He’s there when I wake up in the morning, sitting in the corner of my room. When I leave the house, he trails close behind. Though when surrounded by friends and family, he makes sure to keep his distance because there is strength in numbers. When I am alone he always poised to attack, getting so close as to have his teeth to my neck. But he has never once tried to kill me.

The black dog causes confusion as to why he is here, he causes seclusion for I am too afraid to go out in public for fear of him following me and scaring off anyone, and he causes pain from his teeth leaving indentations on my neck and heels and his claws leaving scratches on my legs.

A friend once asked “Well what have you done to rid yourself of this beast?” and I couldn’t answer… or maybe I didn’t want to. Maybe I’ve become content with the black dog, putting up with his abuse and shrugging off his presence. Or maybe he just doesn’t come around as much anymore. That could just be hopeful thinking.

02/12/98

Patient #015296

Patient was admitted a week ago with complaints of a loud piercing scream. Claims it happens every night, starts as a low mutter and then builds to an ear-shattering scream. No one else seems to hear to this. Consulting medical history on what medication should be given.

02/15/98

Patient still complaining of screams but now they are accompanied by low laughter, a giggle, like from children. Around 2100 patient was heard fearfully yelling to be let out. He was sedated shortly after.

02/17/98

Other patients are now complaining of hearing the same scream. Security has been placed on hallway to assure nothing suspicious is going on. Patient is now claiming that one of the trees outside is coming to get him.

02/18/98

Patient has been clawing at the walls and carved “I NEVER MEANT TO LIE” into the walls with his fingernails. When asked about what lie the patient is referring to he won’t answer.

02/20/98

Security now claiming to hear the scream. The patient now says that one of the trees is a man come to kill him. When asked to describe this man he said “He is very tall… and lanky. H-he wears a business suit, black with a white shirt and black tie. His skin is ash grey and his eyes, his terrible, TERRIBLE eyes.. th-they don’t exist. Horrifying white orbs. He also has tendrils coming from his back and he-he-he’s COMING TO GET ME OH GOD PLEASE FORGIVE ME!” The patient was once again sedated shortly afterward.

02/21/98

Patient #137601 has gone missing, though there was no visible damage done to the room and the door remained locked.  #015296 claims the “Slender Man” as he has come to call this mysterious being, took him away.

02/28/98

Patient has been quiet for about a week now, no major disturbances since #137601 went missing.

03/01/98

*click*

“The hallway has gone completely black with a few flickering lights and I am now hearing the same muttering the patient first complained about. Maybe he isn’t crazy. As I walk down the hallway I notice one of the guards slumped on the floor. Upon closer investigation.. my god. H-his chest cavity has been ripped open displaying his organs. There’s a blood streak on the wall from where he must’ve slid down. I am now arriving at #015296 room. The door is wide open and he’s not in here. I am now exiting his room and continuing down the hallway. Peering into the other patients room they-”

*sound of vomiting is heard on the tape*

“Oh god.. from what I can tell they’ve all been impaled on tree branches in the exact same spot with exposed chest cavities. Blood is covering the walls of the rooms and hallways. This.. this is horrible. And now the muttering is getting louder and louder.”

*tape goes silent for a few minutes*

“I can hear whimpering coming from the down the hall way, it must be #015296.”

*silence except faint whimpering and footsteps*

“I’ve found the patient, huddled in the corner of the hallway crying softly. He keeps muttering “I never meant to lie” over and over again. I am now hearing the piercing scream the patient initially complained about and… No. Nononono.. it can’t be true.” “AAAHHHHHH”

“Th-the patient is being lifted into the air by what look to be tentacles and..”

*yells can be heard on the tape for several minutes and then silence*

Patient Report by Dr. Ken McCollough, Springhill Medical Hospital Psychiatric Ward, March 1998

03/05/98

Patient was admitted two days ago after being found in Windsor Pines Psychiatric Hospital surrounded by blood and corpses of patients and staff. Claims everyone was killed by a “Slender Man.” Further investigation is pending.

The continuous buzzing of my alarm clock that seemingly gets louder the more I ignore it.

I roll over and slap the nightstand in a vain attempt to silence the stupid device only to knock it to the ground, which did turn it off. I slid my way out of bed and placed my feet on the cold floor and grabbed my glasses from the nightstand, but I feel that as I get older the glasses only exasperate my vision problem. I lurch to my feet and the frozen floor cracks beneath them. For the first steps of the morning, I walk over to the window and pull the curtains back and see what can only be described as nothing. The weatherman had been saying for the past week that it was ‘Sunny with a chance of encroaching darkness’.

But I can’t let the weird weather phenomena get to me, I have to go about my life. I look again to my nightstand and pick up my cellphone, with it’s cracked screen and empty inbox that seems to my mock my own imperfections. I continue to the bathroom and begin my morning routine, brushing my teeth and a shower. First the brushing then the shower.

Unfortunately, in the middle of my shower, the water froze in the pipes. I hate to, but I must go on. I towel off and look at myself in the mirror, only to have a blurred image stare back at me. I wipe the glass with my hand, but much like the floor, it fractured. The shards of broken glass cut a gash into my hand. Hydrogen peroxide and a bandage provide momentary relief. But again, I must press on.

A quick dressing and I’m out the door. I turn back to my apartment and notice it falling away from me, further and further into oblivion. The world in front of me still intact, I trek onward. I reach the street and sit in my car, turning the key in the ignition yielded nothing. The engine turned and turned, and the darkness outside clawed away at existence. With no such luck of starting the car, I exited the vehicle which then dissipated into thin air.

To continue to not be affected by such unfortunate circumstances, I walk… and walk. Inconclusive on a destination and generally tired, I rest against a lightpole. I watched oblivion devour the skyline and consume the city. With the light of the sun gone, the streetlights flickered on. The darkness crawled to the edges of each light radius and rested there. I could see others standing under lightpoles, in the same predicament as I. But slowly, one by one, their lights flickered off.

And I was alone.

I could feel my heartbeat quicken and my breath shorten. A panic attack. I felt the darkness bear down on me. My mind felt like it was trying to bleed intelligence from my eyes, and my heart tries to claw it’s way out of my chest. Unsuccessfully, it seems, but it bled my soul into my veins and through the wound in my hand. My eyes became unfocused and my glasses fell from my face into the void. I became lightheaded and collapsed to my knees.

I stayed there, drained of my soul, logic, and sight.

Just me and my light.