Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

No one was quite sure where he had come from. Not even he really knew. All he remembered were forests. And a lot of them. Across time and space, forests were all that he knew, and he remembered everything that he did within them. He remembered all of the children he had ever preyed upon, luring them into the shadowy groves, never to be seen again. He remembered all the weary, wandering souls who stumbled into his domain, only to become permanent residents thereof. He remembered the death and despair, the darkness and destruction. He remembered the screaming and bleeding. The horror stories that they told about him, spreading across the globe as he terrorized the world, were all he knew.

He remembered burying his story deep within the heart of humanity, leaving bits and pieces for those foolish, curious creatures to find, like a trail of breadcrumbs that would lead them not to their homes, but to his. He left traces and clues everywhere, and, just like clockwork, those clues were found. His reign of terror reached a worldwide scale. As more and more people answered his calling cards, the stronger and stronger he became, a legend among legends, and a monster among monsters.

Then at last, one particular little family summoned him with dark magic, bringing him all the way up to their home in some place that they called "Canada". He wasted no time in becoming a scourge unto their lives, destroying everything that any of them ever held dear. Only a few escaped his wrath, but it was not due to luck or skill. Instead, he allowed them to live, knowing that they would one day grow up to reproduce, having children of their own in order to keep their bloodlines alive. This was how he ensured himself a steady supply of prey.

The next time he came to wreak havoc upon this family line, he found himself attacking a family of three. Their names were Charles, Diane and Charlie Jr. They were the Matheson family, and they were next on his list. He lured Charlie away first, seducing him into the forest just half a mile away from their family farm. Then, he drove the father, Charles, into madness. The loss of Charlie was a heavy blow to Diane and Charles both. First, Diane divorced Charles and moved away, never to return to that part of the world again. Then, left alone, with only shadowy memories of his son and wife, Charles went insane. In his despair and anger, he burned down his entire homestead. The house, the farm, the nearby chapel. Everything went up in smoke. And so did he. He set the place alight, while he, himself, was still alive inside.

But in time, the remains of the Matheson family farm became like a grave, and a pleasant little park was built around its ruins. This was Oakside Park. He took up residence within that forest park, and kept Charlie with him. The boy was not dead after all, but rather, a mindless slave to him. It was a fate far worse than death, but there was no hope for the boy. Instead, he remained under the creature's cruel control, trapped within the burnt remains of his own home. While the creature roamed the park freely, seducing victims into the trees and keeping them trapped inside forever, Charlie existed only as a puppet for him to use, to help lure unsuspecting people right into his kingdom once more.

The next time he came to wreak havoc upon this family line, his victim was a young girl named Kate Milens, a distant relative of the Matheson line. Kate was a relatively normal girl, all things considered. She was feisty, playful, intelligent, and adventurous. But that was exactly what made her such a perfect victim. As a child, growing up, Kate had loved ghost stories. Little did the poor girl know that these ghost stories would someday become far more than just myths and legends to be told around a campfire, or while snuggled up underneath bedsheets.

It had been sometime during Kate's freshman year in high school when she first met him. She and one of her best friends, Carl Ross (though he liked to be called CR) had been exploring Oakside Park in search of some spooks, or ghosts. For the first time ever, they got exactly what they had come for. Kate met him, and he challenged her to a little game of wit, endurance, strength and courage. Find the eight pages he had hidden around the park, or die. Through his grace alone, Kate won the challenge, finding all eight pages before collapsing from sheer physical and emotional shock. When she woke up again, she found herself in a nearby hospital, and the first thing she said to her doctors was:

"Slenderman!" The monster had had many, many names in all of his eons of life, but for Kate and CR, it appeared that his new title was to be the Slenderman, and so it was. He never let Kate go after that first challenge with the eight pages. That was not the game, not even close. That was hardly even a warmup. The real challenge was yet to come...

But Slenderman was a slow creature. Though his attacks could be swift and brutal, sometimes, he preferred to allow large gaps of time to space themselves out between his appearances. This was the decision he made in regard to Kate and CR. After that one little incident with the eight pages, he all but vanished from their lives, and he did not return again until nearly four years later, leading into their freshman year of college...

The year, itself, began just fine, but it didn't take long for the first signs of trouble to start. For one, Slenderman had returned to the edges of Kate and CR's dreams, always just barely out of their line of sight. They began to feel his ethereal presence again, haunting their every move. His first major attack, however, was against Kate's mother, Beth Hayes. In order to get to Kate, and by extension, CR, Slenderman chose to attack Beth first. Break down the mother, and you can reach her daughter. He caused Beth to get sick. Deathly sick. And Kate finally dropped out of college altogether in order to try and help look after her. It was a sacrifice made in vain. No mortal cure would've ever saved Beth. Only Slenderman could've undone this nightmarish disease, but he chose not to, and instead, Beth finally perished, dying in her sleep about half a year after showing the first signs of this new, unnamed disease.

After Beth's death, it was all downhill from there. Slenderman became more active in the lives of Kate and CR, his haunting and taunting increasing in frequency and intensity every single day. Kate began to rely heavily on CR for emotional support, and vice versa. Slenderman isolated them from the rest of the world, making sure that each person was all the other one had. It would make the final step in his sick, sadistic plan so much easier, and so much more darkly satisfying.

For that entire year, it was just Kate and CR, alone against the Slenderman. CR had since barricaded himself within his house, allowing no one to enter, and hardly ever leaving it himself. Kate was much the same way, too frightened to leave her mansion anymore, even though it was such a lonely old building. They were not living, so much as they were surviving, but with nothing else to do, they carried on and tried to hold out for as long as possible. But finally, Slenderman got tired of tormenting them and decided to proceed with the next step in his master plan...

In what should've been an enjoyable summer, spanning the gap between freshman and sophomore year, things finally really kicked off.

"Kate, I found a way to defeat the Slenderman. Bring these items and meet me in the radio tower at Oakside Park in one hour!" CR told Kate in a note that he had sent to her. Attached was a list of several items, including kerosene and a lighter. Kate couldn't deny some level of concern with this list, and with CR's mysterious plan, but she figured that if fire was the way to stop the Slenderman, then Kate would send the entire forest up in blazes if it would do the trick. She was too excited by the idea of finally getting rid of that nightmarish demon to care what CR had in mind. So long as he would leave her and CR alone, that was all that mattered! He had just tormented and tortured both of them too much for Kate to care anymore.

In fact, crazy drawings of him lined the walls in Kate's house. She didn't even remember drawing half of them. All she knew was that, every single day, more and more haunting sketches of him in the forest would be scattered around her house. She just couldn't wait for this to all be over! In fact, she was already in the process of selling her house. She had no idea if it would be of any use at all, but she did know that she couldn't live there anymore. Not in the place where her mother had died. Not in the place where Slenderman had tormented her sleeping and waking hours. The house had to go. Now, she could only hope that Slenderman would follow suit.

"OK, CR, I hope you know what you're doing!" Kate whispered as she read his note, retrieving all the items that he had requested of her before taking her first steps out of her home and into the forest that surrounded it.

An hour later, at the radio tower, Kate finally got the full picture of why CR had called her there. This was to be a double suicide. CR had this crazy idea in his mind that Slenderman was fueled by a person's knowledge of him. If every last person who knew about him was to die, he might follow suit. So in CR's deranged mind, the only way to kill the Slenderman, and to escape from his torturous grasp, was to die. They had to kill themselves if they wanted any chance at peace. The only place they had left to go that would be safe was through death's door itself.

"Kate please!" CR begged as he coated himself in the lighter fluid Kate had brought to him.

"I can't," Kate gasped, tears flooding down her face as she watched CR pick up the lighter.

"It's the only way," CR passed her the kerosene. "If we want to beat him, if we want to be free, we have to die!"

"I CAN'T!" Kate screamed, yanking away from CR and backing away as he flicked on the lighter. "I can't!"

"Kate," CR tried one last time to get Kate to understand that this was literally the only way they could hope to escape, but it was too late. Kate had already turned tail and fled. CR watched her go before dropping the lighter, the first sparks catching upon his clothes almost immediately.

"I'm sorry," he cried as the flames began to spread. "I'm so sorry! Forgive me…" and then he said no more as he screamed his life away, swallowed by and into the inferno.

CR's dying screams were agonized and psychotic. A burning gold light encased his entire body, charring his skin beyond recognition and searing him down to the bone. Kate could hear his screaming follow her as she ran right out of the radio tower and back into the forest. She sprinted all the way home and didn't stop until she was back inside her house. Then, she collapsed right there in the doorway and began to sob. Her screams were as loud and wounded as CR's had been, and she could still hear them echoing in the back of her mind as she continued to scream for him, the tears as hot as the flames still devouring CR's now-lifeless body.

A few days after the traumatic event of watching CR kill himself, Kate knew for sure she wanted to sell her house and run. She knew it would do no good, but the idea of suicide scared her as badly as the idea of Slenderman and she knew that she couldn't just stay. Maybe running away would give her enough time to come up with a solution. Even if it wouldn't do much in the grand scheme of things, it would at least buy her some more time. Anything would be better than staying here or killing herself. So Kate's efforts to sell her mansion redoubled, and she finally dared to reach out for advice and support by going to the one and only other friend that she had left in this world: Lauren.

Kate and Lauren had been best friends their whole lives. Even before CR, it had been Kate and Lauren. The two of them were constantly hanging out and having sleepovers with one another. They would go to Lauren's house to watch cartoons or make arts and crafts. Or they would go to Kate's house and play on her swing set for hours and hours. Then, even after CR came into Kate's life, Lauren had remained her very best friend. It was only after Slenderman's arrival onto the scene that a rift between Lauren and Kate started to grow. Because Lauren had never witnessed the Slenderman for herself, there was always some level of disconnect between her and Kate upon that particular subject matter. It was this disconnect that slowly tore them apart, Kate spending less and less time with Lauren until they were practically like strangers.

Their relationship did repair itself after Slenderman took his first exit from Kate's life, but when he returned, this time starting with Beth before moving onto Kate, the friendship between Kate and Lauren disintegrated almost immediately. Kate still loved Lauren deeply, but with Slenderman back in her life, she knew that Lauren would be of no help to her. That was why she had turned to CR so quickly. He was the only other person in the whole wide world who understood.

Lauren was pushed to the side again while Kate and CR struggled against Slenderman's evil influence for a second time. But now, with CR dead and Kate at her wit's end, she was daring to call Lauren once more. After so long apart, Kate was giving it one last shot to bring Lauren back. Even though she knew this could likely backfire and put Lauren in grave danger, Kate did not care. She was far too desperate at this point.

"Lauren, you're my only hope," Kate whispered as she readied herself to make the call to Lauren's phone. She hadn't dialed the number since a few weeks after Beth died. "I'm so sorry. Forgive me..."

At the same time, Lauren was oblivious to all of this, resting on her couch back home while watching a movie. Kate was far from her mind at the moment. Sure, the two had been closer and tighter than sisters, but ever since Kate had dropped out of college in order to look after Beth, the pair had slowly drifted apart. It was a painful thing to see happen, but it could not be helped. Kate seemed to have no interest in rekindling her bond with Lauren, and Lauren had had no luck in trying to get Kate to respond to her either. Despite her best efforts, Kate was slipping faster and faster away from her. Lauren hated to think about it, but what else could she do?

Once the movie was over, Lauren headed up to bed. She had just gotten into her bed when she noticed that she had a new voicemail on her phone. Kate. Lauren's heart raced in excitement as she pushed the button to listen in.

"Hi Lauren, it's Kate," the message began, Lauren clung to every word hopefully. "Just wanted to call and say hi, especially since it's been so long since last we've talked. And that's all my fault, I know. But I just wanted to get a chance to talk to you again... maybe even see you, if you would be up for it..." there was a long pause and Lauren had the feeling that Kate was about to make a more formal request of her. She silently urged Kate to continue, wanting to know what the request was.

"Anyway, I, uhhhh, feel really bad about doing this, but... I'm planning on selling my house... soon... and I was wondering if maybe you could come up and help? I don't know. I guess I've just been feeling rather lonely, of late. It would mean a lot to me if you could come. Maybe stop by in three days? But I understand if you're too busy to..." there was another brief pause. "Anyway, I think that's all I've got to say for now. Sorry it's been so long. Talk to you tomorrow, maybe?" one last silence. "Well, goodbye, and see you soon... hopefully," then the line went dead.

Lauren set her phone down slowly, trying to wrap her mind around the message Kate had just left her. She had known Kate was selling her house because the "For Sale" sign had been up in her lawn for quite awhile now, but where had this sudden request for help come from? After so much radio silence from Kate, Kate was suddenly begging for Lauren to come visit her in person and help her sell the house. It almost seemed suspicious… But that didn't matter. Of course Lauren was going to help! Just because she had a strange feeling in her gut didn't mean she was going to ignore her best friend. No matter how much Kate might try to push her away, Lauren would never truly leave her, and if Kate ever called, asking for help, Lauren would always be her first responder. That was a promise.

"Don't worry Kate. I'll help," Lauren whispered as she shut her eyes to sleep. "Best friends forever, right?"

Three days later, Lauren was driving to Kate's house. They lived close enough to have gone to the same school, yet Kate still lived a good distance away from the rest of the town. Lauren didn't mind though. It would just be so nice to see Kate again after so long. It had been about three months, if Lauren could recall clearly, since last they met. Yeesh, three months! And to think there had been a time when they couldn't go three hours without seeing each other! But Lauren shook her head. It didn't matter now. As strained as their friendship was, this call might be the first step to mending their bond. It was a first step Lauren was more than willing to take. All that mattered now was that Lauren was going to help Kate, and everything would be ok again. But if it was really so simple, why did Lauren feel so nervous?

Chapter Text

Lauren had almost reached Kate's mansion when something came in between them. A tree. There was a tree that had fallen right across the long pathway leading down to the mansion. Lauren sighed in irritation and she grabbed her phone to call Kate and say that she'd be a little late. That was when another mishap decided to befall her. No cell service. This infuriated and confused Lauren both because she knew that there was a radio tower in the woods nearby that usually gave off great reception. Of course on the day she would really need her phone, that would be the day the signal decided to screw up!

"Kate will just have to be ok with me being a bit late," Lauren cursed as she put her phone back into her pocket and got out of her car, climbing over the fallen tree and continuing down the path to Kate's house, this time on foot. At least it was warm and sunny out.

Lauren didn't reach Kate's house until the evening because of how long the walk took. The storm clouds that rolled in didn't help lighten the mood either. Instead, they made things look even darker and drearier. Lauren shuddered. At least she'd be at Kate's soon. She hoped Kate wouldn't be too mad at being kept waiting for so long.

At last, the mansion came into view. Lauren picked up her pace, partly because she wanted to get to Kate faster and partly because all of her sweet childhood memories about this place had just come flooding back to her. Lauren felt like she was coming home. So many years and so many stories were contained within that house. She would miss it, and she almost wanted Kate to keep it. At the same time, though, she understood that it was Kate's choice alone. Lauren might've held a deep fondness for this old house, but it was clear that Kate did not, and since Kate was the mansion's true owner, hers was the only opinion that mattered. But still, Lauren decided, it was nice just to get to see the old place again!

But Lauren's excitement and sense of nostalgia did not last long. Lauren had just passed the brick wall protecting Kate's house and she had just walked by the swing set she and Kate used to play on all the time when she realized that something was very, very wrong here. All the doors and windows to the house were wide open.

"What the heck?" Lauren whispered, and she suddenly felt as though she were being watched...

She treaded into the house softly, not even bothering to knock because she somehow already knew she would not get an answer. What met her eyes when she stepped inside was something that she'd never forget. The whole place was a mess! It looked like a war had gone on for all the chaos that Lauren found! There was furniture everywhere, and it was all overturned. Half the power was out while the other half was on, and there seemed to be no rhyme or reason in regard to which lights worked and which did not. Most frightening of all, however, were the drawings. Lining the walls and floors were countless crazed scribbles. Drawings of trees, and a tall thin man hiding within them lined the walls and covered the floors. It really did look like a warzone! But there didn't appear to be any sign of a physical struggle, that is, Lauren found no body or blood.

As Lauren continued to quietly explore the empty house, hoping that Kate's corpse wouldn't be something she found during her quest, she passed a note on Kate's kitchen table. It was one of the few pieces of furniture that wasn't overturned or broken. That note was an invitation to her mother's funeral. Just for a moment, Lauren's fear changed to grief. Beth's death had been a tragic blow to all who knew her, and she was sorely missed by everyone, including Lauren herself. She could still remember that day when she got the news...

Lauren had just gotten back to her dorm once the last of her classes was let out when she ran into Kate, sitting outside their dorm building and crying her eyes out. Lauren had been so stunned to her see her, especially while she was so distraught, that it didn't even occur to her to ask Kate how on earth she'd been able to sneak back into campus, let alone why. Instead, she only helped Kate to her feet and led her back to her dorm room at once. It was there that Lauren had gotten the horrible news. Kate stayed with her for the whole rest of that day, clinging to her like she was some sort of lifeline.

But then, after that day, when Kate was finally forced to go back home, Lauren did not see her again for quite a long time more. Instead, the very next day, when Lauren tried to call Kate to ask if Kate wanted her to come by and visit, she had received a very sharp refusal. Kate had insisted that she did not wish to see Lauren, and she had hung up the phone before Lauren could try and suggest some date further along in the future. It had been a very harsh rebuke from the girl who had literally come crying to her just 24 hours ago, but Lauren had been too shocked by the news about Beth's death to do more than acquiesce to Kate's angry, and confusing, demands.

"Poor Beth," Lauren sighed, returning to the present as she looked at the funeral plans. Beth really had been such a kind and joyful soul. Her death had not only hurt Kate, though Kate had definitely suffered the worst from it.

"Poor Kate," Lauren repeated, but the moment Lauren said Kate's name, it was like receiving a little electric shock. She suddenly remembered that she had yet to see even an inch of Kate, and as she also remembered what a warzone the house appeared to be, she began to fret again. She could only hope that Kate was hiding, and not dead or kidnapped. Lauren had to find her, and ASAP!

At last, Lauren's explorations led her upstairs. Kate's bedroom door was the only one that had been closed in the entire house. Lauren felt something twist within her heart and she suddenly did not want to open that door, but knowing that she couldn't just leave without at least giving a cursory look around, Lauren steeled her nerves and entered. Another horrific sight. The room was just as chaotic and disorderly as the rest of the house, but what really disturbed Lauren was to see Kate's bedroom window. It was broken, and there were blood stains around the edges of the cracks. Had Kate jumped out? Or was she pushed? Terrified that she might find her friend's lifeless body lying underneath the sill, Lauren swallowed loudly before creeping over to the window. That was when she heard an agonized scream that lasted for a whole five seconds.

"Kate!" Lauren cried on reflex as the horrific sound echoed across the forest. Before Lauren knew it, she was out the door with a flashlight and camcorder in her hands. She had no idea what she was doing, but hearing Kate's scream was the only incentive she needed. She knew it was dumb and dangerous to be that reckless, but Kate was in trouble, and since all the phone lines in Kate's house were dead, the cops were out of the question. If Kate wanted any chance of survival, Lauren would have to take matters into her own hands and act right now.

A few minutes later, Lauren was inside the forest. There was an old house just a little bit further in. It was charred and falling apart, only a few old timbers holding the place up. Behind the blackened "house" was an equally ancient and decrepit barn and chapel. Curious, Lauren poked her head inside the charred house. She nearly had heart attack when she saw, waiting right inside the doorway, what looked like a zombie. Strange and impossible as it sounded, Lauren was sure it was a zombie that she saw. It was a tiny, scrawny, ugly little thing, distinctly humanoid in shape, but very hunched over and emaciated. Its skin, which was stretched thin over pointy bones, was a blueish color, and its hair was a long, shaggy, greasy black, a literal rat's nest. From the doorway, Lauren could see it twitching and moaning softly to itself. Terrified and disgusted, Lauren had the good sense to take a step back and leave the house at once. She wasn't going to engage with whatever that thing was. Instead, she removed herself from the premises quite quickly and she did not look back, not even once.

A few minutes later, Lauren had reached the gateway into Oakside Park. She shined her flashlight up on the sign that told her as much and she took a deep breath in before proceeding forward, into the endless darkness of the park's forest.

Lauren continued to explore the entryway to the park, not quite sure what she was doing, but feeling as though she were on the right track. During this little search of hers, Lauren's flashlight managed to shine upon something attached to one of the trees within the park. It was a page, covered in demonic scribbles. It looked just like the drawings in Kate's house. Had Kate been here? Was this one of hers? Curious, confused, scared and hopeful all at once, Lauren removed the page from the tree. The second she did, a distant drumming began in her ears and a disgusting, horrific, hissing voice cooed out to her: One out of eight.

Lauren whipped around, waving her flashlight wildly as the voice hissed into her mind, sinking straight into her brain. She saw no one. But, she could hear a distant and rumbling laugh that seemed to shake the forest at its very core. It was a nightmarish sound that made Lauren's teeth chatter. But then, the laughter ceased, and all Lauren could hear was that steady and distant drum. Even the other creatures of the night, like crickets and birds, had fallen silent. It was only her, and that drum, and its endless, steady beat. Lauren could only tremble, shaking her head and trying to figure out who it was that had spoken to her. And what did that mean? One out of eight? Were there more pages she needed to find? Would finding all eight help her find Kate? That didn't make much sense...

As Lauren continued to stand there, alone and afraid in the darkened forest, she felt the strong desire just to turn around right now and run home, never to come back here ever again. But she admonished herself the moment such a selfish thought entered her mind. She couldn't just leave! Not when Kate still needed her! And these eight pages, although they seemed arbitrary, seemed to hold some value in regard to Kate. So, figuring that it was the best lead she might ever get for tonight, Lauren decided to trust that ghostly and mysterious voice and continue on in her hunt for the other seven pages. It might've been a suicidal idea, but she had nothing else to do, and turning around was definitely out of the question. So all she could do was move forward, and hope that by finding the other seven pages, she would find the one who had instructed her to search for them in the first place. Then, maybe he could help her find Kate...

One hour, five heart attacks, and seven pages later, Lauren had won this awful game. She had all eight pages in her hand and she was ready to collect upon whatever the implied prize was, even if it was as simple as the strange voice returning the forest to normal. Every time she had found another page, another eerie and unnatural noise had filled the night air. She had nearly gone mad by page six, when she could hear buzzing, beeping, an eerie wind, and that relentless drum, all playing in her ears all at once. Now, with eight pages in her hand, Lauren was hoping that this fever-dream of a game would be over, and whoever was responsible for her suffering would-

A chord crashed in her ears and, suddenly, all she could see or feel was static, buzzing around her like a swarm of angry bees. Through that flickering gray-white haze of static, Lauren saw a sight that made her blood run cold and her heart stop dead in her chest. It was a man, but it wasn't. He was incredibly tall and thin, taller than the tallest tree and thinner than the thinnest vine. He wore a black suit and tie, which contrasted sharply with his long, skeletal white hands. Most horrific, haunting and mysterious of all, however, was his face. Or lack thereof. It was totally white and smooth, pure and unmarked by any sort of scar or facial feature. It was like looking at a full moon, except looking at it made Lauren feel deathly ill and disoriented. She thought she could see long black tentacles extending out from his suit-clad back, but she wasn't totally sure.

What she was sure of, however, was that she had seen him before. This faceless demon standing before her now was the very same one that had filled Kate's feverish sketches and scribbles. And Lauren was also sure, now, that this creature was the one who had hung up all of these pages on the trees. And it had been him, watching Lauren's every move and telling her how many pages she had left to find. It was him who had stalked her for the last hour, watching over her and driving her mad with paranoia.

Now that she thought about it, it was this inhuman monster that had always been there, flickering in and out of reality and hiding right in the corners of her vision. He was always there, just out of reach and a step away from disbelief. Oh yes, he, this monster, was responsible for all of this. Lauren needed no further cues or clues. The longer as she looked up at him, the sicker she felt physically, head spinning, vision fading and nose bleeding without her even realizing how or why. A static began to distort her camcorder and she could hear it screaming through her skull. Seeing him appear so suddenly so close scared Lauren into running again, triumph lost as she pounded wildly away from her assailant.

Running did no good though. This monster could teleport. He chased Lauren all through the wood like a cat and mouse, only this time, Lauren knew the cat would win. He was just messing with her, and it was working. Lauren tore through the forest like the madwoman she was, not caring how stupid she looked or how tired she was growing. All that mattered was escaping this strange monster that tormented her so. Even if escape was impossible, she kept running, crashing through trees and cutting herself on bushes. Sadly, Lauren did not make it out of the forest in time. The beast finally chased her right off a cliff and the last thing Lauren saw before blacking out was his tentacles snaking out at her as she fell.

"Kate, I'm sorry," she whispered. The screaming static grew louder, then she felt a sharp pain in her back, and it was all over...

When Lauren woke again, it was morning. She sat up slowly, confused as to why she was in the woods, but then it hit her. She jumped to her feet in terror at once, eyes wide as she searched for the creature that had tormented her so much the previous night. But he was nowhere to be seen. And the haunting aura that surrounded him no longer hung in the air like a funeral shroud. Instead, it just felt like a normal morning in Oakside Park, the sun peeking up over the horizon while the wildlife slowly began to set about their morning routine. Once more, Lauren could hear the sweet sounds of nature. She heard wind rustling through trees, rivers flowing over rocks, birds and bugs clicking and chirping, tiny rodents scampering around the forest in search of nuts and berries.

All of the unnatural horrors of the previous night had been erased, and all that remained now was the normal, peaceful serenity of nature. It was all so bright and beautiful that Lauren could hardly believe that the nightmare she'd escaped from last night had been real. But the mere thought of that awful game for the eight pages cast a shadow on Lauren's cheer, and the warm air chilled, ever so slightly. Why wasn't she dead yet? The monster had caught her. He had chased her right off a cliff! He'd beaten her fair and square! So why did he let her go? The implications were too scary to even think about, so Lauren forced herself to focus to her main goal once again. Find Kate.

As Lauren took inventory of herself, she noticed that the eight pages were missing.

"I worked so hard to get those!" she muttered despite herself, but as she lamented over the loss of those hard-won tokens, she finally realized that she had a name for the creature who was responsible for all of it. Slenderman. She had heard Kate say it to her once before a few years back, during the time in which she had been hospitalized due to mental instability. Back then, Lauren thought that this Slenderman had only been a manifestation of Kate's paranoia and grief, but after last night, Lauren realized that maybe this walking horror wasn't just some psychological symbol for depression. Maybe, like Kate had said, Slenderman was real after all.

Just thinking about the monster, Slenderman, made Lauren feel afraid. Not wanting to lose her nerve so early, she forced herself to continue her little self-inventory. Luckily, she still had a flashlight and camcorder and most of her clothes. She meant "most" because some of it had been torn off in her mad dash through the woods last night. She was bloody and bruised, but it was nothing much. She decided to keep moving. All things considered, she was doing pretty well, still in one piece and able to move quickly without any help. This was an achievement after last night's blind panic. At least she was still alive. Trying to look on the bright side, Lauren got to her feet and continued to explore the park.

Several minutes later, Lauren stumbled upon the Kullman Mines. She could tell that it was a company long out of business just because of how old, empty and dirty the entrance to the mine was, but as she drew closer, she could see white arrows drawn all across the walls and floor. They all pointed inward and they had all been drawn recently. She needed no clearer sign than that. Of course, the idea of going into such an openly hostile place was a crazy idea, especially given that the arrows implied that it could all be a trap, but Lauren had no other choice. Not if she wanted to find Kate. She would have to swallow her fear and her natural instinct to run.

"Fine," she decided at last, trying to quell her fears. "I'll go in… For Kate!"

Once inside, Lauren was disturbed to see more insane drawings. Kate must've been here. This meant that she had drawn the arrows too.

"Well, if she can survive this place and if she decided to trust it enough to mark it with those arrows, then so can I," Lauren tried to reason with herself as she moved through the dark underground. It wasn't a very comforting thought, but it was all she had, so Lauren clung to it fiercely.

Once Lauren reached the lower bowels of the abandoned mine shaft, she realized that the entire place was out of power. The only way for Lauren to escape now, aside from just turning around, was to activate six emergency generators scattered around the mine. Once they were on, it would send enough power through this old, empty mine in order to activate a lift, which was Lauren's tool to escape. She hated to think that this might turn out to be another Eight Pages type of a game, but just like with the eight pages, she really had no other choice than to start searching.

Lauren had been halfway through her quest when she was attacked for the first time. A high-pitched and feral snarling echoed the darkened hallway in which Lauren stood and she turned around just in time to see a horrific creature charging at her. It was a human-sized figure in a white, blood-stained hoody, and it wore a creepy white mask stained with black marks. It had wild black hair and it looked eyeless. Its mouth was open in a permanent snarl, razor teeth frighteningly visible past the white lips of the mask. Lauren really had no idea what the heck it was, but she did know that it was no friend of hers, and that was all the information she needed to start running.

But as fast as Lauren was, this unknown, unnamed creature was even faster. Lauren had been halfway down the hall when the creature tackled her. It lunged and grabbed her around the waist, sending them both to the cold, hard ground. Lauren cried out in pain and terror as she felt the monster begin to claw and bite at her. It rolled her over so that she was looking up at it, and it glowered down at her as it straddled her. Clawing and punching mercilessly, it drew blood from Lauren. It continued to snarl as it delivered blow after blow to the vulnerable girl. Lauren fought like the devil to escape, trying to wriggle her way out from underneath her attacker, but her attacker's grip was strong. She didn't move an inch. She could only lie there and take it as she was punched over and over and over again.

At last, though, during the struggle, Lauren managed to free an arm and grab her flashlight from her pocket. Not even thinking, she turned on the flashlight to its brightest setting and aimed it right at her attacker's eyes. The thing gave an unholy, animalistic screech of pain before jumping off of Lauren and turning tail, sprinting back down the hallway with a terrifying and inhuman speed. Lauren managed to sit up just in time to see it rounding a corner, still running far too fast to be human. Its animalistic growls and yelps continued to echo through the air for a few more seconds until only silence reigned once more.

Lauren was breathing hard, blood oozing out of several wounds that the monster had given her. Suddenly, then, she heard Slenderman's voice in her head. That sound was even more horrific than her attacker's animalistic snarls and growls.

"Chaser," he hissed softly and slowly. Lauren shivered as she felt his voice wrapping around her brain like a snake. She knew that he was trying to tell her what the name of that monster was, but the realization that Slenderman was down here in the mines as well scared Lauren badly enough that she hardly registered this new piece of information. Instead, ignoring the shooting pain in her body, she hopped to her feet and continued to run through the mines, searching frantically for the last three generators.

By some miracle, Lauren managed accomplish her goal. As she hit the sixth and final generator, the mine seemed to come to life. The once-dead shaft came to life, lights turning on and machinery starting to whirl, slow and steady. But Lauren ignored all of this in favor of trying to find the lift again so that she could get out of these accursed mines. Maybe they had been shut down for good reason. Was the Chaser some sort of employee who had gotten stuck down here? Or was it some sort of monster that Slenderman had conjured up out of pure nightmare fuel alone?

Lauren managed to reach the lift while only sustaining one more attack from the Chaser. Just like before, it punched and clawed at Lauren several times before jumping off of her and fleeing. This time, though, Lauren hadn't needed to intervene with the flashlight. But why? Why had the Chaser randomly stopped attacking her? She was grateful for it, but at the same time, the suddenness of it all was a little suspect. But of course, Lauren didn't exactly have time to dawdle and wonder. Instead, she took the opportunity the Chaser gave to her and sprinted those last few paces to the lift, slamming the button to take her upward. Her heart sang in relief as the rusty old platform creaked to life and began to rise. Her last sight of the mines was of the Chaser, glaring up at her with its master just a few feet away. Lauren looked away as the fear and repulsion returned to her.

After the lift had stopped moving, Lauren got off to see that she was back in the forest, and it was still daytime. Good. She wasn't going to have to run around in the dark again for at least a few hours more. Hopefully, she would find Kate before then... Kate! Lauren had hardly given her missing friend a single thought since she ran into those mines that morning. Now she couldn't help but worry that the blood on the Chaser's hoody might've been hers. The thought came like a blow to Lauren's hope for a reunion with Kate, but then she reminded herself that she had not found a corpse while down there in the mines. Maybe Kate had managed to outrun the Chaser as well? It was all Lauren could hope for at the moment.

Lauren returned to the forest with a relieved sigh. Despite all the trauma and trouble this park had caused her, it still sure looked beautiful! The gorgeous and serene scenery surrounding her eased some of Lauren's anxieties and, despite herself, she was able to relax. Unfortunately, her willingness to relax meant that her little adrenaline rush wore off faster than it should have. Once the last bit of that adrenaline was gone, Lauren began to feel just how badly she'd been injured during her escapades down in the mines. Nothing was too serious, she was not in mortal danger, but some the injuries were still deeper or more severe than she'd originally thought. What's more, her body was sore in general. She'd been on the go for nearly an entire day, and she hadn't had the chance to eat or rest! Of course she was going to be sore, and tired. Everything hurt. A lot more than it did before she had made her descent into those nightmarish mines.

Lauren finally sank down into the soft grass, inspecting her wounds. There were many, and some were pretty nasty, but it didn't seem that any were fatal. They ranged from bruises to cuts, to slashes and claw marks, all of varying length, width and depth. Some hurt pretty badly, stinging and burning, while others only left a dull ache in their wake. Lauren wanted dearly to take a nap right then and there, on that soft, warm grass, but she knew that she had no time to waste. Instead, she forced herself up with a moan of pain and kept moving on, ignoring the stinging and the blood. She hoped that Kate was ok.

Some time later, Lauren found herself standing in a tiny building hidden behind a long tunnel. In that little old building, she found a TV with two videotapes lying close by. One was marked "Homestead". It was a recording of CR's adventure to the Matheson family farm ruins. He had gone in attempt to figure out what had happened to their little son, Charlie Jr. Because no body had ever been found, there were rumors that Charlie was somehow still alive, and living on the estate, or living as a Tarzan-like creature within the park itself. Either way, CR had gone in attempt to uncover the truth, and this videotape documented the experience.

As the tape went on, Lauren learned two things. The first was that CR had known about Slenderman, just like Kate had. Even though CR and Kate had been very close, Lauren, herself, had never really known CR. Of course, she had met him a few times and she knew how much he meant to Kate, but she hadn't realized that he had been dragged into this nightmare as well. Watching the tape unfold made this fact all too clear.

The second thing that Lauren learned from watching the tapes was that the zombie-like creature that she had seen in the charred house was Charlie. It was a horrific thought, but the evidence for this theory was strong. Not only was CR exploring that very same house that Lauren had been in about a day ago, but he ended up running into the same ugly little creature that she had. The bluish monster ran him off of the property. Second off, CR had found several Missing Persons posters scattered across the homestead, and all of them were for Charlie Jr. Lauren, herself, had found several of these posters throughout her own journey into Oakside.

"Oh, that poor kid," Lauren moaned as she thought of that happy, sweet little boy being turned into a demonic monster, physically unable to die and stuck in a literal Hell for all eternity. She shook her head in disgust and pity. Her hatred for the monster responsible for this increased a thousand-fold. Slenderman had some gall, tormenting an innocent kid like that!

But once that tape was over, Lauren moved onto the second one. It was titled "Memories", and it starred another person that Lauren had very deep ties with. It was Kate. Lauren could only gasp when that familiar face flickered onto the TV's screen... Kate was in her room, drawing more of those sinister pictures. All at once, though, a thunderclap shook the house and Kate looked around with wild eyes. This was not the girl that Lauren knew. This was someone far more broken, and battered. And to think that Lauren hadn't even realized that any of this was going on!

"He's here!" Kate whispered, jumping up and running from her room. "I've got to close all the windows and doors!" she said softly.

What followed was about five minutes of Lauren watching Kate run from room to room, sprinting past all of her demonic drawings and overturned furniture. She closed and locked every single window and door, just like she said that she would. But then, just as Kate locked the very last door in her whole entire house, all of them blasted wide open once again. Then, Slenderman himself appeared. Right there, right in front of Kate, he appeared. The screen was suddenly drowned in static, but Lauren could hear Kate scream in terror. As Kate fled away from Slenderman and back upstairs, running past all the doors and windows which were now wide open once more, the static decreased a little. Lauren managed to make out an image of Kate running into her room. Slenderman teleported right on in, standing inches behind Kate once again. Kate screamed again, then Lauren heard what sounded like glass shattering. Then the tape cut off.

"Oh, Kate!" Lauren gasped in horror as she finally realized just how much hell this monster had put Kate through. Now, the memory of that bloody and broken window was all the more painful to Lauren, and she couldn't help but cry in despair. She was sure that Kate was still alive, but she was also sure that finding Kate was going to be far harder than she could ever imagine. And who even knew what Kate might be like once Lauren found her again? After seeing just what the Slenderman could, and did, do to her, Lauren had the sinking feeling that even if she were to find Kate right now, the girl she would find would not be the one she lost...

"Oh, Kate!" Lauren repeated as she began to shake with sobs. Lauren almost wondered if she should just give up and go home, or lie down and die right here. But no. As much as she wanted to, Lauren loved Kate far too much to just quit, especially after she'd come so far already. It would be stupid to just surrender after she'd fought so hard already. Besides, even Kate was not the same girl that she used to be, she was still Lauren's best friend, and she still deserved to have someone try and help her back home. Lauren owed her that, at least.

"So let me find her, or die trying," Lauren tried to sound resolute in her statement as she brushed the last of her tears from her eyes. She could cry later. Right now, she had a quest she needed to complete, and it would require all of her attention. She had nothing to spare for grief. Instead, she sat up, ignoring the pain in her body, and she made her way back out of that little building and into Oakside forest once again.

Lauren almost regretted leaving that little safe haven, however, when she saw what new challenge was waiting for her on the other side of that little tunnel. The whole freaking forest was on fire. Lauren knew that it was over for her then. Where else could she go that was safe? To go forward was to run right into the flames. To go left or right was pointless, for the flames would catch up with her eventually. To go back was to be forced to return to the Kullman Mines. She didn't exactly want to risk fighting the Chaser again. Frantic, but trying her best to stay calm, Lauren quickly scanned the horizon, trying to figure out her options. Then suddenly, she saw it. The radio tower!

Standing like a literal beacon of hope over the inferno of the forest was the radio tower. It was the very one that she had been thinking of when she first arrived at Kate's house about a day and a half ago. It was the very same one she had seen on one of Kate's psychotic drawings. It was the very same one that CR had referenced in a few of his letters to Kate. So, it had all come down to this. That radio tower. Even though it didn't look too special on the outside, clearly, there was something important about it. Why else would it keep popping up in Lauren's quest unless it had some significance in this whole dark, twisted plot? So, clearly, there was something big going on with that radio tower. Lauren was about to find out what that something was!

The next few minutes were pure torture on Lauren. The whole place was on fire, so it was hot and smoggy, and branches were falling like giant pieces of burning hailstones. A few of them nearly hit Lauren as she ran along. As if trying to see, or even to breathe, wasn't hard enough, she also had to hope that she didn't get crushed to death on the way to the radio tower! And she was running on an incline, which only made it that much harder to breathe and move with any sort of strength or speed. It was unbearably hot, and Lauren's skin began to burn just because of how close she was getting to the source of the fire. All around her, more and more trees splintered into firewood, increasing the height and power of the preexisting flames. The sky was red and black at the same time and Lauren's eyes were stinging and watering like mad. The fire was getting hotter, the hill was getting steeper, and Lauren had to run in a zig-zag pattern to avoid the burning branches that were falling all around her. A more difficult path through the fire could not possibly have been imagined, and of course it was the path Lauren had to take.

But the worst thing of all, by far, was the Slenderman. He was chasing after her. The screaming static in her mind and the wooziness she got every time she started to slow down told her so. She could see him, teleporting all around and crawling up the hill after her like a giant spider. Every tentacle Slenderman had was out and flying. Some of them whipped through the flames to grab Lauren and drag her backwards. Some acted like secondary limbs and propelled Slenderman up and forward. Lauren was sure that if the flames didn't kill her, the sheer terror she felt whenever she caught sight of Slenderman running after her would. It took all her strength just to keep looking forward. The ash clogged her lungs. The fire blinded her. The static was getting shriller and shriller. Was she going to make it? The radio tower still felt so far away!

Finally, though, Lauren did it. She got into the radio tower at the last second and slammed the door shut in weary triumph, sweating and panting like a dog. Her throat was lava and her lungs were fire, but she was alive! By some miracle, she had won another around and managed to close the door right as one of Slenderman's tentacles had brushed out to grab her. The door closed with a satisfying slam and everything on the outside world fell silent at once. She couldn't hear static, she couldn't hear fire, she couldn't hear Slenderman. She couldn't hear anything but her own pounding heartbeat. It was the best sound she'd ever heard! She wobbled wearily through the rusty old building, ignoring the burning scars that crisscrossed with the claw marks and bruises that the Chaser gave her. It made no sense that being in here would hinder Slenderman, but she was all for it at this point. Just as long as she could stop running. She was so tired and so hurt.

Finally, Lauren reached a dead-end room. Once again, a horrific sight met her bleary eyes. There was a small fire burning casually at the heart of the room, and it illuminated the walls to reveal more psychotic drawings and messages.

"No! No! No!", "Run!", "I failed you", "I'm sorry" and "Why did you come here?" were just some of the disturbing messages scrawled on the wall amidst drawings of trees and Slenderman. What scared Lauren more than any of this, though, was what lay behind the small, gently-burning fire. A charred corpse. Lauren didn't want to move closer to it in case it moved, or turned out to be Kate, but at the same time, Lauren knew she'd have to be brave. She stepped up to the black, smoking body and saw a small camcorder at its side. She pressed the glowing "play button".

"Kate please!" the recording began. Lauren recognized this voice as belonging to CR.

"I can't," Kate replied, sounding hurt, afraid, and regretful.

"It's the only way," CR insisted. Lauren wished she could see what was happening.

"I CAN'T!" Kate screamed now, scaring Lauren. "I can't!" she repeated, sounding close to madness.

"Kate," CR tried one last time but Kate had fallen silent. Had she run away?

"I'm sorry," CR cried and Lauren heard what sounded like fire crackling through the camcorders crappy speakers. "I'm so sorry! Forgive me…" he continued to weep and then he said no more as he screamed his life away in harmony with what sounded like banging on a metal door.

Mid-scream, the recording cut off, leaving an eerie silence in its wake.

"Oh, Kate, CR," Lauren gasped, trembling in terror as tears slid down her face. She turned to the slumped-over, charred corpse. "I'm so sorry," she whimpered, kneeling to caress poor old CR's charred remains. But just as she stood up again, the little fire in the heart of the room went out. Lauren was thrust into total darkness again, even her flashlight having finally died. The only light she had left was the small one on her own camcorder. It, along with its owner, had somehow survived this far. The flashlight had not. Suddenly, Lauren heard what sounded like banging on a metal door... Charlie Jr. flew in. Lauren didn't even have time to scream before he'd lunged. The world got even darker for Lauren after that.

When Lauren woke up again, she was back at the burnt house. She woke up woozily, coming to her feet in a slow, shaky manner. She was terrified to see that the little monster, Charlie, was crouching at the stairs, his dark and demonic eyes unblinking as they bored into Lauren.

"Can I get past?" she asked, voice raspy and sore from all the fire and screaming. She tried to approach the stairs that he guarded, but just when she got too close, Charlie snarled and hit her, sending her reeling back to the ground. He continued to glare at her with that horrific, mutilated face.

Lauren stood up again, still shaking from fear, pain and exhaustion. She clutched at the place where Charlie had struck her and she eyed the monster-boy warily, but he made no other move against her. For some reason, there was still something in this house that she needed to see before he would let her go up those stairs. Unsure of what else to do, Lauren began to explore the remains of the downstairs of Charlie's old house. She eyed him warily the whole time and she could see him doing the same, beady little eyes never leaving her even for a second. It was really disturbing and unnerving.

As Lauren continued to explore the first floor of Charlie's ruined house, Lauren found several messages between Kate and CR, which detailed some of the ghost hunts they used to go on as kids. Lauren could tell from the tone of these letters that this had been before the Slenderman incident and reading them was bittersweet. It was funny because it felt like a lifetime ago, but Lauren did remember this time in their lives. It had been the closest Lauren ever got to meeting CR properly. They were only halfway through their first year of middle school with Kate had asked Lauren to join her and CR on a ghost hunt.

"Who is CR?" little Lauren had asked her eager best friend with an amused smile.

"Carl Ross," Kate explained. "He's in my English class and he likes ghost stories as much as I do. He even invited me to go ghost hunting with him this weekend! Do you want to come?" her gray eyes were pleading.

"I'd rather not," Lauren confessed.

"Awww, please?" Kate tried to use her best puppy eyes but Lauren only laughed and shook her head.

"You know those aren't my thing," she said.

"Coward," Kate replied and Lauren only laughed again.

Ah, those had been the days… Those were the days when that letter was written, when the three of them were still happy, and were still friends. Those had been the days… Even though Lauren never did attend any of these Kate/CR Ghost Hunting thingies, she loved to hear Kate tell her all about them the next day, scaring herself silly just by recounting all of the spooks that they did or didn't find that particular night.

Lauren finally set aside that letter and found one more. This one wasn't anywhere near as happy. Instead, it appeared to be the suicide note by Charlie's father, Charles Sr. It told of how the Slenderman was slowly haunting him to insanity, and how he intended to put it all to rest the same way CR had tried to do… That was why this house was in charred shambles. Lauren set the suicide note down with a horrified expression. She turned to the stairs in order to look at Charlie again, but he was gone. Lauren blinked. But her eyes were not lying. Charlie was gone. The stairs were open. Lauren shook her head, but before she could even think, a new sound echoed the filthy old house. It was crying. A girl's crying.

"Kate!" Lauren cried in relief and fear, recognizing the crier. Suddenly, she had a burst of strength. She didn't care how sore or ugly her voice sounded. She just wanted to find her old friend again!

"It's Lauren! I'm coming!" Lauren cried again, tripping up the stairs from all her wounds. She hardly felt them now though. Despite all the pain she was in, hearing Kate's sobs had acted like an anesthetic, and suddenly, all Lauren could think about was Kate. She hardly even felt her wounds as she continued to chase after the source of the crying. She couldn't believe it! She'd actually succeeded in finding Kate and Kate was alive! Lauren felt triumphant! Like a god! With Kate at her side, Lauren felt brave enough to fight 1000 Slendermen to escape this stupid forest!

"Kate!" Lauren rasped in relief as she walked up the last step. She saw her old friend curled up in a corner, crying. The poor girl was covered in scars, most of them burn marks, and she looked terrified, but it was clearly Kate. It felt so good to see her again.

"Kate!" Lauren repeated, wheezing. "Thank goodness you're ok! Come on, let's get out-" but before Lauren could finish, something happened. She had just reached out to touch Kate's arm when Kate lunged at her. Mid-jump, Kate turned into the Chaser, and before Lauren knew it, she was on the ground and pinned beneath the Chaser again. It was the Kullman Mines all over again, only this time, the Chaser was aiming to kill...

It attacked viciously, punching and clawing Lauren so hard that she was slipping out of consciousness in only seconds as her wounds were reopened and doubled. Pain, so much pain. So much blood. An entire pool of it. Slowly, then, the world got darker and colder for poor Lauren, and her last sight was of the Slenderman hovering over her gloatingly, with Charlie and the Chaser at his side. And then, everything flickered out.

Chapter Text

Lauren woke up with a start. Again. She regretted waking up so suddenly, however, because the sharp movement caused a burst of pain to surge through her entire body. She let out a soft cry of pain that turned into a louder cry of horror as she examined herself. Her clothing was filthy, torn to shreds, but that was only the start of it. Beneath the rags she now wore was a plethora of scars. Some were bruises, some were burns, some were lacerations, some were claw marks. All of them were ugly, all of them were painful, and all of them were bleeding. What on earth had happened to her? As Lauren struggled to sit up, gritting her teeth in pain, she also struggled to remember...

From what she could see, she was in some little old building, but it must've been outdoors, because the ground was entirely made of dirt and grass. There was only one large window, overlooking a picturesque image of nature. The room, itself, looked barren compared to the view from the window. The sky was a beautiful azure, puffy white clouds floating over a smooth, golden earth. Lauren slowly turned her head to one side. There was only one of the build's walls in that direction. She turned her head the other way. There was a tunnel. Something about that tunnel sparked a memory deep within Lauren's mind. Why did that tunnel seem so familiar?...

All at once, then, everything came rushing back to Lauren. She remembered it all! She remembered going into the woods, she remembered trying to find her best friend, Kate, she remembered the eight pages, and the Kullman Mines, and the Chaser, and the fire, and CR's immolated body, and Charlie Jr. and the burned house and Slenderman. All of it! All of it came flooding back to Lauren all at once. She remembered being attacked at the burned house by Charlie and the Chaser. She remembered passing out from the pain. She remembered being dragged away...

Now, it seemed, whoever had dragged her away from the burned house had brought her back here, to this little building that used to contain the TV and the two videotapes, marked "Homestead" and "Memories". All of that was gone now, the room was totally empty, but Lauren recognized this building as being that very same place where the TV used to stand. What was she doing all the way back here? Who had brought her here? And why? But before Lauren could ponder why, again, Slenderman had spared her life, a scratching sound echoed down the tunnel and Lauren's attentions were turned to that noise immediately.

Tensing up, Lauren could only lie there and wait, hoping that whoever it was that was about to appear in that tunnel would be a friend. Not surprisingly, Lauren had no such luck. Instead, after the scratching got louder and louder, a face was finally put with the noises. It was not a friendly face, not at all. It was the Chaser. Lauren felt herself wilt in terror and dismay. She would recognize that coal-stained mask and blood-stained hoodie anywhere. It was the Chaser just as sure as she was Lauren. Was that why she had been brought here? So that the Chaser could finish her off? What a way to add insult to injury! She had been dead! Or, at least, she had been almost dead. But instead of just letting her die, Slenderman had brought her back yet again, and all so she could be killed by the Chaser for a second time? Lauren would've started weeping, if she'd had the strength. But by now, all she could do was stare in anxious misery as the Chaser ambled down the tunnel closer and closer to her.

The Chaser finally entered the room. Lauren gave a pathetic attempt to back up, not that it did much good. Instead, it wasn't too long before she hit the back wall and literally had nowhere else to go. Instead, she could only give a weak whimper as the Chaser came even closer still, finally kneeling down beside her. Lauren was flat up against the wall at this point, but she did nothing, hardly even daring to breathe. The Chaser continued to stare at her, those pitch-black eyes impossible to read. Lauren was shaking, but that was all.

Then the Chaser reached out a bloody hand and began to caress Lauren's face gently. Instinctively, Lauren tensed up. She knew how violent the Chaser could be, and she was already dreading the pain that was sure to be in store for her once the Chaser grew tired of petting her. But that was the strange thing about this. Normally, the Chaser was very violent. It never hesitated to make Lauren's life a living nightmare. This show of gentleness and self control was even creepier than the rage. Lauren kept her eyes shut tight as Chaser continued to caress her face and run its thumb across her cheek. Why was it being so gentle? What was it doing? What was it waiting for?!

Finally, Lauren just couldn't take the suspense.

"If you're gonna kill me, just do it!" she cried, tensing up as she waited for her loud and sudden words to finally provoke the Chaser's wrath. Still nothing came of it. The Chaser only ran its fingers down Lauren's face and down her arm before pulling away entirely. Lauren finally dared to open one eye up to see what the Chaser was going to do next. She was surprised to see it, writing in the dirt at their feet. It wrote three words: I am Kate.

Lauren had spent the past couple of days running through a haunted forest, looking for a missing best friend and almost being killed by at least three demons. She had run through a forest, an abandoned mine, a fire, a radio tower, and the burnt remains of a farm. She'd collected pages, activated generators and battled several zombie-like beings across her journey. And all of it was headed by a tall, thin, faceless, tentacle-having, suit-wearing abomination. Suffice to say, it had been a very weird and terrifying trip, but even after all of that, those three words that the Chaser had just written were by far the hardest to comprehend for Lauren, and the most upsetting and frightening. What weirded her out more than anything else on the rest of this mission was that one little sentence: I am Kate. She could handle the demons and black magic, but this? No. It couldn't be.

It just couldn't be! Kate was a kind, gentle, loving, beautiful girl, and the Chaser was an aggressive, ugly, demon! The two were total opposites! The idea that her beloved Kate and the demonic Chaser were one in the same just couldn't click with Lauren, and she was in violent denial. She shook her head, verbally stating that she didn't believe this at all.

"It can't be true! You're lying!" she dared to tell the Chaser, shaking violently. But the Chaser only shook its head, then it removed its mask and hoodie. Underneath the hoodie was a red shirt. It was the one Kate had been wearing the night she disappeared. Lauren had seen it in the recording. Then, beneath the mask, behind all the scars and bruises and lacerations and burn marks, was an eerily familiar face. It was a thin face with a pointed nose. Eyes were gray, eyebrows were thin and black. And with the hood gone, a long mass of black hair came tumbling down. It was tangled and dirty, but it was definitely Kate's. And that face, even though it was only vaguely recognizable through the injuries and scars, was still most definitely Kate's. Kate had run through fire, she had run through a forest, she had run through a coal mine, she had jumped out of her own bedroom window. All of those scars, all of those cuts and bruises and burns, they made perfect sense.

"Kate," Lauren choked as it finally began to sink in that one of her biggest enemies during these last few days was also her very best friend, and the whole object around which this quest had begun.

"Kate," she repeated, just as hoarse and horrified as before. So this was Slenderman's true power? To turn an innocent, sweet girl into a killing machine in just a few days? And to think that this monster had haunted Kate for so long and Lauren never even knew…

Now it was Lauren's turn to reach out. She gently touched Kate's face. Her fingertips glided over the burn scars and her palm rubbed Kate's jaw. Lauren's eyes glittered with pain for her old friend and Kate's own eyes fluttered shut in pleasure at being touched with such kindness after all the torture she'd endured for so very long. It felt so good to be with Lauren again. Of course, deep down, Kate still had the fear that she'd go nuts and accidently kill her best friend since it already almost happened twice, and Kate was terrified of the idea of Slenderman getting his claws into Lauren, but the mere presence of Lauren seemed to rid Kate of that fear and she actually felt happy. Kate hadn't felt that way in years!

"Oh, Lauren!" Kate whimpered into her best friend's shoulder, holding her tight. Lauren ran her fingers through Kate's dirty tangles.

"I'm so glad you're safe," she replied and Kate could only nod, squeezing tighter still.

Finally, however, this sweet little reunion had to come to an end. Kate pulled away first, but it was clear she didn't want to do it. The unhappiness of the separation was matched on Lauren's face as she reluctantly pulled away too.

"We need to get you out of here," Kate said and Lauren nodded at once, but she couldn't help but cringe when she heard Kate speak. Her voice was just so frail and scratchy. It broke Lauren's heart to hear it.

"I don't think you can walk," Kate added a moment later, grimacing. Lauren understood this silent gesture too, but she shook her head firmly.

"Oh Kate, don't. Don't you dare blame yourself," she said, then she pressed a comforting hand to Kate's back, a silent gesture for forgiveness.

"I guess I could carry you," Kate murmured, smiling weakly at Lauren as Lauren forgave her. What did I do to deserve so kind a friend?

"Wait, what?" Lauren echoed Kate in disbelief. She and Kate were about the same size, there was no way Kate would be able to carry her for long.

"Well, there are some advantages to being a proxy," Kate replied with a bitter smile.

"A proxy?" Lauren echoed in confusion, and Kate gave her an apologetic smile before explaining.

"Proxies are, in short, Slenderman's slaves. He captures humans and uses dark magic to twist them. He twists them beyond recognition, physically, mentally and emotionally. He turns them backwards, and makes them bad. They become mindless, soulless monsters, existing only to do his bidding, and under his complete and total control," she said.

"And that's what you are now?" Lauren asked, cringing in horror and sympathy once again.

"Yup," Kate replied with a bitter expression.

"I'm sorry I-" Lauren began, regretful that she'd brought up such a painful topic.

"Just hop on," Kate replied, interrupting Lauren. She got to her knees and offered her back to Lauren.

"Are you sure?" Lauren asked. Kate only pushed her back a bit closer to Lauren. The answer was clear, so Lauren finally climbed aboard.

It was then that Lauren decided that "the Chaser" was a good name for Kate. Kate grinned as Lauren was made breathless by her speed.

"This isn't even my fastest!" she bragged as they darted through the trees. Lauren held on tight as they went even faster still. The wind raced through Lauren's hair and she could only hold on tighter, still in awe at Kate's newfound strength and speed. The girl was running at an inhuman pace and didn't even seem to feel it. Lauren felt as though she were riding a bike, that was how fast Kate was going, and Kate seemed to be tiring just as quickly as a bike might. That is to say, she seemed to have an endless supply of energy to run them faster and faster through the woods.

If anybody had told Lauren that she would one day piggyback a deformed, demonic version of her best friend through a forest while in attempt to escape an eldritch abomination that wore a suit and tie and lacked a face and had tentacles and mind-control powers, she would've thought that they were insane, yet that was just what she was doing now! Lauren could only marvel at all that had happened to her over the past few days as she buried her face into Kate's hair. They stank, and they were greasy and sooty, but they felt like home. Kate felt Lauren snuggle into her hair and she pleaded softly with the girl.

"Stay strong, Lauren, please," she whispered. She knew that the Slenderman would be onto them soon, and she wanted to get Lauren out of Oakside as fast as she could, before anyone had even noticed that they were trying to escape...

ooo

Kate had had a relatively normal life up until Slenderman showed up. Then, even after he called off his initial attacks and left her alone for a few years, she still could never truly get his face (or lack thereof) out of her mind. It was no small wonder, then, why she had freaked out so terribly when her mother fell sick. She had known from the start that it was his doing. It was why she'd never really tried to get Beth to a hospital. Of course, she had, but she had known even before the doctors did that what her mother had was untreatable. When she finally died, Kate had been left utterly alone. Not surprised, but still emotionally devastated. Then CR died. Kate could still remember his screams, and she could still remember the way the fire illuminated his entire body, making his eyes seem horrifically wide as they were melted out of his skull. Kate still had yet to forgive herself for not stopping him, or at least for not joining him. This had happened barely been a week ago, yet it felt like far longer than that. And then Slenderman had finally come for her...

"I have plans for you, Kate," he had hissed out to her. Kate couldn't even open her mouth, let alone think of a reply. Instead, she could only stand there, petrified, as his impossibly tall body loomed over hers, taller even than the tallest tree.

"You, darling, are going to kill Lauren for me, and wipe out your bloodlines," he murmured. His voice had made her want to puke, but the message within his voice was what really terrified her. He wanted her to kill Lauren, and Kate couldn't even bear the suggestion. No. Not Lauren. Never Lauren! Not the only person that she had left in this crappy life that she called her own! Anything but that!

But, just like always, Kate was powerless against Slenderman, and she could only stand there, still petrified, as his tentacles began to wrap around her body like a nest of snakes. They squeezed and pulled, tighter and tighter, ripping her inside out and changing her. Then a surge of energy shot through each and every tentacle like electricity through wires. The pain from all the energy, surging into her mangled and twisted body was what had ripped such a violent scream from her throat. It was the very same one Lauren had heard while exploring Kate's house that night.

When she woke up again, Kate was locked in the Kullman Mines, but her mind had been so warped that she hardly cared or understood. All she wanted was to obey her master, Slenderman. When he ordered the death of Lauren, she had agreed at once, a perfect dog obeying its master's orders. And she had been christened with a new name, the Chaser. In her mind's twisted eye, it was far more befitting and terrifying for someone like her than what her lame, old name used to be.

"She's coming for you, but she doesn't really love you," Slenderman had crooned to the Chaser as he locked her inside the Kullman Mines. "She's only doing this because she feels obliged to, and she's hoping for a reward if she saves you. She isn't really coming down here after you because she actually cares. She only cares about herself..."

The lies were far-fetched, but Slenderman's voice was so soft and persuasive that the Chaser believed him at once. Her mind had been rewritten to obey his command, after all, and no matter how illogical his words were, they made perfect sense to his devoted little slave.

"Oh! Yes, sir!" she snarled, twitching and almost foaming at the mouth as she imagined what she would do to this Lauren-girl once she was here.

"And think about it," Slenderman continued, his tentacles running up and down the Chaser's back seductively. "Lauren was never, ever there for you, even from the start. How many years did she leave you alone to suffer? How many years did she remain blissfully unaware of your plight? If she were a true friend, she would've found out long ago, and saved you, but she didn't, did she? No. That is because she is no friend of yours. She is nothing but a liar. Don't you want to make her pay for that, now? Don't you want to have your revenge on her? Make her pay for all the times she left you all alone with no one to turn to?

Slowly but surely, Slenderman worked the Chaser up into a frenzy. She began to snarl and scream, throwing herself violently against the wall and clawing at it as she cursed Lauren's name. Although Slenderman's words were insane, and obviously false to an outside observer, because the Chaser was neither sane nor an outside observer, she began to convince herself that Lauren really didn't care about her at all. This injustice, or rather, this perceived injustice made the Chaser's blood boil, and she wanted nothing more than to tear Lauren limb from limb and paint the walls with her blood. She wanted the girl to die very slowly, and very loudly...

When Lauren did finally reach the mines, the Chaser went as ballistic, just as planned.

"I want to kill her!" the Chaser thought as she ravaged Lauren's body. She clawed at the girl, punching as hard as she could in order to draw as much blood from Lauren as possible. Lauren's cries of pain and pleas for mercy were like music to the Chaser's ears and it was only Slenderman's orders that kept her from ripping out Lauren's throat right then and there.

The Chaser had been quite frustrated that Slenderman would not allow her to kill Lauren after all, but because of her intense loyalty to her new master, she obeyed his command at once and hopped right off of Lauren, fleeing back into the heart of the mines while Lauren ran in the opposite direction. She was mad that she had been forced to surrender her kill, but her blind devotion to her master overrode this frustration. Besides, Slenderman had promised her that it wasn't over yet. The Chaser would have another go at Lauren. She just had to wait...

But after letting Lauren escape, Slenderman followed the girl out of the mines. He chose to leave the Chaser behind, however, and the farther away he got from Chaser, the weaker and weaker his influence became. At last, the connection severed entirely and the Chaser was able to think for herself once again. This unintentional wake-up call for the Chaser yielded some very serious consequences. The first and foremost was a minor breakdown as she, slipping back into her identity as Kate Milens, realized what she had just done. When Kate came around and saw her best friend's blood staining her hands, she went nuts. Guilt, horror and a protective anger filled Kate's heart and, with the superhuman strength she'd inherited as a proxy, she broke out of the mine.

"I've got to find Charlie!" she snarled angrily as she sprinted through the setting sun. Charlie was the only other proxy she was on good terms with. He was just as much of a slave as any other proxy was, but he seemed to be one of the few that seriously disliked being a proxy. The others that roamed this particular forest seemed to enjoy what they had become. It was for this reason that Kate considered Charlie her only friend in this situation. She also knew that, just like with herself, if Slenderman was not nearby, Charlie would be free of his influence. There were always times when Slenderman would relax his grip on his proxies, thus allowing fragments of their past personalities to seep back into their new, proxified forms. It was all of these past personalities that created all the different proxy factions within the forest. Kate had managed to befriend Charlie before Slenderman whisked her away to the mines with the goal of killing Lauren. Now that she was back to normal, she thanked her lucky stars that she had failed in her goal.

After awhile, Kate managed to find Charlie. He was idling around his yard, so Kate knew that he was himself. If he had been under Slenderman's thumb, he would've been motionless and ready to strike. Seeing him pacing around the yard meant that he was free, sort of.

"Charlie!" Kate cried out to him as she sprinted over with an incredible speed, even by proxy standards.

"What's up Kate?" he called back as she ran over. Oh yes, this was definitely the real Charlie. She could hear it in his voice. It wasn't warped, so it was really him, and not the Slender-controlled version of him.

"I need you to look after somebody for me!" Kate replied, then she quickly explained the situation with Lauren.

"What?" Charlie could only shake his mutilated, rotting head once Kate finished her tale.

"Please do this for me, and for the face that all of us hate him," she replied, begging. Charlie backed away a little, clearly troubled by what Kate was asking him to do. Kate felt her own heartrate increase when she saw him take that first step away from her.

She couldn't afford to lose his trust now! He was an invaluable ally, and she needed him desperately! He couldn't get scared and decide to run away now! She took an urgent step forward, trying hard to control the madness within her heart. She continued to beg Charlie, in the name of all they had lost, including their old lives, to protect Lauren. She begged him to look after her so that she could avoid the same fate they and so many others had already suffered. She continued to beg him to take care of Lauren for her, and to keep her safe. At last, Charlie finally agreed.

"Anything to get revenge on the demon that stole my beautiful life away," he decided as Kate's frantic words finally struck chord within his skeletal frame. "That monster brought so much pain to my family and I. I'd be more than happy to hurt him back!" the boy said.

"Thank you!" Kate gasped in relief.

"No problem," Charlie replied with a grin. "Now what exactly do you need me to do?" he asked.

A few minutes later, after getting the specifics from Kate, Charlie was off and running. He wasn't nearly as fast as Kate, but it still didn't take him too long to find Lauren because he knew where she was supposed to be, thanks to Kate. And his hyper-sense of smell made it easy for him to find her once he got close to the place she should've been at. From that point on, Charlie watched Lauren surreptitiously. He followed her the rest of the way through her journey, always a few feet away, watching and waiting and protecting. She had no idea, but he never was more than a few feet away from her at any given time, making sure no harm came to her.

Now, the reason Kate left Charlie to look after Lauren instead of doing it herself was because she had the feeling that Slenderman wasn't finished with her yet, and she didn't want to risk almost killing Lauren again. Instead, she let Charlie go after Lauren while she returned to the mines, trying to think of a way to save Lauren. It was the best plan of immediate action to divert Slenderman's suspicion of them. He wouldn't suspect that Charlie would try and protect Lauren, so there was no danger there and if Kate continued to stay in the mines like a good little proxy, and maybe Slenderman would divert his cruel gaze from her as well…

"I'm so sorry Lauren," Kate growled to herself as she reentered the mine. "I promise I won't ever hurt you again. You're worth way too much," she vowed softly. But it was true in Kate's eyes. Lauren had risked her neck to save Kate, and even after all of her opportunities to run or hide, she never faltered once in her quest. Kate was going to return the favor no matter the cost. Lauren was all Kate had left anyway. All of her other family and friends were dead. Lauren was literally all Kate had left in life so Kate was going to make sure that Lauren would make it out alive, whether or not she, Kate, had to die or live. As a payment for all of Lauren's loyalty through the years, including during those long months when Kate refused to see her, Kate was going to help her get out of this nightmare no matter what. The idea of Lauren dying or becoming a proxy was too horrid to bear. She didn't deserve this. Kate regretted ever inviting Lauren over and putting her in harm's way. She would not fail again.

All the while, Charlie had made good on his vow to watch Lauren. He had not planned upon ever coming into contact with her, but there came a point during her quest that he realized that he would have no other option if he wanted to save her life. Lauren had just witnessed CR's gruesome fate and Slenderman was getting closer. Realizing that he was going to have to risk himself if he wanted to protect Lauren, Charlie made sure that he reached Lauren first, lunging at her from the darkness and knocking her out at once, dragging her back to his house for safe-keeping.

"Charlie! What are you doing?" Slenderman snarled dangerously as he made his own arrival, stunned and angered to see that Lauren was motionless and unconscious, lying underneath Charlie's watchful gaze back at his house instead of in the radio tower.

Knowing that what he said next could mean the difference between "life" and a slow, torturous, gruesome death, Charlie was very careful in what he said next to his demonic overlord.

"I saw her, trying to escape you," his voice was low and warbley again now that he was in his master's presence. "I decided to catch her for you, and I was going to bring her back to my house for you to kill her. Or maybe I would receive that honor?" he tried his best to look evil and sadistic. By some miracle, it actually worked, and Slenderman seemed to believe his lie.

"Ah, Charlie, my loyal and wicked Charlie," he began. Charlie really wished he'd shut up, because the voice was making him sick and he could literally feel his sanity, or what was left of it, slip away the longer Slenderman "complimented" him.

"You've done well, but that girl is no ordinary girl. She did not just come to the forest for fun. Instead, she belongs to Kate…" Slenderman tilted his head and projected mental images into Charlie's brain of who Lauren was. What he saw confirmed the story Kate had told him earlier that day, but the feeling of Slenderman projecting those mental images into his brain felt far too violating for him to notice. Instead, he began to writhe and squirm, trying to twitch away and get Slenderman out of his head. It felt too gross and disturbing to have him in there. He was greatly relieved when Slenderman left his mind again.

"Do you want me to take her back to the radio tower, sir?" Charlie offered weakly, shaking.

"No, no, leave her here," Slenderman decide. "I will bring Kate in now," he said. Then he vanished, teleporting away to the Kullman Mines. Meanwhile, Charlie began to panic. This wasn't supposed to be how it ended!

But while Charlie fretted back in his house with the unconscious Lauren at his side, Slenderman returned to the Kullman Mine for Kate.

"You will kill Lauren," Slenderman purred to Kate the moment he found her skulking in the mine, taking over her mind slowly but surely.

"No, no, NO I WON'T!" Kate tried to scream in defiance, clawing at her head in attempt to dig Slenderman out of it.

"Of course you will. You'll watch her life bleed out just as you watched CR and your own mother," Slenderman replied with an icy cackle. Then he began to torture Kate with the mental images of herself, mauling Lauren to death. Lauren's dying screams echoed in Kate's head and Kate thought for sure that, if nothing else, this would be what sent her over the edge, for good.

"No, no, no, please! Stop! Don't hurt her! Please don't hurt her!" Kate screamed, and she kept sobbing until she heard Lauren calling her name.

"Kate! It's Lauren! I'm coming!" Lauren hollered and Kate wished desperately that she could tell Lauren to stay away. But she could only cry as she felt an unexplained strength surge through her body. He was taking over and Lauren was still coming closer. No! Lauren! Please Don't-!

Suddenly, Kate was no longer there. The Chaser had returned and feeling Lauren's touch made her mad. The Chaser let out a snarl and tackled Lauren to the ground, grinning manically as she enjoyed the sensation of the writhing body below her own. Lauren was screaming, begging, for mercy, but the Chaser wasn't going to give in. Oh what fun! To see Lauren so helpless and pathetic, asking for mercy, acknowledging that she, the Chaser,was the better girl here! It was so gratifying! And the Chaser only grinned down through her mask as she raised her claws and began slashing. The blood was so warm and silky, and Lauren's wild cries was music to the ears! She celebrated Lauren's pain as Lauren's life-force gushed out of her in sweet-smelling tides of red.

Finally, though, Lauren stopped moving. The Chaser grew bored, eventually, and backed up, crouched low like the predator that she was.

"Excellent," Slenderman rumbled and the Chaser felt a touch of pride at the compliment. When Charlie came in, the Chaser sneered at him. What a pathetic, weak little boy! The Chaser bet he didn't have Slenderman's affection the way she did! She allowed Charlie to drag Lauren's corpse away, smirking at the lovely blood trail left behind as Lauren was delivered to Slenderman's lair for her proxification.

"Excellent," Slenderman repeated, but this time, his voice seemed to be everywhere. The Chaser turned around to see him standing just inches behind her. Suddenly, Chaser didn't feel so proud anymore…

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Kate's scream then was worse than the one Lauren heard the night she showed up at Kate's house two days ago. Kate threw herself at Slenderman, but he only shook his faceless head in amusement and teleported away, leaving Kate to scream, cry and throw herself violently into whatever she could.

She tried to inflict as much pain on herself as possible as punishment for failing her only friend. Even worse, the failure happened after she'd promised to protect Lauren. What a bitter lie that turned out to be! Kate wanted so badly to die, the guilt and grief of failing yet again engulfing her entirely. She was a killer! A real monster! She deserved to die. After all, what good, or even normal, person brutally murdered their best friend and enjoyed it?! And what's more, this best friend was one in a trillion. This best friend had sacrificed and braved so many trials only to meet her end screaming for mercy when it should've been the other way around.

"And what about Charlie? He was supposed to protect her if I couldn't!" Kate howled, still clawing herself and sobbing. But try as she did, Kate couldn't stay mad at Charlie. There was nobody to blame for Lauren's death but her. The blood that splattered on the walls and coated the floors and stained her clothes would be a cruel reminder of that forever. Charlie was innocent. He had tried his best. It was Kate who had failed. The stench of Lauren's blood and Kate's guilt would last forever in her mind.

"Oh, Lauren, I'm so sorry," Kate whispered, falling to her knees in agony. She was broken. Now and truly, she was fully broken. "I failed you…" and then she began to cry. It was not out of anger, but of the rawest forms of despair. She was but a frightened child once again...

Kate intended to just lie there in that burnt up house until she starved to death, but before she could accomplish that goal, Charlie came back. Seeing his injured face only made Kate feel so much worse. Here was another innocent soul who suffered on her behalf. Here was another friend she had failed. Here was another life that she had ruined. Here was someone else who had taken the fall for her. She hated herself… But he wasn't there to torment her, or to demand an apology. Instead, he had something very important he needed for her to do.

"Come with me!" he instructed. Hazily, Kate decided to obey him. Maybe she would die today. Maybe he was leading her off to her execution. Or she could find a way to kill herself after he was done showing her whatever it was that he needed to show her. That sounded nice.

So she got up and let Charlie lead her away, unmoved by how twitchy he seemed. Instead, she followed mutely until they reached a tiny building connected to a long tunnel.

"In," Charlie instructed. "I'll keep Slenderman busy," he added. But before Kate could ask what Charlie meant by this, he had darted off. Kate shook her head, still hazy with grief. She had no clue what was going on, but she decided that she owed it to Charlie to obey, no matter how strange or vague the request was. So she entered the tunnel, walking down its long path until she reached the little room at the very end. What she saw there almost made her heart stop. Lauren. And she was alive.

Lauren was right there on the brink of life and death, but Kate could see her chest moving and that was enough for her to know that Lauren was indeed alive. She was alive. Charlie had saved her after all. Kate felt her heart burst with love and gratitude for that boy and she promised that if there was ever a way to repay him for this, even if it involved becoming hisslave for eternity, she would do it and do it with vim and vigor. Suddenly, Kate had purpose again. She had a reason to live and fight again, and this time, this time, she wasn't going to let it go. No. Not again. This time, she would win. And, in fact, already, a plan was coming to her. She was going to go to Slenderman and challenge him to a game… An hour later, Kate was back. She had returned just in time to see Lauren wake up... The game was on!

ooo

Kate, carrying Lauren, ran on through Oakside Park for a good long time before she finally had to stop for a break. She found them a nice reservoir of fresh water so that they could stop and rehydrate while they took a breather. Lauren practically fell into the reservoir out of sheer delight, just because it had been so long since last she drank anything. And it was even worse for her because these past few days had just been so strenuous, what with all the screaming and running and fire. The water felt like Heaven and Lauren gulped it down as fast and hard as she could, loving every last little drop of it. Kate chuckled at the sight, but there was an ache in her heart as she watched Lauren drink. This was all her fault…

"Man that was good!" Lauren cried suddenly, pulling back from the reservoir. Her whole face was wet.

"Aren't you gonna drink?" she asked Kate as she wiped her mouth on her sleeve.

"I don't need to," Kate shrugged. "There's another plus to being a proxy," she grinned morosely, then she told Lauren everything.

After being tortured and twisted into a becoming a proxy, Kate had pretty much had her free will stripped away from her, and she became little more than a mindless slave to Slenderman. Anything he asked, she did. In addition, she pretty much became a meta-human. Slenderman's dark magic didn't just keep her alive and well, but it granted her superhuman strength, speed, senses, intelligence and endurance, and it also decreased her need for basic human necessities. For example, because her health and stamina were so much better than that of a normal human, she needed to eat, drink and sleep far less than a normal human did. She thrived off of black magic, which was in the very air of the forest itself.

Additionally, she could sustain far more injuries than a normal human could before she would begin to die. In fact, it was a common game within the proxy circle to see who could tolerate the most pain. It was a challenge to see who could inflict the most, and who could withstand the most. One of the most infamous examples of this game happened when one of the older proxies ate every type of poisonous plant within Oakside. He pretty much destroyed his entire digestive tract, but because of the dark magic that ran through his veins, not only did he survive, but he made a full recovery eventually.

"Oh, Kate," Lauren whispered by the end of the story, but Kate shook away the pity embarrassedly. She didn't deserve it.

"Let me clean your wounds at least," Kate offered, still a bit embarrassed that Lauren was looking out for her, instead of the other way around, but Lauren finally agreed to this offer and she rolled up her sleeves and pants to allow Kate to patch her up again. She tried not to cry out as Kate rubbed her wounds with the reservoir water. She also made sure to use the back of her hoody to do this, just because that was the only part of it that wasn't drenched in blood. Lauren bit her lip as Kate continued to clean her up.

"Sorry," Kate frowned guiltily, trying to be gentler and slower. She knew Lauren was fighting hard not to make any noises of pain, and that only made her feel even worse. Lauren had suffered far too much in these past few days.

"Kate, I've already told you this isn't your fault," Lauren sighed, but she knew Kate was lost in self-loathing. It was going to take a lot more than just a few verbal reassurances to get her mind back on track. But with any luck, they would get out of this forest before the sunrise, and then they would have the whole rest of their lives to work on it.

"I wish you'd forgive yourself," she continued. "I mean, you've endured so much worse than I have, and I'm still ok..." but Kate only shook her head, still working intently upon Lauren's many, many injuries.

"I love you too much," she sighed. "That's why I swear I'll do anything to help you escape," she said, but she refused to say more than that.

The pair sat in silence until Kate perked up. Her heightened senses were acting up now, and she thought she could hear someone coming.

"I hear somebody," she said and Lauren tensed up as well, suddenly alert. Kate instinctively began to shield Lauren, growling a little in case whoever it was that was coming closer turned out to be a threat. If it were, it was going to die... very, very, very quickly... Lauren, meanwhile, tried to make herself small as she hid behind Kate. She couldn't hear anything, but she trusted Kate's improved hearing. Someone was coming... The creature got closer and closer and Kate continued to tense up, coiling like a spring…

"Charlie!" Kate's defensive snarl dropped immediately when she realized who it was that was coming at them from the dark.

"Kate," he greeted, nodding instead of waving because of the giant bag in his arms.

"What is this?" Kate asked, gesturing to the bag.

"Food," he said, grin widening. She understood instantly and began to thank him heartily. Once again, he had paid her an invaluable service!

Then, after thanking him, Kate stepped away from Lauren and allowed Charlie to draw nearer to her.

"Don't worry," she told Lauren as Lauren cringed a little. "He is friendly."

"Ok," Lauren nodded, trying not to be too bothered by how very mutilated and corpse-like he looked. She had only bad memories of him…

"Here," he said shyly as he took one final step to her. He opened the bag as he gave it to her. It was full of soda, water, and all kinds of snacks.

"Where did you-?" she asked, unable to finish the question out of sheer surprise and wonder.

"I ransacked an old vending machine," he replied with a shrug and a lopsided grin.

"Oh. Thank you…" Lauren said, touched and relieved. Seeing that lopsided grin on Charlie's face, mixed with this kind gesture from him, made Lauren feel far more at ease around him than ever before. He seemed to sense this, and his grin grew even wider.

Lauren tucked in immediately. As wonderful as the reservoir water had been, this stuff was far better. Besides, Charlie had brought her real food, which was something she hadn't eaten since her arrival to Kate's house which was, at this point, three days ago exactly.

"Don't you want any?" Lauren finally asked through a mouthful of chips and soda, offering the bag to Charlie and Kate.

"No, we proxies only eat once a day, and we prefer wildlife," Charlie explained. "We ate our fill last night, so we're good."

"Wow," Lauren murmured in reply, lowering the bag slightly in awe. She already knew that proxies didn't eat nearly as much as humans did, but to hear that they only needed one meal a day, and that meal was something they caught on foot was a little intimidating.

"Don't let that scare you," Kate said, sensing what caused Lauren to pause in her eating. Lauren nodded, understanding Kate's implied command. She ate two more granola bars and downed a water bottle. All the while, Kate and Charlie explained their plans to Lauren.

"We need to get you to the border," Kate said.

"The border?" Lauren echoed, noting the way Kate had enunciated the word.

"Yeah, just past my house is a magic field that keeps anybody Slenderman wants inside," Charlie explained. "We need to get you through it."

"But why would that help?" asked Lauren. "Slenderman probably won't let me out and even if he does, he'll just come after me again."

"I've got that covered," Kate promised. "We'll reach the border and get you through it, don't worry."

"But how?" asked Lauren, but Kate refused to explain. Lauren looked to Charlie, but he could only shrug his bony shoulders.

"She hasn't told me either," he said.

"And I still won't," Kate interrupted.

"But I trust her," he finished. It wasn't a very satisfying answer, but because Lauren could tell that she wouldn't get anymore answers, she was forced to be content with it, just like Charlie was.

"Shall we leave now?" Charlie asked when Lauren had finally stopped eating.

"Yes," Kate answered, picking Lauren up. "You head towards your house and we go in the opposite direction," she said and Lauren understood that Charlie was going to act as a diversion to distract Slenderman while she escaped with Kate. Lauren hoped he'd be ok… He was such a brave, sweet little boy, and she really wanted to see him escape as well.

"Cool," Charlie answered, then he darted away. He was nowhere near as fast as Kate, but he certainly wasn't slow.

"Hold on," Kate told Lauren, and then she began to run. Since Lauren was on Kate's back and couldn't see Kate's face, Lauren missed Kate's bitter smile. Her command had had a double meaning. She didn't just mean physically hold on tighter. She was also silently asking Lauren to hold on to her courage and sanity. This was the last leg of their journey, and if everything went well, the nightmare would end. For real this time too…

Later on, Kate began to slow down again.

"I smell something hostile," she explained when Lauren asked why they were stopping.

"Wouldn't it be safer just to run on?" Lauren squeaked in fear as Kate forced her to get off of her back.

"No, because I don't know what we're up against," Kate answered as Lauren slid off of her. "Standing here gives me a better focus point and with you off of my back, that leaves me free to fight if I need to."

"Fight?" Lauren squeaked again.

"Don't be afraid," Kate replied, trying to calm the girl down. But she wasn't going to lie and say that this was nothing. She was just going to hope that, as human as she was right now, she would be able to call upon her proxy-like rage one last time. Lauren, meanwhile, tried to slow her breathing. It would do no good to get scared now. Besides, she had Kate with her and Kate was strong. She would get them both out ok, Lauren just knew it! She trusted Kate with her life. She just had to be patient...

At last, Kate's quarry arrived. Kate growled as she recognized him. He was another proxy, but one far nastier than Charlie. He was one of the few that enjoyed being a servant to Slenderman. He kept up the proxy personality even when his mind was free of Slenderman's control.

"Hey Kate!" it was Ticci Toby in all his bloody glory. His trademark axe was slung across his back. Lauren saw it and let out a gasp of fear.

"What, Turdy Toby?" Kate sneered, voice feral and nasty. It was such a sharp contrast with the usual warmth, gentleness and respect that she used when she spoke to Lauren and Charlie. Kate pushed Lauren protectively behind her when Toby took a step closer. She growled at him a little.

"Easy there," he snorted. "I just want to see your meal. Maybe I can have a bite or-" but before Toby could even finish, Kate interrupted with a sharp hiss. She snarled and growled at him, like an angry dog or feral cat. She glared at Toby with looks that could kill. Lauren was glad that she couldn't see Kate's face right now.

"Touch her and I swear I'll kill you," Kate threatened.

"Ok," Toby giggled. Then he skipped even closer…

What ensued was a very short hand-to-hand battle where the two punched it out. It was very rough, but it wasn't too gory. After Toby got tired of trading blows, however, he quickly unslung his axe from her back and managed to hit Kate's temple with the side of it. The blow, though not fatal, was hard enough to cause Kate to collapse right then and there, mid punch. Lauren cried out and stepped forward to go to her friend, but Today only waggled a finger with a wicked smile. Lauren swallowed and backed up… right into a tree. Toby kept coming closer until he was pressed right up against Lauren, who was now practically one with the tree.

"Touch," he smirked, poking Lauren's face slowly and mockingly. Kate, who was still on the ground from the blow, didn't move. She didn't even sit up. This put Toby off a little. He pulled away from Lauren (to her relief, though Kate's silence was frightening) and leaned over Kate. Oh come on! He wanted a fight! He hadn't hit her that hard, by proxy standards! How had Kate been knocked out by one little-?

Suddenly Toby found herself underneath an insane, enraged Kate. The injury had been a ruse. Although the girl still did have a really big and really nasty head wound, that whole "being knocked out" thing was nothing but a farce. On the contrary, she seemed even more alert than before sustaining the blow. Kate roared like a lion as she punched Toby until his nose was shattered. Not broken, shattered. Lauren backed up with a yelp of terror. Kate's movements had just been so quick and violent that Lauren couldn't help but be frightened. In addition, because Kate had ditched her mask soon after first meeting Lauren in the little building with the TV, Lauren got a chance to see what a truly angry Kate looked like, and it was nothing short of terrifying. Her face was contorting in ways a human's could not and her eyes were literally glowing. Lauren almost missed the mask just because, at least, it hid the facial expression.

Toby had also begun to change too, though. He enjoyed a good fight, and didn't mind being pinned down so long as he could get back up again, but it seemed that Kate was far stronger than he had previously anticipated. For that, Toby grew angry, and he also turned feral, just like Kate. This was no longer a playful battle. This was war! Suddenly, his eyes were glowing with the same insanity as Kate's as he violently shoved her off of him. Blood flew everywhere, from claw and axe alike. The battle was fierce, fury and protectiveness on either side of it. Lauren was, to say the least, terrified. She scaled the tree Toby had pushed her against. She cowered up there in the leaves as she listened to the demonic roars and screams below. At last, however, Toby struck Kate with the flat of his axe and brought her to her knees. This time, the blow was for real, and Kate wasn't faking the injury like before. The bloody battle was about to get bloodier…

"Kate!" Lauren howled, reaching out to her fallen friend. Kate might've been totally savage right now, but Lauren still loved her deeply and she knew that the only reason for this evil change now was because Lauren was in danger. This was, in a weird way, her fault. She had to save Kate. She hadn't come so far to lose her friend now. And besides, Lauren really, really, really didn't want to see a beheading, regardless of who was under the axe. Lauren tore a nearby branch off the tree and threw it at Toby. It was horribly ineffective, but it caught him by surprise. That slight hesitation was all Kate needed. She jumped back up, wounded as she was, and slashed at Toby's eyes. She gained the high ground once again.

Lauren felt enlivened by her own little victory and dared leave her safety tree, grabbing another thick branch on the way down.

"Lauren. Get back!" Kate snarled at her. Lauren only shook her head. Useless or not, she was not going to run and hide anymore.

"I'm not leaving you!" she cried loyally, swinging the branch at Toby. They would fight together, or not at all.

"But I might kill you!" Kate spat. Lauren lowered her makeshift sword for a moment as understanding washed over her. Kate wasn't worried about Toby. She was worried about herself. She felt confident that she would defeat Toby. Her real worry was that, after the battle, she would turn on Lauren, just because the adrenaline wouldn't have had time to wear off. Lauren still refused to go though. She had more faith in Kate than that. Instead, she swung at Toby again and made him stumble. Kate was able to get in another hard hit.

The fight carried on until Toby managed to punch Lauren. As a proxy, his blow was harder than a normal one and Lauren went flying. One enraged roar tore itself from Kate's throat, then she was silenced by her own doing. She grabbed Toby's offending arm in her mouth and those razor teeth of hers cut in so deep that nothing Toby did could dislodge her. He tried to beat her over the head with his axe, but she continued to fight it off with her hands. Both of them were free since she was only attacking his arm with her mouth. Finally, he was forced to cut his own arm off with his own axe in order to escape her iron jaw grip. Even he wasn't able to tolerate that kind of pain without a negative reaction. While his adrenaline fueled fury began to fade away from the pain, Kate's only got stronger. She could smell his fear, and it made her wild! Kate lunged for Toby's throat and bit down hard. This time, Toby was able to escape without amputation, but he was still badly hurt and forced to run, throat and arm stump gushing blood as he ran away howling.

"You did it, Kate!" Lauren gasped, recovering from the blow in time to see Toby flee. Kate whipped around, eyes still glowing with hatred and hunger. There was blood all over her face and chest. Uh oh.

"Umm, Kate, the fight's over," Lauren squeaked, backing up as Kate stalked forward like a tiger. "Wait, Kate, no, please! It's me! Lauren?" Lauren continued to beg, arms out as she backed up once again. When Kate gave no indication of hearing her, Lauren grew nervous. She would never outrun Kate. Kate was the Chaser, after all. Instead, she was forced to back right up into a tree again until Kate's scowling, snarling face was just inches away from her own. Lauren squeezed her eyes shut with a whimper and waited for death… It never came. Kate had just begun to press her against the tree when she came around. It was a very, very, very, very, very close call.

"What?" Kate breathed, suddenly snapping out of her trance. What was she doing pushing Lauren up against a tree? Oh. Oh no. It all came back to her at once and she jumped away from Lauren with an embarrassed squeak. Terrified of what she had almost done, and terrified of the frightened expression on Lauren's face, Kate instantly looked away, berating herself. Hadn't she promised not to do this again?! But while Kate looked away, Lauren opened her eyes. Although Kate was still drenched in blood, Lauren could see it in the way she held herself that she was back to normal again. The Chaser had vanished, and Kate was all that remained.

"Oh! Kate! You're back!" Lauren sighed, tears of relief leaking from her eyes. She wiped them away embarrassedly.

"No, no, no, no, no," Kate whimpered to herself, clutching her head with a guilty and miserable look.

"Kate, you didn't hurt me!" Lauren consoled. She reached out to Kate, but Kate drew back in horror, too ashamed to let Lauren touch her.

"Easy, Kate, everything's ok!" Lauren murmured, but Kate only kept trembling and chanting to herself. She kept backing up until she tripped on a nearby tree root. Landing on the ground, she could only stare up and whimper as Lauren was able to approach her without the risk of her running.

"Kate, please, don't be afraid," Lauren pleaded, kneeling down beside her friend. "You're not a monster. I forgive you. Just… Please," Lauren continued to beg and console. Since Kate could no longer run, she was forced to face her shame directly. She looked up at Lauren miserably.

"I'm so, so sorry," she said, but Lauren only smiled in relief and shook her head. She fell into Kate's arms, still crying a little. Kate did the same.

"Thank goodness you're safe," Lauren whispered, hugging Kate tightly. Kate couldn't even respond.

But a few minutes later, the girls were able to compose themselves again.

"We should go," Kate said finally and Lauren reluctantly pulled away from Kate. She waited for Kate to compose herself, then she hopped back onto Kate's back and they continued their jog through the moonlit forest. They managed to cover about another hour of territory before Kate stopped again, but this time it was because she was genuinely tired, and not because there was any danger in the area.

"Just 30 minutes," she panted as Lauren climbed off of her again.

"Take as much time as you need," Lauren replied gently as Kate curled up right there on the mossy ground.

"Just 30 minutes," Kate repeated, but this time as a command instead of a request.

"If you think that'll be enough," Lauren said. Kate nodded once, then she all but passed out. Lauren, meanwhile, kept watch. Or at least, she tried to. But to be sitting under the safety of a large tree, nothing but the calm night air surrounding her, it didn't take long for Lauren to fall asleep too.

Slenderman watched them fall asleep. He was but a foot away. He made no move to rouse them, however. Instead, he decided to allow them to continue in their false hope of escape, of victory. Let them sleep now. They wouldn't be getting much rest from here on out. He was quite amused, looking at them so weak and tiny and vulnerable. He could hardly believe that Kate had been so bold as to challenge him to a game. She was very stupid. What did she think she had that would allow her to defeat him? He was right here! All he needed was to reach out, and they were both dead! But no, she was so sure she would win...

Slenderman had been busy gloating about his victory over Kate and Lauren when Kate herself appeared before him. She confessed that Lauren was still very much alive, but she challenged him to game to see if she could get Lauren out of Oakside before Slenderman caught up to them. The prize was this: if Kate managed to get Lauren out of the park safely, she would be free to live the rest of her life without Slenderman stalking her. If not, she would be killed, and Slenderman could choose what to do with her next. Slenderman agreed, so tickled by Kate's boldness that he forgot to be angry about the fact that Kate had duped him and managed to save Lauren's life. And actually, he was so amused by Kate's deal that he threw in his own little bonus clause, just because he doubted that Kate would actually be able to complete her little quest.

After that deal was set, prizes properly negotiated upon, the game was on. It was relatively easy to win for Slenderman, though he had to admit that Charlie's decoy as Lauren had caught him off guard. For that, Slenderman decided to kill Charlie too. He just wanted to wait until they all reached the border of Oakside. He would defeat them there when victory would be in their sight. He wanted to do this to utterly break them. The ultimate twist ending, to defeat them right when they were at the finish line! For now, though, he let Kate and Lauren rest. It would be their last night together. He could be patient.

A few hours later, just before the sun would rise, Slenderman woke the girls up. He sent a nearby tree crashing down inches from the place in which they were sleeping. He watched in amusement as the two sprang to life at once, Kate off sprinting before Lauren was even on her feet properly. That was when the real fun began! Slenderman toyed with them, teleporting in front of them to terrify them, and teleporting beside them to stress them out. Back and forth, in and out, Slenderman weaved, scaring the girls at every turn and reminding them just how mighty he was. He was showing off as this point, but it worked!

Lauren had long since buried her face into Kate's hair, tears of fear flooding down her black locks. Kate felt these tears soaking her head and her heart squeezed in her chest. She hated Slenderman even more now for terrorizing them like this and she hated herself for resting so long. She hadn't meant for their nap to be maybe more than an hour tops. But Kate couldn't change the past, so she just ran faster still. Slenderman, meanwhile, was having a ball, tormenting the two girls and throwing them off at every turn, watching them scuttle back and forth in his kingdom.

A few minutes later, Charlie suddenly appeared beside Kate and Lauren, all three looked surprised, but it was Charlie who spoke first.

"We need to move!" he cried. "Slenderman just teleported me here from all the way over at the mines!" Their looks of surprise turned to horror.

"That son of a-" Kate began to cuss in fear and anger. Slenderman had caught onto their ruse. The consequences for this would, doubtless, be dire.

"How far away are we from the border?" Lauren whined, voice high with fear as she clung to Kate.

"A good five-minute run," Kate admitted and Lauren gave a short gasp. "But don't worry. I promised I'd get you out," she insisted. Lauren wanted to believe her, but she was still scared. Looking at Charlie's own doubtful face didn't help either.

But despite the odds looking grim, not a single one of them truly gave up hope. Instead, they continued to run. At minute four of five, however, Slenderman attacked. He grabbed Charlie away from the girls and slowly tore off his head, reveling in the girls' own screams of terror and desperation as Charlie's head slowly twisted off, bone and tissue being crushed and torn. Charlie's dying screams were music to Slenderman.

"Charlie!" Kate shouted. She really hadn't known Charlie that well, having known him for a mere week, but he was a good boy, and he had become such a wonderful friend and ally to her that watching him die was torture.

"Oh, no, please, no!" Lauren echoed. It was too horrible to watch! All those guts spurting out of that little boy who had protected them so selflessly. Lauren never wanted anybody to die for her. The realization that this fate could easily become hers or Kate's was terrifying.

Slenderman's next attack followed after he'd tossed Charlie's mutilated, headless corpse casually over his shoulder. He picked up Kate and Lauren in his tentacles before prying them apart, ignoring Lauren's screams of terror and Kate's roars of angry protest. Slenderman tossed Lauren up into a tree, listening in satisfaction as she yelped when hitting the trunk. Then he turned his empty visage to Kate.

"Come Kate!" he cooed. "What are you doing? Don't you know that you are my slave?" his words were soft but his voice was hard. It made Kate ill just to hear it. "Just kill her, dear. It'll be so quick and easy! Besides, what did she do to deserve a happy life while you had endure so much pain? Aren't you jealous? Don't you want to make her suffer? Don't you want to see somebody else who knows what you've been through?" Slenderman continued to seduce Kate, returning to the same mind games he'd used when he first brought her into Oakside.

Slowly, Kate's glare lessened. Slenderman's power was taking over again. He was forcing her to follow her instinct by going through her strongest, most negative emotions. Yes, yes, I do want Lauren to suffer. Why should she spend so long in bliss while I in torment? And she didn't even notice until I went missing! Some friend she is… Rip, tear, KILL…

At the same time, Lauren was cowering in her tree. She wanted to climb higher, but she was already so close to the top and the blow from hitting the trunk made her too dizzy to dare even let go of the trunk. Instead, she turned her sights back down below as she held onto her part of the trunk for dear life. Slenderman had set Kate down and Kate looked up at Lauren. Even from her height, Lauren could see that something was wrong… This wasn't Kate. This was the Chaser again.

"Oh no… Kate…Please, not now…Don't go. I'm your friend…Please…" Lauren whimpered as the Chaser began to claw her way up the tree. Of course Slenderman would give her this kind of death! One where she had to wait for it, then endure a huge amount of pain, then die and at the hands of her own best friend when they were only inches from the border! Lauren began to weep in defeat at the Chaser rose higher up the tree. Slenderman was a sick, sadistic monster, and there were no words strong enough to describe how much Lauren despised him.

"Kill," Slenderman whispered to the Chaser and Lauren wanted badly to cover her ears, but she didn't dare let go of her tree.

"Kill," the Chaser echoed in its warped voice, inches away from Lauren. The Chaser sounded as awful as Slenderman did. Lauren felt ill. Finally, the Chaser reached the branch upon which Lauren was sitting. The Chaser towered over Lauren and Lauren began to shake.

"Oh, Kate," Lauren dared to meet the Chaser's eyes. They were even more crazed up close. "I'm sorry that I failed you. Forgive me…" Lauren felt the Chaser hoist her high over her head. So this was how it was going to happen? The Chaser was just going to hurl her to the ground? At least the fall might lead to a quick death. They were pretty high up after all. Lauren squeezed her eyes shut and suddenly, she was airborne.

But then Lauren felt nothing. She opened her eyes to find herself sitting outside the border. She was completely unharmed despite having been flung there. Before Lauren could ponder this, though, she saw black tentacles flying towards her. She jumped out of the way in terror, but something strange happened then. The tentacles all stopped a few inches from her. Why? She dared to peek at Slenderman's face (or lack thereof) despite knowing how risky this was. She was stunned to see that she could look him full on without suffering at all. Even more amazing was that he seemed just as confused as to why the attack wasn't working. So this wasn't another one of his psychological tortures?

Lauren slowly turned her gaze back to the Chaser. The Chaser had climbed to a lower branch of the tree and she met Lauren's eyes. In that one look, Lauren realized that she had it all wrong. That wasn't the Chaser. It was Kate. It had never been the Chaser. Then Chaser's first instinct was to kill. Kate's first instinct was to protect. Kate had managed to manipulate the Chaser's own aggressive instincts into an action that saved a life instead of ending it. Somehow, Kate managed to get her Chaser side to throw Lauren off the tree, which appeased the Chaser's desire for blood, but because of the direction in which Kate had thrown her, not a single drop of blood was ever actually shed! This was because the Chaser had thrown Lauren off the tree... into the direction of the border. Lauren was now safely on the outside, just like Kate promised she would be.

Slenderman seemed to understand this at the same time Lauren came to grips with it. He whipped around to Kate with fury so strong that even Lauren could feel it. The fury was strong enough to cause Kate to fall from her tree. Lauren feared for Kate's life, but suddenly Slenderman teleported away, leaving Kate and Lauren alone once again.

"Kate! Quick!" Lauren cried. Kate only shook her head, though, standing up slowly from her fall.

"I can't," she rasped as she got to her feet again.

"Why?" Lauren demanded. "We don't have time for this! Come on! Before Slenderman comes back!"

But Kate only gave Lauren another sad smile. She did take a few steps forward, but she stopped right as her toes hit the forest border. She raised a fist and punched the air in front of her. Her fist stopped before her arm was fully extended and a dull thunk came from the punch. What?! Lauren walked over to the border and then reached out… Before her fingers could cross, she felt as though she had hit a glass wall. What the…?

"After you escaped the mines, I tried to find a way to save you," Kate began sadly, sounding frail and afraid. Lauren wanted dearly to hold her close, but she couldn't cross that border.

"I found out about some of the dark magic that Slenderman had used in order to keep his victims trapped within the forest, even though they should've been able to run away freely. That magic of his, I was able to use it against him," Kate paused to grin weakly. "He won't ever leave this place again, and nobody will accidently stumble in either. Your escape activated that wall. That's why I was so intent on getting you to the border. You won and now nothing will ever break it!" she cried.

This had been Slenderman's clause in the game. After Kate made him promise never to harm Lauren again, if she escaped, Slenderman offered to raise the stakes. If Lauren escaped, Slenderman would activate that magic wall around Oakside, only this time, it wouldn't just keep Kate, Charlie and the other proxies stuck inside, it would keep Slenderman himself from ever being able to leave. He had been so amused by Kate's bravery that he made this dangerous agreement that if Lauren escaped, he would imprison himself in his own forest forever. Never had he imagined that Lauren would actually escape! But then again, never had he imagined that Charlie and Kate would both turn against him, and he was especially surprised at Kate's trickery, rewiring the Chaser's own violent vivacity into something good.

But then again, love was something he never understood. Although Slenderman was very wise to the ways of men, love was one of the few things he never truly got, and this became his own undoing. He didn't realize how much people would do, or even could do, for love. So often was humanity guided by its devotion, its love, its affection. It was a bond that pulled them down paths not bargained for, but it always carried them through. Kate was proof of that. Against all odds, she had defeated the Slenderman, tricking him into creating his own demise. And he hadn't even understood how.

So now, Slenderman was forever stuck in Oakside. It was a triumph! Kate smiled, but Lauren was too caught up on another realization to notice Kate's smile. If Slenderman was stuck, so was Kate. Kate was never getting out, and she was never going home. That sweet, sweet reunion Lauren had been planning would never come to fruition. It was a doomed plan from the very start, Kate just never said so until now.

"No, no, no, no, NOOOOO!" Lauren cried. "I did NOT come all this way to lose you now! Three days of Hell! You can't leave me now! Please, don't go! I'll get you out, I promise!" Lauren howled, beating the invisible, magic wall with every last ounce of her strength.

She could practically feel her sanity slipping away through her fingers. But nothing changed at all. It was too late. That wall would last forever. Kate placed her palm on the wall in a way such that it looked like she was caressing Lauren's face. Her smile faded just slightly as she watched Lauren struggle to get back to her. It would never work, and nothing on Earth, Heaven, or Hell would ever be able to help it now.

"I'm so sorry, Lauren," Kate said sadly. "But like I said before, the plan was always to get you out. And if this trick is what keeps Slenderman from ever hurting anyone else, then my death is a very small price to pay. Just promise me you won't give up on your life after this? That you'll still go on to do all the things you've always dreamed of? Please don't forget about me, Lauren, but don't forget about yourself either..." Kate finished her speech with a sad smile, but Lauren was still violently throwing herself against the wall keeping her and Kate apart, as if that would do anything to help. Kate heaved one last sight before slowly turning away from Lauren and walking back into the forest. She didn't look back. Not even once.

So, while Lauren continued to scream and cry, screaming at Kate to come back and try and help her figure another way out, Kate moved back towards the heart of Oakside Park. This was the only path she had left now. She knew that Slenderman would not give her an easy death. This idea terrified her like nothing else, but she had still beat him, and since he would kill her eventually, she wouldn't be under his control forever. In fact, all of his proxies would eventually die off, and since Slenderman was now permanently entombed within Oakside, he would not be able to leave to go out and make more. He would spend eternity alone in this godforsaken land, his ultimate Hell, where he would be able to do nothing but wither away and rot for all time. He would never die, but he would never live again either. Not now that his supply of prey and his access to the outside world had been forever severed.

So Kate had not only avenged all of her fallen friends, but she'd also protected all of the future generations of the world from ever having to meet the monster that she called the Slenderman. And she had, in a strange sense, saved herself as well. From here on out, no matter what happened, Lauren was safe, and Kate was forgiven. And she was free. Her death would not be pretty, but it would still happen, and therein lay her ticket to true freedom and triumph. She would never hurt another person ever again. Kate was so happy that she didn't even flinch as loud static filled her mind and she could only smile as death made its arrival.