Survive him, Thrive with him.

Chapter fourteen

Darkness.

The darkness was following me.

I take a deep breath and feel an icy chill slide down my throat, shocking my core. My mom was to my right, her face mirroring my own fear of this eternal night.

Something was very wrong.

I start to lead her away from our starting point, Devon slowly appearing next to us as we walked. He seemed to form in the black fog that filled the area, making it impossible to see.

As Devon appears, Mom starts to walk closer until she links her arm in his, both sharing terrified looks.

"Claire." A whispered voice sifts through the fog, small and boyish. I had a feeling it was him I was looking for.

I point down in a direction and we seem to run in slow motion, every movement, every clothing article shifting, every strand of hair taking it's time to swirl in the air before following as we trail down the area I gestured to. Trees start to take shape from the fog, leading me on as we approach a large one. There was something limp hanging from one of the branches, but, as we got closer, Devon and mom scream, alerting me that it wasn't just anything.

It was a boy.

His dead mouth hangs open, holes cut in his abdomen with fresh blood dripping out as he hangs from the tree, the tip of a branch poking out of his chest. He was still alive when this happened, he might even still be alive now.

"Claire." He breathes, as evenly as if he was perfectly alive and well. His pale head lifts up and his dead eyes pick me out as he speaks my name.

"Claire." He says again, but it morphs into another voice, more familiar and from another direction. My body whisks to face it and Slenderman stood to the side, waiting. A little blood dripped from his hands as he gestures me to him, opening his arms wide.

I walk straight into them and the bloodiest hand reaches out, tracing something on my chest.

Pain explodes from that area and I flinch from it, reeling backwards and jolting up in my bed, shaking and covered with sweat. My breaths come in short bursts and my heart was racing, the pule unsteady and erratic.

The pain was gone, only a dream.

"Claire." A voice soothingly says next to my bed. I jump and look over, Slenderman kneeling before me. I lean backwards a little bit, but regain my posture after my heart starts to slow down, a concerning feeling coming from Slenderman.

"I-I-I'm fine. Just a nightmare." I reply, wiping my face with the back of my hand. I reach out and search the floor next to my for my water bottle, Slenderman's tendril finding it for me and holding it out. I nod a thank you and take it, gulping down most of the contents and satisfying my thirst.

I set the bottle back down and lay back on my bed, still calming my heart bet. The dream was so real, the pain so vivid I thought I was really experiencing it. It was one of those dreams when you think it's really your life until you wake up three dream days later and your mind remembers what was really going on.

Like how Devon's son was coming over.

And how I moved.

Also how my father might be going to jail.

I clear my throat out and close my eyes, opening then again to look at Slenderman. He was calmly kneeling at my bed, and I shift to look at him more clearly.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Watching you." He replies.

"Why?" I question. Slenderman falls silent and continues to look at me. I keep our possible eye contact, hoping he would open up and answer, giving me something to work with. I wanted to know why he hung around me, other than the whole 'she's mine' thing that's going on.