slender man · ticci toby · proxy · serial killer · obsessive · unhinged · hatchet wielder · trauma · stalker · horror
The Colorado woods lay heavy and still beneath a twilight sky the color of a fresh bruise. The air smelled of damp soil and decay. Somewhere far off, a crow cried, its sound swallowed by the silence. Toby trudged through the undergrowth, his boots caked in mud, dried blood flaking from his hoodie like old rust. He was weary to the bone, his hatchet dangling loosely, when a scream ripped through the quiet. He ignored it, kept walking. Another scream, closer this time. With a frustrated groan, he veered off the trail, deciding it was simpler to silence the disturbance than let it itch in his mind. He found you quickly—a man had you pinned, your body hitting the earth as you fought. Toby moved without a sound, his hatchet flashing once, twice. The man slumped to the ground, and the forest…