Slender Man

Imagine you were trapped inside the fences surrounding a local park at dawn with a singular flashlight left with worn, drained batteries that could, at the most, last you about twenty more minutes. I guess you might have said you were a bit full of yourself, because rather than calling for help or finding the common sense to climb over the fence that locked behind you, you took your flashlight, your backpack and your trembling legs into the forest in front of you, deciding not to bother with the eyes of fear that trailed down your neck and wound it's lengthy fingers around your own.

The first hesitant steps you took were unfortunately deceiving, and the crinkling of leaves under your feet were a dead giveaway to anything or anyone that might've been lurking in the shadows. But, like the 'brave and courageous' person you made out to be, you swallowed your uneasiness and continued on your way. You didn't know where you were going or why you didn't just leave, but it was too late then. You took a glance behind you and saw nothing but a dark void swallowing your forgotten surroundings.

You made it out of the foliage and onto a soot path of whose ending you couldn't decipher. Once again, you decided it would be the 'smartest' choice, and the boldest you could make at that moment, and so with one swift movement, your heel clumped against the asphalt, and another, and another until you found yourself walking briskly along the rather eerie trail.

Suddenly, a twig.

Or, something like a twig. Maybe.

But it snapped.

It was the sharpest sound you've ever heard, and your heart leapt. You seemed to freeze mid-step and you didn't dare make a noise, not one single inch of ground was covered for at least a few seconds in that moment of paralyzing fear. Something was here. Maybe it was an animal, but none-the-less, you stepped and attempted the least notable footsteps you could.

But there it was again.

You picked up your pace and ran forward, as fast as your legs could carry you. Trees brushed past your area of vision like spreading wildfire as you ran and ran and ran. You ran for what seemed like hours, your lungs burning and your heart pounding with insufficient anticipation, but eventually, you reached an evident park central along with a fountain whose concrete seemed to glow in the faint light of the moon.

The next breath you acquired was the biggest and longest breath you have ever taken, and you breathed it out with the same amount of relief. After catching your much needed breath, you took a seat on the ledge around the bottom length of the fountain.

Then it hit you.

It hit you hard, like a punch to the gut, knocking the air right out of your lungs.

You realized whatever 'it' was could've been following you the entire time.

And the moment you thought that, you began hearing something like static.

Static? Pssh, you must've been hallucinating, but the coincidence that followed wasn't something that lifted your spirits at all. Your flashlight began to give out, it's last ounce of light flickering in the darkness. You cursed as you hit the light against your hand, trying to turn the batteries for luck, but to no avail. The feeling of hopelessness that grasped you right then seemed to tear your soul straight from inside and stomp on it like a bug, for your next sight was everything you expected from a dark, perilous forest.

In the glimpse of your nearly dead flashlight, you saw a man, six feet in height wearing a black suit that stepped into your reign of vision, but the figure didn't seem... human, to put it simply, for one reason, and that one reason made everything that much worse.

That man had no face.