xp_logs | Something Slender || Nightmares

͇̟̈́̇͐*̶̧͓̥̺̿*̴̧̭̣̣̚*̷̢̬̲̲͒̈́̆͝*̵̨̮̠͉̤̄*̶̥͐͂̚*̵̡̗̹̲̤̇͝͝*̵̣̞̊̒ͅ*̸͔͍̒̓̔͌ͅ wakes up at home. But not her home.

TW: Transphobia (deadnaming) and body horror

This isn’t my room.

That was the first thought Jessie had upon opening her eyes. Her room at Xavier’s was decorated with rainbows and posters and pride flags, and she had a weighted blanket big enough to comfortably burrito in. This room was almost empty, with nothing but a desk and a bookshelf and a bed, and the blankets were thin.

“*̸͇̟̈́̇͐*̶̧͓̥̺̿*̴̧̭̣̣̚*̷̢̬̲̲͒̈́̆͝*̵̨̮̠͉̤̄*̶̥͐͂̚*̵̡̗̹̲̤̇͝͝*̵̣̞̊̒ͅ*̸͔͍̒̓̔͌ͅ!”

She sat up, blinking heavily. That had sounded like…

The door opened. And there was Richard Drake, giving her a stern, disapproving look. “Dad?” She choked on the word.

“It’s time to go back to school, *̸͇̟̈́̇͐*̶̧͓̥̺̿*̴̧̭̣̣̚*̷̢̬̲̲͒̈́̆͝*̵̨̮̠͉̤̄*̶̥͐͂̚*̵̡̗̹̲̤̇͝͝*̵̣̞̊̒ͅ*̸͔͍̒̓̔͌ͅ.” His voice sounded weird and staticky on that last word. “Get up, we’ve got a long drive.”

Back to… school? What did he mean? “What are you doing here?” Jessie demanded, scrambling out of bed. “Where even is here?”

Richard sighed, shaking his head. “No games today, *̸͇̟̈́̇͐*̶̧͓̥̺̿*̴̧̭̣̣̚*̷̢̬̲̲͒̈́̆͝*̵̨̮̠͉̤̄*̶̥͐͂̚*̵̇͝͝. I’m not in the mood. Are you finished packing?”

It was her name, she realized with a start. Not the one she had been going since she was fourteen, though. “Don’t call me that.” Her voice came out a bit shaky. Now Richard looked annoyed.

“Downstairs with your bags in five minutes. No funny business.”

And he was gone. Jessie did her best not to hyperventilate as she looked around the room — it was her room, she realized. The room she’d had in the house before the divorce. But even that had posters and decorations. Where was everything?

Where was her mother?

Her eyes landed on a mirror, and for a minute she thought she was going to faint. Looking back at her was definitely Not Her.

“No no no no no no,” she whispered, hurrying to the mirror to get a better look at herself. This has to be a dream. Her face was too angular, ears too big, nose wrong. This was worse than the video game, where she’d just lost all the changes made by shapeshifting. Now it was like she had never started hormones at all.

She ripped herself away from the mirror. No. No her mother would never have let this happen. Sherri Drake was amazing and supportive and sometimes confusedbutgotspirit.gif, she would never have let her ex-husband do this to Jessie.

She ran out of the room, taking the stairs two at a time and landing with a heavy thud on the first floor. Richard was waiting near the door, looking highly annoyed.

“Where’s Mom?” Jessie demanded, striding forward to meet her father head-on. The one thing shapeshifting and hormones had never been able to fix was her height, and she was grateful for that just then — it meant she could stand up straight and look Richard Drake in the eye, daring him to try something.

His reaction wasn’t what she had been expecting. His eyes darkened — literally turning black, blotting out the whites and his green irises.

”*̸̛͈̱̼̭̼͑̂̓*̵̡̢̬̘̟̖͍̹͉̲̀̿̈́̐*̵̢̩͖͎͕͔̀́͌̾̑̈́*̶̲͈̖͗́*̵̡̜̑*̴̨̛͓̤͙̯̰̏͋͊̅͆̀͛̚̕͝*̸̩͚̞̗̖̪̟̱̻̱͜͝.” There was static in the single word, in the very air around Jessie, as everything turned dark and distorted. A hand — not Richard’s hand, not with those abnormally long and pale fingers — shot out and grabbed Jessie, wrapping painfully around her upper bicep. ”*̸̛͈̱̼̭̼͑̂̓*̵̡̢̬̘̟̖͍̹͉̲̀̿̈́̐*̵̢̩͖͎͕͔̀́͌̾̑̈́*̶̲͈̖͗́*̵̡̜̑*̴̨̛͓̤͙̯̰̏͋͊̅͆̀͛̚̕͝*̸̩͚̞̗̖̪̟̱̻̱͜͝.”

“Let go!” Jessie tried to shove her “father” away, but it felt like pushing on rubber. “That’s not — not—!”

Was it getting harder to talk? The figure in front of her — definitely not her father — was growing, looming over her, facial features melting away as it turned… white? Why was she looking at something literally out of a creepypasta?

”*̸̛͈̱̼̭̼͑̂̓*̵̡̢̬̘̟̖͍̹͉̲̀̿̈́̐*̵̢̩͖͎͕͔̀́͌̾̑̈́*̶̲͈̖͗́*̵̡̜̑*̴̨̛͓̤͙̯̰̏͋͊̅͆̀͛̚̕͝*̸̩͚̞̗̖̪̟̱̻̱͜͝.”

Jessie tried to scream, but her mouth wouldn’t open. The Slenderman pushed her to the ground, still hovering over her, keeping her pinned down. There were more appearing now, and despite having no faces, they could only be described as menacing. Jessie let out a pathetic grunt/whine, trying to kick the one holding her. It was no good. There was nothing she could do.

She was trapped.

Jono's worst nightmare comes true at the expense of his friends.

TW: (Fake) Character Death

The first thing Jono noticed was that it was bright. Far too bright for the time of day he had found himself in the woods. The second thing he noticed was that he was the source of the brightness- that stemming from his face and chest was a cloud of nuclear flame that was spreading out across the clearing. Had it been a clearing before? He couldn't remember. Who had been there with him? What had he done?

"Jono," Paige groaned out in pain. "Stop, please!" She tried to reach a hand out to him, but it hurt to move.

"I don't know how!" Jono thought in a panic, torn between the instinctual urge to grab Paige's hand and pull her up and the fear telling him to back away. "I don't know how!"

“Please,” Paige sobbed, begging for it all to end.

Jono tried to reach for Paige’s hand and then stopped himself looking down at his arm that was almost entirely engulfed in his own flames. Tears streamed down his cheeks silently as he wrapped his arms around himself and shut his eyes as tight as possible.

What had he done to deserve this? Wasn’t it bad enough he’d had to watch this happen to Gayle? Why couldn’t he turn it off? He’d been practicing! He should be able to turn it off!

At the end of his other hand, there was a microphone and a wire and it also burned, a zip of flame from the device down the cable to the other end, another microphone held by Ashley Crawford. Her mouth opened in a silent shriek and she dropped the microphone, but too late, the flame licked up her hand, burning it away into jet black oily smoke.

As Jono cried, the flames roared higher and higher, until he was entirely engulfed in them. But they didn't hurt him, not anymore, now they only sought to hurt his friends, the people he cared about. Why couldn't they hurt him instead? He deserved it more than they did.

The burning Ashley flailed her arms, in a grotesque burning dance, the only sound from her mouth an unearthly rasp that sounded like paper on paper. She reached for Jono with a pleading expression and grasped at her face as it burned, her mouth and nose and hair all going black in ashen stripes as she burned.

Jono squeezed his eyes shut, unable to continue looking at the grotesque images of his friends. It should be him. It should always have been him. He was already dead, why couldn't he have just stayed on the pavement in Birmingham where they found him?

Mel relives the worst night of her life, with her own family taking the place of the Cabots.

TW: Implied, (Fake) Character Death, Gun Violence

“That damn mutie bitch!”

It echoed through the forest as she ran. Ran as she had dozens of times. She’d had this dream before. The crackle of leaves and gunshots. The pounding of her heart in her chest. It was different now, but not in any way she could articulate. The woods seemed darker, more menacing. They were behind her as always, but closer, almost breathing down her neck.

How long had she been running? Longer than usual. She should have been at the creek by now. Should have been staring down the barrel of the gun. It made her uneasy. This was a dream, wasn’t it?

Mel didn’t see the root in her path until her foot caught on it, sending her to the ground with a thud. “Shit!” She tried to scramble up as quickly as she could, knowing what happened if she didn’t.

Behind her Sam stopped as she scrambled in the dirt, shouldering Daddy's rifle as he stared at her down the barrel. "I'd just stop if I was you. C'mon Mellie, it can't be that hard to follow directions just this one time. Now hold still so's we can getcha. Don't disappoint me again girl."

She froze. “Sammy? Wha- what’re you doin’?”

Sam tsked and continued to hold the gun level. His gaze was cold, measured, the way he'd looked when he'd first taught her how to hunt. He looked at her no different than how he'd look through the scope at a deer. "Why you always gotta question me? Ain't you figured out yet that's what gets you into these gommed up messes that I gotta go fix. There's more'n one way to skin a cat, Mellie. Maybe I'm lookin' fer a more permanent fix."

“You don’ mean that, you-“ Mel started to crawl back, hands wildly searching for something, anything, she could use in defense. It’s just a dream. It’s just a dream. Tears began to well up in her eyes even as she repeated this in her head. “Sam, please. I’m so sorry. I didn’ mean fer any of it!”

Sam's eye twitched, a brief moment of hesitation that might have been a sign that he still cared for her, or might have just been an involuntary muscle. "You say that every damn time Melody. How'm I s'posed to know if you actually mean it?"

Her hand found a rock, and Mel didn’t stick around to watch it connect with Sam’s face. The gun went off but by then she was long gone, booking it through the trees. The dream had never gone on this long.

Finally, finally, she made it back home. Leaping up the back steps, Mel pounded on the back door. “Someone let me in! Please!”

Then she heard it.

"I have checked under your bed, quiet, quiet rest your head," came Jay's voice from the open window, singing the first song he had ever written- a lullaby for the twins. He was still in the window, making no move to open the back door for Mel. "And your closet like you said, quiet, quiet, rest your head."

He was close enough to the window to see his blank face.

Something closed up in Mel’s throat. “J-jay?” She stuttered, hands stopping their incessant tugging at the doorknob.

"It's just your coat hung on a peg, quiet quiet rest your head," Jay comes closer to the door, slowly as the dead, still singing. he stops just short of the door, perfectly visible in the window of it. "Shadow figures in your head, quiet, quiet go to bed."

A noise in the trees behind her snapped her back to urgency. “Jay, please, you gotta let me in! Sam’s gone crazy!”

"Have you checked under my bed? Quiet, quiet rest your head? And my closet like you said? Quiet, quiet, go to sleep."

His voice is warped as he seems to fumble with the door handle. Behind Mel there's a snapping of branches. The blank faced Jay can't seem to get the door.

“Jay, shit, we gotta go! You gotta get outta here!”

She whipped her head around and spotted the glint of a gun, pointed right at them. “I’m so sorry, I gotta-“ Mel took off around the house and back towards the woods, leaving her brother to face Sam, like a coward.

The door clicked open just as Mel started running, the door swinging open just as Jay started to sing the final part of the song. "Leave the light or he'll catch me-"

A shot rang out and the song was cut off by a gurgling of blood.

The woods blurred once more. She had to wake up.

She couldn’t go back. Couldn’t let the dream win. Couldn’t turn around and see what she’d let happen.

WAKE UP

Mel gasped as she came to and sat up in a panic. “Jay!” It took a moment to realize she was no longer back home.

Her new surroundings could’ve been from a dream, or a nightmare. Stumbling up and holding back tears, Mel started off through the fog. If this was real, she needed to find her friends.

Paige Who?

Paige woke up in a chair in the middle of one of the common rooms in the mansion. She wasn't sure how she had gotten there, but somehow she seemed to be back at the party that Sam had thrown for her birthday last month. Strange. Getting up from her corner, Paige noticed that everyone seemed to be gathered on the other side of the room from her. Must have taken a break from the party. She walked over, waving at people, and tried to insert herself into the group. It was her party, after all, she should socialize before Sam lectured her about making friends.

Mel walked over and gave her a smile- but not a smile of familiarity. It was the kind of smile reserved for strangers on the street and people you’re being introduced to. “Hi! I haven’t seen ya ‘round before, are ya new here?”

Paige blinked at her before frowning. “Oh, haha, Mel. Very funny, you don’t know who I am. What are you up to?”

Melody’s smile turned apologetic. “Oh shoot, have we met before? I’m sorry, m’not very good with faces.”

She spotted someone waving her over from across the room and addressed Paige once more before floating over. “I’ve gotta go, but my brother’s makin’ drinks over there if ya want one! He’s pretty good at it too.”

Paige wasn’t sure what joke Mel was trying to pull, but she wasn’t putting up with it. How could she find that funny? Frustrated, Paige wandered over to the bar. “Hey, Sammy. How’s the bar tending going?”

"Alright, thanks." He said, finishing up the drink he was working on before turning to her with a smile. "You lookin' to order? I'll need some ID first."

“Sam, you know how old I am, you don’t have to card me.” Paige crossed her arms and stared him down. “Did Mel put you up to this?”

"I card everyone." Sam said, brows furrowed. "Why would my sister put me up to this? I need some ID before I can fix you a drink."

“Because she’s my sister, too?” Paige could hear her voice rising in frustration. “And you threw this party for my birthday, why would you need to card me?” What was with everyone today.

Sam frowned. "I'm sorry....I don't know you. Are you feelin' alright? Can I get you a warter? Maybe you oughta sit down for a spell, miss."

Done with her siblings’ bullshit, Paige pushed off the bar and started to walk away. What were they getting out of pretending not to know her? Distracted by her thoughts, she didn’t see where she was going and ran into someone.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t-“ Regaining her balance, Paige looked up to see Jono. “Oh, hey. We really should stop meeting like this.”

Jono blinked at her before pulling out his light writer and typing. “I’m sorry, do I know you? I’m just trying to cut through to get to my girlfriend before she has too much to drink.”

That one stung. “Why are y’all actin’ like you don’t know who I am? I’m Paige! You’re Jono, you’re my friend, and that’s my brother behind the bar, and my sister-“ Paige paused, processing the end of Jono’s statement. “Wait, since when do you have a girlfriend?”

“Jonnie! There you are!” Mel, much drunker than before, floated right past Paige and wrapped herself around Jono’s side, pressing a kiss to his cheek. Her fingers trailed up his chest in what was much too intimate a movement with Paige standing right there. “Yknow baby, my roommates not in. We should go to my suite and have some fun.” It was singsonged into his ear, yet clearly audible to everyone in the vicinity.

A wave of nausea passed over Paige. “What the hell is going on?!” She wanted to grab Mel and Jono and shake them until they gave up whatever act this was and started acting like themselves again. Mel hated Jono, why was she suddenly all over him? This had to be done kind of sick joke.

Jono rolled his eyes fondly and gently moved Mel’s hand off his chest, trying to convey that she needed to behave. He raised an eyebrow at her and typed. “Water. Seriously, I’m not carrying you home again.”

Then to Paige he turned and typed. “I really am sorry, I don’t remember meeting you. Do you need help with something? I’m sure Sam can keep an eye on Mel if you need help.”

Mel only seemed to have eyes for Jono, barely noticing Paige there. “M’not drunk! I only had a few,” she pouted. “An’ I like when you carry me back, like my own knight in shining armor.” Her hand squeezed his bicep to accentuate her point.

“How can you not remember me?” Paige could feel the frustrated tears welling up in her eyes. “We’re friends! You told me about your band and let me sleep over at your room and we talked about Lord of the Rings and I gave you a playlist of country music that was way too long and you showed me how to get up on the roof! And you!” She rounded on Mel. “I’m your sister! We shared a bed back home and now I’m your roommate here and I helped you move in and you love romantic comedies and making fun of me and Sam for being too serious!”

The tears still sat in the corners of her eyes. “I thought I was important to you.” Out of habit, she reached down to fiddle with the ring Jono gave her only to find it wasn’t on her thumb anymore. That was the breaking point, finally bringing Paige to the point of crying.

“I ain’t sure what yer on about, all of my sisters still live at home. I’ve never seen you before until tonight,” Mel said before turning back to Jono and giggling. “See baby, I could be so much drunker, like her! At least I remember who my siblings are.”

Jono rolled his eyes, less fondly than before and typed. "Stop being rude. She's clearly upset, there's no reason to make it worse when we could try to help her."

Biting her tears back, Paige flared up at Melody. “I know who my family is, what I don’t know is why you can’t remember. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?”

Pissed and thoroughly done with whatever bullshit was happening, Paige stormed back over to the bar and climbed up on the counter. She faced the group of people who had now all turned to look at her. “DOESN’T ANYONE HERE KNOW WHO I AM?” All that answered her were blank stares and silence.