A Slender Chance

Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

The alarm went off at 5 o'clock sharp.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!

The red-eyed demonic piece of plastic screamed at me from the counter top. "Ungghh," I groaned.

My dad rolled over and clicked it off. I just lay there, refusing to open my eyes. I didn't want to get up. It was cold, I was tired, it was too early, and my sleeping bag was too comfy.

My dad sighed sleepily. "Time to wake up girly."

I groaned. "You first," I mumbled sleepily.

"Come on Sky." Like a zombie he swung his feet over the side of his bed at the other end of the camper.

Eventually I managed to drag myself out of my make-shift table top bed at the opposite end of the camper. Meanwhile my dad went outside to make coffee while I got dressed in my camouflage overalls.

'I hate overalls,' I thought sourly to myself as I drug them on, instantly getting a wedgie from them. 'Damn,' I cursed to myself, my lack of sleep not helping my mood.

By six we were stalking the through the woods, eventually parting ways so my dad could hunt one deer stand and I could take another one a mile down the path. The sun was slightly hinted at on the horizon with the light pink shade that seeped across the bottom most part of the sky. The birds, taking notice, were starting to awaken and sing. As I finally reached my stand, I set my 30-30 rifle down next to the ladder and unbuckled my pack. I set that down too with my gun and tied the rope hanging from the top of the stand to both. It was hell trying to climb a fifteen foot ladder with all that on your back. The rope was a much appreciated short cut.

I took a deep breath, tasting the dawn air. I loved hunting. I'd been doing it for sport every fall with my dad for as long as I could remember. It was almost a tradition.

I was about to climb the ladder when I heard a noise behind me. That's when I also noticed the birds had quit singing. Slowly I turned around.

And then I saw him.

About fifty feet away from me was a very smartly dressed, milky skinned man. His business suit was the darkest shade of black I'd seen in my life and his red tie could have been painted with blood. His white dress shirt he wore underneath the jacket was crisp white and free of any wrinkles.

And he was tall - taller than anyone I'd ever seen before in my life. From this distance he looked to be about eight feet tall, but knowing my crappy judgement of height, he was probably taller. He was also very skinny, his waist seeming no bigger than mine. His shoulders were broad and pointy, and hanging from them were very long, slender arms that reached down to the man's knees. None of these features were really what caught my attention though. It was his face.

Or lack there of.

There was an elegant nose in the middle of his face which beneath it there was no mouth. Where eyes would have been there were little dips that slightly suggested eye sockets. There was not a single hair on his head and no ears were visible.

"No way," I whispered in shock, recognizing him instantly. I'd seen the videos. I'd played the games. "You're not real..."

The Slender man made no reply, only stared.