The Slender Man (21 page)

"Adam! Get over here now!" I shout. Adam backs
into Slender, and it's as if he is being absorbed into his form.

I watch in horror as Adam practically disappears as Slender
contorts in response. After Adam has fully disappeared, a long tendril sticks
out from Slender's back. As the tendril unfurls, I can hear Adam screaming, and
then more tendrils emerge, each one accompanied by a new scream. I refuse to
look away. I have to show him that I'm strong enough to handle him. I've heard
enough screams. He'll have to show me something new.

My eyes burn, but I do my best to glare at him, show him my
anger through it. "Give me my brother back!" I demand. He laughs
again. He shape-shifts and shrinks to about seven feet, but it's not his size
that matters, it's the face that appears. I'm looking at Adam, but a black,
full shadow version of Adam. Slender is mocking me. He must be enjoying his
thought of triumph.

I think about what Bubbe and Mr. Mario said. I have to use
joy and life to bring him back, and I bring that with music, but I dropped my
guitar back there. Then Bubbe's words ring in my ears, and I begin singing. I
sing the song I came here with, Adam's favorite song. I sing Adon Olam. I look
Slender right in his imitation of Adam's face as I sing it. I sing it through
his laughter and distortions, through his static and the cracks in my voice. I
ignore him. I'm singing to Adam. He's the one I want. He's the one I came here
for.

I reach the second verse and Slender begins contorting
again, and I can hear Adam's sobs. He's not screaming now, he's just crying. I
ignore him and sing louder. I'm getting more off-key, but I think it's working.
Adam stifles his sobs as if he's listening to me. I realize I closed my eyes
during my song. I open them and see Adam, the real Adam, peeking out through
Slender.

He's crawling forward, distorting sometimes, but he's not
marked by one of Slender's tendrils anymore.
I've brought out the real Adam!
I crack a smile when I see him. It's a smile of temporary relief, but I
know the fight isn’t over, not yet at least. I don't stop singing though, and I
hold my hand out for Adam to grab. He doesn't take it though, he can't. He
needs his good hand to balance.

I reach forward and take him in my arms. I immediately feel
that Adam is draining my life on contact, but I ignore it. I feel as if I'm
slipping through him, but with me being absorbed into him, his body follows me
as I rise into an upright position. I let go as he's standing, and look up at
Slender. He’s waiting, as if pondering his next move, and then he makes it. He
shakes wildly and I see his tendrils leave him in the form of his Slender
Children. Besides Adam, he has twelve of them, four of them I know: Lindsay,
Jason, Leanne, and Lionel. He doesn't have Shana to sic on me, but that's a
victory on my part.

"Adam, we have to run," I say, but Adam looks
hesitant. Slender hits me with that vortex and I feel my life being drained.

"Adam now!" I take off, dragging Adam behind me.
My life-force is draining quickly, but with me pulling Adam along and running
away from Slender, I'm hoping that whatever I lose is now actually going into
Adam and not to Slender.  We can’t move quickly, but I don't stop.

The Slender Children keep warping right in front of me, and
each time I pass one it lashes at me, stealing an ounce here or there. I keep
going. My field of vision is blurry, especially with maintaining contact with
Adam, and every minute my light grows dimmer. I stick my right hand out and
each time it hits a tree I work my way around it. Adam sometimes lets go and
when he does I have a moment of respite, but my vision doesn't clear and I'm
more worried about losing track of him than not being able to see. Luckily he's
glowing more brightly than I am so it makes him easy to find. My hands and feet
are guiding me in the shadow world now.

We're going uphill now, and I dry-heave from the effort. I
do it on the move though; I have to keep moving, because every few seconds
another one of the Slender Children, or maybe Slender himself is striking out
at me. I am using what little light I have left, no the light I've given to
Adam, to help guide me.

We keep running with the screams and laughs of the children
all around us. The vertigo is overwhelming and I find that Adam's hand is now
guiding me forward. Adam is leading me now, like I did with Shana, only now I'm
the one Slender is feeding on. My feet slip and I'm down on my knees doing the
best I can to crawl forward. I don't have much energy left. "Adam, keep
running," I say weakly. He let's go.

"I can't. Alyssa, I can't," he cries.

"Leave me, just run," I say, trying to rise back
up. I anticipate a mass of hands feeding on me, draining my last legs as I
struggle to move forward. What if they feed on Adam too? "Adam, you have
to run!" I shout as loudly as I can, which is barely above a whisper.

"I can't, Alyssa. They're everywhere," he says.
With no physical contact with Adam, my vision has begun to return. I climb up,
and with the few meters of light radiating from his aura, I see where we are. A
helpless cry escapes when I see that the Slender Children have us surrounded
and are closing in slowly, circling their prey. I walk forward a few paces
trying to find an out, but hopelessness consumes me as my knees buckle once
more. I sit here one knee on the ground and one leg trying to push me back up,
waiting to be consumed.
It's over. I've lost.
There's no- there's a gap.
It's only a couple meters wide, but- I feel a meager bit of hope hit me. If I
can make it through I might be able to leave them behind, at least until they
warp again. It’s time to make a last stand.

"Let’s go," I say.

"We have to run past them," I continue. It's a
last ditch resort, but it's the only way I have left.

"They’ll catch us," Adam protests, but I laugh.

"Guess this is where I die," I say, although I'm
not even sure if Adam will make it even if I get him through. I rise quickly,
my body being powered by a final surge of energy. It’s just enough, just enough
to get by them. I lift Adam onto my back ignoring the pain as his body drains
me. My last bit of strength- my last will is to keep my brother safe. I put a
foot forward and take off. The Slender Children go from their slow prowling to
trained sprinters inside of a- distortion. I feel hands on me, hands that are
not Adams, but I ignore them. The only way to get them off is to move. I run
right through one of them. I can’t see anything, and the painful experience of
such a collision nearly stops me right there, but I give myself every mental
reassurance that I can win this.
Just ten more paces… ten more seconds.
We’re almost there,
I tell myself.

I keep going, my feet hitting the ground so heavily that my
steps seem to displace the black earth beneath me. I feel like I’m running
faster than I ever have before, even in the real world. Even with Adam latched
onto me like a parasite as he unwillingly feeds on my life-force. I can't tell
if the numbness is helping me or hindering me, but I’m pretty sure if I could
actually feel what I was doing, I wouldn’t be able to do it. I must have dashed
fifty meters, but every few steps an unwanted hand touches me, siphoning my
last remaining bits of energy. They're on my thighs, shoulders, arms, and even
my head. Are they running with me, warping in front of me, or do they just have
really long arms? I can’t see. I can’t see a thing in front of me now. It's not
worth thinking about. I can't think. I don't have any strength to think.

I take another step, but I don’t reach ground immediately,
and my heart skips a beat. “Downhill…” I say aloud, almost chuckling. I try to
recover by throwing my next leg forward to catch myself, but it’s too late. I
feel my knee hit the ground, followed by my chest and then onto my side. I am
thankful for the numbness now. I can’t feel any pain as my body slams into the
ground during my tumble. I'm falling down. My brain is shutting down. I catch a
glimpse of something in the split second before I hit it. It’s a large tree.
Thud.

"Ah...ugh," I groan.

I roll over but my back is against something. I feel wet,
and everything is bright. I cough weakly. "Am I dead?" I ask aloud. I
feel something pushing me.

"Alyssa," a distorted voice calls.

"Alyssa, wake up. Don't be dead!" it shouts. I
still hear static, but it's more broken than before. I can see a little bit
more. I can see branches. The person speaks again. "Alyssa!"

"Adam," I groan. My vision returns a little bit,
but it keeps going blurry again. I'm in the forest, and Adam is leaning over
me, trying to rouse me with his good arm. I look him in the eye. He looks
normal aside from paleness and a few bruises. I cough again and try to move. My
body is still very numb, and it's another few seconds before I can so much as
hug Adam. I look at my body to identify the wetness, and realize that it's not
broken static that I hear.

"Rain," I grunt. It hurts to talk. I try and get
up, but it's still a while longer before I can roll over onto my stomach. Now I
have to push myself up.

I slowly make it to my feet and Adam helps me stand the rest
of the way up. My vision is still blurry, but I can see Adam coated in muddy
leaves. I lean forward- nearly falling on him, and kiss him on the top of his
head.

"We did it?" I ask. I look around. It's morning
and I see no sign of the Slender Man, although I feel like moving around is
still as difficult, and now that the numbness has dispersed some more, I
realize I’m banged up pretty bad from the fall. My vision clears up a bit and I
look around. I think I can make out the trail about ten meters away.

"Come on," I mumble to Adam, still feeling weak.
"You okay?" I ask, finding that I have a small limp. A lot of my pain
seems to throb from my thigh and back, but the most intense is coming from my
head. I must have hit it, but at least feeling is returning to me

"Where's the bus?" asks Adam.

"Bus?" I ask, not sure what he's talking about.
"We need an ambulance," I mutter. He follows me and we find out that
it was the trail I saw. We follow the trail towards the school. We aren't too
deep into the woods, so it'll only be a bit longer before I can-
"Ugh," my vision blurs again and I stumble. "I think," I
huff. "I think I hit my head, a little too hard," I say through short
breaths.

"Where's Denise? We need to find her!" he
protests. What is he talking about? Denise, she's dead right?

"Adam, Denise isn't here," I say, trudging along.
I can see the road just ahead. For the millionth time I anticipate Slender
stealing me away at the last moment.
Slender!
Something is wrong. This
escape was suspiciously easy. Why has he stopped pursuit? I fell down hill and
was knocked out, and now I’m back? He wanted me. I was the one who escaped,
stealing one of his children and now I’ve done it again? That doesn’t sit
right. He’ll be back.

“No, she was sitting right beside me,” he protests, tugging.
My train of thought returns to him. He’s talking about Denise.

“No just, we need police,” I mutter. We make it through the
edge of the woods safely, but my vision blurs again. I try shaking my head to
clear things up but it only makes it worse. I pull Adam along the road, hoping
someone will be out driving this early. After another minute I see a car in the
distance and wave. The car is coming in our direction.  I rush forward, pulling
Adam with me as fast as I can, with a minor limp. I almost think we aren’t
going to make it. Maybe we aren’t as visible in this rain, but then I realize
that it’s driving slowly, as if the driver is scanning the woods already. As I
get closer I see that it’s a police car and it’s already come to a halt by the
time I register who’s driving it.

“Oh my god!” I hear Deputy Yew shout. “Alyssa, you found
him! Oh-” he rushes over to us. “Are you alright?” he asks when he gets close.

“Uh, I think I need… ugh,” I start. I see his flashlight
light, but I can’t tell what direction he pulled it out from.

“Follow the light for me.” I try to, but my vision blurs.

“Were you attacked or…?”

“I was running and- I fell…” I answer.

“Running? From…”

“I’ll explain later, but… but yeah,” I say. I can’t seem to
form full length sentences.

“I think you might have a small concussion, here come with me.
We’ll get you to some medical attention,” he instructs. He puts Adam and me in
the back seat. I’m on the driver’s side and I lean against the window. I notice
I’ve tracked a lot of mud into the car, and the rainwater is ebbing into the
seats. I feel a little sorry because Deputy Yew will probably be the one to
clean it up. I hold Adam’s shoulder since his left arm is broken. He’s holding
his left arm, wincing.

“I hurt my arm,” he says.

“Adam that’s been, that’s… you’ll be fine,” I say.

 “What about Denise and the others? They’re still at the
bus?” he asks.

“Adam, that accident…” I try, but I give up. It’s not worth
the energy to speak. I lean against the headrest and let out a little laugh. We
both made it! We both escaped, for now at least. I thought he wanted me to stay
in exchange for Adam though. I thought he wanted
me
for certain.

Deputy Yew is on his radio. “…Yes that’s correct. I have
both
of the Redwood children. Alyssa found the boy,” he explains. I look through the
front window but my vision blurs again, damn concussion.

As my vision returns I see something far ahead in the road.
It looks like a person and I brace myself for Deputy Yew to slam the brakes and
slam my already weakened body forward. Even with a seatbelt I’m not- he’s not
slowing down, and I get a closer look.
It’s him!
It’s The Slender Man in
the middle of the road! As the car speeds closer I see him raise one of his
hands out as if reaching for me. There’s an immense wave of static.