Eyes Open
Twenty-Five.
Troy sat alone in the kitchen, marvelling at how different everything was now. He had pulled the curtains closed, but like the ones in the motel room, moths had bitten through them in places. To avoid being so easily detected, Troy had turned out the light in the corner and instead sat at the table in the light of two candles. The flames flickered through the dark, the unpredictable light casting strange shadows upon the walls. Troy watched them dancing and swirling around, finding it more relaxing than sitting tight and focusing entirely on what might be stalking them through the darkness outside.
The house was silent now, as it must have been for years before the three of them arrived for the night. It was still, and didn’t even so much as creak and settle like a house might. It was totally still; even the air didn’t shuffle with an even slight breeze. Troy found it strangely reassuring. He thought he would find it creepy, but he knew that because the place was so still and silent, he would be able to notice any interference straight away. He was sitting at the kitchen table, trying to decide whether he should sit with his back to the window or not. He decided it wouldn’t really be a good idea, but it was with reluctance that he stood up and moved to the other side of the table. Here, he could see out of the window, and he could also see into the hallway, in case anything should come in through the front door. Of course, he knew what he was looking for. He was looking for long, dark tendrils, or the flash of a pale head, or the shadow of a suit in the darkness.
The room remained silent, the air around Troy was still, and no movement stirred outside. Troy sat completely still also, not wanting to disturb anything. He was scared that if he even disturbed the peace slightly, it would give something the opportunity to creep that little bit closer, to reach out to him, to –
Something brushed against the back of Troy’s neck and he jumped, diving off of the chair and stumbling to his feet, his eyes darting around. It was darker now he had turned his back on the window –his eyes had been used to staring into the slightly lighter area outside the window, thanks to the moon being partially visible. For a brief second, he thought he saw something shift in the shadows, but after moving slightly closer and squinting further, he saw it was nothing. He shivered; rubbing his hand against the back of his neck, guessing a spider must have fallen from the ceiling and brushed against him. Usually Troy hated spiders with a passion, but this time he was simply thankful that a spider had been all it was.
Despite this very plausible explanation, Troy didn’t sit back down. He remained standing, turning every so often, and without warning, trying to become unpredictable and catch anything out. He knew that his life wasn’t exactly plausible at the moment, and he had to remain vigilant. He couldn’t just decide it was a spider and then let his guard down – all of the other times he had brushed things off as normality had ended up in the Slender Man taking him completely b surprise. So Troy continued moving around every so often, remaining alert, scanning the darkness around him, occasionally venturing out into the hallway to peer down it into the living room, to make sure the suited creature wasn’t lurking over his sleeping friends.
It was this that Troy hated the most about the Slender Man: the stalking, the unknown, the unexpectedness. There was no way to defend himself, because he didn’t know when he would have to defend himself. He sighed, walking slowly and cautiously back into the kitchen. It was still and empty, and he knew that having to remain on edge all the time must eventually drive someone insane. Had Jeff mentioned something about the Slender Man turning his victims towards insanity? Or was that simply an observation that Troy had subconsciously made, thanks to what he had seen and experienced before?
Troy placed an unsteady hand upon the kitchen table, taking a slow, deep breath. He couldn’t start to unnerve himself with his own thoughts –he couldn’t afford to be his own worst enemy in times like this. He had volunteered to be on the lookout, and so he would remain on the lookout, and he would remain calm enough to be a decent lookout at that. He couldn’t help but listen to a tiny voice in the back of his head that just wished that the Slender Man would hurry up and make himself known, however. The waiting was putting a serious strain on his sanity.
He continued to look down at the table, both palms pressed against the edge of it, calming his breathing, his ears still straining for any slight sound, any slight disturbance. Quite suddenly, however, he felt something grab a hold of his ankle, pulling it backwards, and causing him to fall forwards, smashing his head off of the edge of the table and landing in a heap upon the floor, half under it, half exposed. Instinctively, Troy pulled himself completely under the table, feeling blood pouring from his nose. He crawled around so he could see what had grabbed him, but the area he could see seemed clear. He swore under his breath, pinching the bridge of his nose to try and control some of the bleeding. As he did so, something grabbed him from behind again – this time coming from the other side of the table, and dragged him out from his temporary hiding place. Troy grabbed onto one of the table legs, dragging the table a little of the way with him, and it jerked over a slight crack in the ground. Clattering down from the table fell the sharp knife they had used to prise the frozen food away from each other, and Troy wasted no time in grabbing it up, turning over as best as he could, and slashing the knife at whatever was holding onto his ankle.
The Slender Man let out a horrible hissing sound, pulling his tentacle away from Troy’s ankle. Troy saw something dark was dripping from it, and he scrambled to his feet, putting the table between him and the creature. He knew he had angered the creature more than ever, and his heart was hammering wildly as he realized that he was in a lot of danger. He backed up slightly, his eyes darting to the door that was a little way to the right of him, but it was a mistake; in the spilt second that Troy took his eyes off of the Slender Man, the creature had made his move and flung the table out of the way using one of the thicker tendrils, this time grabbing Troy with his hand, the bony fingers lines of ice against Troy’s throat. Troy felt himself get slammed up against the wall behind him, the corner of a picture frame jutting uncomfortably into his back. The Slender Man continued to stare straight into Troy’s face, and Troy could feel the anger and the hatred radiating off of the being.
Troy quickly brought the knife around, trying to slash it against the Slender Man’s hand, but his move was anticipated and the Slender Man swiftly blocked Troy’s attempt with a cruel black tendril, turning it back so Troy had to put all of his effort into not getting stabbed himself. He tried to make any noise whatsoever to warn the others, but he found he couldn’t speak at all. Instead, he kicked out as much as he could, managing to catch one of the chairs, which crashed against the awkwardly positioned table and sent it clattering back down onto four legs, the chair tumbling down beside it. It made enough noise to wake the whole forest, in Troy’s opinion, and he hoped that the other two would be able to get out.
Almost instantly, he heard footsteps thundering up the hallway, and suddenly Jeff and Nate were there.
"Holy shit!" Jeff yelled, and Nate wasted no time in grabbing up one of the other chairs and smashing it against the Slender Man as hard as he could.
Barely loosening his grasp on Troy, the Slender Man turned around to face Nate and sent a long tendril shooting in his direction, giving him a swift swipe across the head and knocking him a fair distance away. Jeff, meanwhile, had grabbed Troy and given him an almighty tug, managing to pull him free from the creature’s grasp and force him out of the way as the Slender Man made another grab for him.
Without having to say a word in agreement, the three of them dived for the door, Jeff taking the lead and pulling the front door open. None of them cared where they were going –all they cared about was getting as far away from the house as possible, and that was their only goal as they sprinted into the darkness of the forest, hoping that the sheer blackness would make up for the fact that they couldn’t see much by having the same effect on the Slender Man. Troy noticed that Jeff was clutching the knife in his hand, and the blade of it still had the strange dark liquid upon it which might have been the Slender Man’s answer to blood.
They only ran for a couple of minutes before a long tendril whipped over their heads, so close that Troy could feel the air move through his hair. He ducked instinctively and turned around to see that the Slender Man was already close behind then, keeping up with them almost effortlessly. He was in his element here – he tendrils curled around tree branches and he used them to pull himself forward, covering large distances without his feet even having to touch the ground. It was a truly terrifying sight, but Troy could barely draw his eyes away, even thought his brain was screaming at him to run.
"Troy!" Nate screamed at him, and the terror in his best friend’s voice forced Troy to snap out of his trance and stumble back into movement. Something flicked past him again and this time he didn’t stop to see what it was. He continues running, and suddenly he became aware that slightly ahead of them, there was a sharp drop, probably leading down to a stream.
Troy made a split second decision and veered off to the left. As he had anticipated, the Slender Man promptly ignored both Nate and Jeff, and came straight after Troy, who put his head down and sprinted faster than he ever had done in his life. Tree branches tore at his skin, leaving nicks and cuts, and whipped against his face, feeling like hundreds of tiny slaps. The ground was uneven and Troy stumbled several times, but refused to let any of the pain stop him from running. He needed to get the Slender Man as far away from his friends as possible.
Something suddenly snaked around his leg and tugged on it sharply. Troy tumbled to the ground, a tree root smashing into his already sore nose, causing more blood to come gushing out of it. Troy barely had the time to register the fact that the Slender Man still had a grip on his ankle – he only fully acknowledged the fact when he felt himself being dragged backwards, sliding over the rough ground, and then he was hoisted up into the air and slammed back down, this time feeling the tree root against his back, sending pain shooting through his whole body. He couldn’t help but cry out in pain, feeling his limbs tingling from the impact. For a brief second he was terrified he had been paralysed, but the pain quickly returned as he was pulled back up into the air again. This time, Troy held on for dear life as the Slender Man tried to hurl him away. Just missing being slammed into a tree branch, Troy gripped the tentacles holding him as tightly as possible, doing everything he could to not be thrown around like a ragdoll.
Suddenly, he was dropped to the floor with none of the malicious force the Slender Man had been using only seconds before, and Troy scrambled away as the Slender Man let out another terrifying, angered hissing sound, almost screeching at something behind it. Crawling to his left slightly, Troy could see that it was Jeff who was the object of the Slender Man’s annoyance, and Troy quickly saw why: Jeff was pulling the knife out of the Slender Man’s leg, where seconds before it had been buried right up to the handle.
What happened next occurred so quickly that Troy barely had time to register that it had even happened. One second Jeff was standing there, and the next a thick, dark tendril had grabbed him up into the air and thrown Jeff full-force against one of the tree behind him. Troy heard Jeff cry out briefly, and then the Slender Man let go and Jeff thudded to the floor, where he didn’t move.
The house was silent now, as it must have been for years before the three of them arrived for the night. It was still, and didn’t even so much as creak and settle like a house might. It was totally still; even the air didn’t shuffle with an even slight breeze. Troy found it strangely reassuring. He thought he would find it creepy, but he knew that because the place was so still and silent, he would be able to notice any interference straight away. He was sitting at the kitchen table, trying to decide whether he should sit with his back to the window or not. He decided it wouldn’t really be a good idea, but it was with reluctance that he stood up and moved to the other side of the table. Here, he could see out of the window, and he could also see into the hallway, in case anything should come in through the front door. Of course, he knew what he was looking for. He was looking for long, dark tendrils, or the flash of a pale head, or the shadow of a suit in the darkness.
The room remained silent, the air around Troy was still, and no movement stirred outside. Troy sat completely still also, not wanting to disturb anything. He was scared that if he even disturbed the peace slightly, it would give something the opportunity to creep that little bit closer, to reach out to him, to –
Something brushed against the back of Troy’s neck and he jumped, diving off of the chair and stumbling to his feet, his eyes darting around. It was darker now he had turned his back on the window –his eyes had been used to staring into the slightly lighter area outside the window, thanks to the moon being partially visible. For a brief second, he thought he saw something shift in the shadows, but after moving slightly closer and squinting further, he saw it was nothing. He shivered; rubbing his hand against the back of his neck, guessing a spider must have fallen from the ceiling and brushed against him. Usually Troy hated spiders with a passion, but this time he was simply thankful that a spider had been all it was.
Despite this very plausible explanation, Troy didn’t sit back down. He remained standing, turning every so often, and without warning, trying to become unpredictable and catch anything out. He knew that his life wasn’t exactly plausible at the moment, and he had to remain vigilant. He couldn’t just decide it was a spider and then let his guard down – all of the other times he had brushed things off as normality had ended up in the Slender Man taking him completely b surprise. So Troy continued moving around every so often, remaining alert, scanning the darkness around him, occasionally venturing out into the hallway to peer down it into the living room, to make sure the suited creature wasn’t lurking over his sleeping friends.
It was this that Troy hated the most about the Slender Man: the stalking, the unknown, the unexpectedness. There was no way to defend himself, because he didn’t know when he would have to defend himself. He sighed, walking slowly and cautiously back into the kitchen. It was still and empty, and he knew that having to remain on edge all the time must eventually drive someone insane. Had Jeff mentioned something about the Slender Man turning his victims towards insanity? Or was that simply an observation that Troy had subconsciously made, thanks to what he had seen and experienced before?
Troy placed an unsteady hand upon the kitchen table, taking a slow, deep breath. He couldn’t start to unnerve himself with his own thoughts –he couldn’t afford to be his own worst enemy in times like this. He had volunteered to be on the lookout, and so he would remain on the lookout, and he would remain calm enough to be a decent lookout at that. He couldn’t help but listen to a tiny voice in the back of his head that just wished that the Slender Man would hurry up and make himself known, however. The waiting was putting a serious strain on his sanity.
He continued to look down at the table, both palms pressed against the edge of it, calming his breathing, his ears still straining for any slight sound, any slight disturbance. Quite suddenly, however, he felt something grab a hold of his ankle, pulling it backwards, and causing him to fall forwards, smashing his head off of the edge of the table and landing in a heap upon the floor, half under it, half exposed. Instinctively, Troy pulled himself completely under the table, feeling blood pouring from his nose. He crawled around so he could see what had grabbed him, but the area he could see seemed clear. He swore under his breath, pinching the bridge of his nose to try and control some of the bleeding. As he did so, something grabbed him from behind again – this time coming from the other side of the table, and dragged him out from his temporary hiding place. Troy grabbed onto one of the table legs, dragging the table a little of the way with him, and it jerked over a slight crack in the ground. Clattering down from the table fell the sharp knife they had used to prise the frozen food away from each other, and Troy wasted no time in grabbing it up, turning over as best as he could, and slashing the knife at whatever was holding onto his ankle.
The Slender Man let out a horrible hissing sound, pulling his tentacle away from Troy’s ankle. Troy saw something dark was dripping from it, and he scrambled to his feet, putting the table between him and the creature. He knew he had angered the creature more than ever, and his heart was hammering wildly as he realized that he was in a lot of danger. He backed up slightly, his eyes darting to the door that was a little way to the right of him, but it was a mistake; in the spilt second that Troy took his eyes off of the Slender Man, the creature had made his move and flung the table out of the way using one of the thicker tendrils, this time grabbing Troy with his hand, the bony fingers lines of ice against Troy’s throat. Troy felt himself get slammed up against the wall behind him, the corner of a picture frame jutting uncomfortably into his back. The Slender Man continued to stare straight into Troy’s face, and Troy could feel the anger and the hatred radiating off of the being.
Troy quickly brought the knife around, trying to slash it against the Slender Man’s hand, but his move was anticipated and the Slender Man swiftly blocked Troy’s attempt with a cruel black tendril, turning it back so Troy had to put all of his effort into not getting stabbed himself. He tried to make any noise whatsoever to warn the others, but he found he couldn’t speak at all. Instead, he kicked out as much as he could, managing to catch one of the chairs, which crashed against the awkwardly positioned table and sent it clattering back down onto four legs, the chair tumbling down beside it. It made enough noise to wake the whole forest, in Troy’s opinion, and he hoped that the other two would be able to get out.
Almost instantly, he heard footsteps thundering up the hallway, and suddenly Jeff and Nate were there.
"Holy shit!" Jeff yelled, and Nate wasted no time in grabbing up one of the other chairs and smashing it against the Slender Man as hard as he could.
Barely loosening his grasp on Troy, the Slender Man turned around to face Nate and sent a long tendril shooting in his direction, giving him a swift swipe across the head and knocking him a fair distance away. Jeff, meanwhile, had grabbed Troy and given him an almighty tug, managing to pull him free from the creature’s grasp and force him out of the way as the Slender Man made another grab for him.
Without having to say a word in agreement, the three of them dived for the door, Jeff taking the lead and pulling the front door open. None of them cared where they were going –all they cared about was getting as far away from the house as possible, and that was their only goal as they sprinted into the darkness of the forest, hoping that the sheer blackness would make up for the fact that they couldn’t see much by having the same effect on the Slender Man. Troy noticed that Jeff was clutching the knife in his hand, and the blade of it still had the strange dark liquid upon it which might have been the Slender Man’s answer to blood.
They only ran for a couple of minutes before a long tendril whipped over their heads, so close that Troy could feel the air move through his hair. He ducked instinctively and turned around to see that the Slender Man was already close behind then, keeping up with them almost effortlessly. He was in his element here – he tendrils curled around tree branches and he used them to pull himself forward, covering large distances without his feet even having to touch the ground. It was a truly terrifying sight, but Troy could barely draw his eyes away, even thought his brain was screaming at him to run.
"Troy!" Nate screamed at him, and the terror in his best friend’s voice forced Troy to snap out of his trance and stumble back into movement. Something flicked past him again and this time he didn’t stop to see what it was. He continues running, and suddenly he became aware that slightly ahead of them, there was a sharp drop, probably leading down to a stream.
Troy made a split second decision and veered off to the left. As he had anticipated, the Slender Man promptly ignored both Nate and Jeff, and came straight after Troy, who put his head down and sprinted faster than he ever had done in his life. Tree branches tore at his skin, leaving nicks and cuts, and whipped against his face, feeling like hundreds of tiny slaps. The ground was uneven and Troy stumbled several times, but refused to let any of the pain stop him from running. He needed to get the Slender Man as far away from his friends as possible.
Something suddenly snaked around his leg and tugged on it sharply. Troy tumbled to the ground, a tree root smashing into his already sore nose, causing more blood to come gushing out of it. Troy barely had the time to register the fact that the Slender Man still had a grip on his ankle – he only fully acknowledged the fact when he felt himself being dragged backwards, sliding over the rough ground, and then he was hoisted up into the air and slammed back down, this time feeling the tree root against his back, sending pain shooting through his whole body. He couldn’t help but cry out in pain, feeling his limbs tingling from the impact. For a brief second he was terrified he had been paralysed, but the pain quickly returned as he was pulled back up into the air again. This time, Troy held on for dear life as the Slender Man tried to hurl him away. Just missing being slammed into a tree branch, Troy gripped the tentacles holding him as tightly as possible, doing everything he could to not be thrown around like a ragdoll.
Suddenly, he was dropped to the floor with none of the malicious force the Slender Man had been using only seconds before, and Troy scrambled away as the Slender Man let out another terrifying, angered hissing sound, almost screeching at something behind it. Crawling to his left slightly, Troy could see that it was Jeff who was the object of the Slender Man’s annoyance, and Troy quickly saw why: Jeff was pulling the knife out of the Slender Man’s leg, where seconds before it had been buried right up to the handle.
What happened next occurred so quickly that Troy barely had time to register that it had even happened. One second Jeff was standing there, and the next a thick, dark tendril had grabbed him up into the air and thrown Jeff full-force against one of the tree behind him. Troy heard Jeff cry out briefly, and then the Slender Man let go and Jeff thudded to the floor, where he didn’t move.