Is This What Victory Feels Like?

My calender tells me it's Christmas. That's funny. What with the whole snow theme I've got going on. Christmas day. What a day to die. Almost a whole year since I started this blog. Wow. Doesn't time fly when you're stuck in an eldritch pocket universe. I may as well get this over with.

I arrived at the summit, the top of the mountain, I knew what to expect. I knew that there'd be another challenge waiting for me. I was right of course. Sean was standing there, his cricket bat in hand. I held my own bat by my side. Silence is the only word I can use to describe what was happening. The wind stopped, my breathing stopped. We both stood still, eyeing each other in utter quiet.

"Hello, Chris."

The voice startled me. It was cold, but still human. I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised, the bastard had gotten Jane to seem real enough.

"I know what you're thinking, Chris, you're thinking I'm just another Word, don't you? That I'm just another artificial man with the face of someone you once knew. But unfortunately for you. No. I'm right here. I'm the real deal. Miraculously brought back to life," he did a little twirl, "Do you like the new me, Chris? The me who killed Jane? The me who's about to defeat you?"

I didn't know if I could believe him. But if it was true. Could I really kill him? Kill an actual human being? Even a Proxy? Were they even human anymore? Human enough to bleed and feel pain. Human enough to fear. Could I do that to someone? I don't know why I'm asking these questions, this is all in the past. I already know the answer.

"You're not you, Sean. You're a little puppet for Slender Man, or the Glitch, or the Tale Weaver. Who ever -whatever!- it is, you're still a puppet! And I'm sorry for what I have to do." I finally worked up the courage to step forward. He only smirked in reply, a smirk that wasn't his own, it was something else pulling at his brain.

Without another word I smashed the bat into his face and he spiraled backwards, swinging around to return the favour. I collapsed onto my back, getting back to my feet and shoving the bat into his ribs. He smashing his upwards into my jaw.

"You see you can't stop me. I'm better now, stronger than you by sooo much. In every way. I can see it in your eyes, you've been crying. You're in so much pain and I can take it all away. I will take it all away."

He spun around and bashed the side of my head and I was down again, head throbbing, skull fracturing. He placed a knee on my back and the bat around my throat, squeezing until I couldn't breathe. I dropped my bat and stuck my arms behind me, grabbing his head and tossing him over onto his back. I got to my feet as quickly as my head allowed, feeling as though I was about to be sick. I brought my foot down on his face and he started to bleed.

"Now Chris, you know you're going to have to do better than that," he taunted as he rolled over and knocked my legs with his bat, bringing me crashing down to the ground. He rose and peered after me as I tried to crawl away. "Coooome oooon, now! Where are you goin'?!" he called after me. I grabbed a rock and tossed it at his head and it struck true. "Don't make me mad, Chris. I may not go so easy on you."

I crawled around the corner of a large rock and got back to my feet. I couldn't even think. My head pounded like a jackhammer, my heartbeat ramming into my brain over and over like a brick wall. Sean came around the corner and I punched him in the face with as much strength as my sluggish body could muster. I grabbed his bat and twisted it so its end pointed at his face and pushed it into his jaw.

He fell on his ass but I couldn't even find the strength to take the opportunity to strike. I just fell back against the rock, breathing heavily, so tired in every way I can think of. I had vowed I would succeed. Vowed I would win. But with every passing second I just felt more and more like giving up. With every fiber of my being I wanted to curl up into a ball and just let it end. I dropped down into a seating position against the rock, not even lifting my gaze as Sean approached.

"You really are giving up aren't you?" he said as he bent down trying to look me in the eye, "Maybe when this is over I'll find the others, the real John and Elisa and bash their faces in too." I looked up. And all the pain just glazed over into rage. I couldn't let him hurt them. Couldn't let them die because I was weak, because I just gave up. Without even thinking I rammed my fingers into his eyes, clear liquid bursting out and down my hands. He screamed but I could barely hear over the sound of my own pulse. I pushed him onto the ground and continued to push, blood rushing out of his sockets. I removed my fingers and grabbed his bat, belting him over and over again with it, the screaming continued long after he had gone limp and the cold light from his eyes had faded. I realised I was the one screaming.

I fell down and lay in the red snow next to him, tears flowing freely. I really could. I really killed him. My hands were stained with the blood of a real human. I know there's people out there who've killed dozens of proxies. But how many of them used to be their friends? How many had they killed with their bare hands? How many had done it completely alone in the world? I rolled over, reaching out an arm, grabbing the snow and pulling myself along. Until I was really there at the peak, looking over the frozen wasteland, each flake of snow like a fragment of white bone. A thousand miles of desolation.

Clap. The sound cracked my mind. Clap. Seizures of pain rocked my body. Clap. I curled up into the fetal position, shying away from the universe.

The Glitch descended from the sky like some demented angel, applauding slowly. "Well here we are. You did it, Christopher. Congratulations. Victory is yours! How does it feel, Christopher? How does your victory feel?" A white door appeared at the precipice of the mountain. "Come on then," he said, picking me up effortlessly and dusting me off, "You've won. You've earned yourself a rest. Before the next stage. If that even happens," he adds, rolling an uncountable number of eyes at the same time, "My good friend the Tale Weaver isn't quite as good at organizing tournaments as the Game Master was. It's in the name after all. But when you're all rested up, the door will open and it'll either lead to the next challenge or back to earth! Either way, will you be happy?" He smiled a grin that seemed to stretch out of the universe and shoved me through the door onto a red carpeted floor of some sort waiting room. Several chairs are placed against the walls, and at the far side is another white door that one day will either open to another challenge or let me go home.

Either way I won't be happy.

It changed

The Light changed. I can't believe how terrifying that thing was. I've never known fear like that, not even when facing actual Fears. But it changed. Morphed into a spectral figure, and before I knew it, before I stopped knowing anything altogether from the pain of just looking at it, before me stood Johnathan, bat in hand.

It wasn't him. It couldn't have been him. Not after what happened with Jane. It was another jumble of Words, a trick to fool me again. This knowledge didn't make what happened next much easier.

He stepped forward and walloped me across the head. I slammed against the mountain face, head thumping and vision blurring. I fell to all fours, and I grabbed a large rock, small enough to hold in one hand. He raised the bat again, and I smashed the rock into his jaw. This time it was his turn to fall. I stepped back, not ready to launch an attack that wasn't purely defense. This just gave him it -it -it -it! time to get back up and strike again. I managed to dodge this attack and rammed a fist into his side. It elbowed me into the base of my neck and I was down again. I rolled away just before his foot came down on where my head used to be, it raised his foot to stomp again and I grabbed his other leg, pulling it over down to my level.

I leapt on it and punched it in the face several times. His blood on my hands. Again I hesitated and it put his hands together, launching them into my nose. Knocked off him we both scrambled to our feet and started to circle each other. That's when Elisa showed up as well.

There I was. Face to face with my former friends (Former? I honestly don't know), their faces used by evil things. Using them to torture me. Forcing me to fight them and, if I was to survive, kill them. Murder them with my own hands.

I lifted a leg and kicked the Johnathan in the chest knocking him onto the ground once more. The Elisa ran at me with her knife. I grabbed her wrist and twisted it around, forcing it to drop the knife. I pushed her way and backed up. I don't feel right being forced to fight a girl, maybe that sounds sexist. Although, to which gender I'm not actually sure. Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to avoid this, and as she ran at me I socked her in the jaw. I heard a crack. She never was the strongest. But this is just what the Tale Weaver and Glitch want. Guilt, remorse. I didn't want to give them the satisfaction, but emotions aren't easily controlled. And watching her blood run down onto the snow, knowing I was the cause, it hurt.

And, once again, this was opportunity used by Johnathan to run at me. He never was the brightest. I slid to the side, clipped him with my foot and jabbed him in the back of the shoulder. He was sent hurtling over the side of the mountain. I turned away, trying to ignore the thumping as he hit rock after rock on the way down.

I watched sullenly as Elisa slowly got back to his feet. Blood still trickling out of her mouth, her jaw poking out at a wrong angle. It wasn't human. It approached slowly, weakened, but showing no signs of pain. Its eyes cold and dead. I looked down, the bat wasn't far away, and I walked to pick it up. I turned to it, stepped forward, took aim and closed my eyes.

I didn't open them as I swung. I didn't open them when I felt it connect. I didn't open them when I heard a smash again the rocks. I didn't open them when I felt the warm droplets of blood on my face. I only opened them when I rose my face to the sky and stood there in silence as I let the bitter wind dry the blood.

I walked away not long after, and found a place to curl up to sleep. There's only one left. One friend. And I think I know where he'll be.

Closer and Closer

Air thinning...cold encroaching...exhaustion mounting...sill can't see the top.

Can't get enough sleep, Lights are too close. Every waking moment is moving. How long ago for you did I mention I wouldn't die trying to get to the top. In moments of adrenaline, emotional calamity and pissed off defiance you can think stupid things. Things like you can climb a mountain with nothing more than the clothes on your back, a cut up blanket and a few cans of food. Oh, and of course a laptop. Couldn't forget that. I've been thinking why Fears are so obsessed with Runners blogging, why the Rake Compels us into these things. They say that knowledge of them makes them more powerful or more prevalent. That seems as good a reason as any. Insidious bastards.

Oh God. There's a Light here. It hutrs me i cant thnk what is it how cna the tale weaver mke somthing so terribel my eyes ar bleeding no no no no

Dontletittakeme.
Dontletittakeme.
Dontletittakeme.
Dontletitta

Moving Up In the World

In short, after the events of my last post I caught some rest, grabbed as many cans of food as I could carry, ripped up the blanket into a vaguely poncho-like shape for warmth and set out. It wasn't easy going, it's not easy going. The path that had taken me to the house didn't continue for much longer and I was soon condemned to climbing over rocky mounds and climbing small ridges.

Each night, I can see the lights behind me, following me on my way. They've gathered around the base of the mountain, truly no turning back now. Every time I stop for rest I don't get more than a couple hours before the lights get too close. I'm not even sure what they are, I only see the glow that proceeds them, and if that post from before is anything to go by I probably don't want to see them.

To be honest I have little to say here. I'm moving, I'm surviving. I don't know how  long it will take me to get to the top of this mountain. It's been easy-enough going so far, but I don't have the training or the supplies to climb the entire thing. I remain hopeful nonetheless. I've resigned myself to this task. This Challenge.

I guess what I'm try to say with this post is: I'm alive.

Hope all you out there are too.

I grabbed my laptop as we passed and-

I limped out of the cave with Jane as my support. We exited into the glaring, white, reflective snow fields. Did you know Inuits/Eskimos/(insert politically correct term here) can be rendered blind from sunlight bouncing off the ice? They can also suffer tremendous sunburn! But that's just a fun-fact I thought was relevant to the blaring illumination that assaulted me after spending so long in the dark. We were on the side of a mountain, on a long winding mountain path. Gazing out over the snow-capped landscape it was beautiful. For a split second I almost forgot about the horrible situation I was in.

We were relatively low down on the mountain, still high enough to kill me if we fell, which was a distinct possibility when trying to ascend an icy pathway. But we made it without incident. Made it where you ask? A house. A perfectly fine, perfectly large house built on the side of a mountain. But I continued to believe, because she told me it would be fine and I trusted her because I believed in her.

She opened the door and inside was almost bare. There were three chairs in the room, the nearest one she placed me in. She walked into the next room and came back with a plate of food. I don't even remember what food it was. All I know is that it tasted good and filled me faster and better than that small amount of food should have. I was too relieved to be paranoid. After the food I was taken upstairs into a bed and fell asleep. It was the first time I slept in a warm bed in at least a month (From my perspective), if not longer. It felt good and I woke up feeling better than I had in a long time, even since before I came here.

I would have updated then and there, but I got sidetracked getting caught up on Jane. She claimed to have gone unconscious in the motel where she died and woken up in this house a month ago. She had gone exploring and had encountered nothing and no one, but the cupboards of the house were well stocked with food. But then while exploring she found me in the cave. I told her everything that had happened since after she went unconscious to now. I left out the part where she had actually died. We talked for hours about everything, and I felt happier than I think I ever have in the past.

No wonder life took that moment to ruin everything, again. She walked out into the kitchen and I heard a crash, I presumed she had accidentally dropped some of the food so I went out to check. Then, well, then I found her dead for the second time. The same knife wound in the same place, her laying on the ground, blood pooling around her, cans of food rolling over the floor. I fell to my knees. I burst out crying. My tears froze half-way down my face. I was cold. Colder than every before. Colder than the Cold Boy had ever made me, colder than any of the times I thought I'd lose fingers to frostbite, colder than any of the times I had to trudge through snow storms. The blood froze in my veins. I fell back into the floor of the main room, unable to feel the hard, wooden floor on my back. Unable to feel anything anymore. Life had taken everything away, before giving it all back, and then violently ripped it away again.

"Well well well. Giving up are we?" The Glitch flickered into view, laying on the ground next to me. I didn't even acknowledge him -it. "Oh, ignoring me? Now now, Christopher, are you really as petty as all that?" "Petty?!" I spat out, "SHE'S DEAD! AGAIN!" "Oh come now, Christopher, you and I both know she only died the first time. Pretty naive of you to think she had really come back to life to save you and lead you away to peace and happiness in this conveniently placed house." He was right of course. I was a fool to think it was really her. She was nothing but a jumble of words created by the Tale Weaver. Nothing but a trap to bring me back from the precipice so that the fall would be all the more spectacular.

"I'll tell you what," the Glitch began to speak again, "ALL you need to do, is make it to the summit of this mountain. And you make it to the next round! I mean, it may not be ideal, if you want you can stay here and starve yet again. Except you won't get another chance at salvation. There'll be nothing but pain until I grow bored with you. But I'm not here to make the decision for you. It's up to you to choose. Die slowly here, or push forward with a chance of success. Maybe win the whole thing! And go back to your life. Think about that. You could have a life again." With that it static-ed away. My blood was pumping through my body again, my flesh warmed up and my tears melted.

I lay there for a while. But I already knew what I'd do. The Glitch was right, I knew that. I only had one chance of escape. One chance to escape this nightmare. Never before had I felt this alone in my life. Never before had I craved company as much as I do right now. I will make my way back to the world. And I will NOT die trying.

Capture and Escape

Wow. Where do I start? According to blogger it's been about HALF A FUCKING YEAR since my last post. I wish I could tell you how long that's been for me, but unfortunately I've been unconscious for an unspecific amount of that time. Given the nature of everything that's been happening for the past year I could have easily spent most of it unconscious in real time.

But, explanations. I was sleeping in my cabin when I hear something outside, a loud screeching noise. It woke me up quickly as you would imagine and I grabbed my chunk of timber, holding it close as I rose to my feet and prepared to defend myself. The screeching stopped suddenly before starting again a few seconds later. It did that several times before I saw them. The dark, phantom things. Each screech was accompanied by a sudden burst of blurring speed as they shifted across the field of snow.

They drew closer and closer and I could tell they, finally, were coming for me. I backed away from the door and held my weapon at the ready. A screech sounded again and before I knew it one was standing right in front of me, taken by surprise it struck out at my jaw in a swift motion. Pain shot through my skull as I hurtled away against the wall. That's when the unconsciousness struck.

I woke up in a cave somewhere in this unknowably large tundral realm, within a cage. There were no phantoms to be seen. I sat up and I grabbed the bars of the cell, rattling them back and forth to no avail. My futile state of existence had only increased in futility. The cage was solid, no food or water to be found, no help would be coming. Here I was without a hope. I didn't even have my laptop to keep all my loyal followers updated. It was sitting on a rock, out of reach. So I lay there and waited for dehydration to claim me/my captors to return to finish me off. As it happened, neither happened.

Though I was there for what had to be days my body refused to die. My thirst and hunger ate away at me, the pain in my stomach killing me but without the death part. Weeks passed. How long would I have to endure this? How long would I be able to survive? The phantoms didn't return either, leaving me to my eternal suffering.

You know how I said no help would be coming, well of course I thought that at the time but as it turned out I was wrong. I was coming up on what I had counted to be my 28th day trapped without any source of nourishment when a figure appeared, silhouetted against the white light of the cave entrance. It was Jane. Yes, Jane. Remember Jane, from a few months back. The one that died. I shouldn't have trusted it, I shouldn't have believed it. It was impossible. Even if it wasn't, why would a Fear(ish thing) controlled domain offer a kindness? It wouldn't. But I was so relieved to be rescued. So relieved to see her! Against my own better judgement I chose to believe it was really her.

"Chris!" she called out to me, hastily grabbing the lock and pulling a pin out of her hair. "I bet you didn't know I could pick locks," she laughed as she inserted the pin. "What are you doing here? How are you alive?" she asked me. I could only groan in response. "Never mind, let's just get you out of here." She grabbed me and hoisted my arm around her shoulders and I didn't resist. I grabbed my laptop as we passed and-

-And now I have to go. The lights are getting closer. I'll continue this later.

What the -?

You may have seen my last post. If not, here's the gist: "Dontletthelightstakeme". Now that may be "Don't let the light stake me" but my money's on "Don't let the lights take me". Now, I don't remember posting that and there's still a chance I didn't, but knowing these Fears and Fear-Related-Entities as I do odds are I really did post that. This, as you can imagine, raises some questions. What are these "lights"? Why do I not wish for them to take me? Why can I not remember writing that post (If I did in fact write it)? And why was I so totally unable to write a coherent post on the subject?

Now I know for you probably some time has passed. But for me it's only been a couple of days since those White Walkers as I've come to know them were drifting around my temporary place of residence. I'm still staying here as I have found no better place and it's doubtful I'd be able to survive for very long out in the blizzarded wilderness. So I'll be staying here indefinitely, for as long as it is safe and I do not know what is necessary to complete this challenge.

So here I am. In a burnt out building in a burnt out village in a cold and desolate artificial universe where I am nothing more than a plaything to an Entity described as Unknown compared to the Fears themselves with some unusual mind-control/amnesia blog-posting and mysterious ghost-people and completely unknown and apparently mind-shatteringly terrifying "lights".

That sums it up nicely. Well, the summing is done nicely, what is summed is most certainly not nice.

Dontletthelightstakeme
Dontletthelightstakeme

Dontletthelightstakeme
Dontletthelightstakeme

Dontletthelightstakeme
Dontletthelightstakeme

Dontletthelightstakeme
Dontletthelightstakeme

Dontletthelightstakeme
Dontletthelightstakeme

Dontletthelightstakeme
Dontletthelightstakeme

Dontletthelightstakeme
Dontletthelightstakeme

Dontletthelightstakeme
Dontletthelightstakeme

Surviving

They did nothing, the moving humanoids. They drifted around outside in the snowy night air for hours and kept me awake. They just slid around eerily, like ghosts or something. I could occasionally hear some chattering sound, like rocks being scraped together. I think they were talking. I never got a clear look at them but they were definitely humanoid, darkly coloured (ie. grey/black) and can apparently float or at least move very "slidily" as the snowy wind concealed any legs were they present.

I sat there all night with a long chunk of rafter in my hands, waiting for them to make the move they never made. I don't know how much more of this I can take. I'm cold, I'm hungry, I'm tired, I'm scared and, well, I'm alone. Just me with no help. No one coming to save me. Probably no one else in this entire...what did they call it...a page? No one else but these "things" and maybe the Glitch might rear his ugly head again.

Speaking of which, these "Challenges". How exactly am I supposed to beat this one? The obvious failure is death, but what's success. Survival? But I'm already alive. What am I supposed to survive, or for how long? Do I have to go somewhere? Fight something? Come to some fucking emotional realisation? WHAT?!

What. Do. I. Do?

Over the Horizon

I set out with my pack of "stuff" over the frozen tundra outside the cave. Over the snow, leaving deep footsteps in my wake that would soon be covered by the wind. It wasn't the worst wind there could be, a blizzard had come during the night, I set off right after it had passed. In comparison this was a mild cold and the wind only just picked up lairs of snow to wash it over the plains in curtains of white. It was a minor incline to the horizon, and it took me only a few minutes to reach it and see the source of the orange light I saw last night and was hoping would be my salvation.

It was civilisation. The key-word being "was". It was now a burnt husk of buildings and ramshackle huts. It was still smoking and I could feel the warmth radiating from the wood, how any heat could survive in this place I don't know, but apparently fire had managed to last long enough to consume the structure of this village. I managed to find the most intact of the cabins to set up camp, setting a few of those flammable mushrooms I mentioned on the ground and scraping a couple rocks together feebly for a few minutes before a spark managed to survive and ignite the fungus. It won't last long, but it warms me up after the journey in the biting wind.

And now I sit here, in the remains of this house, typing away at my laptop to keep you all appraised of my situation. I'm not sure why. Certainly there's better things to be doing than updating a blog, like I've just realised that these buildings are made of wood and would make far better fuel than a bunch of mildly flammable fungi. I blame the Rake. Him and his compulsion. Oh and his evil deeds and horrible murderousness. The Rake really sucks. All the Fears do, and whatever the hell the Glitch is. But you probably know that if you've ever read anything that relates to the Fears. And if you have you have probably also encountered one or two and know that saying the Fears "suck" is a ridiculous understatement. I could probably come up with a better insult but my mind is cold.

I'm going to go and- There's something moving outside! I can't get a proper view of it, it looks humanoid but that means squat in this world. Whatever this world is. I should probably go now, there's some wood that should act as a hefty weapon. They're coming closer.

A Few Days Later

Yeah, that happened. It seems this time-screw works both ways. It really HAS been days since last time I posted, but apparently it's been like 10 minutes for you. I just can't this place, man. Okay, catch-up.

Good News: I found an exit!
Bad News: It's frozen wasteland as far as the eye can see out there.
Good News: There's light over the horizon.
Bad News: It's really really cold!

It took ages to find that exit, it took up most of my time since last post. I marked the tunnels I've used with bio-luminescent mushrooms, checking each one in turn, making out a nice map of the place. Until I finally found a tunnel that leads outside. Lots and lots of snow all over the place out there.

I've packed up some food in my laptop bag, and I'm holding my laptop in my coat. My clothes really isn't suited for hiking across endless tundras. But if that orange light over the hill is from some sort of civilised settlements (Because I'm just THAT LUCKY!) than I should be able to make it before I freeze. I've got some stones for starting a fire and flammable mushrooms (After days in a cave you start experimenting) that I really don't feel safe eating to keep me warm during my journeys.

Wish me luck! I honestly have no clue how long it will be before my next post.

Wait...What?

So I found some food. If you can call it that. A little underground pool with some luminous plantlife around it. Really beautiful and serene and tranquil and all that. A nice supply of water and food that hasn't killed me yet. Now you may have noticed that I started looking a few days ago. Did I only find it now, or why didn't I post sooner? Well, I noticed that too. It's been 4 hours since my last post. Yep, it's true.

A few days in a few hours. This place is seriously screwed up. I hate this place! This place sucks! Well, the beautiful and serene and tranquil pool is pretty nice. I guess it ain't all bad. I guess I always liked being on my own, but having no basic services doesn't really suit me. Sure I can watch stuff online, so I don't really need TV. But I'd really like a toilet, y'know, one that isn't also my only source of water. And food, proper food.

And it's only getting colder. I guess that may be a good sign, that I'm nearing an exit. But do I really want to find an exit, if it's only going to be colder outside. Who knows if there's even civilisation anywhere nearby. I guess I should at least try. I'll mark my progress through the cave so I don't get lost. I definitely want to be able to find my way back here.

Wish me luck, I may not see you for days!

Fuuuuuuuuuck!

Glitch! I know you have something to do with this! The night I had my encounter with that Mar idiot in my last post I go to sleep and wake up almost a month later in a fucking cave with nothing but the clothes on my back and a laptop with seemingly unlimited charge because for some reason Fears and all associated organisations are fucking obsessed with blogging!

This place is completely black with only the laptop screen as light. The rocks are grey and icy and it is fucking cold! I mean, the Cold Boy's Chill was one thing but this is actual coooooold. I bet this has something to do that Tale Weaver bastard too, the guy who replaced the guy who ran those challenges, the Game Master. I've seen the blogs! He's...'acquaintances' with the Glitch. From what I've read they don't seem awfully fond of each other.

Whatever the case, I'm still stuck in this cave. I've explored around and I haven't found an exit yet, but its a large cave system and hopefully it'll offer me some escape. Or at least some food, I am really hungry. God damn it now that I think of it I am really really hungry, I'm going to see if this cave has a McDonald's or...maybe some appetizing moss. Yum.

Chris Wilson out.

Glitch

We've moved on. But we're falling apart, just the three of us now and we don't talk anymore. The Chill is getting stronger, deeper, icy fingers grasping at my bones. This is what happens when you get to know people, when you like people and get close to them. They die, or they leave or try to kill you. Frankly I don't know which one is the worst, but so far only one of them has happened to me, twice. Such is the life of the Runner.

But, on a different note. I encountered...something else the other day. I think the term is an "Unexplained Phenomenon". As if they're any less explained then anything else. I saw it while out walking alone. It looked kind of like a normal person, for some of the time. But it seemed to change, extra appendages appearing and disappearing in static flickers. Just like its eyes, which were filled with static. I could even hear a light buzzing in the background.

"Hello, Christopher," it said, static eyes focused on me. Its voice sounded wrong and awfully condescending.

"What the hell are you?" I asked.

"I have many names. Some people know me as the Rag-Picker, others as the Mar, while most refer to me as Glitch."

"Yuh huh. What do you want?" I asked.

"I just wanted to talk."

"Oh really?"

"Yes. Well, no. But you'll find out about that soon enough. This is just a scouting mission, to say hello."

"Well then," I replied, "Hello."

"Hello, Christopher." With that it was gone in a large flicker of static.

I don't know what this was all about, but I certainly don't want anything further to do with that thing. I've had my fucking fill of Fears and I do not need some UXP deciding to chime in on "How to fuck with Chris"! I'm sure they could write a book on the matter.

Loss

She's gone. They're gone. 

I was out, walking around town. A little alone time, no matter how dangerous that may be I can't let them just control me. But, I should have. I should have learnt my lesson. I should have surrendered to my fear and then maybe she'd still be here. It was cold, as it always was, a chilling wind bit at me that I had to pull my coat all the way around me to keep it out. I was on my way back to the motel, we had gotten a new one since last post. We moved on the next morning. We wouldn't stay there when we knew Slenderman was hanging around.

I arrived back and the place was a mess and pools of blood dotted the floor. I thought it was a Fear attack, but it wasn't. Jane was lying on the bed, a knife wound in her stomach, her eyes closed. She was...she is dead. On the floor was Sean, his head broken in. Johnathan was sitting on his bed, a bloodied baseball bat at his feet. I heard Elisa crying in the bathroom.

"I would have called you," he said, barely looking up, "You didn't bring your phone."

"What-" I stuttered, "What happened."

"I read your last post. You were right. Sean was being manipulated. He was a Proxy."

Sean had taken a knife to Jane, stabbed her in the stomach. Johnathan had pulled him away from her and they struggled. Johnathan was knocked onto his back and had grabbed his bat, swinging it into the side of Sean's head. John got to his feet and swung it again and again into his skull until Sean was dead. 

"We tried to save her," he continued, "We tried to bandage her up, stop the bleeding. But she was too badly hurt. She was dead in minutes."

What can we do now? How do we dispose of a body while on the run? We can't exactly take them out through the lobby. And we can't call a morgue, too many questions. Maybe we can call a morgue just before we leave so they can pick them up, but then we'll have the police on our hands. But they'd be the least of our problems.

We have no time to grieve, no time to recover. We have to keeping Running. I can't stop thinking, maybe if I had been there. Maybe she'd still be alive. Maybe they'd both be.

Spine Tingling

We moved on after the Rake attack, finding a motel next town over to settle down again. We're definitely not going to spend more than two or three days here. Especially not with Chilly wandering around outside, I saw him again yesterday doing his thing. Standing there, looking creepy and singing about Little Bo Peep losing her sheep or something. The bastard froze me in place and made me listen to his whole bloody performance before fading away into frosted air. I'd be more worried but Chilly follows me everywhere, I've never lost him and he turns up where ever I am whenever he wants. But he never goes near me as long as with the group. So there's point worrying. I don't think he kills people. He just sorta, stops them living. I don't know, there's probably plenty who will disagree with me. And plenty more who would but can't because they were killed by the Cold Boy. But he doesn't seem very threatening to me. Just...lonely.

But he still sends a chill down my spine every time I see him and I've nearly lost extremities to frostbite several times. So I prefer not be around him. As you would imagine. But I can't really run much from him, just avoid him for as long as I can manage. But now that we've found ourselves a nice warm motel I shouldn't be having much problems with him.

SHIT one minute, I hear something outside.

Okay I'm back and WHY did I ask you to wait? You're a random blog reader and possible Runner or Proxy but you can't read what I typed until I post it at which point you can just read the whole thing the whole way through, so asking you to wait a minute for something that is already on the page in front of you is idiotic. But I'm not going to delete it because I've already spent all this time typing about why it was a stupid idea!

Anyway, what happened outside was our other "friend" Slendy. We thought traveling in groups was supposed to keep you safe because Fears are territorial, but apparently these ones are just taking turns. We'll have to keep an eye out for the Black Dog next. Anyway, we heard the sound of footsteps which apparently was Slenderman even though he doesn't really walk and I've never seen any blogger describe Slenderman as having footsteps but whatever. It was him and he stood there, doing his thing. Which is somehow more boring and more frightening than Chilly's at the same time. Standing.

He just stood there as usual, staring at us without eyes. As soon as we saw him we all ran back into the room but Sean seemed...hesitant. I'm worried about him, really. He's fine and talkative most of the time, but whenever Slenderman shows up he goes quiet and doesn't speak again for hours. I hope he isn't being...y'know. Proxified.

But after a couple seconds he ran inside and we slammed the door. After a few seconds we heard the footsteps come closer and saw a shadow under (and somehow "through") the door. But the shadow faded away and silence kept with us for the rest of the night. The others spoke in hushed tones, while Sean and I just sat in our beds. Me surfing the web, him staring into space creepily.

But all in all no one was hurt, so a good day.

Attack

Last night we had a campfire. We stayed in the camping site longer than we should have, but we felt overly safe there. We sat around it by the glowing warmth of the flames, I checked out some other blogs with my laptop. The others chatted, but I'm not that talkative. I prefer my own company, I guess that's not very safe for a target such as I am. But change doesn't come easy.

Now, our group. There's Jane, she's running from the Rake. Johnathan, who's got the Black Dog on his tail (see what I did there? :P). Elisa, who's in my boat with Chilly after her, she seems to be dealing with it better than me. And Sean, he has the classic Slenderman hunting him.

We(they) told stories around the campfire. No ghost stories, we get enough of that from reality. I caught what I could when I wasn't too engrossed in others' stories and theories, there are some interesting ones out there, but everything still remains a theory. Especially with all this so-called dimensional bleeding, you don't know what's going on.

But I was definitely listening when Jane took a flute from her bag. She can play it very well, and the tune was fairly haunting. What with the environment and our lives kind of being ruined by evil monsters, that's not hard to achieve. But she somehow manages to make music to haunt you while making you feel better simultaneously. She's also very pretty. I know they all read this but that's no secret. I don't really do much about it though. If it wasn't clear to you already I don't socialize well.

Later on we settled down in our sleeping bags, the embers slowly fading away. Johnathan took the first watch, staying up to keep a look out for Fears and Proxies. I was just drifting off when I was yanked from my light sleep by Johnathan shouting. I scrambled out of the sleeping bag, I was bundled up as much as I can to protect from the cold. Elisa doesn't seem to feel the Chill as much as I do. I woke up to see Johnathan striking out with a baseball bat at something in the darkness.

I grabbed my flashlight and turned it on to see a pale, human figure hunched over Jane, long claws protruding from its fingers. The Rake was screaming at Johnathan as he hit it over and over again. It scuttled back, fang filled mouth open in an angry growl. It walked to the side, watching us with calculating eyes that glowed in the blackness. Jane ran to the back of the group. I grabbed my knife and held it defensively as Elisa took her own and Sean picked up his cricket bat. 

The beast skittered from side to side on all fours, crab-like. A continuous string of whispering could be heard from it, though its mouth wasn't moving. It feigned forward and dropped back again as we stood our ground. It charged forward and Sean hit it in the jaw, it faltered but despite the noticeable break in the bone it leapt atop him. I rushed forward and drove my knife into its back. I pulled my knife from its back as it retreated from Sean. It scampered into the trees, fading into the shadows.

Jane is alright, apart from a few cuts. Nothing serious and with the application of a couple bandages she should be fine in a couple days. Sean's also fine, only minor cuts that are already healing. I guess we should count ourselves lucky. Frankly, if the Rake didn't enjoy playing with its food I don't think we would have survived the encounter. 

Jack Frost is a Jackass

Seeing as this appears to be the only way to get into contact with anyone else in my situation, I have made myself a blog. I am what most people seem to refer to as a Runner, and I guess that's as good a name as any. Though I'm sure Victims, Idiots and Corpses were all close runners up. To those of you who don't know what a Fear(note capital) is, turn back now, if you don't you may get more than you bargained for. I run from the one known as Jack Frost, Little Boy Blue, the Frozen Prince, the Abominable Snow Boy, but to all he is the Cold Boy. 

Long story short, blah blah blah, boring life, blah blah blah, isolation, blah blah blah, creepy child, blah blah blah, now I'm a Runner.

See how fast I can do that?

I've got my gang. A little squad of 4 other Runners. Normally I would travel alone but Frosty prefers people who do that so I'm traveling with them. They're fairly nosy, poking into my business. Well now you can find out what I'm doing while keeping your nose over there. So I get some peace and quiet. Honestly, I like sticking to myself. I enjoy solitude. But it seems Mr. Freeze doesn't care about your preferences. As long as you keep to yourself he decides he "wants to play".

We're staying in a camping park at the moment, and I'm freaking freezing my ass off here. The others don't seem to feel it but I can't seem capable of feeling anything but a constant chilling wind. I may enjoy solitude, but the cold doesn't sit well with me.

But this is just a greeting post to all my fellow Runners out there. Maybe I'll go into more detail later.

See ya later.