of the school were off. All of us seemed like we were sneaking in. Each of us carried a flashlight. It wasn't really a nightmare actually, it was more like a picture.

        I awoke from the nightmares desperately pulling air into my mouth. Failing to complete the simple task brought a sense of dread over me, flowing through my veins. Everything stopped, my body fell dark and cold as I stared into his nothingness. He was bent over, looking into my eyes with his lack of them. His arms at his side creating a thin shadow climbing up to his lack of a face. He slowly reached his hand towards me, my vision distorted his movements. I shut my eyes. Holding the little bit of air I still had in my head. Trying to pull a scream from my throat, failing to do something again.

        Air, it's sweet relief. You never know how much you love something until it's gone.

        Anthony walked out the door camera in one hand a flashlight in the other, he wanted proof that Seth was wrong, it was a prank. He had already interrogated his brother, failing to get answers out of him brought him a sense of fear, quickly covered by the thoughts of lies and pranks. There was only one way to tell his mind the truth and stop the madness.

        He had to go back. Back to where the lies all started, the forest. The clearing.

        The trees moved, no doubt about it, there was wind. The shadows on the ground hid from the falling sun. He kept walking, the trees seemed to bend in the direction he was going, like they were leading him. The thought made him pause for a moment. He pressed record on the camera and gripped it firmly. He did a quick 360 with camera, inspecting his surroundings. Finding nothing suspicious, he headed deeper into the forest, following the path directed by the trees.

        Nothing caught his attention until the sun had completed it's descent in the sky and the moon rose to drop darkness in the forest. He switched the flashlight on. His cellphone rested in his pocket. His light flew from tree to tree to the ground to directly in front of him. His camera followed the light, recording everything he saw.

        It wasn't long before he reached the clearing. Something was wrong. He felt, in one word, safe. He did several 360's looking around, finding nothing, he approached the spot where he had found the note. Nothing rested upon the cold bark of the tree. He felt slowly felt triumph running through his mind. He pulled his cellphone and checked the time holding it in the same hand as the flashlight The display was heavily distorted, the keys of the phone flashing rapidly. Slowly the pixels of the screen formed words.

        FoundYouForeverAnthony

        An eye slowly formed below the words, a keyhole replaced the pupil. Anthony's first reaction was to run back to the house, but his feet wouldn't move. The phones screen shook violently, then faded out. He hadn't realised it but his flashlight had flickered out too, leaving him alone, in the dark. That's what he thought at least.

        He yelled out, dropping the cellphone to the ground. He turned his head down to look at the fleashlight, flicking it off and on. He banged it against his hand until the light came on. He looked down to the ground to see something that made him shriek, dark black shoes.

        He looked slowly above him, camera and flashlight both looking as well. He saw a black suit swirling around in a painful darkness, and a white undershirt clean and pure, unlike it's surroundings, then everything faded, he heard a thud hit the ground and felt pain on his side, his flashlight and camera were both out of his hand. He had control of nothing.

        He woke up in a bed, he didn't recognize his surroundings at all. A black blanket surrounded him. He was in a white room, two windows hung on the wall across from the wooden door that sat in the corner. Outside of the window it was still night. The bed was tucked up into a corner of the room. Next to him stood a short dresser, the top was almost level with the bed. On top of it was digital a clock, it read 4:02 AM. He struggled to get up, but he felt too weak. 

        In his confusion and fear, he almost threw the clock at me when I flung open the door.

        "What the hell are you doing here!" I looked at him with the same confusion he held on his face, baseball bat in hand,  wearing a small t-shirt and boxers. He began to open his mouth, but raised his hand instead to point behind me.