Eyes Open

"So," Troy continued, now he knew his point still stood. "I’m just wondering what makes him vanish off to another one, who could be in Japan for all we know. Is it when they’re thinking something up? When they’re getting close to working something out? Or does he just ... I don’t know ... drop in occasionally to make them shit bricks?"

"These are the things we’re going to have to work out," Nate replied. "It seems so impossible, though."

"I know," Troy agreed. "But Jeff wouldn’t have given me this if he didn’t think it would be of any use. He knew how determined I am to get to the bottom of this. There must be something in here he knew I’d spot. And I’m going to find it. When things start killing my friends, I tend to become a little bit more determined to work out why."

The scenery flicked past quickly, no sign of any towns nearby yet. It made Troy slightly unnerved – he had a feeling that they would be safer in a town or a city, where there were a lot more people to interest the Slender Man and a lot of different things going on that might distract him from Troy and Nate for while.

Troy huddled up into the seat, squinting in the small light coming down from above him. It wasn’t very bright and tended to flicker a lot, but he was determined to look through as much of this notebook as he could, even though he knew that it certainly wouldn’t be the only time that he would read it. He wanted to know it like the back of his hand, however. He wanted to know it so well that if a place name or a town came up somewhere, he would instantly recognize it, instead of having to flick through hundreds of pages of thousands of notes to double check. That was his motivation for now, and motivation kept him going. He needed to keep going.

For a couple more hours, Nate drive them down long, seemingly endless highways, occasionally taking a tuning suddenly, to make sure that if anything was following them, their journey was unpredictable. Taking a break to allow his eyes to rest slightly, Troy gazed out of the window. He couldn’t deny how peaceful it was at the moment – it was nice to see the sky after seeing jagged, cruel branches up above him for ages. The stars were out and the moon was nearly full, and it was relaxing to just stare at them for a while, without having to think about anything too taxing. The stars took his mind far away from the Slender Man, and as far away from the grave under the green, leafy tree in the clearing as it possibly could get. At some moments, Troy felt as though he could turn around and find Jeff sleeping in the back seat, but he knew this was wrong. The thought made the lump return to his throat, but he struggled on. He had even more of a reason to beat this thing now – not only for the hope of his sister, but for the memory of Jeff.

Eventually, the two of them realized that they both needed to sleep, and so they pulled into a parking lot outside a store. It was closed, but the fact that people would be about in a few short hours was comforting enough for them to be able to at least doze. Troy even managed to get a couple of hours of broken sleep in, and he awoke as the sun started to climb higher in the sky. The car had been trapping the warmth and so even though there was frost outside, the interior of the car was incredibly comfortable.

Troy reached into the door pocket and pulled out the little black notebook, going over what he had read the night before in better light. Jeff’s writing was neater in some places, as though he had merely been contemplating the Slender Man in his spare time, trying to work out any answers. Troy knew just how annoying that was - reading these written monologues was like reading his own thoughts.

I haven’t seen him for a couple of days, one of the entries read. I’m not sure if I’ve managed to throw him off or if he’s just found someone else to stalk for a while, someone who’s endangering him more than I am. Although, if anyone’s worked out more than I have I’d like to meet them. I’m not really sure if there is anything else I can know. Anyway, I’m not letting my guard down, because I know he could just as easily be playing another one of his stupid games, waiting for me to relax before he strikes. A whole false sense of security thing.

I had a dream about him the other night. I was back in my hometown. I was the age I am now but it all looked like it did when I was younger. I guess it’s because I don’t remember it any other way. Anyway, I was just walking down my old street, heading for the town centre. I passed the old church and he was standing in the graveyard. He was standing next to a grave and he looked at me and then down at the grave. And I got really fucking scared, but at that moment it was like I knew that one day he was going to catch up with me. I knew at that point that pone day all my running will be useless. I ran in my dream, but it that was slow, groggy running. I guess even my own subconscious is telling me that’s it’s useless to run from a foe that you know nothing about. If you know nothing of your enemy’s intentions, how do you know which direction to run in?

It was a good point, Troy had to admit that. The notes seemed to vary from optimistic points, to almost fighting talk, to a sense of resignation that Troy knew would sweep over you at just the moments were you didn’t need it.

Nate stirred then, and Troy was glad for the company as his best friend woke up. The entry had been more than slightly depressing – almost a premonition of Jeff’s fate. He had been right – the Slender Man had eventually caught up with him.

"Jeff knew," Troy said quickly, still looking down at the writing on the page. The ink imprinted in the groves on the paper were the only evidence that Jeff had been with them at all – that his hand had once moved over the paper, creating the words.

"Knew what?" Nate asked groggily, and Troy felt bad for dumping this on him as soon as he had woken. However, as much as he wanted to, he just couldn’t keep it in.

"He knew that the Slender Man was going to get him one day," Troy replied. "He had a dream where it looked at him and then at a grave, in his old town. He said he knew it was useless running ... but he still did. I wonder why he kept on running even when he knew that it was useless?"

"Hope?" Nate suggested sadly. "Determination? You can’t just accept your fate, I guess. Fight it every step of the way – he seemed like the sort of person that would do that."

They waited silently in the car until the store opened up. They had a few dollars between them and they were ravenously hungry, so they decided to go in and see what they could get by the way of cheap food.

The first thing that jumped out at Troy was a very familiar picture. Even though he had been barely conscious the last time he had seen it, there was no mistaking that the black and white grainy image on the front page of the newspaper was Nate’s overturned car, at the bottom of a relatively steep hill.

Casually, Troy went over and looked at the newspapers, devoting attention to the others as well as this one. Nate seemed to sense that Troy had found something, and he stood next to him pretending to flick through a sports magazine while reading over Troy’s shoulder. Troy knew that the shopkeeper would probably be more suspicious of a robbery than of two supposedly dead men appearing in his shop.

Car Accident – Victims Missing, was what the headline screamed, as Troy scanned through the black printed words.

The car was found early yesterday morning, by a trucker on his way cross-country. The man immediately notified the police, who found the car badly damaged with evidence of a recent fire, but with no sign of any occupants. After running a check on the registration plate of the car, they traced the ownership to a Mr. Nathan Sutton, 23, from nearby Brooksville. Upon checking the address and finding it empty, police called at the home of the man’s parents, who confirmed that he hadn’t been heard from in that last couple of days. They also revealed that Mr. Sutton’s friend, Troy DeLage, also 23 and from Brooksville, had vanished at around the same time. Local hospitals reported no admissions. The case remains open.

"Shit, man," Nate said softly. "We need to tell our folks!"

Troy paused before he answered.

"I don’t think we should," he eventually said softly, and he continued before Nate could protest. "I know they’re worried, but if we let them know where we are or even if we’re alive, they might be in danger from the Slender Man too. Remember what Jeff said about Runners? Every person who knows you is in danger. The Slender Man might leave them alone if they believe we’re dead. I know it’s harsh, but if they think we’re dead they won’t know where we are and they’ll be no use to the Slender Man."

Nate sighed.

"You’re right," he said softly. "I just hate the idea of Mom and Dad thinking I’m dead."

"We both do," Troy said regrettably. "But it’s for their own good. I would rather them think I was dead then know I was alive and be in danger. After Jeff, I can’t bare that."

Nate nodded in agreement.

"It’s weird," he muttered. "They think we’re dead. I mean, if the hospitals haven’t said anything – and obviously they haven’t, because we’re here – they must think we’re dead. Or else missing. Jesus ... missing. What about your parents, Troy. They’ll know anyway, surely?"

Troy paled slightly.

"Shit," he muttered. "They probably will, especially since I mentioned him before I vanished. It was that day, actually. Then I came over to yours and that’s when the shit really went down. Wow, was it really only a couple of days ago? Seems like it could have been years."

Troy was right – so much had already happened. In three days and two nights, Troy had discovered he had a big sister who went missing, he’s discovered the Slender Man was real and had turned up in his childhood. He’s seen the Slender Man close up and been transported to that forest – three times now – the Slender Man had nearly killed him twice – three times if he counted the car accident. They’d been to the creepy house in the woods, they’d lost Jeff, and now they were standing in a seemingly normal store reading a newspaper article about their own disappearances.

"The truth is sometimes a lot stranger than fiction, isn’t it?" Nate asked softly, as though he could read his best friend’s thoughts. Troy sometimes suspected that he could - they’d known one another for so long, after all.

"It is," Troy agreed. "Anyway, even if my parents do suspect the Slender Man has something to do with it, they don’t have a clue where I am. They’re no use to him. And your parents don’t know about him, do they?"

"No," Nate said. "I mean, they know I had nightmares about some tall man. But they’ve never mentioned it since and they were always adamant it was just a vivid nightmare. I’m just worried that they’re driving themselves mad with worry over if I’m even alive. Which I know they will be."

"We just have to focus on the fact it’s for the best," Troy said firmly. "When we sort all of this out we can go back and see them. Hell, we can even make sure some people see us occasionally if it gets to be a high-profile case, just so they have hope. They’re our parents, Nate. If we’re out here alive I’m sure they’ll know. You know what mothers are like, especially."

Nate nodded determinedly.

"You’re right," he said firmly. "Let’s get some food and work out where we’re heading now."