A Slender Chance

Chapter Three

CHAPTER THREE

I didn't see Slender for the rest of the morning. As the sun finally peeked over the trees and made its journey to the point directly above me I never saw the Tall One.

Didn't see any deer either, sadly.

I sat up in my tree thinking to myself. Surely it had all been a dream? I must have fallen from the stand and hit my head. Maybe a squirrel drop an acorn on me. Maybe there had been something in the coffee this morning.

I knew the legend of Slender man well. My ex-boyfriend Phillip had introduced it to me originally. It was just a fun little game called Slender.

"Hey Sky! You gotta play this," he had called to me during class, knowing my love for anything that gave you an adrenaline rush. The game was awesome - the perfect blend of anticipation and horror. Heck, I actually jumped a couple times.

After that I decided to look up what Slender man was. I was intrigued. He seemed pretty cool. My hidden dark side went as far as to think, 'Wouldn't it be great to meet him?'

'No,' I told myself now, too late. 'It wouldn't.'

My little brother Charlie was totally obsessed with the game. He'd down loaded each and every version of it and had made it his life's goal (for now) to beat them all. He even dressed up as 'ole Slendy for Halloween last week.

While I never actually believed a word of what I was hearing or reading, between Charlie and my own research, I would have said I was a Slender man expert. That was before this morning, however.

Why did he let me go? In all my research I had never come across an account where he let his victim go. I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts and hoping the answer would pop up out of nowhere. It didn't.

'Because it didn't really happen you twit!' my subconscious yelled at me. I decided in this case I should probably just agree with her.

At noon I climbed down from the stand and hiked back to camp. I speared a hotdog on a cut branch and stuck it out over the campfire. 'Mmm, lunch of the champions,' I thought to myself sarcastically, longing for a salad as I popped open a bag of chips.

An hour later I was back out in the stand, full, and completely convinced that this morning hadn't been anything more than a dream. With these comforting thoughts in mind, I began to doze off.

I awoke some time later. 'Crap, I hadn't actually meant to fall asleep,' I grumbled in my mind, 'A whole heard of deer coulda come through here and I missed it.'

A sudden thought struck me. What was it that had woken me in the first place? I looked around.

He stood below me, a few feet in front of the ladder staring up at me.

"Two sightings in one day Slendy? Dang, I feel special," I mumbled rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"I can't help it if you were foolish enough to come back here after this morning," he said. I swear, if he had had eyes, he would have just rolled them at me. "What makes you so sure I won't kill you this time?" A tentacle reached up and plucked me out of the stand and set me down in front of him.

"Nothing. I just feel more confident in the day light." Was I actually smiling up at him?

"I noticed," he said.

"Why didn't you kill me this morning?" Mentally I face palmed. 'Idiot,' my subconscious muttered.

Slender man looked taken aback for a moment. "You... interest me," he said simply. There was that tentacle again, rubbing against my cheek.

My face had the nerve to blush at his comment and contact and he cocked his head to the side.

"Do you often let your victims live?" I asked to break the awkward moment.

"No."

"Oh."

Awkward silence.

"Why didn't you run from me this morning?" he finally broke the silence.

"I told you. I don't do fear. Fear is-"

"For the weak, yes," he interrupted me. "And you don't like to be weak. So your own pride was worth more than your life?" he asked, and he truly sounded interested.

"Uhh, I guess?" When you put it that way...

"You are a foolish little one." My subconscious piped up, agreeing with him.

"I'm not that little," I said indignantly.

"You're smaller than me."

"But you're inhumanly tall."

"That's because I'm not human."

"Well duh." I rolled my eyes.

Slender man chuckled and shrank until he was about six feet tall. "See? This is an average height for humans and I'm still taller than you."

"But I'm a girl. Women are shorter than men biologically," I continued trying to defend myself. "For a female, five foot three isn't bad!"

"Mhm, if you say so," he said, humoring me.

I sighed and left it at that. I looked up to ask another question, and realized too late that with his height change this action would put our faces only inches away from each other. We both froze.

His breath blew hot in my face, smelling of peppermint. That surprised me. I figured it would have smelled more like death and decay.

Slender man was the first to move. He took a step back a stretched a foot taller. I ducked my head, my cheeks growing red.

The Tall One awkwardly cleared his throat. "Since you don't like my term 'little one,' what would you rather be called?" he asked.

"My name is Sky," I answered.

He nodded. "How old are you, Sky?"

"I'll be eighteen next month."

He looked down at me, "You are so young. Little one fit you perfectly."

I scowled. "Eighteen is legally an adult!"

"So you're still a child for another month then, yes?" He had a point there. I wasn't going to tell him that though.

"Don't you eat children?" I whispered.

A wolf like smile spread over his face. "Yes," was his simply reply.

"Oh. Good to know," I said meekly.

He chuckled. "Don't worry Sky, I don't plan on eating you," he reassured me.

"Because...?"

"You interest me." He reached his arm out and very hesitantly brushed a strand of blonde hair that had escaped my ponytail behind my ear. My skin tingled where his fingers had brushed it. Then suddenly he was gone.

"Oh," was my reply to no one in particular.