SLENDER MAN

   I know what it is now. And it knows that I know.

   It's almost funny how easy it was to find. I just typed in "tall thin man in suit no face" and that was that. Site after site describing exactly what I've been encountering and refering to it by the same name:

   The Slender Man

   According to the internet he doesn't exist. I even traced back to the original forum thing where he was "created"... saw all the doctored pictures. Some of them were really pretty close to real, but they all confirmed that he was just some creepy figment of someone's particularly vivid imagination.

   I'm being stalked by something that doesn't exist. How funny is that? In fact I even almost laughed when I looked up and saw him standing over me.


   Up until now I had only seen him from a distance. Let me tell you, Blog thing, up close is a whole other universe. His suit is actually rather nicely taylored. It's not really black and it's not really grey. It's really more of an intricate black and grey pattern, like a herringbone but not really. I've never seen a pattern like it. Beneath the suit jacket is a very pristine white shirt - wouldn't surprise me if it was made of spider silk or some exotic shit like that. Topping it all off, a blood tie. It literally looked like it was made out of blood. It was such a rich, deep, dark red that it was almost black, glistening like no silk or satin I've ever seen.

   That was the outfit... then there was the costume. At least that's what its skin looked like. Jaundiced pale yellowish... dead looking skin stretched over something it wasn't made for. There was definite structure under that face.... lack of face...  but the skin just didn't seem to fit right. Like inside it was something entirely different from the outside. It's hard to explain.

   And then there were those creepy movements like in my dream. It's like this whole thing's presence is a facade. Like underneath is something even more intangible. Even more deadly.

   The words were halfway out of my mouth before I realized I was even saying them:

   "Slender Man."

   I swear if it had eyes it would have winked at me, judging by the way it dipped it's head in response.

   My head's already pretty fucked up with everything going on and I gotta tell you, at this point tears are streaming down my face and I swear I'm about to lose everything I've ever eaten in my life. I scream at it.

   "What do you want?"

   You know what that fucker does then? He stretches out those ridiculous arms like he wants a hug. What's even crazier? I almost give him one! It's like I want to just go to him and let him wrap those long arms (not arms) around me and then everything will be okay.

   I even catch myself taking a step forward when out of nowhere a question pops into my head:

   Is this how it was for Steve and Cynthia? For all those kids? Is this how he lured them away? Away into the trees?

   I turned and ran out of the apartment - screaming like a lunatic.

   I know Slender Man is real. I think he entered the popular culture because he's kind of hardwired into our psyche, like a sort of instinctual understanding of what's really lurking in the dark. I personally think he's always been out there, but if somehow you've all managed to create him with all of your pictures and stories and cartoons, then fuck you.

   Fuck you all for what you brought into this world.