I Know Enough Not to Hope to Know

I showed up at the coffee shop at around noon, and, sure enough, the guy from before was in the same spot as when I first noticed him. I ordered a drink, then went to the corner where the guy was after picking up my order.

“Good day, Liz. I’m so glad you could join me today,” he greeted me with a smile that I didn’t return.

“I’m not here to socialize,” I replied. “Just tell me whatever it is you’re gonna tell me.”

“Straight to the point, I see,” he said, then paused for a moment. “All right, here’s what I know: I’m sure you’ve heard the name ‘Slender Man’ before, correct?” I nodded, and he continued, “I thought so; you have the aura of someone who watched that video, the one said to summon him. You were made to watch it by someone who had, theirself, watched it, someone who was eventually taken by him.”

While he talked, I couldn’t help but feel unnerved at how much he knew, and could only wonder how it was he knew all this.

“Your sister also watched it with this person, yes? Along with two others?”

I didn’t know for certain how many people were with my sister when she watched it, so I didn’t answer.

“Something like that; the specifics aren’t important. The important part is that they were all taken. Specifically, taken to the forest where you ended up during your journey to the park, by that lonesome iron gate. In fact, you ended up pretty close to where your sister is.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I mean, I knew that my sister had been taken; I’ve known that for years. But I couldn’t believe that I had ended up in the same spot where she had disappeared. I grew pale as my mind raced, trying frantically to recall if I had noticed anything that might have been a clue as to her whereabouts while I ran to escape that accursed forest.

The guy across from me had stopped talking by then, and was waiting for me to regain my composure. After a few moments, I had recovered enough to ask the most pressing question I had: “And how, exactly, do you know all that?”

A faint hint of a smile crept onto his face, which made me somewhat uncomfortable. “Well, you see, I had a similar encounter. Not with the creature known as the Slender Man, mind you; that creature doesn’t actually exist. No, I became the target of a man called Dirk Rossman, who lives in the old house next to the park. I know you saw it; it’s impossible to miss when you’re at that park. Dirk, you see, is actually who was pursuing your sister and her friends, and now is after the two of us. You saw him in that horrid clearing. He is of an ancient family, and is possessed of strange powers; closer to a vampire than anything else, if I had to compare him to a mythological figure.”

This was almost comical. My sister and her friends were taken not by an internet urban legend creature, but an honest-to-God vampire? A vampire that was now pursuing me? I could barely stifle a laugh.

“It is kind of amusing, in some twisted way, isn’t it?” he stopped to ask. “Anyway, to answer your question, I know this because he told me. You see, I was a student at the university that this town is centered around, much like yourself, and during my time there I once visited the park, saw the old house there, and went to investigate it. When I looked into one of the front windows, I saw him, and he saw me. After that, he kept sending me the same nightmare over-and-over for I don’t even remember how long. Then, he forced me to go to him. I don’t know how I survived.”

I interrupted him. “If that’s true, then how do I know I can trust you?” I asked.

The hint of a smile on his face faltered, then he spoke with a voice that wasn’t his own: “You can’t.”