What Happened Last Week (or why I can make a blog without a tentacle sticking out of my chest)

Well I guess it's been long enough now that I need to talk about what happened last week.  Those of you that have been paying attention probably have some idea of what I'm talking about.  Before last week I hadn't even considered starting up a blog, but now I suddenly find myself capable of writing one without completely nullifying my agreement, and I am starting to see to advantages of having this place online to consolidate my work.  But that isn't important right now, what's important is that you know how I came to the point that I could do this.

I've had a deal with the Slender Man for several months now, and part of that agreement was that I not get to involved to heavily in the online community of people trying to fight him, and in return he would keep them away from me as well as he could (and of course the whole not killing me bit).  About a month ago I starting talking to some of the blogers, true to our arrangement I didn't make my own blog, I didn't hint at the knowledge that earned me this immunity, and I remained neutral in most of my postings.  Unsurprisingly He wasn't pleased with my activity, but I didn't post anything harmful, so I was able to continue with this behavior for some time.

The first time I suspected something might have been off was a couple of weeks ago, when I found an operator symbol on my campus.  It was drawn in chalk on one of the roads behind the library, and there were no obvious reasons for someone to have drawn such a symbol there.  Of course I hadn't seen any other kind of suspicious activity or other signs of trouble, but it was still enough to unnerve me, and so I started looking around to see if I could find anyone who would have a reason to be in my area, or to track me down.  However, my research yielded no explanation, and my skinny associate claimed total ignorance in the matter, so after a week of no more activity I reached the conclusion that it was a coincidence, I was safe in my happy normal corner of the world.  It wasn't until Thursday that I realized I was wrong.

Last Thursday was the day I met the Runner, I still don't know what his name was, but it seems that it couldn't have been anybody I had met through the blogs, as they all still seem to be active.  I was getting a drink before one of my classes when I noticed him.  You know you can actually feel people who have a connection with him, I haven't felt such a sensation in a long time, so at first I was unsure of what it meant.  He was at least 6'1'', a few inches taller than myself, short blond hair, and was very muscular, clearly stronger than myself.  He came up to me fast, and before I could respond he had basically dragged me into one of the restrooms and shoved me against one of the walls.  That was when he pulled out his gun, I could see in his dark eyes that he was almost eager to use it.  Even a week later I can see all of it in my head in perfect clarity.

He was breathing heavy, he spoke in a low growl: "How did you do it, when did you start working with him?"

I was caught of guard, but I was not about to let somebody strong arm information out of me.  "They don't allow weapons on this campus," in hindsight, it was a stupid remark, I could have gone for so much more, information, a name, even a more clever retort, but in the briefest victory of my life I saw him take a step back and lower the gun slightly out of surprise.  Then he charged me, pinned my neck to the wall with his arm, leaned in close, and put the barrel of his gun on the right side of my chest.  Cold metal ready to pump a slug into my chest and the first thing I thought of was how disgusting his breath smelled, the second was, of course, that he was pointing the gun at the wrong side if he was aiming for my heart.

"I've been watching you, you're a proxy.  What do I have to do to keep safe, how did you start working for him?"

Many things dawned on me almost at once.  The first was that he thought I was a proxy, he clearly didn't know who exactly I was.  Somehow this didn't upset me nearly as much as the realization that he had been watching me, I am a scientist, not by an official means, but I enjoy studying things, I do not however enjoy being studied without my knowledge.  The third thing I realized, was that he appeared to want to join the Slender man, he was willing to trade his safety for his freedom.  The final thing I noticed, and it took a few seconds for it to sink in, was that there appeared to be a head and an impeccably well dressed pair of shoulders staring in through the window of the second floor men's room.  The Runner wasn't quite as quick to notice this development, but when he looked to see why I was staring at the window he collapsed.  I took advantage of the situation to liberate him from his gun, which went promptly into my backpack, and hoist him back to his feet.  He was still panicking, but I seemed to snap him out of it with a quick punch to the gut, which I must admit had more force than I had expected.  While he was bent over, recovering from the blow I leaned in and offered him a piece of advice: run.  He took it, and I yelled down our favorite gentleman stalker before I went to class (late) with several painfully bruised knuckles, a gun hiding in my backpack (I realized after class I never even turned the safety on), and varying amounts of rage, paranoia, and self-loathing rattling around in my head.  Needless to say that was not my best test grade.  That evening I went on a rant on several blogs, calling for the death of David.  In hindsight I'm not exactly sure why I picked him, but I needed to focus my rage, and he was an excellent target for that.

By Sunday I still had not seen anything else of this Runner, and had begun to hope that he had taken my advice to the full extent I had intended and left my area.  Of course the incident made me realize that the Slender Man had also begun to take a more liberal interpretation of our agreement, and I now had to at least partially protect myself from the occasional rouge human.  To that end I had begun carrying my knife around, it was nothing special, just a small blade that I could flip out in a hurry, no real reach or defensive capabilities, but than anything that would have either of those would be difficult to carry around inconspicuously, so I deemed my knife sufficient.  So on Sunday I decided to take a jog through this quite little nature trail, I quite like running, and with my deal running through the woods is both exhilarating and somewhat humorous, like an inside joke and the only other one who knows it doesn't get humor (although  I have been trying to teach him, he showed some progress with sarcasm the other day).  Before I discuss what happened next I think it is important to mention that I had intended to see him later that day, however our meeting place was not going to be the nature trail I was on, anyhow, continuing on.  

During my run I came across a clearing , the woods were to my back, but the rest of the area was a field.  Standing a short way into the field was the Runner I had encountered on Thursday, he appeared to be waiting for me.  My first thought went to how he got into an area completely surrounded by woods, this person was either very brave and determined, or very stupid, and in hindsight I'm almost positive it was the latter.  I paused, interrupting my run for the sake of curiosity, and he shouted out to me: "I've been waiting for you, I knew you'd be here again."  He seemed to be making some effort to not come of as intimidating.  It worked in a sense, his whole demeanor still carried a threat but I could see him actively trying to lessen it, the whole situation seemed very humorous, and so I laughed.  His appropriate nonthreatening response was to charge me, which of course had worked out splendidly the last time he tried it.  He was a fast sprinter, but he needed to cover about 20 feet to reach me and by the time he did I had almost flipped out my knife (note the almost).  He leapt into the air ready to tackle me at full speed when a tentacle shot out from my left and pinned him to the ground, I imagine you already know who I found when I turned to investigate.  My head and body tried to absorb the ten seconds of action all at once, I was already on an adrenaline high from the run, and the sudden action pushed my head into overdrive, and Cage began shouting inside my head.  I looked at the Slender Man and he offered me a choice: kill the Runner, or watch him die.  I looked at the knife in my hand, I looked at the man flailing on the ground begging for mercy, for a chance to join us, and I let Cage take over.  Cage took a single step forward, knelt to the ground, and said "This is how you join him."

Then the knife entered his heart.

I don't know what that runner's last thoughts were, but he died ignorant.

After killing him a rush entered my body, it was a kind of exhilaration I had never felt before, it was freeing.  The tentacle returned to its master and the Skinny One returned to a more human form, and I began to carve out the body.  I was surprised by how little blood there was, of course there was some, but nowhere near the amount I had expected.  I separated out the organs, I somehow had spilt the heart into two with my first strike, and I placed both halves on the grass right next to each other.  He watched in silence until I was finished.  When I had completed the ritual I looked at him and stated "This doesn't mean I work for you now."  He accepted this, and we proceeded to have a conversation about various other matters, towards the end I brought up the topic of starting a blog, he contemplated it for a while, and then gave his consent.  That evening Cage boasted of my success on Dead One's blog, and I began the process of starting my own.

This is hardly the kind of story I looked forward to retelling here, but it is important you know who I am.  I am capable of killing, I've done it once and I don't believe I would have trouble doing it again.  I do not like being studied without my knowledge, and I will exploit my relationship with the Slender Man if it benefits us both.  I am no hero, I am not a valiant person, and I will do what needs to be done to ensure my own survival, though I do not take that lightly.  And lastly, I am a curious mind, my main goal in this is to study, to investigate, and to learn, if I can earn new knowledge at some risk I will take the risk, so long as I honestly believe I can survive the fallout.

See you around

 -  Cage