Soon enough the sun had risen, yet it felt like an entire century had passed me by. My heart felt a soft longing to have things back to the way they were before I allowed myself to walk with my friend into this forest. I sat next to the grave that once belonged to the corpse of my best friend, my sister, as it lay open, awaiting her, like a warm bed to send her away to eternal sleep. I felt it crawl throughout my skin, a small shiver, is this what it feels like to be.. alone?. I couldn’t stop it, the tears came like a tidal wave of emotions, it was too much for me to bear. 

“Why, why have you stayed this long girl, why have you not left this part of the forest?” I froze, and the creature spoke to me in clear english. I longingly gazed at the sun just over the horizon, waves lashing calmly at the rocks below the cliff on which I sat,

“I..” I started to contemplate, all of my drive, my decisions, why did I make the choices I have?, what drove me to get out?.. Ally, she was my drive, she was my family, my sister, my reason for every decision I've made.

“Hmm, child-” he began, but cut himself off, I let my curiosity get the better of me, I turned slightly and was awestruck, for a creature as old as he is, he had quite the body build, he seemed like an albino, long white hair just skimming the ground, emerald green eyes surrounded by an ocean of black, and a well built body. I was somewhat surprised when his gaze met mine. It felt like an eternity had passed till he spoke up,

“-I never learned your name,” I froze, he seemed quite sincere,

“L-lily, my name is lily, and yours?” he seemed to tense at my question..

“My, name?” he seemed to be confused,

“You do have a name, don’t you?” I turned back to the waters spanning endlessly beyond the horizon while he began to think.

“Well, my name is-” I cut him off after about ten minutes.

“You just gonna stand there? It’s cool if you don’t have a name, I could just give you a name.” he seemed to contemplate my words for a moment before calmly walking over and sitting beside me,

“Of every fair maiden to enter this forest, you braved every test, only to save your friend at your own expense, yet she laid waste to your friendship to save herself.” I tensed hearing that last part,

“Heh, she never was the type to stick around for a fight” I felt torn between anger and sadness, joy and betrayal. I closed my eyes, I could feel another presence beside me to my left, I froze, ‘who else was here?’, I didn’t open my eyes as they began to speak in a hushed whisper,

“I am no wolf, and I am no bear, I am the hunt and the hunter, I have fur but I need not a-” I cut the creature off, sounding harsher than intended,

“An immortal, you are everything but you are nothing, you are a mixture of shadows, I know this because your presence is neither cold nor warm.” I was tired, mentally and physically, both of them seemed to understand this.

“Maybe you should rest kid,” the shadow creature said after a moment, breaking the peaceful silence that seemed to suffocate my lungs. 

“I agree child Lily, my dear friend speaks the truth , you'll never find your way if you do not rest.” I ignored both of them, not wanting to face the terrible and rather heartbreaking truth.. I was all alone, empty, left to my own devices, I felt a rage like waves whipping at the rocks, a sadness like a mermaid crying at the loss of her human love, a sickening joy had poisoned my life for a mere moment,

“I hate myself for trusting that, that monster, she was a poison to my life feeding me false joy, only to leave me for dead.” I spoke up, my voice horse and ruff from dehydration and forcing my tears back.

“I don’t need help to fight my battles, to overshadow me, I got this handled, I don't need rescuing” I began to get up and gather my belongings, I turn to both of the creatures and say “your name, as I promised, is the slenderman,” I paused and looked over at his friend, “and yours is dusk” he seemed to brighten up to a rather dark gray color, different from his original abyss black color.

“Thank you fair maiden lily.”

“Yes, thank you lily.”