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Blinding lights are tearing apart everything I see. 


The colors of crimson spattering the forefront of my mind with a pain so blinding my straining vocals screamed for release.


His eyes. HIS EYES.


I knew I was dying. I knew that familiar plummeting feeling all too well. The feeling of falling into the shadow's cold, loving embrace.


I'm pushing. Forward. With all my might.


Feeling the flesh stretch away from my bones. The ripping of the sinew, the snapping of the bones.


My mental state was cracking under the strain of this imprisonment.


Dummy so fucking bitch.


I will kill you. I swear to god I will destroy you.


What you've turned me into.


I'm tearing open my eyes. The rotting yarn shredding my eyelids.


My lips ripping open with the screams of the anguished.


"I'm freeing myself from you."


His eyes burned with the hatred of a thousand dying men.


"You Can FUCKING Try."


Blood thus pours forth from his eyes. Cascading down his face and staining the ground with the poison of his mind.


My mind.


I can feel the devil's wings enfolding upon me.


Oh how he wishes to add me to his armies.


I've proved to be such a controllable puppet.


"Puppet."


My eyes flare with the overflowing rage I've kept sealed within me for too long.


"I AM THE SCARECROW!"


The declaration rips through this torrential veil of pain and suffering.


Ripping like knife through flesh.


Severing the ties that bound me to His damning fingers.


Dummy's face is torn away is a rainfall of blood. Revealing a gruesome sight.


Me.


Distorted with the hatred of being forced into a role I never wished to inherit.


Emotion.


I could feel His tentacles writhing within the corners of my eyes.


He KNEW what was happening. And by GOD did He not like it.


"For.....Forgive me...." 


Those last choking words slipped from Dummy's mouth, bringing my attention back towards him.


I thrust out my hand and grasp his throat and pull him towards me.


"Forgive myself?" 


I squeeze my grasping hand until I hear a snap. Dummy explodes into ashes before me. Dispersing into every direction like a darkened snow.


I clench my hand into fist and pull it towards my chest.


"I forgive you."


Suddenly the pain intensifies and I throw my head towards the heavens.


Screaming in pain as I'm ripped out of this mental threshold and thrown back into reality.


Landing in a heap upon the cold, dewy grass.


All becomes calm at long last.


And I lay there, the feeling of the icy ground seeping into my bones.


It felt nice.


I roll over onto my back and look up into the nighttime skies.


The millions upon millions of stars twinkling down upon me.


How long have I been gone?


How long has it been?


Out of the corner of my eye I see Marionette standing quietly with a huge smirk pasted upon his face, Ragdoll clinging to his side with curious eyes pointed towards me.


Marionette holds out a hand to me.


"Welcome back."

Ice.

"Blessed are they the angels that fall..."


I'm whispering quietly to the raven watching me from through the window.


"Damned are they the demons that rise..."


I mirror the raven when it cocks it's head. Smiling a little as it proceeds to mock a song.


"Lest the shadows set you free the ties that bind will forever remain..."


A soft crack echoes within hearing the sends the pretty raven into flight.


Lost from view and lost from mind. I sigh and glance for the cause of that sound.


Bare seconds pass before my eyes scan a hooded figure peeking out from just passed the fence that leads into that ill-fated valley.


"Beware the watchful eyes of the unnerving and undeserving..."


I'm staring the watcher down through the thin veil of glass. Eyes grown cold. Posture frozen.


"He can't see you." Marionette growls from behind me.


"Then why does it stare?" I query and he sighs.


"Merely awaiting the moment Scarecrow makes his reappearance."


I look away from the masked figure and cast my wide eyes upon the spindly figure of Marionette.


"I miss Puppet...." I whimper but he remains as emotionless as ever.


"Dummy has him now." He replies coldly, refusing to return my gaze.


I wince at his response.

Killer Instincts.

Sometime's I wish I was dead.


In this horrific situation I have somehow stumbled into, it would be a godsend to know that I wouldn't have to worry about my heartbeat pounding too loudly that my precarious hiding place would be given away.


Long had I abandoned the valley behind my house. Now I had stolen myself away into the dilapidated old park that has long since been taken over by trees and weeds. 


I admit I live in a very decrepit neighborhood. If something isn't falling apart it's being consumed by the vegetation.


"Come out little puppet wherever you are... hiding is only making my blade hungrier..."


My eyes follow the voice directly to the hooded freak slowly wading his way through the knee length grass.


Getting closer and closer to me.


"Wishing you'd listened to me now eh?" I hear Marionette whisper next to me, his eyes fixated upon the freak slowly approaching.


"Between either choosing a demented game of hide and seek or slowly going insane from this maniac's constant rambling, I'd have still chosen this." I think and he smirks.


"Most likely if you had stayed put he would have attacked you within your room. And if he had you'd most assuredly have been fucked."


I roll my eyes sarcastically.


"Like bringing a stick to a knife fight." I reply a tad matter-of-factly.


"Exactly."


The attacker slowly makes his way passed me.


"WHaT ArE YOU DOinG???" 


I twitch. Each word that Dummy growled shot through me like a silver bullet laced with morphine. 


Of all the times for him to appear...


"We are TRYING not to get killed here." Marionette replies coldly and Dummy casts him a stare that could not even describe the depth of rage it withheld.


"BEgone MArioNeTTe." He hisses and thus Marionette was gone.


He looks to me.


"WhY aRe You hidINg?" His words echo like hollowpoints within my head.


"Like Marionette said, trying not to be killed. Because in case you didn't know, I'm allergic to things cutting me open." I answer, trying my damnedest not to show my fear for him.


"WeLl Have YoU evEn ThOUght AbOUt KilLinG The FUckEr?" He queries and I look away.


I had.


His face splits open with that malice laden smile.


"He'Ll JuSt keeP coMing BACk If You Don'T..." He whispers into my ear.


I violently shake my head.


"I... can't..."


He leans in closer, "WheN hE FiniShes YOU, WhaT MakeS YOU thinK He Won'T gO AftEr You'Re LoVed onEs?"


My breath quickens, the freezing air stabbing into my throat and lungs like a million broken needles.


"WhAt AbOuT YOu're DEarESt JEssIca?" Dummy teases threateningly...


I look up at him with glass eyes.


"I'm not a killer."


He looks down at me like a father to his son.


"I cAN ChanGe ThaT."

Feline.

"Shut. The Fuck. UUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" 


My television is thrown as I roar in a frustration induced rage.


Yet still, as the screen shatters into a thousand pieces, the circuits and wiring propelling themselves into the darkest corners of my room,


The whispering refuses to stop.


The emotionless chant keeps lingering.


"Slender Man. Slender Man. Slender Man. Slender Man."


The walls feel to be closing in on me. Confining me within a violent claustrophobic seizure of the mind.


My fingers groping for the doorknob. Twining themselves around it and ejecting the door outward.


The whispering grows louder.


My ears perk up. I grow more alert.


"Don't be stupid..."  I hear Marionette warn me off to my left.


"Follow it... Who knows what you might find..." Ragdoll giggles to my right.


The unrelenting chorus that keeps repeating it's dull monologue starts to grow quiet.


"Let it be....." Marionette growls.


"Let's play pretend... you can be the cat..." Ragdoll smiles innocently.


I smirk and Marionette snorts, "Your funeral then..." and walks off into the darkness.


Ragdoll skips passed me, "Let's go! Before Father finds us..."


I started to say something violent but the whispers got quieter and I quickly started after her.


My curiosity getting the better of me...

Unison.

He is watching me from the foot of my bed.


"That curious lean of his head..."


He's simply watching as we write.


Before this nightmare I have always been a writer.


"This outlet was supposed to be a haven for just that..."


Instead of a chronicles of the horror that now haunts us.


The pen is flicking across the page.


"The pitch black inspiration spattered across the canvas of such pure degradation..."


Once more the madness becomes one unified mind.


"DrIVen BY INSanITy."


He stands there silent yet so triumphant.


"As we lastly do His bidding..."


Among us all the Mannequin holds the power.


"BUt THaT WON'T Last For LoNg......."

Stuck.

"You idiot."


"You were the one who set Him off."


"You didn't close the door."


"Like that would stop Him?"


"Would have slowed Him down."


"I highly doubt that."


I raise an eyebrow at Marionette. The last couple of days we have somehow become a sort of team. Always sticking together. Maybe I'm still unconsciously too scared to be alone. Maybe I'm just that far too gone.


Whatever if is we're stuck together for the time being.


"Have you noticed that He appears to be alot more pissed off at us than usual?"  I ask him.


"I doubt He would just take Ragdoll's manipulation of Him without getting at least a little pissed."


I look at him for a brief second, let out a breath then walk over to the window and pull the blinds aside, revealing a flood of tendrils clawing angrily at the glass.


"I'm thinking He may be a little more than simply 'pissed'." I reply and drop the blinds.


"Why doesn't He just go after Ragdoll?" I continue before shutting my mouth. Unfortunately my idiotic statement had already been spoken, and Marionette spent no time jumping upon the opportunity.


"Because Ragdoll IS you dumbass. He can't kill her because she technically doesn't exist. You though, DO exist. So He just kills you and turns you into a macabre tree ornament and kills the rest of us as well. It's the only way."


I cast him a blank stare. "Okay, now can you put that in a folder and label it 'Shit I Already Know'? For fuck's sake Marionette, We have more pressing matters to deal with at this particular moment."


And thus I see that classic sneer slit open his face.


"In actuality, YOU have pressing matters to take care of, I just work here."


I perch myself on the edge of my bed and stare at the shadows cast from the tendrils outside weave and swirl like a strange kaleidoscope nightmare.


"Why doesn't He just appear in here like he always does?" I say, mostly to myself.


"He must still be waiting for something..."


I glance over and see Marionette's face etched deeply with worry.


"We really need to find Ragdoll don't we?" 


After a moment he looks over at me.


"Now more than ever..."

Better Judgement .

"Your room was empty..."


"I found it more calming up here."


"In the trees?"


"Yeah..."


"......You know He's watching you right now... right?"


"Let Him watch. I don't care."


"...You really are starting to worry me."


"Have you found Ragdoll yet?"


"......No. You should really get insid-"


"It looks like it's going to rain again..."


"...You're irritating Him acting like this Puppet."


"Good."


"...That isn't wise..."


"Nothing I ever do is ever really considered 'wise'."


"....He's coming this way..."


"Let Him. I'll slit his fucking throat."


".......I'll keep searching for Ragdoll..."


"You do that."


"...Take care..."


"Ha." 

Birth.

"Puppet wake up."


My eyelids flutter.


"Wake. The fuck. Up."


I can feel the warmth of the sun beating down upon me like a heavy blanket during the fourth of july.


Yet again my head threatened to crack open should I open my eyes.


I groan.


"Five more minutes..."


I could practically feel his snarky grin rip open across his face.

"Glad to see you aren't a vegetable mate."


I stop a moment. My mind grinding through everything I could remember the last few weeks.


"That might be THE first time you have ever said something to me without insulting my intelligence... on that note..."


I blindly sit up, burying my eyes behind my hands before slowly peeling them open within the shade.


"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" I ask.


A dry laugh.


"Aren't You?"


A chuckle echoes somewhat dead within my throat.


"Touché..."


A moment of silence as I rub my ever aching eyes. My head attempt to beat itself out of my skull.


"Unlike most people, you tend to bounce back from the brink pretty easily."


I take a breath and remove my hands from my eyes, the beaming rays of the sun painting themselves against my retinas like a thick coat of pain. 


"Unfortunately I'm not like most people." I respond, reeling from how the light had hit me harder than I had thought.


Marionette crouches down next to me, a true look of concern etched upon his face.


"Do you remember the last few days?" He asks and I close my eyes and desperately think back.


"No." 


He sighs and looks off into the trees.


"Should be for the better. No one should be ever have to be forced through what happened to you the last couple of days..."


I look at him. Taking a long moment before finally opening my mouth.


"What happened."


He looks back to me, a look of sadness within his usually angry eyes.


"He split your mind again. This time ALOT more severely than the previous times."


I sigh and rub my neck.


"Explains the headache." I reply nonchalantly.


His expression hardens and he looks me up close. He looked weak. Which looking back at what happened to him... shouldn't come as such a surprise.


"Are you alright?" The words echo with another emotion I would have never expected him to possess.


Worry.


"Considering the fact that I have had my brain fucked with once again, and I have also woken up in who the fuck knows where AGAIN without a clue as to what's happened or how long I've been out AGAIN. And also having this monstrous headache beating into my skull with a flat iron AGAIN. Yeah I'm perfectly fine."


His brow furrows, creasing the lines on his face further.


"You seem... different."


I cast a dark glare into his eyes.


"Maybe I'm learning to accept the situation I'm in, rather than fight every fact."


I didn't mean to inject so much venom into that statement. nontheless I did. And Marionette felt the sting.


He stands up.


"Just watch out for yourself..." 


And with that he's gone. Replaced by my shadow, staring back at me.


"What are YOU looking at?" I growl at it before heaving myself to my feet. The gravel beneath me digging into my palms as I lift myself up.


A stain of red upon my chest catches my eye. Sparked with curiosity, I lift up my dirty t-shirt and a scowl slowly crawls across my face.


"What the fuck is this?!?!?"


I seethe as I look down at the words 'Dummy Was Here' scrawled haphazardly into my flesh..... 

Conflict.

2:35 p.m.


"Rain... Rain... Go Away... Come Again Another Day..."


Another childish rhyme is playing it's repetitive yet catchy tune inside of my skull.


"Rain... Rain... Go Away... Come Again Some Other Day..."


I'm perched on the edge of my bed, basked in darkness, I had not yet replaced the lightbulb to the only lightsource within my room but had instead fallen back on using a flashlight to navigate.


"Rain... Rain... Go Away... Come Again Another Day..."


True to her maddening singing there was indeed a storm raging outside. Heavy gales bending the trees. Brief snaps of lightning enveloping the room in a bright light before retreating back behind the safety of thunder's tremendous clap.


"Rain... Rain... Go Away... Come Again Some Other Day..."


"SHUT UP!" I finally scream and send my fist driving into the wall. That spike of anger sending waves through my body, making me evermore rigid and tense.


A giggle echoes from the darkness, and I feel a small form of Ragdoll sit herself upon the edge of my bed. Smiling victoriously up at me.


"You are fucking annoying." I growl at her and her smile widens.


"You should lighten up, today is a monumental occasion..." She declares happily and I feel an eyebrow raise.


"And why is that?" I ask simply. Though knowing her... I was surprised I had the courage to even ask.


I see her features grow darker... more insidious...


"Today I get a baby..."


A long silence..... fear begins to crawl up my spine.


"What do you mean by that?" I ask, unable to come up with a better query. 


She stands up and her smile becomes almost inhuman because... well she was.


"I thought you were more clever than that Puppet..." She teases and suddenly glances into the darkness behind me.


"He makes angels too..."


A Flare goes off in my mind. And I whip around to see a tall shadow standing opposite of me. I could hear a steady thrum sounding within the air just by seeing it.


My blood turned to ice.


It moves forward.


I throw my hand out for the nightstand on my side of the bed, my fingers wrapping around the handle of the heavy black flashlight.


The thrum increases in intensity.


I quickly point the flashlight towards the shadow. And as my mind screamed for me not to prove EXACTLY who I knew it was...


I thumbed the switch. 


And a blast of light explodes from it's tip, bathing the room in a dim white light.


Revealing the tall suited monster almost sliding towards me.


I could hear Ragdoll's insane laughter scream into my ears. The thrum growing so much in intensity I could feel it in the air. My body was frozen. My eyes locked onto the sight of the monster before me. Strange black, spindly vines beginning to bleed from his back and move determinedly towards me. 


I was screaming but my mouth didn't move.


He was getting closer.


WHY CAN'T I MOVE!?!?!?


Ragdoll just stands their pointing and laughing at me.


I feel the first of the contorting tentacles brush my wrist.


And a spark goes off in my brain.


Suddenly the door to my room is kicked open and I hear Marionette's voice roar,


"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING PUPPET?!?!? MOVE!!!!!!!!"


A quick stutter in the thrum emanating within the atmosphere and I manage to grasp at my only chance.


I rip myself away from the hypnotic grip of the Slender Man, a single flash of lightning casting an outline of my desperate escape out the room and into the hallway.


Ragdoll sounded a howl of rage as Marionette slams the door shut.


"Thank you, if you didn't show-"


He throws me a look of disbelief.


"DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION YOU'RE IN????"


The door rattles as something heavy collides with it on the other side. And Marionette grabs the knob with both his hands and pulls with all his strength.


"RUN!!!" He roars and without another ill-advised word I take off down the hallway, heading straight towards the front door.


An explosion and right as I round the hallway and reach the living room I hear The thrumming return even louder than before.


I didn't stop to look at what happened.


I launch myself over the couch and tear the front door open, kicking out the screen door as I take one glimpse behind me...


And see Ragdoll staring at me with eyes full of hate, Marionette's endless scream sounding from within the hallway behind her.


I hear a shout slip from my mouth as I turn tail and throw myself out the door, the sudden impalement upon the millions of raindrops cascading from the darkened sky sending a shock through my system. While also drenching me to the bone within seconds.


I hit the ground running. My feet slapping the pavement one after another, splashing through the overwhelming water.


"GIVE ME MY BABY!!!" I hear Ragdoll scream from behind me and suddenly a bullet of pain goes shooting through my brain.


I'm crippled.


I lose the use of my legs and I go sprawling to the ground mere inches from the front gate.


I'm screaming. The mixture of fear and failure and horror and disgust in myself driving verbal venom to drip profusely from my mouth....


Looking back I see Ragdoll standing untouched by the rain. A triumphant smile pasted upon her lips. 


The thrumming reaches it's crescendo. My eyes are jerked back to the sight of the Slender Man standing silently next to her, his ever branching limbs inching closer and closer.


But I see someone draped amongst the dozens of clawing arms...


Marionette.


Joining the collection of still life this horrific nightmare has been amassing for god knows how long.


I feel my heart die. My hopes extinguished.


Ragdoll giggles.


The first of the many claws wraps itself around my ankle.


A splitting pain tears it's way through my brain.


And the darkness engulfs me.

What if.

I sit myself down at the empty table. Vigorously rubbing my temples before taking a deep breath and taking a chance.


"Marionette."


Only silence greets my words.


I grow impatient.


"Goddammit Marionette I KNOW you are there!"


I see hear something shuffle in the silence.


"What." Marionette asks, irritation bristling beneath his voice. 


I take a breath. 


"We need to talk."


A sneer peels open his face. 

"Talk about what? Your incessant stupidity?"


I feel a spike of anger flare within my head. 


"Shut up." 

His annoying sneer grows ever wider and I swear I heard a small chuckle.


"Quite contradictory to what you just said eh?"


My poor attempt at patience falls through.


"Just Tell Me What The Fuck Is Wrong With Ragdoll!"


His smirk disappears. Replaced by a vicious smile and he leans back in his chair.


"Ohhhhhhh... Haha like you don't know? you heard her last night. Just a little girl's fantasies about a fairytale that will never be."


Images of last night flash through my mind. That mixed feeling of terror and dread returning to it's resting place in the pit of my stomach and I run a hand through my messy hair before looking back at him.


"Yeah I know. But you keep blocking her rambling at every turn."


He cuts me off.


"Because it's just that."


I look at him.


"But what if it isn't?"


A bark of laughter. He rolls his eyes.


"If there was any truth to the nonsense that Ragdoll keeps spewing out of her skullcave, there would be alot more to worry about than just being hunted by an anorexic freak who drives people mad with the silent treatment."


He seems so sure that Ragdoll is insane and suffers from hallucinations... 


"Because she is Puppet."


I'm dragged back into reality(?) and I look surprised at Marionette, who simply smirks.


"I'm a part of your mind jackass. Thinking to yourself is just as loud as saying it."


I glare at him. 


"Fuck you." I think.


"Now you're just being childish." He replies dryly.


"Puppet has always been a bit lacking when it comes to being mature."Ragdoll giggles as she comes striding out from the shadows and sits between us.


"Oh fuck me the little mother's arrived." 


Ragdoll and Marionette exchange angry, almost violent, looks. Before Marionette looks at me.


"How about you talk to her about your qualms? I'm fucking tired of being told of what could be when I know what is."


Without another word he's gone. Leaving me alone with Ragdoll. 


"I don't think he likes you." She giggles before disappearing herself.


And I'm left alone. Wondering why the fuck I even tried talking to myself in the first place.

Confrontation?

"I could hear Him calling me... from outside in the darkness..."

Haha Ragdoll, you REALLY think that son of a bitch was teasing you to come out and play?

"Of course... He and I are destined to be one... Two lovers within the nightmare that plagues this mortal realm..."

What a bunch of Biblical BULLSHIT. Listen hun, just because you suffer from this godawful attraction to something does NOT mean it's true love.

"He will paint my face with the blood that pulses through my veins His pale, slender fingers dyed scarlet from my luminescent blood..." 

You are talking nonsense now Ragdoll. Seeing the mental decline you are suffering from this idiotic fantasy, I have to admit that you won't be here when it all comes to an end. 

"But YOU will?"

Of course. Seeing as I'm much more powerful than you OR Puppet I can already see myself being the reigning mind at the end of this. You hun are just a sniveling child who lacks even the most basic common sense to understand that the Slender Man is NOT in the fucking market to have a relationship with a split personality. Now with the current stance of Puppet...

"I AM NOT A MERE DISORDER. I AM A MIND. A SOUL. A PERSON ALL MY OWN..."

Fuck hun calm your shit...

"YOU MAY THINK YOU ARE STRONGER THAN ME BUT I HAVE THE STRENGTH, AND THE WILLPOWER TO DESTROY YOU AND PUPPET, AND WHATEVER OTHER 'SPLIT PERSONALITY' THAT DARES SHOW ITSELF TO ME..."

Hmm you really think so? You really think that just because you have some IMAGINARY connection to an evil that has been around long before you were even a thought bubble, Fuck before even PUPPET was born.

"I'LL SEE TO IT THAT YOU ARE THE FIRST TO BE FORGOTTEN. THE FIRST TO BE LEFT BEHIND ON MY JOURNEY..."

YOU ARE NOT A FUCKING GOD YOU FUCKING PSYCHOTIC BITCH! If I am going to die then I am going to make DAMN sure that I take you AND puppet with me. YOU WANT TO SEE HOW STRONG I REALLY AM? I WILL FUCKING SHOW YOU!

"HAHAHAHAHA IT IS GOING TO BE A PLEASURE TO WATCH YOU AS YOU FALL INTO THE OBLIVION THAT YOU SO FUCKING DESERVE..."

Oh and I'm going to enjoy watching you get slaughtered by the very thing you wish to fuck........