Suit

It has been my experience that, in writing things down, they become easier to explain. Yet, I’m not quite sure how to explain this. Listen, I know that Slender Man is a lie. A totally made up 100% lie. But this story I tell you is 100% true. If not, then I'll burn in Hell, or worse.

About five months ago, I found out about Slender Man on the internet. It seemed amusing and funny, but I’m a horror guy and it didn’t faze me, like many things don’t. But that night, I woke up to my cat wanting to be let out of the house. He was a stray I rescued when he was a kitten and I never house trained him, so when I opened the door, he started to walk out. All of a sudden, he froze, as if he was hit with some kind of freeze ray. As I walked onto my porch to see if he was hurt, I glanced in the direction he was looking at.

He was staring at this group of trees along a ditch a few yards away from my house. I saw nothing wrong at first, but then I noticed that something wasn’t quite right. It might have been that there were more trees than usual, or that some limbs had been cut off in certain areas, but I could vaguely make out a humanoid shape among the trees. And it was then that was I sort of…entranced. Like I didn’t want to move. But a car passed and I gathered my senses. So apparently did my cat, because he scurried off into the lawn, did his business, and went back into the house. I looked back again and there was no more shape to the trees.

That was the only event that happened for about two weeks. I had well forgotten about it until I had my first dream. In the dream, I was camping with some people I didn’t know and was having the time of my life. Then, when I went to go get some marshmallow sticks from some nearby trees, the entire mood changed. All of a sudden, the people had the same expression that my cat had that one night. And they were silently murmuring to me not to get any closer. Like… as if they had made the same mistake and forever regretted it. It was then that there was only one tree. At least, I think it was a tree, since it had the same general shape. The strange thing is that all the branches had no leaves, and they were moving as if the wind was blowing, but somehow slower.

Then my alarm rang and I woke up. What happened next has still haunted me to this day. I had scratches all over my chest. Like someone had thought my chest was covered with dead leaves and attacked me with a rake. When I looked at them in the mirror, I realized they made a kind of…shape at one point near the top. Like a circle that was pointy at the bottom. I blamed my cat for the artwork on my body, seeing as how I lived alone at the time. But even then, I knew someone else had done it. And somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that this was just the beginning.

For the next month or so, I had similar dreams, but no new scratches or anything noticeable. Then I went home for Christmas, and it was mostly nice. But one night, a few days before Christmas, I woke up to the sound of my little brother screaming. As my eyes opened, I was filled with concern, but also something else, like whatever was happening…like there was no reason to try and stop it. Like I should just close my eyes and go back to sleep. But when he started screaming louder, the spell on me was broken.

I jumped out of my bed and ran down the hall to my brother’s room. Right before I opened the door, he stopped. And I heard a voice. No, not a voice, a…sound. I couldn’t make out any words, but I understood it perfectly. It was a warning of what was coming next. As if this was a small sample. As I slowly opened my brother's door, three things struck me. My brother’s bed was empty, the window was open, and there was a piece of cloth on the floor in front of me. Like a piece of a black suit. Right then, my mother woke up and approached me. I asked where my brother was and she said that he was staying the night at a friend’s.

I started getting concerned. I posted on several forums and got the usual “you’re overreacting” replies. So I tried to contact the original poster, the man who “made up” Slender Man. But it was to no avail, as he did not reply to any of my emails. I hit a dead end.

One night some time later in mid January, I was up late because I couldn’t bring myself to sleep. All of a sudden, I heard a noise on my front door, like a stick being blown against the wind. I stepped into my living room and was frozen. I really couldn’t move. And then I saw him for the very first time. He slowly stepped out of my kitchen. He wore a black suit and tie. He was so skinny. I swear he was just bone under there. His face… there was nothing. Like... nothing. But it somehow moved like… a thousand bees. A thousand very tired, very organized bees. And the sound thing… also like bees. But more intense and focused. Not as random. He spoke not a word and silently, slowly, calmly, controllingly walked towards me.

My spell was broken from fear and I burst out of my front door. I ran for what seemed like hours, always swearing that he was right behind me. I finally reached friends and called 911, telling them my house had been broken into. When they arrived, they said there was no sign of forced entry. That the door had been locked behind me and my keys were inside. My friend said I could stay at his place, and I did for a few weeks. Finally, he was able to get the story out of me. He said that I should get a psyche evaluation, which I calmly rejected. But after some coaxing, I finally agreed and went to the hospital. The doctor’s results came in as paranoid schizophrenia. That’s what they told me. I was given a set of medication, moved out of that place, and found a new one.

It’s been a month and a half and nothing’s happened. But at night, just before I turn off my light to sleep, I feel him again. And in the morning, that split second after you wake up before you open your eyes, I know he’s there. I wonder if he’ll ever go away.