Eyes Open

The journey soon became long and tedious. Nate and Troy were able to doze on and off, but Jeff was left to his own thoughts as he sped down endless miles of deserted highways, the sounds of the tyres on the road beneath them his only company. Nate was asleep next to him, to his right, and behind Nate, Troy was dozing lightly, jerking awake every so often, as though something had snatched him from his sleep. Jeff knew that something probably had – it was not uncommon to constantly see the Slender Man in one’s dreams. He knew that for a fact, and coupled with Troy’s insomnia, Jeff guessed that the young man probably didn’t get a lot of sleep, and when he did, it would hardly be restful.

Nate opened his eyes at that moment, and yawned, stretching out as best as he could in the cramped space.

"You all right?"Jeff asked him, and Nate nodded, wiping his eyes.

"How long have I been out?" he asked.

"About three hours," Jeff laughed, and Nate looked genuinely surprised.

"Wow," he muttered. "I thought I’d slept enough earlier."

"You never seem to realize how tired you are until you get into a moving car," Jeff winked.

"What about you?" Nate asked. "You OK?"

"I’m fine," Jeff said. "Just getting a little tired, that’s all."

"Why don’t you pull over and let me drive for a bit?" Nate suggested. "You’ve been driving for a good seven hours or so now. You need some rest."

"Yeah, I might, actually," Jeff agreed. "I’ll stop when I see a place to pull over."

They continued on for a couple more miles until the road developed a dirt shoulder next to it. The car bumped to a stop, and Nate and Jeff both got out, taking the opportunity to stretch their legs a little.

"I reckon we should just drive on for a few more hours, and then find a place to stop for the night," Jeff said, as the two men leant against the hood of the car, taking full advantage of the fresher and cooler air and the space. "Not necessarily a motel – we’ll have to stay in the car some nights. But looks like Troy has that sorted."

"He’s actually sleeping?" Nate asked, and he looked genuinely surprised. They both turned to stare into the car, to see Troy was in the process of getting out.

"Well, he was," Jeff chuckled, but he and Nate’s good nature quickly vanished as Troy stumbled out of the car and to the grass verge, before being sick violently.

"Shit!" Jeff yelled. "Shit, come on, get back in the car. Troy! Back in the car!"

Troy nodded, but didn’t seem to be able to move. He was still retching, and Jeff ran over to him, trying to pull him back towards the car.

"Come on, man," Jeff told him urgently. "He knows where we are. We need to get out of here."

As Jeff spoke, the air became colder, and both men watched as the dense, grey-white fog crept over the grass towards the road. They couldn’t make out any shapes in the shadows just yet, but they knew that they only had minutes, if not mere seconds, to make their escape.

"Guys, come on!" Nate yelled from the car, and Jeff gave Troy an almighty tug, dragging him back towards the vehicle.

The very car itself seems to be blending into the fog, and Jeff shoved Troy into the back, scrambling in after him. No sooner had his toes left the ground, he felt a strange lurch, and looked behind him to see the Slender Man standing only metres away, watching them closely. As he and Troy watched, the creature slowly blended into the mist he had created, leaving nothing but the image imprinted in their minds. Jeff pulled the door shut and looked at Nate.

"Don’t move yet," he said softly. "He doesn’t usually just leave. I think he has something planned."

The three men sat tight in the car, Troy’s retching still indicating that the Slender Man was still nearby, even if he wasn’t perhaps as close. None of them moved, and Nate and Jeff’s eyes scanned the grey outside the windows. There was so much fog that they couldn’t see anything outside, and they could feel the damp and cold oozing its way inside the car.

No one knew how much time had passed before the mist began to clear. Troy’s retching gradually turned to coughing, and then he seemed to recover slightly. He sat up and joined the silent watch as the mist moved away from the car, and when they could finally see a short distance away outside, they realized that they were no longer on the dirt shoulder of the wide, open highway anymore. Instead, trees closed in around them, and the ground was muddy and full of leaves. Troy paled as he saw that the leaves were all the same colour – a vivid, blood red.

"We’re here," he whispered softly. "This is the woods. This is the forest the Slender Man keeps bringing me to. How did we get here? Did we drive and not realize?"

"I don’t know," Nate muttered. "I definitely wasn’t driving."

"The Slender Man doesn’t operate by our laws of physics," Jeff said quietly. "He works differently – space is not a solid concept to him. I’ve heard he can do this, but never actually seen it. And even so, I didn’t believe he would be able to transport three grown men and a heavy car."

"He doesn’t operate by our laws of physics?" Troy asked quietly. "What, you mean he can teleport?"

"Well, we call it that for lack of a better word," Jeff replied. "I don’t exactly know if that’s what he does, but it’s certainly the most accurate way to describe it."

"So all the times I’ve thought I’ve been here, I’ve really been here?" Troy asked.

"Most likely," Jeff nodded.

"That’s impossible," Nate said. "I saw Troy when the Slender Man had choked him. Troy said that he’s been here then, remember? But I saw him stay right where he was the whole time."

"I never said that Slender Man took our bodies here," Jeff said grimly. "He could take us here in body or in spirit."

"So we’re ghosts right now?" Troy asked bluntly.

"No, we’re real," Jeff replied, and he sounded certain of at least this fact.

"How do you know?" Troy questioned.

"We’re in a car," Jeff replied calmly. "Cars are inanimate objects. They don’t have spirits or a consciousness. If it’s here, we’re definitely here, too."

"So what should we do?" Nate asked. "Should we try and find our way back? Or just sit tight? After all, we don’t know what could be out there."

"I know what’s out there," Troy muttered grimly. He looked out of the window, at the fog that was still creeping around the car, touching the windows with its icy fingers, making them steam up as Troy’s breath brushed again it. "He’s out there, for a start. And everything he’s done – all of the evidence of what he’s done to those people."

He continued staring out of the window, his imagination playing tricks on him, making him swear that he could see a body swinging lazily from a tree branch, or a stain of blood on the ground, or a pile of intestines slopped up against a rough tree trunk. He could see it all in his mind’s eye, and what disturbed him the most was that it was based on fact. He knew what he had seen hadn’t been a hallucination, and what Jeff had said about the Slender Man’s obsession with organs had only served to heighten his fear of what he may see.

"I don’t think we could drive out, anyway," Jeff said. "From what I can see, the trees are pretty dense here."

There were a few minutes of silence while everyone weighed up their options. There was no denying that they felt slightly safer in the car – the illusion of the impenetrable walls around them helped them feel protected from whatever could be lurking outside. However, they were logical enough to know what staying in the car would make them sitting ducks – the Slender Man would probably be expecting them to sit tight and perhaps wait for the fog to lift so they could see if there was a way out or not.

This thought seemed to cross everyone’s minds, as when Jeff suggested that they at least have a short-distance wander away from the car, everyone agreed.

Outside, the mist made everything seem damp, and the chill clung to their clothes and skin. It was slightly easier to see than they’d first thought, but then again they had had to look through the slightly steamed up windows of the car, which would have of course amplified the fog. The floor felt rough under their feet; even though there was no mistaking that it was muddy. Troy guessed that the mud was frozen – it certainly felt cold enough to accommodate ice.

The three men cautiously walked a few more metres, Nate locking the car behind them, until they were lost into the fog, the car melting into it somewhere behind them. Then, they stopped again, listening for the slightest noise – the crack of a branch, the rustle of some leaves, any indication that they weren’t alone. The forest was deathly quiet, giving them no reason to believe that anything apart from themselves was alive in here. Troy remembered forests always teaming with noise – the wind rushing through tree branches, small animals scampering from place to place, birds taking flight ... but there was nothing here. No breeze stirred what leaves still clung to the trees, and no small animal ran for cover. It was more than a little unnerving.

"Come on," Jeff said softly, and despite their best efforts to not shatter the heavy silence around them, they couldn’t help but crack branches and rustle the leaves on the ground as the slowly made their way forward. Troy noticed that Jeff and Nate were keeping him firmly in the middle. He hoped that didn’t mean that they had spotted something he hadn’t.

Every so often, the trio paused, all the time listening out for any slight noise. Troy’s health was still good, which gave them some clue as to their level of safety, but they were also aware of how quickly Troy had become ill in the car, and how it had taken the Slender Man only seconds to materialise right next to them. The danger of that occurring here was definitely high.

"He always brings me here for a reason," Troy whispered softly. "Something will happen, guys."

"We just have to keep moving," Jeff said. "How are you feeling?"

"All right," Troy replied.

"You need to tell us as soon as possible if you’re starting to feel bad," Jeff told him, and Troy nodded.

"Well," he said, after a moment’s hesitation. "If it’s anything like last time, I think it’ll be pretty damn obvious when I’m sick."

"Yeah, that was pretty obvious," Nate agreed, and they managed a weak laugh.

They walked for about half an hour more, before something began to loom out of the mist. As one, they slowed, squinting through the swirling mist to try and work out what it was. As they cautiously edged closer, they realized that it appeared to be an old house.

"Oh great," Troy muttered. "Bring on the Blair Witch, why don’t you?"

"So optimistic," Nate muttered back, nudging his friend, who swatted at him. Jeff rolled his eyes.

"You pair sure do know how to ruin a really sinister moment," he told them.

Slowly and carefully, they made their way forward, ready to bolt at any minute. As they approached, they saw that the house didn’t seem run down at all – rather, it looked recently lived in, if not still lived in.

"The Blair Witch has a nice place," Troy observed.

"Shut up, Troy," Nate replied. "It’s not the damn Blair Witch."

"You know, after everything that’s happened today, I don’t know how you can say that," Troy fired back. "Would you really be surprised?"

"I’d feed you to her," Nate said.

"Thanks Nate," Troy replied. "You’re a great friend and everything, but next time Slender Man turns up, I’m tripping you."

"Guys!" Jeff exclaimed, but he too was trying not to laugh. "Let’s have a look around this place. If it’s safe enough, we might be able to score some food."

"As long as we don’t do the classic 'let’s split up' thing, I’m down," Troy replied, and together, they began to circle the house, looking for any evidence that it wasn’t safe.