Don't play with Slenderman! - Chapter 2 - Nowhere

I was a bit busy in the last few days and today I've been watching the Doctor Who anniversary and will rewatch it later on so I didn't manage to write that much new content. But here's the second chapter and I'll have to see how much more of the short story I'actually post as it's much more than a first draft already.
Maybe it'll change a bit more when I'm actually done.

Chapter 2: Nowhere

I don't know how much time had passed but eventually my consciousness returned once more. Contrary to last time I couldn't hear anything at all and it looked like I was surrounded by total darkness.

Since my flashlight seemed to be missing I pulled out my smartphone to use it as a light source. As soon as I turned it on my eyes were glued to the screen.

October 32^st, 25:83h

“What the...? Is it broken?”

Under normal circumstanced it should have been...but how could I call it normal when people had been spirited away right in front of my eyes...well, close to me at least. Trying to ignore the impossible date I turned the phone away from me and looked at my surroundings. I was sitting in a small room made of stone...although it didn't actually feel like stone...more like...flesh? I quickly withdrew my hand.

My flashlight was lying just out of arms reach but apart from that the room seemed to be completely empty while the doorway was blocked by something I couldn't really make out in the dim light my phone provided, so I picked up my flashlight and stood up.

Strangely enough my body had completely recovered but as I felt neither hungry nor thirsty it couldn't have been that long since I crashed into the tree.

Now how do I get out of here?

I shone my flashlight at the exit but all I could see was an impenetrable wall of darkness. Kinda like fog, just much thicker. There didn't seem to be any other way out so I took a few steps forward. My heart began to race as I reached out tentatively, imagining every possible horror scenario I could think of. It might have engulfed my whole body, devouring me very slowly while keeping me alive throughout the whole process.

But nothing of the sort happened. It simply turned to dust and disappeared.

Huh...that was way too easy...

I stepped outside and found myself standing inside a corridor that seemed to stretch endlessly in two directions. Opposite to my room was another wall of darkness and although it might have been stupid I also touched it to see what lay behind it but this one didn't even budge.

Hm...now which way do I go?

I checked out both directions but they didn't seem to have any distinguishing features. Just endless hallways lined by even more rooms. I tried to open another one but apparently only the occupant could actually open it. Why would anyone build cells that can only be opened from inside? Maybe to lull the prisoners into a false sense of security before the real horror starts...who knows?

“Hello, is anybody in there?” I pressed my ear to the wall so I didn't miss anything but nobody answered. That's when I noticed a strange sensation, as if the walls were shaking. It reminded me of a movie I'd seen once.

I kneeled down and looked at the ground. It was barely visible but it seemed to be shaking. I closed my eyes and listened very intently....bam bam...bam bam...it sounded like...footsteps. Opening my eyes I panicked and spun around in a circle, trying to make out where this creature was coming from. But this isn't what I was made for so ultimately I had to decide on a whim and ran like hell.

The corridor went on and on and on and the further I went the more unstable it seemed to become. The walls shimmered in and out of existence as if something was trying to replace them and once in a while parts of the floor simply turned into sand, only to harden seconds later, nearly severing my foot a couple of times. My flashlight wouldn't stop flickering but I still noticed that it's light disappeared in the distance as if it was hitting another wall of darkness. I couldn't see any obstacles though.

Maybe I should have stopped but out of the corner of my eyes I could see something looking at me, as if the walls themselves were alive. I certainly had no interest in finding out if they actually were. Only a few more steps and...

It felt like someone had rammed his fist into my stomach. The air was forced out of my lungs while something slid down my throat even though there didn't seem to be anything in front of me. I chocked, unable to breath and dropped my flashlight to reach for whatever was trying to enter my body. My hands touched something slimy but were unable to get a grip on it, especially because it just got bigger and bigger. My body felt like it was going to explode any minute now as more and more of this thing forced itself into my body with no end in sight. I fell to my knees and was about to faint when it simply ended. 

I fell to the ground and lay motionless for a couple of minutes. The intruder had vanished in the blink of an eye but so had the corridor. I felt grass beneath my hands and the chirping of crickets filled the air. Maybe I had finally awoken from this terrible nightmare and would find myself at the tree I ran into earlier.

Yes, that must be it! Now I just need to find a way home!

Even though I still felt a bit shaky I stood up and looked around...and after taking in my surroundings I quickly closed my eyes, counted to ten and opened them once more.

No...

I pinched myself as hard as I could, leaving a bloody mark on my skin but making no difference otherwise.

Before me lay a vast forest of gigantic black trees and since none of them had any leaves I had a clear view of the moon. Just that it wasn't our moon unless something huge had collided with it in the past couple of hours.

This can't be happening? Please, let me wake up from this nightmare!!

I slumped to the ground and just sat there, hoping for a miracle that would never come.

Maybe...I'm dead. I could have smashed my head on a rock after running into that tree. Does this mean that I'm in hell? Sure, I never believed in god but I've never done anything to deserve such a punishment!!

Wait...this can't be hell! Henry vanished even before I ran into that tree!

And if this wasn't hell then I still had a chance to escape! That was everything I needed to keep going.

There has to be a way out! How would I have been able to get here, otherwise? I just need to find it!!

So I stood up and looked around. I was standing in the middle of a crossroad and every path was lit by a torch that emitted a bilious green light. There was some kind of stone tablet at the edge of the path with runes I couldn't read and symbols that didn't mean much to me, apart from something that looked like a castle on the other side of the forest.

So...which one do I take? Certainly not the path behind me. It might look normal but for all I know it could lead back to the corridor and to whatever creature was trying to kill me just now...

The right path seemed to lead around the forest and to the left...I could see a giant silhouette coming closer. It might have been some kind of animal or a monster, I didn't really care to stand around long enough to find out. Ultimately I choose the path leading into the forest as that was the only place where I could hide in case the creature was following me.

Maybe walking through the woods wasn't such a good idea after all...if only I had thought of that before participating in this stupid game. I knew these idiots would try to pull something, so why didn't I just stay at home and play video games? Or actually try to go to a party for once? Everything would have been better than this! Sure, they didn't plan for me to actually get stranded on some kind of alien world...but still...

I don't know how long I had been walking as I lost my phone somewhere and it seemed like the forest itself was trying to screw with me as the path split again and again and sometimes I literally went in circles only to find a completely different path that hadn't been there before.

Ultimately I was so confused that I had no idea which direction I came from and in which direction I was going. To make matters worse I heard whispering coming out of the forest. I could barely make it out but I'm sure I heard words like “human”, “slave” and even “pet”. It's like some invisible forest dwellers were discussing what a human like me was doing in their woods. Did the inhabitants of this world keep our kind as slaves or pets? Certainly wouldn't surprise me but I didn't want to end up that way.

More time passed and the murmuring faded. Maybe they got bored of me. As long as they left me alone I didn't really care. And then the sobbing started. One moment I could still hear the chirping of crickets and suddenly a horrendous sobbing filled the air. It sounded like a girl and anyone who has watched as many horror movies as I have should know that little girls in horror scenarios are rarely a good sign. I might not have been in a movie but I really didn't want to meet whoever made that sound...only to find a little girl standing mere feet away from me.

I turned around and nearly fell into a gaping hole that certainly hadn't been there before.

You've got to be kidding me! I don't want to face this creature!

But I didn't have a choice and turned around, only to notice her standing much closer than before. She didn't really look like a monster but who knows what she was hiding behind the hands covering her face.

The path looked big enough to simply walk around her but I didn't want to let her out of my sight again. Taking a deep breath I started moving sideways. The girl continued to sob and didn't seem to notice what I was doing. Maybe she's one of those creatures that only move while you aren't looking. It might be stupid to assume that something I saw in a video game could actually be real but if the Slenderman stories are true, then why shouldn't these creatures exist too? I doubt anyone who has encountered such a monster would tell others about it unless they wanted to end up in a mental institution. Maybe they wrote stories about what they saw and tried to convince themselves that it was their own creation instead of something they had actually encountered.

I finally made it to the other side and slowly walked backwards, making sure that there wasn't another hole behind me without actually looking backwards. The girl disappeared little by little in the mist that I hadn't even noticed. As soon as she was out of sight I turned around and ran right into her. She was sobbing no more and instead of covering her face her arms were holding onto me, giving me a clear view of her rotting face. I could even see maggots crawling around her skin.

 “Whyyyy won't you help meeee?”

She actually sounded just like a little girl although her voice was a bit hoarse. If only her face hadn't been looking like that...

“LET GO OF ME!” I screamed and tried to kick her away but her grip was surprisingly strong.

“WHYYYY WON'T YOU HELP MEEEEEEEEEEE?!”

Her voice was so jarring that it felt like my head was going to explode if she continued screaming so I grabbed one of her arms with both hands and pulled as hard as I could. Might not have been the best idea as I actually managed to tear it off her torso, resulting in thousands of maggots spilling out of the wound. The girl looked perplexed for a moment and her mouth moved as if she wanted to speak but couldn't find the right words. It didn't last very long though.

 “Whyyyy would you do this to meeee? WHAT HAVE I EVERRRR DONE TO YOUUUU?!”

She let go off me, only to draw back her remaining arm and before I could even react she rammed it into my stomach with a single punch. Under normal circumstances I might have passed out from shock and it's not like I didn't feel the pain but I knew that if I gave up now I would most certainly die. The hole in my stomach wasn't event he biggest problems as I saw a swarm of maggots crawling up her arm, eager to enter my body to use it as a breeding ground for their eggs.

Even knowing the consequences I didn't hesitate this time and just ripped her remaining arm right off, pulling it out of my stomach. Obviously that's not what you should do if you have no way to stop the bleeding but I'd rather die of blood-loss than by being eaten alive from the inside.

The girl stumbled over and her body quickly deflated as more and more maggots spilled out of her. Maybe that's what happens when your body gets infested by them in this world. They slowly eat your body from the inside till you're nothing but a puppet, waiting for another unsuspecting wanderer to continue the cycle anew.

I should have rested for a while but it would have been pointless as I would have bled out in a matter of hours, if not even less. So I turned around to continue my journey, only to see someone watching me from behind a tree...a tall person in a suit.

And what did I do? I blinked and he was gone! But even though I couldn't see him anymore I still felt his gaze upon me and the humming sound from earlier returned, accompanied by something that sounded like laughter.

“Leave me alone! Or send me home at least! … Why have you even brought me here?!” I screamed and turned and turned and turned but Slenderman was nowhere to be seen while the laughter got louder and louder as if he was mocking me. At that point I just started running into the woods, trying to ignore the waves of pain coming from my stomach. Once in a while I could see Slenderman out of the corner of my eyes but it didn't seem like he was actually trying to get me. This is something I've never understood about the mythos. Slenderman can teleport directly to his victims and the same skill allows him to evade any attack, so why does he choose to stalk them instead of simply taking them to wherever he comes from? It's like he's getting a kick out of frightening people and only takes them under special circumstances.

“Why couldn't you just stalk me like you normally do?! I've never even seen you before!”

Maybe Slenderman is like the Ring-Virus and you can only get rid of him by spreading his myth, which in turn “infects” others. That would explain a lot seeing how many storiess about him I've consumed.

While thinking I didn't realize that something was very off. Back home I couldn't even run 10 minutes without my lungs burning up but even though I was heavily injured I had no such problems in this world.

And then something grabbed my leg and I was already getting pulled backwards before I even hit the ground. Unbearable pain shot through my body as my wound was torn wide open by rocks and tree branches. That should have been the point of no return. Even if Slenderman didn't kill me I

would surely die from blood-loss or an infection. But I'm still alive and I don't even know how. Not that it really matters. You should value your life no matter how bad it may seem. If you work hard enough you can always change it for the better. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I came to a sudden stop. Trying to run away again was impossible as I couldn't even get up anymore, so I simply rolled onto my back to see what was happening.

Slenderman was standing above me, or rather a Slenderman as he looked completely different from every depiction I had ever seen. His skin was as black as the night, as was the robe he was wearing, making it nearly impossible to distinguish him from the environment. Tentacles shot out of his robe, lifted me into the air and as a demonic grin spread across his face he began choking me. Yes, this one actually had a mouth but every other facial feature was still missing. The sight reminded me of something I had seen in an anime once. If only I could return to those peaceful times...

Even though I was beyond saving I struggled desperately but his grip was impossible to break. I'm sure he could have easily crushed every bone in my body if he felt like it. Strangely enough I didn't hear anything inside my head this time nor did I feel any different, ignoring the pain that echoed through my body of course. Maybe this was an entirely different creature after all. Strange thoughts to have while being killed. I certainly would have preferred to see flashes of my old life but maybe that only happens when you're actually about to die.

A “normal” Slenderman appeared and fireworks exploded in my head as some kind of explosion send me flying into a tree. I fainted once more as if I couldn't hear the screams inside my head. I was really getting sick of this!