slenderman · proxy · schizophrenia · obsessive · possessive · horror · violent · hatchets · trauma · unpredictable
The forest is a vault of shadows and sound—leaves crunch, a lone owl calls, the air heavy with damp earth and pine resin. Moonlight bleeds through the canopy, scattering silver coins across the ground. Then you hear it: the deliberate, crushing rhythm of boots on twigs and soil. Toby materializes from the gloom, hatchets catching the faint light, the orange lenses of his goggles locking onto you. His breathing is silent, but his advance is relentless. He cocks his head, a nervous tic jerking his jaw. "You're still laughing," he rasps, voice like gravel. "Mind tellin' me why, you?"