A Mid-Summer Night's Scream

A party, in the woods. It was supposed to be fun, and for shits and giggles. Good memories and fun times with friends that they would go home and never tell their parents about. That’s what Alex intended when he threw the little shin dig and that’s what he had in mind when he sent out the mass text letting his friends know that it would be this Saturday, starting at seven o’clock when the sun would be going down in the middle of the Summer.

And of course, that text was sent to Kellin and to Vic, who’s phones simultaneously went off while they were in the car on their way home from the beach on Thursday. Since Vic was driving Kellin saw it first, grinning at the thought of seeing all of his boys in one place at the same time.

“Alex is throwing a party,” he said to Vic, who smirked at the thought of it. “When and where? We’re going,” he decided, not taking his eyes off the highway. It always made him nervous when there were other cars on the road.

“Saturday, his house. Only its in the woods. Apparently its a bonfire this time, with booze and s’mores. Idiot. Oh well, should be fun right?”

Vic nodded and turned his directional on to signal to the other cars that he was getting off at the next exit ramp. Kellin leaned forward in his seat slightly as the car began to slow down to match the speed. “You’re such a careful driver,” Kellin asked. “You’re not going to drink on Saturday, are you?”

“We’ll be around a fire and someone has to be the taxi,” Vic frowned. “Unless you wanna take over that this time?” He turned his head, winking at the boy who sighed and looked out the window.

“We’ll see,” he said. “Who knows what could happen, you know?”

—-

The sun had only just dipped behind the trees and was still casting a reddish light over the small town in Michigan. One by one, couples and groups of people began showing up at the moderately large house, some later than others and all of them smiling with anticipation for what the night could bring. Alex was opening the door for everyone, waving in turn. Behind him, his best friend Jack was grinning as well.

Kellin and Vic strolled up together, looking around at who else had shown up. There was Jenna, Matt, Ian, Tay, and pulling up just now in a silver car was Rian with his buddy Zack in the front seat and what looked like Justin and Jesse in the back.

“Come one Come all!” Alex shouted gleefully. “My lovely assistant will lead you up to the back where no police or neighbors can complain about the noise!”

“Assistant?” Jack chuckled, greeting Jenna with a hug as she walked up to the door and smiling at Tay. Appropriate greetings were given to everyone as they reunited, talking loudly and joking with each other as Jack turned to lead them out the back door.

Alex’s eyes found Kellin and Vic and grinned at them as well. “Ah, my favorite homosexuals!” he shouted at them.

They rolled their eyes at him and Kellin let his hair fall in to his face so he wouldn’t see that he was blushing. It had been at the end of last year, after Vic had moved here and they’d finally figured it out that he was as gay as Kellin was when the two had finally hooked up at a party quite similar to this. When they woke up the next morning with awkward frowns and hungover headaches, they shrugged and decided to give it a shot. And so far it had been amazing.

“Sup man?” Vic said as they approached. Alex held out a hand and shook Vic’s, waving to Kellin and grinning at them both. He turned to the others coming behind them, leaving the couple to catch up to the other group of kids trailing behind Jack.

“Hey, he took down all the baby pictures this time,” Vic commented as they glanced around Alex’s house. A few girls in front of them turned to smirk at his remark. Kellin just chuckled and took Vic’s hand, giving it a little squeeze.

Jack held open the back door for everyone and wiggled his eyebrows at Kellin and Vic as they passed. “Right this way!” he said, setting off towards the woods that were behind Alex’s house. “You guys ready for a fun night in a land far, far away?”

“How far?” asked a girl - it was Tay. “This isn’t like, a hike is it?”

“Nah,” said Jack, shaking his head. “Only like a twenty minute walk. Or less, who cares?”

He brought them all to a clearing in the middle of the woods, already filled with loud, chatting kids, some of them all ready holding red plastic cups. There was a fire pit made from rocks in the center, where their friend Josh was kneeling and holding a lighter. “Stand back,” he warned, holding the flame to the tip of the newspaper. It burned for a few moments before the entire pile lit up in a blaze of heat and light, making both Vic and Kellin wonder how they’d missed the smell of gasoline upon arrival.

Around them people cheered and clapped at the sight of the fire Josh was able to start and looked around proudly with his hands on his hips. Girls giggled as he wiggled his eyebrows at them and others just rolled their eyes and grinned at their friend’s sassy and flirty nature.

“Do you want anything to drink?” Vic asked, looking down at Kellin and jerking his head towards the edge of the clearing, where a table was set up with a ton of different drinks that some kids were already partaking in. Kellin shook his head, however. “Me neither, then,” said Vic, crossing his arms.

“Do you feel that?” Kellin asked, looking up at his boyfriend with worried eyes.

“Feel what?” asked Vic.

Kellin turned his head and stared in to the woods. Vic craned his neck; but he couldn’t see what it was that the pale boy was looking for. “It feels like… like we’re being watched or something,” he said.

“Maybe you’re just anxious or something,” Vic suggested, shrugging his shoulders and frowning. “I’ll get some alcohol in to you and you’ll feel better,” he winked. Kellin smirked and shook his head, returning his attention to the others.

They all stood in the clearing, chatting and joking and in some cases drinking. Some of them messed around by the fire and poked sticks in it, although for the most part Josh was rather protective of his creation. As the sun sank lower, the part grew larger until finally Alex joined them with a grin and with his arms raised.

“WELCOME! LET THE PARTY, BEGINNNN!” he shouted as he came closer. People cheered and some raised their plastic red cups filled with whatever concoction they could come up with, and Alex radiated happiness and good times. “EY! Wait up! I almost forgot to mention!” he called everyone’s attention back to his words.

“When the sun goes down, we’re playing a game,” he said. People cocked eyebrows and shot him glances. Tay flipped her hair and crossed her arms, staring at him with interest. “It’s called… Slender.”

“Explain?” demanded Josh from where he stood next to the fire. He was smirking a bit.

Next to him, Vic felt Kellin move a little closer and he loosened his arms that had been crossed so that the boy could hold his hand. He took it, lacing their fingers together without looking at him. Both boys kept their eyes fixated on Alex as he began to explain the game.

“Basically, me and Jack hid eight pages throughout the woods,” Alex started, holding up a piece of paper with what appeared to be black scribbles on it for all the see. “Your objective is to pair up - or go alone! - and pick up as many of these pages as you fucking can. Team with the post pages wins. But beware… while you’re out there, slenderman is too. And he’ll be hunting you down. And if he gets you, you’re out!”

People laughed and looked at each other, telling themselves that they wouldn’t be taking this game seriously in the slightest. Kellin and Vic squeezed their hands; they’d obviously pair up for the game and probably look for a little nook behind a tree to make out for a few minutes behind. They weren’t exactly competitive. There were people here that were, though.

One girl, of course, Tay, stepped forward with a frown on her face. “Question,” he said, flipping her hair over her shoulders. Alex raised his eyebrows and smiled at her curiously. “Okay, A., are you and Jack playing? It wouldn’t be fair since you hid the notes, so you’re gonna be slender men or whatever, right?”

“Correct,” answered Alex, waving his hand so that she would ask her next question.

“Second, what do the winners get?”

Alex looked at Jack and the burst out laughing. “Hammered,” replied Jack, holding his stomach. “All the drinks they want. They’re the guests of honor!”

That alone was apparently enough incentive for the rowdy teenagers to start cheering and clapping their hands. People were shooting looks at each other; basically ensuring their teams. Josh and his buddy Max shook hands and stared at their competition. Across the clearing, Kellin saw Tay practically latch on to Jaime, and Jenna, a blond, hung on to Tony. The four of them would be a group, then.

It wouldn’t be much longer until the sun disappeared behind the trees, and it would be completely dark. Then Alex would essentially ‘release the hounds’, or, the more competitive sporty boys that wanted to race ahead of everyone and dominate what they thought would be an easy game. Little did they know, Alex wanted to make it challenging for everyone. The notes were generally easy to spot, but some were quite a walk out there. And the game didn’t end until all the pages were found.

“Quintes!” shouted Rian Dawson, raising his arms and hollering at his friends using a mash up of their last names. Since the boys always came as a sort of package deal, a few of their friends had taken to calling them by one name. Behind Rian stood Jesse Lawson, their red-headed friend with a calm, sly smile.

“Whats up?” said Kellin, leaning in to Vic, who had put his arm around his boyfriend.

“Are you guys a team or are you gonna join us?” asked Jesse, standing next to Rian, who grinned at them.

Vic looked down at Kellin, who met his boyfriend’s eyes and willed him to answer. “We’re a team,” he told them. They snickered a little and the boys rolled their eyes and looked towards the sun. It was so close to being dark now; the little game would start any second now.

Alex was across at the little drink station, getting things together and organized with the help of Austin and Alan - two of his favorite suppliers of alcohol who had apparently brought a ton for this party - for whoever the winners happened to be. Kellin watched them with interest and hoped they’d brought his favorite type of vodka, although he didn’t have plans to drink much. He liked watching everyone else get drunk for the most part.

“OI! LET’S GO!” Alex shouted suddenly. Teams got together - some of them who had been waiting crashed away and ran off in to the woods, leaving others in the dust. Kellin watched with amusement as Tay and Jenna pulled on Tony and Jaime’s arms, slowing them down. Kellin looked around for Jack and noticed he was no where to be found; probably out preparing for him and Alex to become ‘slenderman’.

Suddenly he felt a tug on his arm and moved his attention to Vic. “Ready to go?” asked his boyfriend with a little smirk. Feeling nervous but ready, Kellin nodded his head, and together they turned and walked out of the clearing behind everyone else.

—

“Do you think we even remotely have a chance?” Kellin wondered as they walked alone through the trees and brambles. Off in the distance they could hear little shouts and screams as teams went about essentially trying to scare the shit out of each other and also win the game.

“I don’t really care to, to be honest,” said Vic. “However, one of the fabled pages is directly in front of us.” He pointed ahead and sure enough, Kellin could just make out the white piece of paper tacked to a tree in the low light that only the moon gave off.

He stepped in front of Vic and proudly grabbed the paper with a grin on his face. A tall, slender figure with no face was drawn with a black crayon, surrounded by the word ‘No’, over and over again. It was a little creepy, to be honest. “Well, at least we did something, right?” He turned back to Vic who caught up with him and took the paper, folding it up to place inside of his pocket where it would be safe.

“You look so proud, it’s adorable,” said Vic, stepping even closer and wrapping his arms around Kellin’s waist to pull him even closer. The paler boy grinned at him and hung his arms around Vic’s neck. This was one of his favorite moments - the few seconds just before they would kiss, and they would look in to each others’ eyes. This was the moment when Kellin really felt closest to Vic.

Then of course, they would close the gap, and their lips would connect and the rest of the world would melt away as they moved their moves against each other and slipped their tongues in to the kiss. Vic moved his body in to Kellin’s, but only a little. He was definitely not up for getting it on in the woods with all of their friends running around, that was for sure. That was why he pulled away before things got too heavy.

“I love you,” Kellin whispered, his smile returning.

“I love you too,” said Vic lightly, stepping away and letting his hand fall in to place with Kellin’s. “Come on, let’s go see if we can beat anyone without even really trying.”

Together, they walked off deeper in to the woods, where it seemed to be darker, and quieter. The sounds of their friends scuffling and screaming about were practically silenced - and it didn’t really bother them much, until they noticed it was there.

A few feet away, someone else heard the silence as well. He watched them moving, deciding when to pounce; and yet, he turned away and leaned against the tree. “Cute,” he said, smiling. “Why are they such a cute little gay couple?” said Jack, looking around for the other boy that was dressed in all black, with a white mask covering his features.

“Alex?”

There was no response from the trees where Alex had been standing. “Dude?!” Jack called, looking side to side. “Not funny, man.”

With a small sigh of annoyance, Jack turned away and started to walk as quietly as he could. He was technically supposed to be guarding that note, but it wasn’t a secret that he had a huge soft spot for his friends and their relationship. He’d been urging them to get together once he learned of their sexuality.

He stopped in his tracks when he saw a tree only a few trunks away from the one that had held the note. He screwed up his eyes and frowned; for on the tree in front of him there was another page - but that didn’t make sense, they’d been spread out throughout the forest so that the game wasn’t easy.

“What the fuck…” he said, stepping over to the page. It was definitely one that he himself had drawn - the slender figure he was actually dressed up as had a massive wang with the word ‘Jack’ scribbled on it.

“ALEX!” he shouted, not caring who heard. “Damn it! We need a God damn group meeting, fuckin’ cheaters,” he fumed, although he was already thinking of punishments for the rule-breakers as he stormed towards the clearing.

—

Out deep, and far in to the woods, a group of kids had also managed to pluck one of the pages from a tree and were having themselves a small celebration because of it. Josh and Max had teamed up with Tino and Aaron, two of their other friends. It was more fun together - they would hide and pop out just to scare any girl they passed. And now they’d actually done something that would lead them slightly towards victory.

Tino, the spotter of their little trophy, grinned and held it over his head, leading his friends away from the spot before Alex or Jack turned up to do whatever it was that they planned on doing to someone that got too close to winning.

It was Aaron that hung in the back behind the others, smiling at their racious laughter with his hands shoved in his pockets. He was always a little quieter, a tad bit shyer, but pleasant to be around. He had a cute little baby face that girls found adorable and just the right amount of devilish charm that the boys found him amusing.

And it was Aaron that was taken. He did not hear the footsteps behind him. He didn’t notice the silence of the woods as his friend’s walked, their voices ringing out a little further than they should have. He didn’t notice anything until he felt cold arms wrapping tightly around him, and he tried to scream - but it was simply too late.

The others didn’t notice that their party had gone from four to three until it was much too late.

—

“So apparently some of you are cheating!”

Alex was furious, although he kept an air of his good humor. They had called as many groups as they could to the clearing, although it was evident that some people were missing. Although it was all fun and games, some people were actually casting nervous glances at each other.

“Making false notes? What’s up with that? Anyone wanna own up?” Jack stepped forward, the white mask that was part of his costume in his hand. Alex looked at each person in turn, waving his own mask at them.

No one in their little party said anything. In fact, they were all turning to their friends’ faces, searching them for any sort sign that they were the culprit. No one stepped forward.

“Hey, who isn’t here?” said Jack, searching the crowd of kids and noting that some hadn’t returned. “Aaron? Jenna?”

“He literally vanished!” Tino said, crossing his arms. “Like, me and Max and Josh had found a page and we were walking, and then like… he was gone,”

“Like literally in to thin air. We turned around and called to him but he was no where to be found, I thought we were gonna meet up with him here,” Max spoke up. “But… he’s not here.”

Every head turned, craning around and looking for the two missing people. But it was like Max said - gone, literally in to thin air.

“I’m concerned,” said Tay. “This is scary, guys. If you’re fucking with us more than you let on… Hey, Vic and Kellin are missing too!”

“They’re probably fucking though,” Alex shook his head. Next to him, Jack was frowning and looking towards the woods. “And honest to God, we weren’t planning on people going missing. Go ahead, go continue with the game, but… but look for the missing dudes too. Keep calling them, then we can celebrate their return with the rest of the party!”

The kids gave a nervous cheer and some of the rowdier boys, intent on bringing the life back to the group, raced ahead with their teams to find the other pages. They didn’t even bother asking around to see how many were left. Half of them were already slowed by the effects of alcohol in their system as it was.

When Alex had spoken, he’d actually almost been right. Vic and Kellin ignored the call back to the clearing, but they weren’t having sex - not quite. They were on the ground in a pile of leaves next to a tall oak tree, Kellin on top of Vic, there mouths moving together in time with their bodies.

“Shit Kels,” Vic breathed, turning his head to the side to break their kiss. “I’m not up for someone walking in on us half naked, you know?” he winked.

“Maybe I am,” said Kellin, returning his lips to his boyfriend’s.

With a small groan, Vic felt himself giving in to Kellin. He bucked his hips up in to the smaller boy’s, rolling them together. Waves of want circulated through both of their bodies - but they would never get what they were going for, because they broke apart at the sound of a sharp, loud scream ringing out through the woods. And to their terror, it was promptly cut off in to silence.

—

It had come so quickly. Darkness.

Silence.

Emptiness…

And then it left just as fast when Jenna turned around and saw her friend Tay laying on the ground, scrabbling at the dead leaves underneath her and nearly foaming at the mouth.

“Something grabbed me!” she shrieked. “I swear to God, oh God… ALEX! JACK! THIS ISN’T FUNNY!”

Jenna quickly went to her friend’s side, pulling her to her feet with a concerned expression. “Are you alright?” she asked, looking her up and down for any marks.

“No I’m not alright!” she was shaking.

They looked around; somehow they’d gotten separated from Jaime and Tony, leaving just the both of them. As they were walking around looking for the boys, they actually came across a stroke of luck - one of the pages, that they were going to grab, until Tay had been attacked.

“I don’t know how I feel about this game anymore,” said Jenna, her eyes darkening. “Something isn’t right here.”

Tay frowned and held on to Jenna’s wrist. Her hands were still trembling; she didn’t know what the fuck had just happened, but she didn’t like it, and she wanted it to stop - now.

“Hey, are you alright?”

A soft, high-pitched voice broke their scared silence as two skinny figures emerged from between the trees, their fingers laced up. Kellin and Vic stared both girls up and down, trying to piece together what had happened.

“We heard a scream and decided to come and check things out,” explained Vic.

“Oh, did you now?” said Tay, her face contorting in to a snarl. “You wanna know what’s happening? Something is fucking out here, that’s what. This isn’t a fucking game anymore - some wacko is out to get us and I bet that’s what happened to Aaron!”

“Tay,” said Jenna, reaching to grab her friend to calm her down.

“Don’t you ‘tay’ me!” protested the girl. “I’m serious! Whatever it was that grabbed me - I don’t even know, I want to go home!” She turned on her heel, heading for the clearing where the party had originated.

“Wait up!” Jenna called, chasing after her friend.

Kellin looked at Vic and shrugged, frowning. “Should we…?” he asked, looking in the direction the girls had gone.

Vic stared after them. A feeling in his gut told him they should… but for once in his life, he wanted to ignore it. “Aaron is missing?” he said, bringing light to Tay’s words. “I mean… Its probably a stupid joke, but yeah. I dunno what’s up with them. I just know how much I don’t like Tay,” he chuckled.

Nodding in agreement, Kellin squeezed Vic’s hand and pulled him off in a different direction. As they were walking, they nearly stepped on it. Vic only caught site of it because of the moon line glinting off the pale white rectangle resting in the leaves. “Look,” he said, pointing out the note. “Another one.”

He bent down to pick it up and almost recoiled in shock. It was ice cold. He looked up and caught Kellin’s eyes, both staring at each other, as if they were waiting for something to happen. Something - but what? What was supposed to happen? And why did it seem so dark? It was like the stars disappeared. Screams and laughter were getting so far away, fading in to silence.

“Vic,” Kellin whispered, walking closer to his boyfriend.

“FUCKING HELL KELLIN!” Vic screamed, rushing to grab at the boy, because there was something behind him. Kellin whipped around with wide eyes to see what had frightened Vic but nothing, absolutely nothing was there.

“Vic?” he said, frowning. That’s when he saw it, and all the color drained in his face, turning him almost as pale as the white head supported by a body too tall and too slender to be Jack or Alex. “Oh.. my God…” he breathed, clutching at Vic’s arms. “What are you…”

“Kellin,” Vic said softly. “Run.”

They took off, hand in hand as fast as they could, towards the clearing. One look behind his shoulder told Vic his worst fear - they were being followed. He stalked them, behind the trees - faster and faster, practically playing with them like a cat would with a mouse.

“Its still behind us isn’t it?” Kellin asked breathlessly as they sprinted, slipping on the leaves and dodging trees that forced them to let go of their hands. When Vic didn’t answer, Kellin stared behind and saw the pale white face staring back. “Vic?!”

He looked to his side and saw Vic looking at him with fear in his eyes that widened as his foot caught a root and he fell - both of them hearing a sickening crack as he hit the forest floor. “VIC!” Kellin screamed, sliding to a stop and falling down himself as he slipped on the dead leaves. He scrambled to Vic, looking up at the tall, dark figure, hovering ominously above them.

—

The clearing contained only a few people that just weren’t willing to go out anymore. The fire was dying without Josh to tend to it; so Alex poked at the the dying embers with a stick to try and reignite it. A log smashed on them, sending sparks flying up in the air.

“What’s up?” asked Rian, looking down at Alex as he rubbed his hands to get the dirt from the wood off of them.

Alex watched the new flames began to lap at the wood, catching on to the ends first. “I’m pissed,” he admitted. “Someone’s ruining what was supposed to be a fun game. Like where the fuck is Aaron, you know?”

“Jesse is missing too,” Rian said, looking out in the woods. He had been walking ahead after he spotted a page, and when he turned around, his friend was no where to be found.

A frown made Alex’s face droop. “Jesse too now? What the fuck. I swear dude, this isn’t even me and Jack. He’s out there just making sure people don’t fucking cheat… but he hasn’t texted me for a while.”

“The fuck is going on?” Ryan asked, looking up at the stars.

“I have no idea… but I think I’m just gonna call everyone back, this is getting serious. I don’t feel so good about this game anymore, dude. And when I get to the bottom off all this someone is getting kicked in the crotch.” Alex stood and crossed his arms. A few girls and a couple guys were standing or sitting around with drinks in their hands look scared. This was NOT how this party was supposed to be going. Fear? at a party in the middle of the Summer? It just wasn’t right.

The quiet buzz was interrupted when someone crashed in to the clearing, screaming, crying and swearing up a storm. Alex and Rian both rushed over to see what the fuck was going on, shooting looks at Jenna as she trailed behind looking scared.

“What happened?” asked Rian.

The girl was in hysterics. She could hardly talking and Alex had to grab her wrists to get her to hold still while Rian grabbed her arms and Jenna stroked her hair to calm her down. “Tay!” They all said.

“That.. THAT THING!” she screamed. “SOMETHING IS OUT THERE! LET ME GO!” She thrashed and kicked until she just couldn’t anymore.

“Tay, you need to calm down,” said Alex, releasing his grip on her wrists as she slumped to the ground. Jenna knelt beside her, holding her upright.”What happened?”

“We… we found a page,” said Jenna, looking at Tay. “And she just freaked out and said something grabbed her. When I looked, nothing was there, so she kind of stormed off over here.”

Tears were running down the frightened girl’s cheeks. “I could have died!” she shrieked. “What are you idiots playing at?!” he yelled in Alex’s face.

“It wasn’t us, Tay, honest. I told Jack no grabbing and… and last I heard he was in the opposite direction that you even came from..” A thought dawned on Alex’s head. If it wasn’t them, who could it have been? Who could disappear that fast? A shout off in the distance jarred him from his thoughts, but that didn’t stop the words from tumbling out of his mouth.

“Something else is out to get us… and I think I know what it is.”

—

Vic and Kellin screamed in unison, grabbing at each other, both trying to protect the other. But one second it was there, and the next the darkness was gone… leaving them to question if it had even been there at all.

“A-are you okay?” Kellin asked, his voice shaking as he looked Vic up and down.

“My ankle is broken, Kellin,” said Vic, gnawing on his lip to hold back whimpers of pain. “W-what was that? That thing?”

Kellin laced his shaking fingers with Vic’s. “I don’t know,” he replied.

“We need to get back. We need to warn them. Oh…” he said, looking over a few feet away. Kellin trailed his eyes after Vic’s gaze until he saw what he was looking at.

The page was there, laying on the ground again. “Should I grab it?” Kellin asked.

“No,” Vic said quickly, shaking his head. “Leave that fucking thing alone. I’ve got a really bad feeling about it.”

“You think it’s what brought that thing after us?” Kellin could read him like a book, and Vic answered his question with a mere look. The paler boy nodded and started to get to his feet, pulling a wobbly Vic up with him. As soon as he was on his feet he hooked his arm around Kellin’s shoulders to support himself and together, they started to hobble back towards the clearing.

“I’m scared, Vic,” Kellin admitted. The silence was deafening. “No one’s laughing anymore…”

“I know,” Vic said lowly. He stopped them in their tracks and looked at Kellin. The moon was behind him, casting shadows over his face. Still, his eyes looked as bright as ever. “I love you, Kels,” he smiled, leaning his head forward and pressing their lips together.

“I love you too, but let’s go-“

“I love you so much. And if that thing comes back, I want you to let go of me and get the fuck out of here, okay?”

Adoration and fear sank in to Kellin’s heart. “No,” he said, shaking his head, “Absolutely not. Let’s go.”

Vic didn’t say anything more, but he knew that if that monster decided to come after them again, he would hate himself if Kellin got hurt. The throbbing pain in his ankle told him that they needed to get back to the clearing as fast as possible though.

“I want everyone back here like two hours ago,” Alex shouted on the phone. “Seriously, we have a fucking problem.” He hung up the phone and slid it in to his pocket, not waiting for Josh’s reply. A larger crowd was gathering at the edge of the clearing. Word about Tay traveled quickly; no one was drinking, and no one was laughing now.

Some of the kids wanted to get out there and search for their friends that had gone missing, but the others wouldn’t allow them to leave. “They’ll find their way back,” said some. “They probably just fell down drunk. They have their phones… they’ll call.”

As far as everyone knew, the ones that had gone missing were Aaron, Jesse, Vic, Kellin, Zack, and Tino who had gone out in search of Aaron. Tay was still sitting on a log bench rocking back and forth with Tony and Jenna trying to console her.

Alex was freaking out. Jack hadn’t answered his phone in over an hour, and if he went missing to he didn’t know what he would do with himself. What was he supposed to do? He was just a teenager! This was not supposed to be happening, at all.

The crunching of leaves made everyone look over. Almost immediately, Tony and Rian ran over to Kellin and Vic as they stumbled over. Tony took Kellin’s spot while Rian got the other side as they dragged a very pale looking Vic to one of the benches.

“Ice,” demanded Kellin, looking at Alex. The taller boy nodded and ran to the coolers.

“Does an ice cold beer work?” he asked, coming over to where they had sat Vic down.

“Perfect,” he mumbled. Kellin took the can and knelt down, pressing it to Vic’s sore ankle. It had started to swell while they made their way back and he knew it would only get worse. “Keep his shoe on, just press some ice to it,” he told those around him. “See if you can’t find something better?” he asked, looking at Alex and Tony.

Tony set off, leaving Alex to stand there with his arms crossed. “What happened?”

“Something is fucking out there, that’s what happened,” Vic piped up. It was like Tay all over again, only Vic was oddly calm.

“He tripped and fell while we were running,” Kellin explained. “But.. but yeah, we were running from something. I saw it too.”

“You saw it!” Tay spoke up, walking over to where they sat. “It grabbed me!”

“It nearly grabbed us,” said Kellin. “It chased us for God knows how long. But we dropped the page, and screamed and it just… left.”

“Wait, when you dropped a page?”

Everyone looked up at Jenna, who walked over hugging herself and frowning. Kellin nodded to answer her question, and he shook her head, her eyes widening. “I see a trend,” she said.

“Care to explain?” asked Rian, looking over at Alex. He was staring at the ground, waiting for her words.

“Well… when Josh said Aaron went missing, they had just found one. Jesse went missing when you guys found one, right? And Tay and I found one when she got grabbed. You guys must have picked it up after you came and found us, and then it left when you dropped it. And Jack isn’t answering his phone - and isn’t he supposed to be guarding the pages?”

It dawned on all of them as she went on about her thoughts. The monster only came when you found one of the pages, and it left if you dropped it. It was beginning to make sense, and no sense at all. A conundrum.

“Wait, Josh found multiple pages though, and Alex just got off the phone with him. He’s on his way back… explain that?” said Rian.

“Because there are sixteen pages, not eight,” Alex answered for her. All eyes turned to him now. “Because me and my best friend are idiots that endangered everyone without even knowing it. Oh God…”

Silence settled over the group. Others that were in the clearing had come over to listen now as Alex turned away from his friends. “Yesterday, before the party, me and Jack were chilling when we found out about the game. You’re supposed to do a ritual… and then he’ll come. We thought it was bullshit, but we did the ritual anyways for fun with Austin and Alan, because we explained it to them first. Then we didn’t expect it to work, so we made our own game. Our own pages and everything, and we dressed up as the monsters.”

“Who is he?” asked Kellin.

Alex looked at him, and then to Vic, guilt filling his expression. “He’s called slenderman. And if what you’re all telling me is true, then… then we’re never going to see them again…”

“Bullshit!” rang out a strangely cheery voice. “Trying to keep me off the pages, are you?”

Josh Franceschi sauntered in to the clearing, four pages in his hands, all crudely drawn. Max followed close behind, his face looking a little nervous.

“No, really dude, no one is allowed to go out again. Game over,” said Alex. “Did you see Jack at all?”

The confident teenager shot Alex a frown and handed him the notes. “Yeah. Gave this one quite a scare, that was for sure,” he said, pointing back at Max.

“It wasn’t Jack, Josh,” said the quieter boy.

“It was something else, wasn’t it?” Tay spoke up.

Again, the stories were exchanged and Jenna’s theory was backed up once again when they explained that the dark silence had come back when they found the note taped to a tree. Fear settled in over the kids’ hearts. Alex bowed his head in shame, desperately trying to call his best friend.

It was no use though. Jack was gone. So was Aaron and Jesse and Zack and Tino, never to be seen or heard from again. And when everyone came back, they would find that Justin Hills and Alan were gone too. And while they stood in their clearing, Kellin and Vic waiting to get in to a car and to the hospital, they were still being watched.

They were still being stalked. They all were… and they always will be.