AN: Keep an eye out for these characters again guys. Maybe not Slender, but the others. Watch for them. Someday, you're going to be going along, reading a book, and you're going to think to yourself, "hey, that sounds a lot like that guy from that one fanfiction," and you're going to come back here, and this fanfiction will be deleted because of some occurrence or another, and you'll never know for sure. Just look at the cover of that book. That's me.
[38] What we aren't supposed to know
August 16, 5:40 PM
72. Slender
I'm still cradling Lea's body, wishing desperately that she wasn't slowly cooling under my hands. Jack, sitting near me, keeps checking it watch, as if waiting for something.
Jeff is pacing in circles around the sofa, staying within reach at all times. They've been trading the role of comforter back and forth between them flawlessly. Even as I think it, Jeff reaches out and touches my shoulder on the way past, jerking me out of reverie.
It seems that all of their squeamishness has been less about me and more about Lea. Respect for her territory perhaps? Now that we're all on equal ground, I suspect I could pick either one of them up and cuddle them just as easily as I have Lea in the past.
I could live like this if I had to. I wouldn't enjoy it at first, but there would be people I could turn to if Lea stays dead.
"Two minutes," Jack says.
"Damn," Jeff says, "half gone."
I start to ask what they're talking about, but I see Jack go rigid. Jeff sees it too: he stops pacing.
Jack rushes into the kitchen. He bends almost double over the sink and retches. His left hand rests on the tile of the counter, his right is cradled against his chest. I see blood coming out of him, black and partially congealed.
"Jack?" Jeff says, stepping towards the man.
"Don't touch me," Jack orders. He moans, trying to stay perfectly motionless as he shudders. "It hurts," he explains, then subsides, sinking to the ground and doubling up into a fetal position.
I set Lea's body to one side, more concerned with what's going on in front of me for the moment.
Jack screams, muffling the sound with his left hand as best he can. It's at a pitch I didn't know he could hit. I'm uncomfortable seeing steady-handed Jack reduced to this.
Jeff steps back, "She's got her hands on the jars." There's panic in his voice.
He starts turning in circles on the spot, his eyes wide and flicking left and right. He has his knife in one hand.
I'm confused and more than a little afraid. What jars?
Jeff stops turning. His body and face go completely still. I feel something in his brain click in a way that I know is not supposed to happen.
He starts backing up, "No," he says, "no, no, no, no, you're not real—steel—heal—" deep breath, "you're not alive. I killed you."
Jeff's eyes are fixed on nothing and his face is expressionless except for the absolute terror in his eyes.
"I didn't mean to, didn't want to, couldn't help you," he says.
Jack stirs himself, sitting up slowly. "Is he hallucinating?"
"I think so," I reply, still feeling the way Jeff's brain is sparking, like an overloaded circuit.
Jeff yells and rushes forward at nothing. I move on instinct, flickering to him and scooping him off the ground in one motion. I remove the knife from his hand and set it on the table.
Jeff seems to come to his senses. He buries his face against my chest and squeezes his eyes shut. "Make them stop," he pleads.
I fill his mind with a buzzing that sooths every other remotely human creature, and Jeff relaxes in my grip. His heart is still hammering in his chest, but his breathing is calming down.
"I hope," Jack says, "that the next one who turns breaks her jar clean in half."
Neither Jeff now I reply. I'm struggling with mixed feelings about holding the killer like this, and he's still shaking with adrenaline.
Jack stands up. He's not in pain anymore. He takes a second to wash out the sink before walking over to us.
"Jeff?" He says, "you alright?"
"I can still hear them," Jeff says, "but it's not too bad."
"Having fun up there?"
"It's actually pretty comfortable." Jeff puts his head back against me.
I tense at his touch, unused to the contact. I'm willing to hold him while he's having a panic attack, but as soon as it's over I'm putting him down.
Lea moves. She twitches, her fingers curling into loose fists.
Jack sees it too. "Jeff," he says, "down here. Now."
Jeff hops out of my grip. He picks up his knife. He and Jack turn to face Lea, putting themselves between us.
Her heartbeat starts up again, her back arching as it does. She sucks in one desperate lungful of air.
My first instinct is to pick her up and soothe her as she comes back into consciousness.
Jack must sense my intention because he spins towards me, even as I'm flickering, "No!"
I'm already to Lea, reaching out to her.
Her eyes fly open. There's no recognition in those eyes, only animal malice. She lunges upwards in an almost snake-like motion.
I feel one clammy palm land on the back of my neck, fingernails lacerating me again, the other hand grabs a handful of my jacket. Lea bites into the muscle of my neck, missing the arteries by pure chance and only a centimeter. Two teeth that certainly weren't this sharp before puncture my skin, create deep gashes as she starts to rip off a piece of me.
I throw her across the room, too surprised and panicked to think straight. She hits the kitchen counter and goes over it backwards, falls to the floor on the other side of it.
Jack and Jeff scramble over furniture and stand in front of me again. This time, I take heed and remain firmly behind them.
There's a snarl, and the thing that looks like Lea springs back over the counter. Its mouth and chin are stained red with my blood and saliva is dripping in watery trails from two enlarged incisors.
The thing stops, sizing up the situation. It growls, still in the register of Lea's voice but sounding inexplicably animal. It lunges, past Jack and Jeff, at me.
They both catch it around the waist with one arm each, and grunt as they pull it back. Jeff uses his weight to force it to the ground. He straddles the struggling form, knees on her arms.
Jack produces a scalpel and kneels beside them. It's him that goes to work first, apparently severing tendons, crippling her. Lea tries to bite him, and her hands rip easily through Jeff's clothing as she claws at him.
Jeff snarls back at her, and brings his knife down on her chest. She arches and screams inhumanly.
I stand back and watch them dismantle the thing that used to be Lea.
I can still feel her mind, even after she's technically dead.
Finally the men stop, breathing hard. They stand up, wiping bloody hands on their own clothes.
"Time for the real fun to start," Jeff says. He slings the slim body over his shoulders and leaves the apartment.
Jack turns to me, reaches out one hand, "Let me see."
I flicker back onto the couch, feeling numb, and he runs freezing fingers over the injuries.
"Not too bad," he says, "You won't even need stitches."
I guess it feels worse than it is.
Jeff comes back into the room. "Give it three minutes," he says.
The screaming starts up from across the hall. Now I know what Jeff was doing with the thing.
Jack doesn't look up from cleaning the cuts. He's humming something, sounding content with how things are going.
Two minutes Later the door opens, and the thing that was Lea stumbles in. It's covered in blood from its mouth all the way down to its shins, coated up to its elbows in gore. It blinks blue eyes at us, twitches slightly.
"Did I do that?" it asks in Lea's voice.
I feel tentacles squirm out of my back, lashing the air around me. Only Jack's hands on my shoulders keep me where I am. It's like he's telling me to sit still.
Lea bursts into tears, streaking the blood on the lower half of her face. She jumps at me again, but this time it's only to bury her face in my chest. She pushes her mind against mine, overlapping them.
"I'm sorry," she says, "I'm sorry I didn't see you were hurting, I'm so sorry."
I laugh, making her shiver. "I wasn't hurting," I tell her, "I just realized it needed to be done."
She giggles herself, wraps her arms around my neck, leaving streaks of her parent's blood across my skin. "I love you too."
Relief floods through me, nonsensical at a time like this. I was terrified she wouldn't reciprocate.
Jack drags Lea out of my arms, and I let him take her. He pins her against the nearest wall. "If you ever touch those jars again, I will smash your against a rock."
Lea's eyes grow wide, but not in fear, "I didn't know what they were. I won't do it again."
Jack lets himself relax, and I realize he's just as relieved as I am that she's alive.
Lea stands up as he steps back, looks down at herself and frowns. She pulls off her outer shirt right there, exposing her shoulders and the sticky red stain on her upper chest, which she scrubs at in distaste.
"I can guess what you gave up," Jeff says from beside me, twirling his knife between his fingers."
"Jeff," Jack says warningly.
"It was fear, wasn't it?"
Lea's eyes flick to me, holding intent in them I've never seen there before but recognize immediately. "Not all of it," she says, "only the bits that aren't useful."
"Very smart," Jack says.
I think I'm the only one in the room who knows exactly what she means by that. I feel my heartrate begin to speed up in anticipation.
Lea grins at me.
AN: Aw, wasn't that a better ending than the other one? I hope that it wasn't too confusing for you. Any questions you have, I will gladly answer them via PM, but I think if you really try it will all make sense.
And now for the credits.
Slenderman (concept) to Victor Surge
Jeff the Killer to Rightful Owner (I imagine that, whoever you are, you are both proud and mortified)
Eyeless Jack to Rightful Owner
Ben Drowned to Jadusable
Smile Dog to Rightful Owner
The Organization to Rightful Owner
Holder of the Home to Emily Jones
The Girl in the Photograph to Rightful Owner
Various briefly mentioned teddy bears and dolls to rightful owners
The Butcher to Rightful Owner
Salt to salt (You must think you're very clever. You are.)
Sally (from Play with Me) to Kiki-hyuga
Lacy (from Never Again) to Rightful Owner
Raun and the Hunters are collaborations between myself and AForementionedFriend, who has an account on this site. She can take credit, but she's also been a real bitch to me so I don't care if she gets mad.
Lost Silver to Rightful Owner
Tails Doll to Rightful Owner (the pasta got deleted dude. You might want to look into that)
Diary of Mr. Welldone to Rightful Owner
Laughing Jack to SnuffBomb
Hobo-Heart to Cris Oz Fulton
Poe inspired by The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe
Clockwork to Rightful Owner (It was deleted too)
Ticci Toby to Kastoway
The Devil's Game to InfernalNightmares333
Ojos Blancos to Carsonomel
SCP Foundation to Rightful Owner(s)
And, last but not least, people who are mine: Lea Amelia Burns, Ana Dane, Mitch McJonas, Dr. Damion Reed, Dr. Richard Mann, Almes (The Inspector), The Higgins Family, various teenage scumbags (excluding Jeff), individual personalities not originally attributed to characters. Mi, and Cee. Cee is kind of important.