▒ Paranoia ▒

[ChibiMonkey]

Is the myth of Slenderman real? If not, then what really happens to the bodies of the brave souls that wander into the grand forest, only to never reaper? Chase, a lonely male in search of friends, doing anything to have his own friends and to be liked, goes into the forest for himself on a dare, to prove to his supposed friends that he is really strong, and not afraid of anything. All just to be liked by them. He travels into the forest that many have not returned from...will he ever return? Or will he find out the truth about the myth of the cursed Slenderman in the forests.

 

Name: Chase Sanders

Age: 19

Personality: Chase can be pretty naive, but he's stubborn, and always acts tough. He cares for himself and refuses to be looked down upon, sticking up for himself and for the lesser. He's a strong headed and stubborn, determined guy, willing to do anything to get what he wants.

Bio: Chase lives with his single mother, his father having died at a young age. Ever since the death of his father, his mother has never been the same, going on a downward spiral into depression. Chase learned to have to care for himself, make his own meals, and even care for his mother to make sure she ate. He was never the popular kid in school, busy caring for his unresponsive mother. But Chase tries hard, just like everything in his life. He's tried hard to please his depressed mother, and make her proud, but that doesn't work. And he tries hard to impress kids his own age, to make friends. But they aren't really friends, only using him and toying with him for fun.

 

---

 

 

Chase had been looking forward to tonight all day. He had run into his supposed friends earlier that day, and had asked what they were up to. They seemed hesitant at first, and had all shared a sort of glance, before one had spoken up to him "We were actually going to meet up at the park later tonight. Play a game of truth or dare" the dark haired male, Alex, had spoken to Chase, who smiled and looked interested "We were hoping you could join us. Say 11?" Alex offered. Chase, none the wiser of their devious plans, was excited to be invited to hang out with them, instead of him actually having to ask them.

 

So, having gotten dressed and pulled on his sweatshirt, at about 10:40 Chase made the fifteen minute walk to the park from his house, after of course his mother was okay and set in her bed, the television on in her room to give her noise, since silence seemed to drive her insane - though, if Chase were to speak, she already was insane. After checking on his mother for the last time, Chase headed out to meet up with Alex and the rest of the group.

 

Arriving there at about 11, he saw the small group of four, and smiled, waving as he walked up to them "Hey guy!" he grinned, as they turned to face him and smiled back, some giving awkward smiles. "Hey Chase, we were waiting. We starting a couple already with the game, so, why don't we make it you're turn?" Alex asked, as Chase of course didn't mind. Thinking it'd be more impressive, Chase chose for Alex to dare him. Only, he wasn't expecting the frightful dare he was given.

 

This is what lead to the group having left the park, and standing across the street from the fencing that surrounded the dark, looming forest before them. Chase stood on the other side, facing the tall cage fencing. He gulped nervously, and glanced back to his friends. "Remember Chase, the dare is to stay in there all night! We'll wait right here for you until the sun rises, then you can come out. Don't get lost!" Alex said, tossing Chase a flashlight, who caught it 'R-Right. Of course, no problem" he spoke, swallowing his fear and waving to the friends as she climbed the fence and hopped over it.

 

When he glanced back behind him through the fence, his friends were gone. He frowned, and cautiously made his way through the trees, turning the flashlight on as the sound of his own feet crunching on dead leaves beneath him scared him. Not even five minutes of a walk into the forest, not only was he utterly lost, but the flashlight flickered out, and he felt like he might have a heart attack of fear.

[FatPanda]

Slender man is a myth about a mysterious creature typically depicted as an abnormally tall, lanky figure who has no face and wears a business suit. He is known to stalk his prey for years, forcing them into a mental breakdown. The original version of the myth has him as extremely malevolent, removing organs and such, but the more recent version has him simply stalking them though he may catch his target and disappear with them if provoked. Electronics have trouble recording him because of disturbances from an unknown source so there is no solid proof of his existence. Accounts of his appearance are solely through word of mouth and vague recordings or photographs.

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Images of him can be found at this source.

 

Note: this character is fictional and any explanations for the myth are made up.

 

 

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- Saal -

also known as Slender Man

31 years old

 

He is a tall man with a shaved head - though his original hair colour was blonde - and small facial features. This is the basis for the "no face" idea. He was born with physical abnormalities, his face being very pale and hard to distinguish from the rest of his head. He was abandoned by his parents in the forest he is known to inhabit for this reason. He likes to keep his head shaved because it's easier to manage. Growing up alone, he managed to sustain an almost healthy life. Reaching a massive height due to excess growth hormone, he is at first glance a monster instead of the usual wild child.

 

As he did not grow up learning human culture and language, he does not understand normal human acts of communication. What is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour is unknown to him. That is why he "stalks" his "targets". He enjoys observing the way people interact with one another and noticing how similar they are to him. Though he would like to try approaching them, each time he had tried, he had scared them away. They were afraid of his massive height at first and then rumours spread and people ran because they were scared to be hurt by him as the stories said he would. Thus, he sticks to observing others. Unbeknownst to him that "stalking" others is unacceptable.

 

His business suit came from a man who had dropped his luggage in the forest. Curious to the contents, he'd opened the suitcase and found the outfit. Excited to wear something that would seemingly blend him in with others more readily, he put it on. Trying once more to approach others, he showed himself to them and that was when he appeared next to a victim of manslaughter. The witness of course associated him with the act and so the rumours started to spread that he would remove organs from a body, wrap them in plastic bags, and replace them where they belonged. He was simply a scapegoat for a serial killer that was around but he hadn't understood that the act was bad.

 

As the years went on and the serial killer no longer did what he did for whatever reason, the idea of Slenderman only stalking victims became more dominant. This drove his "prey" insane not only because they were scared of him but because they also had a lot of stress in their lives. He had a knack for picking out the ones that were more paranoid than usual and so they became psychotic by their own means. People began associated the occurrence with him - making it so that he had special powers to control human minds. Their disappearance was their own doing in an attempt to flee from their stressful lives but Saal had been blamed for their kidnapping to explain what could not be explained.

 

Everything else in the myth has been distortions to the original encounters with him. He is in actuality a dejected, lonely man who doesn't understand the ways of humans. He believes that the victims that had seen him in childhood are his friends so he continues to stalk them into adulthood. Really, he just misunderstands the way normal humans work.

 

Character inspired by

 

---

 

Saal sat in the darkness, ready to fall asleep. It was night time and the forest was pitch black. He could hear the rustling of the leaves in the wind and the occasional hoot of an owl but the rest of the forest was quiet. He didn't mind that it was near silent because then he could sleep but it also meant there was no company around. He'd always longed for company but to his dismay, he didn't have any. Something about him was off to others that kept them from him but he couldn't quite place what it was. He didn't understand the way other humans thoughts. He didn't understand why they didn't like him. He didn't understand what was so fearful about him.

 

They'd shunned him for 30 years and still he wasn't angry at them. It baffled him when they rejected him yet still he tried to stay around them. There was no reason for him to keep going back and try to be friends but he just longed for their companionship so much that he tried again and again. He was usually the one on the receiving end of the rejection so why were they the ones that looked so upset? He couldn't understand what they didn't like about him. They were rude, treading into his territory, and hostile, screaming the minute they saw him. So why were they the ones that couldn't accept him? Confused by it all, he'd lived alone for 30 years, feeling lonely every waking moment but then again, he didn't know any other feeling.

 

He sat where he should have been sleeping, next to a large tree that gave him protection from the weather and hidden from anything that could hurt him. It wasn't like there was any creature in the forest that didn't welcome his presence - after all he'd been there for so long already - but sometimes there were others that came by - namely humans. He liked to watch them and all but over the years, he'd learned to just watch them. So he hid behind tree trunks and bushes to conceal his presence as he observed their odd behaviour. He thought there would be nothing coming his way this night but that was before he saw a dim light in the distance. Only humans ever had light during the night; he was sure that it was a human or humans.

 

Picking himself up - unable to sleep anyway - he sauntered over to toward the light. He tried his best to keep himself concealed where the intruder(s) wouldn't see him. He light-footedly wandered over in the direction of the light, wondering why there was someone around now that the day was over. He figured they were lost and might want some help going home but he also remembered that humans didn't welcome his help. Considering what he should do, Saal approached the light while walking between trees to cover his tall figure with the darkness. He thought perhaps he shouldn't go near the human(s), if they had a light, they might see him and run as usual. Then they would be more lost than if he hadn't gone over.

 

It was unusual to him that they needed a light to see in the dark but he had discovered some years ago that he was quite different from them in this way. He'd adapted to the darkness during the night unlike them so found his way around even when the lights were out. As the light flickered out, he instantly started running towards what was formerly the light. He was worried something had happened to the creature. If they couldn't see, they could hurt themselves. He neared the area and spotted the boy who had a flashlight in his hand. Relieved the human wasn't hurt, he started to back away. He didn't want to be spotted, creating a whole ruckus of screaming in the dead of the night. But he found himself unable to leave. This was a chance to make a friend. Unsure what to do, he stood and stared at the shorter man.

[ChibiMonkey]

Clenching his teeth of both anger and fear, and angrily tossed the flashlight to the ground "Dumbass light.....tch, such a stupid dare" he mumbled, more so talking to himself to make sure he didn't go crazy from his own fear. He was really scared out of his mind. He was just trying to tell himself he wasn't scared, so that maybe it would help himself not actually be so scared or paranoid in this forest.

 

Letting out a shaky breath, he dug his hands into his pockets, pulling out his headphones. Just as he was about to pull them on, he thought he heard movement nearby, and he spun around quickly - almost too quickly, and almost stumbling and falling, but he caught himself on a tree. His unaccustomed eyes scanned the darkness "H-hello?" he muttered, hoping he didn't get a response.

 

The response he got was a simple soft hooting from an owl just above his head in a tree. It still scared him though, and he squeaked at the unexpected response, tripping over his own feet and falling to his butt as he looked up into the cluster of branches, and could see the small glowing of an owls eyes. He let out a deep breath, shaking his head as he slowly helped himself back up, brushing himself off. He picked his headphones back on and plugged them back into his ears, before turning his music on.

 

But the second he tried to turn it on, no music came out, and instead it was a loud, high pitched static screaming sort of noise. "Ah!" he gasped, wincing as he quickly yanked his headphones out of his ears and they dropped to the ground, lost in the pile of dead leaves. He cursed rubbing his ear in pain before searching the ground for his headphones, but couldn't find them. Feeling eyes on him, and goosebumps, he gave up on looking for them and just continued to walk, glancing around himself cautiously as he walked, his eyes not quiet adjusted to the dark yet.

 

As Chase moved further and further through the forest, he was becoming more and more lost the further he went. Not like he was allowed out of the forest until sunrise, anyways - technically. He sure could leave if he wanted to. But, this was a dare, from the group of kids he's been trying to befriend for so long. He kept telling himself to not be so scared. And then show up at sunrise, to meet back up with them. Then they would be so impressed by his bravery and courage for sticking through with the dare. They would surely think he was cool, and invite him everywhere with them, right? Wanting him to go to parties with them, they would be the ones wanting to be his friend. But what he didn't know, was that those friends, wouldn't be waiting for him come the next morning when he could leave and was supposed to meet up with them. No one would be there waiting for him.

[FatPanda]

All the feelings the boy displayed surprised Saal. He could hardly follow where the anger one moment then the shock the next came from and were directed. He'd always thought those came with contact between people - or with him. It was intriguing to finally be able to look at the expression, study it. Usually, someone was too preoccupied running from the other to let him observe. He didn't make those faces. He only knew one and it was his blank one, staring. He wanted to try making those faces too. The unsociable Saal copied the responses silently. His face contorting oddly, following the way the stranger's did except... not so elegantly.

 

Though he heard the boy make noises, he didn't understand what he was saying. "H-herro"? I hear that sound a lot. I wonder what kind of call that is. Is it like a bird's chirp? Saal pondered on it only a short while before the stumbling about caught him by surprise as well. Naturally silent, he did not gasp out loud but his heart jumped in fear that the other was going to hurt himself. He knew full well how unaccustomed to darkness some of these creatures were. Saal would have helped the other but it looked like he had settled down. It'd be better not too approach if unnecessary.

 

Saal watched as the human disturbed more of the night with his thrashing around. He had no idea what the boy was doing but it peaked his interest. He stared at the pile of leaves his stranger was patting at and when the boy moved on, he patted the same pile. Ah, I found something. He spotted a string that wasn't usually on the forest ground off to the side of the pile. He didn't know what it was but he could it odd. He decided to collect it into his pocket so he could add it to his little collection of odd trinkets. He wanted to know what would happen next, what other interesting incidences would occur. Unconsciously, he started to follow after the boy as he walked through the forest.

 

Each time the boy did something, Saal watched it slowly and then copied it just as slowly. It amused him how the boy turned his head so fast. Saal's reaction time was slow so he had never moved his that fast. Everywhere Chase looked, Saal copied him and turned his head in that direction. Though he was slow, he tried to keep up the movements. Not using his neck muscles that way often, he tired quickly. It was only then that he finally noticed he had been tailing the human. He found it odd too but he tried to reason to himself that he was just there in case the little one lost his footing. Thinking it'd be bad to be so close though, Saal took a step back.

 

Rustle. His foot had stepped into a pile of leaves. Shocked, he took another step back away from the pile. Crack. In his haste, he'd missed the branch and broken it. Afraid that he'd be noticed, he stood still like a tree. It unnerved him that he'd disturbed his stalking but it would be worse if the stranger saw him. Don't turn your head. Don't look this way. Don't see me. Don't be afraid. Don't scream. Don't run. Don't hurt me! Sweat trickled down the side of his face as he anticipated the set of actions that always followed when he was seen. He stood as if he was staring.

 

Like every other time though, he couldn't take just standing there. He bolted around the forest, finding another spot to stand and observe but was unable to stand still once again, too nervous to be still. Why he had to stay near the human was a mystery to him too but he did not run away, just in a circle around the boy. He tried to stay out of sight from wandering eyes. He'd learned from years of experience that those always followed seeing him. He didn't want to be seen, but he was always spotted again and again because he never left the site. He'd also always draw the stranger's eyes toward him, always stepping on noise-making things in his anxiety.

[ChibiMonkey]

The lost, wandering male really had no idea where he was. Inside, he was panicking a bit, his fear and anxiety sinking in as he looked around the area every few steps in a panic. It wasn't really even every few steps. It was practically with every step he took. And he couldn't tell any longer of the crunching of leaves was helping him in breaking the dark silence around him, or if it was just sending his anxiety more haywire with each step and crunch he took. His heart couldn't stop beating, couldn't calm down, and Chase started to think to himself he would surely win an award for being the youngest person to have a heart attack.

 

Taking a moment, he reminded himself to breath, and inhaled slowly, before letting out a long and heavy breath of air, unseen to his eyes the heart dissipating in a white cloud in the cold air around him. As it grew later into the night, the temperature dropped even more, and Chase grew even colder. He had worn a jacket, jeans, scarf and all to try and keep himself warm, knowing the night would be cold, but that still didn't seem to help him completely in the end.

 

Part of him just wanted to find shelter, any bit of it, and stay there for the night. Though, at the same time Chase knew that even if he found some form of shelter, even in the least, or most, he wouldn't be able to sleep. Not in this forest, anyways. His body and brain were too wired with mixed emotions - mostly of fear and paranoia, anxiety, that he knew there wouldn't be the slightest chance of him getting a minute of sleep that night in the forest.

 

As he was walking slowly through the forest, he couldn't shake the feeling of eyes watching him. He kept telling himself it was just some owls, or other animals of the night that lived in this forest. But when he heard a crunch exactly like his own footstep - but he hadn't taken a step - as well as soon followed by a snap of a twig that seemed to echo in the silence, he went deathly pale, spinning around quickly "W-Who's there?!" he demanded fearfully, though trying to be strong as his eyes darted around everything around him. Maybe it was someone from the group, checking up on him "Dan? Jeremy?" he called. He bit his lip as he put a hand to his chest, clutching to the front of his shirt in front of his where his heart was. "Hello?!" he answered again, louder, in a bit of a panic. As he was scanning the area, he froze, eyes darting back over to an area. Was that a face? He felt tears of fear wanting to pour out to release his built up emotions. As he had looked back to the area, it was gone. Was he perhaps seeing things? He didn't want to stick around to find out. Gulping, he turned, and quickly took off running again, stumbling and falling a few times, trying to keep from completely face-planting and hurting himself terribly.

 

He ran and stumbled doing so for about five or ten minutes. He ran until he, quick physically and literally, couldn't run any more. He had stumbled and collapsed onto his hands and knees by a large tree, panting heavily, wheezing even. He put a hand to the large sturdy trunk as he panted and wheezed, tears in the corners of his eyes as it was hard to breath. His hands patted around in his pockets, searching for something, but not finding it. He patted the ground around him and mentally cursed as he continued to wheeze. He must have dropped it in his stumbles and various falls in the run. Like hell he knew where it was now, he'd never find it. How stupid could he have been to drop his inhaler.

[FatPanda]

Sal didn't respond again to the calls the boy made at him. He didn't understand what the sounds meant. Should he have called back? The socially inept man kept quiet, fearful that the stranger would bolt from him like many others had when he'd tried to reply. He held his breath when the spinning head landed his eyes upon him. Closing his eyes tight, he hoped the boy didn't see him in the shadows. Then there was rustling, the sound of footsteps, someone running. The boy was running away from him. Panic struck him as thoughts of the boy hurting himself flooded over him. He was angry, yes, that once again another person was fleeing from him but worry washed over the anger. He chased the boy.

 

Once, he fell. Twice, he fell. A third time, the boy fell. Sal became desperate in his chase, running after the boy. He tried to grab the fallen figure and stop it from running - and thus hurting himself - more. But he missed, just but a hair, as the boy got up again and ran. Sal fell forward, having not been able to reach and found an object beneath his body. It must have been dropped. He picked it up hurriedly and kept going after the boy. He had no idea what he was holding in his pockets but in one hand, he held the first object and in the other the second. Both belonged to the boy - or so he thought - and Sal was gathering up his courage to return them when he'd caught the boy.

 

The running stranger fell one more time, seemingly stopping at last. Sal slowed to a halt, breathing heavily as well. He didn't wait this time. It was too dangerous to keep letting the boy run around in the woods. Sal briskly walked over to the panting boy and grabbed his shoulder. Though usually moving slowly, he had the boy pinned to the ground in a flash. He didn't know it would restrict the boy's movements as he was just holding onto him but it did. Sal, as tired of running as he was, let out a low growling sound. He learned it from the creatures in the woods that he took to mean, "don't move".

 

Sal reached into his pockets to pull out the objects he'd picked up and returned them as peace offerings. Though he appeared to act very calmly, his heart was pounding quickly in his chest and his hands were clammy from nervousness. This was the first time he'd approached someone so brazenly. Dropping the earphones and inhaler, Sal loosened his pin on the boy and repeated what he'd heard people say often, "harooo". It came out resembling something of a howl but audible enough to sound like "hello" with a heavy accent.

[ChibiMonkey]

Chase wheezed as he clutched his eyes shut, weakly punching at the ground. He could hardly breath, and it hurt to get the little air he could through his wheezing. One hand was clutching the tree trunk had was on his knees beside, while the other was clutching at his pained chest, tears of pain pricking at the corners of his eyes. His head felt heavy and foggy from the lack of oxygen, feeling a growing headache coming on from it. He was so caught up in his lack of ability to breath at the moment, only hearing his wheezing, he wasn't aware of the soft approaching footsteps on the crunching of leafs with each step.

 

Feeling a hand with long, slender fingers grab his shoulders, his head jerked up as his eyes snapped open wide in fear. Before he could even do anything at all, he was being pushed and pinned to the ground by a masked man - or, faceless? He tried screaming, but do to his lack of oxygen, all that came out was a wheezed squeak as he was pinned. He gulped as, with tears of pain already in his eyes, they just slipped out at the fear clutching his heart, the nauseous feeling that grew in his stomach, making him unable to swallow or breath. Combined with the fact he could hardly breath and needed his inhaler, didn't help his current medical problem in the least.

 

Chase tried desperately to open his mouth and speak, to plead the man not to hurt or kill him, to plead innocence and genuine apologies for anything and everything in the world. But he couldn't speak because of his current condition, and his inability to speak didn't help his progressing panic and fear growing inside him, feeling like he was going to explode. The only thing he could do, was cry. Silent tears fell from the corners of his eyes as, pinned down, he looked up at the man - or creature, perhaps, that just growled at him. He was dead. He was going to die. Right here, like this - this creature, this thing was going to kill him, and eat him. He was already dead. That was all he could keep thinking in his mind.

 

But then, something confusing happened - though it didn't ease the brunettes fears in the least, not even the tiniest bit. The faceless man had relaxed his hold, dropping items onto him, and saying something. Harooo? Haro?....Hello? He wondered. Was the man trying to say Hello? The voice didn't ease Chase's fears of death at all. But he noticed the familiar object of his inhaler had been dropped. He didn't have take a moment to consider that, this being here, meant this faceless creature had been following him since almost the entire time he was in here. He just instantly grabbed it, fumbling with it in spite of his blurry vision. He didn't realize his blurred vision wasn't from the tears anymore, but the prolonged lack of air. In his fumbling and wheezing, Chase pressed down on the button on his inhaler, desperately bringing it to his mouth for air. But he couldn't get enough before he finally passed out from the lack of air.