Are You Awake?

A Story by Connor

This story was inspired by a dream. I added some substance and turned it into this piece. I hope you enjoy it!

Boom. Boom. Boom. The drums echo throughout the ruins in perfect synchronization with His footsteps. I had just picked up the first page and now He'd be hot on my trail. He knows He's gonna win, He just likes to play with His new little toy. I don't even know how I got here, but I remember what I was doing before I woke up here.
I had just stormed off to my room after fighting with my parents. I had turned on my computer and began to play SLENDER. I had just gotten the fourth page when I drifted off to sleep. Now, I'm here, in these forested and decrepit ruins of some sad, unfortunate, hopeless city.
I immediately recognized the area and ran to where I thought the first page would be. It wasn't there...However, I found an unbelievably clunky glass and iron lantern. I'd almost want to run around blindly rather than carry around this stupid thing. If it didn't provide that little comfort that it did, it would be an equal to just having a newborn infant.
I jogged to the next spot where I usually find the next yellowed parchment, and to my relief, it was there. I picked it up and realized I had just sealed my own fate. I can't just put it back and slowly creep away like it wasn't me. He already knows that I'm here. Boom. Boom. Boom. Those drums almost match the silent shouts of my imminent death.
I walk, not sprint or jog, but walk. The knowledge I now have of my own fate burdens me down. I know I can't do it. As this thought enters my head, I hear the creep of slow footsteps. He's there, behind me and all I can do is run. I muster up all my energy and release it in a dead sprint. Straight for the second page.
After five minutes of pacing my running and listening for Him, I reach the hanging tree. I circle around it in an all but orthodox fashion. Trying my hardest not to let my eyes wander beyond my target. It's there! I'm a quarter of the way done. I gain a little vigor from this minute victory and jog towards the next destination, the grain silo. As I run, I instinctively look behind me as I always do when I play SLENDER. What I see paralyzes me with fear.
He's nowhere to be seen. Not on the path I've been following, or even in the dark unknown of the forest. I run in the direction I'm facing and hope the page wasn't at that old grain silo, because that's exactly where He'd been waiting.
I reach the multiple rows of gas tanks and graze through them looking for my little piece of safety. It's there on the last one I check. This one is different though, but why doesn't it match the other one? I begin on my path towards the "Terror House" and pull out the other page. I compare the two and notice that only one of them has words. The one I just found is completely blank. I never even stopped to read the first one. I notice that I've almost stopped walking and I quicken my pace to jog. I take the time to read the words, scrawled in blood I notice, and they read, "DEATH ISN'T AN ESCAPE". This doesn't phase me, because the adrenaline is kicking in and I'm used to this scenario. I've seen that page before, but the blank one is not something I'm familiar with.
A blood curdling shriek comes from the bowels of the building and I just stop and stand there. What is going on? So far, none of this is strictly following the game. Then it hits, this isn't real life and I'm not in some stupid matrix reality simulation. It's a dream. This thought fills me with incomprehensible relief. I don't have anything to worry about. My brain isn't exactly getting all the game details correct, but I still want to dream this all out. How many times do you get to live inside your favorite video game? I run inside the building wholeheartedly to find the source of that scream. I search every twist and turn, and I can't find a single thing. Then as I search the last room, I find her, quivering and sobbing in the corner. This isn't just a her though, it's my cousin! What is my subconscious brewing in my head. I run over to her to comfort her and make sure she's safe. I help her up and ask her some questions to make sure she can still function. I take out the pages and show them to her.
"Do you have any of these?" I ask.
She shakes her head. This is probably the only reason she hasn't been killed off in this dream yet. He doesn't know she's here with me. I've been distracting him this whole time. I hand her the lantern hoping that she'll get some comfort from it's soft orange glow like I do. She takes it and gives me a little smile
"How long have you been here?" I ask.
"Only long enough to recognize where I am."
"I'll keep you safe, I promise. We'll make it out of here together."
My cousin is my age and we've been metaphorically "attached at the hip" since birth. She only lives a house away from me. To me she was a sister, and my best friend. I can't lose her now! I remind myself that this is a dream to ease my mind.
We search the building again to find a paper, and we find the third. Next up is the graveyard. We find the exit and sprint out, hoping he isn't just waiting for us. We make it safely to get the next four pages. This is easier than "cooking" cereal. We have seven pages and I haven't seen him once. The problem with getting the last key to our salvation is that I've already been to every single place I know of.
Her and I explore every single square foot inside this stupid enclosed city. There's no page to be found. We really are going to die now. My cousin begins to cry and we mope around not knowing what to do. Then a sick and dark idea enters my head.
"Come on, I know how to end this."
She sticks out her hand and I take it. I lead her to the clearing in the trees and tell her to look up and stop crying for a second. She obeys and her eyes grow wide. I've brought us to the hanging tree. It's the only way to fix this, except of course...Him. I climb into the tree to reach one of the various nooses on the tree. Then, just as I grab it, He saunters in through the trees. My cousin notices and backs up against the tree. I fall right in the dirt and just lay there. His black tentacles of death extend out and he walks towards us. When he comes within ten feet, his tentacles reach out and he grasps my cousin around her ribcage and lifts her twenty feet off the ground. She can't scream, or even hardly breathe because of the immense pressure He's putting on her lungs. She's flailing though and drops the lantern. It shatters at my feet and its fire is extinguished. Now true hopelessness sets in as the darkness quickly envelops us all. Then I hear a single sound.
The wind blows a small breeze and I hear a flutter of paper in the wind. It came from the lantern! I look down and see the last page to this devilish game. I pick it up and pull it out with the seven others. Still, something haunts me about that blank page mixed in with all the scary messages and drawings. I stare the monster in the face and break into to sobs. I don't know why I started crying. Am I desperate, overjoyed, insane? I throw the papers at Him and yell.
"We played your game, and we have all the pages! What else do you want?" I shout.
He drops my panicked cousin and picks up the single blank page. A black goo oozes from his fingertips and he wrote something on the paper. Then he drops it and vanishes. I pick up the paper and read what it says, "TELL NO ONE". Then I hear creaky hinges open and notice that there was a pair of gates to one side of the clearing at the edge of the playing field. We walk out the gates and we appear in the middle of our street. It's midnight outside and not a single light is on in any house. We walk to our separate homes. I go to my room and my computer is right where I left it, only my bed is empty and I'm not there sleeping like I'd assumed. Now, here I am writing this horrendous story, because I still haven't woken up.